Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DNGR1-Cre-mediated Deletion of Tnfaip3/A20 in Conventional Dendritic Cells Induces Pulmonary Hypertension in Mice.

Chronic perivascular inflammation is a prominent feature in the lungs of idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH). Although the proportions of conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) and plasmacytoid DCs are increased in IPAH lungs, it remains unknown whether activated cDCs play a pathogenic role. The Tnfaip3 gene encodes the ubiquitin-binding protein A20, which is a negative regulator of NF-κB, critically involved in DC activation. Targeting of Tnfaip3/A20 in cDCs was achieved by Clec9a (DNGR1)-Cre-mediated excision of the Tnfaip3 gene in Tnfaip3DNGR1-KO mice. Mice were evaluated for signs of pulmonary hypertension (PH) using right heart catheterization, echocardiography and measurement of the Fulton index. Inflammation was assessed by immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. Pulmonary cDCs and mo-DCs from 31-week-old Tnfaip3DNGR1-KO mice showed modulated expression of cell surface activation markers compared to Tnfaip3DNGR1-WT mice. Tnfaip3DNGR1-KO mice developed elevated right ventricular (RV) systolic pressure and RV hypertrophy. The lungs of these mice displayed increased vascular remodeling and perivascular and peribronchial immune cell infiltration resembling tertiary lymphoid organs. Proportions of activated T cells and expression of IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-10 were enhanced in the lungs of Tnfaip3DNGR1-KO mice. Autoreactive IgA and IgG1 was detected in bronchoalveolar lavage and autoreactive IgA recognizing pulmonary endothelial antigens was present in the serum of Tnfaip3DNGR1-KO mice. All signs of PH were ameliorated in Tnfaip3DNGR1-KO mice by anti-IL-6 antibody treatment. These results indicate that activation of the NF-κB pathway in DCs, through deletion of A20/Tnfaip3, leads to experimental PH with accompanied pulmonary inflammation in an IL-6-dependent fashion.
Experiencing dementia: How does assessment of cognition and language relate to daily life?

This Swedish study investigates how persons living with dementia report their experiences of cognitive and linguistic testing, as well as their perspectives on the communicative resources and barriers they experience in daily interactions. Eight dyads were included in this qualitative exploratory study; eight persons with dementia and eight family members with whom they interact with daily. Semi-structured interviews, with questions focusing on experiences of diagnostic pathways as well as communicative and cognitive function in daily life, were carried out together with standard clinical testing. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results shed light on the experiences of uncertainty during the dementia assessment process related to the assessment tasks, the consequences of the assessment and receiving a diagnosis. We interpret this as a result of the unfamiliar clinical focus on function as measured in decontextualised tasks, compared to the participants’ view based on their abilities in everyday life. The study also reveals that adjustments in daily life that are necessitated by the consequences of neurological change are often developed in collaboration between the person with dementia and their conversation partners. There are, however, reports of conflicting feelings by the persons diagnosed with dementia, and by their families, as well as their views on how to best handle change, while maintaining a sense of being a competent person through the progression of disease.
A prospective observational study to analyse clinical profile of varicose vein cases treated in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Varicose veins are common vascular disorder. The study was conducted to analyse the clinical presentation, treatment options and complications of varicose veins.Methods: This observational study was conducted in Thanjavur Medical College Hospital. Adults with clinically diagnosed unilateral or bilateral varicose veins of lower limbs were studied in surgical wards between August 2013 to July 2014. The demographic data and presenting symptoms, signs and previous treatment were collected using a structured proforma. Thorough clinical examination, duplex scan and abdominal and pelvic examination were done in all cases to find out the secondary causes. Peripheral vascular system was examined. All the patients were followed regularly for the period of one month to one year after treatment.Results: A total of 60 cases were included. Most participants belonged to 2nd and 3rd decade of life. 55 (91%) participants were male and5 (9%) participants were females. 45 (75%) participants were agriculturists. 10 (17%) participants had bilateral involvement. Most participants 30 (50%) participants had 1 to 5 years duration of disease, most common clinical presentation of the study participants was varicosity with 70.0%, followed by lipodermo sclerosis, leg pain, hyperpigmentation, pruritus as 63.0%, 56.0%, 15% and 11.6% respectively. 17 (28.33%) patients were present with a venous ulcer. 32 (53%) participants were managed surgically, and 28 (47%) participants were managed conservatively. Most participants were treated with multiple ligation 21.8% followed by trendelenburg operation+ stripping18.75%. Conclusions: Regarding the treatment, surgery is the treatment of choice for primary varicose veins and conservative treatment for secondary varicose veins.
Innovative adaptive designs in oncology clinical trials with drug combinations

