Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A comparison of two types of contrast media used in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography: A retrospective study

Background Post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) pancreatitis (PEP) is one of the most serious complications of ERCP. Various procedures can reduce the incidence of PEP, such as wire-guided cannulation, prophylactic pancreatic stent placement, and pretreatment anal insertion of NSAIDs. Recently, iso-osmolar contrast media (IOCM) have been used for ERCP in several hospitals to reduce the risk of PEP in Japan. However, the effect of IOCM is uncertain because few reports have examined IOCM in relation to PEP. Aim This study aimed to investigate the relationship between contrast media used and the incidence of PEP. Methods This retrospective study included all qualifying patients who had undergone ERCP at Hamamatsu University Hospital between January 2012 and January 2020. This study examined whether there was a difference in the onset of PEP between patients administered IOCM and high osmolar contrast medium (HOCM). Propensity score matching was used to analyze patient characteristics and ERCP procedures. Amidotrizoic acid was used as HOCM and iodixanol as IOCM. Results ERCP was performed on 458 patients, and 830 procedures were conducted. After propensity score matching, 162 patients from the amidotrizoic acid group and 162 patients from the iodixanol group were selected. The incidence of PEP was 10.5% (17) in the amidotrizoic acid group and 9.3% (15) in the iodixanol group (P = 0.71). Changes in serum amylase levels post- and pre-ERCP were 240.6 ± 573.8 U/L and 142.7 ± 382.1 U/L in the amidotrizoic acid and iodixanol groups, respectively (P = 0.072). Conclusion Iodixanol had no prophylactic effect on PEP and clinical outcomes.
Evidence of emotion dysregulation as a core symptom of adult ADHD: A systematic review

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder, with an onset in childhood, that accompanies the person throughout their life, with prevalence between 3 and 5% in adults. Recent studies point towards a fourth core symptom of the disorder related to the emotional information processing that would explain the repercussions that ADHD has on the social, academic, and professional life of the people affected. This review aims to describe emotion dysregulation features as well as the brain activity associated in adults with ADHD. A search of the scientific literature was launched in specialized databases: PsycInfo, Medline, Eric, PsycArticle, Psicodoc and Scopus, following PRISMA guidelines. Twenty-two articles met the inclusion criteria: (a) an ADHD clinical diagnosis, (b) participants over 18 years old, (c) emotion regulation measurement, (d) empirical studies, and (c) in English. Due to the heterogeneity of the studies included, they were classified into three sections: measures and features of emotion regulation (ER) in people with ADHD, neurological and psychophysiological activity related to ER, and treatments. The studies found that meet the selection criteria are scarce and very heterogeneous both in aims and in sample features. Adults with ADHD show a more frequent use of non-adaptive emotion regulation strategies compared to people without ADHD symptoms. Moreover, emotion dysregulation was associated with symptom severity, executive functioning, psychiatric comorbidities, and even with criminal conviction. Different patterns of brain activity were observed when people with and without ADHD were compared. These results may suggest that psychopharmacological treatments as well as behavioral therapies could be useful tools for improving emotional difficulties in adult ADHD.
Polar Flux, Cross-equatorial Flux, and Dynamo-generated Tachocline Toroidal Flux as Predictors of Solar Cycles

