Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antimicrobial properties of antibiotic-loaded implants.

AIMS The aim of this study was to compare the ability of tantalum, 3D porous titanium, antibiotic-loaded bone cement, and smooth titanium alloy to inhibit staphylococci in an in vitro environment, based on the evaluation of the zone of inhibition (ZOI). The hypothesis was that there would be no significant difference in the inhibition of methicillin-sensitive or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA/MRSA) between the two groups. METHODS A total of 30 beads made of three different materials (tantalum/3D porous titanium and smooth titanium alloy) were bathed for one hour in a solution of 1 g vancomycin in 20 ml of sterile water for injection (bath concentration: 50 mg/mL). Ten 1 cm3 cylinders of antibiotic-loaded cement were also created by mixing standard surgical cement with 1 g of vancomycin in standardized sterile moulds. The cylinders were then placed on agar plates inoculated with MSSA and MRSA. The ZOIs were measured each day and the cylinders were transferred onto a new inoculated plate. RESULTS For MSSA and MRSA, no inhibitory effect was found in the control group, and antibiotic-loaded smooth titanium alloy beads showed a short inhibitory effect until day 2. For MSSA, both tantalum and 3D porous titanium beads showed significantly larger mean ZOIs than cement beads (all p < 0.01) each day until day 7 for tantalum and until day 3 for 3D porous titanium. After six days, antibiotic-loaded cement had significantly larger mean ZOIs than the 3D porous titanium (p = 0.027), but no significant difference was found with tantalum (p = 0.082). For MRSA, both tantalum and 3D porous titanium beads had significantly larger mean ZOIs than antibiotic-loaded cement each day until day 6 for tantalum (all p < 0.01) and until day 3 for 3D porous titanium (all p < 0.04). Antibiotic-loaded cement had significantly larger mean ZOIs than tantalum and 3D porous titanium from day 7 to 9 (all p < 0.042). CONCLUSION These results show that porous metal implants can deliver local antibiotics over slightly varying time frames based on in vitro analysis. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2020;102-B(6 Supple A):158-162.
Synergistic Effect of Feeding Time and Diet on Hepatic Steatosis and Gene Expression in Male Wistar Rats

Eating out of phase with the endogenous biological clock alters clock and metabolic gene expression in rodents and can induce obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diet composition can also affect clock gene expression. This study assessed the combined effect of diet composition and feeding time on (1) body composition, (2) energy balance, and (3) circadian expression of hepatic clock and metabolic genes.
Impact of herbs and dietary supplements in patients with fibromyalgia

Abstract Background: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a common chronic pain condition that seriously affects the quality of patient lives. Its etiology, pathogenesis, and treatment still remain uncertain. Dietary supplements have been widely trialed for symptom relief for FM. The review aims to synthesize the previous literature publications to assess the impact of herbs and dietary supplements on FM patients. Methods: We will conduct a literature search in the following databases PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Global Health from database inception to December 2019. Clinical studies published in the English language that used human participants and address the efficacy, safety, and acceptability of herbs and dietary supplements on individuals with FM will be included. The risk of bias and quality assessment of each trial will be evaluated. If trials are enough, a meta-analysis will be conducted using software RevMan5.3, Cochrane Collaboration. Result: Our review will be the first attempt to facilitate evidence-based management using herbs and dietary supplements to treat patients with FM. Conclusion: The findings may provide a framework for future research and clinic practice in FM management. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020149941
Nursing Home Culture Change Practices and Survey Deficiencies: A National Longitudinal Panel Study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Nursing home (NH) adoption of culture change practices has substantially increased in recent decades. We examined how increasing adoption of culture change practices impacted the prevalence of health, severe health, and quality of life (QoL) deficiencies. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Novel data on culture change practice adoption from a nationally representative NH panel (N=1,585) surveyed in 2009/2010 and 2016/2017 were used to calculate change in practice adoption scores in three culture change domains (resident-centered care, staff empowerment, physical environment). These data were linked to data on health, severe health, and QoL deficiencies and facility-level covariates. Multinomial logistic regression models, with survey weights and inverse probability of treatment weighting, examined how increased culture change practice adoption related to change in deficiencies. RESULTS We generally observed less increase in deficiencies when culture change practices increased. However, after weighting and controlling for baseline deficiencies and culture change scores, we found few statistically significant effects. Still, results show increased physical environment practices resulted in a higher likelihood of decreases or no change (versus increases) in QoL deficiencies; increased resident-centered care practices resulted in decreases or no change (versus increases) in health deficiencies; and increased staff empowerment practices resulted in higher a likelihood of no change (versus increases) in severe health deficiencies. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS This study provides some evidence that culture change practices can help reduce the risk of increasing some types of deficiencies, but the impact of increases in each culture change domain related differently to different types of deficiencies.
Cytomegalovirus Genotype Distribution among Congenital and Perinatal Infected Patients with CMV-Associated Thrombocytopenia

