Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hispanic/Latino Perspectives on Hearing Loss and Hearing Healthcare: Focus Group Results

Objectives: To better understand the hearing health learning needs of Hispanic/Latino adults by assessing hearing healthcare (HHC) knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors to inform the development of a culturally and linguistically appropriate self-management program. Through a series of focus groups with members of the target audience, this study explored knowledge about hearing loss and interventions, cultural facilitators and barriers to HHC utilization, and preferences for hearing health education and information delivery. Opinions were also received on patient education materials designed to increase self-efficacy for managing hearing loss in daily life. Design: This work was guided by a practical framework of culturally competent interventions for addressing disparities in health and healthcare, centered on structural, clinical, and organizational barriers to care. A hybrid individualistic social psychology and social constructionist approach was used to build programmatic theory related to the primary research objective. Focus group goals were to generate a combination of personal opinions and collective experiences from participants with an a priori plan to analyze data using combined content analysis/grounded theory methods. Purposive sampling was used to select 31 participants who were Spanish-speaking, identified as Hispanic/Latino, and who had normal hearing or self-reported hearing difficulties. Thirteen focus groups were conducted using Microsoft Teams, and each group was audio and video recorded for later off-line transcription, translation, and analysis. A constant comparison approach was used to systematically organize focus group data into a structured format for interpretation. Transcripts were coded independently by two investigators, and emergent themes were derived and interpreted from the coded data. Results: Major and minor themes tied to the framework for culturally competent interventions included those related to sociocultural barriers to care. Structural barriers, including inconsistent access to quality care, lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate patient education materials, appointment wait times and intake processes, and referrals to specialty care, were most frequently experienced by participants. Clinical barriers most frequently cited were a lack of culturally and linguistically congruent healthcare providers and lack of language access during healthcare visits. Other major themes included hearing loss lived experiences, family and familism, and hearing-related patient education needs and preferences. Conclusions: Focus group results were integrated into a Spanish-language hearing loss self-management program that is currently being evaluated in a randomized controlled trial. The themes uncovered provided insight regarding the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about hearing loss and HHC, including hearing-related learning needs, of Hispanic/Latino adults in this sample.
Evaluation of Detector Position and Light Fluence Distribution Using an Infrared Navigation System during Pleural Photodynamic Therapy †

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been used to treat malignant pleural mesothelioma. Current practice involves delivering light to a prescribed light fluence with a point source, monitored by eight isotropic detectors inside the pleural cavity. An infrared (IR) navigation system was used to track the location of the point source throughout the treatment. The recorded data were used to reconstruct the pleural cavity and calculate the light fluence to the whole cavity. An automatic algorithm was developed recently to calculate the detector positions based on recorded data within an hour. This algorithm was applied to patient case studies and the calculated results were compared to the measured positions, with an average difference of 2.5 cm. Calculated light fluence at calculated positions were compared to measured values. The differences between the calculated and measured light fluence were within 14% for all cases, with a fixed scattering constant and a dual correction method. Fluence‐surface histogram (FSH) was calculated for photofrin‐mediated PDT to be able to cover 80% of pleural surface area to 50 J cm−2(83.3% of 60 J cm−2). The study demonstrates that it will be possible to eliminate the manual measurement of the detector positions, reducing the patient's time under anesthesia.
The effect of malting on phenolic compounds and radical scavenging activity in grains and breakfast cereals

Abstract Breakfast cereals are popular grain foods and sources of polyphenols. Malting alters polyphenol content and activity; however, effects are varied. The total polyphenol content (TPC), radical scavenging activity (RSA), and polyphenol profile were analyzed in unmalted and malted grains (wheat, barley, and sorghum) and breakfast cereals (wheat, barley) by Folin Ciocalteu Reagent (FCR), % inhibition of the free radical 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picryl‐hydrazyl, and high performance liquid chromatography. Higher TPC was observed in all malted grains and breakfast cereals compared with unmalted samples (p < 0.05). Higher RSA was also observed in all malted samples compared to unmalted samples (p < 0.05) except for wheat grain to malted wheat grain. In this study, malting induced additional polyphenols and antioxidant activity in grains and cereal products. Malted grain breakfast cereals may be practical sources of polyphenol antioxidants. Practical Application This study utilized malting in a unique way to investigate potential health benefits of polyphenols and antioxidant activity in grains (wheat, barley, and sorghum) and ready‐to‐eat breakfast cereals (wheat and barley). This study found that grains and breakfast cereals are important sources of antioxidant polyphenols, and these were significantly increased in malted varieties. Understanding this is important as grains and breakfast cereals are widely consumed staple foods. Consuming healthier grain products may be a practical strategy in reducing the risk of noncommunicable diseases such as colorectal cancer and type‐2 diabetes, where wholegrain consumption may be important in prevention.
Endocrine modulation of primary chemosensory neurons regulates Drosophila courtship behavior

