Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Physical Examination Versus Ultrasonography for Detection of Ulnar Nerve Subluxation in Professional Baseball Pitchers

Background: Despite the importance of accurately detecting ulnar nerve subluxation in vulnerable athletes, few studies have compared the performance of physical examination and ultrasound in this population. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to compare the diagnostic validity of physical examination versus ultrasound in detecting ulnar nerve subluxation at the cubital tunnel of the elbow in professional baseball pitchers. It was hypothesized that ultrasound would more sensitively detect ulnar nerve subluxation. Study Design: Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 2. Methods: Physical and sonographic examinations for ulnar nerve subluxation were performed on 186 elbows of 95 consecutive male professional baseball pitchers (age, 17-30 years) as a routine part of their spring training assessments. Provocative maneuvers consisting of the Tinel and elbow flexion-compression tests were evaluated over the cubital tunnel. The validity of physical examination for detecting ulnar nerve subluxation at the elbow was determined using ultrasonographic examination for comparison. Results: Ulnar nerve subluxation was detected by physical examination in 58 (31.2%) elbows and by ultrasonography in 61 (32.8%) elbows. Of the 58 elbows with positive physical examination, 47 were positive on ultrasound. Using a positive ultrasound as a reference, the accuracy of the physical examination was 86.6%, with 77% sensitivity and 91.2% specificity. The positive and negative predictive values of physical examination were 81% and 89.1%, respectively. There was no relationship between nerve instability and positive provocative tests overall, in dominant versus nondominant arms, or in right versus left arms (P > .05 for all). Conclusion: Physical examination had moderate sensitivity and high specificity for detecting ulnar nerve subluxation at the cubital tunnel of the elbow when compared with ultrasound. These findings suggest that when detecting the presence of a subluxating ulnar nerve is most important, it may be advisable to obtain an ultrasound evaluation instead of relying on a physical examination; however, physical examination alone may be appropriate for ruling out subluxation.
Restricting social networking site use for one week produces varied effects on mood but does not increase explicit or implicit desires to use SNSs: Findings from an ecological momentary assessment study

Recent research on the addictive potential of modern technologies such as the internet, smartphones, or social networking sites (SNSs) has suggested that emotional and motivational changes associated with the sudden discontinuation of engagement with the technology mirror the aversive consequences seen when drug use is ceased abruptly. This has been observed even in moderate users and interpreted as a manifestation of withdrawal, an important marker of physical dependence in substance use disorders. On the other hand, a growing literature emphasises the positive effects of “digital detox” on mental health and well-being. Using a battery of affective and motivational measures, both explicit and implicit, the present study tracked the effects of a week of significantly reduced SNS use in moderate to heavy SNS users (N = 51). Our pre-registered analyses showed that the intervention elicited affective changes neither consistent with a general withdrawal syndrome (i.e., increased negative affect and cravings) nor with a general beneficial effect on well-being: While our data indicated some abstinence-related decreases of negative affect and boredom, they also showed a reduction of positive affect. These changes occurred regardless of problematic/addictive use behaviours. Importantly, restricting SNS use for one week had no effect on implicit measures of SNS use motivation (i.e., approach biases, time distortion and effort expenditure for SNS access) nor did it influence explicit cravings and SNS cue-reactivity. Together our findings suggest that restricting SNS use has nuanced and potentially offsetting effects on well-being. These could arise because use reduction may concurrently remove experiences that trigger negative emotions (e.g., upward social comparisons or Fear of Missing Out) but also those that elicit positive emotions (e.g., social approval). The hypothesised lack of a net effect on well-being would be consistent with our finding that voluntary reduction of SNS use does not mitigate or exacerbate SNS-related urges.
Reproductive outcomes following contraceptive discontinuation for method-related reasons: An analysis of 49 Demographic and Health Surveys

Contraceptive discontinuation for method-related reasons is a common experience in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and may heighten women’s risk of unintended pregnancy. Few studies have provided a comprehensive assessment of reproductive outcomes following contraceptive discontinuation in LMICs over the last decade. Using cross-sectional data from 49 Demographic and Health Surveys, we applied competing risks estimation to calculate monthly probabilities of contraceptive resumption and pregnancy over a 12-month period among pooled, regional, and country-specific samples of women who discontinued contraception for method-related reasons (corresponding to 174,726 episodes of discontinuation). We also examined the pregnancy intention status of births/current pregnancies among those who became pregnant in the 12 months following contraceptive discontinuation for method-related reasons. In the pooled sample, the three-month probability of pregnancy and resumption of contraceptive use was 12% and 47%, respectively; by 12 months these probabilities increased to 22% and 55%, respectively. Country-specific analyses show that the probabilities of resuming contraception by three months ranged from 15% in Liberia, Mali, and Sierra Leone to 85% in Bangladesh. On average, the majority of pregnancies/births that occured following discontinuation for method-related reasons were subsequently reported as unintended. However, reports varied depending on when women became pregnant within the 12 months following discontinuation. Our findings suggest the need for more nuanced measures of contraceptive use dynamics—including measures that distinguish between women who resume use of contraception from women who remain at risk of pregnancy in the short period after discontinuation—to better inform specific policies and interventions, particularly aimed at those who remain at risk of pregnancy.
Antiglomerular basement membrane antibody type rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis with seizures: Two cases and literature review

Rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN) is clinically manifestations as a rapidly progressive renal failure and pathologically as crescentic and necrotizing lesions with infiltration of inflammatory cells in the glomeruli. Uremic encephalopathy (UE) usually develops in patients who are suffering from acute or chronic renal failure.
The effect of educational intervention in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases in patients with hypertension with application of health belief model: A quasi-experimental study

Background The best methods for preventing and controlling cardiovascular diseases are preventive behaviours. Aim The purpose of the current study is to ascertain how educational intervention affects cardiovascular disease prevention. Methods The current investigation is a quasi-experimental study conducted in Shiraz, Iran, in the year 2022, focusing on 200 hypertension patients (by sample random sampling) that were divided into two groups: a control group consisting of 100 participants (63 males and 37 females) and an intervention group also consisting of 100 participants (58 males and 42 females). The data collection instrument comprises inquiries pertaining to demographic factors as well as constructs of the health belief model (HBM) and preventive behaviours for cardiovascular diseases. The participants in both groups completed the questionnaire prior to and three months after the intervention. The intervention group underwent a total of six training sessions, each lasting 55 min. Results The results showed that after the intervention, the intervention group showed a significant increase in all cues of the HBM model except for the perceived barriers. Following a period of three months subsequent to the educational intervention, the experimental group also exhibited a notable reduction in blood pressure in comparison to the control group. Conclusion The findings of the study indicate that the utilisation of the HBM demonstrated positive outcomes in facilitating the promotion of cardiovascular disease prevention among patients diagnosed with hypertension. The promotion of health among individuals with high blood pressure can be both beneficial and feasible. Moreover, this particular model can be utilised as a comprehensive framework for the development, execution, and evaluation of advantageous and effective healthcare initiatives.
Acetate and succinate benefit host muscle energetics as exercise‐associated post‐biotics

Recently, the gut microbiome has emerged as a potent modulator of exercise‐induced systemic adaptation and appears to be crucial for mediating some of the benefits of exercise. This study builds upon previous evidence establishing a gut microbiome‐skeletal muscle axis, identifying exercise‐induced changes in microbiome composition. Metagenomics sequencing of fecal samples from non‐exercise‐trained controls or exercise‐trained mice was conducted. Biodiversity indices indicated exercise training did not change alpha diversity. However, there were notable differences in beta‐diversity between trained and untrained microbiomes. Exercise significantly increased the level of the bacterial species Muribaculaceae bacterium DSM 103720. Computation simulation of bacterial growth was used to predict metabolites that accumulate under in silico culture of exercise‐responsive bacteria. We identified acetate and succinate as potential gut microbial metabolites that are produced by Muribaculaceae bacterium, which were then administered to mice during a period of mechanical overload‐induced muscle hypertrophy. Although no differences were observed for the overall muscle growth response to succinate or acetate administration during the first 5 days of mechanical overload‐induced hypertrophy, acetate and succinate increased skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiration. When given as post‐biotics, succinate or acetate treatment may improve oxidative metabolism during muscle hypertrophy.
Intimate partner violence and malnutrition among women of reproductive age in Western Africa: A geostatistical analysis

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health issue, and the experience varies among population sub-groups in Africa. In the West African sub-region, IPV perpetrated against women remains high and is exacerbated by the pertaining cultural milieu. It affects women’s health, wellbeing, and nutritional status. We examined the association between women’s lifetime experiences of physical, sexual, and emotional IPV and undernutrition by quantifying the association at smaller geographical settings in West African countries. We used a bivariate probit geostatistical technique to explore the association between IPV and undernutrition, combining data from the latest Demographic and Health Survey conducted in ten Western African countries. Bayesian inference relies on Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation. The findings demonstrate spatial clustering in the likelihood of experiencing IPV and being underweight in the regions of Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia and neighboring Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, and Nigeria. The pattern of clustering was somewhat similar when physical violence was combined with underweight and emotional violence combined with underweight. The findings also indicate protective effects of education, wealth status, employment status, urban residence, and exposure to mass media. Further, the likelihood of experiencing IPV and the likelihood of being underweight or thin declined with age and age-gap between the woman and her partner. The findings provide insight into the location-specific variations that can aid targeted interventions, and underscore the importance of empowering women holistically, in the domains of education, socio-economic and socio-cultural empowerment, in addressing women’s vulnerability to IPV and malnutrition (underweight and thinness). Furthermore, IPV prevention programmes will need to address gender inequality and cultural factors such as male dominance that may heighten women’s risk of experiencing IPV.
Characteristics and Influential Factors of Food Deserts

