Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thermochemical Study of Theophyline and Its Hydrate

Anhydrous theophylline exhibited polymorphism and two modifications, which were named form I and form II, were isolated. The melting point and the enthalpy of fusion of each polymorph determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were 273.4±1.0°C and 26.4±0.3 kJ/mol for form I and 269.1±0.4°C and 28.2±1.1 kJ/mol for form II. The higher melting form I had a smaller density. In contrast to caffeine, theophylline formed a monohydrate. The dissociation vapor pressure curves of theophylline hydrate and caffeine hydrate were obtained and the difference in their stabilities was discussed. The enthalpy of dehydration was determined by DSC under closed conditions. The dehydration under isothermal conditions appeared to proceed acoording to the mechanism of random uncleation followed by two-dimensional growth of nuclei as represented by the Avrami-Erofe'ev equation. The solubilities of theophylline and its hydrate were determined as a function of temperature. From the van't Hoff type plot, the transition temperature between the hydrate and the anhydrous form was determined.
Barriers to Access to Care in Hispanics With Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a major cause of death in the United States. Hispanics living in America suffer disproportionally with diabetes and is the fifth cause of death for them. A systematic review was conducted that highlighted barriers to access to care for Hispanics with T2D during the early years of the Affordable Care Act. Method: PubMed and CINAHL databases were searched (2010-2015) using PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) guidelines. From 84 studies, seven qualitative/mixed methods studies were reviewed based on inclusion/exclusion criteria. Barriers were placed into three categories set a priori. Results: All study samples were from different states, representing barriers across the United States. Persistent barriers were self (100%), provider (100%), and environment (71%). Covariates (culture and genetics), individual resources (cost factors, time, and social support), lack of providers or providers specializing in T2D, and environmental factors (lack of diabetes education, nutrition, and exercise programs) were found to affect Hispanics with T2D access to care. Conclusion: Cost factors, time, lack of social support, providers, and relevant programs remain prevalent barriers. As the Hispanic population increases and changes in the health care system are evolving, additional barriers to access to care are likely to emerge and must be explored.
Serum oestradiol levels are inversely associated with C-reactive protein levels in premenopausal women, but not postmenopausal women

Objective Epidemiological studies on the association of serum oestradiol levels and inflammatory markers have reported inconsistent and conflicting results. Therefore, we investigated the association between serum oestradiol and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in women on the basis of their menopausal status. Methods This cross-sectional study examined the association between serum oestradiol and CRP levels on the basis of menopausal status in 151 premenopausal women aged 42.7 ± 6.7 years and 394 postmenopausal women aged 58.1 ± 6.7 years who participated in a health examination program. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted using CRP levels as the dependent variable. Results Multiple linear regression analysis showed that serum oestradiol levels were inversely associated with CRP levels in premenopausal women (β coefficient = −0.298) after adjusting for age, body mass index, smoking, mean arterial pressure, and levels of fasting plasma glucose, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase. However, this association was not found in postmenopausal women after adjusting for the same confounding factors. Conclusions Serum oestradiol levels are inversely associated with CRP levels in premenopausal women, but not in postmenopausal women. Lower oestrogenic activity may at least partly contribute to the pathogenesis of chronic inflammation, particularly in premenopausal women.
Sarcopenia Does Not Worsen Survival in Patients With Cirrhosis Undergoing Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt for Refractory Ascites.

INTRODUCTION The impact of sarcopenia in patients undergoing transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPSS) insertion for refractory ascites is unknown. METHODS All adult patients who underwent TIPSS insertion for refractory ascites between 2010 and 2018 were included. Skeletal muscle index at L3 was used to determine sarcopenia status. RESULTS One hundred seven patients were followed for 14.2 months. Sarcopenia was present in 57% of patients. No patient had history of pre-TIPSS hepatic encephalopathy (HE). De novo HE occurred in 30% of patients. On multivariate analysis, only platelet count and L3-SMI predicted de novo HE. On multivariate analysis, age and model for end-stage liver disease with sodium predicted mortality, whereas L3-SMI and sarcopenia did not. In patients with repeat imaging, L3-SMI improved significantly post-TIPSS compared with baseline. DISCUSSION Sarcopenia should not be considered as a contraindication to TIPSS insertion in refractory ascites because it is not associated with de novo HE or increased mortality.
Challenges to personalized exercise medicine: lack of repeatability and influence of genetics

