Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Apoptotic Cells for Therapeutic Use in Cytokine Storm Associated With Sepsis– A Phase Ib Clinical Trial

Background Sepsis has no proven specific pharmacologic treatment and reported mortality ranges from 30%–45%. The primary aim of this phase IB study was to determine the safety profile of Allocetra™-OTS (early apoptotic cell) infusion in subjects presenting to the emergency room with sepsis. The secondary aims were to measure organ dysfunction, intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital stays, and mortality. Exploratory endpoints included measuring immune modulator agents to elucidate the mechanism of action. Methods Ten patients presenting to the emergency room at the Hadassah Medical Center with sepsis were enrolled in this phase Ib clinical study. Enrolled patients were males and females aged 51–83 years, who had a Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score ≥2 above baseline and were septic due to presumed infection. Allocetra™-OTS was administered as a single dose (day +1) or in two doses of 140×106 cells/kg on (day +1 and +3), following initiation of standard-of-care (SOC) treatment for septic patients. Safety was evaluated by serious adverse events (SAEs) and adverse events (AEs). Organ dysfunction, ICU and hospital stays, and mortality, were compared to historical controls. Immune modulator agents were measured using Luminex® multiplex analysis. Results All 10 patients had mild-to-moderate sepsis with SOFA scores ranging from 2–6 upon entering the study. No SAEs and no related AEs were reported. All 10 study subjects survived, while matched historical controls had a mortality rate of 27%. The study subjects exhibited rapid resolution of organ dysfunction and had significantly shorter ICU stays compared to matched historical controls (p<0.0001). All patients had both elevated pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and additional immune modulators that gradually decreased following treatment. Conclusion Administration of apoptotic cells to patients with mild-to-moderate sepsis was safe and had a significant immuno-modulating effect, leading to early resolution of the cytokine storm. Clinical Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03925857. (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT03925857).
Initial vancomycin for first episode non-severe Clostridium difficile infection

Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is an important cause of nosocomial diarrhea. Given the discrepancy in current treatment guidelines for mild CDI, we sought to evaluate the use of first-line vancomycin for the treatment of non-severe infection. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all adult inpatients with first episode CDI at our institution from January 2013 to May 2018. CDI was defined as a positive C. difficile loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay, in conjunction with [≥]3 type 5-7 stools on the Bristol stool scale. To evaluate the impact of first-line vancomycin treatment on adverse clinical outcomes in patients with first episode non-severe CDI, the initial vancomycin vs. initial metronidazole cohorts were first examined in an unadjusted logistic regression analysis for any combination of relapse, recurrence, and all-cause 30-day mortality, followed by an adjusted multivariable analysis. Results: A total of 737 cases were included. Patients had a median age of 72.3 years (Q1: 61.2, Q3: 83.3) and 628 (85.2%) were classified as non-severe CDI. Among patients with non-severe CDI (n = 628), relapse, recurrence, and mortality rates were 17.4%, 7.0%, and 11.4%, respectively, when treated with initial metronidazole, compared to 18.6%, 3.1%, and 7.8%, respectively, when treated with initial vancomycin. In an adjusted multivariable analysis, the use of first-line vancomycin for the treatment of non-severe CDI was associated with a reduction in recurrence or 30-day mortality (ORadj: 0.51; 95%CI: 0.28-0.94; P=0.03). Conclusions: Initial vancomycin was associated with reduced recurrence or all-cause 30-day mortality in the treatment of adult inpatients with first episode non-severe CDI. Our findings support the use of initial vancomycin for all C. difficile inpatients, irrespective of disease severity, as recommended by Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines.
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in COVID-19 Infection and Mortality in the United States: A state-wise update

Objectives: To evaluate COVID-19 infection and mortality in ethnic and racial sub-groups across all states in the United States. Methods: Publicly available data from The COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic was accessed between 09/09/2020 and 09/14/2020. For each state and the District of Columbia, % infection, % death, % population proportion for subgroups of race (African American (AA), Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, (AI/AN) and White), and ethnicity (Hispanic/Latino, and non-Hispanic), were recorded. Absolute and relative excess infection (AEI and REI) and mortality (AEM and REM) were computed as absolute and relative difference between % infection or % mortality and % population proportion for each state. Median (IQR) REI is provided below. Results: The Hispanic population had a median of 158% higher COVID-19 infection relative to their % population proportion (median REI 158%, [IQR: 100% to 200%]). This was followed by AA, with 50% higher COVID-19 infection relative to their % population proportion (median REI, 50% [IQR 25% to 100%]). The AA population had the most disproportionate mortality with a median of 46% higher mortality than % population proportion, (median REM 46% [IQR, 18% to 66%]). Disproportionate impact of COVID-19 was also seen in AI/AN and Asian population with 100% excess infections than % population proportion seen in 35 states for Hispanic, 14 states for AA, 9 states for AIAN, and 7 states for Asian populations. There was no disproportionate impact in the white population in any state. Conclusions: Racial/ethnic minorities (AA, Hispanic, AIAN and Asian populations) are disproportionately affected by COVID 19 infection and mortality nationwide. These findings underscore the role of social determinants of health in explaining the disparate impact of SARS-CoV-2 on vulnerable demographic groups, as well as the opportunity to improve outcomes in chronically marginalized populations.
Vaccine acceptance among college students in South Carolina: Do information sources and trust in information make a difference?

