Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Suicidal Thought and Associated Factors Among Patients with Diabetes Mellitus at North-west Ethiopia: Unemployment and Depression Matters

Background: Suicidal thought precedes other suicidal behaviors and is associated with the risk of attempting and committing suicide. However, the issue is not well studied in developing countries in general and Ethiopia in particular. Therefore, this study is conducted to assess ’lifetime prevalence and factors affecting suicidal thoughts among diabetes mellitus patients at Felegehiwot referral hospital. Method: we conducted analytic cross-sectional study from May 21 to June 21 at diabetic follow-up clinic. A systematic random sampling technique was applied to recruit a total of 421 participants. The suicide manual of the composite international diagnostic interview was adapted to assess suicidal thoughts. The medical chart of patients was reviewed to obtain relevant data on clinical variables. The factors associated with suicidal thoughts were identified with the binary logistic regression method. The strength of association between independent variables and suicidal thought was measured with odds ratio with 95% CI and the p-value of <0.05 in multivariable logistic regression were considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 421 participants were interviewed. The lifetime prevalence of Suicidal thoughts was found to be 19.7%. Being divorced/widowed (AOR=2.38, 95% CI: 1.12, 5.02), unemployment (AOR=3.67, 95% CI: 1.19, 11.32), type 1 diabetes (AOR=2.56, 95% CI: 1.16, 5.73), comorbidity of medical illness (AOR=4.74, 95% CI: 2.26, 9.93), and comorbid depression (AOR=1.92, 95% CI: 1.09, 3.38) were associated with suicidal thought. Conclusions: Suicidal thought was found to be an important public health problem in diabetes mellitus patients. So, early identification and treatment of patients with suicidal thoughts are important. Moreover; the management of medical comorbidities, depression, and psychosocial problems should be given due consideration.
Use of Motivational Strategies in Teaching-Learning Process Among Nurse Educators in Nursing Programmes in Selected States of the South-East, Nigeria

This is a descriptive cross-sectional study that determined the use of motivational strategies in teaching-learning process among Nurse Educators in nursing programmes in selected states of the Southeast, Nigeria. Population for the study was 112 nurse educators in Schools and Departments of nursing in the Southeast Nigeria. Investigators’-developed questionnaire was used for data collection. The instrument was validated for contents and tested for internal consistency through a pilot test and data generated were analyzed using Crombach’s Alpha which yielded reliability index of 0.813. Ethical approval from the Research and Ethics Committee of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Anambra State. Data generation was through one-on-one administration of the instrument to the participants. Statistical hypotheses were tested using one-way ANOVA at Confidence Interval of 95%. Study revealed that 97.2% of the Nurse Educators apply motivational strategies inteaching-learning process out of which 96.1% indicated “developing lessons that engage students in learning”. Majority of them (94.2%) indicated “establishing an environment that is safe from physical and emotional harm”. Study showed that “supporting learning and future goals” were indicated by the Nurse Educators (x=3.59, SD=0.52) as a key approach to the application of motivational strategies. Study also revealed that there was no significant difference in the use of motivational strategies between male and female Nurse Educators (t(105,.025)=. 366, p>. 05). Further still, there is no significant difference in the use of motivational strategies when analyzed according to teaching experience (F=1.034, p>.05). The researchers recommend full participation of the Nurse Educators at the point of selection of prospective nursing students to ensure that the best brains with readiness to learn are admitted into nursing programme.
A developmental transition in the sensory coding of limb kinematics in primary motor cortex

Primary motor cortex (M1) undergoes protracted development in mammals, functioning initially as a sensory structure. Throughout the first postnatal week in rats, M1 is strongly activated by self-generated forelimb movements—especially by the twitches that occur during active sleep. Here, we quantify the kinematic features of forelimb movements to reveal receptive-field properties of individual units within the forelimb region of M1. At postnatal day (P) 8, nearly all units were strongly modulated by movement amplitude, especially during active sleep. By P12, only a minority of units continued to exhibit amplitude-tuning, regardless of behavioral state. At both ages, movement direction also modulated M1 activity, though to a lesser extent. Finally, at P12, M1 population-level activity became more sparse and decorrelated, along with a substantial alteration in the statistical distribution of M1 responses to limb movements. These findings reveal a transition toward a more complex and informationally rich representation of movement long before M1 develops its motor functionality.
Individual variations in ‘brain age’ relate to early-life factors more than to longitudinal brain change

