Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comprehensive mycotoxin exposure biomonitoring in breastfed and non-exclusively breastfed Nigerian children

BACKGROUND: Infants are a vulnerable population whose nutrition changes as complementary foods are introduced; a process which may modify patterns of exposure to dietary mycotoxins. However, exposure monitoring of dietary mycotoxin mixtures in several biological samples obtained from breastfed and non-exclusively breastfed children is scarce. OBJECTIVES: To examine mycotoxin co-exposure patterns in infants using a multi-specimen, multi-mycotoxin approach. METHODS: Breast milk, complementary food and urine obtained from 65 infants, aged 1-18 months, in Ogun state, Nigeria, were analyzed for mycotoxins using ultra-sensitive LC-MS/MS approaches. RESULTS: Complementary food was contaminated with seven distinct classes of mycotoxins including aflatoxins (9/42 samples; range: 1.0-16.2ug/kg) and fumonisins (14/42; range: 8-167ug/kg). Aflatoxin M1 was detected in breast milk (4/22), while six other classes of mycotoxins were quantified; including dihydrocitrinone (6/22; range: 14.0-59.7ng/L) and sterigmatocystin (1/22; 1.2ng/L) detected for the first time. Mycotoxins were detected in 64/65 of the urine samples, with seven distinct classes of mycotoxins observed demonstrating ubiquitous exposure. Two aflatoxin metabolites (AFM1 and AFQ1) and FB1 were detected in 6/65, 44/65 and 17/65 samples, respectively. Mixtures of mycotoxin classes were common, including 14/42, 22/22 and 56/65 samples having 2-4, 2-6 or 2-6 mycotoxins present, for complementary food, breast milk and urine, respectively. Aflatoxin and/or fumonisin was detected in 12/14, 4/22 and 46/56 for complimentary foods, breast milk and urine, respectively. Furthermore, the detection frequency, mean concentrations and occurrence of mixtures were typically greater in urine of non-exclusively breastfed compared to breastfed children. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides novel insights into mycotoxin co-exposures in children in a mycotoxin high-risk country without proper food safety measures. Albeit a small sample set, it highlights significant transition to higher levels of infant mycotoxin exposure as complementary foods are introduced, providing impetus to mitigate during this critical early-life period and encourage breastfeeding.
The Impact of Management on Hospital Performance

Background: There is a prevailing popular belief that expenditure on management by healthcare providers is wasteful, diverts resources from patient care, and distracts medical and nursing staff from getting on with their jobs. There is little existing evidence to support this narrative or counter-claims. Methods: We explore the relationship between management and public sector hospital performance using a fixed effects empirical econometric specification on a panel data set consisting of 97 non-specialist acute National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in England for the financial years 2012/13 to 2018/19. Measures of managerial input and quality of management practice are constructed from NHS Electronic Staff Records and NHS Staff Survey data. Hospital accounts and Hospital Episode Statistics data are used to construct five measures of financial performance and of timely and high quality care. Results: We find some evidence that hospitals with more managers are more likely to achieve elective waiting targets and treat more patients. There is no evidence of an association between either the amount or quality of management input for the other measures of hospital performance. Conclusion: There is limited variation in managerial input across NHS hospitals and managers have limited discretion in performing their managerial functions, being tightly circumscribed by official guidance and externally imposed targets. Given these constraints, the lack of strong evidence of associations between managerial input and NHS hospital performance is unsurprising.
POOLING FOR SARS-CoV-2 CONTROL IN CARE INSTITUTIONS