Abstract Objective: We determined the prevalence and relationship of glycoprotein B (gB), glycoprotein N (gN), and glycoprotein H (gH) genotypes of cytomegalovirus (CMV) in CMV-associated thrombocytopenia (CAP). Methods: CMV gB, gN, and gH strains were determined by nested PCR and restriction length polymorphism from 24 CAP and 20 asymptomatic CMV infected infants. Results: The order of prevalence was gB1 (70.8%,17/24), gN4 (45.8%,11/24) and gH2 (54.2%,13/24). There was a greater prevalence of gB1(75.0%,15/20), gN4(50.0%,10/20) and gN2 (35.0%,7/20) in moderate to severe infection (p = 0.014 and p = 0.003). By logistic regression, gH2 (p = 0.031) had an elevated risk of thrombocytopenia. Reduced risks of thrombocytopenia were associated with gB2 (p = 0.020), gN1 (p = 0.018) and gN3 (p = 0.008). The most virulent were gB1 (p = 0.033) and gN2 (p = 0.038). Conclusions: There may be a potential association between the gH2 genotype of CMV and infantile thrombocytopenia.
THE EFFECTS OF HERBIVORY BY A WEEVIL SPECIES, ACTING ALONE AND UNRESTRAINED BY NATURAL ENEMIES, ON GROWTH AND PHENOLOGY OF THE WEED SESBANIA PUNICEA

SUMMARY (1) An apionid weevil, Trichapion lativentre (Beguin-Billecocq), has been introduced into South Africa where it is the only herbivore of any consequence on the South American legume Sesbania punicea (Cav.) Benth. Its impact on plant performance is not restrained by any competitors or natural enemies. (2) Plant growth at weevil-free sites was compared to that at sites colonized by the weevils for one and for two seasons. Relative growth curves are used to describe the effects of weevil feeding on above-ground productivity and phenology of the host-plant. (3) Feeding by the adult weevils suppressed leaf-set, caused premature abscission of the leaflets, and reduced stem growth. Larval feeding destroyed most of the buds and greatly reduced flowering and seed production. The mean mass of individual seeds increased as a consequence of weevil herbivory. (4) These effects on vegetative and reproductive growth were exacerbated at sites that had been colonized by weevils for two seasons. (5) It has yet to be established whether the impact of herbivory by T. lativentre will reduce the density and spread of S. punicea and result in successful biological control of the weed.
Bioinformatic Analysis of Prophage Endolysins and Endolysin-Like Genes from the Order Lactobacillales

Bioinformatic Analysis of Prophage Endolysins and Endolysin-Like Genes from the Order Lactobacillales Endolysins belonging to the group of peptigoglycan hydrolases, which are able to cleave peptidoglycan in bacterial cell walls, become an extensively studied group of enzymes. Thanks to their narrow target specificity and low probability of resistance they are considered to be an appropriate alternative to conventional antibiotics. The present paper concerns the occurrence of endolysin and endolysin-like genes in genomes of bacteria belonging to the order Lactobacillales. Using bioinformatic programmes we compared and analysed protein sequences of catalytic and cell wall binding (CWB) domains of these enzymes, their preferred combinations, their phylogenetic relationship and potential occurence of natural "domain shuffling". The existence of this phenomenon in selected group of enzymes was confirmed only in limited range, so we assume that the natural trend is the distribution of "well-tried" combinations of catalytic and CWB domains of endolysin genes as a whole.
Eating and exercise behaviors in eating disorders and the general population during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Australia: Initial results from the COLLATE project