We evaluate the skill of three solar cycle predictors, namely, polar magnetic flux, flux crossing the equator, and tachocline toroidal flux, using both observations and a calibrated dynamo model. Polar flux measurements are available only for the past three sunspot cycles, implying poor statistics. However, the correlation between observed north and south polar flux peaks, and peaks of the next sunspot cycle is r = 0.785. We find that the correlation between the observed cross-equatorial flux and the observed peak of the next solar cycle is also high, close to that of Cameron & Schüssler, and the statistics are more reliable. Thus, the cross-equatorial flux is a better predictor of the next cycle than is the polar flux. From the dynamo model, the correlations with observed cycle peaks for polar flux, cross-equatorial flux, and toroidal flux are 0.48, 0.76, and 0.96, respectively. All these correlations decline when the northern and southern hemispheres are simulated separately, as well as with shortening of the averaging length in input data. A very high correlation between the model polar flux at the end of a cycle and the observed peak of that cycle implies that, within a calibrated flux transport dynamo, the polar flux follows the sunspot cycle, rather than being a precursor to it. With short-term averaging of input data, the polar and cross-equatorial fluxes retain much more short-term variability than does the toroidal flux. This is because the long traversal time of the input poloidal fields to the bottom of the convection zone in a mean-field model smooths out the short-term variability in the toroidal flux. The observed slowdown in meridional flow during 1996-2004 leads to a weaker polar flux, but a stronger cross-equatorial flux compared to the case with steady meridional flow. We infer that it is unlikely that both the cross-equatorial and the polar fluxes can be good predictors of solar cycle peaks.
Effects of medications on hypoxia‐inducible factor in the retina: A review

Hypoxia‐inducible factor (HIF) plays a critical role in the mechanisms that allow cells to adapt to various oxygen levels in the environment. Specifically, HIF‐1⍺ has shown to be widely involved in cellular repair, survival, and energy metabolism. HIF‐1⍺ has also been found in increased levels in cancer cells, highlighting the importance of balance in the hypoxic response. Promoting HIF‐1⍺ activity as a potential therapy for degenerative diseases and inhibiting HIF‐1⍺ as a therapy for pathologies with overactive cell proliferation are actively being explored. Digoxin and metformin, HIF‐1⍺ inhibitors, and deferoxamine and ⍺‐ketoglutarate analogues, HIF‐1⍺ activators, are being studied for application in age‐related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and retinitis pigmentosa. However, these same medications have retinal toxicities that must be assessed before implementation of therapeutic care. Herein, we highlight the duality of therapeutic and toxic potential of HIF‐1⍺ that must be carefully assessed prior to its clinical application in retinal disorders.
Effects of emulsifier, betaine, and L-carnitine on growth performance, immune response, gut morphology, and nutrient digestibility in broiler chickens exposed to cyclic heat stress

ABSTRACT 1. This experiment investigated the efficacy of varying doses of an emulsifier blend (EB; 0 and 1 g/kg of diet), betaine (BT; 0 and 1 g/kg of diet) and L-carnitine (CT; 0 and 0.5 g/kg of diet) in broilers subjected to circular heat stress (HS) conditions. A total of 1080 one-day-old male broiler chickens (Ross 308) were randomly assigned to one of nine treatment groups (six pens/treatment with 20 birds/pen) according to a completely randomised design. The thermoneutral control broiler chickens were housed at a comfortable temperature and fed a standard diet (no additives). The other eight groups were exposed to cyclic HS conditions (34°C) for 8 h (10:00-18:00). 2. There were EB × BT × CT interactions for body weight (BW) at 24 d (P = 0.038) and average daily gain (ADG) during the 10–24 d period (P = 0.049), with the greatest values found with concurrent supplementation of three supplements. 3. Inclusion of EB resulted in greater (P < 0.05) BW, ADG, European performance index, uniformity rate, primary antibody titres against sheep red blood cells (SRBC), duodenal villus height (VH) and villus surface area, digestible energy (DE) and the coefficient of apparent ileal digestibility (CAID) of dry matter, crude protein, and fat However, feed conversion ratio, mortality rate and heterophile to lymphocyte ratio were lower (P < 0.05). 4. Dietary BT supplementation improved (P < 0.05) all performance indicators, primary antibody titres against SRBC and Newcastle disease virus, serum total antioxidant capacity, duodenal VH, Jejunal VH/crypt depth and the CAID of dry matter and crude protein. The effect of dietary supplementation with CT was limited to an increase (P < 0.05) in ADG (d 10–24) and a decrease (P < 0.05) in serum malondialdehyde concentration (42 d) and jejunal crypt depth (42 d). 5. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of either EB or BT alone or in combination ameliorated some of the detrimental effects of HS on growth performance, immunity and intestinal health in broilers, while a minor positive effect on performance and antioxidant status was observed with CT supplementation.
Aerodynamic control of bridge deck flutter by active surfaces