Brain age is a widely used index for quantifying individuals’ brain health as deviation from a normative brain aging trajectory. Higher than expected brain age is thought partially to reflect above-average rate of brain aging. We explicitly tested this assumption in two large datasets and found no association between cross-sectional brain age and steeper brain decline measured longitudinally. Rather, brain age in adulthood was associated with early-life influences indexed by birth weight and polygenic scores. The results call for nuanced interpretations of cross-sectional indices of the aging brain and question their validity as markers of ongoing within-person changes of the aging brain. Longitudinal imaging data should be preferred whenever the goal is to understand individual change trajectories of brain and cognition in aging.
Chronic hypoxia regulates Cytoplasmic Polyadenylation Element Binding Protein 2 alternative splicing to promote HIF1a translation

HIF1 (Hypoxia-inducible Factor 1) is a transcription factor that plays a crucial role in the hypoxia stress response. However, chronic hypoxia exposure can cause irreversible physiological changes that can lead to pulmonary hypertension (PH), and the need for therapeutics to ameliorate these conditions is great and unmet. Previous studies in our lab have demonstrated that CPEB2 (cytoplasmic polyadenylation element binding protein 2) is a translational repressor of one of the HIF1 subunits: HIF1α. Our lab demonstrated that the alternatively spliced CPEB2A isoform of CPEB2 is a repressor of translation, while the CPEB2B isoform is a translational activator of HIF1α during hypoxia, suggesting a major regulatory role for CPEB2 AS in the pulmonary hypoxic response. Although it is well established that during hypoxia, HIF1α levels are dramatically upregulated due to a decrease in the degradation of this factor, we propose that during chronic hypoxia, the expression of HIF1α is maintained via a translational mechanism, likely alongside a decrease in proteolytic degradation. In this study we demonstrate that depletion of the CPEB2B splice isoform has an inhibitory effect on the translation of nascent HIF1α protein during chronic hypoxia, but not the acute phase. We further demonstrate this pathway is dependent on the initiation factor eIF3H. Finally, we show data that indicate CPEB2A and CPEB2B bind differentially to cytoplasmic polyadenylation element consensus sequences depending on the surrounding sequence context. These findings are important since they provide evidence for the potential of CPEB2 to act as a therapeutic target for treating chronic hypoxia-related pulmonary diseases.
Age and Race related changes in Gene Expression during Human PBMC aging

Human immune system functions over an entire lifetime, yet how and why the immune system becomes less effective with age are not well understood. Here, we characterize peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 172 healthy adults 21~90 years of age using RNA-seq and the weighted gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA). These data have revealed a meaningful of gene expression modules or representative biomarkers for human immune system aging in Aisan and White ancestry. Among them, several gene modules demonstrated a remarkably correlation with human immune aging progress. Besides, further analysis on these ageing related modules show age-related gene expression changes spike is around early-seventies. More importantly, we also focus on how race and ethnicity affect immune aging as race-specific effects on these gene expression changes have clinical applications for diagnosis and interpretation of immunosenescence. Thus, the top hub genes including NUDT7, CLPB, OXNAD1 and MLLT3 are identified from Asian and white aging related modules and further validated in humans PBMC at different ages. Finally, the impact of age and race on immune phenotypes we discuss may provide insights into future studies.
Association between physical-activity trajectories and cognitive decline in adults 50 years of age or older

