Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Associations between erectile dysfunction and psychological disorders (depression and anxiety): A cross‐sectional study in a Chinese population

The present cross‐sectional survey was performed to evaluate the prevalences and correlations of depression and anxiety among Chinese erectile dysfunction (ED) men. Between February 2017 and January 2019, male patients with or without ED treated in andrology clinic and urology clinic were enrolled in the investigation. All enrolled patients were required to fill in the International Index of Erectile Function Questionnaire (IIEF‐5), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ‐9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7‐item scale (GAD‐7) which intended to evaluate the diagnosis and severity of ED, depression and anxiety respectively. Of the 958 included participants, 79.82% (613/768) and 79.56% (611/768) ED patients appeared to have anxiety and depression; 13.68% (26/190) of men without ED had anxiety and depression. In addition, young ED patients (age ≤35 years) and long ED duration patients (duration >12 months) had higher incidences and severities of anxiety and depression (p < .05). After adjusting the age, IIEF‐5 was negatively correlated with PHQ‐9 (adjusted r = −.653, p < .001) and GAD‐7 scores (adjusted r = −.607, p < .001). The prevalences of anxiety and depression were 79.82% and 79.56% in Chinese ED patients. The prevalences and severities of anxiety and depression increased as the ED severity increased. Based on the high incidences of anxiety and depression among Chinese ED patients, clinicians are supposed to pay more attention to early diagnosis and therapy of psychiatric symptoms for ED patients, especially among young patients and patients with long ED duration.
Colonization of Germ-Free Piglets with Commensal Lactobacillus amylovorus, Lactobacillus mucosae, and Probiotic E. coli Nissle 1917 and Their Interference with Salmonella Typhimurium

Non-typhoid Salmonellae are worldwide spread food-borne pathogens that cause diarrhea in humans and animals. Their multi-drug resistances require alternative ways to combat this enteric pathogen. Mono-colonization of a gnotobiotic piglet gastrointestinal tract with commensal lactobacilli Lactobacillus amylovorus and Lactobacillus mucosae and with probiotic E. coli Nissle 1917 and their interference with S. Typhimurium infection was compared. The impact of bacteria and possible protection against infection with Salmonella were evaluated by clinical signs, bacterial translocation, intestinal histology, mRNA expression of villin, claudin-1, claudin-2, and occludin in the ileum and colon, and local intestinal and systemic levels of inflammatory cytokines IL-8, TNF-α, and IL-10. Both lactobacilli colonized the gastrointestinal tract in approximately 100× lower density compare to E. coli Nissle and S. Typhimurium. Neither L. amylovorus nor L. mucosae suppressed the inflammatory reaction caused by the 24 h infection with S. Typhimurium. In contrast, probiotic E. coli Nissle 1917 was able to suppress clinical signs, histopathological changes, the transcriptions of the proteins, and the inductions of the inflammatory cytokines. Future studies are needed to determine whether prebiotic support of the growth of lactobacilli and multistrain lactobacilli inoculum could show higher protective effects.
TNF-α and IL-6: the link between immune and bone system.

Osteoimmunology is a new subject which focuses on the communication between the immune and the skeletal systems. Both the immune system and bone communicate with each other. Pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) play important roles in immune responses and bone metabolism. TNF-α and IL-6 enhance macrophage activation and antigen presentation, as well as regulating immunity through different mechanisms. A variety of groups have reported that TNF-α suppresses osteoblasts activity at some stages of differentiation and stimulates osteoclast proliferation and differentiation. In contrast, IL-6 mediates the actions of osteoblasts and osteoclasts through sophisticated mechanisms, which reflect dual effects. Both TNF-α and IL-6 can mediate the activity of osteocytes. Furthermore, both TNF-α and IL-6 are important pathogenic factors related to immune-mediated bone diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and postmenopausal osteoporosis. This review will discuss the contradictory findings concerning TNF-α and IL-6 in osteoimmunology and their potential for clinical application.
Impacts of ocean acidification on intertidal benthic foraminiferal growth and calcification