An active aerodynamic control method of suppressing flutter of a very-long-span bridge is presented in this paper. The control system consists of additional control surfaces attached to the bridge deck; their torsional movement, commanded via feedback control law, is used to generate stabilizing aerodynamic forces. The frequency independent formulation of unsteady aerodynamic forces acting on the bridge deck as well as the control surfaces is derived through rational function approximation. The high precision of approximation is ensured by multilevel linear and nonlinear constrained optimization. Although the proposed mathematical model of aeroservoelastic system is augmented by new aerodynamic states, it is in the form of a set of constant coefficient differential equations that are particularly convenient for control law synthesis. The obtained equations of motion are functions of mean wind speed so the efficiency of application of the conventional constant gain optimal feedback control is limited. To cope with the system dependence on wind speed, a variable-gain control is proposed. The static output variable-gain approach is formulated in terms of a mathematical optimization problem and the necessary conditions are derived. Application of the variable-gain control provides variation of control strategies in different wind velocities and is found to be efficient for the studied aerodynamic active control of bridge deck flutter.
Book Review : Psychometric Theory: Secon d Edition Jum C. Nunnally New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978, 701 pages

Roughly a decade after its debut, Psychometric Theory has appeared in a second edition. The original has been a prominent occupant over those years of an important middle level of psychometric writing, attempting to bridge the gap between tests and measurements texts and state-of-the-art technical monographs. I have taught from the first edition for years and have always felt in good company doing so. Nunnally’s book has been extensively used in psychology and education as the basic text in first graduate courses in measurement. Psychometric Theory has served psychometrics well. Psychometrics, though, has changed since 1967, and in preparing this revision, Nunnally sought to introduce modern develcpments. The Preface to the second edition describes the more important additions thusly: &dquo;[New] methods of unidimensional scaling . , additional points of view about validity. , computerized approaches to multiple correlation. , a new chapter on test construction . to take account of some special new approaches and to more extensively discuss methods that
Implementation of Shared Decision-Making Within Internet Hospitals in China Based on Patients’ Needs: Feasibility Study and Content Analysis

Background Internet hospitals are developing rapidly in China, and their convenient and efficient medical services are being increasingly recognized by patients. Many hospitals have set up their own internet hospitals to provide web-based medical services. Tianjin Medical University General Hospital has established a multidisciplinary and comprehensive internet hospital to provide diversified medical services according to the needs of patients. A way to further improve web-based medical services is by examining how shared decision-making (SDM) can be carried out in internet hospital diagnosis and treatment services, thereby improving patients’ medical experience. Objective The aim of this study was to analyze the feasibility of implementing doctor-patient SDM in internet hospital diagnosis and treatment services based on patients’ needs in China. Methods In this study, the medical data of 10 representative departments in the internet hospital of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from January 1 to January 31, 2022, were extracted as a whole; 25,266 cases were selected. After excluding 2056 cases with incomplete information, 23,210 cases were finally included in this study. A chi-square test was performed to analyze the characteristics and medical service needs of internet hospital patients in order to identify the strengths of SDM in internet hospitals. Results The internet hospital patients from 10 clinical departments were significantly different in terms of gender (χ29=3425.6; P<.001), age (χ236=27,375.8; P<.001), mode of payment (χ29=3501.1; P<.001), geographic distribution (χ29=347.2; P<.001), and duration of illness (χ236=2863.3; P<.001). Patient medical needs included drug prescriptions, examination prescriptions, medical record explanations, drug use instructions, prehospitalization preparations, further consultations with doctors (unspecified purpose), treatment plan consultations, initial diagnoses based on symptoms, and follow-up consultations after discharge. The medical needs of the patients in different clinical departments were significantly different (χ272=8465.5; P<.001). Conclusions Our study provides a practical and theoretical basis for the feasibility of doctor-patient SDM in internet hospitals and offers some implementation strategies. We focus on the application of SDM in web-based diagnosis and treatment in internet hospitals rather than on a disease or a disease management software. The medical service needs of different patient groups can be effectively obtained from an internet hospital, which provides the practical conditions for the promotion of doctor-patient SDM. Our findings show that the internet hospital platform expands the scope of SDM and is a new way for the large-scale application of doctor-patient SDM.
The human ribosome‐associated complex suppresses prion formation in yeast

