Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trends in herpes zoster epidemiology in Germany based on primary care sentinel surveillance data, 2005–2016

ABSTRACT Herpes zoster (HZ) is caused by reactivation of the varicella-zoster-virus (VZV). Childhood varicella vaccination, as recommended in Germany in 2004, may reduce the risk of HZ in vaccinated children but also virus circulation and thus the booster possibility of latent infected persons. In this context we analyzed age-specific trends in HZ epidemiology in Germany using data on HZ-associated outpatient consultations in participating sentinel sites and HZ-associated cases in all hospitals since 2005. We analyzed two separate time periods that differed in sentinel management and data integrity. For the period 2005–2010, we found a decrease in HZ-associated outpatient consultations in 1- to 4-year-olds (IRR = 0.72, 95%CI 0.63-0.81, p<0.001). For the period 2013–2016, we observed a decrease in HZ-associated outpatient consultations in 10- to 14-year-olds (IRR = 0.85, 95%CI 0.78-0.93, p<0.01). Moreover, we detected an increase in the age groups 20 years and older except for the group 30–39 years. HZ-associated hospitalizations showed similar trends for the second time period (here 2012–2015). The decrease in HZ-associated outpatient consultations and hospitalizations in children started and continued over cohorts eligible for varicella vaccination and could be a result of their reduced HZ-risk. Whether the observed steady increasing HZ incidences for adults are associated with the varicella vaccination in children remains unclear and could not be investigated with our data.
Ischemic Preconditioning Blunts Muscle Damage Responses Induced by Eccentric Exercise

Purpose Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) is known to reduce muscle damage induced by ischemia and reperfusion injury during surgery. Because of similarities between the pathophysiological formation of ischemia and reperfusion injury and eccentric exercise–induced muscle damage (EIMD), as characterized by an intracellular accumulation of Ca2+, an increased production of reactive oxygen species, and increased proinflammatory signaling, the purpose of the present study was to investigate whether IPC performed before eccentric exercise may also protect against EIMD. Methods Nineteen healthy men were matched to an eccentric-only (ECC; n = 9) or eccentric proceeded by IPC group (IPC + ECC; n = 10). The exercise protocol consisted of bilateral biceps curls (3 × 10 repetitions at 80% of the concentric one-repetition maximum). In IPC + ECC, IPC was applied bilaterally at the upper arms by a tourniquet (200 mm Hg) immediately before the exercise (3 × 5 min of occlusion, separated by 5 min of reperfusion). Creatine kinase (CK), arm circumference, subjective pain (visual analog scale score), and radial displacement (tensiomyography, maximal radial displacement) were assessed before IPC, preexercise, postexercise, and 20 min, 2 h, 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h postexercise. Results CK differed from baseline only in ECC at 48 h (P < 0.001) and 72 h (P < 0.001) postexercise. After 24, 48, and 72 h, CK was increased in ECC compared with IPC + ECC (between groups: 24 h, P = 0.004; 48 h, P < 0.001; 72 h, P < 0.001). The visual analog scale score was significantly higher in ECC at 24–72 h postexercise when compared with IPC + ECC (between groups: all P values < 0.001). The maximal radial displacement was decreased on all postexercise days in ECC (all P values < 0.001) but remained statistically unchanged in IPC + ECC (between groups: P < 0.01). Conclusions These findings indicate that IPC performed before a bout of eccentric exercise of the elbow flexors blunts EIMD and exercise-induced pain while maintaining the contractile properties of the muscle.
Emotion recognition from multi-channel EEG data through Convolutional Recurrent Neural Network

