Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Overview of modern approaches for identifying and evaluating heterogeneous treatment effects from clinical data

There has been much interest in the evaluation of heterogeneous treatment effects (HTE) and multiple statistical methods have emerged under the heading of personalized/precision medicine combining ideas from hypothesis testing, causal inference, and machine learning over the past 10-15 years. We discuss new ideas and approaches for evaluating HTE in randomized clinical trials and observational studies using the features introduced earlier by Lipkovich, Dmitrienko, and D’Agostino that distinguish principled methods from simplistic approaches to data-driven subgroup identification and estimating individual treatment effects and use a case study to illustrate these approaches. We identified and provided a high-level overview of several classes of modern statistical approaches for personalized/precision medicine, elucidated the underlying principles and challenges, and compared findings for a case study across different methods. Different approaches to evaluating HTEs may produce (and actually produced) highly disparate results when applied to a specific data set. Evaluating HTE with machine learning methods presents special challenges since most of machine learning algorithms are optimized for prediction rather than for estimating causal effects. An additional challenge is in that the output of machine learning methods is typically a “black box” that needs to be transformed into interpretable personalized solutions in order to gain acceptance and usability.
Patient-focused outcomes after initiation of dialysis for ESRD: mortality, hospitalization and functional impairment

ABSTRACT Background Outcome data regarding clinically relevant endpoints after starting dialysis for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are sparse, and early events after starting dialysis are particularly underestimated. The aim of this study was to describe patient-focused outcomes in ESRD patients starting from first dialysis. Methods The data basis for this retrospective observational study were anonymized healthcare data from Germany's largest statutory health insurer. We identified ESRD patients who initiated dialysis in 2017. Deaths, hospitalizations and occurrence of functional impairment within 4 years after starting dialysis were recorded starting from first treatment. Hazard ratios in dialysis patients compared with an age- and sex-matched reference population without dialysis were generated, stratified by age. Results The dialysis cohort included 10 328 ESRD patients who started dialysis in 2017. First dialysis was performed in-hospital for 7324 patients (70.9%), and 865 of these died during the same hospitalization. One-year mortality for ESRD patients initiating dialysis was 33.8%. Functional impairment occurred in 27.1% of patients, while 82.8% of patients required hospitalization within 1 year. Hazard ratios of dialysis patients compared with the reference population for mortality, functional impairment and hospitalization at 1-year were 8.6, 4.3 and 6.2. Dialysis patients <50 years were disproportionately affected, with >40-fold increased risk of adverse events compared with their peers. Conclusions The emergence of morbidity and mortality after starting dialysis for ESRD is significant, especially in younger patients. Patients have a right to be informed about the prognosis associated with their condition.
Clinical Decision Support: Evaluating the Development of a Tool for Nurses

VAR Healthcare is a clinical decision support system for nurses that aspires to become even more advanced. By applying The Five Rights model, we have evaluated the status and direction of its development to bring potential lacks or barriers into the fore. The evaluation shows that ensuring APIs that will allow the nurses to combine the assets of VAR Healthcare with information on individual patients from EPRs would bring advanced decision support to nurses. This would adhere to all the principles of the five rights model.
Laparoscopic Versus Robotic Gastric Cancer Surgery: Short-Term Outcomes-Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 25,521 Patients.

Background: Gastric cancer has the third highest cancer-related mortality worldwide. There is no consensus regarding the optimal surgical technique to perform curative resection surgery. Objective: Compare laparoscopic gastrectomy (LG) and robotic gastrectomy (RG) regarding short-term outcomes in patients with gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: This systematic review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We searched the following topics: "Gastrectomy," "Laparoscopic," and "Robotic Surgical Procedures. " The included studies compared short-term outcomes between LG and RG. Individual risk of bias was assessed with the Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies (MINORS) scale. Results: There was no significant difference between RG and LG regarding conversion rate, reoperation rate, mortality, overall complications, anastomotic leakage, distal and proximal resection margin distances, and recurrence rate. However, mean blood loss (mean difference [MD] -19.43 mL, P < .00001), length of hospital stay (MD -0.50 days, P = .0007), time to first flatus (MD -0.52 days, P < .00001), time to oral intake (MD -0.17 days, P = .0001), surgical complications with a Clavien-Dindo grade ≥III (risk ratio [RR] 0.68, P < .0001), and pancreatic complications (RR 0.51, P = .007) were significantly lower in the RG group. Furthermore, the number of retrieved lymph nodes was significantly higher in the RG group. Nevertheless, the RG group showed a significantly higher operation time (MD 41.19 minutes, P < .00001) and cost (MD 3684.27 U.S. Dollars, P < .00001). Conclusion: This meta-analysis supports the choice of robotic surgery over laparoscopy concerning relevant surgical complications. However, longer operation time and higher cost remain crucial limitations. Randomized clinical trials are required to clarify the advantages and disadvantages of RG.
Sacral Tarlov cysts: Neurophysiology abnormalities and correlation with pelvic sensory and visceral symptoms

