Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Study of Effect of Non – Genetic Factors on Reproduction Traits in Holstein Friesian Crossbreed Cows

Any genetic improvement in dairy cattle requires information on reproductive performance in the given population. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of non-genetic factors on reproductive performance traits of Holstein Friesian dairy cattle maintained under different states of Indian environment. The data used in this study included records of cows that calved between 2011 and 2016. The data on reproduction traits, Age at First Calving (AFC), Service Period (SP), Calving Interval (CP), Service per Conception (SPC). Pertained to 4432 for Age at first calving, 24809 for Service Period, 11084 for Inter Calving Period and 44759 for Service per conception (SPC) Holstein Friesian cattle. The overall least squares mean of Age at first calving(AFC), Service Period (SP), Calving Interval (CI), Service per conception (SPC) were 1211.85 ± 2.53, 136.52 ± 0.62,412.83 ± 0.98, 2.02 ± 0.01 respectively. The service period (SP) were shows significantly influenced by Agro climatic zone, calving year and calving season. The Monsoon season shows high service period than other season. The Calving intervals (CI) were significant effect on Agro climatic zone, calving year and Calving season. The significantly influenced by Agro climatic zone, calving year and Calving season. The summer season shows high than other seasons.
Transnational Marketing Journal

The purpose of the current research is to investigate the relationships between country personality dimensions and consumer behavioural intentions, and to examine in detail the perceived personality of a stimulus-country. A convenience sample of 130 individuals from Brazil was surveyed and 115 usable questionnaires were analyzed. Portugal was chosen as the country for scrutiny and the questionnaire was delivered in Portuguese. Country personality was measured using the 24 items of personality traits six dimensions scale of d’Astous & Boujbel (2007). The research findings suggest that consumers ascribe personality characteristics to countries. All the items show high factorial weights, and in the proposed model the percentage of the variance of the intention to recommend explained by the perceived country personality dimensions equals around 23%. Assiduousness showed a positive significant influence on intention to recommend, whereas wickedness showed a significant negative influence. The findings suggest differences from the comparable earlier studies. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. Complementarily, and as suggested by the personality traits frequency analysis, Portugal is seen as a traditionalist country.
The Impact of E-commerce Adoption on MSMEs Performance and Financial Inclusion (FI) in Indonesia

This study draws on the resource-based view of firm and transaction cost theory to empirically identify factors that affect the decision to adopt e-commerce within MSMEs, analyze the impact of e-commerce adoption to their business performance, and investigates the effect on hypothetically better MSMEs' performance to promote FI in Indonesia. Logistic and ordered logistic regression were applied. The results indicate that e-commerce adoption decision is affected by sales turnover, social media, duration, and business age. From financial inclusion perspective, it reveals that e-commerce influence on business performance represented by sales growth and competitive advantage promote financial inclusion within MSME adopter. JEL Codes: L26, G2, L26, O3
Different role of MSLN and CA125 co-expression as a prognostic predictor between perihilar and distal bile duct carcinoma

Recent studies have suggested that the interaction of mesothelin (MSLN) and cancer antigen 125 (CA125) enhances tumor metastases. The aim of the present study was to clarify the impact of MSLN and CA125 co-expression on the prognosis of patients with extrahepatic bile duct carcinoma (BDC). Tissue samples from patients who underwent surgical resection between 2007 and 2015 for perihilar or distal BDC were immunohistochemically examined. The expression levels of MSLN and CA125 in tumor cells were analyzed. The expression in <50% and ≥50% of the total tumor cells were defined as low- and high-level expression, respectively. Tissue samples were obtained from 31 patients with perihilar BDC and 43 patients with distal BDC. Lymph node metastases were associated with MSLN and CA125 co-expression in patients with perihilar BDC (P=0.002), while there was no association between lymph node metastasis and co-expression in patients with distal BDC (P=0.362). MSLN and CA125 co-expression was associated with a worse overall survival rate in patients with perihilar BDC (5-year overall survival rate, co-expression positive vs. negative, 24 vs. 63%; P=0.038). To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to report an association between co-expression of MSLN and CA125 with a poor prognosis in patients with perihilar BDC. The current findings suggested that the significance of co-expression differed according to the BDC location.
High expression levels of centromere protein A plus upregulation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin signaling pathway affect chemotherapy response and prognosis in patients with breast cancer

