Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Australian perspectives on spiritual care training in healthcare: A Delphi study

Abstract Objective The aim was to to establish core components of spiritual care training for healthcare professionals in Australia. Methods This study used the Delphi technique to undertake a consensus exercise with spiritual care experts in the field of healthcare. Participant opinion was sought on (i) the most important components of spiritual care training; (ii) preferred teaching methods; (iii) clinical scenarios to address in spiritual care training; and (iv) current spiritual assessment and referral procedures. Results Of the 107 participants who responded in the first round, 67 (62.6%) were female, 55 (51.4%) worked in pastoral care, and 84 (78.5%) selected Christian as their religious affiliation. The most highly ranked components of spiritual care training were “relationship between health and spirituality,” followed by “definitions of spirituality and spiritual care. ” Consensus was not achieved on the item “comparative religions study/alternative spiritual beliefs. ” Preferred teaching methods include case studies, group discussion, role-plays and/or simulated learning, videos of personal stories, and self-directed learning. The most highly ranked clinical scenario to be addressed in spiritual care training was “screening for spiritual concerns for any patient or resident. ” When asked who should conduct an initial spiritual review with patients, consensus was achieved regarding all members of the healthcare team, with most nominating a chaplain or “whoever the patient feels comfortable with. ” It was considered important for spiritual care training to address one's own spirituality and self-care. Consensus was not achieved on which spiritual care assessment tools to incorporate in training. Significance of results This Delphi study revealed that spiritual care training for Australian healthcare professionals should emphasize the understanding of the role of spirituality and spiritual care in healthcare, include a range of delivery methods, and focus upon the incorporation of spiritual screening. Further work is required to identify how spiritual care screening should be conducted within an Australian healthcare setting.
New Tardigrade Opsins and Differential Expression Analyses Show Ontogenic Variation in Light Perception

Abstract Opsins are light-sensitive proteins involved in many photoreceptive processes, including, but not limited to, vision and regulation of circadian rhythms. Arthropod (e.g., insects, spiders, centipedes, and crabs) opsins have been extensively researched, but the relationships and function of opsins found in lineages that are evolutionarily closely related to the arthropods remains unclear. Multiple, independent, opsin duplications are known in Tardigrada (the water bears), evidencing that protostome opsin duplications are not limited to the Arthropoda. However, the relationships, function, and expression of these new opsins are still unknown. Here, we use two tardigrade transcriptomes with deep coverage to greatly expand our knowledge of the diversity of tardigrade opsins. We reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of the tardigrade opsins and investigate their ontogenetic expression. We found that while tardigrades have multiple opsins that evolved from lineage-specific duplications of well-understood arthropod opsins, their expression levels change during ontogeny such that most of these opsins are not co-temporally expressed. Co-temporal expression of multiple opsins underpins color vision in Arthropoda and Vertebrata. Our results clearly show duplications of both rhabdomeric and ciliary opsins within Tardigrada, forming clades specific to both the Heterotardigrada and Eutardigrada in addition to multiple independent duplications within genera. However, lack of co-temporal, ontogenetic, expression suggests that while tardigrades possess multiple opsins, they are unlikely to be able to distinguish color.
A Metabolic Profile of Peripheral Heart Action Training

ABSTRACT Purpose: Peripheral heart action (PHA) is a style of circuit training that alternates upper and lower body resistance exercises with minimal rest between sets. The purpose of this study was to compare the metabolic demands of PHA to traditional hypertrophy training (TRAD) and to provide between sex comparison for both types of resistance training (RT). Methods: Twenty resistance-trained individuals underwent two bouts of volume-load matched RT: PHA and TRAD. We measured oxygen uptake (VO2), heart rate (HR), blood lactate (BL) concentration, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), and duration of each session. Results: PHA elicited significantly greater %VO2max (p < .001), %HRmax (p < .001), RPE (p < .001), and EPOC (p < .001) compared to TRAD. PHA was also completed in less time (p < .001). Compared to TRAD, BL was significantly higher at mid-exercise (p < .001), post-exercise (p < .001), and 5-min post-exercise (p < .001) during PHA. There were no between-sex differences for BL at any time-point for TRAD. However, during PHA, BL was significantly higher for males at mid-exercise (p = .04), post-exercise (p = .02), and 5-min post-exercise (p = .002). No between-sex differences were detected for HR, VO2, RPE, or duration for either style of RT. Conclusions: PHA is a time-effective and metabolically demanding circuit that may lead to strength and cardiorespiratory adaptations. Males produced more BL than females during PHA, but not TRAD, suggesting that they incurred more metabolic stress during the bout of circuit training.
Importance of Electron Transport Ability in Naphthalene Diimide-Based Polymer Acceptors for High-Performance, Additive-Free, All-Polymer Solar Cells