USDA’s Economic Research Service previously identified more than 6,500 food desert tracts in the United States based on 2000 Census and 2006 data on locations of supermarkets, supercenters, and large grocery stores. In this report, we examine the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of these tracts to see how they differ from other census tracts and the extent to which these differences influence food desert status. Relative to all other census tracts, food desert tracts tend to have smaller populations, higher rates of abandoned or vacant homes, and residents who have lower levels of education, lower incomes, and higher unemployment. Census tracts with higher poverty rates are more likely to be food deserts than otherwise similar low-income census tracts in rural and in very dense (highly populated) urban areas. For less dense urban areas, census tracts with higher concentrations of minority populations are more likely to be food deserts, while tracts with substantial decreases in minority populations between 1990 and 2000 were less likely to be identified as food deserts in 2000.
Enhanced relationship between the tropical Atlantic SST and the summertime western North Pacific subtropical high after the early 1980s

The western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH) in boreal summer shows a remarkable enhancement after the early 1980s. Whereas the sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Indian Ocean (NIO) and the equatorial eastern Pacific had been noted to have remarkable local or remote effects on enhancing the WNPSH, the influence of the Atlantic SST, so far, is hardly explored. This article reports a new finding: enhanced relationship between the tropical Atlantic (TA)‐SST and the WNPSH after the early 1980s. Regression study suggests that the warm TA‐SST produced a zonally overturning circulation anomaly, with descending over the equatorial central Pacific and ascending over the tropical Atlantic/eastern Pacific. The anomalous descending over the equatorial central Pacific likely induced low‐level anticyclonic anomaly to the west and therefore enhanced the WNPSH. One implication of this new finding is for predictability. The well‐known “spring predictability barrier” (i.e., the influence of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) falls dramatically during boreal spring) does not apply to the TA‐SST/WNPSH relationship. The TA‐SST shows consistently high correlation starting from boreal spring when the ENSO influence continues declining. The TA‐SST extends the predictability of the WNPSH in boreal summer approximately one season earlier to boreal spring.
NEW DATA FOR ANTHOINITE

Based on electron microscopy, electron diffraction data and the flat layer specimen technique applied in clay mineralogy, the X-ray powder pattern of anthoinite was indexed and the unit cell parameters were calculated. The mineral is triclinic (pseudomonoclinic) with a0 = 9.51 A, b0 = 9.23 A, c0 = 13.0 5 A, a = 93°20', s = 120°00', y = 88°20', V = 990 A3. Single crystals of the mineral suitable for X-ray work have not been found. Density 5.0 6. Thermobalance run (speed 10° C/min.) expels all water at one step at 400°—545°C. The temperature of dehydration suggests the presence of OH rather than HaO in the structure. Two new chemical analyses are given confirming the composition AlWOa (OH)j. The number of anions in the unit cell is 60. Z = 10 for the formula given. The perfect cleavage suggests a crystal structure displaying sheets parallel to 001.
No Oceanic Plateau—No Caribbean Plate? The Seminal Role of an Oceanic Plateau in Caribbean Plate Evolution

Oceanic plateaus are areas of elevated and anomalously thick oceanic crust that are believed to form by enhanced partial melting in a mantle plume that is hotter than ambient upper asthenosphere. They are regarded as the oceanic equivalent of continental flood-basalt provinces. Because of the continual subduction of oceanic crust, the oldest known oceanic plateaus occurring in situ are Cretaceous in age. In order for oceanic plateaus to be preserved in the geologic record, they must be accreted onto continental margins. This process, involving their preservation as tectonic slices, depends on the fact that oceanic plateaus are more buoyant than normal ocean floor; thus, they are not easily subducted. If these plateaus encounter an oceanic arc, subduction polarity reversal may occur, and/or the locus of subduction may step back behind the trailing edge of the advancing plateau. At a continental subduction zone, only subduction back-step occurs. Geochemical evidence shows that basaltic and picritic rocks exposed in the thickened part of the Caribbean plate and around its margins (including northern South America) are parts of an accreted oceanic plateau that originated in the Pacific Ocean during the middle-to-late Cretaceous. Cretaceous subduction-related rocks also occur around the Caribbean margins and possess geochemical signatures (e.g., lower Nb and Ti) that are distinct from those of the oceanic plateau rocks. This arc material represents the remnants of the subduction-generated rocks with which the plateau collided at 80–90 Ma. Both island arc tholeiite and calc-alkaline magmatism occurred in these Cretaceous arcs, but the changeover between the two types appears to be gradual and cannot be used to determine the timing of subduction polarity reversal. Many Cretaceous tonalitic batholiths around the Caribbean margins appear to have formed during or shortly after accretion of the plateau rocks. In addition to the arc and oceanic plateau assemblages, Jurassic to Early Cretaceous fragments of the preexisting oceanic crust also occur around the region. The environmental impact of oceanic plateau volcanism around the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary and its link to the formation of organic-rich black shales is discussed in this paper.
Column-based removal of high concentration microplastics in synthetic wastewater using granular activated carbon