Background: To control the COVID-19 pandemic, governments need to ensure a successful large-scale administration of COVID-19 vaccines when safe and efficacious vaccines become available. Vaccine acceptance could be a critical factor influencing vaccine uptake. Health information has been associated with vaccine acceptance. For college students who are embracing a digital era and being exposed to multimedia, the sources of COVID-19 vaccine information and their trust in these sources may play an important role in shaping their acceptance of vaccine uptake. Methods: In September 2020, we conducted an online survey among 1062 college students in South Carolina to understand their perceptions and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination. Descriptive analysis and linear regression analysis were used to investigate vaccine information sources among college students and examine how COVID-19 vaccine acceptance was associated with information source and trust level in each source. Results: The top three sources of COVID-19 vaccine information were health agencies (57.7%), mass media (49.5%), and personal social networks (40.5%). About 83.1% of the participants largely or always trusted scientists, 73.9% trusted healthcare providers, and 70.2% trusted health agencies. After controlling for key demographics, vaccine acceptance was positively associated with scientists as information sources but negatively associated with pharmaceutical companies as sources. Higher trust levels in mass media, health agencies, scientists, and pharmaceutical companies was significantly associated with higher COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. However, trust in social media was negatively associated with vaccine acceptance. Discussion: College students use multiple sources to learn about upcoming COVID-19 vaccines including health agencies, personal networks, and social media. The level of trust in these information sources play a critical role in predicting vaccine acceptance. Trust in health authorities and scientists rather than social media is related to higher level vaccine acceptance. Our findings echo the call for restoring trust in government, healthcare system, scientists, and pharmaceutical industries in the COVID-19 era and highlight the urgency to dispel misinformation in social media. Effective strategies are needed to disseminate accurate information about COVID-19 vaccine from health authorities and scientific research to improve vaccine communication to the public and promote COVID-19 vaccine uptake.
Adsorption and Reactivity of NO and N2O on Cu{110}: Combined RAIRS and Molecular Beam Studies

The interaction of NO with Cu{110} is complex and is strongly dependent on both coverage and temperature, When Cu{110} is exposed to NO in the temperature range 40-85 K, initial adsorption leads to the presence of molecular NO on the surface, With further exposure this is replaced by the dimeric (NO)(2) species and N2O. Below 60 K, subsequent adsorption leads to the formation of multilayers of (NO)(2). A detailed molecular beam study shows that adsorption is accompanied by the appearance of a range of gaseous reaction products. At 85 K, beaming of NO at a Cu{110} surface results in a large uptake of NO, which leads to gaseous N-2 and N2O production followed by a sudden saturation of the surface. The observed gaseous products are. derived from adsorbed N2O formed on the surface upon exposure to NO, which dissociates to give the observed gaseous N-2 and O-ad. This was confirmed in independent experiments with N2O beams, demonstrating gaseous N-2 production at 85 K. Saturation of the surface with O-ad results in a sudden fall in NO uptake. At higher temperatures N-ad, which associatively desorbs as N-2 at similar to 800 K, is also produced on the surface by dissociation of incident NO. The NO dissociative sticking probability passes through a maximum. at 200 K, with an anomalously sharp fall between 220 and 300 K.
Conceptualizing Belief Structures of Preservice Secondary Mathematics Teachers.

