Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parotitis-Like Symptoms Associated with COVID-19, France, March–April 2020

We report the clinical features of 3 patients in France who had parotitis (inflammation of the parotid salivary glands) as a clinical manifestation of confirmed coronavirus disease. Results from magnetic resonance imaging support the occurrence of intraparotid lymphadenitis, leading to a parotitis-like clinical picture.
Canola and mustard response to short periods of temperature and water stress at different developmental stages

Seed yield of Brassica crops in semiarid environments can be increased by minimizing the crops’ exposure to high temperature and water stress that often occurs during the growing season. A growth chamber study was conducted to determine the effect of short periods of high temperature and water stress at different developmental stages on seed yield and yield components of Brassica crops. Two canola-quality Brassica juncea ‘PC98-44’ and ‘PC98-45’, a Brassica napus canola ‘Quantum’, and a B. juncea oriental mustard ‘Cutlass’ were grown under 20/18°C day/night temperatures with photoperiod of 16/8 h light/dark. High (35/18°C) and moderate (28/18°C) temperature stress was imposed for 10 d during bud formation, flowering, and pod development. Low (90% available water) and high (50% available water) water stress was imposed in combination with the temperature treatments. On average, the 35/18°C stress reduced main stem pods by 75%, seeds pod-1 25%, and seed weight 22% from the control. Seed yield per plant was r.
Macular laser photocoagulation in the management of diabetic macular edema: Still relevant in 2020?

Macular laser photocoagulation (MLP) is inferior to intravitreal vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors in the treatment of center-involved diabetic macular edema (DME). Ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography-guided laser photocoagulation to presumed ischemic areas of the peripheral retina or MLP do not reduce the treatment burden nor improve the visual outcomes of eyes treated with anti-VEGF drugs. Destruction of retinal tissue is not necessary to induce a therapeutic response in DME. Modern lasers are capable of producing invisible laser “burns” that do not destroy the targeted tissue using micropulse subthreshold (ST) mode where the laser's duty cycle is modified or alternatively selective retinal therapy (SRT) where ultrashort pulses of continuous wave laser selectively target the RPE. The best results with micropulse ST laser are obtained in eyes with a central macular thickness ≤400 μm. Eyes need to be treated in a continuous manner with no spaces between burns in the edematous area. Micropulse ST-MLP downregulates inflammatory biomarkers produced by activated microglial cells and Müller cells. Micropulse ST-MLP may reduce the anti-VEGF injection burden in DME. In SRT, the diseased RPE is targeted and heated with the laser with the hope that the adjacent RPE migrates and proliferates into these areas to heal the diseased RPE. There is much less experience with SRT, but the results are promising and deserve further study.
Climate effects and benthic-pelagic coupling in the North Sea

The North Sea is one of the most biologically productive ecosystems in the world and supports important fisheries. Climate-induced changes occurred in the pelagic ecosystems of the North Sea during the 1980s. These changes, which have been observed from phytoplankton to fish and among permanent (holoplankton) and temporary (meroplankton) plankton species, have resulted in alterations in plankton community composition and seasonality. Until now, the effects of climate-driven changes on biological linkages between pelagic and benthic ecosystems have not been examined. The present study indicates that changes in benthic organisms could have a profound effect on the trophodynamics of the pelagos. We demonstrate this by analyses of a long-term time series of North Sea plankton and sea surface temperature data. We discover that pronounced changes in the North Sea meroplankton, mainly related to an increased abundance and spatial distribution of the larvae of a benthic echinoderm, Echinocardium cordatum, result primarily from a stepwise increase in sea temperature after 1987 that has caused warmer conditions to occur earlier in the year than previously. Key stages of reproduction in E. cordatum, gametogenesis and spawning, appear to be influenced by winter and spring sea temperature and their larval development is affected by the quantity and quality of their phytoplankton food. Our analyses suggest that a new thermal regime in the North Sea in winter and spring may have benefited reproduction and survival in this benthic species. As a result, E. cordatum may be altering the trophodynamics of the summer pelagic ecosystem through competition between its larvae and holozooplankton taxa.
Induction of plant responses to oviposition and feeding by herbivorous arthropods: a comparison

