Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Survey of the Experiences and Perceptions of Midwifery Nurses on the Mom Connect Programme in Bojanala, South Africa

MomConnect is a form of mobile health technology which requires healthcare workers to register and confirm the client’s pregnancy on a national database using a cell phone. This programme is driven by primary users such as midwifery nurses, hence the need to obtain their views. The objectives of this study were to determine the experiences and perceptions of midwifery nurses regarding the MomConnect programme in Bojanala health district, North West Province in South Africa. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey was done with 100 midwifery nurses offering antenatal care in Rustenburg sub-district primary healthcare facilities. Mixed perceptions and experiences were identified. The majority of the respondents found MomConnect to be an acceptable way to provide continuous care (97%, n=97) and further support its continued use (87%, n=87). On the other hand, some respondents viewed MomConnect as extra work (52%, n=52), impossible to integrate into routine care (39%, n=39) and disrupting the workflow at times (44%, n=44).
Microtubule-dependent and independent roles of spastin in lipid droplet dispersion and biogenesis

The hereditary spastic paraplegia protein spastin limits the biogenesis of lipid droplets at the endoplasmic reticulum in a microtubule-independent manner, whereas it promotes lipid droplet movement by binding to the microtubules. Lipid droplets (LDs) are metabolic organelles that store neutral lipids and dynamically respond to changes in energy availability by accumulating or mobilizing triacylglycerols (TAGs). How the plastic behavior of LDs is regulated is poorly understood. Hereditary spastic paraplegia is a central motor axonopathy predominantly caused by mutations in SPAST, encoding the microtubule-severing protein spastin. The spastin-M1 isoform localizes to nascent LDs in mammalian cells; however, the mechanistic significance of this targeting is not fully explained. Here, we show that tightly controlled levels of spastin-M1 are required to inhibit LD biogenesis and TAG accumulation. Spastin-M1 maintains the morphogenesis of the ER when TAG synthesis is prevented, independent from microtubule binding. Moreover, spastin plays a microtubule-dependent role in mediating the dispersion of LDs from the ER upon glucose starvation. Our results reveal a dual role of spastin to shape ER tubules and to regulate LD movement along microtubules, opening new perspectives for the pathogenesis of hereditary spastic paraplegia.
A diffusion model analysis of sustained attention in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

OBJECTIVE Whether children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have deficits in sustained attention remains unresolved due to the ongoing use of cognitive paradigms that are not optimized for studying vigilance and the fact that relatively few studies report performance over time. METHOD In three independent samples of school-age children with (total N = 128) and without ADHD (total N = 59), we manipulated event rate, difficulty of discrimination, and use signal detection (SDT) and diffusion models (DM) to evaluate the cause of the vigilance decrement during a continuous performance task. RESULTS For both groups of children, a bias toward "no-go" over time (as indexed by the SDT parameter B″ and the DM parameter z/a) was responsible for generating the vigilance decrement. However, among children with ADHD, the rate at which information accumulated to make a no-go decision (vNoGo) also increased with time on task, representing a possible secondary mechanism that biases children against engagement. At all time points, children with ADHD demonstrated reduced sensitivity to discriminate targets from nontargets. CONCLUSION Children with ADHD are particularly sensitive to the cost of task engagement, but nonspecific slower drift rate may ultimately provide a better conceptualization of the cognitive atypicalities commonly observed in that group. Results are interpreted in the context of updated conceptualizations of sustained attention and vigilance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
The Andes Orthohantavirus NSs Protein Antagonizes the Type I Interferon Response by Inhibiting MAVS Signaling