This is a study of the beliefs and belief structures of 4 preservice secondary mathematics teachers as they progressed through a 4-quarter sequence in mathematics education including student teaching. We considered the notions of centrally and peripherally held beliefs and whether beliefs were held dualistically or contextually. The various ways in which the teachers structured their beliefs helped account for the fact that some beliefs were permeable whereas others were not. The nature of the evidence supporting the teachers' beliefs was considered particularly as that evidence related to the voices of significant others or to what the individuals valued. A scheme for conceptualizing the professional development of preservice teachers is posited.
Treatment of Severe COVID-19 with Convalescent Plasma in the Bronx, NYC

Convalescent plasma with severe acute respiratory disease coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies (CCP) may hold promise as treatment for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). We compared the mortality and clinical outcome of patients with COVID-19 who received 200mL of CCP with a Spike protein IgG titer [≥]1:2,430 (median 1:47,385) within 72 hours of admission to propensity score-matched controls cared for at a medical center in the Bronx, between April 13 to May 4, 2020. Matching criteria for controls were age, sex, body mass index, race, ethnicity, comorbidities, week of admission, oxygen requirement, D-dimer, lymphocyte counts, corticosteroids, and anticoagulation use. There was no difference in mortality or oxygenation between CCP recipients and controls at day 28. When stratified by age, compared to matched controls, CCP recipients <65 years had 4-fold lower mortality and 4-fold lower deterioration in oxygenation or mortality at day 28. For CCP recipients, pre-transfusion Spike protein IgG, IgM and IgA titers were associated with mortality at day 28 in univariate analyses. No adverse effects of CCP were observed. Our results suggest CCP may be beneficial for hospitalized patients <65 years, but data from controlled trials is needed to validate this finding and establish the effect of ageing on CCP efficacy.
Effects of cultivar and growth season on the gelatinisation properties of cassava (manihot esculenta) starch

Starch was extracted from the roots of four different cassava cultivars (Munihot esculenta Crantz) grown in Colombia and harvested on four different occasions with a view to determining whether there was any relationship between the physicochemical properties of the starch and the texture of the cooked roots. The organoleptic quality of the cooked roots was evaluated by a trained taste panel and found to vary in terms of both their glassy texture and their hardness. Studies of the gelatinisation behaviour of the starches by DSC and amylography (with a Brabender amylograph), of the pasting properties by viscography and of the viscoelastic characteristics by a Bohlin rheometer demonstrated some differences between the physicochemical properties of the starches but insufficient to account for the pronounced textual differences.
Drumlinization and drumlin-forming instabilities: viscous till mechanisms

Abstract Glacially induced flow naturally tends to thin and extended till cover through shock formation, even in the absence of longitudinal gradients in the applied stress. Thicker till cover has an increased effective pressure at its surface and base, a lower sliding velocity or deformation rate and above a critical thickness, a decrease in wave velocity with thickness, leading to reverse-facing shocks moving downstream. For sliding and for some theologies of internal deformation, a decrease in sediment flux with thickness occurs, implying backward-moving kinematic waves and reverse-facing, reverse-moving shock. Downstream-facing shocks are also formed which move upstream if the till is sliding and downstream if the till is deforming internally. Eventually, shocks coalesce, leaving an upstream-lacing shock for sliding and a downstream-facing shock for internal deformation. It is observed that some drumlins have downstream blunt ends only. Fairly realistic three-dimensional drumlin shapes can be produced from symmetric sediment bodies and barchan shapes can be produced from linear forms perpendicular to the ice-sheet flow. The fact that viscous theories produce drumlinoid forms suggests that on this scale till behaves viscously and the the lower length scale for drumlins represents the plastic/viscous transition scale.
Soil test methods: Past, present, and future use of soil extractants

Abstract A review of methods for soil extraction used in the United States is given starting from the early 1940s to today. With the use of multielement analyzers, primarily the inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometer (ICP‐AES), extraction procedures being adopted today are those with multielement capabilities, such as Mehlich No. 3 and ammonium bicarbonate‐DTPA (AB‐DTPA).
Genetic resistance to bacterial diseases of animals

Summary Despite traditional disease control measures, losses attributable to infectious diseases continue to impede the livestock industries. An alternative approach to this problem is genetic disease resistance involving both immune and non-immune mechanisms, which is the inherent capacity of a previously unexposed animal to resist disease when challenged by pathogens. Although the nurturing environment influences variability in disease expression, natural resistance has been found to be inheritable and is transmitted from parent to offspring. Thus, an alternative approach to enhancing animal health management systems is to increase the overall level of genetic resistance at herd and population levels by using selective breeding programmes. The purpose of this review is to bring veterinarians, regulatory officials, industry representatives and animal technicians up to date with the principles and applications of genetic resistance as an adjunct to traditional interventions to control bacterial diseases of livestock. Although genetic resistance to bacterial diseases is often regulated by multiple genes controlling different processes of the host-pathogen interaction, the genetics of natural resistance is being unravelled increasingly by identificatio n and characterisation of candidate genes, microsatellite markers and comparative gene mapping, to develop more practical methods of application.
Influence of food withdrawal at various times preslaughter on carcass yield and meat quality in sheep