Abstract Aims To investigate the associations of physical-activity trajectories with the level of cognitive performance (CP) and its decline in adults 50 years of age or older. Methods We studied 38 729 individuals (63 ± 9 years; 57% women) enrolled in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Physical activity was self-reported and CP was assessed based on immediate recall, verbal fluency and delayed recall. Physical-activity trajectories were estimated using growth mixture modelling and linear mixed-effects models were used to investigate the associations between the trajectories and CP. Results The models identified two trajectories of physical activity: constantly high physical activity (N = 27 634: 71%) and decreasing physical activity (N = 11 095; 29%). Results showed that participants in the decreasing physical-activity group exhibited a lower level of CP compared to the high physical-activity group (immediate recall: ß = 0.94; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.92–0.95; verbal fluency: ß = 0.98; 95% CI = 0.97–0.98; delayed recall: ß = 0.95; 95% CI = 0.94–0.97). Moreover, compared with participants in the constantly high physical-activity group, participants in the decreasing physical-activity group showed a steeper decline in all cognitive measures (immediate recall: ß = −0.04; 95% CI = −0.05 to −0.04; verbal fluency: ß = −0.22; 95% CI = −0.24 to −0.21; delayed recall: ß = −0.04; 95% CI = −0.05 to −0.04). Conclusions Physical-activity trajectories are associated with the level and evolution of CP in adults over 50 years. Specifically, our findings suggest that a decline in physical activity over multiple years is associated with a lower level and a steeper decline in CP.
Increased neurotoxicity due to activated immune-inflammatory and nitro-oxidative stress pathways in patients with suicide attempts: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Suicide attempts (SA) frequently occur in patients with mood disorders and schizophrenia, which are both accompanied by activated immune-inflammatory and nitro-oxidative (IO&NS) pathways. Methods: We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science, for articles published from inception until February 1, 2021. We included studies that compared blood biomarkers in psychiatric patients with (SA+) and without SA (SA-) and heathy controls and we combined different IO&NS biomarkers into immune, inflammatory, and neurotoxic profiles and used meta-analysis (random-effect model with restricted maximum-likelihood) to delineate effect sizes with 95% confidence interval (CI). Findings: Our search included 51 studies comprising 4.945 SA+ patients and 24.148 controls. We stratified the control group into healthy controls and SA- patients. SA+ patients showed significantly (p<0.001) increased immune activation (SMD: 1.044; CI: 0.599-1.489), inflammation (SMD: 1.109; CI: 0.505, 1.714), neurotoxicity (SMD: 0.879; CI: 0.465, 1.293), and lowered neuroprotection (SMD: 0.648; CI: 0.354, 0.941) as compared with healthy controls. When compared with SA- patients, those with SA+ showed significant (p<0.001) immune activation (SMD: 0.290; CI: 0.183, 0.397), inflammation (SMD: 0.311; CI: 0.191, 0.432), and neurotoxicity (SMD: 0.315; CI: 0.198, 0.432), and lowered neuroprotection (SMD: 0.341; CI: 0.167, 0.515). Patients with current, but not lifetime, SA showed significant (p<0.001) levels of inflammation and neurotoxicity as compared with controls. Conclusions: Patients with immune activation are at a higher risk of SA which may be explained by increased neurotoxicity due to inflammation and nitro-oxidative stress. This meta-analysis discovered new biomarkers of SA and therapeutic targets to treat individuals with SA.
Characterization of Age and Polarity at Onset in Bipolar Disorder

Background: Studying the phenotypic and genetic characteristics of age and polarity at onset (AAO, PAO) in bipolar disorder (BD) can provide new insights into disease pathology and facilitate the development of screening tools. Aims: To examine the genetic architecture of AAO and PAO and their association with BD disease characteristics. Methods: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and polygenic score (PGS) analyses of AAO (N=12977) and PAO (N=6773) were conducted in BD patients of 34 cohorts and a replication sample (N=2237). The association of onset with disease characteristics was investigated in two of these cohorts. Results: Earlier AAO was associated with an increased risk of psychotic symptoms, suicidality, and fewer episodes. A depressive onset correlated with lifetime suicidality and a manic onset with delusions and manic episodes. Systematic differences in AAO between cohorts and continents of origin were observed. This was also reflected in SNV-based heritability estimates, with higher heritabilities for stricter onset definitions. Increased polygenic scores for autism spectrum disorder ({beta}=-0.34 years, SE=0.08), major depression ({beta}=-0.34 years, SE=0.08), schizophrenia ({beta}=-0.39 years, SE=0.08), and educational attainment ({beta}=-0.31 years, SE=0.08) were associated with an earlier AAO. The AAO GWAS identified one significant locus, but this finding did not replicate. Neither GWAS nor PGS analyses yielded significant associations with PAO. Conclusions: AAO and PAO are associated with indicators of BD severity. Individuals with an earlier onset show an increased polygenic liability for a broad spectrum of psychiatric traits. Systematic differences in AAO across cohorts, continents, and phenotype definitions introduce significant heterogeneity, affecting analyses.
History Modulates Early Sensory Processing of Salient Distractors