Centromere proteins (CENPs) are involved in mitosis, and CENP gene expression levels are associated with chemotherapy responses in patients with breast cancer. The present study aimed to examine the roles and underlying mechanisms of the effects of CENP genes on chemotherapy responses and breast cancer prognosis. Using data obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, correlation and Cox multivariate regression analyses were used to determine the CENP genes associated with chemotherapy responses and survival in patients with breast cancer. Weighted gene co-expression network and correlation analyses were used to determine the gene modules co-expressed with the identified genes and the differential expression of gene modules associated with the pathological complete response (PCR) and residual disease (RD) subgroups. CENPA, CENPE, CENPF, CENPI, CENPJ and CENPN were associated with a high nuclear grade and low estrogen and progesterone receptor expression levels. In addition, CENPA, CENPB, CENPC and CENPO were independent factors affecting the distant relapse-free survival (DRFS) rates in patients with breast cancer. Patients with high expression levels of CENPA or CENPO exhibited poor prognoses, whereas those with high expression levels of CENPB or CENPC presented with favorable prognoses. For validation between databases, the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database analysis also revealed that CENPA, CENPB and CENPO exerted similar effects on overall survival. However, according to the multivariate analyses, only CENPA was an independent risk factor associated with DRFS in GEO database. In addition, in the RD subgroup, patients with higher CENPA expression levels had a worse prognosis compared with those with lower CENPA expression levels. Among patients with high expression levels of CENPA, the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway was more likely to be activated in the RD compared with the PCR subgroup. The same trend was observed in TCGA data. These results suggested that high CENPA expression levels plus upregulation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway may affect DRFS in patients with breast cancer.
Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Neurodevelopmental Regression Present a Severe Pattern After a Follow-Up at 24 Months

This study examined the presence of neurodevelopmental regression and its effects on the clinical manifestations and the severity of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a group of children with autism compared with those without neurodevelopmental regression at the time of initial classification and subsequently. Methods and Subjects: ASD patients were classified into two subgroups, neurodevelopmental regressive (AMR) and non-regressive (ANMR), using a questionnaire based on the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised test. The severity of ASD and neurodevelopment were assessed with the Childhood Autism Rating Scale Test-2, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and Pervasive Developmental Disorders Behavior Inventory Parent Ratings (PDDBI) and with the Battelle Developmental Inventory tests at the beginning of the study and after 24 months of follow-up. Fifty-two patients aged 2–6 years with ASD were included. Nineteen were classified with AMR, and 33 were classified with ANMR. Results: The AMR subgroup presented greater severity of autistic symptoms and higher autism scores. Additionally, they showed lower overall neurodevelopment. The AMR subgroup at 24 months had poorer scores on the Battelle Developmental Inventory test in the following areas: Total personal/social (p < 0.03), Total Motor (p < 0.04), Expressive (p < 0.01), and Battelle Total (p < 0.04). On the PDDBI test, the AMR subgroup had scores indicating significantly more severe ASD symptoms in the variables: ritual score (p < 0.038), social approach behaviors (p < 0.048), expressive language (p < 0.002), and autism score (p < 0.003). Conclusions: ASD patients exhibited a set of different neurological phenotypes. The AMR and ANMR subgroups presented different clinical manifestations and prognoses in terms of the severity of autistic symptoms and neurodevelopment.
Numerical modelling of CO2-water-basalt interaction

