Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Avoidance of Interpersonal Discussions About the COVID-19 Vaccination: Applying the Theory of Motivated Information Management

ABSTRACT Using a stratified sample of German non-vaccinated residents (N = 1,328), we examined the effectiveness of the Theory of Motivated Information Management (TMIM) in explaining avoidant information management among family and friends, in the context of the COVID-19 vaccination. Our results generally supported the TMIM’s utility as a theoretical framework for understanding avoidant information management, as the model fitted the data well. The study contributes to the theoretical development of the TMIM, by proving that anxiety and hope operate jointly and contribute to decisions for avoiding interpersonal discussions. Further, our findings indicate that avoidance efficacy is a valuable supplement to the considered types of efficacy assessments. As a practical implication, our findings indicate that interventions encouraging individuals to talk to their family and friends should focus on raising levels of communication and target efficacy, to overcome barriers to interpersonal discussions. This is significant in motivating individuals to get vaccinated.
The lived experience

There are disparities in the views of patient and surgeon in relation to surgery. An excellent analogy to describe the gap between the experience of patient and surgeon is the Red Road Flats in Glasgow, Scotland. This massive complex was designed as a modern sky vil-lage of vertical towers. But it had one critical flaw – there were not sufficient lifts in size or volume to accommodate the residents. The architects did not seem to live in high rises or plan to live in these towers. Nor did it seem that they consulted a representative sample of citizens with experience living in high rises or who planned to live in the Red Road Flats. As a result, this modern dream had crowds of people waiting for the lifts akin to waiting for the London Tube at rush hour, then cramming into the small cars like sardines in a can. There are essential lessons from the Red Road Flats situation. First is the importance of involving a representative group that has lived or will live in similar high- rise flats in the design process from inception. Second, there are different views on achievement. Stature from the perspective of the builder and architects was as-sociated with living on the highest floors, while this was the least desirable for residents, as using the stairs for access on higher floors was prohibitive. For residents, the Red Road Flats complex was in-convenient and unsustainable due to the inability to easily come and go from their flat. However, from the point of view of the architects and public reports, the main criticism was the use of asbestos in the steel frames of the towers; no mention of the lift situation, probably
A forty-year review of Rocky Mountain spotted fever cases in California shows clinical and epidemiologic changes

Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) is a life-threatening tick-borne disease documented in North, Central, and South America. In California, RMSF is rare; nonetheless, recent fatal cases highlight ecological cycles of the two genera of ticks, Dermacentor and Rhipicephalus, known to transmit the disease. These ticks occur in completely different habitats (sylvatic and peridomestic, respectively) resulting in different exposure risks for humans. This study summarizes the demographic, exposure, and clinical aspects associated with the last 40 years of reported RMSF cases to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). Seventy-eight RMSF cases with onsets from 1980 to 2019 were reviewed. The incidence of RMSF has risen in the last 20 years from 0.04 cases per million to 0.07 cases per million (a two-fold increase in reports), though the percentage of cases that were confirmed dropped significantly from 72% to 25% of all reported cases. Notably, Hispanic/Latino populations saw the greatest rise in incidence. Cases of RMSF in California result from autochthonous and out-of-state exposures. During the last 20 years, more cases reported exposure in Southern California or Mexico than in the previous 20 years. The driver of these epidemiologic changes is likely the establishment and expansion of Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato ticks in Southern California and on-going outbreaks of RMSF in northern Mexico. Analysis of available electronically reported clinical data from 2011 to 2019 showed that 57% of reported cases presented with serious illness requiring hospitalization with a 7% mortality. The difficulty in recognizing RMSF is due to a non-specific clinical presentation; however, querying patients on the potential of tick exposure in both sylvatic and peridomestic environments may facilitate appropriate testing and treatment.
Phylotranscriptomics reveal the spatio-temporal distribution and morphological evolution of Macrozamia, an Australian endemic genus of Cycadales.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Cycads are regarded as an ancient lineages of living seed plants, and hold important clues to understand the early evolutionary trends of seed plants. The molecular phylogeny and spatio-temporal diversification of one of the species-rich genera of cycads, Macrozamia, has not been well reconstructed. METHODS We analyzed a transcriptome dataset of 4,740 single-copy nuclear genes (SCGs) of 39 Macrozamia species and two outgroup taxa. Based on concatenated (Maximum Parsimony, Maximum Likelihood) and multispecies coalescent analyses, we first establish a well-resolved phylogenenetic tree of Macrozamia. To identify cyto-nuclear incongruence, the plastid protein coding genes (PCGs) from transcriptome data are extracted using software HybPiper. Furthermore, we explore the biogeographic history of the genus and shed light on the pattern of floristic exchange between three distinct areas of Australia. Six key diagnostic characters are traced on the phylogenetic framework using two comparative methods, and infra-generic classification is investigated. KEY RESULTS The tree topologies of concatenated and multi-species coalescent analyses of SCGs are mostly congruent with a few conflicting nodes, while those from plastid PCGs show poorly supported relationships. The genus contains three major clades that corresponds to their distinct distributional areas in Australia. The crown group of Macrozamia is estimated to around 11.80 Ma, with a major expansion in the last 5-6 Myr. Six morphological characters show homoplasy, and traditional phenetic sectional division of the genus is inconsistent with this current phylogeny. CONCLUSIONS This first detailed phylogenetic investigation of Macrozamia demonstrates promising prospects of SCGs in resolving phylogenetic relationships within cycads. Our study suggests that Macrozamia, once a widely distributed in Australia, underwent major extinctions because of fluctuating climatic conditions such as cooling and mesic biome disappearance in the past. The current close placement of morphologically distinct species in the phylogenetic tree may be related to neotenic events that occurred in the genus.
Inertial Vector Based Attitude Stabilization of Rigid Body Without Angular Velocity Measurements

