Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dissociable effects of acute versus cumulative violent video game exposure on the action simulation circuit in university students

ABSTRACT There is an ongoing debate as to whether violent video game exposure (VGE) has a negative impact on social functioning. This debate continues in part because of methodological concerns and the paucity of identifiable neurocognitive mechanisms. Also, little attention has been given to how specific personality characteristics may influence susceptibility to the purported effects. Using a combined experimental and cross-sectional approach, we examined the impact of VGE on action simulation as a function of trait coldheartedness in a sample of university students. Healthy adults played a violent or nonviolent version of Grand Theft Auto V before completing an fMRI measure of action simulation circuit (ASC) activity. Simulation-related activity was not significantly different between groups; however, greater overall activation was observed in left inferior frontal gyrus for those in the violent condition. Contrary to predictions, no evidence was observed that trait coldheartedness significantly interacts with violent gaming to influence ASC activation. However, prior cumulative VGE was negatively correlated with simulation-related activity in a subsection of the ASC. This study highlights a potential dissociation between the effects of acute versus cumulative violent gaming and may challenge assumptions that the directionality of effects for cross-sectional associations always mirror those of acute exposure.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence for community-based HIV testing on men’s engagement in the HIV care cascade

Objective Men with HIV are less likely than women to know their status, be on antiretroviral therapy, and be virally suppressed. This review examined men’s community-based HIV testing services (CB-HTS) outcomes. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods We searched seven databases and conference abstracts through July 2018. We estimated pooled proportions and/or risk ratios (for meta-analyses) for each outcome using random effects models. Results 188 studies met inclusion criteria. Common testing models included targeted outreach (e.g. mobile testing), home-based testing, and testing at stand-alone community sites. Across 25 studies reporting uptake, 81% (CI: 75–86%) of men offered testing accepted it. Uptake was higher among men reached through CB-HTS than facility-based HTS (RR = 1.39; CI: 1.13–1.71). Over 69% (CI: 64–71%) of those tested through CB-HTS were men, across 184 studies. Across studies reporting new HIV-positivity among men (n = 18), 96% were newly diagnosed (CI: 77–100%). Across studies reporting linkage to HIV care (n = 8), 70% (CI: 36–103%) of men were linked to care. Across 57 studies reporting sex-disaggregated data for CB-HTS conducted among key populations, men’s uptake was high (80%; CI: 70–88%) and nearly all were newly diagnosed and linked to care (95%; CI: 94–100%; and 94%; CI: 88–100%, respectively). Conclusion CB-HTS is an important strategy for reaching undiagnosed men with HIV from the general population and key population groups, particularly using targeted outreach models. When compared to facility-based HIV testing services, men tested through CB-HTS are more likely to uptake testing, and nearly all men who tested positive through CB-HTS were newly diagnosed. Linkage to care may be a challenge following CB-HTS, and greater efforts and research are needed to effectively implement testing strategies that facilitate rapid ART initiation and linkage to prevention services.
Comparative evaluation of encapsulation using β‐cyclodextrin versus freeze‐drying for better retention and stabilizing of black Périgord truffle (Tuber melanosporum) aroma

Abstract This study aimed to develop a novel technique to retain and stabilize compounds contributing to truffle aroma by encapsulation using β‐cyclodextrin. Two experiments were conducted. In the first experiment, the key volatile profile and microbial population of products resulting from three different encapsulation methods, namely direct mixing method (M1), direct mixing followed by ethanol addition method (M2), and paste method (M3), were compared with untreated truffles (positive control) over a 90‐day period. The M2‐derived product was the least optimal for retaining key volatile compounds despite showing the lowest microbial population. There was no significant difference in the volatile profile of products derived from M1 and M3 on day 0. However, it was observed that the M3‐derived product could retain its volatile profile better than the M1‐derived product by day 90. M3 was compared with freeze‐drying in the second experiment. Freeze‐dried truffles showed an overall higher relative percentage of volatiles than the M3‐derived product on day 0. However, by day 90, some volatile changes occurred in the freeze‐dried truffles but not in the M3‐derived product. The findings indicate that while freeze‐drying could adequately conserve truffle volatiles, the encapsulation of volatile compounds in β‐cyclodextrin could improve the volatile stability of truffle products and allow for longer storage times. Microbes were found in all encapsulated truffle products and freeze‐dried truffles on days 0 and 90, suggesting the need to explore the possibility of incorporating a decontamination step in the process prior to either encapsulation or freeze‐drying. Practical Application A technique to capture and stabilize compounds responsible for truffle aroma by encapsulation using β‐cyclodextrin was developed and compared with freeze‐drying in this study. The overall finding suggests that while freeze‐drying of truffle could sufficiently preserve volatiles, encapsulating truffle volatiles with β‐cyclodextrin may improve its stability, extending its shelf life, which can be applied in the development of a natural truffle ingredient that can be applied in food product development.
Attentional Bias to Emotional Facial Expressions in Undergraduates With Suicidal Ideation: An ERP Study