Automatic emotion recognition based on multi-channel neurophysiological signals, as a challenging pattern recognition task, is becoming an important computer-aided method for emotional disorder diagnoses in neurology and psychiatry. Traditional approaches require designing and extracting a range of features from single or multiple channel signals based on extensive domain knowledge. This may be an obstacle for non-domain experts. Moreover, traditional feature fusion method can not fully utilize correlation information between different channels. In this paper, we propose a preprocessing method that encapsulates the multi-channel neurophysiological signals into grid-like frames through wavelet and scalogram transform. We further design a hybrid deep learning model that combines the ‘Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)’ and ‘Recurrent Neural Network (RNN)’, for extracting task-related features, mining inter-channel correlation and incorporating contextual information from those frames. Experiments are carried out, in a trial-level emotion recognition task, on the DEAP benchmarking dataset. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods, with respect to the emotional dimensions of Valence and Arousal.
The Influence of Concordant Complex Posture and Loading Rate on Motion Segment Failure: A Mechanical and Microstructural Investigation

Study Design. Microstructural investigation of compression-induced herniation of a lumbar disc held in a concordant complex posture. Objective. To explore the significance of loading rate in a highly asymmetric concordant posture, comparing the mechanisms of failure to an earlier study using a nonconcordant complex posture. Summary of Background Data. A recent study with a nonconcordant complex posture (turning in the opposite direction to that which the load is applied) demonstrated the vulnerability of the disc to loading that is borne by one set of oblique-counter oblique fiber sets in the alternating lamellae of the annulus, and aggravated by an elevated loading rate. Given the strain rate–dependent properties of the disc it might be expected that the outcome differs if the posture is reversed. Methods. Forty-one motion segments from ovine 16 spines were split into two cohorts; adopting the previously employed low rate (40 mm/min) and surprise rate (400 mm/min) of loading. Both groups of damaged discs were then analyzed microstructurally. Results. With the lower rate loading the concordant posture significantly reduced the load required to cause disc failure than earlier described for nonconcordant posture (6.9 vs. 8.4 kN), with more direct tears and alternate lamella damage extending to the anterior disc. Contrary to this result, with a surprise rate, the load at failure was significantly increased with the concordant posture (8.08 vs. 6.96 kN), although remaining significantly less than that from a simple flexed posture (9.6 kN). Analysis of the damage modes and postures suggest facet engagement plays a significant role. Conclusion. This study confirms that adding shear to the posture lowers the load at failure, and causes alternate lamella rupture. Load at failure in a complex posture is not determined by loading rate alone. Rather, the strain rate–dependent properties of the disc influence which elements of the system are brought into play. Level of Evidence: N/A
Detecting Motor Impairment in Early Parkinson’s Disease via Natural Typing Interaction With Keyboards: Validation of the neuroQWERTY Approach in an Uncontrolled At-Home Setting

Background Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease and one of the most common forms of movement disorder. Although there is no known cure for PD, existing therapies can provide effective symptomatic relief. However, optimal titration is crucial to avoid adverse effects. Today, decision making for PD management is challenging because it relies on subjective clinical evaluations that require a visit to the clinic. This challenge has motivated recent research initiatives to develop tools that can be used by nonspecialists to assess psychomotor impairment. Among these emerging solutions, we recently reported the neuroQWERTY index, a new digital marker able to detect motor impairment in an early PD cohort through the analysis of the key press and release timing data collected during a controlled in-clinic typing task. Objective The aim of this study was to extend the in-clinic implementation to an at-home implementation by validating the applicability of the neuroQWERTY approach in an uncontrolled at-home setting, using the typing data from subjects’ natural interaction with their laptop to enable remote and unobtrusive assessment of PD signs. Methods We implemented the data-collection platform and software to enable access and storage of the typing data generated by users while using their computer at home. We recruited a total of 60 participants; of these participants 52 (25 people with Parkinson’s and 27 healthy controls) provided enough data to complete the analysis. Finally, to evaluate whether our in-clinic-built algorithm could be used in an uncontrolled at-home setting, we compared its performance on the data collected during the controlled typing task in the clinic and the results of our method using the data passively collected at home. Results Despite the randomness and sparsity introduced by the uncontrolled setting, our algorithm performed nearly as well in the at-home data (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] of 0.76 and sensitivity/specificity of 0.73/0.69) as it did when used to evaluate the in-clinic data (AUC 0.83 and sensitivity/specificity of 0.77/0.72). Moreover, the keystroke metrics presented a strong correlation between the 2 typing settings, which suggests a minimal influence of the in-clinic typing task in users’ normal typing. Conclusions The finding that an algorithm trained on data from an in-clinic setting has comparable performance with that tested on data collected through naturalistic at-home computer use reinforces the hypothesis that subtle differences in motor function can be detected from typing behavior. This work represents another step toward an objective, user-convenient, and quasi-continuous monitoring tool for PD.
Signal transduction pathways involved in the regulation of protein synthesis by insulin in L6 myoblasts.