The use of drug combinations in clinical trials has emerged during the last years as an alternative to single agent trials since a more favorable therapeutic response may be obtained by combining drugs that, for instance, target multiple pathways or inhibit resistance mechanisms. This practice is common in both early phase and late phase clinical trials. However, depending on the phase of the trial, we may find different challenges that will require novel methodology. In early phase, where we model the probability of toxicity and efficacy, the main challenge is to find a suitable multivariate model that works well with a relatively low sample size. In late phase trials, the main challenge is to propose a design that allows to perfectly control the the type-I error and the power while allowing for the trial to stop in case of a lack of efficacy or in case the interim analyses show an efficacy that is big enough so it would be unethical to continue the trial. Other challenges may involve certain characteristics of the drug, such us delayed effects. This issue is quite present in nowadays clinical research because of the use of immuno-therapy against cancer. In early phase trials, we studied the state of the art methodology and we observed that a large number of published methods are not appropriate for drug combination settings since were originally designed for single agents and then adapted to drug combinations. This statement is not based only on performance, because in fact many of these methods perform quite well even though they were not designed to be used in a drug combination setting, but because most of them do not take into account the interaction between drugs. In late phase trials we focused our attention on the design of clinical trials in the presence of delayed effects in a drug combination setting. We performed a state of the art methodology review, and we observed that there is enough published methodology to design efficient confirmatory trials under this conditions. However, we also observed that most of this methodology primarily focuses on power recovery rather than type-I error rate control, which makes it difficult to apply in practice given the nature of confirmatory trials. Our intention during this thesis was not only to develop novel methodology but to do it in areas that could be of interest for clinicians. In this thesis we make three contributions to the
Positive orientation, job satisfaction and psychological well-being of mental health practitioners in Malaysia

ABSTRACT Mental health practitioners in many developing countries are faced with high job demands and a lack of institutional support. Given their high levels of work-related stress, it is important to identify mechanisms that help them to maintain psychological well-being and job satisfaction. Recent research has focused on the role that positive orientation (POS) may play in mediating the negative impact of stress on individual well-being. The present study investigated whether POS predicts mental health practitioners’ perceived levels of stress, mental health and job satisfaction. If POS measures a person’s tendency to take a positive attitude to life and their ability to cope with difficulties, a high POS could be linked to reduced levels of stress and increased levels of job satisfaction and well-being. This study examined associations between self-reported POS and psychological outcomes in a sample of 100 Malaysian mental health practitioners. The results showed that POS significantly predicted job satisfaction positively and mental health issues and perceived stress negatively, even when socio-demographic variables were controlled. Overall, we found a strong effect of POS on individual functioning across the sample of mental health practitioners. Our results have implications for improving practitioner wellbeing and job satisfaction.
Effect of weaning pre‐ or post‐mating on performance of spring‐mated ewes and their lambs in New Zealand

Abstract The objective of this experiment was to determine the effect of lactation over the breeding period and early gestation on ewe reproductive performance and liveweight. Romney ewes (n = 206) with lambs at foot were allocated to either Early or Late weaning groups, synchronised with CIDRs and joined with Suffolk rams 69 days postpartum (P0). Lambs from the Early group were weaned at P0 while lambs from the Late group were weaned at P21. The ovaries of each ewe were observed laparascopically at P9. Late weaned lambs were significantly heavier (P < 0.001) at P21 and P47 than lambs in the Early group. There was no effect of ewe treatment on ewe reproductive performance, liveweight over the breeding period, number of corpora lutea present, pregnancy rates, or on liveweight of the ewes at the subsequent lambing and lactation. Birth and liveweights of subsequent lambs were not affected by the treatment of the ewe over the breeding period. This research suggests that the breeding of suckling ewes in an accelerated lamb production system has no effect on ewe reproductive performance or on subsequent lamb production.
Affiliative Contact Calls during Group Travel: Chirp and Wail Vocalization Use in the Male Ring-Tailed Lemur (Lemur catta)