Abstract Objective Emerging evidence suggests that the coronavirus (COVID‐19) pandemic may be negatively impacting mental health. The impact on eating and exercise behaviors is, however, currently unknown. This study aimed to identify changes in eating and exercise behaviors in an Australian sample among individuals with an eating disorder, and the general population, amidst the COVID‐19 pandemic outbreak. Method A total of 5,469 participants, 180 of whom self‐reported an eating disorder history, completed questions relating to changes in eating and exercise behaviors since the emergence of the pandemic, as part of the COLLATE (COvid‐19 and you: mentaL heaLth in AusTralia now survEy) project; a national survey launched in Australia on April 1, 2020. Results In the eating disorders group, increased restricting, binge eating, purging, and exercise behaviors were found. In the general population, both increased restricting and binge eating behaviors were reported; however, respondents reported less exercise relative to before the pandemic. Discussion The findings have important implications for providing greater monitoring and support for eating disorder patients during the COVID‐19 pandemic. In addition, the mental and physical health impacts of changed eating and exercise behaviors in the general population need to be acknowledged and monitored for potential long‐term consequences.
Quand la protéomique s’attaque aux modifications post-traductionnelles…

M/S n° 2, vol. 23, février 2007 Le 5e congrès mondial annuel de l’HUPO (Human proteome organisation) s’est déroulé du 28 octobre au 1er novembre 2006 à Long Beach (CA, États-Unis), avec l’objectif de faire le point sur les possibilités technologiques qu’offre la protéomique pour l’étude des processus physiopathologiques. Ce congrès, traditionnellement tourné vers les dernières innovations techniques en spectrométrie de masse et en analyses de données, a laissé la part belle aux études portant sur les modifications post-traductionnelles. Ce compte rendu résumera donc les principales avancées présentées lors de ce congrès, sur le plan du développement technologique pour l’amélioration de la purification et de la caractérisation des phosphoet des glycoprotéines comme sur le plan des applications de ces approches pour la découverte de biomarqueurs de pathologies, ou pour l’étude globale de voies impliquées dans la signalisation cellulaire.
New Insights into the Systemic Effects of Oral Lactoferrin: Transcriptome Profiling.

The immunomodulatory nature of lactoferrin (LF) derives from its ability to bridge innate and adaptive immunity in obtaining physiological equilibrium. LF is an attractive molecule for treatment of diseases that compromise immune homeostasis. Oral delivery is a preferable method for LF administration; however, its bioavailability is affected by protein degradation and absorption. The aim of this study was to evaluate the systemic effects of oral and intravenous (IV) administered recombinant human LF (rhLF) on blood cell transcriptome profiling. Rats were administered with a single dose of rhLF by gavage or IV. The transcriptome profiles from control and rhLF-treated rats after 3h, 6h and 24h were analyzed by Clariom D microarray. The results showed differentially expressed genes in response to IV as well as oral administered rhLF including coding and noncoding RNAs. Moreover, a comparison of the differentially expressed genes between oral and IV after 6h revealed that a majority (72.8%) of altered genes in response to oral rhLF administration was common with IV treatment. The pathway profiles showed similarities in up-regulation of specific genes involved in oxidative stress and inflammatory responses for both routes of treatments. These findings provide evidence of the systemic signal transduction effects of orally administered rhLF.
Effect of Implementing Simulation Education on Health Care Worker Comfort With Nasopharyngeal Swabbing for COVID-19

