Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Risk of non-syndromic orofacial clefts by maternal rural-urban residence and race/ethnicity: A population-based case-control study in Washington State 1989-2014.

BACKGROUND Orofacial clefts (OFC) have multifactorial aetiology. Established risk factors explain a small proportion of cases. OBJECTIVES To evaluate OFC risk by maternal rural residence and race/ethnicity, and test whether these associations changed after US-mandated folic acid fortification. METHODS This population-based case-control study included all non-syndromic OFC cases among Washington State singleton livebirths between 1989-2014 and birth year-matched controls. Data sources included birth certificates and hospital records. Logistic regression estimated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for OFC by maternal rural-urban residence (adjusted for maternal race/ethnicity) and by maternal race/ethnicity. We evaluated additive and multiplicative effect measure modification by time of folic acid fortification (before vs. after). Probabilistic quantitative bias analysis accounted for potential differential case ascertainment for infants born to Black mothers. RESULTS The overall non-syndromic OFC birth prevalence was 1.0 per 1000 livebirths (n = 2136 cases). Among controls (n = 25 826), 76% of mothers were urban residents and 72% were of White race/ethnicity. OFC risk was slightly higher for infants born to rural than to urban mothers, adjusting for race/ethnicity (OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.01, 1.25). The association was similar before and after US-mandated folic acid fortification. Compared with infants born to White mothers, OFC risk was higher for American Indian mothers (OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.35, 2.23) and lower for Black (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.48, 0.81), Hispanic (OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.64, 0.87), and Asian/Pacific Islander (API) mothers (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.74, 1.02). Bias analysis suggests the observed difference for Black mothers may be explained by selection bias. Post-fortification, the association of OFC with maternal API race/ethnicity decreased and with maternal Black race/ethnicity increased relative to maternal White race/ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS Infants born to rural mothers and to American Indian mothers in Washington State during 1989-2014 were at higher OFC risk before and after US-mandated folic acid fortification.
Circulating Interleukin-4 Is Associated with a Systemic T Cell Response against Tumor-Associated Antigens in Treatment-Naïve Patients with Resectable Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Simple Summary Cytokines can increase the activity of T cells specific for tumor-associated antigens and thereby promote tumor-specific immune responses. In this study, cytokine profiles and T cell responses against 14 tumor-associated antigens were investigated in 36 treatment-naïve patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer. Based on these results, preoperative serum interleukin-4 levels can play a role in predicting T cell responses specific for tumor-associated antigens and recurrence-free survival regardless of tumor stage. This is clinically relevant as patients with high preoperative serum interleukin-4 levels could be at high risk of postoperative tumor recurrence and, therefore, should be considered for adjuvant or neoadjuvant treatment. From this perspective, preoperative serum interleukin-4 levels may become a useful option to assess the risk of postoperative tumor recurrence in non-small-cell lung cancer. Abstract Spontaneous T cell responses to tumor-associated antigens (TAs) in the peripheral blood of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may be relevant for postoperative survival. However, the conditions underlying these T cell responses remain unclear. We quantified the levels of 27 cytokines in the peripheral blood and tumor tissues from treatment-naïve patients with NSCLC (n = 36) and analyzed associations between local and systemic cytokine profiles and both TA-specific T cell responses and clinical parameters. We defined T cell responders as patients with circulating T cells that were reactive to TAs and T cell nonresponders as patients without detectable TA-specific T cells. TA-specific T cell responses were correlated with serum cytokine levels, particularly the levels of interleukin(IL)-4 and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), but poorly correlated with the cytokine levels in tumor tissues. Nonresponders showed significantly higher serum IL-4 levels than responders (p = 0.03); the predicted probability of being a responder was higher for individuals with low serum IL-4 levels. In multivariable Cox regression analyses, in addition to IL-4 (hazard ratio (HR) 2.8 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.78–9.9); p = 0.116), the age-adjusted IL-8 level (HR 3.9 (95% CI: 1.05–14.5); p = 0.042) predicted tumor recurrence. However, this study included data for many cytokines without adjustment for multiple testing; thus, the observed differences in IL-4 or IL-8 levels might be incidental findings. Therefore, additional studies are necessary to confirm these results.
COVID-19 mortality in an area of northeast Brazil: epidemiological characteristics and prospective spatiotemporal modelling