Foraminifera are expected to be particularly susceptible to future changes in ocean carbonate chemistry as a function of increased atmospheric CO2. Studies in an experimental recirculating seawater system were performed with a dominant benthic foraminiferal species collected from intertidal mudflats. We investigated the experimental impacts of ocean acidification on survival, growth/calcification, morphology and the biometric features of a calcareous species Elphidium williamsoni. Foraminifera were exposed for 6 weeks to four different pH treatments that replicated future scenarios of a high CO2 atmosphere resulting in lower seawater pH. Results revealed that declining seawater pH caused a decline in foraminiferal survival rate and growth/calcification (mainly through test weight reduction). Scanning electron microscopy image analysis of live specimens at the end of the experimental period show changes in foraminiferal morphology with clear signs of corrosion and cracking on the test surface, septal bridges, sutures and feeding structures of specimens exposed to the lowest pH conditions. These findings suggest that the morphological changes observed in shell feeding structures may serve to alter: (1) foraminiferal feeding efficiency and their long-term ecological competitiveness, (2) the energy transferred within the benthic food web with a subsequent shift in benthic community structures and (3) carbon cycling and total CaCO3 production, both highly significant processes in coastal waters. These experimental results open-up the possibility of modelling future impacts of ocean acidification on both calcification and dissolution in benthic foraminifera within mid-latitude intertidal environments, with potential implications for understanding the changing marine carbon cycle.
Identification and molecular characterization of the tubulin‐podophyllotoxin‐type lignans binding site on Giardia lamblia

There are several drugs for the treatment of giardiasis; however, there is a tendency for patients to abandon treatment because of drug‐related adverse effects, resulting in relapses, acquired resistance, and higher rates of treatment failure. Recently, we reported some podophyllotoxin‐type lignans from Bursera fagaroides var. fagaroides showing antigiardial activity. In the present work, we demonstrated that 5′‐desmethoxy‐peltatin‐A‐methylether (5‐DES), acetylpodophyllotoxin (APOD), and podophyllotoxin (POD) affect the distribution and staining pattern of microtubular structures on Giardia trophozoites. Virtual screening results revealed that the lignans act via binding in a hydrophobic pocket in the heterodimer interface of tubulin in Giardia. This study provides useful insight to understand the action mechanism of 5DES, APOD, and POD on Giardia lamblia. The optimization of these podophyllotoxin‐type lignans will lead to promising candidates for antigiardial drugs.
A multi-group analysis of the effects of individual differences in mindfulness on nomophobia

This study aimed to investigate the impact of individual differences in mindfulness on nomophobia. We developed and validated two structural models to identify the relationship between mindfulness and nomophobia. The ‘Nomophobia Questionnaire’ and the ‘Mindful Attention Awareness Scale’ were used to obtain data from the subjects. One-way MANOVA results suggested a statistically significant difference in nomophobia based on higher versus lower mindfulness. Further, a multi-group analysis was conducted to test the hypothesized relationships in the structural models for men and women. The results revealed that mindfulness had a significant negative correlation with nomophobia for both men and women. As scores in mindfulness increased, subjects exhibited less nomophobic tendencies. Further, those subjects who had lower scores in mindfulness showed higher anxiety when they were unable to communicate. However, subjects who scored higher in mindfulness showed lower anxiety when they could not access desired information. Independent sample t-test results were variant across men and women in nomophobia. Based on the findings we conclude that mindfulness based treatments can be beneficial in dealing with nomophobia for women.
Attenuation of Zika Virus by Passage in Human HeLa Cells

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne Flavivirus. Previous studies have shown that mosquito-transmitted flaviviruses, including yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, and West Nile viruses, could be attenuated by serial passaging in human HeLa cells. Therefore, it was hypothesized that wild-type ZIKV would also be attenuated after HeLa cell passaging. A human isolate from the recent ZIKV epidemic was subjected to serial HeLa cell passaging, resulting in attenuated in vitro replication in both Vero and A549 cells. Additionally, infection of AG129 mice with 10 plaque forming units (pfu) of wild-type ZIKV led to viremia and mortality at 12 days, whereas infection with 103 pfu of HeLa-passage 6 (P6) ZIKV led to lower viremia, significant delay in mortality (median survival: 23 days), and increased cytokine and chemokine responses. Genomic sequencing of HeLa-passaged virus identified two amino acid substitutions as early as HeLa-P3: pre-membrane E87K and nonstructural protein 1 R103K. Furthermore, both substitutions were present in virus harvested from HeLa-P6-infected animal tissue. Together, these data show that, similarly to other mosquito-borne flaviviruses, ZIKV is attenuated following passaging in HeLa cells. This strategy can be used to improve understanding of substitutions that contribute to attenuation of ZIKV and be applied to vaccine development across multiple platforms.
Combination of the Silver-Ethylene Interaction and 3D Printing to Develop Antibacterial Superporous Hydrogels for Wound Management.