Objective To determine if rapid implementation of simulation training for the nasopharyngeal swab procedure can increase provider confidence regarding procedure competency. Methods A simulation training exercise was designed as a departmental initiative to improve competency performing nasopharyngeal swabs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sixty-one health care workers attended teaching sessions led by the Department of Otorhinolaryngology on proper nasopharyngeal swab technique. After a brief lecture, participants practiced their swab technique using a high-fidelity airway simulation model. Pre- and postintervention self-evaluations were measured via standardized clinical competency questionnaires on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from “No knowledge, unable to perform” up to “Highly knowledgeable and confident, independent. ” Results Forty-six participants in this study submitted pre- and postintervention self-assessments. Postintervention scores improved on average 1.41 points (95% CI, 1.10-1.73) out of 5 from a mean score of 3.13 to 4.54 (P < .0001). This reflects a large effect size with a Glass’s delta value of 1.3. Discussion Lecture coupled with simulation-based teaching can significantly improve health care workers’ confidence in performing nasopharyngeal swabs. Proper training for frontline workers performing swabs for COVID-19 is essential to improving testing accuracy and can be achieved in a simple and timely manner. Implications for Practice To meet the testing needs of the growing pandemic, many health care workers who are unfamiliar with nasopharyngeal swabs have been asked to perform this test. Simulation-based teaching sessions may improve health care workers’ confidence and help prevent false-negative results. This intervention is easily reproducible in any setting where frequent nasopharyngeal swab testing occurs. Level of Evidence/Study Design Prospective cohort study.
Breast Infrared Thermography Segmentation Based on Adaptive Tuning of a Fully Convolutional Network.

BACKGROUND Accurate segmentation of Breast Infrared Thermography is an important step for early detection of breast pathological changes. Automatic segmentation of Breast Infrared Thermography is a very challenging task, as it is difficult to find an accurate breast contour and extract regions of interest from it. Although several semi-automatic methods have been proposed for segmentation, their performance often depends on hand-crafted image features, as well as preprocessing operations. OBJECTIVES In this work, an approach to automatic semantic segmentation of the Breast Infrared Thermography is proposed based on end-to-end fully convolutional neural networks and without any pre or post-processing. METHODS The lack of labeled Breast Infrared Thermography data limits the complete utilization of fully convolutional neural networks. The proposed model overcomes this challenge by applying data augmentation and two-tier transfer learning from bigger datasets combined with adaptive multi-tier fine-tuning before training the fully convolutional neural networks model. RESULTS Experimental results show that the proposed approach achieves better segmentation results: 97.986% accuracy; 98.36% sensitivity and 97.61% specificity compared to hand-crafted segmentation methods. CONCLUSION This work provided an end-to-end automatic semantic segmentation of Breast Infrared Thermography combined with fully convolutional networks, adaptive multi-tier fine-tuning and transfer learning. Also, this work was able to deal with challenges in applying convolutional neural networks on such data and achieving the state-of-the-art accuracy.
Influences of the Stretch-Shortening Cycle and Arm Swing on Vertical Jump Performance in Children and Adolescents

Abstract Gillen, ZM, Shoemaker, ME, McKay, BD, Bohannon, NA, Gibson, SM, and Cramer, JT. Influences of the stretch-shortening cycle and arm swing on vertical jump performance in children and adolescents. J Strength Cond Res 36(5): 1245–1256, 2022—This study compared the influences of the stretch-shortening cycle and arm swing on vertical jump performance during static jumps (SJs), counter-movement jumps (CMJs), and CMJs with arm swing (CMJAs) in young male and female athletes. Twenty-one boys (age = 12.1 ± 1.1 years) and 21 girls (age = 12.1 ± 1.1 years) performed SJs, CMJs, and CMJAs on force plates that sampled at 1 kHz. Measurements included peak force, rate of force development, peak power (PP), eccentric impulse (ECC), concentric impulse (CON), estimated jump height (JH), and changes in PP and JH across vertical jumps. Measurements of growth included age, maturity offset, height, body mass, fat-free mass, and thigh muscle cross-sectional area. Analyses of variance were used to analyze growth measurements across sex, as well as vertical jump outcome measures. Pearson product moment correlation coefficients were used to determine the relationships between changes in PP and JH across vertical jumps and growth measurements. There were differences in PP and JH such that SJ < CMJ < CMJA (p < 0.001), and ECC such that SJ < CMJA < CMJ (p ≤ 0.048). Changes in PP were greater from the SJ to CMJ than CMJ to CMJA (p ≤ 0.001). The change in PP from the SJ to CMJ exhibited moderate-to-high relationships with growth measurements for boys and girls (r = 0.543–0.803). Because young children may not have the skeletal musculature or strength necessary to absorb and reapply large eccentric preloading forces, future studies should consider using the CMJA, rather than the CMJ, to maximize vertical jump performance and minimize ECC. Coaches and practitioners can expect approximately 27–33% greater PP and 15–17% greater estimated JH when an arm swing is included during the CMJ.
An insertion-deletion polymorphism in angiotensin-converting enzyme is associated with a reduced risk of preeclampsia: an evidence-based meta-analysis from 44 studies