Andes orthohantavirus (ANDV) is endemic in Argentina and Chile and is the primary etiological agent of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in South America. ANDV is distinguished from other hantaviruses by its unique ability to spread from person to person. In a previous report, we identified a novel ANDV protein, ANDV-NSs. Until now, ANDV-NSs had no known function. In this new study, we established that ANDV-NSs acts as an antagonist of cellular innate immunity, the first line of defense against invading pathogens, hindering the cellular antiviral response during infection. This study provides novel insights into the mechanisms used by ANDV to establish its infection. ABSTRACT The small messenger RNA (SmRNA) of the Andes orthohantavirus (ANDV), a rodent-borne member of the Hantaviridae family of viruses of the Bunyavirales order, encodes a multifunctional nucleocapsid (N) protein and for a nonstructural (NSs) protein of unknown function. We have previously shown the expression of the ANDV-NSs, but only in infected cell cultures. In this study, we extend our early findings by confirming the expression of the ANDV-NSs protein in the lungs of experimentally infected golden Syrian hamsters. Next, we show, using a virus-free system, that the ANDV-NSs protein antagonizes the type I interferon (IFN) induction pathway by suppressing signals downstream of the melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 (MDA5) and the retinoic acid-inducible gene 1 (RIG-I) and upstream of TBK1. Consistent with this observation, the ANDV-NSs protein antagonized mitochondrial antiviral-signaling protein (MAVS)-induced IFN-β, NF-κB, IFN-regulatory factor 3 (IRF3), and IFN-sensitive response element (ISRE) promoter activity. Results demonstrate that ANDV-NSs binds to MAVS in cells without disrupting the MAVS-TBK-1 interaction. However, in the presence of the ANDV-NSs ubiquitination of MAVS is reduced. In summary, this study provides evidence showing that the ANDV-NSs protein acts as an antagonist of the cellular innate immune system by suppressing MAVS downstream signaling by a yet not fully understand mechanism. Our findings reveal new insights into the molecular regulation of the hosts’ innate immune response by the Andes orthohantavirus. IMPORTANCE Andes orthohantavirus (ANDV) is endemic in Argentina and Chile and is the primary etiological agent of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in South America. ANDV is distinguished from other hantaviruses by its unique ability to spread from person to person. In a previous report, we identified a novel ANDV protein, ANDV-NSs. Until now, ANDV-NSs had no known function. In this new study, we established that ANDV-NSs acts as an antagonist of cellular innate immunity, the first line of defense against invading pathogens, hindering the cellular antiviral response during infection. This study provides novel insights into the mechanisms used by ANDV to establish its infection.
Rapid Learning of Odor–Value Association in the Olfactory Striatum

Rodents can successfully learn multiple novel stimulus–response associations after only a few repetitions when the contingencies predict reward. The circuits modified during such reinforcement learning to support decision-making are not known, but the olfactory tubercle (OT) and posterior piriform cortex (pPC) are candidates for decoding reward category from olfactory sensory input and relaying this information to cognitive and motor areas. Through single-cell recordings in behaving male and female C57BL/6 mice, we show here that an explicit representation for reward category emerges in the OT within minutes of learning a novel odor–reward association, whereas the pPC lacks an explicit representation even after weeks of overtraining. The explicit reward category representation in OT is visible in the first sniff (50–100 ms) of an odor on each trial, and precedes the motor action. Together, these results suggest that the coding of stimulus information required for reward prediction does not occur within olfactory cortex, but rather in circuits involving the olfactory striatum. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Rodents are olfactory specialists and can use odors to learn contingencies quickly and well. We have found that mice can readily learn to place multiple odors into rewarded and unrewarded categories. Once they have learned the rule, they can do such categorization in a matter of minutes (<10 trials). We found that neural activity in olfactory cortex largely reflects sensory coding, with very little explicit information about categories. By contrast, neural activity in a brain region in the ventral striatum is rapidly modified in a matter of minutes to reflect reward category. Our experiments set up a paradigm for studying rapid sensorimotor reinforcement in a circuit that is right at the interface of sensory input and reward areas.
Low risk of COVID-19 transmission in GI endoscopy