Due to insufficient biomedical functions of hydrogels for wound management, the exploitation of available methods to expand the biomedical functions of hydrogels always becomes the cutting-edge research. Here we report on the use of the silver-ethylene interaction and 3D printing technique to develop the antibacterial superporous polyacrylamide (PAM)/hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) hydrogel dressings. Experiments demonstrated that the silver-ethylene interaction played significant roles in mediating the formation, dispersion and crosslinking of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in the hydrogel matrix, as well as the crosslinking of the PAM networks. At the same time, such organometallic complexes also controlled the release of AgNPs to balance the cytocompatibility and antibacterial activity of the AgNP-crosslinked hydrogels. On the other hand, the use of 3D printed templates and HPMC as the pore-making materials demonstrated could tailor hydrogels into 91.4% porosity and the formed pores into open channels, which endowing hydrogels with rapid water uptake rate and 14 times dead-weight of uptake capacity. Furthermore, experiments showed that the regular large pores arisen from 3D printed templates could buffer the swelling of superporous hydrogel dressings, thus decreasing the detachment risk of dressings from wounds. In vivo experiments demonstrated that the AgNP-crosslinked superporous hydrogel dressings could promote the healing of the infected wounds and restrain scar tissue formation.
Anomalous Conductivity in the Rutile Structure Driven by Local Disorder.

Many rutile-type materials are characterized by a softness in shear with pressure which is coupled to a Raman-active librational motion. Combining direct studies of anion positions in SnO2 with measurements of its electronic properties, we nd a cor- relation between O sublattice disorder between 5 - 10GPa and an anomalous decrease up to 4 orders of magnitude in electrical resistance. Hypotheses into the atomistic nature of the phenomenon are evaluated via ab initio calculations guided by EXAFS analysis, and the most likely mechanism is found to be the displacement of single an- ions resulting from the pressure-induced softening of the librational mode. Based on this mechanism, we propose that the same behavior should feature across all materials exhibiting a rutile to CaCl2 phase transition, and that conductivity in other rutile-type materials could be facilitated at ambient pressure by appropriate design of devices to enhance defects of this nature.
Nutrition Support of Children with Chronic Liver Diseases: A Joint Position Paper of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition and the European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition.

Chronic liver disease places patients at increased risk of malnutrition that can be challenging to identify clinically and treat. Nutrition support is a key aspect of the management of these patients as it has an impact on their quality of life, morbidity, and mortality. There are significant gaps in the literature regarding the optimal nutrition support for patients with different types of liver diseases and the impact of these interventions on long-term outcomes. This Position Paper summarizes the available literature on the nutritional aspects of the care of patients with chronic liver diseases. Specifically, the challenges associated with the nutritional assessment of these subjects are discussed, and recently investigated approaches to determining the patients' nutritional status are reviewed. Furthermore, the pathophysiology of the malnutrition seen in the context of chronic liver disease is summarized and monitoring, as well as treatment, recommendations are provided. Lastly, suggestions for future research studies are described.
The impact of ICT-enabled extension campaign on farmers’ knowledge and management of fall armyworm in Uganda

This study evaluates the unique and combined effects of three complementary ICT-based extension methods ― interactive radio, mobile SMS messages and village-based video screenings ― on farmers’ knowledge and management of fall armyworm (FAW), an invasive pest of maize that is threatening food security in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Building on a survey of maize farmers in western Uganda and using various selection-on-observables estimators, we find consistent evidence that participation in the ICT-based extension campaigns significantly increases farmers’ knowledge about FAW and stimulates the adoption of agricultural technologies and practices for the management of the pest. We also show that exposure to multiple campaign channels yields significantly higher outcomes than exposure to a single channel, with some evidence of additive effects. These results are robust to alternative estimators and also to hidden bias. Results further suggest that among the three ICT channels, radio has greater reach, video exerts a stronger impact on the outcome measures, and greater gains are achieved when video is complemented by radio. Our findings imply that complementary ICT-based extension campaigns (particularly those that allow both verbal and visual communication) hold great potential to improve farmers’ knowledge and trigger behavioural changes in the identification, monitoring and sustainable management of a new invasive pest, such as FAW.
NAMED ENTITY RECOGNITION IN TURKISH VIA INDUCTIVE LOGIC PROGRAMMING

In this paper we concentrate on recognition of named entities in Turkish text using Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) algorithm. One of the main tasks of Information Extraction (IE) is the Named Entity Recognition (NER) which aims to locate and classify the named entities (i.e. person, location, organization names, date-time expressions) in text. ILP is a research area at the intersection of machine learning and logic programming. It uses techniques from both machine learning and logic programming. We have adopted a machine learning paradigm, namely ILP, to approach the task of NER in Turkish. This paper presents the performance results of ILP experiments we have conducted on Turkish data and a comparative evaluation of these results.
Nanolipid-Trehalose Conjugates and Nano-Assemblies as Putative Autophagy Inducers