Abstract This study aimed to analyse the spatial–temporal distribution of COVID-19 mortality in Sergipe, Northeast, Brazil. It was an ecological study utilising spatiotemporal analysis techniques that included all deaths confirmed by COVID-19 in Sergipe, from 2 April to 14 June 2020. Mortality rates were calculated per 100 000 inhabitants and the temporal trends were analysed using a segmented log-linear model. For spatial analysis, the Kernel estimator was used and the crude mortality rates were smoothed by the empirical Bayesian method. The space–time prospective scan statistics applied the Poisson's probability distribution model. There were 391 COVID-19 registered deaths, with the majority among ⩾60 years old (62%) and males (53%). The most prevalent comorbidities were hypertension (40%), diabetes (31%) and cardiovascular disease (15%). An increasing mortality trend across the state was observed, with a higher increase in the countryside. An active spatiotemporal cluster of mortality comprising the metropolitan area and neighbouring cities was identified. The trend of COVID-19 mortality in Sergipe was increasing and the spatial distribution of deaths was heterogeneous with progression towards the countryside. Therefore, the use of spatial analysis techniques may contribute to surveillance and control of COVID-19 pandemic.
STAT3 and STAT5B Mutations in T/NK-Cell Chronic Lymphoproliferative Disorders of Large Granular Lymphocytes (LGL): Association with Disease Features

Simple Summary STAT3 and STAT5B mutations have been identified in a subset of T and NK large granular lymphocytic leukemia (T/NK-LGLL). The aim of our study was to evaluate the frequency and type of these mutations in all different subtypes of T/NK-LGL expansions (n = 100 patients), as well as to analyze its association with biological and clinical features of the disease. We show for the first time that STAT3/5B mutations were present in all different T/NK-cell LGLL categories here studied; further, STAT3 mutations were associated with overall reduced counts of almost all normal residual populations of immune cells in blood, together with a shorter time-to-therapy vs. wild type T/NK-LGLL. These findings contribute to support the utility of the STAT3 mutation analysis for diagnostic and prognostic purposes in LGLL. Abstract STAT3 and STAT5B (STAT3/STAT5B) mutations are the most common mutations in T-cell large granular lymphocytic leukemia (T-LGLL) and chronic lymphoproliferative disorders of NK cells (CLPD-NK), but their clinical impact remains unknown. We investigated the frequency and type of STAT3/STAT5B mutations in FACS-sorted populations of expanded T/NK-LGL from 100 (82 clonal; 6 oligoclonal; 12 polyclonal) patients, and its relationship with disease features. Seventeen non-LGL T-CLPD patients and 628 age-matched healthy donors were analyzed as controls. STAT3 (n = 30) and STAT5B (n = 1) mutations were detected in 28/82 clonal T/NK-LGLL patients (34%), while absent (0/18, 0%) among oligoclonal/polyclonal LGL-lymphocytosis. Mutations were found across all diagnostic subgroups: TCD8+-LGLL, 36%; CLPD-NK, 38%; TCD4+-LGLL, 7%; Tαβ+DP-LGLL, 100%; Tαβ+DN-LGLL, 50%; Tγδ+-LGLL, 44%. STAT3-mutated T-LGLL/CLPD-NK showed overall reduced (p < 0.05) blood counts of most normal leukocyte subsets, with a higher rate (vs. nonmutated LGLL) of neutropenia (p = 0.04), severe neutropenia (p = 0.02), and cases requiring treatment (p = 0.0001), together with a shorter time-to-therapy (p = 0.0001), particularly in non-Y640F STAT3-mutated patients. These findings confirm and extend on previous observations about the high prevalence of STAT3 mutations across different subtypes of LGLL, and its association with a more marked decrease of all major blood-cell subsets and a shortened time-to-therapy.
Early impairment of myocardial deformation assessed by regional speckle-tracking echocardiography in the indeterminate form of Chagas disease without fibrosis detected by cardiac magnetic resonance