Reported experience from the recent worldwide covid-19 outbreak suggests that GI endoscopy is a potential source of infection for healthcare workers (HCW); less is known about patient risk through performance of GI endoscopy as a high-risk medical procedure. Two case series from Northern Italy were recorded, one on 851 patients from one large tertiary referral centre and the other on 968 HCWs from 41 hospitals in the area. All 851 patients endoscoped in Humanitas University Hospital between 27 January and 13 March received a 2-week follow-up call; the response rate was 94.2%. Of these 802 patients, only 1 became covid-19 positive; 7 further cases developed fever and cough (3 tested negative). None of these eight cases (1.0%) required hospitalisation. In the other study, 42 hospitals in Northern Italy were invited to join a survey with regard to covid-19 positivity among HCWs, and 41 responded; centres with positive cases were interviewed in detail. Of 968 HCWs in these centres, 42 (4.3%) were tested positive for covid-19, and 6 (0.6%) had to be temporarily hospitalised (for a mean of 8 days, none on intensive care unit (ICU)). Of these 42 cases, 85.7% occurred before the introduction of safety measures, including personal protective equipment (PPE) and case selection/reduction in GI endoscopy. Clustering of HCW infection (54.7% of all cases) was observed in three centres. This data suggest that GI endoscopy appears to be relatively safe for both patients and medical personnel when using adequate protective measures. As of 31 March 2020, Italy and especially its Northern regions became the epicentre of the novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome-CoV-2) outbreak, with more than 100 000 documented infections and a higher mortality rate than that reported in other countries. According to recent data issued by the Italian Health Authority, more than 10% of all infections in …
Association of Renin-Angiotensin System Inhibitors With Severity or Risk of Death in Patients With Hypertension Hospitalized for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Infection in Wuhan, China.

Importance Data are lacking whether patients with hypertension who are taking angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) have increased severity or risk of mortality during hospitalization for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Objective To investigate the association between ACEIs/ARBs and severity of illness and mortality in patients with hypertension hospitalized for COVID-19 infection. Design, Setting, and Participants Retrospective, single-center case series of the 1178 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 infections at the Central Hospital of Wuhan, China, from January 15 to March 15, 2020. Main Outcomes and Measures COVID-19 was confirmed by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and epidemiologic, clinical, radiologic, laboratory, and drug therapy data were analyzed in all patients. The percentage of patients with hypertension taking ACEIs/ARBs was compared between those with severe vs nonsevere illness and between survivors vs nonsurvivors. Results Of the 1178 patients with COVID-19, the median age was 55.5 years (interquartile range, 38-67 years) and 545 (46.3%) were men. The overall in-hospital mortality was 11.0%. There were 362 patients with hypertension (30.7% of the total group; median age, 66.0 years [interquartile range, 59-73 years]; 189 [52.2%] were men), of whom 115 (31.8%) were taking ACEI/ARBs. The in-hospital mortality in the patients with hypertension was 21.3%. The percentage of patients with hypertension taking ACEIs/ARBs did not differ between those with severe and nonsevere infections (32.9% vs 30.7%; P = .65) nor did it differ between nonsurvivors and survivors (27.3% vs 33.0%; P = .34). Similar findings were observed when data were analyzed for patients taking ACEIs and those taking ARBs. Conclusions and Relevance This study provides clinical data on the association between ACEIs/ARBs and outcomes in patients with hypertension hospitalized with COVID-19 infections, suggesting that ACEIs/ARBs are not associated with the severity or mortality of COVID-19 in such patients. These data support current guidelines and societal recommendations for treating hypertension during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Serogroup A meningococcal conjugate vaccines: building sustainable and equitable vaccine strategies

ABSTRACT Introduction For well over 100 years, meningococcal disease due to serogroup A Neisseria meningitidis (MenA) has caused severe epidemics globally, especially in the meningitis belt of sub-Saharan Africa. Areas covered The article reviews the background and identification of MenA, the global and molecular epidemiology of MenA, and the outbreaks of MenA in the African meningitis belt. The implementation (2010) of an equitable MenA polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccine (PsA-TT, MenAfriVac) and the strategy to control MenA in sub-Saharan Africa is described. The development of a novel multi-serogroup meningococcal conjugate vaccine (NmCV-5) that includes serogroup A is highlighted. The PubMed database (1996–2019) was searched for studies relating to MenA outbreaks, vaccine, and immunization strategies; and the Neisseria PubMLST database of 1755 MenA isolates (1915–2019) was reviewed. Expert opinion Using strategies from the successful MenAfriVac campaign, expanded collaborative partnerships were built to develop a novel, low-cost multivalent component meningococcal vaccine that includes MenA. This vaccine promises greater sustainability and is directed toward global control of meningococcal disease in the African meningitidis belt and beyond. The new WHO global roadmap addresses the continuing problem of bacterial meningitis, including meningococcal vaccine prevention, and provides a framework for further reducing the devastation of MenA.
Evaluation of air cavities on dose distributions with air-filled apparatuses having different volumes using Gafchromic EBT3 films in brachytherapy

