Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reevaluating the role of the hippocampus in memory: A meta‐analysis of neurotoxic lesion studies in nonhuman primates

The hippocampus and perirhinal cortex are both broadly implicated in memory; nevertheless, their relative contributions to visual item recognition and location memory remain disputed. Neuropsychological studies in nonhuman primates that examine memory function after selective damage to medial temporal lobe structures report various levels of memory impairment—ranging from minor deficits to profound amnesia. The discrepancies in published findings have complicated efforts to determine the exact magnitude of visual item recognition and location memory impairments following damage to the hippocampus and/or perirhinal cortex. To provide the most accurate estimate to date of the overall effect size, we use meta‐analytic techniques on data aggregated from 26 publications that assessed visual item recognition and/or location memory in nonhuman primates with and without selective neurotoxic lesions of the hippocampus or perirhinal cortex. We estimated the overall effect size, evaluated the relation between lesion extent and effect size, and investigated factors that may account for between‐study variation. Grouping studies by lesion target and testing method, separate meta‐analyses were conducted. One meta‐analysis indicated that impairments on tests of visual item recognition were larger after lesions of perirhinal cortex than after lesions of the hippocampus. A separate meta‐analysis showed that performance on tests of location memory was severely impaired by lesions of the hippocampus. For the most part, meta‐regressions indicated that greater impairment corresponds with greater lesion extent; paradoxically, however, more extensive hippocampal lesions predicted smaller impairments on tests of visual item recognition. We conclude the perirhinal cortex makes a larger contribution than the hippocampus to visual item recognition, and the hippocampus predominately contributes to spatial navigation.
Optical study of the pseudogap in thickness and orientation controlled artificial opals

Artificial opals consisting of polystyrene spheres ordered into a fcc lattice are grown with control over the orientation and thickness. A thorough study of the formation of the pseudogap in these structures is carried out by means of reflectivity and transmission spectra. Special attention is paid to discriminating those features inherent to the photonic crystal, and those to the substrate on which the crystal is grown. Further, a characterization of the photonic band structure in the hexagonal facet of the Brillouin zone is made using angle resolved reflectivity measurements.
A hyperinflammation clinical risk tool, HI5-NEWS2, stratifies hospitalised COVID-19 patients to associate risk of death and effect of early dexamethasone in an observational cohort

Background The success of early dexamethasone therapy for hospitalised COVID-19 cases in treatment of Sars-CoV-2 infection may predominantly reflect its anti-inflammatory action against a hyperinflammation (HI) response. It is likely that there is substantial heterogeneity in HI responses in COVID-19. Methods Blood CRP, ferritin, neutrophil, lymphocyte and platelet counts were scored to assess HI (HI5) and combined with a validated measure of generalised medical deterioration (NEWS2) before day 2. Our primary outcome was 28 day mortality from early treatment with dexamethasone stratified by HI5-NEWS2 status. Findings Of 1265 patients, high risk of HI (high HI5-NEWS2) (n = 367, 29.0%) conferred a strikingly increased mortality (36.0% vs 7.8%; Age adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 5.9; 95% CI 3.6–9.8, p<0.001) compared to the low risk group (n = 455, 36.0%). An intermediate risk group (n = 443, 35.0%) also showed significantly higher mortality than the low risk group (17.6% vs 7.8%), aHR 2.2, p = 0.005). Early dexamethasone treatment conferred a 50.0% reduction in mortality in the high risk group (36.0% to 18.0%, aHR 0.56, p = 0.007). The intermediate risk group showed a trend to reduction in mortality (17.8% to 10.3%, aHR 0.82, p = 0.46) which was not observed in the low risk group (7.8% to 9.2%, aHR 1.4, p = 0.31). Interpretation Higher HI5-NEWS2 scores measured at COVID-19 diagnosis, strongly associate with increased mortality at 28 days. Significant reduction in mortality with early dexamethasone treatment was only observed in the high risk group. Therefore, the HI5-NEWS2 score could be utilised to stratify randomised clinical trials to test whether intensified anti-inflammatory therapy would further benefit high risk patients and whether alternative approaches would benefit low risk groups. Considering its recognised morbidity, we suggest that early dexamethasone should not be routinely prescribed for HI5-NEWS2 low risk individuals with COVID-19 and clinicians should cautiously assess the risk benefit of this intervention in all cases.
Validity and reliability of the XSENSOR in-shoe pressure measurement system