Bouchard and colleagues’ seminal HERITAGE study revealed heterogeneity in individual responses to exercise training. Since then, many studies have classified participants as ‘low responders’ if they fail to improve a given outcome following exercise training. While the biological mechanisms underlying exercise ‘low response’ remain unclear, recent reports have identified exercise prescription strategies that appear to elicit positive responses in individuals initially identified as low responders. We found that low responders to endurance training exhibit a positive response following sprint interval training (SIT; or vice versa) (Bonafiglia et al. 2016). Our findings, along with other studies comparing responsiveness to different exercise doses, suggest that altering exercise prescription is a viable strategy for rescuing low response. In the current issue of The Journal of Physiology, Marsh and colleagues (Marsh et al. 2020) tested the hypothesis that switching from endurance (END) to resistance (RES) training (or vice versa) will rescue low response. Following a randomized, cross-over design, 34 pairs of twins (n = 68) completed 3 months of END and RES separated by a 3 month washout period. As expected, mean improvements in strength and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) were observed following RES and END, respectively. Individual responses to RES and END were not correlated for any variable with 50% of participants demonstrating discordant responses: low response to END but a positive response to RES or vice versa. The authors concluded that strength or CRF low response is training mode-specific whereby switching to an alternate mode can elicit a positive response in individuals initially identified as low responders. A major strength of the study by Marsh and colleagues was the use of mono(MZ; genetically identical) and dizygotic twins (DZ; 50% genetically similar) to explore the contribution of genetics toward exercise response variability. As mentioned by the authors, most twin studies only include MZs and interpret significant intraclass correlations (ICCs) between twin pairs as evidence of a genetic contribution. However, because MZ pairs likely have similar environmental factors (e.g. diet, sleep patterns, etc.), it is unclear whether significant ICCs between MZs reflect genetic or environmental contributions. Including DZs in a twin model can discriminate the effects of genetics and environment as DZ pairs also have shared environmental factors but are less genetically similar than MZs. Although Marsh and colleagues found significant ICCs for changes in strength and CRF in MZs but not DZs, the ICCs for MZs were not statistically larger than the ICCs for DZs. These results suggest that environmental factors, and not genetics, explain most of the variance in strength and CRF responses to END and RES. Importantly, and as discussed below, these findings by Marsh et al. add to the growing body of evidence that questions the relative importance of genetics in determining exercise responsiveness.
Single-step dilatation in percutaneous nephrolithotomy, its safety and efficacy: A prospective, single-center study

Background: Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) is gold standard technique for the treatment of renal calculi larger than 2 cm or complex renal calculi. Establishment of nephrostomy tract is the important step during PCNL. Hence, this study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of single-step dilatation in patients with renal calculi undergoing PCNL. Methods: This is a prospective, single-center study conducted between August 2014 and December 2017. Patient who underwent PCNL using single-step dilatation between the study period were included in the study. Demographic details, stone characteristics, operative time dilatation time, radiation exposure time, rate of complication and blood transfusion were recorded. Data was analyzed and reported using summary statistics. Results: A total of 332 patients were enrolled in this study. The mean (SD) age was 42.46 (15.53) years and 181 (54.52%) patients were male. Overall, stone clearance rate was 92%. The mean (SD) operative time was 62.74 (29.61) minutes, tract dilatation time was 2.18 (1.05) minutes, and the radiation exposure time was 12.68 (6.45) seconds. Blood transfusion was required in 12(3.6%) patients. No major complications were reported during post-operative period. Conclusion: Single-step dilatation technique is safe, economical and feasible technique with added advantage of lesser time of dilatation, lesser radiation exposure and lesser chance of blood transfusion.
Postactivation Potentiation Effect of Heavy Sled Towing on Subsequent Sprints

Abstract Williams, JJ, Herron, RL, Spradley, B, and Saracino, P. Postactivation potentiation effect of heavy sled towing on subsequent sprints. J Strength Cond Res 35(5): 1229–1233, 2021—Recent research supports heavy sled towing as a tool used to improve subsequent sprints as part of postactivation potentiation (PAP) protocols. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of heavy sled towing using a velocity decrement (Vdec) on subsequent unloaded sprinting in high school football (soccer) athletes sprinting on artificial turf. A sled load equating to a 40–50% Vdec range was used (66–70% body mass). Fifteen (n = 9 boys and n = 6 girls) high school football players volunteered for this study. The sled-towing intervention consisted of a dynamic warm-up, 3 submaximal sprint efforts (50, 75, and 95%), and 3 maximum speed 15-m sled sprints, separated by 2-minute rests, of which the fastest time was recorded for analysis. Peak preintervention 15-m baseline sprint times were compared with peak post sled-towing 15-m sprint times using a paired samples t-test. Thirteen of 15 athletes ran faster peak post sled-towing sprint times than peak preintervention baseline sprint times (9 boys and 4 girls). On average, peak post sled-towing sprint times (2.60 ± 0.10 seconds) were 0.10 seconds faster (p < 0.0001; Cohen's d = 0.92) than peak preintervention baseline sprint times (2.70 ± 0.09 seconds). This research established that sled-towing protocols using loads corresponding to Vdec of 40–50% significantly improved subsequent sprints in high school football (soccer) athletes running on artificial turf.
Can children swallow tablets? Outcome data from a feasibility study to assess the acceptability of different-sized placebo tablets in children (creating acceptable tablets (CAT))

