Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Classification and citation analysis of the 100 top-cited articles on adult spinal deformity since 2011: A bibliometric analysis

Background: Studies of the 100 most-cited articles are reported for many subjects. However, none has analyzed the article characteristics associated with high citation frequency. This study aims to (1) graphically depict characteristics of the 100 top-cited articles addressing adult spinal deformity (ASD), (2) diagram the association between articles according to subject and major topic medical subject headings (MeSHs), and (3) investigate whether major topic MeSH correlates with article citation frequency. Methods: The 100 top-cited ASD publications since 2011 were retrieved using a PubMed Central search on May 6, 2020. Using titles and abstracts, eight subject categories were identified: surgery, conservative treatment, normal values in spinopelvic alignment, review, cervical alignment, classification, compensatory mechanism, and spine-hip relationship. Sankey diagrams were used to organize the information. Network analysis was performed according to article subject and major topic MeSHs. Pearson’s r was used to determine whether the weighted number of citations correlates with major topic MeSHs and the number of citations. Results: The average number of citations per article was 34.8 (range, 19–156). The most represented country was USA (n = 51). The most productive and highly cited journal was Spine (Phila Pa 1976) (n = 34; average, 38.2 citations per article). The most frequent subject categories and major topic MeSHs were “surgery” (n = 53) and “scoliosis” (weighted count, 9.8), while articles with the subject “compensatory” had the highest average number of citations (64.7). The most highly cited article, by Dr. F. Schwab in 2012, had 156 citations. Network analysis revealed the relationships between these articles according to major topic MeSHs. The weighted number of citations according to major topic MeSHs correlated significantly with article citation frequency (Pearson’s r, 0.57; p < 0.001). Conclusion: Multiple characteristics of the 100 top-cited ASD articles are presented in diagrams to guide evidence-based clinical decision-making in ASD.
Are we just dishing out pills constantly to mask their pain? Kaiāwhina Māori health workers' perspectives on pain management for Māori.

AIM To explore kaiāwhina (Māori community health workers) perspectives on supporting whānau Māori with chronic pain, and to understand their views on the use of online resources for pain management. METHOD A Māori-centred, qualitative design using focus groups as the primary data collection method. Analysis using the general inductive approach. RESULTS Thirteen kaiāwhina working in the Greater Wellington region took part in the focus groups. Four key themes were identified: (1) treatment of chronic pain in primary health relies exclusively on medication, (2) health literacy approaches to pain management are urgently required, (3) Māori have significant unmet need for culturally responsive pain management, and (4) the availability of, and referral practices to, specialist pain services are inadequate for Māori communities. CONCLUSION Current chronic pain management was predominantly biomedical, and educational strategies lack health literacy approaches. Primary health services exclude traditional Māori methods of treating chronic pain and do not focus on whānau wellbeing. The lack of referral for Māori to specialist services highlights the existing health inequities for Māori. Developing new initiatives (both in-person and online) to address chronic pain management for Māori must be Māori-led and co-designed with whānau to result in holistic solutions for Māori.
Dynamics of antibody response to BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine after 6 months.

This sero-survey describes the level and time-trend of antibodies elicited by BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine up to 6 months. A strong seroconversion was seen at 30-day serology, with persistence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 S-RBD IgG through 6 months from vaccination. However, the level of vaccine-induced antibodies started to decrease from the second month.
Treatment Options After a Diagnosis of Early Miscarriage: Expectant, Medical, and Surgical.

BACKGROUND Approximately 12% of pregnancies end in an early miscarriage (up to week 12 + 0 of pregnancy). Over the past 10 to 15 years, two alternatives to curettage have appeared in the pertinent international treatment guidelines: expectant treatment and medical (drug) treatment. In this review, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each of these therapeutic options. METHODS This review is based on pertinent publications (January 2000 to February 2021) retrieved by a selective search in PubMed, as well as on the guidelines of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence/Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics. RESULTS Three effective and safe treatment options are available after a diagnosis of early miscarriage. Expectant treatment yields success rates of 66-91%, depending on the type of miscarriage. Its complications include hemorrhage requiring blood transfusion in 1-2% of cases. If expectant therapy fails, subsequent treatment with misoprostol or curettage is indicated. Drug therapy with misoprostol yields a complete termination in 81-95% of cases and is thus a valid alternative to expectant therapy, with the advantage of better planning capability. The vaginal application of misoprostol is the most effective means of administration, with the fewest side effects. Curettage is needed in 5-20% of cases. Suctional curettage has a success rate of 97-98%, with an associated anesthesia-related risk of 0.2%, a 0.1% risk of perforation, and a 2-3% rate of repeat curettage. CONCLUSION If there is no acute indication for the surgical treatment of an early miscarriage, the patient can choose among three treatment options. Expectant and medical treatment can be provided on an outpatient basis. Curettage is the treatment of choice in the presence of infection, marked and persistent bleeding, hemodynamic instability, or a pre-existing coagulopathy.
GRAd-COV2, a gorilla adenovirus-based candidate vaccine against COVID-19, is safe and immunogenic in younger and older adults

