Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interplay between miRNAs and Genes Associated with Cell Proliferation in Endometrial Cancer

Endometrial cancer develops as a result of abnormal cell growth associated with uncontrolled cell proliferation, excessive activation of signaling pathways and miRNA activity. The aim of this study was to determine the expression profile of genes associated with cell proliferation and to assess which miRNAs can participate in the regulation of their expression. The study enrolled 40 patients with endometrial cancer and 10 patients without neoplastic changes. The expression profile of genes associated with cell proliferation and the expression profile of miRNAs were assessed using microarrays. RT-qPCR was performed to validate mRNA microarray results. The mirTAR tool was used to identify miRNAs that regulate the activity of genes associated with cell proliferation. Decreased expression of IGF1 and MYLK, as well as SOD2 overexpression, were observed in endometrial cancer using both mRNA microarrays and RT-qPCR. Microarray analysis showed low levels of NES and PRKCA, but this was only partially validated using RT-qPCR. Reduced activity of MYLK may be caused by increased miR-200c, miR-155 and miR-200b expression. Cell proliferation is disturbed in endometrial cancer, which may be associated with an overexpression of miR-200a, miR-200c, and miR-155, making it a potential diagnostic marker.
Investigation of pullout strength in different designs of pedicle screws for osteoporotic bone quality using finite element analysis.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate pullout strength of three types of pedicle screws with and without cement augmentation in osteoporotic bone using finite element analysis. METHODS Twelve 3D finite element models were created to investigate the effect of pullout strength when comparing between pedicle screw types and bone cement clouds. The bottom side of bone block model was constrained and U-shape head was applied 1 mm in direction of longitudinal axis of pedicle screw to perform pullout resistance. The material properties of the FEA was set as linear elastic, homogenous, isotropic condition. The element sensitivity of convergence testing has been performed and variation of the sequential analytical results was less than 3%. RESULTS The results showed that the maximum total reaction force (133.8 N) was detected in the model of cannulated pedicle screw combined with a central pin with 4 ml cement augmentation, but, in contrast, the minimum total reaction force (106.8 N) was discovered in the model of cannulated pedicle screw without cement. A strong relationship (r = 0.9626) is found in comparison with the biomechanical results between pullout strength of sawbone testing and reaction forces of the FEA. CONCLUSIONS The study concludes that the cannulated pedicle screw can not only provide an inner guider for cement flow and increase bending resistance (deflection effect) when a central pin is selected, but also can improve the pullout strength in the osteoporotic bone to add cement augmentation. The design of the cannulated pedicle screw is suggested for poor bone quality to change pullout failure.
Plasma metabolites as possible biomarkers for diagnosis of breast cancer

Metabolomic approaches have been used to identify new diagnostic biomarkers for various types of cancers, including breast cancer. In this study, we aimed to identify potential biomarkers of breast cancer using plasma metabolic profiling. Furthermore, we analyzed whether these biomarkers had relationships with clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancer. Our study used two liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry sets: a discovery set (40 breast cancer patients and 30 healthy controls) and a validation set (30 breast cancer patients and 16 healthy controls). All breast cancer patients were randomly selected from among stage I–III patients who underwent surgery between 2011 and 2016. First, metabolites distinguishing cancer patients from healthy controls were identified in the discovery set. Then, consistent and reproducible metabolites were evaluated in terms of their utility as possible biomarkers of breast cancer. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was applied to the discovery set, and ROC cut-off values for the identified metabolites derived therein were applied to the validation set to determine their diagnostic performance. Ultimately, four candidate biomarkers (L-octanoylcarnitine, 5-oxoproline, hypoxanthine, and docosahexaenoic acid) were identified. L-octanoylcarnitine showed the best diagnostic performance, with a 100.0% positive predictive value. Also, L-octanoylcarnitine levels differed according to tumor size and hormone receptor expression. The plasma metabolites identified in this study show potential as biomarkers allowing early diagnosis of breast cancer. However, the diagnostic performance of the metabolites needs to be confirmed in further studies with larger sample sizes.
Simultaneous Hip and Distal Radius Fractures—Does It Make a Difference with Respect to Rehabilitation?