Abstract The effects of CO2 on water-basaltic glass interaction have been simulated at 25ºC. The calculations indicate that addition of CO2 (2–30 bar) to water significantly changes the reaction path. Initially, the pH is buffered between 4 and 6 by CO2 ionization, with dissolution of basaltic glass and the formation of secondary minerals with SiO2, Mg-Fe carbonates and dolomite predominating. Upon the dissolution of additional basaltic glass and mineral fixation of CO2, the pH increases to >8 and (Ca)-Fe-Mg smectites, SiO2, Ca-Na zeolites and calcite become the dominant secondary minerals forming. The overall reaction path depends on the initial water composition, reactive surface area, and the composition of the phyllosilicates and carbonates forming. The key factors are the mobility of Mg2+, Fe2+ and Ca2+ and the competing reactions for these solutes among secondary minerals.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and response on the utilisation of health services during the first wave in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Introduction: Health service use among the general public can decline during infectious disease outbreaks and has been predicted among low and middle-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) implemented public health measures across Kinshasa, including strict lockdown measures in the Gombe health zone, to mitigate impact of the pandemic. Methods: Using data from the Health Management Information System (January 2018 - December 2020), we evaluated the impact of the pandemic on the use of essential health services (total visits, maternal health, vaccinations, visits for common infectious diseases, and diagnosis of non-communicable diseases) using interrupted time series with mixed effects segmented Poisson regression models during the first wave of the pandemic. Analyses were stratified by age, sex, health facility, and neighbourhood. Results: Health service use dropped rapidly following the start of the pandemic and ranged from 16% for hypertension diagnoses to 39% for diabetes diagnoses. However, reductions were highly concentrated in Gombe (81% decline in total visits) relative to health zones without lockdown. When the lockdown was lifted, total visits, visits for infectious diseases, and diagnoses for non-communicable diseases increased approximately two-fold. Hospitals were more affected than health centres. Overall, the use of maternal health services and vaccinations was not significantly affected. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in important reductions in health service utilisation in Kinshasa, particularly Gombe. Lifting of lockdown led to a rebound in the level of health service use but it remained lower than pre-pandemic levels.
Optimal policy determination in sequential systemic and locoregional therapy of oropharyngeal squamous carcinomas: A patient-physician digital twin dyad with deep Q-learning for treatment selection.

Purpose: Currently, selection of patients for sequential vs. concurrent chemotherapy/radiation regimens lacks evidentiary support, and it is based on locally-optimal decisions for each step. We aim to optimize the multi-step treatment of head and neck cancer patients and to predict multiple patient survival and toxicity outcomes, and we develop, apply, and evaluate a first application of deep-Q-learning (DQL) and simulation to this problem. Patients and methods: The treatment decision DQL digital twin and the patient's digital twin were created, trained and evaluated on a dataset of 536 oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPC) patients with the goal of, respectively, determining the optimal treatment decisions with respect to survival and toxicity metrics, and predicting the outcomes of the optimal treatment on the patient. The models were trained on a subset of 402 patients (split randomly) and evaluated on a separate set of 134 patients. Training and evaluation of the digital twin dyad was completed in August 2020. The dataset includes 3-step sequential treatment decisions and complete relevant history of the patients cohort treated at MD Anderson Cancer Center between 2005 and 2013, with radiomics analysis performed for the segmented primary tumor volumes. Results: On the validation set, 87.09% mean and 90.85% median accuracy in treatment outcome prediction, matching the clinicians' outcomes and improving (predicted) survival rate by +3.73% (95% CI: [-0.75%, +8.96%]), and dysphagia rate by +0.75% (CI: [-4.48%, +6.72%]) when following DQL treatment decisions. Conclusion: Given the prediction accuracy and predicted improvement on medically relevant outcomes yielded by this approach, this digital twin dyad of the patient-physician dynamic treatment problem has the potential of aiding physicians in determining the optimal course of treatment and in assessing its outcomes.
Direct and indirect effectiveness of mRNA vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 infection in long-term care facilities in Spain

Objectives: To estimate indirect and total (direct plus indirect) effects of COVID-19 vaccination in residents in long-term care facilities (LTCF). Design: Registries-based cohort study including all residents in LTCF 65 years or older offered vaccination between 27 December 2020 and 10 March 2021. Risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection following vaccination was compared with the risk in the same individuals in a period before vaccination. Risk in non-vaccinated was also compared to a period before the vaccination programme to estimate indirect protection. Standardized cumulative risk was computed adjusted by previous documented infection (before the start of follow-up) and daily-varying SARS-CoV-2 incidence and reproductive number. Participants: 573,533 records of 299,209 individuals in the National vaccination registry were selected; 99.0% had received at least 1 vaccine-dos, 99.8% was Pfizer/BioNTech (BNT162b2). Residents mean age was 85.9, 70.9% were females. A previous SARS-CoV-2 infection was found in around 25% and 13% of participants, respectively, at the time of vaccine offer and in the reference period. Main outcome measures: Documented SARS-CoV-2 infection identified in the National COVID-19 laboratory registry. Results: Total VE was 57.2% (95% Confidence Interval: 56.1%-58.3%), and was highest starting 28 days after the first vaccine-dose (proxy of more than 7 days after the second dose) and for individuals naive to SARS-CoV-2 [81.8% (81.0%-82.7%)] compared to those with previous infection [56.8% (47.1%-67.7%)]. Vaccination prevented up to 9.6 (9.3-9.9) cases per 10.000 vaccinated per day; 11.6 (11.3-11.9) if naive vs. 0.8 (0.5-1.0) if previous infection. Indirect protection in the non-vaccinated could only be estimated for naive individuals, at 81.4% (73.3%-90.3%) and up to 12.8 (9.4-16.2) infections prevented per 10.000 indirectly protected per day. Conclusions: Our results confirm the effectiveness of mRNA vaccination in institutionalized elderly population, endorse the policy of universal vaccination in this setting, including in people with previous infection, and suggest that even non-vaccinated individuals benefit from indirect protection.
Impact of unequal cluster sizes for GEE analyses of stepped wedge cluster randomized trials with binary outcomes