We report a systematic investigation of the correlations between the electron mobility of polymer acceptors and the photovoltaic performances of all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) by using a series of naphthalene diimide (NDI)-based polymer acceptors. Polymer acceptors typically have much lower electron mobility than fullerenes, which is one of the main factors in limiting the performance of all-PSCs. In addition, the anisotropic charge transport properties of the polymers require careful control of their packing structure and orientation suitable for their use in all-PSCs. To control the planarity of the polymer backbone and enhance electron mobility, we introduce three different electron-rich units (i.e., thiophene (T), bithiophene (T2), and thienylene–vinylene–thienylene (TVT)) into the NDI-based polymers. Particularly, P(NDI2OD–TVT) polymers exhibit the highest electron mobility (2.31 cm2 V–1 s–1) in organic field-effect transistors owing to various factors including enhanced degree of coplanarity, st.
Automatic Classification of the Korean Triage Acuity Scale in Simulated Emergency Rooms Using Speech Recognition and Natural Language Processing: a Proof of Concept Study

Background Rapid triage reduces the patients' stay time at an emergency department (ED). The Korean Triage Acuity Scale (KTAS) is mandatorily applied at EDs in South Korea. For rapid triage, we studied machine learning-based triage systems composed of a speech recognition model and natural language processing-based classification. Methods We simulated 762 triage cases that consisted of 18 classes with six types of the main symptom (chest pain, dyspnea, fever, stroke, abdominal pain, and headache) and three levels of KTAS. In addition, we recorded conversations between emergency patients and clinicians during the simulation. We used speech recognition models to transcribe the conversation. Bidirectional Encoder Representation from Transformers (BERT), support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), and k-nearest neighbors (KNN) were used for KTAS and symptom classification. Additionally, we evaluated the Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) values of features to interpret the classifiers. Results The character error rate of the speech recognition model was reduced to 25.21% through transfer learning. With auto-transcribed scripts, support vector machine (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUROC], 0.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.81–0.9), KNN (AUROC, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.85–0.93), RF (AUROC, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.82–0.9) and BERT (AUROC, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.75–0.87) achieved excellent classification performance. Based on SHAP, we found “stress”, “pain score point”, “fever”, “breath”, “head” and “chest” were the important vocabularies for determining KTAS and symptoms. Conclusion We demonstrated the potential of an automatic KTAS classification system using speech recognition models, machine learning and BERT-based classifiers.
Identification of LecRLK gene family in Cerasus humilis through genomic-transcriptomic data mining and expression analyses

Lectin receptor-like protein kinases (LecRLKs) have been shown to be involved in plants’ responses to various biotic and abiotic stresse factors. Cerasus humilis is an important fruit species widely planted for soil and water conservation in northern China due to its strong tolerance to drought and salinity stresses. In this study, a total of 170 LecRLK family genes (125 G-types, 43 L-types and 2 C-types) were identified in the newly released whole-genome sequences of C. humilis. Furthermore, nine representative LecRLK genes in young plants of C. humilis under varying drought and salinity stresses were selected for qRT-PCR analysis. Our systematic comparative analyses revealed the active participation of these nine LecRLK genes in the salt and drought stress responses of C. humilis. The results from our study have provided a solid foundation for future functional verification of these LecRLK family genes and will likely help facilitate the more rapid and effective development of new stress resistant Cerasus humilis cultivars.
Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals distinct cellular factors for response to immunotherapy targeting CD73 and PD-1 in colorectal cancer

