Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using Dual Neural Network Architecture to Detect the Risk of Dementia With Community Health Data: Algorithm Development and Validation Study

Background Recent studies have revealed lifestyle behavioral risk factors that can be modified to reduce the risk of dementia. As modification of lifestyle takes time, early identification of people with high dementia risk is important for timely intervention and support. As cognitive impairment is a diagnostic criterion of dementia, cognitive assessment tools are used in primary care to screen for clinically unevaluated cases. Among them, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is a very common instrument. However, MMSE is a questionnaire that is administered when symptoms of memory decline have occurred. Early administration at the asymptomatic stage and repeated measurements would lead to a practice effect that degrades the effectiveness of MMSE when it is used at later stages. Objective The aim of this study was to exploit machine learning techniques to assist health care professionals in detecting high-risk individuals by predicting the results of MMSE using elderly health data collected from community-based primary care services. Methods A health data set of 2299 samples was adopted in the study. The input data were divided into two groups of different characteristics (ie, client profile data and health assessment data). The predictive output was the result of two-class classification of the normal and high-risk cases that were defined based on MMSE. A dual neural network (DNN) model was proposed to obtain the latent representations of the two groups of input data separately, which were then concatenated for the two-class classification. Mean and k-nearest neighbor were used separately to tackle missing data, whereas a cost-sensitive learning (CSL) algorithm was proposed to deal with class imbalance. The performance of the DNN was evaluated by comparing it with that of conventional machine learning methods. Results A total of 16 predictive models were built using the elderly health data set. Among them, the proposed DNN with CSL outperformed in the detection of high-risk cases. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, average precision, sensitivity, and specificity reached 0.84, 0.88, 0.73, and 0.80, respectively. Conclusions The proposed method has the potential to serve as a tool to screen for elderly people with cognitive impairment and predict high-risk cases of dementia at the asymptomatic stage, providing health care professionals with early signals that can prompt suggestions for a follow-up or a detailed diagnosis.
Development of the lamprey velum and implications for the evolution of the vertebrate jaw

The vertebrate jaw is thought to have evolved through developmental modification of the mandibular arch. An extant jawless vertebrate, the lamprey, possesses a structure called “velum”—a mandibular arch derivative—in addition to the oral apparatus. This leads us to assess the velum's possible contribution to the evolution of jaws.
A Danish Sentence Corpus for Assessing Speech Recognition in Noise in School-Age Children

For the audiological assessment of the speech-in-noise abilities of children with normal or impaired hearing, appropriate test materials are required. However, in Denmark, no standardized materials exist. The purpose of this study was to develop a Danish sentence corpus suitable for testing school-age children. Based on the 600 validated test sentences from the Danish DAT (Dagmar, Asta, or Tine) corpus, 11 test lists comprising 20 sentences each were carefully constructed. These lists were evaluated in terms of their perceptual similarity and reliability with a group of 20 typically developing, normal-hearing children aged 6 to 12 years. Using stationary speech-shaped noise and diotic stimulus presentation, speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) were measured twice per list and participant at two separate visits. The analyses showed that six test lists were perceptually equivalent. These lists are characterized by a grand average SRT of −2.6 dB signal-to-noise ratio, a test–retest improvement of 0.6 dB, and a within-subject standard deviation of 1.1 dB signal-to-noise ratio. The other lists were characterized by slightly higher SRTs, slightly larger training effects, and slightly larger measurement uncertainty, but were otherwise also usable. Overall, it is therefore concluded that the developed corpus is suited for assessing speech recognition in noise in Danish 6- to 12-year olds. The corpus is publicly available.
A high TP53 mutation burden is a strong predictor of primary refractory mantle cell lymphoma

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Contrast-enhanced ultrasound-guided feeding artery ablation as add-on to percutaneous radiofrequency ablation for hypervascular hepatocellular carcinoma with a modified ablative technique and tumor perfusion evaluation