ABSTRACT Objective An updated meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between an insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism in angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and preeclampsia (PE) risk. Methods Pubmed, OVID and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases were searched. Pooled odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated using fixed-effects or random-effects model. Results ACE I/D polymorphism decreased the risk of PE in overall analysis. Subgroup analysis revealed a significantly lower risk of PE with ACE I/D polymorphism in Asians, Caucasians. The decreased risk was also found in severe PE and early-onset PE. Conclusion ACE I/D polymorphism may protect against the development of PE.
Genetic Composition of Bryophyte Populations Occupying Habitats Differing in the Level of Human Disturbance

By using microsatellite markers, we investigated the population genetic structure of three mainly clonally propagating bryophyte species—the hepatic Plagiochila asplenioides (L.) Dumort and the mosses Pleurozium schreberi (Willd. ex Brid.) Mitt. and Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus (Hedw.) Warnst—that occupy habitats differing in the level of human disturbance. Sampled populations, located in southern Finland, were classified as natural or disturbed. All species possessed a fair amount of genetic variation both within populations (mean diversities per population of , , and , respectively) and across populations (0.599, 0.618, and 0.400, respectively). On average, natural and disturbed populations possessed similar levels of genetic diversity. Differentiation levels (FST values of 0.356, 0.298, and 0.302, respectively) were significant but showed that there is some gene flow taking place. The Bayesian STRUCTURE analysis provided additional information on the population genetic structures. Although R. squarrosus was the species with the lowest level of genetic variation, its populations inhabiting urban, disturbed habitats tended to contain highly differentiated genotypes of different origins, which suggests that human-mediated dispersal is important in urban habitats. In addition, detailed analyses of the spatial genetic structure of R. squarrosus showed that at short distances (1 to <30 m) individuals are more closely related than expected, while at greater distances (30 to 500 m) kinship decreases with increasing distance. Thus, the rarity of sexual reproduction was visible in the spatial genetic structure within R. squarrosus populations, as aggregations of similar genotypes were found at short distances in populations otherwise showing isolation-by-distance effect.
Brachial Flow-mediated Dilation and Risk of Dementia

Introduction: Brachial flow-mediated dilation (FMD) is a physiologic measure of endothelial function. We determined the prospective association of brachial FMD with incident dementia among older adults. Methods: We included 2777 Cardiovascular Health Study participants who underwent brachial FMD measurement. Incident dementia was ascertained by medication use, International Classification of Diseases-9 codes, requirement for a proxy, and death certificates and calibrated to gold-standard assessments performed in a subset of the cohort. Results: Mean participant age at time of brachial FMD measurement was 77.9 years. We identified 1650 incident dementia cases (median follow-up=10.5 y). After adjusting for age, race, sex, education, clinic site, and baseline arterial diameter, risk of dementia for participants in the highest quartile of percent brachial FMD did not differ from those in lowest quartile (hazard ratio=0.89, 95% confidence interval: 0.77, 1.03). Conclusions: Brachial FMD, measured late in life, is not associated with an increased risk of incident dementia.