To find important objects, we must focus on our goals, ignore distractions, and take our changing environment into account. This is formalized in models of visual search whereby goal-driven, stimulus-driven, and history-driven factors are integrated into a priority map that guides attention. Stimulus history robustly influences where attention is allocated even when the physical stimulus is the same: when a salient distractor is repeated over time, it captures attention less effectively. A key open question is how we come to ignore salient distractors when they are repeated. Goal-driven accounts propose that we use an active, expectation-driven mechanism to attenuate the distractor signal (e.g., predictive coding), whereas stimulus-driven accounts propose that the distractor signal is attenuated because of passive changes to neural activity and inter-item competition (e.g., adaptation). To test these competing accounts, we measured item-specific fMRI responses in human visual cortex during a visual search task where trial history was manipulated (colors unpredictably switched or were repeated). Consistent with a stimulus-driven account of history-based distractor suppression, we found that repeated singleton distractors were suppressed starting in V1, and distractor suppression did not increase in later visual areas. In contrast, we observed signatures of goal-driven target enhancement that were absent in V1, increased across visual areas, and were not modulated by stimulus history. Our data suggest that stimulus history does not alter goal-driven expectations, but rather modulates canonically stimulus-driven sensory responses to contribute to a temporally integrated representation of priority. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Visual search refers to our ability to find what we are looking for in a cluttered visual world (e.g., finding your keys). To perform visual search, we must integrate information about our goals (e.g., “find the red keychain”), the environment (e.g., salient items capture your attention), and changes to the environment (i.e., stimulus history). Although stimulus history impacts behavior, the neural mechanisms that mediate history-driven effects remain debated. Here, we leveraged fMRI and multivariate analysis techniques to measure history-driven changes to the neural representation of items during visual search. We found that stimulus history influenced the representation of a salient “pop-out” distractor starting in V1, suggesting that stimulus history operates via modulations of early sensory processing rather than goal-driven expectations.
Removal of Epididymal Visceral Adipose Tissue Prevents Obesity-Induced Multi-organ Insulin Resistance in Male Mice

Abstract Obesity is associated with insulin resistance, an important risk factor of type 2 diabetes, atherogenic dyslipidemia, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. The major purpose of this study was to test hypothesize that prophylactic removal of epididymal visceral adipose tissue (VAT) prevents obesity-induced multi-organ (liver, skeletal muscle, adipose tissue) insulin resistance. Accordingly, we surgically removed epididymal VAT pads from adult C57BL/6J mice and evaluated in vivo and cellular metabolic pathways involved in glucose and lipid metabolism following chronic high-fat diet (HFD) feeding. We found that VAT removal decreases HFD-induced body weight gain while increasing subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) mass. Strikingly, VAT removal prevents obesity-induced insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia and markedly enhances insulin-stimulated AKT-phosphorylation at serine-473 (Ser473) and threonine-308 (Thr308) sites in SAT, liver, and skeletal muscle. VAT removal leads to decreases in plasma lipid concentrations and hepatic triglyceride (TG) content. In addition, VAT removal increases circulating adiponectin, a key insulin-sensitizing adipokine, whereas it decreases circulating interleukin 6, a pro-inflammatory adipokine. Consistent with these findings, VAT removal increases adenosine monophosphate–activated protein kinase C phosphorylation, a major downstream target of adiponectin signaling. Data obtained from RNA sequencing suggest that VAT removal prevents obesity-induced oxidative stress and inflammation in liver and SAT, respectively. Taken together, these findings highlight the metabolic benefits and possible action mechanisms of prophylactic VAT removal on obesity-induced insulin resistance and hepatosteatosis. Our results also provide important insight into understanding the extraordinary capability of adipose tissue to influence whole-body glucose and lipid metabolism as an active endocrine organ.
Echocardiographic Abnormalities as Independent Prognostic Factors of In-Hospital Mortality among COVID-19 Patients