Workers and residents in Care Homes are considered at special risk for the acquisition of SARS-CoV-2 infection, due to the infectivity and high mortality rate in the case of residents, compared to other containment areas. The aims of the present study, based in our local experience, were (a) to describe SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in institutionalized people in Galicia (Spain) during the Coronavirus pandemic and (b) to evaluate the expected performance of a pooling strategy using RT-PCR for the next rounds of screening of institutionalized people. Distribution of SARS-CoV-2 infection at Care Houses was uneven. As the virus circulation global rate was low in our area, the number of people at risk of acquiring the infection continues to be very high. In this work, we have successfully demonstrated that pooling of different groups of samples at low prevalence clusters, can be done with a small average delay on quantification cycle (Cq) values. A new surveillance system with guaranteed protection is required for small clusters, previously covered with individual testing. Our proposal for Care Houses, once prevalence zero is achieved, would include successive rounds of testing using a pooling solution for transmission control preserving testing resources. Scale-up of this method may be of utility to confront larger clusters to avoid the viral circulation and keeping them operative.
Toll-like Receptor 9 in breast carcinoma is a good prognostic marker in patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Purpose: TLR9 is the sensor of fragmented nucleic acid signature as a part of innate immune surveillance. TLR9 can recognize the DNA fragments released from the chemotherapy-treated cancer cells in tumour tissue and induce an inflammatory response. The aim of this was toinvestigate the prognostic importance and survivability benefit of TLR9 expression in breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: Expression of TLR9 in breast carcinoma samples was studied in two patient cohorts, with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT), and without NACT, by immunohistochemistry. Expression of TLR9 was analysed in relation to prognosis, overall survivability as well as risk factor analysis for neoadjuvant chemotherapy treatment using web-tools like SurvExpress and K-M Plotter. Results: TLR9 was expressed in malignant epithelial cancer cells as well as in adjacent stromal cells. TLR9 in malignant epithelial cells was significantly high in patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy compared to the patients without neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The prognostic and survival analysis by SurvExpress and Kaplan-Meier plotter demonstrated that high TLR9 expression is related to better overall survival in patients treated with NACT. Conclusions: Thus, we are showing for the first time that TLR9 is good prognostic marker in breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and can be used for the selection of the neo-adjuvant regime
Performance evaluation of Xpert HBV viral load (VL) assay: Point-of-care molecular test to strengthen and decentralize management of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection

Introduction: Estimation of hepatitis B (HBV) viral load (VL) is critical in hepatitis-B cascade-of-care and currently there is no point of care (POC) molecular assay available for that. This study evaluated the performance of a new near point of care molecular assay Xpert HBV-VL assay against FDA approved Real-time PCR assays. Materials & methods: In this retrospective study 119 archived plasma samples from HBV infected patients, and 53 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) patients were simultaneously tested for HBV DNA quantification on 2 real-time PCR conventional assays and Xpert assay. The routine method for reporting to the patient was Abbott Real-Time PCR. Results: The range of HBV DNA load in samples was 1 to 8.76 log10IU/ml with a median load of 4.46 (IQR: 1-8.76) log10IU/ml as detected by routine assay (Abbott Real-Time HBV VL assay). Genotyping could be done in 95 (79.8%) samples and genotype D (83; 87.37%) was found commonest. The Xpert assay demonstrated a good correlation with Abbott (R2= 0.944) and Roche (R2= 0.963). On comparison, the mean difference (95% Confidence Interval) in average viral load was -0.018 log10 IU/ml and -0.043 log10 IU/ml when Xpert was compared with the Abbott and Roche assay, respectively. The overall sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, and positive predictive value of the Xpert assay was found 97.5%, 100%, 94.65 & 100% respectively. Conclusion: Xpert HBV-VL assay which has a potential for near point of care molecular testing has shown excellent performance and found to be a reliable method for HBV DNA quantification.
Diagnosis of Metabolic Syndrome using Machine Learning, Statistical and Risk Quantification Techniques: A Systematic Literature Review