ABSTRACT Microplastic (MP) is an emerging contaminant of concern due to its abundance in the environment. Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) can be considered as one of the main sources of microplastics in freshwater due to its inefficiency in the complete removal of small MPs. In this study, a column-based MP removal which could serve as a tertiary treatment in WWTPs is evaluated using granular activated carbon (GAC) as adsorbent/filter media, eliminating clogging problems commonly caused by powder form activated carbon (PAC). The GAC is characterized via N2 adsorption–desorption isotherm, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and contact angle measurement to determine the influence of its properties on MP removal efficiency. MPs (40–48 μm) removal up to 95.5% was observed with 0.2 g/L MP, which is the lowest concentration tested in this work, but still higher than commonly used MP concentration in other studies. The performance is reduced with further increase in MP concentration (up to 1.0 g/L), but increasing the GAC bed length from 7.5 to 17.5 cm could lead to better removal efficiencies. MP particles are immobilized by the GAC predominantly by filtration process by being entangled with small GAC particles/chips or stuck between the GAC particles. MPs are insignificantly removed by adsorption process through entrapment in GAC porous structure or attachment onto the GAC surface.
Prevalence and morbidity of urogenital schistosomiasis among pre-school age children in Cubal, Angola

Background Schistosomiasis is one of the most important neglected tropical diseases, with a great impact on public health and more than 200,000 deaths annually. Schistosoma haematobium causes urinary tract (UT) morbidity. Since schistosomiasis morbidity control programs focus on children older than 5 years, pre-school age children (PSAC) morbidity is not well known. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study in Cubal (Angola) among 245 PSAC with the objective of evaluating the prevalence of S. haematobium infection, the intensity of infection, and associated morbidity. For this purpose, urine filtration test followed by microscopic visualization and ultrasound examinations were performed. Results The estimated overall prevalence of urogenital schistosomiasis was 30.2% (CI 95%; 24.5–35.9), with 20.3% (CI 95%; 15.3–25.3) of the samples analysed showing a high intensity of infection. A total of 54.5% (CI 95%; 47.6–61.8) of infected children presented UT lesions, showing a significant association between schistosomiasis infection and UT morbidity (p-value < 0.001). Bladder wall thickening was the most common lesion, being present in 100% of abnormal ultrasounds. We found that anaemia and severe malnutrition were not significantly associated with the development of UT lesions. Conclusions S. haematobium infection in PSAC causes great UT detectable morbidities. Therefore, there is an evident need of including them in mass drug administration (MDA) campaigns and consequently the development of an adapted praziquantel treatment dosage for children under 2 years of age.
Mapping the genomic landscape of multidrug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum and its impact on parasite fitness

Drug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum parasites have swept across Southeast Asia and now threaten Africa. By implementing a P. falciparum genetic cross using humanized mice, we report the identification of key determinants of resistance to artemisinin (ART) and piperaquine (PPQ) in the dominant Asian KEL1/PLA1 lineage. We mapped k13 as the central mediator of ART resistance in vitro and identified secondary markers. Applying bulk segregant analysis, quantitative trait loci mapping using 34 recombinant haplotypes, and gene editing, our data reveal an epistatic interaction between mutant PfCRT and multicopy plasmepsins 2/3 in mediating high-grade PPQ resistance. Susceptibility and parasite fitness assays implicate PPQ as a driver of selection for KEL1/PLA1 parasites. Mutant PfCRT enhanced susceptibility to lumefantrine, the first-line partner drug in Africa, highlighting a potential benefit of opposing selective pressures with this drug and PPQ. We also identified that the ABCI3 transporter can operate in concert with PfCRT and plasmepsins 2/3 in mediating multigenic resistance to antimalarial agents.