Introduction: A minority of patients with hip fractures sustain concomitant wrist fractures. Little is known about the rehabilitation outcome in this group of patients. Aim of study: Prospective investigation of functional outcome and survival in patients with combined hip and wrist fractures compared with patients who sustain an isolated hip fracture. Methods: 341 patients who presented with an acute hip fracture during a 12 month period were included in the study. Outcome at discharge and 4 months follow-up was compared between patients with isolated hip fractures and those patients who sustained simultaneous distal wrist fractures. Results: The actual incidence of concurrent hip and wrist fractures in our cohort was 4.7%. Patients who sustained a concurrent hip and wrist fracture showed no differences regarding short- and long-term functional outcome and survival. Conclusion: Our results imply that patients with simultaneous hip and wrist fractures have no difference in rehabilitative outcome. Future studies should further investigate the distinctive characteristics of this patient subgroup.
Study on the Separation of H2 from CO2 Using a ZIF-8 Membrane by Molecular Simulation and Maxwell-Stefan Model

The purification of H2-rich streams using membranes represents an important separation process, particularly important in the viewpoint of pre-combustion CO2 capture. In this study, the separation of H2 from a mixture containing H2 and CO2 using a zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF)-8 membrane is proposed from a theoretical point of view. For this purpose, the adsorption and diffusion coefficients of H2 and CO2 were considered by molecular simulation. The adsorption of these gases followed the Langmuir model, and the diffusion coefficient of H2 was much higher than that of CO2. Then, using the Maxwell–Stefan model, the H2 and CO2 permeances and H2/CO2 permselectivities in the H2–CO2 mixtures were evaluated. Despite the fact that adsorption of CO2 was higher than H2, owing to the simultaneous interference of adsorption and diffusion processes in the membrane, H2 permeation was more pronounced than CO2. The modeling results showed that, for a ZIF-8 membrane, the H2/CO2 permselectivity for the H2–CO2 binary mixture 80/20 ranges between 28 and 32 at ambient temperature.
Extended Coding Unit Partitioning for Future Video Coding

The flexible partitioning structure such as quad-tree plus binary-tree (QTBT) plays important roles in the next generation video coding standard. This paper investigates new coding unit (CU) partitioning methods to further improve the compression efficiency. In particular, we propose the extended quad-tree partitioning and asymmetric ternary-tree partitioning to further develop the principle behind the existing partitioning structure. First, a central extended quad-tree (CENTRAL-EQT) partitioning is introduced, which extends the traditional QT partitioning with central pattern and generates four elaborately designed sub-CUs with different sizes. Second, we propose a parallel extended quad-tree (PARALLEL-EQT) partitioning that allows the CU to split along a single direction, leading to four identical size sub-blocks. Third, we present an asymmetric ternary-tree (ATT) method, which splits the CU asymmetrically into three sub-blocks. The proposed new partitioning methods allow the interleaving with binary-tree partitioning for enhanced adaptability, and they can be jointly enabled to capture different characteristics of the local content. Simulation results on the JEM7-QTBT-Only platform show that averagely 4.92%, 4.81% and 5.08% BD-Rate savings are achieved for the luma component by the proposed methods under random access (RA), low-delay P (LDP) and low-delay B (LDB) configurations, respectively, with around 725% encoding time increase and negligible decoding time increase. Furthermore, experimental results also reveal that the proposed partitioning schemes are effective when cooperating with the upcoming Versatile Video Coding standard.
Psychological networks in clinical populations: investigating the consequences of Berkson's bias

Abstract Background In clinical research, populations are often selected on the sum-score of diagnostic criteria such as symptoms. Estimating statistical models where a subset of the data is selected based on a function of the analyzed variables introduces Berkson's bias, which presents a potential threat to the validity of findings in the clinical literature. The aim of the present paper is to investigate the effect of Berkson's bias on the performance of the two most commonly used psychological network models: the Gaussian Graphical Model (GGM) for continuous and ordinal data, and the Ising Model for binary data. Methods In two simulation studies, we test how well the two models recover a true network structure when estimation is based on a subset of the data typically seen in clinical studies. The network is based on a dataset of 2807 patients diagnosed with major depression, and nodes in the network are items from the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD). The simulation studies test different scenarios by varying (1) sample size and (2) the cut-off value of the sum-score which governs the selection of participants. Results The results of both studies indicate that higher cut-off values are associated with worse recovery of the network structure. As expected from the Berkson's bias literature, selection reduced recovery rates by inducing negative connections between the items. Conclusion Our findings provide evidence that Berkson's bias is a considerable and underappreciated problem in the clinical network literature. Furthermore, we discuss potential solutions to circumvent Berkson's bias and their pitfalls.
What is normal? Dimensions of action-inaction normality and their impact on regret in the action-effect