Background In-shoe pressure measurement systems are used in research and clinical practice to quantify areas and levels of pressure underfoot whilst shod. Their validity and reliability across different pressures, durations of load and contact areas determine their appropriateness to address different research questions or clinical assessments. XSENSOR is a relatively new pressure measurement device and warrants assessment. Research question Does the XSENSOR in-shoe pressure measurement device have sufficient validity and reliability for clinical assessments in diabetes? Methods Two XSENSOR insoles were examined across two days with two lab-based protocols to assess regional and whole insole loading. The whole insole protocol applied 50–600 kPa of pressure across the insole surface for 30 seconds and measured at 0, 2, 10 and 30 seconds. The regional protocol used two (3.14 and 15.9 cm2 surface area) cylinders to apply pressures of 50, 110 and 200 kPa to each insole. Three trials of all conditions were averaged. The validity (% difference and Root Mean Square Error: RMSE) and repeatability (Bland Altman, Intra-Class Correlation Coefficient: ICC) of the target pressures (whole insole) and contact area (regional) were outcome variables. Results Regional results demonstrated mean contact area errors of less than 1 cm2 for both insoles and high repeatability (≥0.939). Whole insole measurement error was higher at higher pressures but resulted in average peak and mean pressures error < 10%. Reliability error was 3–10% for peak pressure, within the 15% defined as an analytical goal. Significance Errors associated with the quantification of pressure are low enough that they are unlikely to influence the assessments of interventions or screening of the at-risk-foot considering clinically relevant thresholds. Contact area is accurate due to a high spatial resolution and the repeatability of the XSENSOR system likely makes it appropriate for clinical applications that require multiple assessments.
Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of NVP-1203 and aceclofenac in patients with acute low back pain and muscle spasm: A randomized, double-blind, active-controlled, parallel, multicenter, phase 3 clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE Acute low back pain (LBP) is a common condition that can be chronic if not properly treated. Aceclofenac and eperisone hydrochloride are commonly prescribed drugs for acute LBP and muscle spasms. Therefore, NVP-1203, a fixed-dose combination of 100 mg aceclofenac and 75 mg eperisone hydrochloride, is being developed. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of NVP-1203 compared to those of a single administration of 100 mg aceclofenac in patients with acute LBP and muscle spasms. PATIENTS AND METHODS Overall, 455 patients with acute LBP and muscle spasms were enrolled. The patients were assigned to NVP-1203 or Airtal group (aceclofenac 100 mg). The primary efficacy endpoint was the mean change in the 100 mm pain movement and resting visual analog scale (VAS) scores on treatment day 7. RESULTS II G20210A and Beta-fibrinogen G-455A genotypes were significantly higher in the study group compared to the literature. Wildtype genotype (GG) in Factor V Leiden locus was significantly associated with low D-Dimer levels (p =0.013). The GA genotype increased the D-Dimer levels 2.55-times compared to the GG genotype (p =0.003). Moreover, the Beta-fibrinogen G-455G genotype was significantly higher in the LDH>250 group (p =0.046). CONCLUSIONS The mean change in the 100 mm pain movement/resting VAS scores from baseline to day 7 was -49.7 ± 21.5/-41.0 ± 19.4 mm and -38.8 ± 18.9/-33.8 ± 18.0 mm for the NVP-1203 and Airtal groups, respectively. The differences between the two groups were statistically significant (movement, p < 0.0001; resting, p = 0.0002). Differences in least-square (LS) mean change of the 100 mm pain movement/resting VAS score between the two groups using the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) model was -10.2/-7.4 mm, and the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval was -6.44/-4.16 mm.
Vertically propagating waves in an atmosphere with Newtonian cooling inversely proportional to density