Recent studies suggest a possible association between Tarlov cysts (TCs), usually considered as incidental radiological findings, and neurological symptoms such as pain, numbness and urogenital complaints. The aim was to explore the relationship between TCs and sacral nerve root functions using pelvic neurophysiology tests, and to correlate changes with clinical symptoms and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings.
Automated Classification of Exercise Exertion Levels Based on Real-Time Wearable Physiological Signal Monitoring

This study aimed to build machine learning (ML) algorithms for the automated classification of cycling exercise exertion levels using data from wearable devices. The best predictive features were selected using the minimum redundancy maximum relevance algorithm (mRMR). Top selected features were then used to build and assess the accuracy of five ML classifiers to predict the level of exertion. The Naïve Bayes showed the best F1 score of 79%. The proposed approach may be used for real-time monitoring of exercise exertion.
Impact of Physical Fitness on Reasons for Academy Release in Firefighter Trainees

Abstract Lockie, RG, Orr, RM, Montes, F, Ruvalcaba, TJ, and Dawes, JJ. Impact of physical fitness on reasons for academy release in firefighter trainees. J Strength Cond Res 37(7): 1515–1522, 2023—Firefighter trainees require a certain level of fitness to be admitted to and to complete a fire training academy. There is no research detailing whether there are fitness differences between trainees who graduate (GRAD) or those released due to either injury (RELI) or skills test performance failures (RELP). Archival data from 305 trainees (274 males and 31 females) were analyzed. Trainees completed the following fitness tests at the start of academy: Illinois agility test, metronome push-ups, pull-ups, leg tucks, multistage fitness test, backward overhead medicine ball throw (BOMBT) with a 4.54-kg ball, 10 repetition maximum deadlift, and a farmer's carry with 18-kg kettlebells over a 91.44-m course. Trainees were split into GRAD (245 males and 16 females), RELI (9 males and 1 female), and RELP (20 males and 14 females) groups. Kolmogorov-Smirnov data indicated most data were not normally distributed. Accordingly, Kruskal-Wallis H-tests, with Bonferroni post hoc, calculated between-group fitness test differences. Effect sizes were also derived. Except for the leg tuck and farmer's carry, the RELP group performed significantly poorer in all fitness tests compared with the GRAD group (p ≤ 0.032). The largest effects were seen for the BOMBT (d = 1.02), Illinois agility test, and 10 repetition maximum deadlift (both d = 0.78). There were no significant fitness test differences for the GRAD and RELI groups. Trainees with poorer fitness were more likely to be released from academy due to skills test failures. Multiple fitness components, but particularly muscular strength and power, should be developed in trainees to aid their ability to perform academy firefighting tasks.
Association of BCG Vaccine Treatment With Death and Dementia in Patients With Non–Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer

Key Points Question Does the BCG vaccine have a protective association with the risk of Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD)? Findings In this cohort study of 6467 patients with non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer, treatment with intravesical BCG vaccine was associated with a reduced risk of ADRD in the presence of death as a competing risk. However, the risk differences varied with time. Meaning The findings of this study suggest that bladder cancer treatment with BCG vaccine was associated with decreased mortality, and decreased ADRD, independently; clinical trials are required to study its efficacy beyond treatment in patients with bladder cancer.
Association of meal-specific protein intake and cardiometabolic risk factors: a cross-sectional study

Abstract We aimed to investigate the association of main meals’ specific protein intake with cardiometabolic risk factors, including general and abdominal obesity, serum lipid profile, and blood pressure (BP). This cross-sectional study was conducted on 850 subjects aged 20–59 years. Dietary intakes were assessed by completing three 24-h recalls, and the protein intake of each meal was extracted. Anthropometric measures, lipid profile, fasting blood sugar and BP were measured. Multivariate logistic regression controlling for age, physical activity, sex, marital status, smoking status, BMI and energy intake was applied to obtain OR and CI. The mean age was 42 years, and the mean BMI of the participants was 27·2. The mean protein intake for breakfast, lunch and dinner was 12·5, 22·2 and 18·7 g/d, respectively. After adjustment for confounders, higher protein intake was not associated with any of the cardiometabolic risk factors, including LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, total cholesterol (TC), TAG, body weight, BP and fasting plasma glucose, in any of the three main meals consumed within a day. Adherence to a higher protein intake at each meal was not associated with cardiometabolic risk factors in Iranian adults. Further prospective studies are needed to justify our findings.
Phytochemical Compounds and Antioxidants Analysis of Clinacanthus nutans Leaf and Stem Extracts