Background Although cancer immunotherapy is one of the most effective advanced-stage cancer therapies, no clinically approved cancer immunotherapies currently exist for colorectal cancer (CRC). Recently, programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockade has exhibited clinical benefits according to ongoing clinical trials. However, ongoing clinical trials for cancer immunotherapies are focused on PD-1 signaling inhibitors such as pembrolizumab, nivolumab, and atezolizumab. In this study, we focused on revealing the distinct response mechanism for the potent CD73 ectoenzyme selective inhibitor AB680 as a promising drug candidate that functions by blocking tumorigenic ATP/adenosine signaling in comparison to current therapeutics that block PD-1 to assess the value of this drug as a novel immunotherapy for CRC. Methods To understand the distinct mechanism of AB680 in comparison to that of a neutralizing antibody against murine PD-1 used as a PD-1 blocker, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing of CD45+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes from untreated controls (n=3) and from AB680-treated (n=3) and PD-1-blockade-treated murine CRC in vivo models. We also used flow cytometry, Azoxymethane (AOM)/Dextran Sulfate Sodium (DSS) models, and in vitro functional assays to validate our new findings. Results We initially observed that the expressions of Nt5e (a gene for CD73) and Entpd1 (a gene for CD39) affect T cell receptor (TCR) diversity and transcriptional profiles of T cells, thus suggesting their critical roles in T cell exhaustion within tumor. Importantly, PD-1 blockade significantly increased the TCR diversity of Entpd1-negative T cells and Pdcd1-positive T cells. Additionally, we determined that AB680 improved the anticancer functions of immunosuppressed cells such as Treg and exhausted T cells, while the PD-1 blocker quantitatively reduced Malat1high Treg and M2 macrophages. We also verified that PD-1 blockade induced Treg depletion in AOM/DSS CRC in vivo models, and we confirmed that AB680 treatment caused increased activation of CD8+ T cells using an in vitro T cell assay. Conclusions The intratumoral immunomodulation of CD73 inhibition is distinct from PD-1 inhibition and exhibits potential as a novel anticancer immunotherapy for CRC, possibly through a synergistic effect when combined with PD-1 blocker treatments. This study may contribute to the ongoing development of anticancer immunotherapies targeting refractory CRC.
Learned Low-Rank Priors in Dynamic MR Imaging

Deep learning methods have achieved attractive performance in dynamic MR cine imaging. However, most of these methods are driven only by the sparse prior of MR images, while the important low-rank (LR) prior of dynamic MR cine images is not explored, which may limit further improvements in dynamic MR reconstruction. In this paper, a learned singular value thresholding (Learned-SVT) operator is proposed to explore low-rank priors in dynamic MR imaging to obtain improved reconstruction results. In particular, we put forward a model-based unrolling sparse and low-rank network for dynamic MR imaging, dubbed as SLR-Net. SLR-Net is defined over a deep network flow graph, which is unrolled from the iterative procedures in the iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm (ISTA) for optimizing a sparse and LR-based dynamic MRI model. Experimental results on a single-coil scenario show that the proposed SLR-Net can further improve the state-of-the-art compressed sensing (CS) methods and sparsity-driven deep learning-based methods with strong robustness to different undersampling patterns, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Besides, SLR-Net has been extended to a multi-coil scenario, and achieved excellent reconstruction results compared with a sparsity-driven multi-coil deep learning-based method under a high acceleration. Prospective reconstruction results on an open real-time dataset further demonstrate the capability and flexibility of the proposed method on real-time scenarios.
Drug repurposing to prevent pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure.