Introduction: Direct and indirect sequels of COVID-19 in the cardiovascular system are unclear. The present study aims to investigate the echocardiography findings in COVID-19 patients and possible correlations between the findings and the disease outcome. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, baseline characteristics and echocardiographic findings of hospitalized COVID-19 cases, and their correlation with mortality were evaluated. Furthermore, computed tomography (CT) angiography was performed to assess possible pulmonary embolism. In-hospital mortality was considered as the main outcome of the present study. Results: 680 confirmed COVID-19 cases with the mean age of 55.15 ± 10.92 (range: 28 – 79) years were studied (63.09% male). Analysis showed that history of ischemic heart disease (RR=1.14; 95% CI: 1.08-1.19), history of hypertension (RR=1.04; 95% CI: 1.00-1.08), presence of embolism in main pulmonary artery (RR=1.53; 95% CI: 1.35-1.74), CT involvement more than 70% (RR=1.08; 95% CI: 1.1.01-1.16), left ventricular ejection fraction < 30 (RR=1.19; 95% CI: 1.07-1.32), pleural effusion (RR=1.08; 95% CI: 1.00-1.16), pulmonary artery systolic blood pressure 35 to 50 mmHg (RR=1.11; 95% CI: 1.03-1.18), right ventricular dysfunction (RR=1.54; 95% CI: 1.40-1.08), and collapsed inferior vena-cava (RR=1.05; 95% CI: 1.01-1.08) were independent prognostic factors of in-hospital mortality. Conclusion: Our study showed that cardiac involvement is a prevalent complication in COVID-19 patients. Echocardiography findings have independent prognostic value for prediction of in-hospital mortality. Since echocardiography is an easy and accessible method, echocardiography monitoring of COVID-19 patients can be used as a screening tool for identification of high-risk patients.
The utility of prolactin serial sampling and the best prolactin cut-offs associated with persistent hyperprolactinemia

Abstract Background: A single prolactin sampling is recommended for the diagnosis of hyperprolactinemia. We aimed to study the utility of the prolactin serial sampling and to determine the best cut-offs associated with persistent hyperprolactinemia. Methods: Retrospective study of hyperprolactinemic patients [referral prolactin (rPRL)] that underwent prolactin serial samplings. Prolactin at 0 minutes (PRL0′), 20 to 30, and 40 to 60 minutes. The lowest of these last 2 was defined as nadir prolactin (nPRL). Persistent hyperprolactinemia was defined as nPRL above normal. We excluded patients under dopamine receptor agonists. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to determine the best rPRL and PRL0′ cut-offs predicting persistent hyperprolactinemia. Results: We studied 53 patients (3 males). Median rPRL 48.0 ng/mL (39.5–72.5), PRL0′ 34.3 ng/mL (18.0–50.8) and nPRL 29.5 ng/mL (11.4–44.4). PRL0′ was elevated in 35 (66.0%) patients and in 7 of them a normal nPRL was reached; therefore 28 (52.8%) had persistent hyperprolactinemia. The area under curve (AUC) for the association between rPRL and persistent hyperprolactinemia was 0.70 (95%CI: 0.56–0.84); best cut-off: 53.4 ng/mL [sensitivity 53.6%, specificity 80.0%, positive predictive value (PPV) 75.0%, and negative predictive value (NPV) 60.6%]. In the 35 patients with elevated PRL0′, the AUC was 0.92 (95%CI: 0.81–1.00); best cut-off: 35.2 ng/mL (sensitivity 85.7%, specificity 85.7%, PPV 60.0%, and NPV 96.0%). Conclusions: Approximately 1/3 of the patients reached a normal PRL0′. In an additional 20%, prolactin normalized after serial samplings. Patients with rPRL >53.4 ng/mL had 75% probability of having persistent hyperprolactinemia and those with PRL0′ <35.2 ng/mL had a 96% probability of not having persistent hyperprolactinemia.