Clinacanthus nutans consists with multiple medicinal properties. The plant is also known to be a source of biologically active compounds, particularly those with an antioxidant capacity. The phytochemical studies of C. nutans plant extract was mostly reported from its leaf part. Thus, the objectives of this study are to assess the phytochemical constituents and antioxidant activity of C. nutans leaf and stem. Methanol was used as solvent for the green extraction. Next, phytochemical screening, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, total phenolic (TPC) and flavonoids contents (TFC), quercetin flavonoid compound analysis and in vitro antioxidant activity were performed on C. nutans leaf and stem. In comparison to stem extract, the leaf extract showed a more favorable appearance of metabolites. In FTIR analysis, both sample extracts revealed the presence of hydroxyl and carbonyl functional groups, which are important in antioxidant action. The TPC (228.06 mg GAE/g DW) and TFC (29.76 mg QE/g DW) values were higher in the leaf extract than the stem extract. Quercetin quantification in HPLC analysis revealed that the leaf extract (21.33 g/g) contained more quercetin than the stem extract (18.88 g/g). Between the extracts, leaf providing more antioxidant values of DPPH (15.50%) and FRAP (15.68 gFeSO4/g) than stem. The greatest association was identified between TFC and FRAP reducing activity (r = 0.977, p<0.05) indicating that the flavonoid present in the extract contributed to C. nutans' antioxidant capacity.
Reliability Test of Inkjet-Printable Silver Conductive Ink

Inkjet printing is a promising technique for fabricating printed electronics. This technique acquires the utilization of conductive ink to form a fine and thin resolution conductive structure on a flexible substrate. The challenges are to design a stable conductive ink with a controlled properties to prevent nozzle clogging. Furthermore, a fine structure construction often demonstrated poor device performance due low mechanical durability. In this work, we have characterized morphology of the newly developed inkjet-printable nanosilver conductive ink (Mi-Ag) in our laboratory. The ink shows a stable colloidal ink zeta potential of-79.1 mV with nanoparticle size less than 100 nm properties has been tailored for compatibility with inkjet printing of conductive pattern on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) flexible substrate. It has been ascertained that the flexible electronic form factor affects the quality of the physical and electrical properties of printed pattern and the device performance. Hence, the bending test of the printed RFID patterns fabricated with different layer of thicknesses was investigated. Electrical properties of the samples were monitored by in-situ conductivity and resistivity measurement under cyclic bending testing. Pattern with thinnest layer of 1. 31μm (1X) had the smallest electrical properties percentage drop (38.4%) at 12,000 bending cycles due to the fact that in thick layer, the interparticle network started to change during bending and became weaker due to the large amount of the particles in the dense printed layer. In contrast, printed device exhibited minimal increase in resistivity. Consequently the particle gap increased which allowed the movement of electrons, leading to the increased of electrical resistance. The device endurance characteristic is crucial to satisfy future design requirement of flexible electronic applications.
Racism and censorship in the editorial and peer review process

Psychology aims to capture the diversity of our human experience, yet racial inequity ensures only specific experiences are studied, peer-reviewed, and eventually published. Despite recent publications on racial bias in research topics, study samples, academic teams, and publication trends, bias in the peer review process remains largely unexamined. Drawing on compelling case study examples from APA and other leading international journals, this article proposes key mechanisms underlying racial bias and censorship in the editorial and peer review process, including bias in reviewer selection, devaluing racialized expertise, censorship of critical perspectives, minimal consideration of harm to racialized people, and the publication of unscientific and racist studies. The field of psychology needs more diverse researchers, perspectives, and topics to reach its full potential and meet the mental health needs of communities of colour. Several recommendations are called for to ensure the APA can centre racial equity throughout the editorial and review process.
Cooperation and competition between the default mode network and frontal parietal network in the elderly

Recent research has shown that the Default Mode Network (DMN) typically exhibits increased activation during processing of social and personal information but shows deactivation during working memory (WM) tasks. Previously, we reported the Frontal Parietal Network (FPN) and DMN showed coactivation during task preparation whereas the DMN exhibited deactivation during task execution in working memory tasks. Aging research has shown that older adults exhibited decreased functional connectivity in the DMN relative to younger adults. Here, we investigated whether age-related cognitive decline is related to a reduced relationship between the FPN and DMN using a working memory task during the execution period. First, we replicated our previous finding that the FPN and DMN showed coactivation during the preparation period, whereas the DMN showed deactivation during the execution period. The older adults showed reduced DMN activity during task preparation and reduced deactivation during task execution; however, they exhibited a higher magnitude of activation in the FPN than the young individuals during task execution. Functional connectivity analyses showed that the elderly group, compared to the young group, showed weaker correlations within the FPN and the DMN, weaker positive correlations between the FPN and DMN during task preparation, and weaker negative correlations between the FPN and DMN during execution. The results suggest that cognitive decline in the older adults might be related to reduced connectivity within the DMN as well as between the FPN and DMN.
Cord blood fatty acid binding protein 4 and lipids in infants born small- or large-for-gestational-age

