Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of a novel extract of fenugreek seeds in alleviating vasomotor symptoms and depression in perimenopausal women: A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study.

The present randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study investigated the effect of a standardized fenugreek extract (FHE) on perimenopausal discomforts and its influence on hormonal balance and safety. Healthy women characterized with perimenopausal symptoms (n = 48), as assessed by MRS questionnaire, were randomized either to FHE (n = 24) or placebo (n = 24) and supplemented with 250 mg × 2/day for 42 days. Both inter and intra-group comparison revealed a significant improvement in somatic, psychological, and urogenital scores in FHE group, especially for hot flashes (25.9%), night sweats (26.5%), depression (31.8%), and insomnia (21.6%). Further hormone analysis revealed an enhancement in serum estradiol (18.9%), free testosterone (38.2%), and progesterone (19.9%) concentrations and a significant decrease in FSH (38.2%) and SHBG (21.1%) concentrations toward establishing a hormonal balance among FHE-group; without significant changes in other clinical safety parameters. Thus, FHE supplementation offered a significant reduction in vasomotor effects and depression in perimenopausal women, without any adverse effects PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Fenugreek is a popular kitchen spice and Ayurvedic medicine for a variety of health conditions including diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hepatotoxicity, gastritis, and also for a variety of hormone-related health conditions such as sexual functions, lactation, osteoporosis, PCOS, and post/perimenopausal discomforts. Fenugreek is rich in alkaloids, steroidal saponins, flavonoids and 4-hydroxyisoleucine. The present randomized-controlled study investigated the plausible application of a standardized hydro-ethanolic extract of fenugreek seeds (FHE) having a unique 3:1 ratio for protodioscin to trigonelline in the management of perimenopausal discomforts. It was observed that FHE at a dosage of 250 mg × 2/day for 42 days significantly reduced the discomforts, especially vasomotor symptoms and depression, and helped to attain a hormonal balance without any adverse effects or deviations in clinical safety parameters. Thus, FHE could be a potential natural agent for the management of post and perimenopausal discomforts and has to be explored in future studies.
Art Therapy for Psychosocial Problems in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Narrative Review on Art Therapeutic Means and Forms of Expression, Therapist Behavior, and Supposed Mechanisms of Change

Background: Art therapy (AT) is frequently offered to children and adolescents with psychosocial problems. AT is an experiential form of treatment in which the use of art materials, the process of creation in the presence and guidance of an art therapist, and the resulting artwork are assumed to contribute to the reduction of psychosocial problems. Although previous research reports positive effects, there is a lack of knowledge on which (combination of) art therapeutic components contribute to the reduction of psychosocial problems in children and adolescents. Method: A systematic narrative review was conducted to give an overview of AT interventions for children and adolescents with psychosocial problems. Fourteen databases and four electronic journals up to January 2020 were systematically searched. The applied means and forms of expression, therapist behavior, supposed mechanisms of change, and effects were extracted and coded. Results: Thirty-seven studies out of 1,299 studies met the inclusion criteria. This concerned 16 randomized controlled trials, eight controlled trials, and 13 single-group pre–post design studies. AT interventions for children and adolescents are characterized by a variety of materials/techniques, forms of structure such as giving topics or assignments, and the use of language. Three forms of therapist behavior were seen: non-directive, directive, and eclectic. All three forms of therapist behavior, in combination with a variety of means and forms of expression, showed significant effects on psychosocial problems. Conclusions: The results showed that the use of means and forms of expression and therapist behavior is applied flexibly. This suggests the responsiveness of AT, in which means and forms of expression and therapist behavior are applied to respond to the client's needs and circumstances, thereby giving positive results for psychosocial outcomes. For future studies, presenting detailed information on the potential beneficial effects of used therapeutic perspectives, means, art techniques, and therapist behavior is recommended to get a better insight into (un)successful art therapeutic elements.
Corn Expressing Cry1Ab Endotoxin for Management of Fall Armyworm and Corn Earworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Silage Production

Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith), and corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea Boddie, perennially cause leaf and ear damage to corn for silage production in the southeastern United States. Transgenic hybrids expressing the Cry1Ab (MON810 event) insecticidal endotoxin from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) were evaluated for management of fall armyworm and corn earworm in central Georgia during 2006 and 2007. Hybrids with a temperate or semitropical background were planted at the recommended time in mid-April and in late June to simulate a double-crop corn planting. Whorl infestation and damage by fall armyworm was significantly reduced in hybrids with the Bt trait when infestations were large. Fall armyworm infestation levels and damage were similar in both temperate and semitropical types. Hybrids with the Bt trait also had a small reduction in ear infestation and less kernel damage in ears infested by corn earworm than susceptible hybrids in most trials. Corn earworm infestation level were less in the semitropical than the temperate hybrids in 2006 but were not different in 2007. Silage yield was not significantly different among hybrids with and without the Bt trait in the first planting in both years. The Bt trait prevented significant yield loss of 17.1% during the second planting in 2006 when fall armyworm whorl infestations exceeded 39% in susceptible hybrids, but did not significantly affect silage yield in the late planting in 2007 when fall armyworm infestations were low. Temperate hybrids yielded more than semitropical hybrids in the early planting, but the semitropical type tended to perform better in the late planting. Corn silage quality as measured by neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and crude protein content did not differ among hybrids with or without the Bt trait indicating silage dry matter yield was the main silage component affected by the Bt trait and insect damage.
Network Controllability Analysis of Three Multiple-myeloma Patient Genetic Mutation Datasets

Network controllability focuses on the concept of driving the dynamical system associated to a directed network of interactions from an arbitrary initial state to an arbitrary final state, through a well-chosen set of input functions applied in a minimal number of so-called input nodes. In earlier studies we and other groups demonstrated the potential of applying this concept in medicine. A directed network of interactions may be built around the main known drivers of the disease being studied, and then analysed to identify combinations of drug targets controlling survivability-essential genes in the network. This paper takes the next step and focuses on patient data. We demonstrate that comprehensive protein-protein interaction networks can be built around patient genetic data, and that network controllability can be used to identify possible personalised drug combinations. We discuss the algorithmic methods that can be used to construct and analyse these networks.
Effects of Nesting Sparrowhawks on Nesting Tits

the hawk nests and thus to analyze the predator's effect on the prey population. The Sparrowhawks are major predators of the tits, taking 20-25% of the population during the breeding season. The number of breeding tits in the woods has not decreased since Sparrowhawks returned to breed in 1973 after their disappearance in the mid-1960's, which was due presumably to pesticides. There has, however, been a significant decrease in the number of breeding tits that were born in the woods, with a corresponding increase in the number of breeding tits that are immigrants (unpubl. data). Only one instance of nesting depression caused by a predator has been documentedin Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) preyed upon by Goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) in Minnesota (Eng and Gullion 1962). Brown and Amadon (1968) stated for Sparrowhawks that "Since the male does not normally kill near the nest this results in a population of undisturbed birds near it. " I shall demonstrate
Sociodemographic Pattern of Postmenopausal Women and Health Issues: A Study in Rural Bathinda, Punjab

Background: The diminishing hormonal concentrations in women after menopause may trap them into a number of reproductive health deficits. Their lifestyle, occupation, dietary constituents, etc., affect the overall health. Unfortunately, women belonging to rural areas lack basic amenities and cultural aspects give them a backseat to pay heed to personal health. Therefore, it is important to take into consideration the demographic profile of rural women. Objective: The objective of the study is to evaluate postmenopausal women of rural Punjab for sociodemographic, reproductive parameters and health issues. Results: This study analyzed 425 women showing a high rate of illiteracy (74.6%), agricultural occupancy (85.2%), and consumption of vegetarian food (94.4%). The mean age at menarche and menopause was observed as 14.04 ± 1.12 and 47.97 ± 3.4 years, respectively. The most frequent complaints were fatigue (70.4%), backache (69.4), breathing problems (52.2%), and abdominal discomfort (43.1%). Conclusion: Later age at menopause in women was found concurrent with involvement in agriculture and exposure to pesticides. Delayed menopause may indicate a risk of reproductive cancers while protection in cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, age at menopause and dependent sociodemographic parameters should be considered important tools in determining the reproductive health of aging women. Large-scale studies dealing with this health aspect are warranted at village level.
Association of Menopausal Symptoms with Overweight and Obesity among Rural Middle Aged Women in North India: A Population Based Study

Background: Overweight and obesity are important determinant of increasing morbidity among all age groups, including menopausal women. The symptoms of menopause have a negative impact on the quality of life. Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity in menopausal women and also to find its association with menopausal symptoms and sociodemographic variables. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted among middle-aged women (40–60 years) from April 2018 to March 2019. The Menopausal Rating Scale was used to assess the severity of menopausal symptoms in 400 women, and data were collected for sociodemographic factors, menstrual history in the past month, and personal history. Results: About 35.5% of menopausal women were overweight/obese (26% overweight and 9.5% obese) with average body mass index of 23.9 ± 4.84 and mean age of 53.65 ± 5.11 years Joint and muscular discomfort (P = 0.001), hypertension (P = 0.014), literacy level (P = 0.009), and socioeconomic status (P = 0.01) were significantly associated with overweight/obesity. With reference to women with no/little somatic and urogenital complaints, the odds of developing obesity was more (adjusted odds) in patients with mild (odds ratio [OR] - 2.8), moderate (OR - 2.1), and severe (2.19) somatic complaints and also higher risk in patients with mild (OR-3.2), moderate (OR - 1.1), and severe (OR - 1.74) urogenital symptoms. The age of menopause was significantly more among overweight than normal-weight women (P = 0.033). Conclusion: Overweight and obesity associated with menopause require increased attention and a multidisciplinary approach to women's health to prevent morbidity in this population group.
Non-Rigid Respiratory Motion Estimation of Whole-Heart Coronary MR Images Using Unsupervised Deep Learning

