Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Association of Inflammatory Related Markers with the Prognosis in Elderly Patients with Colorectal Cancer

Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common malignancy, especially among older adults. Inflammation has been implicated in cancer progression, making inflammatory indices potential prognostic markers. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic significance of the Glasgow prognostic score (GPS), neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), lymphocyte/C-reactive protein ratio (LCR), and C-reactive protein/albumin ratio (CAR) in older adults with CRC. Methods This population-based, retrospective observational study included patients aged ≥ 65 years with colorectal adenocarcinoma who were admitted to Taichung Veterans General Hospital (Chiayi branch) between 2017 and 2022. Demographic and clinicopathological characteristics, and results of inflammatory indices were collected from medical records for all patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed to determine the optimal cutoffs of the inflammatory indices in predicting overall mortality. Associations between the inflammatory indices, overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were determined using univariate and multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression analyses, with model performance evaluated using the C-index. Results Data of 106 patients were analyzed. After adjusting for confounders, GPS ≥1 (vs 0) significantly predicted poor OS (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 3.80, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.30–11.10, p= 0.015, C-index= 0.825) and PFS (aHR: 3.19, 95% CI: 1.34–7.57, p= 0.008, C-index= 0.785). CAR ≥1.0 (vs <1) significantly predicted poor OS (aHR: 2.36, 95% CI: 1.01–5.48), p=0.046, C-index= 0.825) and PFS (aHR: 2.33, 95% CI: 1.14–4.76, p= 0.020, C-index= 0.786). Conclusion Among hospitalized older adults with CRC in Taiwan, high GPS and CAR, but not NLR, PLR or LCR, are potentially useful prognostic indicators for poor OS and PFS.
EXPLORING ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT IN A POST-COVID ERA: A STUDY IN CUSTOMER CONTACT CENTRES IN PORTUGAL

relationship between these three levels of commitment and age and seniority. A quantitative methodological approach was employed through a questionnaire survey applied to a sample of 400 respondents. Findings allowed to conclude that the level of organizational commitment in the three dimensions is similar among workers in the contact centre industry soon after the pandemic period, and positive correlations were found between affective commitment and normative commitment, as well as between calculative and affective commitment. Furthermore, findings demonstrated that levels of organizational commitment vary according to age groups. Regarding seniority, the three levels of commitment are higher for employees who work at the company for 2-3 years.
Risco sanitário do mel no Brasil em relação a novas ameaças: resíduos e contaminantes químicos emergentes

This narrative literature review deals with the honey, its context as a product of varied uses and with significant socio-economic relevance, aiming to describe some emerging chemical residues and contaminants and their aspects related to Health Surveillance. Honey is a substance that, beyond being used as food since the beginning of human civilization, also has therapeutic and pharmacothecnical applications. Brazil is among the major world producers and exporters of honey and this production play a relevant socio-economic role in the country. Like other products of animal origin, honey is subject to the presence of residues of substances used in the protection of swarms and contaminants from the environment. Despite the presence of substances in honey with potential impact on health is expected by health agencies, it is required to update as to which substances should or should not be monitored. This review lists examples of classes of substances that are not currently monitored, considered as “emerging” for not being regulated properly in Brazil and in many parts of the world. For the emerging contaminants covered here, scientific publications with national data are scarce or non-existent when it comes to honey, showing that new scientific knowledge production is needed in this area. It is recommended further study of the occurrence of quinolones, pyrrolizidine alkaloids, grayanotoxins and substances used in the production of polymers in honey in Brazil, so that health risks from the consumption of honey containing these substances are known and minimized or eliminated.
Geospatial technology innovations for land tenure security in East Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa has an immense challenge to rapidly and cheaply map millions of unrecognized land rights. Current recording and mapping approaches did not succeed to meet the promising expectations: disputes abound, investment is impeded, and the community’s poorest lose out. In order to cope with these challenges a research project called ‘its4land’ is carried out. Its4land is a European Commission Horizon 2020 project aiming to develop an innovative suite of land tenure recording tools for three East African countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda). These land tenure tools are inspired by geo-information technologies, including smart sketchmaps, UAV’s, automated feature extraction and geocloud services. For each African country two specific case locations are selected. The six case locations are Bahir Dar city (Ethiopia), Robit Bata rural Kebele (Ethiopia), Kisumu County (Kenya), Kajiado County (Kenya), Musanze City (Rwanda) and Busogo (Rwanda). In order to reach this overarching research goal, a fundamental first step is to “get needs”, i.e. capture the specific needs, readiness, market opportunities of end-users in the domain of land tenure information recording. Therefore, this paper aims to elaborate the research design responding to these fundamentel first step. This includes actor and case-specificic data collection and other methods like Actor Network Theory, Multi-Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis and Market Gap Analysis. An integrated design is also proposed to facilitate a coordinated approach to the complicated data collection and analysis requirements. This way, the diverse nature of the actors of interest with regards to readiness and potential impact on the project is taken into account.
Role of Elevated Serum TGF-β1 and the Common Promoter TGFB1-509C/T Polymorphism in the Development and Progression of Primary Glial Tumors and Brain Metastases