Affiliative vocalizations occur across primate taxa and may be used to maintain spatial cohesion and/or to regulate social interactions in group-living species. For gregarious strepsirhines like the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta), with large vocal repertoires and several distinct affiliative vocalizations including the chirp and wail, it is important to understand behavioural usage of these vocalizations to gain insight into their social interactions. To determine whether chirp and wail vocalizations facilitate group cohesion, regulate interactions to achieve socially positive outcomes, and are correlated with differences in individual characteristics such as dominance rank and age, I collected 565 h of focal data on 31 males aged ≥1 year at Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve, Madagascar, from March to July 2010. I found that chirp and wail vocalizations occurred at the highest rates during group-wide travel compared to other behaviours. Although nearest neighbour distance did not influence calling rate, focal animals maintained the same distance or were located closer to nearest neighbours after calling. Both chirp and wail calls were heard in behavioural contexts without agonism rather than agonistic contexts. No relationship was found between male calling rate and dominance rank or age, although the chirp showed a non-significant tendency to be produced at higher rates by younger males. Overall, my results indicated that ring-tailed lemur males of all ages and dominance ranks used both chirp and wail vocalizations as contact calls during group-wide travel events, helping individuals maintain proximity to other group members during movement. Chirp and wail vocalizations may additionally help regulate the caller’s social interactions and promote increased tolerance from conspecifics. These findings add to our understanding of the breadth of communication behaviour in wild lemurs, thus furthering our knowledge of the social lives and cognitive abilities of strepsirhines. Through examining the complexity of vocalization use by a living lemur species with a communication system much like early social primates, we gain broad insight into the evolution of primate sociality.
Electronically Available Patient Claims Data Improve Models for Comparing Antibiotic Use Across Hospitals: Results From 576 US Facilities

Abstract Background The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses standardized antimicrobial administration ratios (SAARs)—that is, observed-to-predicted ratios—to compare antibiotic use across facilities. CDC models adjust for facility characteristics when predicting antibiotic use but do not include patient diagnoses and comorbidities that may also affect utilization. This study aimed to identify comorbidities causally related to appropriate antibiotic use and to compare models that include these comorbidities and other patient-level claims variables to a facility model for risk-adjusting inpatient antibiotic utilization. Methods The study included adults discharged from Premier Database hospitals in 2016–2017. For each admission, we extracted facility, claims, and antibiotic data. We evaluated 7 models to predict an admission’s antibiotic days of therapy (DOTs): a CDC facility model, models that added patient clinical constructs in varying layers of complexity, and an external validation of a published patient-variable model. We calculated hospital-specific SAARs to quantify effects on hospital rankings. Separately, we used Delphi Consensus methodology to identify Elixhauser comorbidities associated with appropriate antibiotic use. Results The study included 11 701 326 admissions across 576 hospitals. Compared to a CDC-facility model, a model that added Delphi-selected comorbidities and a bacterial infection indicator was more accurate for all antibiotic outcomes. For total antibiotic use, it was 24% more accurate (respective mean absolute errors: 3.11 vs 2.35 DOTs), resulting in 31–33% more hospitals moving into bottom or top usage quartiles postadjustment. Conclusions Adding electronically available patient claims data to facility models consistently improved antibiotic utilization predictions and yielded substantial movement in hospitals’ utilization rankings.
Children’s Consumption Patterns and Their Parent’s Perception of a Healthy Diet

This study aims to examine children’s fruit, vegetable, and added sugar consumption relative to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the American Heart Association’s recommendations, as well as to compare children’s reported consumption with parental perception of the child’s overall diet quality. Data were drawn from 2 independent, cross sectional panels (2009–10 and 2014–15) of the New Jersey Child Health Study. The analytical sample included 2229 households located in five New Jersey cities. Daily consumption of fruit (cups), vegetables (cups), and added sugars (teaspoons) for all children (3–18 years old) were based on parent reports. Multivariate linear regression analyses estimated children’s adjusted fruit, vegetable, and added sugar consumption across parents’ perception categories (Disagree; Somewhat Agree; and Strongly Agree that their child eats healthy). Although only a small proportion of children meet recommendations, the majority of parents strongly agreed that their child ate healthy. Nonetheless, significant differences, in the expected direction, were observed in vegetable and fruit consumption (but not sugar) across parental perceptional categories for most age/sex groups. Dietary interventions tailored to parents should include specific quantity and serving-size information for fruit and vegetable recommendations, based on their child’s age/sex, and highlight sources of added sugar and their sugar content.
Restorative effects of viewing real forest landscapes, based on a comparison with urban landscapes

Abstract Growing attention has been paid to the health-enhancing or therapeutic effects of natural environments, such as forests, and the requirement for an evidence-based approach has been pressing. However, there is a lack of evidence-based research in this field. In this study, the restorative effects of viewing real forest landscapes were examined through field experiments by comparing the effects of urban landscapes. Twelve Japanese male subjects in their twenties participated in a 3 day field experiment. The subjects were instructed to visit forest and urban environments randomly and to view each real landscape. Physiological and psychological data on each subject were collected four times a day. Significant differences between the responses of the subjects in forest compared with those in the urban environment were found. Forest environments had significantly lower values than urban environments after viewing in (1) salivary cortisol concentration (an index of stress response), (2) diastolic blood pressure, and (3) pulse rate. Further, subjects felt more comfortable, soothed and refreshed when viewing a forest landscape than an urban one. These findings support the idea that real forest landscapes may ameliorate stress, aid autonomic nervous system relaxation and increase positive emotion, and provide important scientific evidence of forest-guided health benefits.
Why am I watching? Capturing the interplay of social and technological aspects of online live streaming