Aim Adverse (poor or excessive) fetal growth “programs” an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes. Fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) has been implicated in regulating insulin sensitivity and lipid metabolism relevant to fetal growth. We sought to determine whether FABP4 is associated with poor or excessive fetal growth and fetal lipids. Methods In a nested case-control study in the Shanghai Birth Cohort including 60 trios of small-for-gestational-age (SGA, an indicator of poor fetal growth), large-for-gestational-age (LGA, an indicator of excessive fetal growth) and optimal-for-gestational-age (OGA, control) infants, we measured cord blood concentrations of FABP4 and lipids [high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterols, triglycerides (TG)]. Results Adjusting for maternal and neonatal characteristics, higher cord blood FABP4 concentrations were associated with a lower odds of SGA [OR = 0.29 (0.11–0.77) per log unit increment in FABP4, P = 0.01], but were not associated with LGA (P = 0.46). Cord blood FABP4 was positively correlated with both LDL (r = 0.29, P = 0.025) and HDL (r = 0.33, P = 0.01) in LGA infants only. Conclusion FABP4 was inversely associated with the risk of SGA. The study is the first to demonstrate LGA-specific positive correlations of cord blood FABP4 with HDL and LDL cholesterols, suggesting a role of FABP4 in fetal lipid metabolism in subjects with excessive fetal growth.
Four attachment-based categories of emotion regulation in adolescent psychic troubles

Introduction Emotion regulation is altered in many psychiatric disorders in adolescence, but the understanding of mechanisms that underlie this alteration is still poor. Methods The PERCEPT study explores alexithymia, empathy, facial emotion recognition (FER) and defence mechanisms in a sample of adolescents in psychiatric care (n = 61, 74% of girls, mean age = 15.03 y.o.), in relation with participants’ attachment styles. Results Results revealed correlations between attachment dimensions and all of the emotion regulation variables, suggesting that attachment modalities have functional links with emotional regulation at its different levels: FER accuracy was inversely correlated with avoidant attachment, while affective empathy, difficulty in identifying feelings (alexithymia) and immature as well as neurotic defence mechanisms were positively correlated with anxious attachment. Moreover, attachment categories delineated distinct emotional perception profiles. In particular, preoccupied attachment included adolescents with the highest levels of facial emotion perception (sensitivity and accuracy) and of affective empathy, whereas detached attachment included adolescents with the lowest levels of these variables. Neurotic defence mechanisms and difficulty to identify feelings were correlated with preoccupied attachment; immature defence mechanisms and difficulty to describe feelings to others characterized fearful attachment. Discussion These results suggest that attachment categories underlie emotion regulation processes in psychiatric disorders in adolescence. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
Genetic alterations in LEP and ADIPOQ genes and risk for breast cancer: a meta-analysis

Introduction Breast cancer has a strong genetic predisposition, and its genetic architecture is not fully understood thus far. In this study, we aimed to perform a meta-analysis to evaluate the association of genetic alterations in LEP and ADIPOQ genes, as well as their receptor-encoded genes with risk for breast cancer. Methods Only published studies conducted in humans and written in English were identified by searching PubMed, SCOPUS, CINAHIL and Embase from their inception to October 2022. Eligibility assessment and data collection were completed independently by two researchers. Statistical analyses were done using the STATA software. Results After literature search, 33 publications were eligible for inclusion. Overall, LEP gene rs7799039-G allele (odds ratio [OR]: 0.78, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.62 to 0.98) and ADIPOQ gene rs1501299-T allele (OR: 1.41, 95% CI: 1.06 to 1.88) were associated with the significant risk of breast cancer. In subgroup analyses, differences in menopausal status, obesity, race, study design, diagnosis of breast cancer, genotyping method and sample size might account for the divergent observations of individual studies. Circulating leptin levels were comparable across genotypes of LEP gene rs7799039, as well as that of LEPR gene rs1137101 (P>0.05). Begg’s funnel plots seemed symmetrical, with the exception of LEPR gene rs1137100 and ADIPOQ gene rs1501299. Discussion Taken together, we found, in this meta-analysis, that LEP gene rs7799039 and ADIPOQ gene rs1501299 were two promising candidate loci in predisposition to breast cancer risk.
Homogenization for degenerate operators with periodical coefficient with respect to the Heisenberg group

Nous considerons le probleme de l'homogeneisation d'operateurs elliptiques degeneres associes au groupe homogene de Heisenberg, a coefficients fortement oscillants, periodiques par rapport au groupe de Heisenberg. Nous utilisons la methode de l'energie pour identifier le probleme homogeneise.