Description GRAd-COV2, a candidate vaccine for COVID-19 based on a gorilla adenovirus, is safe and immunogenic in younger and older adults. A gorilla adenovirus vaccine for COVID-19 Multiple COVID-19 vaccines currently in-use use adenoviral vectors for delivery of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. However, as these vaccines use human or closely related chimpanzee adenoviruses, there is increased likelihood of preexisting antivector immunity, which may dampen the response to the vaccine. To avoid this, Lanini et al. developed GRAd-COV2, a gorilla adenovirus-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Here, the authors report the results of a phase 1, dose-escalation, open-labeled clinical trial showing that GRAd-COV2 was safe and immunogenic in both younger (aged 18 to 55 years old) and older (aged 65 to 85 years old) adults. In addition, participants had little to no preexisting immunity to the gorilla adenoviral vector. Together, these results support the further development of GRAd-COV2 as a COVID-19 vaccine. Safe and effective vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are essential for ending the ongoing pandemic. Although impressive progress has been made with several COVID-19 vaccines already approved, it is clear that those developed so far cannot meet the global vaccine demand alone. We describe a COVID-19 vaccine based on a replication-defective gorilla adenovirus expressing the stabilized prefusion severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein named GRAd-COV2. We assessed the safety and immunogenicity of a single-dose regimen of this vaccine in healthy younger and older adults to select the appropriate dose for each age group. For this purpose, a phase 1, dose-escalation, open-labeled trial was conducted including 90 healthy participants (45 aged 18 to 55 years old and 45 aged 65 to 85 years old) who received a single intramuscular administration of GRAd-COV2 at three escalating doses. Local and systemic adverse reactions were mostly mild or moderate and of short duration, and no serious adverse events were reported. Four weeks after vaccination, seroconversion to spike protein and receptor binding domain was achieved in 43 of 44 young volunteers and in 45 of 45 older participants. Consistently, neutralizing antibodies were detected in 42 of 44 younger-age and 45 of 45 older-age volunteers. In addition, GRAd-COV2 induced a robust and T helper 1 cell (TH1)–skewed T cell response against the spike protein in 89 of 90 participants from both age groups. Overall, the safety and immunogenicity data from the phase 1 trial support the further development of this vaccine.
Relationship between depression, prefrontal creatine and grey matter volume

Background: Depression and low mood are leading contributors to disability worldwide. Research indicates that clinical depression may be associated with low creatine concentrations in the brain and low prefrontal grey matter volume. Because subclinical depression also contributes to difficulties in day-to-day life, understanding the neural mechanisms of depressive symptoms in all individuals, even at a subclinical level, may aid public health. Methods: Eighty-four young adult participants completed the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) to quantify severity of depression, anxiety and stress, and underwent 1H-Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of the medial prefrontal cortex and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine whole-brain grey matter volume. Results/outcomes: DASS depression scores were negatively associated (a) with concentrations of creatine (but not other metabolites) in the prefrontal cortex and (b) with grey matter volume in the right superior medial frontal gyrus. Medial prefrontal creatine concentrations and right superior medial frontal grey matter volume were positively correlated. DASS anxiety and DASS stress scores were not related to prefrontal metabolite concentrations or whole-brain grey matter volume. Conclusions/interpretations: This study provides preliminary evidence from a representative group of individuals who exhibit a range of depression levels that prefrontal creatine and grey matter volume are negatively associated with depression. While future research is needed to fully understand this relationship, these results provide support for previous findings, which indicate that increasing creatine concentrations in the prefrontal cortex may improve mood and well-being.
Clinical Efficacy of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients with Liver Metastases: A Network Meta-Analysis of Nine Randomized Controlled Trials

