Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Treatment patterns and outcomes in metastatic synovial sarcoma: a real-world study in the US oncology network.

Aim: To examine and understand patient characteristics, treatment patterns and outcomes for patients with metastatic synovial sarcoma (mSS) treated in a US community setting. Materials & methods: Retrospective observational study in adults with mSS in The US Oncology Network (diagnosed January 2012-December 2018). Results: Of 202 patients diagnosed with SS, 71 had mSS. Of 39 patients with mSS who received first-line (1L) systemic treatment, 25 and 16 continued to second-line and 3L+ treatment, respectively. With each subsequent treatment line, time to treatment discontinuation (1L-3L: 3.9-2.7 months) and time to next treatment (1L-3L: 9.3-4.6 months) decreased. At 1L, median overall survival was 24.5 months. Conclusion: This study highlights the ongoing need for effective therapies for mSS.
Lower socioeconomic status is related to poorer emotional well-being prior to academic exams

ABSTRACT Background: People of lower social status tend to have greater emotional responses to stress. The present study assessed whether lower social status was related to greater emotional responses in anticipation of a naturalistic stressor: academic exams among college students. Methods: College students in an introductory statistics class (N = 252; 75.81% female; 18.41% Latino, 25.10% White, 43.93% Asian, 12.56% different racial backgrounds) completed two course exams as part of this naturalistic prepost-experimental design. They provided four reports of positive, depressive, and anxious emotion – one the day before and one immediately after each exam. Results: As hypothesized, multilevel models (ratings nested within participants) predicting emotion indicated that students with lower mother’s education had less positive emotion, more depressive emotion, and more anxious emotion the day prior to academic exams than students with higher mother’s education (proportional reductions in variance [PRV] = .013–.020). Specifically, lower mother’s education was associated with poorer well-being before but not after the exam. Exploratory models revealed that differences in emotion by mother’s education were strongest for students with lower exam scores (PRV = .030–.040). Conclusions: Socioeconomic status may influence college students’ anticipatory distress prior to academic exams, which may impact health and academic performance.
Paramagnetic rims are a promising diagnostic imaging biomarker in multiple sclerosis

Background: White matter lesions (WMLs) on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in multiple sclerosis (MS) may contribute to misdiagnosis. In chronic active lesions, peripheral iron-laden macrophages appear as paramagnetic rim lesions (PRLs). Objective: To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of PRLs in differentiating MS from mimics using clinical 3T MRI scanners. Method: This retrospective international study reviewed MRI scans of patients with MS (n = 254), MS mimics (n = 91) and older healthy controls (n = 217). WMLs, detected using fluid-attenuated inversion recovery MRI, were analysed with phase-sensitive imaging. Sensitivity and specificity were assessed for PRLs. Results: At least one PRL was found in 22.9% of MS and 26.1% of clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) patients. Only one PRL was found elsewhere. The identification of ⩾1 PRL was the optimal cut-off and had high specificity (99.7%, confidence interval (CI) = 98.20%–99.99%) when distinguishing MS and CIS from mimics and healthy controls, but lower sensitivity (24.0%, CI = 18.9%–36.6%). All patients with a PRL showing a central vein sign (CVS) in the same lesion (n = 54) had MS or CIS, giving a specificity of 100% (CI = 98.8%–100.0%) but equally low sensitivity (21.3%, CI = 16.4%–26.81%) Conclusion: PRLs may reduce diagnostic uncertainty in MS by being a highly specific imaging diagnostic biomarker, especially when used in conjunction with the CVS.
Surgical Lung Biopsy for Interstitial Lung Disease: A Two Center Propensity Score Matching Analysis

Background: Surgical lung biopsy (SLB) is recommended for patients with nonclassified interstitial lung disease (nILD) if high resolution computed tomography and/or transbronchial lung biopsy did not achieve a definitive diagnosis. Current literature suggests better patient tolerability and less postoperative complications if surgery is performed under spontaneous ventilation. Objectives: We conducted a propensity score matching (PSM) analysis of our nILD patients undergoing SLB under spontaneous ventilation or general anesthesia to investigate postprocedural AE-ILD, 30-/90-day mortality and perioperative variables in two academic high-volume centers (Hannover, Heidelberg). Methods: All patients undergoing SLB for nILD under general anesthesia (GAVATS) and spontaneous ventilation (NIVATS) at both centers from February 2013 until April 2021 were analyzed retrospectively. Data of 132 patients were used for PSM resulting in 40 pairs. Results: There was one death in the NIVATS group 60 days after SLB and one AE-ILD in each cohort. Chest tube indwelling time, chest tube total effusion, length of hospital stay, and operative time were all in favor of NIVATS. Conclusions: In our PSM analysis, NIVATS is associated with faster postprocedural recovery. However, a reduction in postoperative AE-ILD or 30-/90-day mortality was not observed.
Dictyostelium discoideum cells retain nutrients when the cells are about to outgrow their food source