The disaccharide trehalose is an autophagy inducer, but its pharmacological application is severely limited by its poor pharmacokinetics properties. Thus, trehalose was coupled via suitable spacers with squalene (in 1:2 and 1:1 stoichiometry) and with betulinic acid (1:2 stoichiometry), in order to yield the corresponding nanolipid-trehalose conjugates 1-Sq-mono, 2-Sq-bis and 3-Be-mono. The conjugates were assembled to produce the corresponding nano-assemblies (NAs) Sq-NA1, Sq-NA2 and Be-NA3. The synthetic and assembly protocols are described in detail. The resulting NAs were characterized in terms of loading and structure, and tested in vitro for their capability to induce autophagy. Our results are presented and thoroughly commented upon.
Anterior Hippocampal-Cortical Functional Connectivity Distinguishes Antipsychotic Naïve First-Episode Psychosis Patients From Controls and May Predict Response to Second-Generation Antipsychotic Treatment.

BACKGROUND Converging evidence implicates the anterior hippocampus in the proximal pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Although resting state functional connectivity (FC) holds promise for characterizing anterior hippocampal circuit abnormalities and their relationship to treatment response, this technique has not yet been used in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients in a manner that distinguishes the anterior from posterior hippocampus. METHODS We used masked-hippocampal-group-independent component analysis with dual regression to contrast subregional hippocampal-whole brain FC between healthy controls (HCs) and antipsychotic naïve FEP patients (N = 61, 36 female). In a subsample of FEP patients (N = 27, 15 female), we repeated this analysis following 8 weeks of second-generation antipsychotic treatment and explored whether baseline FC predicted treatment response using random forest. RESULTS Relative to HC, untreated FEP subjects displayed reproducibly lower FC between the left anteromedial hippocampus and cortical regions including the anterior cingulate and insular cortex (P < .05, corrected). Anteromedial hippocampal FC increased in FEP patients following treatment (P < .005), and no longer differed from HC. Random forest analysis showed baseline anteromedial hippocampal FC with four brain regions, namely the insular-opercular cortex, superior frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus, and postcentral gyrus predicted treatment response (area under the curve = 0.95). CONCLUSIONS Antipsychotic naïve FEP is associated with lower FC between the anterior hippocampus and cortical regions previously implicated in schizophrenia. Preliminary analysis suggests that random forest models based on hippocampal FC may predict treatment response in FEP patients, and hence could be a useful biomarker for treatment development.
Improvement of the SEP protocol based on community structure of node degree

Analyzing the Stable election protocol (SEP) in wireless sensor networks and aiming at the problem of inhomogeneous cluster-heads distribution and unreasonable cluster-heads selectivity and single hop transmission in the SEP, a SEP Protocol based on community structure of node degree (SEP-CSND) is proposed. In this algorithm, network node deployed by using grid deployment model, and the connection between nodes established by setting up the communication threshold. The community structure constructed by node degree, then cluster head is elected in the community structure. On the basis of SEP, the node’s residual energy and node degree is added in cluster-heads election. The information is transmitted with mode of multiple hops between network nodes. The simulation experiments showed that compared to the classical LEACH and SEP, this algorithm balances the energy consumption of the entire network and significantly prolongs network lifetime.
The association between problematic alcohol use, risk perceptions, and e-cigarette use

ABSTRACT Background: Use of e-cigarettes among college students has escalated, in part due to the perception that they are less harmful than traditional cigarettes and have other benefits such as circumventing smoking bans. College students also drink more heavily than other age groups, and e-cigarettes are associated with alcohol, especially among students who engage in problematic drinking. Objective: The present study sought to determine if an interaction between problematic alcohol use and increased perceptions of benefits and decreased perceptions of risks of e-cigarettes would predict whether participants had ever used an e-cigarette. Method: The present study included 1,133 undergraduate college students surveyed between November 2014 – November 2016. Participants were primarily Caucasian (82.3%) and female (78.1%). Participants completed questionnaires regarding demographics, smoking status/history, and expectancies. Results: Higher levels of problematic drinking and higher perceived benefits of e-cigarette use were both associated with having tried e-cigarettes. This relationship was significant even when controlling for several covariates such as cigarettes smoking status. However, there was not a significant interaction between problematic alcohol use and perceived benefits or risks of e-cigarettes. There was also no relationship between risk perceptions of e-cigarettes and e-cigarettes use. Conclusions: Both problematic alcohol use and perception of benefits of e-cigarettes were associated with having tried an e-cigarette. This finding is problematic as the use of e-cigarettes may influence further engagement in risky behaviors including problematic drinking or transitioning to regular cigarette use. Thus, it is important to develop interventions to help college students develop more accurate risk perceptions about e-cigarettes.