Graphical Abstract Anti-influenza drugs protect against cardiac hypertrophy. In response to pressure overload, NEU1 expression is increased in cardiomyocytes, followed by its translocation from lysosomes to the nucleus. NEU1 binds to the GATA4 transcription factor, leading to the expression of the foetal genes Nppa and Nppb. Therapeutically, pre-treatment with anti-influenza drugs zanamivir or oseltamivir effectively restored mammalian NEU1 expression at the physiologival level and prevented the development of cardiac hypertrophy.
Pneumococcal Extracellular Vesicles Modulate Host Immunity

Our studies reveal that Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) (pEVs) are internalized by macrophages, T cells, and epithelial cells. In vitro, pEVs induce NF-κB activation in a dosage-dependent manner and polarize human macrophages to an alternative (M2) phenotype. In addition, pEV pretreatment conditions macrophages to increase bacteria uptake and such macrophages may act as a reservoir for pneumococcal cells by increasing survival of the phagocytosed bacteria. ABSTRACT Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have recently garnered attention for their participation in host-microbe interactions in pneumococcal infections. However, the effect of EVs on the host immune system remain poorly understood. Our studies focus on EVs produced by Streptococcus pneumoniae (pEVs), and reveal that pEVs are internalized by macrophages, T cells, and epithelial cells. In vitro, pEVs induce NF-κB activation in a dosage-dependent manner and polarize human macrophages to an alternative (M2) phenotype. In addition, pEV pretreatment conditions macrophages to increase bacteria uptake and such macrophages may act as a reservoir for pneumococcal cells by increasing survival of the phagocytosed bacteria. When administered systemically in mice, pEVs induce cytokine release; when immobilized locally, they recruit lymphocytes and macrophages. Taken together, pEVs emerge as critical contributors to inflammatory responses and tissue damage in mammalian hosts. IMPORTANCE Over the last decade, pathogen-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as important players in several human diseases. Therefore, a thorough understanding of EV-mediated mechanisms could provide novel insights into vaccine/therapeutic development. A critical question in the field is: do pathogen-derived EVs help the pathogen evade the harsh environment in the host or do they help the host to mount a robust immune response against the pathogen? This study is a step towards answering this critical question for the Gram-positive pathogen, Streptococcus pneumoniae. Our study shows that while S. pneumoniae EVs (pEVs) induce inflammatory response both in vitro and in vivo, they may also condition the host macrophages to serve as a reservoir for the bacteria.
Clinical albinism score, presence of nystagmus and optic nerves defects are correlated with visual outcome in patients with oculocutaneous albinism

ABSTRACT Purpose: To correlate clinical features, molecular genetic findings, and visual acuity in a cohort of patients clinically diagnosed with oculocutaneous albinism. Design: Retrospective chart review Methods: 58 charts met the inclusion criteria. Clinical examination, ancillary testing, and molecular genetic diagnoses were extracted. A novel clinical albinism score (CAS) was developed. Results: A least one likely pathogenic mutation was found in 44/58 (75.9%) patients. Mutations in the OCA1 gene were the most common (52.3%), followed by OCA2 (34%), OCA4 (2.3%), OA1 (6.8%), and HPS (4.5%). Thirty-four percentage of patients had a complete genotype, 41% had one mutation found and 24% had negative genetic testing. CAS was statistically significantly higher in patients with complete genotype, versus patients with one or no mutations found (p < .01). Better visual acuity was associated with lower CAS and fewer disease-causing mutations (p < .01). Foveal defects and iris transillumination were associated with a higher number of mutations (p < .01). Patients with nystagmus or anomalous optic nerves had worse visual acuity than those who did not (p < .01, p < .05). Conclusions: Patients with a complete genotype were more likely to have higher CAS. Vision loss correlated with complete phenotype and higher CAS, the presence of nystagmus and anomalous optic nerves. Patients with features of albinism in whom an incomplete genotype was found had better vision than those with complete genotype, suggesting a mild occult mutation or modifier variant. Genetic diagnosis is vital for complete diagnosis, counseling, and family planning.
Diagnosis and Treatment of Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease: A Review.