Non-rigid motion-corrected reconstruction has been proposed to account for the complex motion of the heart in free-breathing 3D coronary magnetic resonance angiography (CMRA). This reconstruction framework requires efficient and accurate estimation of non-rigid motion fields from undersampled images at different respiratory positions (or bins). However, state-of-the-art registration methods can be time-consuming. This article presents a novel unsupervised deep learning-based strategy for fast estimation of inter-bin 3D non-rigid respiratory motion fields for motion-corrected free-breathing CMRA. The proposed 3D respiratory motion estimation network (RespME-net) is trained as a deep encoder-decoder network, taking pairs of 3D image patches extracted from CMRA volumes as input and outputting the motion field between image patches. Using image warping by the estimated motion field, a loss function that imposes image similarity and motion smoothness is adopted to enable training without ground truth motion field. RespME-net is trained patch-wise to circumvent the challenges of training a 3D network volume-wise which requires large amounts of GPU memory and 3D datasets. We perform 5-fold cross-validation with 45 CMRA datasets and demonstrate that RespME-net can predict 3D non-rigid motion fields with subpixel accuracy (0.44 ± 0.38 mm) within ~10 seconds, being ~20 times faster than a GPU-implemented state-of-the-art non-rigid registration method. Moreover, we perform non-rigid motion-compensated CMRA reconstruction for 9 additional patients. The proposed RespME-net has achieved similar motion-corrected CMRA image quality to the conventional registration method regarding coronary artery length and sharpness.
Interpretation of maternal blood glucose during pregnancy at high altitude area, Abha-Saudi Arabia

Background and Aims: In women who reside at high altitude, fasting plasma glucose is lower than at sea level, and further decrease of fasting blood glucose was noticed during pregnancy. This study aimed to set cutoff level of fasting plasma glucose during pregnancy at high altitude. The obtained data intended for interpretation of gestational blood sugar results and early detection of those who at risk of developing gestational diabetes. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the cutoff level of fasting plasma glucose during pregnancy at high altitude. The subjects were pregnant women who attending the routine antenatal care at Abha Maternity Hospital and Mahayil Aseer Maternity hospital. Plasma glucose concentrations and Body Mass Index (BMI), socio-demographic and obstetric data were entered into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Comparison amongst these variables were carried out through t test (numerical variables) and Chi Square test (proportions). A P value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The overall results obtained indicated that the fasting plasma glucose concentrations and BMI were significantly lower (p = 0.0001) at high altitude area (Abha) than low altitude area (Mahayil Aseer). Age was the only socio-demographic factor that showed significant difference between the two groups (p-value was <0.05). Conclusion: Up to our knowledge, this is the first study addressing the interpretation of fasting blood glucose during pregnancy at high altitude area in Saudi Arabia. Our findings support the importance of careful interpretation of fasting blood glucose of pregnant women who reside at high altitude areas. The implementation of this policy at high altitude areas in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is recommended for early detection of gestational diabetes and timed intervention to avoid complications.
Clinical efficacy of amino bisphosphonate on periodontal disease status in postmenopausal women: Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial

Objectives: Osteoporosis is a common skeletal disorder affecting postmenopausal women. Data suggest that postmenopausal women are at increased risk of periodontal diseases. Amino bisphosphonates are potent inhibitors of bone resorption and effectively used in the treatment of osteoporosis. Preliminary data indicate that there is a potential role for bisphosphonates in the management of periodontitis. Hence, this randomized placebo-controlled trial was designed to investigate the clinical efficacy of amino bisphosphonate on periodontal disease status among postmenopausal women. Materials and Methods: Thirty patients were randomly allocated to two treatment groups: Group A, which received scaling and root debridement and 70 mg weekly single oral dose of alendronate drug, and Group B, which received scaling and root debridement and placebo drug for 6 months. Clinical periodontal measurements were carried out for all patients at the baseline and 6 months later. Mandibular bone mineral density (BMD) was measured using a dual energy X-ray absorptiometer at the beginning of the study and the end of 6 months. Results: A weekly single oral dose of 70 mg alendronate was well-tolerated. The intragroup comparison showed significant improvement in periodontal parameters in both groups. The intergroup comparison showed a significant increase in BMD after 6 months in Group A when compared with Group B (P = 0.0179). Conclusion: Single oral dose of 70 mg alendronate per week is well-tolerable, gastro-intestinally safe, and improves the clinical outcome of nonsurgical periodontal therapy.
The Application of Next-Generation Sequencing to Define Factors Related to Oral Cancer and Discover Novel Biomarkers