The phosphorylation states of three proteins implicated in the action of insulin on translation were investigated, i.e., 70-kDa ribosomal protein S6 kinase (p70 S6k ), eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF) 4E, and the eIF-4E binding protein 4E-BP1. Addition of insulin caused a stimulation of protein synthesis in L6 myoblasts in culture, an effect that was blocked by inhibitors of phosphatidylinositide-3-OH kinase (wortmannin), p70 S6k (rapamycin), and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAP kinase) kinase (PD-98059). The stimulation of protein synthesis was accompanied by increased phosphorylation of p70 S6k , an effect that was blocked by rapamycin and wortmannin but not PD-98059. Insulin caused dephosphorylation of eIF-4E, an effect that appeared to be mediated by the p70 S6k pathway. Insulin also stimulated phosphorylation of 4E-BP1 as well as dissociation of the 4E-BP1 ⋅ eIF-4E complex. Both rapamycin and wortmannin completely blocked the insulin-induced changes in 4E-BP1 phosphorylation and association of 4E-BP1 and eIF-4E; PD-98059 had no effect on either parameter. Finally, insulin stimulated formation of the active eIF-4G ⋅ eIF-4E complex, an effect that was not prevented by any of the inhibitors. Overall, the results suggest that insulin stimulates protein synthesis in L6 myoblasts in part through utilization of both the p70 S6k and MAP kinase signal transduction pathways.
Unmyelinated Low Threshold Mechanoreceptors Are Required for Injury-induced Mechanical Hypersensitivity Hhs Public Access Supplementary Material

Mechanical pain contributes to the morbidity associated with inflammation and trauma, but primary sensory neurons that convey the sensation of acute and persistent mechanical pain have not been identified. Dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons transmit sensory information to the spinal cord using the excitatory transmitter glutamate1, a process that depends on glutamate transport into synaptic vesicles for regulated exocytotic release. Here we report that a small subset of cells in the DRG expresses the low abundance vesicular glutamate transporter VGLUT3. In the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, these afferents project to lamina I and the innermost layer of lamina II, which has previously been implicated in persistent pain caused by injury2. Since the different VGLUT isoforms generally exhibit a nonredundant pattern of expression3, we used VGLUT3 knockout (KO) mice to assess the role of VGLUT3 + primary afferents in the behavioral response to somatosensory input. The loss of VGLUT3 specifically impairs mechanical pain sensation and in particular the mechanical hypersensitivity to normally innocuous stimuli that accompanies inflammation, nerve injury and trauma. Direct recording from VGLUT3 + neurons in the DRG further identifies them as a poorly understood population of unmyelinated, low threshold Users may view, print, copy, download and text and data-mine the content in such documents, for the purposes of academic research, subject always to the full Conditions of use: Author Information Reprints and permissions information is available at npg.nature. com/reprintsandpermissions. Full methods are available in the supplementary information. mechanoreceptors (C-LTMRs)4,5. The analysis of VGLUT3 KO mice now indicates a critical role for C-LTMRs in the mechanical hypersensitivity caused by injury. In contrast to the more abundant isoforms VGLUT1 and 2, VGLUT3 is expressed by a small number of isolated neuronal populations6. Consistent with this general pattern, VGLUT1 and 2 occur at high levels throughout dorsal and ventral horns of the spinal cord7,8, whereas VGLUT3 has a much more restricted distribution. In the dorsal horn, distinct bands within superficial laminae I and inner II immunostain specifically for VGLUT3 (Fig. 1a). Unilateral dorsal rhizotomy (L3-5) eliminates VGLUT3 immunoreactivity in the ipsilateral, but not the contralateral dorsal horn, establishing the peripheral origin of these processes. Within inner lamina II, VGLUT3 immunoreactivity overlaps almost exclusively with a band of interneurons expressing the γ isoform of protein kinase C (PKC), and not with afferents that bind the lectin IB4 (Fig. 1b). This discrete projection suggests expression of the transporter by DRG neurons that …
PaCATB, a secreted catalase protecting Podospora anserina against exogenous oxidative stress