Plants may respond both to feeding and oviposition by herbivorous insects. While responses of plants to feeding damage by herbivores have been studied intensively during the past decades, only a few, but growing number of studies consider the reactions of plants towards egg deposition by herbivorous insects. Plants showing defensive response to oviposition by herbivores do not ‘wait’ until being damaged by feeding, but may instead react towards one of the initial steps of herbivore attack, the egg deposition. Direct plant defensive responses to feeding act directly against the feeding stages of the herbivores. However, a plant may also show direct defensive responses to egg deposition by (a) formation of neoplasms, (b) formation of necrotic tissue (= hypersensitive response), and (c) production of oviposition deterrents. All these plant reactions have directly negative effects on the eggs, hatching larvae, or on the ovipositing females. Indirect plant defensive responses to feeding result in the emission of volatiles (= synomones) that attract predators or parasitoids of the feeding stages. A few recent studies have shown that plants are able to emit volatiles also in response to egg deposition and that these volatiles attract egg parasitoids. Studies on the mechanisms of induction of synomones by egg deposition show several parallels to the mechanisms of induction of plant responses by feeding damage. When considering induced plant defence against herbivores from an evolutionary point of view, the question arises whether herbivores evolved the ability to circumvent or even to exploit the plant's defensive responses. The reactions of herbivores to oviposition induced plant responses are compared with their reactions to feeding induced plant responses.
A Robust Internal Model-Based Fractional Order Controller for Fractional Order Plus Time Delay Processes

This letter proposes a fractional order internal model controller (FO-IMC) for a fractional order plus time delay (FrOPTD) process model to satisfy desired gain margin (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$A_{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) and phase margin (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\phi _{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) specifications. A method is proposed to solve four equations arising from the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$A_{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\phi _{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> specifications, which also generates solution of the system gain-cross-over frequency (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\omega _{g}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) and phase-cross-over frequency (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\omega _{p}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) as intermediate variables. The designed FO-IMC is implemented on laboratory DC servo-system and compared with other integer order controller and fractional order controller.
Estimation of superoxide dismutase levels in chronic periodontitis patients: A clinical and biochemical study

Introduction: Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease of the periodontium. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced via the bacteria-host mediated pathway inducing tissue breakdown. The removal of ROS by antioxidant (AO) defence systems is essential for healthy aerobic life. Within mammalian tissues, the most significant antioxidant is superoxide dismutase (SOD), which is released as a homeostatic mechanism to protect the tissues, and it can be detected in extra- and intracellular compartments. Aims and Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine erythrocyte SOD in patients with generalized chronic periodontitis compared to the healthy controls. Materials and Methods: A total of 96 individuals were recruited for the study. The test group consisted of 58 patients diagnosed with chronic periodontitis with an average age of 42.1 ± 9.3 years. The healthy control group included 31 males and 7 females with an average age of (42.1 ± 7.7) years. The periodontal status of all individuals were evaluated by measurements of probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), gingival index (GI) 20 and plaque index (PI) 21 in both the groups. PD and CAL were measured on six sites of teeth. Erythrocyte - SOD activity was measured by Ransod kit. Results: All the clinical parameters were found to be significantly higher in the CP group compared with the control group (P < 0.0001). SOD concentrations in erythrocytes were found to be significantly higher in the CP group compared with the control group (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: This study indicated that enhanced activities of SOD in erythrocytes which could be related to a greater degree of oxidative stress in patients with chronic periodontitis.
Use of GPS activity sensors to measure active and inactive behaviours of European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)

Abstract The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of GPS 3300 to predict active (feeding, moving) and inactive (bedded, standing) behaviours in European roe deer. Observed activity of three tame roe deer was correlated with the three variables provided by the activity sensors of their collars (normalised for each individual) using discriminant analyses. The best model discriminated correctly 84% of the “active” time intervals (defined as roe deer spending at least 30% of the time active) and 97% of inactive ones. We tested for consistency with movements using 11 wild roe deer, six living in a forest and five in an open habitat. As expected, wild deer identified as inactive (sensors) were mostly immobile (GPS locations, 831 records of 1096), whereas deer known to be moving were mostly classified as active (493 of 758 records). The records classified as inactive but moving (24% of inactive records or 35% of moving records) can indicate short distance displacement, erroneous detection of movement, or moving without neck movements. The records classified as active but immobile (46% of active ones, 33% of immobile ones) can represent feeding on a small patch without detectable movements.
An audit of post-operative sore throat using different laryngeal mask airways

The laryngeal mask airway (LMA) is mainly used as an alternative to tracheal intubation in both emergency and operative settings. It is easier to insert, causes less trauma to the trachea and has smoother emergence as compared to the endotracheal tube (ETT),[1,2] and in one study, LMA use lowered the incidence of postoperative hoarse voice, cough and laryngospasm as compared to in intubated patients. [3] Post-operative sore throat (POST) is also reported to be lower in LMA use[4] and is the main endpoint that is looked at in our study.
Impact of Weather Conditions on Line Ampacity of Overhead Transmission Lines