Castrated male crossbred lambs were fed a complete pelleted diet ad libitum for 4 weeks prior to slaughter at a liveweight of about 32 kg. Forty lambs were killed directly off feed and forty each after 24, 48 and 72 h from food withdrawal. They had access to water at all times. Fasting had a significant effect on the weights of all body components examined except the combined fleece and feet. Liveweight was lost slightly more rapidly over the initial 24 h after food withdrawal, and this was attributable mainly to a 20% decrease in the weight of the gut contents. The overall rate of liveweight loss between 0 and 72 h was 0.14% h−1. The corresponding loss of carcass weight was 0.085% h−1, some reduction in yield being evident by 24 h of fast although a significant effect was seen only after 48 h. Liver weight was lost most rapidly (0.69% h−1) over the initial 24 h but continued to be lost throughout fasting. Associated with the initial decrease in liver weight was a rapid loss of glycogen to very low levels by 24 h after food withdrawal. Fasting also reduced muscle glycogen concentrations but had no large or consistent effects on ultimate pH, reflectance or water-holding capacity.
Spleen Stiffness Predicts Survival after Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt in Cirrhotic Patients

Objectives Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) is an effective intervention for portal hypertensive complications. Little is known about the ability of spleen stiffness (SS) for predicting the survival of cirrhotic patients undergoing TIPS. This study is to evaluate the influence of SS detected by point shear wave elastography (pSWE) in predicting survival after TIPS. Methods This retrospective cohort study screened consecutive patients who underwent TIPS and reliable pSWE measurement between October 2014 and September 2017 from our prospectively maintained database. SS values were measured before TIPS. The primary endpoint was the overall survival after TIPS. The Cox regression analysis model was used for univariate and multivariate analyses. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to calculate the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values. Results A total of 89 patients were involved in the final analysis. 24 patients (27.0%) died during a median follow-up time of 31 m. Multivariable Cox regression analysis confirmed that higher SS value (P < 0.001), LS value (P = 0.008), diameter of shunt (P = 0.001), and older age (P < 0.001) were independent prognostic factors of survival after TIPS. The risk of death rose 57.440-fold for each SS unit (m/s) increase. SS was also correlated with liver failure after TIPS. ROC analysis showed that the best SS cutoff value was 3.60 m/s for predicting survival, with a sensitivity of 54.2% and specificity of 90.8%. Conclusions The SS value determined by pSWE in cirrhotic patients was an independent predictive factor for survival after TIPS.
Towards Medicines Reuse: A Narrative Review of the Different Therapeutic Classes and Dosage Forms of Medication Waste in Different Countries

Background: Medicines reuse, the idea of re-dispensing returned medicines to others following quality control, is yet to be implemented in the UK. This practice is potentially a sustainable way of dealing with returned medicines, which are otherwise classed as medication waste and destroyed. To inch towards medicines reuse, it is important to know more about the different therapeutic classes and dosage forms that make up medication waste. For example, it is helpful to know if medicines being returned are mostly solid-dosage forms and thus have the potential to be reused or are from therapeutic classes that would make medicines reuse cost-effective. Little is known about the therapeutic classes and the dosage forms of wasted medicines. This study aimed to narratively review and report findings from the international literature on the different therapeutic classes and the dosage forms of medicines that are returned by patients to community pharmacies, hospitals, general practitioners’ clinics, or collected through waste campaigns. Studies based on surveys without physically returning medicines were also included where relevant. Methods: A comprehensive electronic search of databases, including PubMed and Google Scholar, was carried out over one month in 2017 and updated by 5 November 2020, using a combination of carefully created keywords. Results: Forty-five studies published in English between 2002 and 2020, comprising data from 26 countries were included and reviewed. Oral solid dosage forms (mostly tablets) were the commonly reported dosage form of all wasted medicines in 14 studies out of the 22 studies (64%) that described the dosage form, with percentages ranging from 40.6% to 95.6% of all wasted medicines. Although there was variability among the levels of medication waste reported in different countries, findings from the UK and Ethiopia were relatively consistent; in these, medicines for the cardiovascular system and anti-infective medicines, respectively, were the most common therapeutic classes for medication waste. Conclusion: This narrative review provides insights about the different therapeutic classes and dosage forms of medication waste either returned by patients, collected through waste campaigns, or indicated in survey responses. The findings could help policy makers understand the potential implications of treating most unused medicines as medication waste and whether therefore pursuing a medicines reuse scheme could be environmentally or financially logical. The quality and the safety of these returned medicines using criteria related to the storage conditions (such as heat and humidity), physical shape (such as being sealed, unopened, unused, and in blister packaging), and tampering are other important considerations for a medicines reuse scheme.