Purpose This network meta-analysis (NMA) was conducted to compare the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with liver metastases. Materials and Methods English literature was retrieved from the PubMed, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and European Society for Medical Oncology databases from January 2015 to January 2021. We pooled the overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) hazard ratios (HRs) using an NMA and ranked treatments by the surface under the cumulative ranking curve. Publication bias was evaluated by Begg’s and Egger’s tests. STATA 15.0 was used for the sensitivity analysis, and the remaining statistical analyses were performed using R 4.0. 2. Results Nine eligible phase III randomized controlled trials were included, including 1,141 patients with liver metastases. Pembrolizumab+chemotherapy ranked highest, followed by atezolizumab+bevacizumab+chemotherapy and nivolumab. However, no significant difference in OS rates was observed across these three treatments (HR, 0.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.43 to 2.22 for pembrolizumab+chemotherapy vs. atezolizumab+bevacizumab+chemotherapy; HR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.52 to 1.57 for pembrolizumab+chemotherapy vs. nivolumab). Regarding the PFS rate, atezolizumab+bevacizumab+chemotherapy and pembrolizumab+chemotherapy ranked highest and no significant difference was observed between them (HR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.36 to 1.70 for atezolizumab+bevacizumab+chemotherapy vs. pembrolizumab+chemotherapy). Conclusion Pembrolizumab+chemotherapy, atezolizumab+bevacizumab+chemotherapy, and nivolumab were superior to other treatments in NSCLC patients with liver metastases. These new findings may help clinicians better select therapeutic strategies for NSCLC patients with liver metastases.
Moving in the right direction: elucidating the mechanisms of interaction between flecainide and the cardiac ryanodine receptor

Flecainide is used to treat catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT), an arrhythmia caused by disrupted cellular Ca2+ handling following β‐adrenergic stimulation. The clinical efficacy of flecainide in this context involves complex effects on multiple ion channels that may be influenced by the disease state. A compelling narrative has been constructed around flecainide's nonselective block of sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) lumen‐to‐cytoplasm Ca2+ release through intracellular calcium release channels (RyR2). However, ion fluxes across the SR membrane during heart contraction are bidirectional, and here, we review experimental evidence that flecainide's principal action on RyR2 involves the partial block of ion flow in the cytoplasm‐to‐lumen direction (i.e., flecainide inhibits RyR2‐mediated SR ‘countercurrent’). Experimental approaches that could advance new knowledge on the mechanism of RyR2 block by flecainide are proposed. Some impediments to progress in this area, that must be overcome to enable the development of superior drugs to treat CPVT, are also considered.
A pilot study to assess the performance of a rapid ultrasound particle agglutination method for the detection of HIV antibodies

ABSTRACT Anti-HIV antibody screening and confirmatory tests include rapid diagnostics tests (RDT), which have limited sensitivity, and high-sensitivity ELISA and western blot tests, which are laborious and require technical proficiency. Thus, there is an unmet need for novel rapid, simple, and highly sensitive tests. A pilot study was conducted to assess the performance of a recently developed ultrasound particle agglutination (UPA) method for high-sensitivity HIV antibody detection using 51 confirmed positive and 310 presumably negative plasma samples, and 6 commercially available anti-HIV-1 seroconversion panels (total 56 members). Optimal cutoff value of the UPA method was determined by receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis, providing clinical sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 98.1%, respectively. The performance characteristics of UPA, compared with those of some established RDT’s and ELISA tests using HIV seroconversion panels, showed 2 days earlier HIV antibody detection than other RDT’s and 2nd-generation ELISA, and at approximately the same time as 3rd-generation ELISA. The preliminary analysis of the UPA method performance characteristics showed that it meets the minimum requirements of the WHO guidelines for RDTs as first-line assays. This pilot study paves the way for more detailed validation studies of the UPA method for HIV antibody detection in clinical practice.
Characterization of diphenyl phthalate as an agonist for estrogen receptor: an in vitro and in silico study

Abstract Phthalate esters (PAEs) are important pollutants in the environment, which can interfere with the endocrine system by mimicking estrogen. However, limited information is available on modulating the estrogen receptor (ER) of five PAEs including di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP), benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), diphenyl phthalate (DPhP) and dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP). This study evaluated the agonistic effects of PAEs on human ER. The cytotoxicity assay showed that there were a significant inhibition of the cell proliferation with treatment of five PAEs. Moreover, DPhP does-dependently enhanced ER-mediated transcriptional activity in the reporter gene assay. The increased expression of estrogen-responsive genes (TFF1, CTSD, and GREB1) was also observed in MCF-7 cells treated with DPhP. The result of molecular docking showed that DPhP tended to bind to the agonist conformation of ER compared with the antagonist conformation of ER, demonstrating its agonist characteristic that has been confirmed in the reporter gene assay. Thus, we found that DPhP may be evaluated as an ER agonist in vitro and it can interfere with the normal function of human ER.
Utilizing treated wastewater in tree plantation in Indian desert: part I – species suitability, plant growth and biomass production