Importance Alcohol-associated liver disease results in cirrhosis in approximately 10% to 20% of patients. In 2017, more than 2 million people had alcohol-associated cirrhosis in the US. Alcohol-associated liver disease is the primary cause of liver-related mortality and the leading indication for liver transplant, representing 40% to 50% of all liver transplant in high-income countries. Observations Steatosis, alcoholic hepatitis, and fibrosis are the 3 pathologic findings that are associated with progression to cirrhosis, with highest risk in patients with alcoholic hepatitis. The amount and duration of alcohol consumption, female sex, obesity, and specific genetic polymorphisms such as patatin-like phospholipase domain protein 3, membrane bound O-acyltransferase, and transmembrane 6 superfamily member 2 genes are risk factors for alcohol-associated liver disease progression. Ten-year survival of patients with alcohol-associated liver disease is 88% among those who are abstinent and 73% for those who relapse to alcohol consumption. Symptomatic alcoholic hepatitis is characterized by rapid onset of jaundice and a 30% risk of mortality 1 year after diagnosis. Severe alcoholic hepatitis, defined as a modified discriminant function score greater than or equal to 32 or Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score (starts at 6 and capped at 40; worst = 40) greater than 20, is associated with the development of acute-on-chronic liver failure and multiorgan failure. Corticosteroid therapy is associated with improved 1-month survival from 65% in untreated patients to 80% in treated patients. Early liver transplant may be appropriate in highly select patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis who do not respond to medical therapy. In patients with decompensated cirrhosis, liver transplant should be considered if the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score remains greater than 17 after 3 months of alcohol abstinence. Between 2014 and 2019, the proportion of patients waiting for liver transplantation who had alcohol-associated liver disease increased from 22% to 40%. Alcohol-associated cirrhosis accounted for approximately 27% of 1.32 million deaths worldwide related to cirrhosis in 2017. Conclusions and Relevance Alcohol-associated liver disease is among the most common liver diseases and more than 2 million people in the US in 2017 had alcohol-associated cirrhosis. Corticosteroid therapy improves survival in select patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis. Liver transplantation is the most effective therapy in patients with decompensated liver disease.
Impact of COVID‐19 and lockdown regarding blood transfusion

The outbreak of a SARS‐CoV‐2 resulted in a massive afflux of patients in hospital and intensive care units with many challenges. Blood transfusion was one of them regarding both blood banks (safety, collection, and stocks) and consumption (usual care and unknown specific demand of COVID‐19 patients). The risk of mismatch was sufficient to plan blood transfusion restrictions if stocks became limited.
Experimental seed sowing reveals seedling recruitment vulnerability to unseasonal fire.

Unseasonal fire occurrence is increasing globally, driven by climate change and other human activity. Changed timing of fire can inhibit post-fire seedling recruitment through interactions with plant phenology (the timing of key processes, e.g., flower initiation, seed production, dispersal, germination), and therefore threaten the persistence of many plant species. While empirical evidence from winter-rainfall ecosystems shows that optimal seedling recruitment is expected following summer and autumn (dry season) fires, we sought experimental evidence isolating the mechanisms of poor recruitment following unseasonal (wet season) fire. We implemented a seed sowing experiment using nine species native to fire-prone, Mediterranean-climate woodlands in southwestern Australia to emulate the timing of post-fire recruitment and test key mechanisms of fire seasonality effects. For seeds sown during months when fire is unseasonal (i.e. August-September: end of the wet winter season), seedling recruitment was reduced by up to 99% relative to seeds sown during seasonal fire months (i.e. May-June: end of the dry summer season) due to varying seed persistence, seedling emergence and seedling survival. We found that up to 70 times more seedlings emerged when seeds were sown during seasonal fire months compared to when seeds were sown during unseasonal fire months. The few seedlings that emerged from unseasonal sowings all died with the onset of the dry season. Of the seeds that failed to germinate from unseasonal sowings, only 2% survived exposure on the soil surface over the ensuing hot and dry summer. Our experimental results demonstrate the potential for unseasonal fire to inhibit seedling recruitment via impacts on pre-germination seed persistence and seedling establishment. As ongoing climate change lengthens fire seasons (i.e., unseasonal wildfires become more common) and managed fires are implemented further outside historically-typical fire seasons, post-fire seedling recruitment may become more vulnerable to failure, causing shifts in plant community composition towards those with fewer species solely dependent on seeds for regeneration.