We address the problem of attitude stabilization of a rigid body, in which neither the angular velocity nor the instantaneous measurements of the attitude are used in the feedback, only body vector measurements are needed. The design of the controller is based on an angular velocity observer-like system, where a first order linear auxiliary system based directly on vector measurements is introduced. The introduction of gain matrices provides more tuning flexibility and better results compared with existing works. The proposed controller ensures almost global asymptotic stability. The performance and effectiveness of the proposed solution are illustrated via simulation results where the gains of the controller are adjusted using non linear optimization.
Clinical outcomes and economic burden of seasonal influenza and other respiratory virus infections in hospitalized adults

The cost of influenza and other respiratory virus infections should be determined to analyze the real burden of these diseases. We aimed to investigate the clinical outcomes and cost of illness due to respiratory virus infections in hospitalized adult patients. Hospitalized patients who had nasal swab sampling for a suspected viral infection between August 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019 were included. Outcome variables were oxygen requirement, mechanical ventilation need, intensive care unit admission, and cost. At least one viral pathogen was detected in 125 (47.7%) of 262 patients who were included in the study. Fifty‐five (20.9%) of the patients were infected with influenza. Influenza‐positive patients had higher rates for respiratory support, intensive care unit admission, and mortality compared to all other patients. The average cost of hospitalization per person was 2879.76 USD in the influenza‐negative group, while the same cost was 3274.03 USD in the influenza‐positive group. Although all of the vaccinated influenza‐positive patients needed oxygen support, neither of them required invasive mechanical ventilation or intensive care unit admission. The average hospitalization cost per person was 779.70 USD in the vaccinated group compared to 3762.01 USD in the unvaccinated group. Disease‐related direct cost of influenza in the community was estimated as 22 776 075.61 USD in the 18−65 years of age group and 15 756 120.02 USD in the 65 years of age and over group per year. Influenza, compared to other respiratory virus infections, can lead to untoward clinical outcomes and mortality as well as higher direct medical costs in adults.
Two cases with new onset of pemphigus foliaceus after SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccination

Dear Editor, Pemphigus Foliaceus (PF) is a rare autoimmune disorder of the skin. In PF, the production of autoantibodies (Abs) against desmoglein (Dsg) 1 leads to a clinical phenotype characterized by fragile blisters that involve the skin and spare the mucous membranes. Several factors including genetic susceptibility, environment, malignant disorders, drugs intake and vaccines can provoke pemphigus. Pemphigus has been reported to be triggered or exacerbated by influenza hepatitis B rabies, tetanus and more recently, SARS-COV2 vaccines. Herein, we present two patients developing PF, without prior history of the diseases, following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Case 1: A 70-year-old patient, with a history of hypertension and hyperlipidemia, presented to our dermatology department with a 2 week-history of a blistering eruption, which appeared 7 days after his first dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine (Pfizer/BioNtech). The patient's history revealed that he had received two doses of CoronaVac vaccine (Sinovac Biotech) 6 months prior to consultation without any incident. Physical examination revealed flaccid blisters and crusted areas on the
Effect of Ketogenic Diets on Cardio-Metabolic Outcomes in Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Controlled Clinical Trials