The decision to engage in courtship depends on external cues from potential mates and internal cues related to maturation, health, and experience. Hormones allow for coordinated conveyance of such information to peripheral tissues. Here, we show Ecdysis-Triggering Hormone (ETH) is critical for courtship inhibition after completion of copulation in Drosophila melanogaster. ETH deficiency relieves post-copulation courtship inhibition (PCCI) and increases male-male courtship. ETH appears to modulate perception and attractiveness of potential mates by direct action on primary chemosensory neurons. Knockdown of ETH receptor (ETHR) expression in GR32A-expressing neurons leads to reduced ligand sensitivity and elevated male-male courtship. We find OR67D also is critical for normal levels of PCCI after mating. ETHR knockdown in OR67D-expressing neurons or GR32A-expressing neurons relieves PCCI. Finally, ETHR silencing in the corpus allatum (CA), the sole source of juvenile hormone, also relieves PCCI; treatment with the juvenile hormone analog methoprene partially restores normal post-mating behavior. We find that ETH, a stress-sensitive reproductive hormone, appears to coordinate multiple sensory modalities to guide Drosophila male courtship behaviors, especially after mating.
In patients with acute mono-oligoarthritis, a targeted ultrasound scanning protocol shows great accuracy for the diagnosis of gout and CPPD.

OBJECTIVES To determine an ultrasound (US) scanning protocol with the best accuracy for the diagnosis of gout and CPPD in patients with acute mono/oligoarthritis of unknown origin. METHODS Patients with acute mono/oligoarthritis, in whom a joint aspiration at the most clinically involved joint (target joint) was requested, were consecutively enrolled. US was performed in each patient before the arthrocentesis. The accuracy of different US findings and scanning protocols for the diagnosis of gout and CPPD was calculated. RESULTS 161 subjects were included (32 gout patients, 30 CPPD patients and 99 disease-controls). US findings had a high specificity for gout (0.92-0.96) and CPPD (0.90-0.97), while the sensitivity ranged from 0.73 to 0.85 in gout (double contour sign and tophi, respectively) and from 0.60 to 0.90 in CPPD (hyaline and fibrocartilage deposits, respectively). The US assessment of two joints bilaterally (gout: knees, MTP1js, CPPD: knees, wrists) + the target joint had an excellent diagnostic sensitivity (gout:0.91, CPPD:0.93) and specificity (gout:0.91, CPPD:0.89). This targeted US scanning protocol yielded to higher diagnostic accuracy compared to the US evaluation of the target joint (gout, AUC:0.91 vs AUC:0.84, p = 0.03; CPPD, AUC:0.93, vs AUC:0.84, p = 0.04) unless the target joint was the knee or the MTP1j in gout, and the knee or the wrist in CPPD. CONCLUSIONS A targeted US scanning protocol of two joints bilaterally + the target joint (unless this was the knee, MTP1j or the wrist) showed an excellent accuracy (>90%) for the diagnosis of crystal arthritis in patients with acute mono/oligoarthritis.
The Subjective Impact and Timing of Adversity Scale: A Feasibility Study Using Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Data

This study assessed the feasibility of a multi-domain measure of the occurrence, impact, and timing of childhood/adolescent psychological adversity exposure, the Subjective Impact and Timing of Adversity Scale (SITA). Participants were from among those who had previously participated in two waves of data collection when aged approximately 14 and 21 years. Internal consistency estimates at both online and interview stages were acceptable for all SITA domains (with the exception of parental loss). SITA domain scores correlated meaningfully with scores on other scales and psychological measures, supporting convergent validity. Those with lifetime psychiatric diagnoses scored significantly higher on SITA domains than those not meeting diagnostic threshold. There was evidence of the importance of both the subjective impact and timing of adversity with regard to psychiatric diagnoses. The study demonstrates the viability of the SITA; however, further studies are required to substantiate these findings in larger samples.
Low-Rank Tensor Subspace Decomposition With Weighted Group Sparsity for the Acceleration of Non-Cartesian Dynamic MRI