Abstract Individuals who with suicide behaviors pay more attention to negative signals than positive ones. However, it is unclear that whether this bias exists when suicide ideators perceive interpersonal stimuli (such as faces with emotion) and the underlying neural mechanism of the attention process. The present study aimed to examine the attentional bias toward emotional facial expressions by employing event-related potentials in a population with suicide ideation. Twenty-five undergraduates with suicide ideation (SI group) and sixteen undergraduates without suicide ideation (NSI group) participated in a modified dot-probe task. Compared to the NSI group, the SI group exhibited: (1) a longer mean reaction time to fearful faces; (2) a larger N1 component to fearful faces; (3) a larger N1 component to the location of sad faces, as well as to the opposite location of fearful faces and happy faces; and (4) a larger N1 component to the contralateral location of happy faces, whereas the NSI group elicited a larger N1 component to the ipsilateral location of happy faces. These results indicated that the SI group was more sensitive to negative emotions (fearful and sad faces) than positive emotions (happy faces), and the negative interpersonal stimuli in suicide ideators was processed at an early attention stage.
Mental health and wellbeing among people with informal caring responsibilities across different time points during the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based propensity score matching analysis

Aims: Due to a prolonged period of national and regional lockdown measures during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, there has been an increase reliance on informal care for informal carers. In light of this, the current study compared the experiences of carers and non-carers on various mental health and wellbeing measures across six key time points during the pandemic. Methods: Data analysed were from the University College London (UCL) COVID -19 Social Study. Our study focused on six time points in England: (1) the first national lockdown (March–April 2020); (2) the beginning of first lockdown rules easing (May 2020); (3) the second national lockdown (November 2020); (4) the third national lockdown (January 2021); (5) the easing of the third lockdown (March 2021); and (6) the end of restrictions (July–August 2021). We considered five mental health and wellbeing measures: depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, loneliness, life satisfaction, and sense of being worthwhile. Propensity score matching was applied for the analyses. Results: We found that informal carers experienced higher levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms than non-carers across much of the pandemic. During the first national lockdown, carers also experienced a higher sense of life being worthwhile. No association was found between informal caring responsibilities and levels of loneliness and life satisfaction. Conclusion: Given that carers are an essential national healthcare support, especially during a pandemic, it is crucial to integrate carers’ needs into healthcare planning and delivery. These results highlight that there is a pressing need to provide adequate and targeted mental health support for carers during and following this pandemic.
Age and the relative importance of liver‐related deaths in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Background and Aims: It is unclear if the leading causes of death in patients with NAFLD differ by age. We aimed to investigate if the relative importance of liver‐related deaths is lower and overshadowed by cardiovascular and cancer‐related deaths in the elderly population. Approach and Results: We conducted a territory‐wide retrospective cohort study of adult patients with NAFLD between 2000 and 2021 in Hong Kong. The outcomes of interest were all‐cause and cause‐specific mortality. Age groups at death were studied at 10‐year intervals. During 662,471 person‐years of follow‐up of 30,943 patients with NAFLD, there were 2097 deaths. The top three causes of death were pneumonia, extrahepatic cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Liver disease was the sixth leading cause of death in patients aged 70–79 and 80–89 years, accounting for 5.1% and 5.9% of deaths, respectively, but only accounted for 3% or fewer of the deaths in the other age groups. Nonetheless, liver disease was the leading cause of death in patients with NAFLD‐related cirrhosis, accounting for 36.8% of all deaths. The incidence of liver‐related death was higher in men younger than age 70 but higher in women afterwards. The incidence of liver‐related death in women increased from 0.62 to 7.14 per 10,000 person‐years from age 60–69 to 70–79 years. Conclusion: The relative importance of liver‐related death increases with age in patients with NAFLD, especially among women. In patients with cirrhosis, liver disease is the leading cause of death.
Optimal policies for mitigating pandemic costs: a tutorial model