Abstract In this systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical controlled trials (CCTs) we aimed to investigate the efficacy of KDs as an adjuvant therapy on cardiometabolic outcomes in patient with cancer compared to conventional non-ketogenic diets. Only CCTs involving cancer patients that were assigned to either a KD or a standard diet control group were selected. Two reviewers independently extracted the data, and a meta-analysis was performed using a random effects model to estimate weighted mean differences (WMDs) and confidence intervals (CIs) in body composition, metabolite, lipid profile, liver and kidney function parameters and quality of life. This meta-analysis showed a significant reduction in body weight (WMD= −2.99 kg; 95% CI: −4.67, −1.31; and P < 0.001), BMI (WMD= −1.08 kg/m2; 95% CI: −1.81, −0.34; P ≤ 0.002) and fat mass (WMD= −1.48 kg; 95% CI: −2.56, −0.40; and P = 0.007) by a KD. KDs significantly decreased glucose (WMD= −5.22 mg/dl; 95% CI: −9.0, −1.44; and P = 0.007), IGF-1 (WMD= −17.52 ng/ml; 95% CI: −20.24, −14.8; and P ˂0.001) and triglyceride (WMD= −24.46 mg/dl; 95% CI: −43.96, −4.95; and P = 0.014) levels. Furthermore, KDs induced ketosis by increasing β-hydroxybutyrate (WMD= 0.56 mmol/l; 95% CI: 0.37, 0.75; and P < 0.001). There were non-significant pooled effects of KDs on improving insulin, C-reactive protein and cholesterol levels and kidney and liver function. Emotional functioning was even increased significantly in the KD compared to the SD groups. In summary we found that KDs result in a greater reduction in glucose, IGF-1, triglycerides, body weight, BMI, and fat mass in cancer patients compared to traditional non-ketogenic diets and improved emotional functioning. The quality of evidence in the meta-analysis was moderate according to the Nutrigrade assessment.
Evaluation of dietary selenium methionine levels and their effects on growth performance, antioxidant status, and meat quality of intensively reared juvenile Hypophthalmichthys molitrix

The objective of this study was to optimize the organic selenium (Se) requirements of intensively reared silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix). A total of n = 300 juveniles silver carp 11.40±0.52 cm long, and average weighing 25.28±0.18 grams were randomly assigned to 15 aquaria (20 fish/100L aquaria) and subjected to five different dietary Se levels in a completely randomized design. The diets were pelleted supplemented with exogenous Se methionine @ 0.0, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 and 1.2 mg/kg of the diet. The fourteen days of aquaria acclimatization was given to fish and then an 84-day feeding trial was conducted. The group supplemented with 0.9 mg/kg Se had greater feed intake, gain in length, body weight %, and specific growth rate with a better feed conversion ratio as compared to those fed on the rest of the dietary levels or control (P<0.05). The deposition of Se was greater in the liver, and kidneys of the fishes fed on diets containing 0.9 and 1.2 mg Se levels than in the rest of the treatments (P<0.05). However, dietary Se levels had no effects on the bioaccumulation of Se in muscle tissues (P>0.05). The proximate analysis showed that dry matter, crude protein, and fat contents of meat were not changed (P>0.05) by dietary treatments. Similarly, values of TBARS, RBCs, Hb, and blood glucose contents were similar (P>0.05) across the treatments. However, the concentration of WBCs, HCT, and MCHC was greater in those groups fed on 0.9 and 1.2 Se levels than in those fed on 0.6, 0.3, and 0.0 Se levels respectively (P<0.05). The activities of ALT, AST, and ALP were lowered in the 0.9 mg Se supplemented fishes compared with the rest of the treatments (P<0.05). The SOD, catalases, and GPx levels for muscle, liver, and whole body were greater (P<0.05) in the Se-supplemented groups than in the control. These outcomes indicated that up to 0.9 mg/kg inclusion of methionine-based Se in the diet of juvenile silver carp improved the growth performance, feed conversion ratio, organs Se enrichment, and antioxidant status without any compromise on meat quality.
Mosaic Evolution of the Skull in Labrid Fishes Involves Differences in both Tempo and Mode of Morphological Change.

Modularity is a ubiquitous feature of organismal design that plays an important role in structuring patterns of morphological diversification. Modularity can facilitate evolutionary changes by allowing subsets of traits to coevolve as integrated units and follow quasi-independent evolutionary trajectories, a pattern that may be particularly consequential in the case of highly complex morphological structures. Here we examine modularity in a complex and highly kinetic structure, the teleost skull, and ask if a modular organization of the skull has influenced the diversification dynamics of the shapes of its osteological components across the labrid phylogeny. We compiled one of the largest three-dimensional morphological datasets of fishes to-date, and used geometric morphometrics to quantify patterns of cranial shape evolution across 184 species of wrasses (Labridae). We then tested several hypotheses of modularity inspired by functional and developmental relationships between cranial bones and compared phenotypic rates among modules. We also compared the fit of models of trait evolution for the entire skull and the various articulated bones that it comprises. Our analyses indicated strong support for a two-module hypothesis, one that encompasses the oral and pharyngeal jaws, and another module comprised of the neurocranium, hyoid apparatus and operculum. This functional hypothesis yielded one of the highest significant rate differentials across modules, yet we also found that the best-fitting models of trait evolution differed among skull bones. These results suggest that modularity can influence morphological diversification in complex biological structures via differences in both the tempo and mode of evolutionary change.
De novo design and Rosetta‐based assessment of high‐affinity antibody variable regions (Fv) against the SARS‐CoV‐2 spike receptor binding domain (RBD)