Objective: Dynamic MR imaging often requires long scan time, and acceleration of data acquisition is highly desirable in clinical applications. Methods: We proposed a Low-rank Tensor subspace decomposition with Weighted Group Sparsity (LTWGS) algorithm for non-Cartesian dynamic MRI. The proposed algorithm introduces the weighted group sparse constraints together with the subspace decomposition technique into the framework of low-rank tensor and sparse decomposition to better utilize the sparsity in the data. Results: LTWGS increases the PSNR values by 1.97 dB, 2.03 dB, and 2.83 dB compared with PROST (patch-based reconstruction), SRTPCA (smooth robust tensor principal component analysis), and LRTES (low-rank tensor with “explicit subspace”) in the dynamic abdominal imaging at an acceleration rate R = 25. LTWGS increases the PSNR values by 2.42 dB and 3.57 dB compared with PROST and LRTES in DCE liver imaging at R = 25. LTWGS increases the PSNR values by 1.40 dB and 1.96 dB compared with PROST and SRTPCA in cardiac cine imaging at R = 25. Conclusion and Significance: Jointly using group sparsity and sparsity can obtain better results than that using group sparsity alone, and weighted regularization can achieve better results than that without weighted regularization. The proposed algorithm results in reduced reconstruction error and improved image structural similarity in comparison with several state-of-the-art methods at relatively high acceleration factors. The proposed algorithm has the potential in various dynamic MRI application scenarios.
Depression and associated factors among older adults in Bahir Dar city administration, Northwest Ethiopia, 2020: Cross-sectional study

Background Depression is the most common psychiatric condition among older adults, and it goes unnoticed by individuals themselves and is under-diagnosed by clinicians due to the misconception that these are normal parts of aging. However, the problem is not properly addressed in Ethiopia. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and associated factors of depression among the older adults in Bahir Dar city. Methods A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 423 older adults in Bahir Dar city. A simple random sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Depression was assessed using a 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). A multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to explore the potential determinants of depression among the participants. Results The prevalence of depression among older adults was found to be 57.9% (95% CI: 53.2–62.6). This study showed that educational status with grades 5-8th (AOR: 5.72, 95% CI: 2.87–11.34), and 9-12th grade (AOR: 3.44, 95% CI: 1.59–7.41), income <2004 ETB (AOR = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.16–3.07), cognitive impairments (AOR: 3.54, 95% CI: 2.16–5.81), family history of mental illness (AOR:3.06, 95% CI: 1.03–9.04), and poor quality of life (AOR: 2.78, 95% CI: 1.74–4.46) were significantly associated with depression. Conclusion The prevalence of depression among older adults was found to be huge. Having low educational status, low monthly income, cognitive impairments, family history of mental illness, and poor quality of life were associated with depression. Therefore, raising community awareness of mental health, increasing social participation, providing supportive counseling and routine screening of depressive symptoms are essential in combating depression among Bahir-Dar city older adults.
The proliferative activity levels of each immune cell population evaluated by mass cytometry are linked to the clinical phenotypes of systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a heterogeneous autoimmune disease, and many peripheral immune cell populations (ICPs) are thought to be altered according to the course of the disease. However, it is unclear which ICPs are associated with the clinical phenotypes of SLE. We analyzed peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 28 SLE patients using mass cytometry and identified 30 ICPs. We determined the proliferative activity of ICPs by measuring the proportion of cells expressing specific markers and Ki-67 among CD45+ cells (Ki-67+ proportion). We observed an increased Ki-67+ proportion for many ICPs of SLE patients and examined the association between their Ki-67+ proportions and clinical findings. The Ki-67+ proportions of five ICPs [classical monocyte (cMo), effector memory CD8+ T cell (CD8Tem), CXCR5− naive B cell (CXCR5− nB), and CXCR5− IgD−CD27− B cell (CXCR5− DNB)] were identified as clinically important factors. The SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) was positively correlated with cMo and plasma cells (PC). The titer of anti-DNA antibodies was positively correlated with cMo, CXCR5− nB, and CXCR5− DNB. The C4 level was negatively correlated with CXCR5− DNB. The bioactivity of type I interferon was also positively correlated with these ICPs. Fever and renal involvement were associated with cMo. Rash was associated with CD8Tem and CXCR5− DNB. On the basis of the proliferative activity among five ICPs, SLE patients can be classified into five clusters showing different SLE phenotypes. Evaluation of the proliferative activity in each ICP can be linked to the clinical phenotypes of individual SLE patients and help in the treatment strategy.
Impact of Low-Volume, Low-Pressure Tracheostomy Cuffs on Acute Mucosal Injury in Swine