The data used in brachytherapy planning are obtained from homogeneous mediums. In practice, the heterogeneous tissues and materials affect the dose distribution of brachytherapy. It is aimed to investigate the effect of air cavities on brachytherapy dose distribution using a specially designed device.In this study, the special device designed with different volumes of air and water to be irradiated and measured at different depths using EBT3 Gafchromic films. EBT3 Gafchromic films were preferred for this study because they can be cut to the shape of the experimental geometry, are water resistance and double directional usability.In our study, sudden dose increases and decreases were observed at the water–air–water interfaces. Increases were 9, 11·8 and 15% in the 13, 18 and 22 mm apparatus, respectively. These effects were expected and the results were consistent with the literature and within the tolerance limits stated in the clinical dose guidelines. The most important result is that the percent depth–dose curve of the radiation passing through the air to the water and only passing through the water medium is different. The average differences were 1·97, 2·97 and 2·31% for the 13, 18 and 22 mm apparatus, respectively.Although the effect of heterogeneity may be neglected according to clinical guidelines, it is suggested that the dose effect of heterogeneity is taken into account so that the dose can be estimated sensitively. Brachytherapy plans using dose data without considering air gaps may cause erroneous dose distributions due to heterogeneity of tissue.
Compounds without borders: A mechanism for quantifying complex odors and responses to scent-pollution in bumblebees

Bumblebees are critical pollinators whose populations have been experiencing troubling declines over the past several decades. Successful foraging improves colony fitness, thus understanding how anthropogenic influences modulate foraging behavior may aid conservation efforts. Odor pollution can have negative impacts on bumble- and honey-bees foraging behavior. However, given the vast array of potential scent contaminants, individually testing pollutants is an ineffective approach. The ability to quantitatively measure how much scent-pollution of a floral-odor bumblebees can tolerate would represent a paradigm shift in odor-pollution studies. Current statistical methods for analyzing complex odors have poor predictive power because statistically-derived odor-spaces are rewritten when new odors are added. This study presents an alternative method of analyzing complex odor blends based on the encoding properties of insect olfactory systems. This “Compounds Without Borders” (CWB) method vectorizes odors in a multidimensional space representing relevant functional group and carbon characteristics of their component odorants. A single vector can be built for any scent, which allows the angular distance between any two odors to be calculated–including a learned odor and its polluted counterpart. Data presented here indicate that CWB-angles are capable of both describing and predicting bumblebee odor-discrimination behavior: odor pairs with angular distances in the 20–29° range appear to be generalized, while odor pairs over 30 degrees are differentiated. The neurophysiological properties underlying CWB-vectorization of odors are not unique to bumblebees; CWB-angle analysis of a small sample of published odor-data supports the idea that this method may have broader applications. Author summary Recent work has indicated that anthropogenic pollution of floral-scent may have negative impacts on bumblebee foraging behavior. We need quantitative tools to both measure how much pollution of a learned floral-odor bumblebees can tolerate and identify which scent-pollutants are problematic. This study used encoding characteristics of insect olfactory systems to develop a new paradigm for quantifying complex odors. This ‘Compounds Without Borders’ method builds multidimensional vectors of scents based on physiologically relevant physical characteristics of component odorant-compounds. The angular distance between CWB-vectors then provides a single quantitative variable describing how similar (or dissimilar) two complex odors are. This angular representation of odor similarity is predictive of bumblebees’ behavior in an associative odor learning task.
All-inorganic halide perovskites as potential thermoelectric materials: Dynamic cation off-centering induces ultralow thermal conductivity.