Abstract Objectives To establish a modified strategy of the feeding artery ablation (FAA) procedure as an add-on to percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for patients with hypervascular hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and to evaluate the outcomes. Materials and methods For this prospective, single-arm study, from June 2014 to August 2016, twenty-five patients with hypervascular HCC, 2–5 cm in diameter were treated by contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS)-guided FAA before conventional RFA. Technical success of FAA and subsequent perfusion change of the tumor were evaluated by CEUS. Technical efficacy and ablation sizes were evaluated by CT/MRI at 1 month. Therapeutic outcomes, including local tumor progression (LTP), overall survival (OS), and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were evaluated using the Kaplan–Meier method. Results One or two target feeding arteries were visible on CEUS for 52.6% (61/116) of the hypervascular HCCs 2–5 cm in diameter. The technical success rate of the FAA was 100%; 13/25 (52.0%) target tumors were evaluated as complete perfusion response, while 12/25 (48.0%) were evaluated as partial perfusion response. The ablation volume was 41.9 ± 17.5 cm3 (14.9–78.2 cm3) and the ablative safety margin was 8.2 ± 1.9 mm (4–12 mm) at the 1-month evaluation. These parameters did not differ significantly between the complete and partial subgroups. The cumulative rates of LTP at 1-, 2-, and 3-year follow-ups were 0.0%, 4.2% and 4.2%, respectively. The 3-year OS and RFS were 70.3% vs. 59.8%, respectively. There were no treatment-related deaths. Major complications occurred in one patient (4.0%). Conclusion As an add-on to conventional percutaneous RFA, tailored CEUS-guided FAA can reduce tumor perfusion and provide good local control of HCC.
miR-449a regulates biological functions of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by targeting SATB1.

PURPOSE To investigate whether miR-449a can regulate the biological functions of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells by targeting special AT-rich sequence binding protein 1 (SATB1). METHODS qRT-PCR and western blot were carried out to detect the expression of miR-449a and SATB1 in normal human hepatocyte cell line HL-7702 and in HCC cells SMMC-7721, Hep3B, HepG2, and Bel-7402. miR-449a-mimics, miR-negative control (miR-NC), specifically inhibited SATB1 RNA (si-SATB1), specifically overexpressed SATB1 RNA (sh-SATB1), and negative control RNA (Si-NC) were transfected into the Hep3B and Bel-7402 cells. MTT assay, Transwell assay and flow cytometry were conducted to detect cell proliferation, invasion, and apoptosis. Dual luciferase reporter assay was performed to determine the relationship between miR-449a and SATB1. RESULTS miR-449a was highly but SATB1 was poorly expressed in HCC cells. According to the cell experiments, the up-regulation of miR-449a expression could inhibit the proliferation and invasion of HCC cells, promote their apoptosis, and significantly reduce SATB1 expression. The inhibition of SATB1 expression could inhibit the proliferation and invasion and promote apoptosis. The dual luciferase reporter assay confirmed that there was a targeted regulatory relationship between miR-449a and SATB. CONCLUSION miR-449a can inhibit the proliferation and invasion of HCC cells and promote their apoptosis through the targeted regulation of SATB1, so it is expected to become a potential therapeutic target for this disease in clinical practice.
Gut microbiota analysis in systemic sclerosis according to disease characteristics and nutritional status.

OBJECTIVES Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare multi-organ disorder with a prominent gastrointestinal (GI) involvement. Altered gut microbiota is now considered a pivotal factor associated with the development of immune-mediated and inflammatory diseases. We performed a 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene-sequencing analysis of fecal microbiota in a cohort of SSc patients and matched healthy controls (HCs), with the aim to obtain some hints about a possible role of dysbiosis in the onset, progression, and severity of the disease. METHODS We analysed stool samples from 63 SSc patients with different disease duration, phenotype, and nutritional status and from 17 HCs through 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene-sequencing. RESULTS Microbial richness was lower for patients with long-standing disease. A similar observation was made for patients with diffuse cutaneous SSc (dsSSc) compared to those with limited variant (lcSSc) and for patients who reported a recent weight loss. Consistent with previous reports, we noted a deviation of the intestinal microbial composition in patients with SSc compared to HCs, with a greater expression of Lactobacillus and Streptococcus and a depletion of Sutterella. Nutritional status, assessed using BMI as a surrogate, appeared to have a marked impact on the gut microbiota, with overweight patients showing lower richness compared both to underweight and normal-BMI patients. CONCLUSIONS Our findings expand the current knowledge of gut microbiota in SSc and could be useful to identify patients who would most benefit from treatments aimed at restoring the eu-biosis.
Differential induction of innate memory in porcine monocytes by β-glucan or bacillus Calmette-Guerin