Watching live streams of video games on the internet has become a popular leisure activity, which is accompanied by a remarkable social and economic meaningfulness. Different academic studies already captured the empirical phenomenon, but it remains unclear if the consumption of live streams of video games can be best described as a function of social or technological related variables in a single study. Our approach takes an initial step to answer this question. We conducted a survey collecting data from 210 participants to better understand live streaming. Affective Disposition Theory (ADT) was used to capture social and the Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) technology related variables. Using structural equation modelling, both theories showed their disjunctive usefulness to explain the individual use of streams. Additionally, we were able to derive a unified model capturing the interplay of social and technological aspects.
Pharmacokinetics of Nanoscale Quantum Dots: In Vivo Distribution, Sequestration, and Clearance in the Rat

Advances in nanotechnology research on quantum dots (QDs)—water soluble ZnS‐capped, CdSe fluorescent semiconductor nanocrystals—for in vivo biomedical applications have prompted a close scrutiny of the behavior of nanostructures in vivo. Data pertaining to pharmacokinetics and toxicity will undoubtedly assist in designing better in vivo nanostructure contrast agents or therapies. In vivo kinetics, clearance, and metabolism of semiconductor QDs are characterized following their intravenous dosing in Sprague–Dawley rats. The QDs coated with the organic molecule mercaptoundecanoic acid and crosslinked with lysine (denoted as QD‐LM) are cleared from plasma with a clearance of 0.59 ± 0.16 mL min–1 kg–1. A higher clearance (1.23 ± 0.22 mL min–1 kg–1) exists when the QDs are conjugated to bovine serum albumin (denoted as QD‐BSA, P < .05 (P = statistical significance). The biodistribution between these two QDs is also different. The liver takes up 40 % of the QD‐LM dose and 99 % of QD‐BSA dose after 90 min. Small amounts of both QDs appear in the spleen, kidney, and bone marrow. However, QDs are not detected in feces or urine for up to ten days after intravenous dosing.
The Effect of Temperature and Juvenile Density on the Development of Neon Dottyback (Pseudochromis aldabraensis) Broodstock

In recent times, many investigations have been conducted on the breeding habits and culture conditions of marine fin fish in Southern provinces of Iran such as Bushehr, Khuzestan and Hormozgan, but unfortunately those investigations have yielded no decisive results. In addition, many efforts have been made to ascertain the breeding habits and fry culture of marine ornamental fish, but no instrumental techniques for mass culture have been developed. This thesis deals with the broodstock development of the Neon Dottyback based on successful breeding methods. Since the environmental factors relating to coastal waters in the above regions, e.g., salinity and temperature, differ from those in other areas, the results of my thesis may prove beneficial. The results obtained show that increasing the number of juvenile Neon Dottybacks results in pair formation and spawning sooner than is the case using other treatments. The chi-square test demonstrates that there is no significant difference between spawning treatments using different temperatures, although the testing methods may differ.
Cladistics and polychaetes

A series of cladistic analyses assesses the status and membership of the taxon Polychaeta. The available literature, and a review by Fauchald & Rouse (1997), on the 80 accepted families of the Polychaeta are used to develop characters and data matrices. As well as the polychaete families, non‐polychaete taxa, such as the Echiura, Euarthropoda, Onychophora, Pogonophora (as Frenulata and Vestimentifera), Clitellata, Aeolosomatidae and Potamodrilidae, are included in the analyses. All trees are rooted using the Sipuncula as outgroup. Characters are based on features (where present) such as the prostomium, peristomium, antennae, palps, nuchal organs, parapodia, stomodaeum, segmental organ structure and distribution, circulation and chaetae. A number of analyses are performed, involving different ways of coding and weighting the characters, as well as the number of taxa included. Transformation series are provided for several of these analyses. One of the analyses is chosen to provide a new classification. The Annelida is found to be monophyletic, though weakly supported, and comprises the Clitellata and Polychaeta. The Polychaeta is monophyletic only if taxa such as the Pogonophora, Aeolosomatidae and Potamodrilidae are included and is also weakly supported. The Pogonophora is reduced to the rank of family within the Polychaeta and reverts to the name Siboglinidae Caullery, 1914. The new classification does not use Linnaean categories, and the Polychaeta comprises two clades, the Scolecida and Palpata. The Palpata has the clades Aciculata and Canalipalpata. The Aciculata contains the Phyllodocida and Eunicida. The Canalipalpata has three clades; the Sabellida (including the Siboglinidae) Spionida and Terebellida. The position of a number of families requires further investigation.