ABSTRACT Dictyostelium discoideum is a unicellular eukaryote that eats bacteria, and eventually outgrows the bacteria. D. discoideum cells accumulate extracellular polyphosphate (polyP), and the polyP concentration increases as the local cell density increases. At high cell densities, the correspondingly high extracellular polyP concentrations allow cells to sense that they are about to outgrow their food supply and starve, causing the D. discoideum cells to inhibit their proliferation. In this report, we show that high extracellular polyP inhibits exocytosis of undigested or partially digested nutrients. PolyP decreases plasma membrane recycling and apparent cell membrane fluidity, and this requires the G protein-coupled polyP receptor GrlD, the polyphosphate kinase Ppk1 and the inositol hexakisphosphate kinase I6kA. PolyP alters protein contents in detergent-insoluble crude cytoskeletons, but does not significantly affect random cell motility, cell speed or F-actin levels. Together, these data suggest that D. discoideum cells use polyP as a signal to sense their local cell density and reduce cell membrane fluidity and membrane recycling, perhaps as a mechanism to retain ingested food when the cells are about to starve. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.
Childhood stunting and subsequent educational outcomes: a marginal structural model analysis from a South African longitudinal study

Abstract Objective: To examine the association between childhood stunting and grade completion (as educational outcome) in South Africa. Design: Longitudinal study. Data were obtained using the National Income Dynamics Study over five waves (2008 to 2017). Children were tracked at wave 1 in 2008 until wave 5 in 2017 to determine their total years of schooling. We controlled for time-variant and time-varying confounding with a marginal structural model to estimate the associations between childhood stunting and subsequent grade completion. Setting: Nationally representative study of South African households. Participants: A total of 2629 children aged 2 and 3 years in 2008. Results: We observed a substantial decrease in the prevalence of stunting between wave 1 (28·2 %) and wave 4 (8·6 %). Our marginal structural model results suggest that childhood stunting was significantly associated with decreased odds (22 % less likely) of grade completion (OR = 0·78; 95 % CI: 0·40, 0·86; P = 0·015), while those who were only stunted during early childhood had a 29 % reduction in the odds of grade completion (OR = 0·71; 95 % CI: 0·51, 0·82; P = 0·020). Conclusion: These findings underscore the fact that stunting is a significant predictor of academic achievement, whose effects might be long-lasting.
Does Ashwagandha supplementation have a beneficial effect on the management of anxiety and stress? A systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials

Clinical trial studies revealed conflicting results on the effect of Ashwagandha extract on anxiety and stress. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the effect of Ashwagandha supplementation on anxiety as well as stress. A systematic search was performed in PubMed/Medline, Scopus, and Google Scholar from inception until December 2021. We included randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that investigate the effect of Ashwagandha extract on anxiety and stress. The overall effect size was pooled by random‐effects model and the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CIs) for outcomes were applied. Overall, 12 eligible papers with a total sample size of 1,002 participants and age range between 25 and 48 years were included in the current systematic review and meta‐analysis. We found that Ashwagandha supplementation significantly reduced anxiety (SMD: −1.55, 95% CI: −2.37, −0.74; p = .005; I2 = 93.8%) and stress level (SMD: −1.75; 95% CI: −2.29, −1.22; p = .005; I2 = 83.1%) compared to the placebo. Additionally, the non‐linear dose–response analysis indicated a favorable effect of Ashwagandha supplementation on anxiety until 12,000 mg/d and stress at dose of 300–600 mg/d. Finally, we identified that the certainty of the evidence was low for both outcomes. The current systematic review and dose–response meta‐analysis of RCTs revealed a beneficial effect in both stress and anxiety following Ashwagandha supplementation. However, further high‐quality studies are needed to firmly establish the clinical efficacy of the plant.
Mindfulness exercises reduce death anxiety and burnout in intensive care nurses

Abstract Intensive care units (ICUs) nurses experience a high level of death anxiety. Interventions that reduce death anxiety are needed. We conducted a nonrandomized study with 66 ICU nurses. The 34 in the intervention group received an 8-week tailored mindfulness-based intervention and the 32 in the control group received no intervention. Both groups completed pre and post-tests of death anxiety and burnout. At post-test, the levels of death anxiety and job burnout in the intervention group were significantly lower than the control group. Mindfulness-based intervention can reduce the death anxiety level and burnout of ICU nurses.
Relationship Between Occupational Stress and Burnout Tendencies Among Secondary School Teachers in Anambra State