Many human diseases are associated with the misfolding of amyloidogenic proteins. Understanding the mechanisms cells employ to ensure the integrity of the proteome is therefore a crucial step in the development of potential therapeutic interventions. Yeast cells possess numerous prion‐forming proteins capable of adopting amyloid conformations, possibly as an epigenetic mechanism to cope with changing environmental conditions. The ribosome‐associated complex (RAC), which docks near the ribosomal polypeptide exit tunnel and recruits the Hsp70 Ssb to chaperone nascent chains, can moderate the acquisition of these amyloid conformations in yeast. Here we examine the ability of the human RAC chaperone proteins Mpp11 and Hsp70L1 to function in place of their yeast RAC orthologues Zuo1 and Ssz1 in yeast lacking endogenous RAC and investigate the extent to which the human orthologues can perform RAC chaperone activities in yeast. We found that the Mpp11/Hsp70L1 complex can partially correct the growth defect seen in RAC‐deficient yeast cells, although yeast/human hetero species complexes were variable in this ability. The proportion of cells in which the Sup35 protein undergoes spontaneous conversion to a [PSI+] prion conformation, which is increased in the absence of RAC, was reduced by the presence of the human RAC complex. However, the toxicity in yeast from expression of a pathogenically expanded polyQ protein was unable to be countered by the human RAC chaperones. This yeast system can serve as a facile model for studying the extent to which the human RAC chaperones contribute to combating cotranslational misfolding of other mammalian disease‐associated proteins.
Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 Imaging of a Sample of Early-Type Seyfert Galaxies

We have defined a complete sample comprising all 14 Seyfert galaxies in early-type (E, S0, Sa) host galaxies with apparent magnitude mv < 14.5 mag and recessional velocity cz < 3000 km s-1. This paper presents Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging observations of 12 of them, the other two having been observed previously with HST. The observations are of the [O III] λ5007 and [N II] λλ6548, 6583 + Hα emission lines and their adjacent continua (centered near 5500 and 8000 Å). We find that all the galaxies in our sample display prominent nuclear dust features. In some objects, the dust strongly influences the morphology of the starlight and ionized gas. Despite the restriction to early-type galaxies, five (possibly six) galaxies of the 14 have a significant (if not dominant) part of their [N II] + Hα emission originating in H II regions. This result supports the notion that the Seyfert phenomenon tends to be associated with ongoing star formation.
Lipomatous metaplasia prolongs repolarization and increases repolarization dispersion within post-infarct ventricular tachycardia circuit cites