Objective Tapered low-volume, low-pressure (LVLP) cuffs have been introduced to improve sealing and reduce injury from tracheostomy and endotracheal intubation compared to traditional cylindrical high-volume, low-pressure (HVLP) cuffs. The objective of this study is to develop a swine model of tracheostomy injury and to compare live tissue response following LVLP and HVLP tracheostomy placement. Study Design In vivo animal study. Setting Academic institution. Methods Swine underwent tracheostomy followed by placement of LVLP and HVLP tracheostomy cuffs at 30 cm H2O. After 24 and 48 hours, tracheal specimens underwent histopathological analysis including cilia, lamina propria and epithelial thickness, and mucosal injury score. Results In all cuff contact areas, mean epithelial thickness for both tracheostomy cohorts was decreased compared to control epithelium at 24 and 48 hours (P < .01). HVLP proximal epithelium thickness was decreased at 24 and 48 hours relative to LVLP sections (P < .05). Lamina propria thickness in proximal LVLP sections was less than HVLP sections at 24 hours and 48 hours (P < .05). Mucosal injury score at areas of cuff contact was increased in tracheostomy cohorts relative to controls (P < .001), with HVLP injury score greater than LVLP at the proximal cuff (P < .05). Conclusion In a swine model, tracheostomy resulted in increased mucosal injury compared to normal tracheal mucosa. LVLP cuffs resulted in less injury than HVLP cuffs, with reduced mucosal inflammation and improved health of epithelium and lamina propria. The wider proximal LVLP cuff demonstrated improved mucosal health compared to the HVLP cylindrical cuff. Graphical Abstract This is a visual representation of the abstract.
Finite deformations of thin plates made of dielectric elastomers: Modeling, numerics, and stability

In this article, we present a nonlinear theory for thin plates, which are made of incompressible electroded dielectric elastomer layers. The layers are assumed to exhibit a neo-Hookean elastic behavior, and the effect of the electrostatic forces is taken into account by means of the electrostatic stress tensor. A plane state of stress is imposed on the total stress tensor, based on which two-dimensional constitutive relations for the plate are derived. A geometrically nonlinear formulation for the plate as a material surface is devloped, and solutions are computed using nonlinear finite elements. The numerical results are compared to available results from the literature verifying our approach, and an additional nonsymmetric example problem is studied with respect to stability.
On the logic of unconscious objects

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to distinguish between conscious and unconscious conceptions of objects. I will argue that we consciously ascribe different properties to the same object based on their coexistence in time and space. For example, the colour and flavour of an apple are ascribed to the same object as they relate to the same spatiotemporal location. However, since there is no reference to time in unconscious thinking, we cannot ascribe properties unconsciously to objects based on spatiotemporality. Instead, I hypothesize, properties are unconsciously ascribed to the same object based on the drive they satisfy. This hypothesis accounts for substantial unconscious processes such as condensation, displacement, splitting and certain linguistic features of unconscious thinking. Moreover, it enables the identification of a type of suppression of unconscious content—logical suppression—used to classify levels of personality organization. The clinical merit of this hypothesis will be presented through various case reports.
The Effects of Social Media Information Discussion, Perceived Information Overload and Patient Empowerment in Influencing HPV Knowledge

ABSTRACT Social media is becoming a viable channel to seek health information. However, the effects of social media on health knowledge have been inconsistent in the existing literature. Drawn upon the cognitive mediation model, this study examined the motivations influencing social media use for human papillomavirus (HPV) information and explored the underlying pathways linking social media use to HPV knowledge. With two-wave online surveys conducted in China, we found that three motivations of social media use, namely surveillance, anticipated interaction, and guidance, were positively associated with information discussion on social media, which increased perceived information overload that was negatively related to knowledge. In addition, patient empowerment positively moderated the effects of motivations on information discussion.
Concussion education in medical students studying in Scotland: an assessment of knowledge and future needs

ABSTRACT Background Physicians play a key role in ensuring athletes with concussion safely return to sport. Research has shown deficiencies in concussion education amongst physicians and medical students. However, studies have not previously been conducted in UK medical schools. Objectives To assess students’ concussion knowledge and learning in Scottish Medical Schools. Design A survey with 23 questions was distributed to Year 3–6 medical students studying in Scotland in October 2020. The survey included the following: (1) demographics, (2) concussion knowledge, e.g. ‘What is the role of headgear in preventing concussion? ’ (3) concussion learning, ‘In which part of the curriculum should concussion be taught? ’ Frequencies of responses were calculated for each question. Results 200 students responded (response rate 8%). The average symptoms and management score were 87.3% and 31% respectively. 15% of participants knew that headgear has no role in preventing concussions and one participant identified the minimum “return to sport” timeframes for adults and children. 15% had learnt about concussion at medical school with 92.5% interested in receiving concussion teaching at medical school. Conclusion Knowledge gaps exist in managing and preventing sports-related concussion. There is a discrepancy between levels of concussion teaching and the desire and importance placed on concussion education.
Mechanical Thrombectomy for Septic Embolism Secondary to Staphylococcus lugdunensis Bacteremia without Infective Endocarditis: A Case Report

A cerebral large vessel occlusion due to septic embolism with resultant stroke is a known complication of infective endocarditis and can cause severe neurologic disability. However, septic embolism rarely occurs in the absence of infective endocarditis, and emboli due to different organisms may behave differently. As such, it is important to recognize the different pathogens that can cause septic embolism resulting in cerebral large vessel occlusion and to have data on successful treatments. We describe here a case of mechanical thrombectomy for septic embolism secondary to Staphylococcus lugdunensis bacteremia without infective endocarditis.