The weather parameters along the overhead line change significantly and this have a significant effect on the thermal behaviour of the conductors. The thermal behaviour of the conductors is of great importance to the optimization and increase in line ampacity. Calculation of line ampacity of transmission lines helps power system operators to solve specific high demand and emergency situations in the power system network and simultaneously ensuring that the temperature limits and line ampacity of the conductors are not exceeded. In this paper, the line ampacity of an overhead line under different weather conditions is analysed. The results from the case study show that changes of weather conditions along the overhead line have an important impact on the line ampacity.
Effect of time of pruning and hydrogen cyanamide on growth and development of glasshouse-grown Cardinal grapes

Weekly pruning treatments combined with hydrogen cyanamide applications from early May to late June in 1987 and 1988 were evaluated for their ability to advance budburst, flowering, colouring and maturity of Cardinal grapes grown in unvented, unheated vegetable glasshouses. The glasshouse provides protection from frost, hail, wind and birds, and permits production of unblemished fruit. Hydrogen cyanamide-treated vines reached maturity approximately 1 month earlier (P<0.05) than untreated vines pruned on the same day. Budburst occurred 28-61 days after pruning with application of hydrogen cyanamide. The interval between pruning and vine responses was variable over the 2 years, but manipulation of the time of pruning significantly (P<0.05) affected the time of ripening in the glasshouse environment. Ripe grapes were produced from 7 November to 19 December by using different pruning times.
Influence of Clinical Expertise Between Clinician-Instructors Versus Student-Instructors on the Effectiveness of Ultrasound Courses

Abstract Purpose To investigate how the extent of an ultrasound instructor’s clinical expertise influences the level of hands-on ultrasound competency achieved by clinicians after three-day ultrasound courses in abdominal and emergency ultrasound. The second goal was to determine how physicians in residency rate the sonographic and didactic skills of student instructors compared to medical staff instructors. Method A total of N = 100 residents participating in a 3-day ultrasound workshop were randomly trained either by 15 student instructors or by clinical staff physicians, both with > 2 years of teaching experience. Both instructor groups had previously completed 120 hours of didactic instructor training. Ultrasound competencies were assessed by a standardized objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) of healthy individuals. The sonographic and didactic skills of both instructor groups were rated by questionnaires with six-step Likert items (1 = excellent, 6 = poor). Results The cohort, trained by student instructors, achieved the same scoring level as the second cohort, trained by physician instructors (mean score 76.4, versus 73.7 of max. 100 points, p = 0.28) in the final OSCE. The sonographic qualification was rated for student educators as 1.44 (mean) [1.1–1.62], versus residents 1.46 [1.26–1.61], versus attendings 1.29 [1.05–1.61]. Didactic skill levels were rated without significant differences with means of 1.53, 1.57 and 1.53, respectively. Discussion & Conclusion The didactic competence of student instructors does not differ statistically from the competency levels of experienced physicians. In terms of the acquired ultrasound skills of trainees, our data indicate that student instructors can be as efficient as staff instructors. Therefore, student instructors can be employed as resource-saving ultrasound educators without decreasing the skills level achieved by course participants, provided that they previously underwent a comprehensive didactic and sonographic training program.
Structural variations and expression profiles of the SARS‐CoV‐2 host invasion genes in lung cancer

Recent days have seen growing evidence of cancer's susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) and of the effect of genomic differences on the virus' entrance genes in lung cancer. Genetic confirmation of the hypotheses regarding gene expression and mutation pattern of target genes, including angiotensin‐converting enzyme‐2 (ACE2), transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2), basigin (CD147/BSG) and paired basic amino acid cleaving enzyme (FURIN/PCSK3), as well as correlation analysis, was done in relation to lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous carcinoma (LUSC) using in silico analysis. Not only were gene expression and mutation patterns detected, but also there were correlation and survival analysis between ACE2 and other target genes expression levels. The total genetic anomaly carrying rate of target genes, including ACE2, TMPRSS2, CD147/BSG, and FURIN/PCSK3, was determined as 8.1% and 21 mutations were detected, with 7 of these mutations having pathogenic features. p.H34N on the RBD binding residues for SARS‐CoV‐2 was determined in our LUAD patient group. According to gene expression analysis results, though the TMPRSS2 level was statistically significantly decreased in the LUSC patient group compared to healthy control, the ACE2 level was determined to be high in LUAD and LUSC groups. There were no meaningful differences in the expression of CD147 and FURIN genes. The challenge for today is building the assessment of genomic susceptibility to COVID‐19 in lung cancer, requiring detailed experimental laboratory studies, in addition to in silico analyses, as a way of assessing the mechanism of novel virus invasion that can be used in the development of effective SARS‐CoV‐2 therapy.
Effects of Monomeric and Oligomeric Flavanols on Kidney Function, Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Runners: A Randomized Double-Blind Pilot Study