Background and Objectives: The role of transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-β1) has been widely studied in the context of carcinogenesis. It has been involved in the pathogenesis of primary brain tumors or brain metastases due to its pleiotropic effects on immune regulation and tissue homeostasis. In line with recent findings, the aim of the current study was to examine the role of circulating TGF-β1 and the -509C/T functional polymorphism (rs1800469) in the TGFB1 gene promoter in the susceptibility and progression of primary brain tumors and brain metastases among patients from the Bulgarian population. Materials and Methods: Cases with a confirmed diagnosis were genotyped by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay (PCR-RFLP). Serum TGF-β1 levels were determined by ELISA. Immunohistochemical evaluation of the expression of TGF-β1 and the TGF-β1 receptor-type II was conducted. Results: We observed that TGF-β1 serum levels correlate with the genotype and are sex-related. TGF-β1 serum levels were significantly elevated in patients compared to controls. Additionally, the T/T-genotype determined higher circulating levels of the cytokine. The same genotype determined the shorter median survival after surgery for the patients. The immunohistochemical analysis revealed a statistical tendency: cases expressing TGF-β1 in the cytoplasm had elevated levels of the cytokine in the serum compared to the negative cases. Conclusions: Overall, our results indicate a negative effect of the T-allele on the predisposition and prognosis of brain malignancies, and the genetically determined higher TGF-β1 serum levels might contribute to the worse prognosis and metastatic capacity of brain malignancies.
Fixed Point Iterations for Functional Equations and Split Feasibility Problems in CAT(0) Spaces

Among other things, finding solutions for functional as well as other types of problems (including differential and integral) by suggesting fixed-point procedures is a difficult task, especially when we study the approximation techniques in the absence of linearity in the domain of definition. In this paper, an effective iterative approximation procedure is successfully applied to find fixed points of a general class of operators in the nonlinear setting of CAT(0) spaces. The results are illustrated with the help of some examples. Some numerical computations are also provided. Eventually, we prove that our new results are applicable to solving split feasibility problems. Our results are new and complement some recently published results from the literature.
Spectrum 5.0: Re-Thinking Spectrum Awards for Optimal 5G Deployment

Increased competition in telecommunications services in the past two decades has generated considerable benefits for Europe’s citizens, consumers, industry and governments. More recently concern has grown regarding the relatively slow pace of 4G network deployment and fears that delays could be repeated with 5G. This paper analyses the role spectrum assignment policies have played in this mixed picture and concludes that the design of spectrum awards in a 5G context should evolve to place more emphasis on promoting infrastructure deployment. Examples of policy decisions impacting market outputs are used to support our argumentation with evidence drawn from recent in-depth studies and examples covering the main European markets. These suggest it is time to re-evaluate whether the amount of revenue raised should be the overriding measure of spectrum auction success, and whether auctions on fees are the most effective means of promoting competition and driving investment. We survey the analyses of causal relationship and trade-offs between various assignment methods and fee structures and conclude with considerations and guidelines for more effective and balanced spectrum assignment designs. As EU regulators consider reforms in this area the key challenge is how to align award processes with broader economic and societal objectives. We hope our paper can make a constructive contribution in this respect .
Global Longitudinal Strain May Be the One that Appropriately Identifies Candidates of ICD Implantation

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) significantly contributes to an elevated risk of sudden cardiac death. Primary prevention is implemented by using an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). However, all of the HCM patients do not really need ICD therapy. Providing a superior index for ICD indication compared with the current indices like ejection fraction is essential to differentiate high-risk patients efficiently. The present study assessed the potential of global longitudinal strain (GLS) for the differentiation of HCM patients based on their need for ICD shocks. Patients with HCM were considered in four defined centers between March and June 2021. Those with previous ICD implantation or current candidates for ICD therapy were included in the study. Participants were subjected to speckle-tracking echocardiography, and GLS as well as some other echocardiographic parameters were recorded. Afterwards, data from implanted ICDs were extracted. Patients who received ICD shocks (appropriate) due to ventricular tachycardia (VT)/ventricular fibrillation (VF) were categorized in group A. The remaining patients were constituted group B who received inappropriate shocks, i.e., other than VT/VF. Overall, 34 patients were found eligible to participate with a mean age of 62 ± 16.1 years including 64.7% of males. Among a variety of echocardiographic parameters, GLS was the sole one that was significantly higher in group A compared with that in group B. Our findings revealed that only GLS could predict fatal arrhythmias. To substantiate, the odds of VT were raised by 43% with a single increase in GLS unit. GLS showed the highest accuracy for ICD indication among HCM patients and, therefore, could be a solid and early criterion to predict the incidence of life-threatening arrhythmias. In this regard, identifying appropriate HCM patients with respect to their need for ICD therapy is feasible.
Trap-Door Thoracotomy and Clamshell Thoracotomy as Surgical Approaches for Neuroblastoma and Other Thoracic Tumors in Children