The behavior of vertically propagating waves is investigated for an atmosphere with Newtonian cooling, where the cooling rate coefficient is very small near the ground and increases inversely with the atmosphere's density away from the ground. This model for dissipation is unrealistic. However, the results obtained are very similar to those obtained by Yanowitch (1967a, b), who investigated the behavior of waves in a viscous atmosphere where the kinematic viscosity is inversely proportional to atmospheric density. The present calculations are, in general, far simpler than those of Yanowitch, and suggest that many of his results follow from the variation of dissipation with height and not from specific details of the physics. It is suggested that the present calculations may provide convenient estimates of the effects of dissipation in more realistic situations.
RNA methylation and cellular response to oxidative stress-promoting anticancer agents

ABSTRACT Disruption of the complex network that regulates redox homeostasis often underlies resistant phenotypes, which hinder effective and long-lasting cancer eradication. In addition, the RNA methylome-dependent control of gene expression also critically affects traits of cellular resistance to anti-cancer agents. However, few investigations aimed at establishing whether the epitranscriptome-directed adaptations underlying acquired and/or innate resistance traits in cancer could be implemented through the involvement of redox-dependent or -responsive signaling pathways. This is unexpected mainly because: i) the effectiveness of many anti-cancer approaches relies on their capacity to promote oxidative stress (OS); ii) altered redox milieu and reprogramming of mitochondrial function have been acknowledged as critical mediators of the RNA methylome-mediated response to OS. Here we summarize the current state of understanding on this topic, as well as we offer new perspectives that might lead to original approaches and strategies to delay or prevent the problem of refractory cancer and tumor recurrence.
EDGE INSTABILITY AND VELOCITY OF LIQUID SHEETS FORMED BY TWO IMPINGING JETS

An experimental investigation into the instabilities that occur on the edges of liquid sheets formed by the impingement of two capillary liquid jets is conducted. The breakup of the droplets from the edges of the sheet is investigated by using direct visualization. It is found that beadlike formations appear on the edges of the sheet, and they grow until they break up into drops. The instability causing this breakup is referred to as the edge instability. The process of the droplet formation is divided into two stages: the growing stage and the detaching stage. The velocity of the small-sized attached drops on the edges of the sheet is determined, which is assumed to represent the fluid velocity on the edges of the sheet.
Assessment of carotid atherosclerosis from B-mode ultrasound images using directional multiscale texture features

In this paper, three multiscale transforms with directional character, namely the dual-tree complex wavelet (DTCWT), the finite ridgelet (FRIT) and the fast discrete curvelet (FDCT) transforms, were comparatively assessed with respect to their ability to characterize carotid atherosclerotic plaque from B-mode ultrasound and discriminate between symptomatic and asymptomatic cases. The standard deviation and entropy of the detail subimages produced for each decomposition scheme were used as texture features. Feature selection included ranking the features according to their highest separability value and the minimum correlation among them. Due to the rather limited size of the sample population, the selected features were resampled 100 times by the bootstrap technique and divided into training and test sets. For each pair of sets, a support vector machine classifier was trained on the training set and evaluated on the test set. The average overall classification performance for systole (diastole) was 70% (65.2%), 72.6% (70.4%) and 84.9% (73.6%) for the DTCWT, FRIT and FDCT, respectively. These preliminary results showed the superiority of the curvelet transform, in terms of classification accuracy, being of great importance for the diagnosis and management of plaque instability in carotid atheromatous stenosis.
Spatial distribution and predictive factors of antenatal care in Burundi: A spatial and multilevel baseline analysis for the third burundian demographic and health survey