A differential mass spectrometry analysis of secreted proteins from juvenile and senescent Podospora anserina cultures revealed age-related differences in protein profiles. Among other proteins with decreased abundance in the secretome of senescent cultures a catalase, termed PaCATB, was identified. Genetic modulation of the abundance of PaCATB identified differential effects on the phenotype of the corresponding strains. Deletion of PaCatB resulted in decreased resistance, over-expression in increased resistance against hydrogen peroxide. While the lifespan of the genetically modified strains was found to be unaffected under standard growth conditions, increased exogenous hydrogen peroxide stress in the growth medium markedly reduced the lifespan of the PaCatB deletion strain but extended the lifespan of PaCatB over-expressors. Overall our data identify a component of the secretome of P. anserina as a new effective factor to cope with environmental stress, stress that under natural conditions is constantly applied on organisms and influences aging processes.
Role of gadolinium(III) complex in improving thermal stability of polythiophene composite

This paper involves the preparation of polythiophene (PTP) and its composite by the oxidative polymerisation method by using ferric chloride as an oxidant and thiophene monomer. The gadolinium(III) complex obtained by the refluxing technique was used as dopant in the PTP matrix. On the basis of the spectroscopic characterisation, seven-coordinate geometry is proposed for the complex. Conductance measurement confirms the non-selectrolyte nature of complex. The PTP and its composite were subjected to FTIR, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope techniques. The powder X-ray diffraction pattern showed the high crystalline nature of the complex which in turn developed a good degree of crystallinity in the PTP composite. The average particle size was calculated as 4.655 Å and 3.737 Å for the dopant and PTP composite, respectively, by using Debye Scherrer’s equation. Thermal analysis was performed by thermogravimetric (TG) analysis, differential thermal analysis (DTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. The TG, DTA and DSC results were well-correlated. The thermal analysis revealed the high thermal stability of the dopant which in turn improved the thermal stability of the PTP composite, revealing the potential of the composite for high temperature applications.
The Factors Affecting Teaching and Learning Professionalism Among Medical Teachers

Given the special importance of medical professionalism, a successful faculty development strategy not only teaches professionalism in cognitive domain but also creates practical instructors who can act as role models for students. This study proposed to identify themes that can explain effective factors in teaching and learning professionalism among medical teachers. The study was qualitative. Twenty-four experts in medical education participated in the study from all medical universities of Iran. Data gathering was performed via semistructured interviews. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed by classic content analysis. At the end, the factors were confirmed by the focus group consisting of six experts. One hundred seventy-seven codes were extracted. Codes were categorized into 24 subcategories and five main categories: (1) culture, (2) educational factors, (3) background, (4) attitude, and (5) organizational factors. There are many effective factors for a proper faculty development in teaching and learning professionalism. These factors could be individualized, organizational, or external. We cannot design a program without considering these factors.
Approximate Epipolar Geometry from Six Rotation Invariant Correspondences

We propose a method for estimating an approximate fundamental matrix from six rotation invariant feature correspondences exploiting their rotation components, e.g. provided by SIFT or ORB detectors. The cameras are not calibrated. First, a linear sub-space is calculated from the point coordinates, then the rotations are used assuming orthographic projection. It is demonstrated that combining the proposed method with Graph-cut RANSAC makes it superior to the state-of-the-art in terms of accuracy for tasks requiring a strict time limit. These tasks are practically the ones which need to be done real time. We tested the method on 203 publicly available real image pairs.
Insulin Resistance and the IGF‐I‐Cortical Bone Relationship in Children Ages 9 to 13 Years