Chagas disease (CD) will account for 200,000 cardiovascular deaths worldwide over the next 5 years. Early detection of chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC) is a challenge. We aimed to test if speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) can detect incipient myocardial damage in CD. METHODS: Among 325 individuals with positive serological tests, 25 (age 55±12yrs) were selected to compose the group with indeterminate form of Chagas disease (IFCD), based on stringent criteria of being asymptomatic and with normal EKG/X-ray studies. This group was compared with a group of 20 patients with CCC (55±11yrs) and a group of 20 non-infected matched control (NC) subjects (48±10yrs). CD patients and NC were submitted to STE and CD patients were submitted to cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) with late gadolinium administration to detect cardiac fibrosis by the late enhancement technique. Global longitudinal strain (GLS), circumferential (GCS) and radial strain (GRS) were defined as the average of segments measured from three apical view (GLS) and short axis views (GRS and GCS). Regional left ventricular (LV) longitudinal strain (Reg LS) was measured from each of the 17 segments. Twist was measured as systolic peak difference between basal and apical rotation and indexed to LV length to express torsion. RESULTS: STE global indices (GLS, GCS, twist and torsion) were reduced in CCC vs NC (GLS: -14±6.3% vs -19.3±1.6%, p = 0.001; GCS: -13.6±5.2% vs -17.3 ±2.8%; p = 0.008; twist: 8±7° vs 14±7°, p = 0.01 and torsion: 0.96±1°/cm vs 1.9±1°/cm, p = 0.005), but showed no differences in IFCD vs NC. RegLS was reduced in IFCD vs NC in four LV segments: basal-inferior (-16.3±3.3% vs -18.6±2.2%, p = 0.013), basal inferoseptal (-13.1±3.4 vs -15.2±2.7, p = 0.019), mid-inferoseptal (-17.7±3.2 vs -19.4±2, p = 0.032) and mid-inferolateral (-15.2±3.5 vs -17.8±2.8, p = 0.014). These abnormalities in RegLS occurred in the absence of myocardial fibrosis detectable with CMR in nearly 92% of subjects with IFCD, while myocardial fibrosis was present in 65% with CCC. CONCLUSION: RegLS detects early regional impairment of myocardial strain that is independent from fibrosis in IFCD subjects.
Calculation of deposition rates in diode sputtering systems

The scattering of sputtered atoms by the sputtering gas has been modelled to obtain values for the distances which the atoms travel normal to the sputtering target before their energies are reduced to the thermal energy of the gas. This distance increases with the mass and energy of the sputtered atom and with decreasing gas pressure; for a 5‐eV atom of mass 80, it decreases from 42 cm at an argon pressure of 0.1 Pa to 0.44 cm at 10 Pa. For most diode sputtering configurations, the sputtered atoms are thermalized before reaching the substrate and the transport to the substrate is by diffusion. Relative deposition rates for substrates situated behind apertures or masks in these diffusive sputtering situations have been measured and compared with the solid angles subtended at the substrate by the effective aperture. The agreement between relative values is very good. Thus, the solid angle provides a simple measure for determining the effect of a mask on the deposition profiles. Significant changes in rates .
Combined XPS and DFT investigation of the adsorption modes of methyl enol ether functionalized cyclooctyne on Si(001)

Abstract The reaction of methyl enol ether functionalized cyclooctyne on the silicon (001) surface was investigated by means of X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and density functional theory (DFT). Three different groups of final states were identified; all of them bind on Si(001) via the strained triple bond of cyclooctyne but they differ in the configuration of the methyl enol ether group. The majority of molecules adsorbs without additional reaction of the enol ether group; the relative contribution of this configuration to the total coverage depends on substrate temperature and coverage. Further configurations include enol ether groups which reacted on the silicon surface either via ether cleavage or enol ether groups which transformed on the surface into a carbonyl group.
Analysis of Male Couples’ Sexual Agreements After Using an eHealth, Couples-Based HIV Prevention Intervention in Lima, Peru