Despite the introduction of next-generation sequencing in the realm of DNA sequencing technology, it is not often used in the investigation of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Oral cancer is one of the most frequently occurring malignancies in some parts of the world and has a high mortality rate. Patients with this malignancy are likely to have a poor prognosis and may suffer from severe facial deformity or mastication problems even after successful treatment. Therefore, a thorough understanding of this malignancy is essential to prevent and treat it. This review sought to highlight the contributions of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in unveiling the genetic alterations and differential expressions of miRNAs involved in OSCC progression. By applying an appropriate eligibility criterion, we selected relevant studies for review. Frequently identified mutations in genes such as TP53, NOTCH1, and PIK3CA are discussed. The findings of existing miRNAs (e.g., miR-21) as well as novel discoveries pertaining to OSCC are also covered. Lastly, we briefly mention the latest findings in targeted gene therapy and the potential use of miRNAs as biomarkers. Our goal is to encourage researchers to further adopt NGS in their studies and give an overview of the latest findings of OSCC treatment.
Analgesic efficacy of continuous subcutaneous presternal bupivacaine infusion vs ultrasound-guided bilateral pectoral nerve block in poststernotomy pain

Background The most common cause of pain after cardiac surgery is median sternotomy. Poor postoperative (PO) pain control has serious effect on pulmonary and cardiovascular systems and induces stress and hyperglycemia. Good PO analgesia helps early recovery and discharge. Aim The primary aim was to compare analgesic efficacy of continuous presternal bupivacaine infusion and ultrasound-guided bilateral pectoral nerve 2 block (Pec 2). The secondary aim was to evaluate their efficacy in controlling respiratory parameters, duration of PO ventilation, ICU stay, and hospital stay. Patients and methods A total of 100 patients of American Society of Anesthesiologists status II were randomly divided into group I, which received continuous presternal bupivacaine infusion, and group II, which received ultrasound bilateral Pec 2 block. PO visual analog scale (VAS) was recorded at extubation, 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 h. Pain severity was divided into four grades: no pain, VAS less than 4; mild, VAS 4–5; moderate, VAS 6–7; and severe, VAS greater than 7. Morphine, bupivacaine consumption (mg), and number of request of analgesia in first PO 24 h and inspiratory flow rate (IFR) (l/min) at extubation, 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 h were recorded. Arterial blood gas parameters were recorded at extubation, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h. Duration of PO ventilation (min), ICU stay (h), and hospital stay (days) were recorded. Results PO VAS, pain severity, IFR, and arterial oxygen tension/inspired oxygen fraction (PaO2/FIO2) were significantly higher in group II at all study times. Morphine, bupivacaine consumption, and number of request of analgesia in first PO 24 h were significantly higher in group I. Duration of PO ventilation, ICU stay, and hospital stay were significantly longer in group I. Conclusion First, Pec 2 block was safe and effective in controlling sternotomy pain with lower VAS and pain severity, less bupivacaine, morphine consumption, and less request of PO analgesia. Second, Pec 2 block showed better IFR and PaO2/FIO2, with shorter duration of PO ventilation, ICU stay, and hospital stay.
Sex Differences in Diabetes- and TGF-β1-Induced Renal Damage

While females are less affected by non-diabetic kidney diseases compared to males, available data on sex differences in diabetic nephropathy (DN) are controversial. Although there is evidence for an imbalance of sex hormones in diabetes and hormone-dependent mechanisms in transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) signaling, causes and consequences are still incompletely understood. Here we investigated the influence of sex hormones and sex-specific gene signatures in diabetes- and TGF-β1-induced renal damage using various complementary approaches (a db/db diabetes mouse model, ex vivo experiments on murine renal tissue, and experiments with a proximal tubular cell line TKPTS). Our results show that: (i) diabetes affects sex hormone concentrations and renal expression of their receptors in a sex-specific manner; (ii) sex, sex hormones and diabetic conditions influence differences in expression of TGF-β1, its receptor and bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7); (iii) the sex and sex hormones, in combination with variable TGF-β1 doses, determine the net outcome in TGF-β1-induced expression of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), a profibrotic cytokine. Altogether, these results suggest complex crosstalk between sex hormones, sex-dependent expression pattern and profibrotic signals for the precise course of DN development. Our data may help to better understand previous contradictory findings regarding sex differences in DN.