Innate immunomodulation via induction of innate memory is one mechanism to alter the host’s innate immune response to reduce or prevent disease. Microbial products modulate innate responses with immediate and lasting effects. Innate memory is characterized by enhanced (training) or depressed (tolerance) innate immune responses, including pro-inflammatory cytokine production, to secondary exposure following a priming event. To investigate the ability of β-glucans and bacillus Calmette-Guerin to induce innate training or tolerance in pig cells, porcine monocytes were cultured with priming agonist (β-glucans or bacillus Calmette-Guerin) then re-stimulated 5 d later with a heterologous microbial agonist to determine induction of innate memory. Priming with β-glucan from Saccharomyces cerevisiae depressed IL-1β and TNF-α cytokine responses to re-stimulation with LPS, indicative of a tolerized state. However, bacillus Calmette-Guerin priming induced a trained state in porcine monocytes, as LPS re-stimulation enhanced IL-1β and TNF-α gene expression and protein production. We present the first evidence of innate memory in pig monocytes, with bacillus Calmette-Guerin (training) or Saccharomyces cerevisiae β-glucan (tolerance). Induction of a trained or tolerized state in vitro is a first step to identify agonists to alter the innate immune system at the animal level with the intent of enhancing disease resistance.
Comparison of efficacy of stereotactic body radiotherapy and thoracoscopic surgery in the treatment of early-stage non-small cell lung cancer.

PURPOSE To observe and compare the efficacy and safety between stereotactic body radiotherapy and thoracoscopic surgery in the treatment of early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS The clinical data of 106 early-stage NSCLC patients admitted to the Thoracic Surgery Department of the hospital from February 2014 to February 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Among these patients, 53 received stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT group), and 53 underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS group). The clinical data of all patients were collected. The short-term response rate, Karnofsky performance status (KPS) score, changes in serum tumor marker levels before and after surgery and adverse reactions were compared between the two groups. Besides, all patients were followed up, and the overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were recorded. RESULTS The levels of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cytokeratin 19 fragment (CYFRA21-1) and neurone specific enolase (NSE) were decreased in both groups after treatment, and the differences were not statistically significant between the two groups. The patients tolerated well with SBRT, without evident myelosuppression or adverse hematological effects. In SBRT group, there were 7 cases of radioactive skin reaction, 2 cases of grade I radiation esophagitis and 4 cases of radiation pneumonitis (including 3 cases of grade I radiation pneumonitis and 1 case of grade II radiation pneumonitis). In VATS group, there were 3 cases of incision infection, 2 cases of pulmonary infection, 5 cases of pulmonary atelectasis, 1 case of pulmonary leakage and 1 case of deep vein thrombosis of lower extremity. The 3- year OS and PFS were 79.2% (42/53) and 67.9% (36/53) and 83.0% (44/53) and 77.4% (41/53) in SBRT group and VATS group, respectively. Kaplan-Meier survival showed no statistically significant differences in the OS and PFS between the two groups (log-rank). CONCLUSION SBRT achieves better RR and DCR, similar OS and PFS to those of typical thoracoscopic surgery, and good patient tolerance in the treatment of early- stage NSCLC, which is a safe and effective treatment means.
The Sperm Proteome of the Oyster Crassostrea hongkongensis

Sperm proteins play vital roles in fertilization, but little is known about their identities in free‐spawning marine invertebrates. Here, 286 sperm proteins are reported from the Hong Kong oyster Crassostrea hongkongensis using label‐free and semi‐quantitative proteomics. Proteins extracted from three sperm samples are separated by SDS‐PAGE, analyzed by LC‐MS/MS, and identified using Mascot. Functional classification of the sperm proteome reveals energy metabolism (33%), signaling and binding (23%), and protein synthesis and degradation (12%) as the top functional categories. Comparison of orthologous sperm proteins between C. hongkongensis, Crassostrea gigas, Mytilus edulis, and M. galloprovincialis suggests that energy metabolism (48%) is the most conserved functional group. Sequence alignment of the C. hongkongensis bindin, an acrosomal protein that binds the sperm and the egg, with those of three other Crassostrea species, reveals several conserved motifs. The study has enriched the data of invertebrate sperm proteins and may contribute to studies of mechanisms of fertilization in free‐spawning invertebrates. The proteomic data are available in ProteomeXchange with the identifier PXD018255.
Loss of ZBTB24 impairs nonhomologous end-joining and class-switch recombination in patients with ICF syndrome

Mutations in ZBTB24 cause immunodeficiency, centromeric instability, and facial anomalies (ICF) syndrome. Helfricht et al. demonstrate that the loss of ZBTB24 impairs nonhomologous end-joining and class-switch recombination, proving a molecular basis for the immunodeficiency in ICF patients.
Longest incubation period of Mycobacterium chimaera infection after cardiac surgery.