ABSTRACT Few studies have investigated the composition of male couples’ sexual agreements and whether their agreement composition differs by dyad HIV serostatus. To help assess the utility that agreements could have for sexual health and prevention, the present study analyzed dyadic paradata collected from an acceptability project of an eHealth HIV prevention toolkit intervention with 42 male couples in Lima, Peru (16 serodiscordant, 12 seroconcordant positive, 14 seroconcordant negative). Couples used the toolkit as designed, which included an agreement builder activity to encourage formation of a tailored agreement by selecting items from five categories (wellness, sex with partner, sex with others, social etiquette, substance use). The number of items couples included in their agreement varied (range: 7–59), and did not differ by dyad serostatus. For agreement composition, couples included the highest number of items about wellness, followed by sexual behaviors with the partner, and social etiquette. Between one- and two-thirds of couples included regular HIV/STI testing. However, far fewer specified guidelines about condom use and no couples included biomedical HIV prevention strategies. Findings suggest additional intervention mechanism(s) (e.g., prompts, algorithms) may be needed to encourage couples to include HIV/STI prevention strategies in their agreements while also balancing their sexual health preferences.
Mechanical stability and technical outcomes of monolithic CAD/CAM fabricated abutment-crowns supported by titanium bases: an in vitro study.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate mechanical stability (survival and complication rates) and bending moments of different all-ceramic monolithic restorations bonded to titanium bases (hybrid abutment-crowns) or to customized titanium abutments compared to porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns (PFM) after thermo-mechanical aging. MATERIALS AND METHODS 60 conical connection implants (4.3 mm-diameter) were divided in five groups (n=12): PFM using gold abutment (GAbut-PFM), lithium disilicate crown bonded to customized titanium abutment (TAbut+LDS), lithium disilicate abutment-crown bonded to titanium base (TiBase+LDS), zirconia abutment-crown bonded to titanium base (TiBase+ZR), polymer-infiltrated ceramic-network (PICN) abutment-crown bonded to titanium base (TiBase+PICN). Simultaneous thermocycling (5°-55°C) and chewing simulation (1,200,000-cycles, 49N, 1.67Hz) were applied. Catastrophic and non-catastrophic events were evaluated under light microscope, and survival and complication rates were calculated. Specimens that survived aging were loaded until failure and bending moments were calculated. RESULTS Survival rates after aging were 100% (TAbut+LDS, TiBase+LDS), 91.7% (GA-PFM), 66.7% (TiBase+ZR) and 58.3% (TiBase+PICN) and differed among the groups (p = 0.006). Non-catastrophic events as screw-loosening (GA-PFM) and loss of retention or micro/macro movement (TiBase-groups) were observed. Complication rates varied among the groups (p < 0.001). TiBase+PICN had lower bending moment than all the other groups (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Hybrid abutment-crowns made of lithium disilicate can be an alternative to PFM-based restorations, although concerns regarding the bonded interface between the titanium base and abutment-crown can be raised. PICN and zirconia may not be recomemmend due to its inferior mechanical and bonding outcomes, respectively. Titanium customized abutment with bonded lithium disilicate crown appears to be the most stable combination.
Deep Object Tracking With Shrinkage Loss

In this paper, we address the issue of data imbalance in learning deep models for visual object tracking. Although it is well known that data distribution plays a crucial role in learning and inference models, considerably less attention has been paid to data imbalance in visual tracking. For the deep regression trackers that directly learn a dense mapping from input images of target objects to soft response maps, we identify their performance is limited by the extremely imbalanced pixel-to-pixel differences when computing regression loss. This prevents existing end-to-end learnable deep regression trackers from performing as well as discriminative correlation filters (DCFs) trackers. For the deep classification trackers that draw positive and negative samples to learn discriminative classifiers, there exists heavy class imbalance due to a limited number of positive samples when compared to the number of negative samples. To balance training data, we propose a novel shrinkage loss to penalize the importance of easy training data mostly coming from the background, which facilitates both deep regression and classification trackers to better distinguish target objects from the background. We extensively validate the proposed shrinkage loss function on six benchmark datasets, including the OTB-2013, OTB-2015, UAV-123, VOT-2016, VOT-2018 and LaSOT. Equipped with our shrinkage loss, the proposed one-stage deep regression tracker achieves favorable results against state-of-the-art methods, especially in comparison with DCFs trackers. Meanwhile, our shrinkage loss generalizes well to deep classification trackers. When replacing the original binary cross entropy loss with our shrinkage loss, three representative baseline trackers achieve large performance gains, even setting new state-of-the-art results.
The Relationship between Obesity and Physical Activity of Children in the Spotlight of Their Parents’ Excessive Body Weight