Introduction The use of antenatal care by pregnant women enables them to receive good pregnancy monitoring. This monitoring includes counseling, health instructions, examinations and tests to avoid pregnancy-related complications or death during childbirth. To avoid these complications, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends at least four antenatal visits. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify predictive factors of antenatal care (ANC) among women aged 15 to 49 years and its spatial distribution in Burundi. Methods We used data from the Second Burundi Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). A Spatial analysis of ANC prevalence and Mulitlevel logistic regressions of determinants factors of ANC with a medical doctor were done. The ANC prevalence was mapped by region and by province. In unsampled data points, a cluster based interpolation of ANC prevalence was done using the kernel method with an adaptive window. Predictive factors of ANC were assessed using Mulitlevel logistic regressions. The dependent variable was antenatal care with a medical doctor and the explanatory variables were place of residence, age, education level, religion, marital status of the woman, household wealth index and delivery place of the woman. Data processing and data analysis were done using using Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) and R software, version 3. 5. 0. Results The ANC prevalence varied from 0. 0 to 16. 2% with a median of 0. 5%. A highest predicted ANC prevalence was observed at Muyinga and Kirundo provinces’ junction. Low prevalence was observed in several locations in all regions and provinces. The woman’s education level and delivery place were significantly associated with antenatal care with a medical doctor. Conclusion Globally, the ANC prevalence is low in Burundi. It varies across the country. There is an intra-regional or intra-provincial heterogeneity in term of ANC prevalence. Woman’s education level and delivery place are significantly associated antenatal care. There is a need to consider these ANC disparities and factors in the design and strengthening of existing interventions aimed at increasing ANC visits.
Measurement accuracy and reliability of self-reported versus measured weight and height among adults in Malaysia: Findings from a nationwide blood pressure screening programme

Most studies reporting prevalence of obesity use actual weight and height measurements. Self-reported weight and height have been used in epidemiological studies as they have been shown to be reliable, convenient, and inexpensive alternatives to actual measurements. However, the accuracy of self-reported weight and height might vary in different regions because of the difference in health awareness and social influences. This study aims to determine the accuracy and reliability of self-reported weight and height compared to actual measured weight and height among adults in Malaysia. This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the community level during blood pressure screening campaigns. Participants self-reported their weight and height in a questionnaire survey. Their weight and height were validated using measurements by researchers on the same setting. Body mass index (BMI) was defined as underweight (<18.5kg/m2), normal (18.5–22.9 kg/m2), overweight (23–27.4 kg/m2) and obesity (≥27.5 kg/m2). Bland-Altman analysis, intraclass correlation coefficients and weighted Kappa statistics were used to assess the degree of agreement between self-reported and measured weight and height. A total of 2781 participants were recruited in this study. The difference between the mean self-reported and measured weight and height were 0.4 kg and 0.4 cm respectively. Weighted Kappa statistics analysis showed that there was a substantial agreement between the BMI classifications derived from self-reported and actual measurement (ҡ = 0.920, p<0.001). There was no marked difference in the sensitivity and specificity of self-reported BMI among Malaysian adults by gender. We observed substantial agreement between self-reported and measured body weight and height within a sample of Malaysian adults. While self-reported body weight showed weaker agreement with actual measurements particularly for obese and overweight individuals, BMI values derived from self-reported weight and height were accurate for 88.53% of the participants. We thus conclude that self-reported height and weight measures may be useful for tracking and estimating population trends amongst Malaysian adults.
Biomimetic graphene oxide quantum dots nanoparticles targeted photothermal-chemotherapy for gastric cancer

Abstract Direct use of chemotherapy drugs in the treatment of gastric cancer often leads to systemic side effects and unsatisfied therapeutic efficacy due to the lack of tumour-targeting ability. The excellent properties of nanoparticles make them good tools to provide more options for the targeted delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs. Herein, we developed a novel nanomedicine (GOQD-ICG-CS-6@HM nanoparticles, GIC@HM NPs), which employed graphene oxide quantum dots (GOQDs) to co-load photosensitizer indocyanine green (ICG) and chemotherapeutic drug gamabufotalin (CS-6) as the core and wrapped with the hybrid membrane (erythrocyte membrane and gastric cancer cell membrane, HM) on its surface. This nanomedicine possesses the functions of photothermal therapy and chemotherapy, making it a good choice for the treatment of gastric cancer. The results showed that the bionic-coated hybrid membrane not only improves the biocompatibility of the nanomedicine, and prolong its circulating half-life, but also delivers the drug to the tumour site precisely and improves the efficiency of drug utilisation. In vitro and in vivo studies further showed that GIC@HM NPs exhibited combinational effects on tumour therapy while displaying no obvious side effects on normal tissue. To sum up, the newly developed GIC@HM NPs provide a safer, more efficient, and more precise method for gastric cancer treatment.
Potential flow and forces for incompressible viscous flow