Objective Feasibility study to investigate the acceptability of different-sized placebo tablets in children aged 4–12 years. Design and setting Clinical Research Facilities, inpatient wards and outpatient clinics within a Regional Paediatric Hospital and/or District General Hospital. Healthy children and National Health Service (NHS) patients were asked to swallow three placebo tablets: 6 mm, 8 mm and 10 mm, smallest to largest. The researcher observed children’s facial expressions and behaviours on swallowing and measured the volume of water consumed. Participants completed a questionnaire about the overall acceptability; including swallowability, taste and volume of water consumed. For analysis, participants were stratified by age: 4–8 years and 9–12 years. Results The feasibility study led to an estimated recruitment rate of 0.8% for NHS inpatients and 211 healthy children over a 1-year period. In total, 55 participants were recruited, 30 to the younger group, of which 77% had never taken a tablet before. 84% of the 25 older children had previously taken a tablet. All participants attempted to swallow the smallest sized tablet. The children aged 4–8 years found the larger tablets easier to swallow, however the older children found little difference between the tablet sizes. The younger children required more water to swallow each tablet size compared with the older children where an increasing volume of water was consumed as tablet size increased. Taste was rated highly for both age groups. The 8 mm tablets were deemed the most acceptable tablet size by all participants. Conclusion Tablets are potentially an acceptable formulation for children aged 4–12 years. Most children aged 4–8 years who attempted to swallow tablets successfully did so. Recruitment of NHS inpatients to medicine acceptability studies is challenging, however, recruitment of children of staff proved an effective strategy. Valuable lessons have been learnt from this feasibility study which will inform the design of a larger definitive trial.
Comparisons of different vitamin D supplementation for prevention of osteoporotic fractures: a Bayesian network meta-analysis and meta-regression of randomised controlled trials

Abstract Previous randomised controlled trials have shown the controversial effectiveness of oral vitamin D supplementation in preventing osteoporotic fractures. PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library electronic databases were searched. Pairwise meta-analysis, Bayesian network meta-analysis and meta-regression were applied. A total of 33 studies containing 83,083 participants were included. Oral vitamin D supplementation showed no statistically significant on reducing the risk of total fractures (RR = 0.96, 95%CI = 0.87–1.05 p = 0.389). Vitamin D3 (700–800IU/d) plus calcium showed statistical significance in reducing the incidence of total, hip and non-vertebral fractures in the pairwise meta-analysis. Significant reductions were specifically identified in female in total and hip fractures. However, we did not observe any above significant results using Bayesian network meta-analyses. Strikingly, a meta-regression analysis identified an inverse association between the efficacy of fracture prevention and increased body mass index. Thus, we recommended that the vitamin D dose should be adjusted according to BMI based on further confirmation.
Impact of renin-angiotensin system blocker after aortic valve replacement-a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Data reporting the impact of renin-angiotensin system inhibitor (RASi) after aortic valve replacement (AVR) is controversy. METHODS The PubMed database was systematically searched for studies reporting the mortality and hazard ratios (HRs) of RASi following surgical and transcatheter AVR (SAVR, TAVR). Random-effects model was used when the I2 statistic was more than 50% and its P value was less than 0.05, otherwise, the fixed-effects model was conducted. RESULTS Nine articles incorporating 33,063 patients were eligible. Patients having the description of RASi were associated with lower all-cause mortality at 30 days (OR, 0.80, 95% CI, 0.69 to 0.94), 1 year (OR, 0.75, 95% CI, 0.69 to 0.81) and beyond 1 year (OR, 0.52, 95% CI, 0.38 to 0.73) after AVR. Consistently, patients with RASi had lower risk for all-cause mortality (HR, 0.87, 95% CI, 0.84 to 0.91) beyond 1 year following AVR albeit adjusting confounders. Interestingly, beneficial effect of RASi was still observed in patients with preserved ejection fraction following TAVR (HR, 0.90, 95% CI, 0.87 to 0.94). In addition, patients taking RASi had lower cardiovascular mortality than those patients without RASi after TAVR (30 days, OR, 0.63, 95% CI, 0.44 to 0.90; 1 year, OR, 0.60, 95% CI, 0.50 to 0.73; beyond 1 year, OR, 0.63, 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.74). CONCLUSIONS Patients with RASi exhibited better short- and long-term survival following AVR compared to those patients without RASi, which warranted further studies to support such findings.
Seminal cell‐free DNA and sperm characteristic’s: An added biomarker for male infertility investigation