Background: The study reveals the relationships between daily physical activity (PA) and the prevalence of obesity in family members separated according to the participation of their offspring in organized leisure-time physical activity (OLTPA), and answers the question of whether the participation of children in OLTPA is associated with a lower prevalence of obesity in offspring with respect to parental PA and body weight level. Methods: The cross-sectional study included 1493 parent-child dyads (915/578 mother/father-child aged 4–16 years) from Czechia selected by two-stage stratified random sampling with complete data on body weight status and weekly PA gathered over a regular school week between 2013 and 2019. Results: The children who participated in OLTPA ≥ three times a week had a significantly lower (p < 0.005) prevalence of obesity than the children without participation in OLTPA (5.0% vs. 11.1%). Even in the case of overweight/obese mothers/fathers, the children with OLTPA ≥ three times a week had a significantly lower (p < 0.002) prevalence of obesity than the children without OLTPA (6.7%/4.2% vs. 14.9%/10.7%). Conclusions: The cumulative effect of regular participation in OLTPA and a child’s own PA is a stronger alleviator of children’s obesity than their parents’ risk of overweight/obesity.
Intracranial Pressure, More Than a Number?

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Distribution of magnesium forms in surface soils of Central Southern Nigeria

The distribution of various Mg forms in selected surface soils of the Edo State of Central Southern Nigeria was studied to contribute for a basic understanding of where and in what fractions Mg was located. Twenty surface (0 – 15cm) soil samples collected from pre-classified sites were investigated. The various Mg forms were determined by fractionation. Exchangeable [Mg(e)], organic complexed [Mg(o)], acid-soluble [Mg(a)], mineral [Mg(m)], and total [Mg(t)] ranged from 0.64 – 2.10, 0.12 – 0.63, 2.52 – 5.25, 2.94 – 5.04 and 7.35 – 12.60 cmol kg−1 with means of 1.36, 0.33, 3.69, 3.86 and 9.65 cmol kg-1, respectively. The Mg(o) averaged less than 3.42% of the Mg(t) in the soils. Mg(t) content of the soils appeared to be influenced by parent materials. The amounts of the various chemical forms of Mg could be ranked in terms of abundance in soils in the following order: Mg(m) > Mg(a) > Mg(e) > Mg(o). Mg(a) was positively and significantly correlated with Mg(m) and Mg(t) (P ≤ 0.05) while Mg(m) was positively and significantly correlated with Mg(t) (P ≤ 0.001). The soils were adequate in Mg(e) based on established critical levels for Nigerian soils.
Declines and pronounced regional disparities in meperidine use in the United States

There have been increasing concerns about adverse effects and drug interactions with meperidine. The goal of this study was to characterize meperidine use in the United States. Meperidine distribution data were obtained from the Drug Enforcement Administration's Automated of Reports and Consolidated Orders System. The Medicare Part D Prescriber Public Use File was utilized to capture overall trends in national prescriptions in this observational report. Nationally, meperidine distribution decreased by 94.6% from 2001 to 2019. In 2019, Arkansas, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Mississippi saw significantly greater distribution when compared with the US state average of 9.27 mg per 10 persons (SD = 6.82). Meperidine distribution showed an 18‐fold difference between the highest state (Arkansas = 36.8 mg) and lowest state (Minnesota = 2.1 mg). Five of the six states with the lowest distribution were in the Northeast. Meperidine distribution per state was correlated with the prevalence of adult obesity (r(48) = +0.48, p < . 001). Family medicine and internal medicine physicians accounted for 28.9% and 20.5%, respectively, of meperidine total daily supply (TDS) in 2017. Interventional pain management (5.66) and pain management (3.48) physicians accounted for the longest TDS per provider. The use of meperidine declined over the last two decades. Meperidine varied by geographic region with south‐central states, and those with more obesity, showing greater distribution. Primary care doctors continue to account for the majority of meperidine daily supply. Increasing knowledge of meperidine's undesirable adverse effects like seizures and serious drug–drug interactions is likely responsible for these pronounced reductions.