ABSTRACT The widely-replicated action-effect describes a phenomenon in which negative outcomes are associated with higher regret when they are a result of action compared to inaction. The highly influential norm-theory theorised that the effect could be explained using the concept of normality, arguing that inaction is more “normal”. I aimed to clarify the concept of normality and examine the impact on regret in the action-effect by contrasting three identified categories: past-behaviour normality, expectations normality, and social-norms normality. In three exploratory experiments (N1 = 213, N2 = 300, N3 = 303) and one concluding pre-registered combined experiment (N = 403) I found that the three normality categories had distinct effects with consistent medium to strong impact on regret in the action-effect (d = .51 to d = .85) and no interactions. Action-effect was significantly weakened into an inaction-effect in the joint effects of any two types of the three normality categories (d = 1.56–1.61) and with all three combined (d = 2.75). In total, I concluded three replications for effects of each of the normality dimensions, overall nine successful replications of previous findings. All materials, data, and code are available on https://osf.io/wmkpe/.
A comparison of frequency of alcohol and marijuana use using short message service surveying and survey questionnaires among homeless youth

ABSTRACT Background There are several benefits to using short message service surveying (SMS) to gather data on substance use from homeless youth, including capturing data “in the moment” and verifying the timing of one behavior relative to another. Though SMS is a valuable data collection tool with highly mobile populations that otherwise are difficult to longitudinally sample, the reliability of SMS compared with surveys is largely unknown with homeless youth. Examining the reliability of SMS is important because these data can provide a more nuanced understanding of the relationships between various risk behaviors, which may lead to better intervention strategies with these youth. Objectives We compared past 30-day survey and SMS data for youth’s alcohol and marijuana use. Methods Interviewed 150 homeless youth (51% female) using surveys and SMS. Results Past 30-day survey and SMS data revealed moderately strong correlations for alcohol (rs = .563) and marijuana (rs = .564). Regression analysis revealed that independent variables were similarly associated with alcohol and marijuana use when comparing survey and SMS data with two exceptions: heterosexual youth reported less alcohol use in SMS data compared to survey data (β = −.212; p < .05 vs. β = −.006; p > .05, respectively) and youth whose parents had alcohol problems reported less marijuana use in survey data compared to SMS data (β = −.277; p < .01 vs. β = −.150; p > .05, respectively). Conclusion Findings indicate SMS and surveys are both reliable methods of gathering data from homeless youth on substance use.
Effect of sound on standing postural stability in the elderly with and without knee osteoarthritis.

PURPOSE The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of sound on standing postural control in the elderly with and without knee osteoarthritis (knee-OA). METHODS Twenty-six elderly with knee-OA and 26 elderly without knee-OA who matched the age and height participated in this study. The standing postural stability was assessed by the 3D motion analysis system. Four testing conditions of the combination of sound (no sound and white noise sound) and surface (firm and soft surfaces) were tested three times with eyes closed for 30 sec. Postural stability variables included the standard deviation and velocity of the centre of pressure, the total body centre of mass, and centre of the head along the antero-posterior (AP) and medio-lateral (ML) directions. RESULTS Statistical significant reductions of all variables along ML direction were found in the elderly without a knee-OA in the presence of sound during standing on a firm surface. No significant effect of sound was found in the elderly with the knee-OA during standing on a firm surface. In the standing on a soft surface, both groups demonstrated no significant effect of sound on all postural stability variables. CONCLUSIONS Application of sound improved the standing postural stability in the frontal plane for the elderly without knee-OA. However, the effect of sound was limited in standing on a soft surface for both elderly with and without knee-OA.
Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Imaging in Inherited Retinal Diseases

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is a novel, noninvasive imaging modality that allows depth-resolved imaging of the microvasculature in the retina and the choroid. It is a powerful research tool to study the pathobiology of retinal diseases, including inherited retinal dystrophies. In this review, we provide an overview of the evolution of OCTA technology, compare the specifications of various OCTA devices, and summarize key findings from published OCTA studies in inherited retinal dystrophies including retinitis pigmentosa, Stargardt disease, Best vitelliform macular dystrophy, and choroideremia. OCTA imaging has provided new data on characteristics of these conditions and has contributed to a deeper understanding of inherited retinal disease.
Does Animation Improve Comprehension of Risk Information in Patients with Low Health Literacy? A Randomized Trial

Introduction. Enhanced visual effects, like animation, have the potential to improve comprehension of probabilistic risk information, particularly for those with lower health literacy. We tested the effect of presentation format on comprehension of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening probabilities to identify optimal risk communication strategies. Methods. Participants from a community foodbank and a cancer prevention center were randomized to 1 of 3 CRC screening risk presentations. The presentations used identical content but varied in format: 1) video with animated pictographs, 2) video with static pictographs, and 3) audiobooklet with static pictographs. Participants completed pre- and postpresentation surveys. The primary outcome was knowledge of probability/risk information regarding CRC screening, calculated as total, verbatim, and gist scores. Results. In total, 187 participants completed the study and were included in this analysis. Median age was 58 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 14 years), most participants were women (63%), and almost half had a high school education or less (46%). Approximately one-quarter had inadequate health literacy (Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults marginal/inadequate: 28%; Brief Health Literacy Screener low: 18%), and about half had low numeracy (Subjective Numeracy Scale low: 54%; Graphical Literacy Measure low: 50%). We found no significant differences in total, verbatim, or gist knowledge across presentation formats (all P > 0.05). Discussion. Use of an animated pictograph to communicate risk does not appear to augment or impede knowledge of risk information. Regardless of health literacy level, difficulty understanding pictographs presenting numerical information persists. There may be a benefit to teaching or priming individuals on how to interpret numerical information presented in pictographs before communicating risk using visual methods. Trial Registry: NCT02151032
The Relation Between Preference for Predictability and Autistic Traits