Mycobacterium chimaera infections have been associated with contamination of a heater-cooler unit used during cardiopulmonary bypass procedures since 2006. Mycobacterium chimaera is a slow-growing non-tuberculous mycobacterium responsible for an infection, which is difficult to treat and has often a devastating course. Until now, M. chimaera infection has been shown to occur up to 8 years after operation. We report a patient presenting with an aortic pseudoaneurysm who developed M. chimaera infection 12 years after repair of an acute type A aortic dissection with graft replacement of the ascending aorta and stent-grafting of the arch. As far as we know, this is the case with the longest incubation period of M. chimaera infection. The present experience indicates that all patients who underwent open heart procedures since 2006 with such heater-cooler unit model should be closely followed up regardless of time of index surgery.
DETERMINATION OF GENETIC VARIATION IN INDIAN SESAME (SESAMUM INDICUM) GENOTYPES FOR AGRO-MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the oldest oil crops and is widely cultivated in Asia and Africa. Characterization and quantification of genetic diversity has long been a major goal in evolutionary biology. Information on the genetic diversity within and among closely related crop varieties is essential for a rational use of genetic resources. The analysis of genetic variation within and among elite breeding materials is of fundamental interest to plant breeders. It contributes to monitoring of germplasm and can also be used to predict potential genetic gains . To determine the level of diversity in relation to geographical origins and morphological characteristics, a total of 60 accessions have been collected from different parts of the India were analyzed using statistical techniques for thirteen quantitative and four qualitative parameters using D 2 analysis. Number of seeds per capsule contributed highest towards the divergence. The distribution pattern of genotypes in different clusters indicated that genetic divergence was not related to geographical differentiation.
Perineal stapled prolapse resection for external rectal prolapse: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

Rectal prolapse is an uncommon but debilitating pelvic floor disorder that significantly decreases the quality of life of affected patients. Perineal stapled prolapse resection is a relatively new perineal approach that offers an promising alternative technique in the surgical management of rectal prolapse. It appears to be a simple, reproducible and efficient method. However, long‐term outcomes are limited. The aims of this review are to assess the safety and effectiveness of perineal stapled prolapse resection in the management of rectal prolapse.
Flora Diversity of Urhonigbe Forest Reserve, Edo State, Nigeria

Urhonigbe Forest Reserve is located in Edo State, Nigeria. The study area was conveniently divided into three sample areas (X, Y and Z). Each sample area had four sampling plots, each measuring 50 m x 50 m. nine quadrants were laid in a plot to sample for plant species. One hundred and sixty (160) plant species, belonging fifty six families and one hundred and thirty eight genera were identified. Their habits vary from trees, shrubs, herbs, sedges, grasses to climbers. Tree species contributed to 53.75% of the total plant species obtained in Urhionigbe Forest Reserve. This was followed by shrubs (25.63%), herbs (10.63%), climbers (7.50%), grasses (1.88%) and sedge (0.63%). The trees were the most represented whereas, the sedge was the least. Fabaceae was the most dominant plant family having fourteen species which accounted for 8.75% of the total plant species sampled in the fields. Also, Rubiaceae and Euphorbiaceae had by twelve species each and contributed 15% of the total plant species enumerated in the fields. Others include Apocynaceae and Meliaceae with nine species each contributed 11.25%; Annonaceae, Ebenaceae, Sapindaceae and Tiliaceae with five species each accounted 12.50%. Icacinaceae, Sterculiaceae, Ulmaceae with four species each contributed 7.5%, while Piperaceae, Poaceae, Araceae, Menispermaceae, Commelinaceae, Palmaceae, Moraceae and Myristiceae with three species each accounted for 15%. Rutaceae, Vebenaceae, Convolvulaceae, Clausiaceae, Irvingiaceae, Connaraceae, Burseraceae, Capparaceae, Combretaceae and Maranthaceae with two species each contributed 12.50%, while Anacardiaceae and the other families with one species each accounted for 17.50%.
Chorus organization in the Gulf Coast toad (Bufo valliceps) : male and female behavior and the opportunity for sexual selection

We examined variation in mating system structure, male and female behavior, and the opportunity for sexual selection over multiple years in two populations of the Gulf Coast toad, Bufo valliceps, in south-central Texas. There was substantial variation in mating system structure among years and among sites. Duration of calling activity ranged between seven and 29 nights, chorus sizes ranged between two and 65 males, and male densities ranged between 0.01 and 0.52 males/m of shoreline. Overall, operational sex ratio was negatively related to both chorus size and male density. Males did not exhibit satellite behavior, and active searching behavior was rare. Females usually appeared to freely select mates, and single males were never observed attempting to displace an amplectant male. Male mating success was strongly skewed in all years at both sites; within a year >60% of males did not mate, but some males mated with as many as four females. The opportunity for selection arising from variance in male mating success varied both among years and among sites within a year. Our observations suggest that the potential for sexual selection by female choice is high, despite the somewhat explosive breeding season of this species.