Forces on a finite body in an incompressible viscous flow are shown to be contributed by a potential flow and fluid elements of non-zero vorticity in a revealing formulation. The present study indicates that the potential flow play also a geometric role in determining the contribution of the fluid elements. Consideration is given to a solid body moving through a fluid, fluid accelerating past a solid body and a solid body which oscillates in a uniform stream. The effects of induced-mass and inertial forces appear naturally in the formulation and are separated from the contribution due to the surface vorticity and that due to the vorticity within the flow. Physical significance of the present analysis for vortical flows about a finite body is illustrated by examples, e.g. flow past a circular cylinder or an ellipsoid of revolution.
Output-feedback adaptive fuzzy control for a class of non-linear time-varying delay systems with unknown control directions

In this study, an adaptive fuzzy control scheme is proposed for a class of non-linear systems with unknown discrete and distributed time-varying delays via dynamic output-feedback approach. Unlike the system with only one unknown control coefficient, the so-called high-frequency gain, the system we will consider is more general. During the controller design procedure, novel Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals are introduced to compensate for the unknown time-varying delay terms and all unknown functions are lumped into a suitable unknown function which can be approximated by only one fuzzy logic system (FLS). The main advantages of this study are that (i) the output-feedback adaptive fuzzy controller can dispose a class of non-linear systems with unknown time-varying delays, in which the virtual control coefficients are all unknown, (ii) it does not need to know the time delays and their upper bounds and (iii) only one parameter needs to be adjusted online in controller design procedure, which reduces the online computation burden greatly. It is proven that all the signals of the closed-loop system are semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded, whereas the tracking error converges to a small neighbourhood of the origin. Finally, simulation results are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Arthroscopy Confers Excellent Clinical Outcomes in Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome (FAIS) Patients Aged 50 Years and Above

Hip preservation surgery has expanded to include treatment of hip pathology in elderly patients. Most data on efficacy of arthroscopy treatment in patients with femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS) has been generated from Western populations, while studies in the older Asian FAIS population are lacking. Here, we report efficacy of hip arthroscopy for treatment of Asian patients aged 50 years and above.
miR-23a-3p and miR-181a-5p modulate SNAP-25 expression

SNAP-25 protein is a key protein of the SNARE complex that is involved in synaptic vesicles fusion with plasma membranes and neurotransmitter release, playing a fundamental role in neural plasticity. Recently the concentration of three specific miRNAs–miR-27b-3p, miR-181a-5p and miR-23a-3p –was found to be associated with a specific SNAP-25 polymorphism (rs363050). in silico analysis showed that all the three miRNAs target SNAP-25, but the effect of the interaction between these miRNAs and the 3’UTR of SNAP-25 mRNA is currently unknown. For this reason, we verified in vitro whether miR-27b-3p, miR-181a-5p and miR-23a-3p modulate SNAP-25 gene and protein expression. Initial experiments using miRNAs-co-transfected Vero cells and SNAP-25 3’UTR luciferase reporter plasmids showed that miR-181a-5p (p≤0.01) and miR-23a-3p (p<0.05), but not miR-27b-3p, modulate the luciferase signal, indicating that these two miRNAs bind the SNAP-25 3’UTR. Results obtained using human oligodendroglial cell line (MO3.13) transfected with miR-181a-5p or miR-27b-3p confirmed that miR-181a-5p and miR-23a-3p regulate SNAP-25 gene and protein expression. Interestingly, the two miRNAs modulate in an opposite way SNAP-25, as miR-181a-5p significantly increases (p<0.0005), whereas miR-23a-3p decreases (p<0.0005) its expression. These results for the first time describe the ability of miR-181a-5p and miR-23a-3p to modulate SNAP-25 expression, suggesting their possible use as biomarkers or as therapeutical targets for diseases in which SNAP-25 expression is altered.