Metabolic syndrome (MetS), known to substantially lower the quality of life is associated with the increased incidence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as type II diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Evidence suggests that MetS accounts for the highest global mortality rate. For the early and accurate diagnosis of MetS, various statistical and ML techniques have been developed to support its clinical diagnosis. We performed a systematic review to investigate the various statistical and machine learning techniques (ML) that have been used to support the clinical diagnoses of MetS from the earliest studies to January 2020. Published literature relating to statistical and ML techniques for the diagnosis of MetS were identified by searching five major scientific databases: PubMed, Science Direct, IEEE Xplore, ACM digital library, and SpringerLink. Fifty-three primary studies that met the inclusion criteria were obtained after screening titles, abstracts and full text. Three main types of techniques were identified: statistical (n=10), ML (n=40), and risk quantification (n=3). Standardized Z-score is the only statistical technique identified while the ML techniques include principal component analysis, confirmatory factory analysis, artificial neural networks, multiple logistics regression, decision trees, support vector machines, random forests, and Bayesian networks. The areal similarity degree risk quantification, framingham risk score and simScore were the three risk quantification techniques identified. Evidence suggests that evaluated ML techniques, with accuracy ranging from 75.5% to 98.9%, can more accurately diagnose MetS than both statistical and risk quantification techniques. The standardised Z-score is the most frequent statistical technique identified. However, highlighted proof based on performance measures indicate that the decision tree and artificial neural network ML techniques have the highest predictive performance for the prediction of MetS. Evidence suggests that more accurate diagnosis of MetS is required to evaluate the predictive performance of the statistical and ML techniques.
Effectiveness of mepolizumab in a real-life cohort of patients with severe refractory eosinophilic asthma and multiple comorbidities

Abstract Background: Patients with severe asthma often suffer from comorbidities whose impact on the course of biological therapy has not been elucidated yet. Objective: This study evaluated, for the first time, patients with one or more comorbidities who received mepolizumab (MEPO) for the treatment of severe eosinophilic asthma to assess its real-life effectiveness and to explore the presence/absence of predictors of treatment response. Methods: Health records of 31 patients prescribed with MEPO were retrospectively analysed. Asthma control test (ACT) score, blood eosinophil count, forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), FEV1% of predicted and FEV1/FVC (Forced Vital Capacity) ratio, oral corticosteroid (OCS) dosage and exacerbations were recorded at baseline (T0), after 3 (T1), 6 (T3), nine (T6) and 12 months (T12). A clinical response was defined as: i) 30% exacerbation decrease; ii) 80% blood eosinophilia reduction; iii) 3 point ACT increase; iv) FEV1 increase [≥] 200 mL. Results: At T12 blood eosinophil level decreased by 89.89% (p>0.0001), a minimally clinical important difference in ACT score (an improvement in ACT of 3 points from baseline) was recorded in 80.65% of patients (p>0.0001) and 96.77% of patients reduced by minimum 30% the number of exacerbations (p>0.0001). 84% of patients discontinued OCS (p>0.0001). FEV1 increased by 9% (p=0.0224) while FEV1/FVC was statistically significant only at T1. No significant differences were generally found among patients with a specific comorbidity. Patients without nasal polyps showed a greater blood eosinophilia reduction than patients with nasal polyps (p=0.0395), and patients with allergy, showed a greater ACT improvement than those without (p=0.048). The number of comorbidities did not influenced treatment with MEPO. Neither the comorbidities nor other characteristics of patients at baseline (sex, BMI, age, smoking, baseline eosinophil level) influenced MEPO therapy. Conclusions: These data indicate that MEPO effectiveness in patients with severe eosinophilic asthma, regardless the presence of one or more comorbidities.
High seroprevalence for SARS-CoV-2 among household members of essential workers detected using a dried blood spot assay

Objective: Serological testing is needed to investigate the extent of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from front-line essential workers to their household members. However, the requirement for serum/plasma limits serological testing to clinical settings where it is feasible to collect and process venous blood. To address this problem we developed a serological test for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies that requires only a single drop of finger stick capillary whole blood, collected in the home and dried on filter paper (dried blood spot, DBS). Methods: An ELISA to the receptor binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was optimized to quantify IgG antibodies in DBS. Samples were self-collected from a community sample of 232 participants enriched with health care workers, including 30 known COVID-19 cases and their household members. Results: Among 30 individuals sharing a household with a virus-confirmed case of COVID-19, 80% were seropositive. Of 202 community individuals without prior confirmed acute COVID-19 diagnoses, 36% were seropositive. Of documented convalescent COVID-19 cases from the community, 29 of 30 (97%) were seropositive for IgG antibodies to the receptor binding domain. Conclusion: DBS ELISA provides a minimally-invasive alternative to venous blood collection. Early analysis suggests a high rate of transmission among household members. High rates of seroconversion were also noted following recovery from infection. Serological testing for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in DBS samples can facilitate seroprevalence assessment in community settings to address epidemiological questions, monitor duration of antibody responses, and assess if antibodies against the spike protein correlate with protection from reinfection.
Viability of oospores of Phytophthora infestans under field conditions in northeastern North America