Halide perovskites are anticipated to impact next generation high performance solar cells because of their extraordinary charge transport and optoelectronic properties. However, their thermal transport behavior has received limited attention. In this work, we studied the thermal transport and thermoelectric properties of the CsSnBr3-xIx perovskites. We find a strong correlation between lattice dynamics and an ultralow thermal conductivity for series CsSnBr3-xIx reaching 0.32 Wm-1K-1 at 550 K. The CsSnBr3-xIx also possess a decent Seebeck coefficient and controllable electrical transport properties. The crystallography data and theoretical calculations suggest the Cs atom deviates from its ideal cuboctahedral geometry imposed by the perovskite cage and behaves as a heavy atom rattling oscillator. This off-center tendency of Cs, together with the distortion of SnX6 (X=Br or I) octahedra, produces a highly dynamic and disordered structure in CsSnBr3-xIx, that gives rise to a very low Debye temperature and phonon velocity. Moreover, the low temperature heat capacity data suggests strong coupling between the low frequency optical phonons and heat carrying acoustical phonons. This induces strong phonon resonance scattering that induces the ultralow lattice thermal conductivity of CsSnBr3-xIx.
COX-2 expression is associated with infiltration of inflammatory cells in oral and skin canine melanomas.

Melanoma is a fast-growing tumor in dogs and represents 7% of the total malignant neoplasms from the skin and is the most common tumor found in the oral cavity. In these tumors high expression of COX-2 is associated with a poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to verify if the overexpression of COX-2 is related to the modulation of lymphocytes and if it is associated with the angiogenic and proliferative capacity of the melanoma. Canine melanoma samples (n = 85) were analyzed by immunohistochemistry to detect the expression of S-100, Melan-A, PNL-2, COX-2, Factor VIII, Ki-67 and immune cells markers (CD3, CD4, FOXP3, and MAC387); and expression levels of MAC387, NOS and CD206 were determined by immunofluorescence. Our study showed a concurrent difference between the expression of COX-2 and inflammatory cell infiltration: Oral melanomas showed positivity for COX-2 in 34% of the cases and this expression was associated with CD3 positivity in the inflammatory infiltrate and angiogenesis; whereas cutaneous melanomas presented positivity for COX-2 in 42% of the cases and this expression was associated with positive staining for CD3, CD4, FOXP3 and MAC387. These markers are associated with inflammatory cells, angiogenesis and proliferation. Interestingly, melanomas were highly infiltrated by FOXP3+ cells, this is related to angiogenesis, whereas CD3, CD4 and MAC387 expression was only associated with cutaneous melanomas. The macrophage profile analysis showed that both oral and cutaneous melanomas with low COX-2 expression have an M1 phenoptype, whereas the cases with high COX-2 expression demonstrate a hybrid M1/M2 profile pattern. We concluded that the COX-2 is overxpressed in 42% of cutaneous melanomas and in 34% of oral melanomas, with a direct association with angiogenesis, proliferation, and intratumoral lymphocyte infiltration. We propose that COX-2 is a key regulator of immune cell infiltration and may drive tumor associated macrophage activation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
The Intergenerational Transmission of Mathematics Achievement in Middle Childhood: A Prospective Adoption Design.

The present study uses a parent-offspring adoption design to examine the dual roles of heritable and environmental influences on children's mathematics achievement. Linked sets (N = 195) of adopted children, adoptive parents, and birth parents each completed a measure of mathematics fluency (i.e., simple computational operations). Birth parent mathematics achievement and adoptive father mathematics achievement positively correlated with child achievement scores at age 7, whereas adoptive mother and adopted child mathematics achievement scores were not significantly associated with one another. Additionally, findings demonstrated no significant effects of gene-environment (GxE) interactions on child mathematics achievement at age 7. These results indicate that both heritable and rearing environmental factors contribute to children's mathematics achievement and identify unique influences of the paternal rearing environment on mathematics achievement in middle childhood.