Abstract Treated wastewater can partly meet the requirements of water for irrigating tree crops in dry areas to better utilize, produce biomass and reduce land degradation. Seedlings of Acacia nilotica, Azadirachta indica, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Prosopis cineraria, P. juliflora, Tamarix aphylla, Salvadora persica, S. oleoides and Tecomella undulata were planted and irrigated with bore-well (BW) and treated wastewater (WW) at ½ET (Evaporation-transpiration) and ¾ET. Plants irrigated at BW1/2 attained less height and collar diameter, and showed low growth increments and dry biomass. These variables increased by 1.2-2.0-fold at WW3/4 irrigation. Plants produced 1.4-fold higher biomass with WW over BW, whereas it was 1.5-fold higher at ¾ET over ½ET. Responses of species to BW/WW irrigation differed in biomass allocation to roots and other parts as a mechanism to uptake water and nutrients. Conclusively, A. nilotica, A. indica, P. juliflora and T. aphylla had stronger preference to increased irrigation level, whereas E. camaldulensis, S. persica, S. oleoides and T. undulata had preferred nutrients added through treated wastewater. A. nilotica, E. camaldulensis, P. juliflora and A. indica were best species in growth and biomass production and wastewater utilization. These can be replicated in urban afforestation to enhance bio-product and reduce degradation in environmental quality. Novelty statement Wastewater (WW) is an alternative source of water in dryland afforestation. Wastewater was characterized and utilized in growing tree plantation in Indian arid zone. Plant growth and biomass increased with treated wastewater irrigation. Responses of different species to wastewater differed depending on their phytoremediation ability by nutrient uptake and biomass distribution. Tree species differed in their preferences to increased quantity of irrigation water and nutrients added through wastewater application.
Activation of epigenetic regulator KDM6B by Salmonella Typhimurium enables chronic infections

ABSTRACT Non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) infections result in self limiting gastroenteritis except in rare cases wherein manifestations of chronic infections can occur. Strategies employed by Salmonella to thrive in hostile environments of host during chronic infections are complex and multifaceted. In chronic state, a coordinated action of bacterial effectors allows reprogramming of macrophages to M2 subtype and thereby creating a permissible replicative niche. The mechanistic details of these processes are not fully known. In the current study we identified, histone H3-lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3)-specific demethylase, KDM6B to be upregulated in both cell culture and in murine model of Salmonella infection. KDM6B recruitment upon infection exhibited an associated loss of overall H3K27me3 in host cells and was Salmonella SPI1 effectors coordinated. ChIP-qRT-PCR array analysis revealed several new gene promoter targets of KDM6B demethylase activity including PPARδ, a crucial regulator of fatty acid oxidation pathway and Salmonella-persistent infections. Furthermore, pharmacological inhibition of KDM6B demethylase activity with GSKJ4 in chronic Salmonella infection mice model led to a significant reduction in pathogen load and M2 macrophage polarization in peripheral lymphoid organs. The following work thus reveals Salmonella effector-mediated epigenetic reprogramming of macrophages responsible for its long-term survival and chronic carriage.
Long non-coding RNA TRPM2-AS regulates microRNA miR-138-5p and PLAU (Plasminogen Activator, Urokinase) to promote the progression of gastric adenocarcinoma

ABSTRACT Gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC) is a common malignant tumor, accounting for 95% of gastric cancers. However, the effects and regulatory mechanisms of long non-coding RNA TRPM2-AS (TRPM2-AS) in GAC have not been fully explored. Our study investigates the action mechanism of TRPM2-AS in GAC. After performing quantitative Real-Time polymerase chain reaction or western blotting, we found that the levels of TRPM2-AS and Plasminogen Activator, Urokinase (PLAU) were upregulated in GAC, whereas the level of miR-138-5p was downregulated. Cell function experiments proved that silencing TRPM2-AS suppressed proliferation and migration and induced apoptosis in GAC cells. Bioinformatic analysis and luciferase assay identified the interaction between TRPM2-AS, miR-138-5p, and PLAU. In addition, the inhibitory effect of silencing TRPM2-AS on GAC cells could be partially relieved by PLAU overexpression. In conclusion, our study revealed that TRPM2-AS sponging miR-138-5p to upregulate PLAU could contribute to GAC progression, which might be useful for identifying biomarkers for GAC therapy. Abbreviation Gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC); Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA); lncRNA TRPM2 antisense RNA (TRPM2-AS); Plasminogen Activator, Urokinase (PLAU); Wild-type (WT); mutant (MUT).