Simple Summary Solid thoracic tumors in children are rare, with neuroblastoma being the most commonly diagnosed tumor entity. A safe and complete tumor resection is often not possible with a unilateral cervical approach, sternotomy, thoracotomy, or bilateral thoracotomy (single or staged) in certain localizations of the thorax, such as the cervicothoracic junction, the posterior mediastinum, or bilateral dorsal thoracic tumors. In adults, trap-door thoracotomy has been established and evaluated as a safe surgical approach for tumors of the cervicothoracic junction and clamshell thoracotomy as a safe surgical approach for posterior mediastinal or bilateral dorsal thoracic tumors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the surgical and oncologic implications of trap-door thoracotomy and clamshell thoracotomy in children with solid tumors in these specific localizations. These findings may have a positive impact on the quality of care and patient safety for children with solid thoracic tumors. Abstract Solid tumors of the cervicothoracic junction, the posterior mediastinum, or bilateral dorsal thoracic tumors represent a challenge in pediatric surgical oncology. The aim of this study was to evaluate trap-door thoracotomy and clamshell thoracotomy as surgical approaches. A single-center retrospective study of children with solid tumors in these specific localizations was performed. From 2015 to 2023, 26 children (17 girls; 9 boys) were treated at a median age of 54 months (range 8–229). Tumor resection was performed for neuroblastoma (n = 11); metastatic disease (n = 7); malignant rhabdoid tumor (n = 4); Ewing sarcoma (n = 1); inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (n = 1); rhabdomyosarcoma (n = 1); and neurofibroma (n = 1). The surgical goal of macroscopic complete excision was achieved in all of the 14 children who underwent trap-door thoracotomy and in 11 of the 12 children who underwent clamshell thoracotomy. There were no major complications. At a median follow-up of 8 months (range 0–60), the disease was under local control or in complete remission in 66.7% of the children. In conclusion, surgical resection of solid tumors of the cervicothoracic junction in children can be performed safely and successfully with trap-door thoracotomy and with clamshell thoracotomy for posterior mediastinal or bilateral dorsal thoracic tumors.
Multifunctional adaptive optics optical coherence tomography allows cellular scale reflectometry, polarimetry, and angiography in the living human eye

Clinicians are unable to detect glaucoma until substantial loss or dysfunction of retinal ganglion cells occurs. To this end, novel measures are needed. We have developed an optical imaging solution based on adaptive optics optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT) to discern key clinical features of glaucoma and other neurodegenerative diseases at the cellular scale in the living eye. Here, we test the feasibility of measuring AO-OCT-based reflectance, retardance, optic axis orientation, and angiogram at specifically targeted locations in the living human retina and optic nerve head. Multifunctional imaging, combined with focus stacking and global image registration algorithms, allows us to visualize cellular details of retinal nerve fiber bundles, ganglion cell layer somas, glial septa, superior vascular complex capillaries, and connective tissues. These are key histologic features of neurodegenerative diseases, including glaucoma, that are now measurable in vivo with excellent repeatability and reproducibility. Incorporating this noninvasive cellular-scale imaging with objective measurements will significantly enhance existing clinical assessments, which is pivotal in facilitating the early detection of eye disease and understanding the mechanisms of neurodegeneration.
Online Circular Contrast Perimetry via a Web-Application: Establishing a Normative Database for Central 10-Degree Perimetry