Studies were conducted in potato fields on Prince Edward Island (PE) and New Brunswick (NB) to determine the overwintering viability, germination, and infectivity of oospores of Phytophthora infestans. Oospore viability was determined using plasmolysis (4 M NaCl) and tetrazolium bromide (MTT) tests. After seven months exposure to winter conditions in potato fields, the viability of oospores buried on PE and NB ranged from 2.5 to 13% and from 1 to 28%, respectively, with the plasmolysis test and from 13 to 44% and from 2.5 to 40%, respectively, with the MTT test. In other studies on PE, oospore viability ranged from 5 to 15% 12 months after burial. In laboratory studies, oospores exposed to temperatures of -20 and -50°C for up to 90 days had viabilities greater than 50%, whereas exposure to 0, 4, or 15°C resulted in average viabilities from 23 to 36%. The lowest viability, 22%, was recorded at the highest temperature tested, 36°C. Oospore germination was low, ranging from 6 to 19%. However, this level was .
A review of the current (1992) state of our knowledge concerning reproduction in open thelycum Penaeid shrimp with emphasis on Penaeus vannamei

Summary The current state of knowledge relating to the reproduction of the commercially important open thelycum shrimps (Crustacea: Penaeidae) is reviewed with particular reference to Penaeus vannamei. Industry standard procedures for the breeding of shrimps in captivity are reviewed against a background of knowledge concerning the maturation processes in males and females. The factors controlling maturation are not completely understood, and it is not clear whether maturation of females is size-or age-dependent. Although unilateral eyestalk ablation is routinely used to induce maturation, the physiological mechanism of this operation is not properly understood. Further research on environmental conditions for successful maturation is required. Nutrition is an important component in successful artificial breeding programs that still rely on the provision of natural foods (squid and polychaeta). The processes of oocyte formation, mating, spawning and hatching are discussed in relation to observations made .
RAPID DETECTION OF CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE AND SCRAPIE PRION PROTEINS: 88

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and Gerstmann-Straussler syndrome (GSS) of humans as well as scrapie of animals are caused by prions. The scrapie prion protein isoform (PrP Sc ) is the only macromolecule identified to date which is a component of the infectious prion particle. PrP Sc is converted to PrP 27-30 by limited proteolysis while the cellular isoform, designated PrP c , is completely digested under the same conditions. ELISA studies demonstrated that native PrP 27-30 bound to plastic surfaces resisted proteolysis and exhibited little or no immunoreactivity but after denaturation with guanidinium thiocyanate (GdnSCN), immunoreactivity was greatly enhanced. PrP Sc bound to nitrocellulose also exhibited enhanced immunoreactivity after denaturation. PrP Sc was readily detected in brain extracts from scrapie-infected hamsters, mice, and sheep by dot-blot immunoassays using limited proteolysis followed by GdnSCN denaturation. The high sensitivity and specificity of the immunoassay allowed detection of regional differences in PrP Sc in sheep brain. CJD prion protein isoform (PrP CJD ) was also detected in the brains of all 10 patients tested with neuropathologically confirmed CJD and in 1 patient with GSS. Enhanced immunoreactivity of PrP Sc or PrP CJD after denaturation cannot only be used for immunodiagnosis of prion diseases but may also form the basis of new assays in experimental studies directed at the chemical structure of the prion particle.
Characterisation of microsatellite markers in the Spotted Sand Lizard (Pedioplanis lineoocellata) shows low levels of inbreeding and moderate genetic diversity on a small spatial scale