IGF‐I is a pivotal hormone in pediatric musculoskeletal development. Although recent data suggest that the role of IGF‐I in total body lean mass and total body bone mass accrual may be compromised in children with insulin resistance, cortical bone geometric outcomes have not been studied in this context. Therefore, we explored the influence of insulin resistance on the relationship between IGF‐I and cortical bone in children. A secondary aim was to examine the influence of insulin resistance on the lean mass‐dependent relationship between IGF‐I and cortical bone. Children were otherwise healthy, early adolescent black and white boys and girls (ages 9 to 13 years) and were classified as having high (n = 147) or normal (n = 168) insulin resistance based on the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR). Cortical bone at the tibia diaphysis (66% site) and total body fat‐free soft tissue mass (FFST) were measured by peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) and dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA), respectively. IGF‐I, insulin, and glucose were measured in fasting sera and HOMA‐IR was calculated. Children with high HOMA‐IR had greater unadjusted IGF‐I (p < 0.001). HOMA‐IR was a negative predictor of cortical bone mineral content, cortical bone area (Ct.Ar), and polar strength strain index (pSSI; all p ≤ 0.01) after adjusting for race, sex, age, maturation, fat mass, and FFST. IGF‐I was a positive predictor of most musculoskeletal endpoints (all p < 0.05) after adjusting for race, sex, age, and maturation. However, these relationships were moderated by HOMA‐IR (pInteraction < 0.05). FFST positively correlated with most cortical bone outcomes (all p < 0.05). Path analyses demonstrated a positive relationship between IGF‐I and Ct.Ar via FFST in the total cohort (βIndirect Effect = 0.321, p < 0.001). However, this relationship was moderated in the children with high (βIndirect Effect = 0.200, p < 0.001) versus normal (βIndirect Effect = 0.408, p < 0.001) HOMA‐IR. These data implicate insulin resistance as a potential suppressor of IGF‐I‐dependent cortical bone development, though prospective studies are needed. © 2017 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Characterizing Diseases and disorders in Gay Users' tweets

A lack of information exists about the health issues of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people who are often excluded from national demographic assessments, health studies, and clinical trials. As a result, medical experts and researchers lack a holistic understanding of the health disparities facing these populations. Fortunately, publicly available social media data such as Twitter data can be utilized to support the decisions of public health policy makers and managers with respect to LGBTQ people. This research employs a computational approach to collect tweets from gay users on health-related topics and model these topics. To determine the nature of health-related information shared by men who have sex with men on Twitter, we collected thousands of tweets from 177 active users. We sampled these tweets using a framework that can be applied to other LGBTQ sub-populations in future research. We found 11 diseases in 7 categories based on ICD 10 that are in line with the published studies and official reports.
International variations in the gestational age distribution of births: an ecological study in 34 high-income countries

Background Few studies have investigated international variations in the gestational age (GA) distribution of births. While preterm births (22-36 weeks GA) and early term births (37-38 weeks) are at greater risk of adverse health outcomes compared to full term births (39-40 weeks), it is not known if countries with high preterm birth rates also have high early term birth rates. We examined rate associations between preterm and early term births and mean term GA by mode of delivery onset. Methods We used routine aggregate data on the GA distribution of singleton live births from up to 34 high-income countries/regions in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2010 to study preterm and early term births overall and by spontaneous or indicated onset. Pearson correlation coefficients were adjusted for clustering in time trend analyses. Results Preterm and early term births ranged from 4.1% to 8.2% (median 5.5%) and 15.6% to 30.8% (median 22.2%) of live births in 2010, respectively. Countries with higher preterm birth rates in 2004-2010 had higher early term birth rates (r > 0.50, P < 0.01) and changes over time were strongly correlated overall (adjusted-r = 0.55, P < 0.01) and by mode of onset. Conclusion Positive associations between preterm and early term birth rates suggest that common risk factors could underpin shifts in the GA distribution. Targeting modifiable population risk factors for delivery before 39 weeks GA may provide a useful preterm birth prevention paradigm.