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are frequently used by athletes in order to prevent musculoskeletal pain and improve performance. In combination with strenuous exercise, they can contribute to a reduction of renal blood flow and promote development of kidney damage. We aimed to investigate whether monomeric and oligomeric flavanols (MOF) could reduce the severity of kidney injuries associated with the intake of 400-mg ibuprofen followed by the completion of a half-marathon in recreational athletes. In this double-blind, randomized study, the original MOF blend of extracts from grape seeds (Vitis vinifera L.) and pine bark (Pinus pinaster L.) or placebo were taken for 14 days preceding the ibuprofen/half-marathon. Urine samples were collected before and after the ibuprofen/half-marathon, and biomarkers of kidney injury, inflammation and oxidative stress were assessed. Intake of MOF significantly reduced the incidence of post-race hematuria (p = 0.0004) and lowered concentrations of interleukin (IL)-6 in the urine (p = 0.032). Urinary neutrophil-associated lipocalin, creatine, albumin, IL-8 and malondialdehyde tended to decrease. The supplementation with MOF in recreational runners appears to safely preserve kidney function, reduce inflammation and promote antioxidant defense during strenuous exercise and intake of a single dose of ibuprofen.
How adolescents and adults translate motivational value to action: Age-related shifts in strategic physical effort exertion for monetary rewards.

Adults titrate the degree of physical effort they are willing to expend according to the magnitude of reward they expect to obtain, a process guided by incentive motivation. However, it remains unclear whether adolescents, who are undergoing normative developmental changes in cognitive and reward processing, translate incentive motivation into action in a way that is similarly tuned to reward value and economical in effort utilization. The present study adapted a classic physical effort paradigm to quantify age-related changes in motivation-based and strategic markers of effort exertion for monetary rewards from adolescence to early adulthood. One hundred three participants aged 12-23 years completed a task that involved exerting low or high amounts of physical effort, in the form of a hand grip, to earn low or high amounts of money. Adolescents and young adults exhibited highly similar incentive-modulated effort for reward according to measures of peak grip force and speed, suggesting that motivation for monetary reward is consistent across age. However, young adults expended energy more economically and strategically: Whereas adolescents were prone to exert excess physical effort beyond what was required to earn reward, young adults were more likely to strategically prepare before each grip phase and conserve energy by opting out of low reward trials. This work extends theoretical models of development of incentive-driven behavior by demonstrating that layered on similarity in motivational value for monetary reward, there are important differences in the way behavior is flexibly adjusted in the presence of reward from adolescence to young adulthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Acute malnutrition recovery energy requirements based on mid-upper arm circumference: Secondary analysis of feeding program data from 5 countries, Combined Protocol for Acute Malnutrition Study (ComPAS) Stage 1

Background Severe and moderate acute malnutrition (SAM and MAM) are currently treated with different food products in separate treatment programs. The development of a unified and simplified treatment protocol using a single food product aims to increase treatment program efficiency and effectiveness. This study, the first stage of the ComPAS trial, sought to assess rate of growth and energy requirements among children recovering from acute malnutrition in order to design a simplified, MUAC-based dosage protocol. Methods We obtained secondary data from patient cards of children aged 6–59 months recovering from SAM in outpatient therapeutic feeding programs (TFPs) and from MAM in supplementary feeding programs (SFPs) in five countries in Africa and Asia. We used local polynomial smoothing to assess changes in MUAC and proportional weight gain between clinic visits and assessed their normalized differences for a non-zero linear trend. We estimated energy needs to meet or exceed the growth observed in 95% of visits. Results This analysis used data from 5518 patients representing 33942 visits. Growth trends in MUAC and proportional weight gain were not significantly different, each lower at higher MUAC values: MUAC growth averaged 2mm/week at lower MUACs (100 to <110mm) and 1mm/week at higher MUACs (120mm to <125mm); and proportional weight gain declined from 3.9g/kg/day to 2.4g/kg/day across the same MUAC values. In 95% of visits by children with a MUAC 100mm to <125mm who were successfully treated, energy needs could be met or exceeded with 1,000 kilocalories a day. Conclusion Two 92g sachets of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) (1,000kcal total) is proposed to meet the estimated total energy requirements of children with a MUAC 100mm to <115mm, and one 92g sachet of RUTF (500kcal) is proposed to meet half the energy requirements of children with a MUAC of 115 to <125mm. A simplified, combined protocol may enable a more holistic continuum of care, potentially contributing to increased coverage for children suffering from acute malnutrition.