Purpose To establish a normative database using a central 10-degree grid pattern for the online circular contrast perimetry (OCCP) application. Participants Fifty participants with mean age 65 ± 13 years were selected for this study. One eye from each participant that met inclusion criteria was randomly included in the cohort. Methods The web-application delivered online 52-loci perimetry in a central 10-degree pattern using circular flickering targets. These targets consist of concentric sinusoidal alternating contrast rings. Users were guided by the application to the correct viewing distance and head position using in-built blind spot localization and webcam monitoring. A spinning golden star was used as the fixation target and patients performed the test in a darkened room following standard automated perimetry (SAP). Results The reliability rates and global indices for OCCP were similar to SAP. OCCP mean sensitivity reduced with age at a similar rate to SAP. Mean sensitivity per loci of 10-degree OCCP was greater than SAP by 1.24 log units (95% CI 1.23 to 1.26) and obeyed a physiological hill of vision. Small differences existed in mean sensitivities between OCCP and SAP which increased with increasing spot eccentricity. Mean deviation (MD) displayed good agreement between the two tests. Conclusion Central 10-degree online circular contrast perimetry via a computer-based application has comparable perimetric results to standard automated perimetry in a normal cohort.
Implicit Memory-Based Variational Motion Talking Face Generation

Speech-driven facial animation is a challenging problem where each input audio can have multiple plausible facial outputs, leading to overly smooth results. Although the two-stage framework of audio-to-motion model and neural rendering models can partially mitigate this issue, it lacks crucial details like emotions and wrinkles. To overcome these limitations, we introduce a variational motion generator with implicit memory. By incorporating implicit memory into the audio-to-motion model, we capture high-level semantics in the shared latent space of audio expressions, resulting in accurate and expressive facial landmark generation. Next, we introduce attention with time bias to effectively maintain the consistency of audio motion and adopt a periodic position encoding strategy to provide summarization capability for longer audio sequences. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach outperforms previous methods, yielding more extensive and realistic speech-driven facial animation.
Gut microbiota and risk of endocarditis: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study

Background The associations between gut microbiota and cardiovascular disease have been reported in previous studies. However, the relationship between gut microbiota and endocarditis remains unclear. Methods A bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) study was performed to detect the association between gut microbiota and endocarditis. Inverse variance weighted (IVW) method was considered the main result. Simultaneously, heterogeneity and pleiotropy tests were conducted. Results Our study suggests that family Victivallaceae (p = 0.020), genus Eubacterium fissicatena group (p = 0.047), genus Escherichia Shigella (p = 0.024), genus Peptococcus (p = 0.028) and genus Sellimonas (p = 0.005) play protective roles in endocarditis. Two microbial taxa, including genus Blautia (p = 0.006) and genus Ruminococcus2 (p = 0.024) increase the risk of endocarditis. At the same time, endocarditis has a negative effect on genus Eubacterium fissicatena group (p = 0.048). Besides, no heterogeneity or pleiotropy was found in this study. Conclusion Our study emphasized the certain role of specific gut microbiota in patients with endocarditis and clarified the negative effect of endocarditis on gut microbiota.
New occurrence of Cirolana capricornica (Isopoda: Cirolanidae) from Epinephelus chlorostigma in Suez Governorate, Egypt

Background and Aim: The isopods of the Crustacea are noteworthy. All marine, fresh, and brackish waterways at all depths are home to aquatic organisms. This order also includes species that live on land. This study aimed to report a new occurrence of the isopod Cirolana capricornica on the operculum, mouth, and body cavities of Epinephilus chlorostigma in the Suez Governorate, Egypt. Materials and Methods: With the help of fishermen, 50 live E. chlorostigma (Linnaeus, 1758) were randomly gathered along the Red Sea coast of the Suez Governorate during November and December 2019 for the current investigation. Isopods were isolated from the fish samples and captured using light and electron microscopy for morphological identification. Results: Some fish were emaciated, and minute white isopods were attached externally to the skin near the gills and mouth cavity, and internally to the mouth cavity. No correlation was observed between body cavity attachment and gross lesions. The prevalence of infestation was 16%. Conclusion: C. capricornica was identified using optical and electron microscopy to analyze the isopod specimens’ morphology. This scavenging isopod species is newly discovered in Egypt.
Optimization of Antibacterial Metabolite Production and Antioxidant Activity of Endophytic Fungi Isolate from Kelakai (Stenochlaena palustris)

This research aims to optimize the production of antibacterial metabolites and test the antioxidant activity of endophytic isolates from kelakai (Stenochlaena palustris). The research results showed that the optimum growth profile of the isolate showed that exponential growth only started on day 1 and reached a maximum on day 17. Based on pH variations, it shows that pH 7 is the optimum pH in inhibiting bacterial growth, and based on variations in carbon sources, it shows that fructose is a better carbon source than glucose. Antimicrobial activity test using ethyl acetate extract from endophytic fungal fermentate based on differences in pH and carbon source showed antimicrobial activity against S. aureus and E. coli with the inhibition zone diameters being 13.50 mm and 11.35 mm, respectively.