The study investigated the relationship between occupational stress and burnout tendencies among secondary school teachers in Anambra state. It was guided by five research questions and seven null hypotheses. Correlational survey research design was adopted for the study. A total of2000 teachers were sampled from the population of 5634 teachers in government owned secondary schools in the state using proportionate stratified random sampling. The instruments that were used for this study include Occupational Stress Inventory for Teachers (OSIT) and Teachers Burnout Inventory (TBI). They were validated and tested for reliability. The data relating to research questions one and two were analysed using aggregate scores, percentages. Then, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was adopted for research questions 3 to 5. Also, data relating to the hypotheses 1-3 were tested using a t-test of correlation coefficient. Hypotheses 4 and 5 were tested using a Z-test; while hypotheses 6 and 7 were tested with Analysis of variance (ANOVA). From the analysis, the following findings were made among others: or no negative relationship of 0.06 existing between occupational stress and burnout tendency of secondary school teachers in Anambra state. There is low negative relationship of -0.32 existing between the occupational stress and burnout tendency of male secondary school teachers in Anambra state. There is very low positive relationship of 0.19 existing between the occupational stress and burnout tendency of female 1 secondary school teachers in Anambra state. There is significant very low or no negative relationship existing between occupational stress and burnout tendency of secondary school teachers in Anambra state. Based on the findings recommendations were made.
Job satisfaction and job tenure of people with mental health disorders: a UK Biobank cohort study

Aims: Job satisfaction plays an important role for the life quality and health of working individuals. While studies have shown that self-reported mental health conditions such as stress, anxiety and depression are associated with job satisfaction, a large population-based study exploring and comparing self-reported physician posed diagnosed conditions and their association with job satisfaction and job tenure is missing. This study addresses the gap along with exploring the impact of the neurotic personality trait and other possible contributing factors. Methods: Sixteen mental health disorders diagnosed by physicians, categorised into four major groups were investigated in relation to employment status (108,711 participants) and in relation to job satisfaction and job tenure (34,808 participants). Analyses were performed using linear regression adjusted for age, sex, townsend deprivation index, body mass index, education, physical activity, work hours and neuroticism. Results: Neurotic and stress disorders, eating disorders and other mental health disorders were strongly associated with lower job satisfaction and shorter job tenure in both unadjusted and adjusted analyses. Neuroticism was strongly linked to job satisfaction but was not associated with job tenure. Conclusions: Study findings clarify the complex relationship of mental health with job satisfaction and job tenure, which is very important to understand in designing measures to improve working life participation of individuals with mental health issues.
Biomaterials directed activation of a cryostable therapeutic secretome in induced pluripotent stem cell derived mesenchymal stromal cells

Mesenchymal stem cell therapy has suffered from wide variability in clinical efficacy, largely due to heterogeneous starting cell populations and large‐scale cell death during and after implantation. Optimizing the manufacturing process has led to reproducible cell populations that can be cryopreserved for clinical applications. Nevertheless, ensuring a reproducible cell state that persists after cryopreservation remains a significant challenge, and is necessary to ensure reproducible clinical outcomes. Here we demonstrate how matrix‐conjugated hydrogel cell culture materials can normalize a population of induced pluripotent stem cell derived mesenchymal stem cells (iPSC‐MSCs) to display a defined secretory profile that promotes enhanced neovascularization in vitro and in vivo. Using a protein‐conjugated biomaterials screen we identified two conditions—1 kPa collagen and 10 kPa fibronectin coated polyacrylamide gels—that promote reproducible secretion of pro‐angiogenic and immunomodulatory cytokines from iPSC‐MSCs that enhance tubulogenesis of endothelial cells in Geltrex and neovascularization in chick chorioallantoic membranes. Using defined culture substrates alone, we demonstrate maintenance of secretory activity after cryopreservation for the first time. This advance provides a simple and scalable approach for cell engineering and subsequent manufacturing, toward normalizing and priming a desired cell activity for clinical regenerative medicine.
Aureanin: a new iridoid from the leaves of Tabebuia aurea (Silva Manso) Benth. & Hook.f. ex S.Moore

Abstract One new iridoid named aureanin (1) was isolated from the leaves of Tabebuia aurea (Silva Manso) Benth. & Hook.f. ex S.Moore, together with eight known compounds, isoquercetin (2), astragalin (3), callicoside B (4), amphipaniculoside E (5), rehmaglutin D (6), quercetin-3-sambubioside (7), rutin (8), kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside (9). The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated and confirmed by spectroscopic methods, including 1 D and 2 D NMR experiments, as well as HR-ESI-MS. Compounds 1-9 were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxic activity against three human cancer cell lines (A549, HepG2, and MCF-7) and Leishmania major. Compound 4 showed activity against A549 (IC50: 36.8 ± 1.5 μg/mL, etoposide (positive control): 28.1 ± 4.2 μg/mL), however, none of the compounds were active against L. major. Graphical Abstract
ON TWO-DIMENSIONAL MINIMAL FILLINGS