Abstract Aims Post-infarct myocardium contains viable corridors traversing scar or lipomatous metaplasia (LM). Ventricular tachycardia (VT) circuitry has been separately reported to associate with corridors that traverse LM and with repolarization heterogeneity. We examined the association of corridor activation recovery interval (ARI) and ARI dispersion with surrounding tissue type. Methods and results The cohort included 33 post-infarct patients from the prospective Intra-Myocardial Fat Deposition and Ventricular Tachycardia in Cardiomyopathy (INFINITY) study. We co-registered scar and corridors from late gadolinium enhanced magnetic resonance, and LM from computed tomography with intracardiac electrogram locations. Activation recovery interval was calculated during sinus or ventricular pacing, as the time interval from the minimum derivative within the QRS to the maximum derivative within the T-wave on unipolar electrograms. Regional ARI dispersion was defined as the standard deviation (SD) of ARI per AHA segment (ARISD). Lipomatous metaplasia exhibited higher ARI than scar [325 (interquartile range 270–392) vs. 313 (255–374), P < 0.001]. Corridors critical to VT re-entry were more likely to traverse through or near LM and displayed prolonged ARI compared with non-critical corridors [355 (319–397) vs. 302 (279–333) ms, P < 0.001]. ARISD was more closely associated with LM than with scar (likelihood ratio χ2 50 vs. 12, and 4.2-unit vs. 0.9-unit increase in 0.01*Log(ARISD) per 1 cm2 increase per AHA segment). Additionally, LM and scar exhibited interaction (P < 0.001) in their association with ARISD. Conclusion Lipomatous metaplasia is closely associated with prolonged local action potential duration of corridors and ARI dispersion, which may facilitate the propensity of VT circuit re-entry.
Device Development for Ocular Surface Temperature and Heat Flux Density Measurement

Abstract Purpose Currently, much attention is paid to measuring the temperature of the ocular surface in various ophthalmic diseases. However, for a comprehensive assessment of heat transfer of the eye, it is advisable to measure both the ocular surface temperature and the heat flux (HF) density. This will expand our knowledge of the physiology of the eye and create new possibilities for diagnosing ocular pathology. The present study aimed to develop a thermoelectric device to study rabbits’ ocular surface temperature and HF density. Methods The multichannel thermoelectric device was developed to measure the ocular surface temperature and HF density. This study included ten rabbits (20 eyes). In all animals, the temperature and the HF density were measured on the surface of the central cornea of both eyes. The measurement was repeated after pupils’ dilation. Results The corneal surface temperature of rabbits was 33.1 ± 0.8 °C, and the HF density of the surface of the cornea was 8.3 ± 0.6 mW/cm2. Our results revealed a high degree of interocular symmetry in the surface HF density in healthy rabbits. After pupil dilation, an increase in the HF density on the surface of the rabbit cornea compared with the initial data and control eye was noted. Conclusions The application of the developed device showed that it is safe and allows for the measurement of the ocular surface temperature and the HF density. We believe that further studies on the ocular surface HF density measurement in various eye diseases will allow us to evaluate the possibilities of this device and technique for diagnostic purposes.
Landscape dynamics and diversification of the megadiverse South American freshwater fish fauna

Significance South America harbors the most diverse freshwater fish fauna worldwide; however, scientists have few clear answers about the origins of this megadiversity. Here, we used the most complete datasets of geographic distributions and evolutionary relationships of South American fishes to date, to track the influence of the geological history on the origins, extinctions, and interchanges of these fishes over the past 100 My. We found that abrupt increases of species origination coincided in time and place with major mountain uplift and river re-arrangement events. Species in Western Amazonia originated faster and persisted longer than those in other regions. Thus, this region acted as a source of dispersal to other regions, enhancing the exceptional diversity of fishes across the entire continent.
The complement system in preeclampsia: a review of its activation and endothelial injury in the triad of COVID-19 infection and HIV-associated preeclampsia

This review assesses the complement system and its activation, with the pathological features of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and preeclampsia (PE). The complement system is the first defensive response by the host innate immune system to viral pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 entry results in the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemical mediators to create a “cytokine storm”. Endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction and cell-mediated injury are also present. These factors cause an exacerbated inflammatory state. During HIV infection and PE, various complement components are elevated, causing a hyper-inflammatory state. Furthermore, EC dysfunction and cell-mediated injury are also present. The similarities in pathological aspects of these three disorders may emanate from excessive complement activation. This review serves as a platform for further research on the complement system, coronavirus disease 2019, HIV infection and PE.