The stepped wedge (SW) design is a type of unidirectional crossover design where cluster units switch from control to intervention condition at different prespecified time points. While a convention in study planning is to assume the cluster‐period sizes are identical, SW cluster randomized trials (SW‐CRTs) involving repeated cross‐sectional designs frequently have unequal cluster‐period sizes, which can impact the efficiency of the treatment effect estimator. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive investigation of the efficiency impact of unequal cluster sizes for generalized estimating equation analyses of SW‐CRTs, with a focus on binary outcomes as in the Washington State Expedited Partner Therapy trial. Several major distinctions between our work and existing work include the following: (i) we consider multilevel correlation structures in marginal models with binary outcomes; (ii) we study the implications of both the between‐cluster and within‐cluster imbalances in sizes; and (iii) we provide a comparison between the independence working correlation versus the true working correlation and detail the consequences of ignoring correlation estimation in SW‐CRTs with unequal cluster sizes. We conclude that the working independence assumption can lead to substantial efficiency loss and a large sample size regardless of cluster‐period size variability in SW‐CRTs, and recommend accounting for correlations in the analysis. To improve study planning, we additionally provide a computationally efficient search algorithm to estimate the sample size in SW‐CRTs accounting for unequal cluster‐period sizes, and conclude by illustrating the proposed approach in the context of the Washington State study.
Minority stress process among older Black Americans: the role of age, perceived discrimination, and anxiety

Abstract Objective: Prolonged experiences of discrimination can be a major source of physical and health-related stress, particularly in older Black Americans. However, there is limited information on the relation between discrimination and anxiety, particularly within the context of other constructs that influence the manifestation of anxiety symptoms. For example, several studies have suggested that ethnic identification may provide psychological and social resources to deal with the effects of discrimination. This study aims to further understand these processes. Method: This study utilized structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine predictors of anxiety symptom severity in a sample of African American and Afro-Caribbean adults aged 55 and older from the National Survey of American Life (N = 1,032). Results: The final structural regression model revealed acceptable fit indices, and was successful in measuring latent anxiety symptom severity, showing that more experienced discrimination was related to higher anxiety and anxiety was directly related to mental health rating. While higher experience of discrimination was associated with higher anxiety, it was not directly related to mental health rating. However, contrary to expectation, ethnic identification did not serve as a protective factor between experienced discrimination and anxiety. As individuals aged, they experienced less discrimination and reported poorer self-rated mental health. Conclusions: While age served as a protective factor for perceived discrimination and anxiety symptom severity, ethnic identification did not. Implications for those working to reduce anxiety symptoms among Black Americans are discussed.
The effect of disagreement on children’s source memory performance

Source representations play a role both in the formation of individual beliefs as well as in the social transmission of such beliefs. Both of these functions suggest that source information should be particularly useful in the context of interpersonal disagreement. Three experiments with an identical design (one original study and two replications) with 3- to 4-year-old-children (N = 100) assessed whether children’s source memory performance would improve in the face of disagreement and whether such an effect interacts with different types of sources (first- vs. second-hand). In a 2 x 2 repeated-measures design, children found out about the contents of a container either by looking inside or being told (IV1). Then they were questioned about the contents of the container by an interlocutor puppet who either agreed or disagreed with their answer (IV2). We measured children’s source memory performance in response to a free recall question (DV1) followed by a forced-choice question (DV2). Four-year-olds (but not three-year-olds) performed better in response to the free recall source memory question (but not the forced-choice question) when their interlocutor had disagreed with them compared to when it had agreed with them. Children were also better at recalling ‘having been told’ than ‘having seen’. These results demonstrate that by four years of age, source memory capacities are sensitive to the communicative context of assertions and serve social functions.