We consider Riemannian metrics in the two-dimensional disk D (with boundary). We prove that, if a metric g0 is such that every two interior points of D are connected by a unique geodesic of g0, or if g0 can be extended to a complete metric without conjugate points in R, then the Riemannian area of g0 is not greater than the area of any other metric g in which the distances between boundary points of D are not less than those in g0. Previously this fact was known only in the case when g0 has constant curvature. We give a generalization of the main result to the Finslerian case and an interpretation of it in terms of simply connected Lipschitz surfaces with a fixed boundary in a Banach space.
Risk Factors for Legal Blindness in 77 Japanese Patients with Endogenous Endophthalmitis: A Multicenter Cohort Study from J-CREST

ABSTRACT Purpose We investigated potential predictive factors for visual prognosis in Japanese patients with endogenous endophthalmitis. Design Retrospective observational multicenter cohort study. Methods We examined the characteristics of 77 Japanese patients with endogenous endophthalmitis and performed statistical analyses of these real-world data. The primary endpoint was the identification of factors associated with visual prognosis. We examined differences between patients in the better vision and legal blindness groups at 12 weeks after treatment initiation. Results The five risk factors for visual impairment at 12 weeks after treatment initiation were presence of pressure injuries, severe clinical symptoms (presence of eye pain and ciliary injection), pathogen identification, and poor best-corrected visual acuity at baseline. Staphylococcus aureus and fungus were associated with a better visual impairment outcome. Conclusions Endogenous endophthalmitis remains a severe ocular infection; however, it can be managed with rapid treatments, as well as other advances in medical knowledge and technology.
The Average Reward Rate Modulates Behavioral and Neural Indices of Effortful Control Allocation

Abstract People tend to avoid exerting cognitive effort, and findings from recent behavioral studies suggest that effort allocation is in part determined by the opportunity cost of slothful responding—operationalized as the average reward rate per unit time. When the average rate of reward is high, individuals make more errors in cognitive control tasks, presumably owing to a withdrawal of costly cognitive processing. An open question remains whether the presumed modulations of cognitively effortful control processes are observable at the neural level. Here, we measured EEG while participants completed the Simon task, a well-known response conflict task, while the experienced average reward rate fluctuated across trials. We examined neural activity associated with the opportunity cost of time by applying generalized eigendecomposition, a hypothesis-driven source separation technique, to identify a midfrontal component associated with the average reward rate. Fluctuations in average reward rate modulated not only component amplitude but also, most importantly, component theta power (4–8 Hz). Higher average reward rate was associated with reduced theta power, suggesting that the opportunity of time modulates effort allocation. These neural results provide evidence for the idea that people strategically modulate the amount of cognitive effort they exert based on the opportunity cost of time.
Studies in causal reasoning and learning

Building intelligent systems that can learn about and reason with causes and effects is a fundamental task in artificial intelligence. This dissertation addresses various issues in causal reasoning and learning in the framework of causal Bayesian networks. We offer a complete characterization of the set of distributions that could be induced by local interventions on variables governed by a causal Bayesian network. The characterization provides a symbolic inferential tool for tasks in causal reasoning. We propose a new method of discovering causal structures, based on the detection of local, spontaneous changes in the underlying data-generating model. We show that the use of information about local changes increases our power of causal discovery beyond the limits set by independence equivalence that governs Bayesian networks. In the presence of unmeasured variables, causal models may impose non-independence functional constraints and no general criterion is previously available for finding those constraints. We offer a systematic method of identifying functional constraints, which facilitates the task of testing causal models. Causal effects permit us to predict how systems would respond to actions or policy decisions. We establish new graphical criteria for ensuring the identification of causal effects that generalize and simplify existing criteria in the literature, and we provide computational procedures for systematically identifying causal effects. Assessing the probability of causation, that is, the likelihood that one event was the cause of another, guides much of what we understand about and how we act in the world. We show how useful information on the probabilities of causation can be extracted from empirical data, and how data from both experimental and nonexperimental studies can be combined to yield information that neither study alone can provide. Our results clarify the basic assumptions that must be made before statistical measures such as the excess-risk-ratio could be used for assessing attributional quantities such as the probability of causation.
A sharp inequality for sub-martingales and stopping-times

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