The continued emergence of new SARS‐CoV‐2 variants has accentuated the growing need for fast and reliable methods for the design of potentially neutralizing antibodies (Abs) to counter immune evasion by the virus. Here, we report on the de novo computational design of high‐affinity Ab variable regions (Fv) through the recombination of VDJ genes targeting the most solvent‐exposed hACE2‐binding residues of the SARS‐CoV‐2 spike receptor binding domain (RBD) protein using the software tool OptMAVEn‐2.0. Subsequently, we carried out computational affinity maturation of the designed variable regions through amino acid substitutions for improved binding with the target epitope. Immunogenicity of designs was restricted by preferring designs that match sequences from a 9‐mer library of “human Abs” based on a human string content score. We generated 106 different antibody designs and reported in detail on the top five that trade‐off the greatest computational binding affinity for the RBD with human string content scores. We further describe computational evaluation of the top five designs produced by OptMAVEn‐2.0 using a Rosetta‐based approach. We used Rosetta SnugDock for local docking of the designs to evaluate their potential to bind the spike RBD and performed “forward folding” with DeepAb to assess their potential to fold into the designed structures. Ultimately, our results identified one designed Ab variable region, P1.D1, as a particularly promising candidate for experimental testing. This effort puts forth a computational workflow for the de novo design and evaluation of Abs that can quickly be adapted to target spike epitopes of emerging SARS‐CoV‐2 variants or other antigenic targets.
Better Together: Social Contact and Loneliness Among US Older Adults During COVID-19

Abstract Objectives COVID-19 resulted in older adults’ greater reliance on technology to contact friends and families. However, less is known regarding the association between frequency of varying modes of communication and loneliness among older adults during COVID-19, and current findings are mixed. Therefore, this study aimed to advance this understanding. Methods Using the National Health and Aging Trends Study COVID-19 supplement data, multinomial regression analyses assessed how the frequency of four modes of contact (i.e., phone calls; electronic and social messaging such as emails/texts/social media messages; video calls; in-person visits) during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with feelings of loneliness among older adults compared to pre-pandemic (n=2564). Results Compared to never/less than once a week in-person visits, daily in-person visits were associated with lower odds of reporting more frequent loneliness during COVID-19 versus “about the same” as pre-COVID-19 while controlling for demographics, access to information and communication technologies (ICTs), digital literacy, and health covariates. Compared to those who reported never/less than once a week contact by electronic and social messaging, more frequent contact was associated with higher odds of reporting more frequent loneliness during COVID-19 versus “about the same” as pre-COVID-19 while controlling for other variables in the model. Phone calls and video calls were not significantly related to loneliness. Discussion Results suggest that ICTs may not decrease loneliness among older adults. This paper discusses potential reasons and barriers, including digital exclusion, and provides recommendations to mitigate the negative effects of social isolation through technology for older adults.
A causal test of the strength of weak ties

The authors analyzed data from multiple large-scale randomized experiments on LinkedIn’s People You May Know algorithm, which recommends new connections to LinkedIn members, to test the extent to which weak ties increased job mobility in the world’s largest professional social network. The experiments randomly varied the prevalence of weak ties in the networks of over 20 million people over a 5-year period, during which 2 billion new ties and 600,000 new jobs were created. The results provided experimental causal evidence supporting the strength of weak ties and suggested three revisions to the theory. First, the strength of weak ties was nonlinear. Statistical analysis found an inverted U-shaped relationship between tie strength and job transmission such that weaker ties increased job transmission but only to a point, after which there were diminishing marginal returns to tie weakness. Second, weak ties measured by interaction intensity and the number of mutual connections displayed varying effects. Moderately weak ties (measured by mutual connections) and the weakest ties (measured by interaction intensity) created the most job mobility. Third, the strength of weak ties varied by industry. Whereas weak ties increased job mobility in more digital industries, strong ties increased job mobility in less digital industries. Description The influence of weak associations The strength of weak ties is an influential social-scientific theory that stresses the importance of weak associations (e.g., acquaintance versus close friendship) in influencing the transmission of information through social networks. However, causal tests of this paradoxical theory have proved difficult. Rajkumar et al. address the question using multiple large-scale, randomized experiments conducted on LinkedIn’s “People You May Know” algorithm, which recommends connections to users (see the Perspective by Wang and Uzzi). The experiments showed that weak ties increase job transmissions, but only to a point, after which there are diminishing marginal returns to tie weakness. The authors show that the weakest ties had the greatest impact on job mobility, whereas the strongest ties had the least. Together, these results help to resolve the apparent “paradox of weak ties” and provide evidence of the strength of weak ties theory. —AMS Experiments with LinkedIn data show that the weakest ties between individuals have the greatest impact on job mobility.