Cell‐free DNA (Cf‐DNA) fragments may constitute an easy‐to‐measure molecular tool for guiding the choice of care provided to infertile couples who benefit assisted reproductive technology (ART) programmes. Data on Cf‐DNA levels in the seminal plasma of men with sperm alterations are scarce. The objective of the present study was to quantify the presence of Cf‐DNA in semen by using a quantitative real‐time PCR. We compared men with abnormal sperm characteristics (n = 21) with normospermic controls (n = 21). The PCR assay evidenced significantly higher mean Cf‐DNA levels in patients with sperm abnormalities than in controls (2.09 versus 1.18 µg/ml, respectively; p = .0003). The Cf‐DNA levels were notably higher in men with azoospermia (3.65 µg/ml, versus 1.34 µg/ml in matched controls; p = .03) and men with teratozoospermia (1.80 µg/ml, versus 1.29 µg/ml in matched controls; p = .008). Our data report a significant association between elevated Cf‐DNA levels and sperm abnormalities. These results may open up new diagnostic and prognostic perspectives in male infertility.
Trial of Green Asparagus Out-of-Season Production for Establishing Year-Round Production in Kyushu, a Warm Area of Japan

Kyushu island, in southern Japan, is one of the main producers of green asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) in Japan, accommodating protected mother-fern culture in plastic greenhouses (PMC) as a conventional crop. In PMC, since few spears are produced from November to January, we attempted to produce spears during this period by prolonging the harvest of PMC to November and introducing “Fusekomi” forcing culture (FFC), in which rootstocks grown outdoors are transplanted into heated and/or thermal-retained culture beds in a plastic greenhouse in late autumn or early winter and spears are generally harvested for the following two or three months. In PMC, a combination of a foliage spray of Benzyladenine solution with thermal retention treatment in autumn prolonged the harvest period to the end of November without any significant decrease in yield the following spring. In FFC, rootstocks grown in the lowlands showed inferior spear productivity when transplanted into a greenhouse in late November, probably due to insufficient exposure to low temperature for breaking dormancy. In contrast, rootstocks grown in the highlands showed superior in productivity because they would be sufficiently exposed to low temperature for breaking dormancy by the time of transplanting. In lowlands, heating of greenhouses was unnecessary for FFC throughout the harvest period due to the mild winter climate. These results suggested that profitable year-round production of green asparagus without heating could be realized in Kyushu by combining PMC and FFC cropping types.
A putative MAPK kinase kinase SsOs4 involves in mycelial growth, virulence, osmotic adaptation, sensitivity to fludioxonil and is essential for SsHog1 phosphorylation in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.

The high osmolarity glycerol (HOG) pathway, comprising a two-component system and the Hog1 MAPK cascade, plays a pivotal role in eukaryotic organisms. Previous studies suggested that the biological functions of some key genes in the HOG pathway varied in filamentous fungi. In this study, we characterized a putative mitogen activated kinase (MAPK) kinase kinase gene Ssos4 in S. sclerotiorum, which encoded a phosphotransferase in the MAPK cascade. Compared to the wild-type progenitor HA61, the deletion mutant ∆Ssos4-63 exhibited impaired mycelial growth, sclerotia formation, increased hyphal branches and decreased virulence. The deficiencies of the deletion mutant ∆Ssos4-63 were recovered when the full-length Ssos4 gene was complemented. Deletion of Ssos4 increased the sensitivity to osmotic stresses, cell wall agents and the resistance to fludioxonil and dimethachlon. Intracellular glycerol accumulation was not induced in the deletion mutant ∆Ssos4-63 when treated with fludioxonil and NaCl and the phosphorylation of SsHog1 was also cancelled by the deletion of Ssos4. Consistent with the glycerol accumulation, increased expression levels of SsglpA and Ssfps1, controlling glycerol synthesis and close of glycerol channel under hyperosmotic stress respectively, were detected in the wild type stain HA61 but not in the deletion mutant ∆Ssos4-63. Moreover, the relative expression level of Sshog1 significantly decreased, whereas the expression level of Ssos5 increased in the deletion mutant ∆Ssos4-63. These results indicated that SsOs4 played important roles in mycelial growth and differentiation, sclerotia formation, virulence, hyperosmotic adaptation, fungicide sensitivity and the phosphorylation of SsHog1 in S. sclerotiorum.
Trends in the Incidence of Central Precocious Puberty and Normal Variant Puberty Among Children in Denmark, 1998 to 2017

Key Points Question Have the annual incidence rates of central precocious puberty (CPP) and normal variant puberty (ie, premature thelarche and premature adrenarche) increased during the past 20 years in Denmark? Findings This cohort study of 8596 children in Denmark who were diagnosed with CPP, premature thelarche, or premature adrenarche between 1998 and 2017 found that the annual incidence of CPP and normal variant puberty has increased substantially in Denmark during the last 20 years. Meaning The findings of this study have implications for short-term and long-term health and potentially for the international classification of the reference age at puberty.