Abstract Population genetic methods can be useful for understanding spatial genetic patterns, gene flow and diversity. While genetic markers such as gene sequences are useful for understanding broad scale phylogeographic patterns, microsatellite markers allow for inferences within species and on smaller spatial scales. Such data can then be used to glean information on biological processes at the landscape level. Because portions of southern Africa are predicted to be heavily impacted by climatic changes forecast for the next century, a better understanding of the biota at the species level would be beneficial for advancing knowledge on the southern African system. Therefore, we characterised 11 microsatellite markers for an arid adapted lacertid lizard, Pedioplanis lineoocellata, in order to obtain a microsatellite library for future studies. Five of 11 loci were out of Hardy-Weinberg (H-W) equilibrium, showing a homozygote excess. Frequency-based analysis suggested this is due to the presence of null alleles. We further investigated this using a model-based Bayesian approach to simultaneously estimate inbreeding, null alleles and random amplification failures. In contrast to the frequency-based approach, this method indicated that both inbreeding and random amplification failures, not null alleles, are the most significant components of the model for nine of 11 loci. Overall, the inbreeding coefficient was low, but not zero, suggesting that low levels of inbreeding contribute to H-W deviations. Finally, we examined whether population bottlenecks could be a factor in deviations from H-W using multiple methods, but found no evidence to suggest that bottlenecks have played a role.
Genetic diversity and resistance to marine pollution

We tested in the laboratory three pairs of species belonging to three genera and families of marine gastropods, Monodonta turbinata, M. turbiformis (Trochidae), Littorina punctata, L. neritoides (Littorinidae), Cerithium scabridum, C. rupestre (Cerithiidae), for resistance to diverse inorganic (heavy metals and NaC1) and organic (detergents and crude oil) pollutants. Each pair consisted of one narrow-niche species with low genetic diversity and one broad-niche species with higher genetic diversity. Evidence is presented that in all three cases the species with a higher level of genetic diversity was more resistant to all pollutants than its counterpart. These results suggest that fitness is positively correlated with heterozygosity and support the niche-width-variation hypothesis in regard to pollutants. The results also have practical implications for the identification of optimum marine species as genetic monitors of pollution.
An Analysis of Students' Misconceptions on the Implementation of Active Learning of Optics and Photonics Approach Assisted by Computer Simulation

Misconceptions take place in a variety of Physics lesson subjects including the Light and Optics. This study aimed at determining the students’ misconceptions and the effectiveness of Active Learning of Optics and Photonics (ALOP) approach assisted by computer simulation to reduce misconceptions among students on the material of optical instruments. The mixed method was employed in this study using embedded mixed method design. The study was conducted to students of grade XI in one senior high school in Bandung. The participants were divided into two groups: control group and experimental group in which each group consisted of 23 students. A conventional learning was applied in the con-trol group while the experimental class implemented ALOP computer-aided simulation learning. The instrument used to identify students’ misconceptions were Four-Tier Optics and Photonics Test (FTOPT), consisted of 18 items, which was given during the pre-test and post-test. The results showed that misconceptions were disseminated over the concept of eyes, camera, magnifier, mi-croscopes, and telescopes. Additionally, ALOP approach using computer-aided simulations is effective to reduce students’ misconceptions on the material of op-tical instrument.
Bentho-pelagic distribution of early stages of softshell clams (Mya arenaria) in tidally contrasted regimes

We examined the settlement and recruitment of the softshell clam (Mya arenaria L., 1758) in two tidally contrasted regimes in eastern Canada. The Bay of Fundy (strong tides) and the Northumberland Strait (weak tides) were used to describe the distribution of planktonic larvae and early settlers. These distributions were compared with those of juvenile and adult forms observed in the same intertidal habitats. Results showed that the abundances of planktonic stages were the same at all tidal levels except in one site of the Bay of Fundy. Early settlers varied according to a site × intertidal level interaction. Juveniles and adults also varied according to a similar interaction, most being in the upper intertidal level. Simple linear regressions demonstrated that no relationship exists between the number of planktonic larvae and the number of early settlers. The only significant relationship observed was the one between the number of juveniles (1–5 mm size class) and the number of adults in one of the Northu.