A common idea about individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is that they have an above‐average preference for predictability and sameness. However, surprisingly little research has gone toward this core symptom, and some studies suggest the preference for predictability in ASD might be less general than commonly assumed. Here, we investigated this important symptom of ASD using three different paradigms, which allowed us to measure preference for predictability under well‐controlled experimental conditions. Specifically, we used a dimensional approach by investigating correlations between autistic traits (as measured with the Autism‐Spectrum Quotient and Social Responsiveness Scale in a neurotypical population) and the scores on three different tasks. The “music preference” task assessed preferences for tone sequences that varied in predictability. The “perceptual fluency” task required participants to evaluate stimuli that were preceded by a similar versus dissimilar subliminally presented prime. The “gambling” task presented four decks of cards that had equal outcome probabilities but varied in predictability. We observed positive correlations between autistic traits and a preference for predictability in both the music preference and perceptual fluency task. We did not find our hypothesized correlation with gambling behavior but did observe a post hoc correlation showing that participants with more autistic traits were faster to choose the predictable deck. Together, these findings show that a relation between autistic traits and preference for predictability can be observed in a standardized lab environment, and should be considered an important first step toward a better, more mechanistic understanding of insistence on sameness in ASD. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1144‐1154. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A Late Critical Period for Frequency Modulated Sweeps in the Mouse Auditory System

Abstract Neuronal circuits are shaped by experience during time windows of increased plasticity in postnatal development. In the auditory system, the critical period for the simplest sounds—pure frequency tones—is well defined. Critical periods for more complex sounds remain to be elucidated. We used in vivo electrophysiological recordings in the mouse auditory cortex to demonstrate that passive exposure to frequency modulated sweeps (FMS) from postnatal day 31 to 38 leads to long-term changes in the temporal representation of sweep directions. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed a decreased percentage of layer 4 parvalbumin-positive (PV+) cells during this critical period, paralleled with a transient increase in responses to FMS, but not to pure tones. Preventing the PV+ cell decrease with continuous white noise exposure delayed the critical period onset, suggesting a reduction in inhibition as a mechanism for this plasticity. Our findings shed new light on the dependence of plastic windows on stimulus complexity that persistently sculpt the functional organization of the auditory cortex.
Madman in the Closet: “Homosexual Panic” in Nineteenth Century New England

ABSTRACT This analysis uses trial records from the 1860s to explore a same-sex male relationship that devolved into panic and murder. The paper’s goal is to better understand how, during the middle of the nineteenth century, men who had sexual feeling for other men were forced into spaces that were qualitatively different than our current understanding of “the closet. ” The paper concludes that what we now call “coming out” was not an option during this era. In telling the story of how Samuel Andrews killed his best friend, Cornelius Holmes, this paper shows that the categories ordinarily presented as symmetrical binary oppositions in contemporary times—homo/heterosexual, closeted/out—did not work for Andrews and Holmes, and probably did not and could not have worked for others living under similar conditions.
Amitosenescence and Pseudomitosenescence: Putative New Players in the Aging Process

Replicative senescence has initially been defined as a stress reaction of replication-competent cultured cells in vitro, resulting in an ultimate cell cycle arrest at preserved growth and viability. Classically, it has been linked to critical telomere curtailment following repetitive cell divisions, and later described as a response to oncogenes and other stressors. Currently, there are compelling new directions indicating that a comparable state of cellular senescence might be adopted also by postmitotic cell entities, including terminally differentiated neurons. However, the cellular upstream inducers and molecular downstream cues mediating a senescence-like state in neurons (amitosenescence) are ill-defined. Here, we address the phenomenon of abortive atypical cell cycle activity in light of amitosenescence, and discuss why such replicative reprogramming might provide a yet unconsidered source to explain senescence in maturated neurons. We also hypothesize the existence of a G0 subphase as a priming factor for cell cycle re-entry, in analogy to discoveries in quiescent muscle stem cells. In conclusion, we propose a revision of our current view on the process and definition of senescence by encompassing a primarily replication-incompetent state (amitosenescence), which might be expanded by events of atypical cell cycle activity (pseudomitosenescence).