There have been a number of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical interventions associated with COVID-19 over the past two years. Various non-pharmaceutical interventions were proposed and implemented to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most common of these were partial and complete lockdowns that were used in an attempt to minimize the costs associated with mortality, economic losses and social factors, while being subject to constraints such as finite hospital capacity. Here, we use a minimal model posed in terms of optimal control theory to understand the costs and benefits of such strategies. This allows us to determine top-down policies for how to restrict social contact rates given an age-structured model for the dynamics of the disease. Depending on the relative weights allocated to mortality and socioeconomic losses, we see that the optimal strategies range from long-term social-distancing only for the most vulnerable, partial lockdown to ensure not over-running hospitals, and alternating-shifts, all of which lead to significant reduction in mortality and/or socioeconomic losses. Crucially, commonly used strategies that involve long periods of broad lockdown are almost never optimal, as they are highly unstable to reopening and entail high socioeconomic costs. Using parameter estimates from data available for Germany and the USA early in the pandemic, we quantify these policies and use sensitivity analysis in the relevant model parameters and initial conditions to determine the range of robustness of our policies. Finally we also discuss how bottom-up behavioral changes affect the dynamics of the pandemic and show how they can work in tandem with top-down control policies to mitigate pandemic costs even more effectively.
A Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Telephone Support Intervention for Diverse Family Caregivers of Persons With Dementia During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Caregivers of persons with dementia (PWDs) were socially isolated with little support during the COVID-19 pandemic “Stay-At-Home” order in the United States. To enhance social and emotional connection for diverse caregivers, a culturally/linguistically appropriate telephone intervention provided compassionate listening, mindful breathing, and COVID-19 safety education. The study purpose was to understand caregiving challenges and to evaluate the intervention for caregivers during the early pandemic using a qualitative approach. Twenty-three caregivers participated in the intervention provided by bilingual research assistants for 3 months. Call logs were used to describe the caregivers’ dialogue. Thematic analysis identified (a) the challenges, including fear of coronavirus disease, providing around-the-clock care, and forced isolation and negative emotions; and (b) caregivers’ experience with the intervention, including connecting with the outside, relief from emotional stress, reliable COVID-19 information, and reinformed caregiving skills. Results suggest that the telephone support was of benefit to diverse caregivers of PWDs during the pandemic by promoting social connection and reducing emotional distress.
Preparation and characterization of bioactive polyvinylpyrrolidone film via electrospinning technique

Electrospinning technique became a very common and effective method to fabricate nonwoven films with a large surface area for different purposes especially in the biomedical field. Antimicrobial submicron fibrous films based on polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) doped with silver nanoparticles (Ag‐NPs), Zinc Oxide (ZnO), and (Ag‐NPS/ZnO), were successfully fabricated via the electrospinning technique. The morphology and the elemental configurations of the as‐prepared films were studied by using scanning electron microscope with EDX. While the phase formation and crystal structures were determined by using XRD analysis. The antibacterial effect was investigated against one of the most common Gram‐negative bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae by using a modified Kirby–Bauer disc diffusion method. The results showed that the doping nanoparticles were uniformly loaded on the surface of the fabricated film fibers. By using Scherrer equation the calculated average crystallite sizes of Ag‐NPs, ZnO, and Ag‐NPs/ZnO on PVP fibers were 63, 30, and 44 nm, respectively. The antimicrobial activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae showed the growth inhibition zones in the bacteria plates of 23.3, 54, and 60.6 mm for the samples of Ag‐NPs/PVP, ZnO/PVP, and Ag‐NPs/ZnO/PVP, respectively. The antimicrobial efficiency increased by forming nanocomposites of both ZnO nanoparticles and Ag nanoparticles inside the film.
Facts and hopes in immunotherapy of endometrial cancer.

Immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors has changed the paradigm of treatment for many tumors, and endometrial carcinoma is not an exception. Approved treatment options are pembrolizumab or dostarlimab for mismatch repair deficient tumors, pembrolizumab for tumors with high mutational load, and, more recently, pembrolizumab/lenvatinib for all endometrial cancer patients. Endometrial cancer is a heterogeneous disease with distinct molecular subtypes and different prognoses. Differences between molecular subgroups regarding antigenicity and immunogenicity should be relevant to develop more tailored immun-therapeutic approaches. In this review, we aim to summarize and discuss the current evidence -Facts-, and future opportunities -Hopes- of immunotherapy for endometrial cancer focusing on relevant molecular and tumor microenvironment features of The Cancer Genome Atlas endometrial cancer subtypes.
Anesthesia for digestive tract endoscopy

Purpose of review Nonoperating room anesthesia for digestive tract endoscopy has its own specificities and requires practical training. Monitoring devices, anesthetic drugs, understanding of procedures and management of complications are critical aspects. Recent findings New data are available regarding risk factors for intra- and postoperative complications (based on anesthesia registries), airway management, new anesthetic drugs, techniques of administration and management of advances in interventional endoscopy procedures. Summary Digestive tract endoscopy is a common procedure that takes place outside the operating room most of the time and has become more and more complex due to advanced invasive procedures. Prior evaluation of the patient's comorbidities and a good understanding of the objectives and constraints of the endoscopic procedures are required. Assessing the risk of gastric content aspiration is critical for determining appropriate anesthetic protocols. The availability of adequate monitoring (capnographs adapted to spontaneous ventilation, bispectral index), devices for administration of anesthetic/sedative agents (target-controlled infusion) and oxygenation (high flow nasal oxygenation) guarantees the quality of sedation and patient’ safety during endoscopic procedures. Knowledge of the specificities of each interventional endoscopic procedure (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, submucosal dissection) allows preventing complications during anesthesia.
Improving Clinical and Family Communication for Adult Child Caregivers of a Parent With a Blood Cancer: Single-Arm Pre-Post Pilot Intervention

Background Adult child caregivers of parents with cancer may face challenges when communicating with the patient and other family members, communicating during clinical interactions, and navigating web-based information seeking. Objective We developed and pilot-tested the Healthy Communication Practice program for adult child caregivers of parents with a blood cancer, which aims to help participants learn and implement communication skills central to caregiving. We assessed the feasibility and acceptability of the training. Methods Eligible participants completed a preprogram survey. We assessed the feasibility of participants completing the intervention in the allotted time. Participants had 2 weeks to complete the 2-part, 90-minute online program and completed a postprogram survey that included program evaluation items and the Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM) using a 1-5 rating scale (5=strongly agree). Results Of 50 caregivers who initially expressed interest, 34 consented, and 30 completed the program and both surveys (88% completion rate). Caregivers had a mean age of 45.07 (SD 11.96) years and provided care for parents who had a mean age of 73.31 (SD 9.38) years. Caregivers were primarily daughters (n=22, 73%). Overall, scores on the AIM scale were high (mean 4.48, SD 0.67). Specifically, caregivers felt the content met their communication needs (mean 4.58, SD 0.62) and their own needs as a caregiver of a parent with a blood cancer (mean 4.39, SD 0.72). Conclusions We demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of the Healthy Communication Practice program, which aims to enhance family and clinical communication skills among caregivers of a parent with a blood cancer. Future studies will examine the efficacy of the program and its impact on both caregiver and patient communication and health outcomes.
The Emotional and Psychological Labor of Insider Qualitative Research Among Systemically Marginalized Groups: Revisiting the Uses of Reflexivity

In response to decades-long exclusionary practices, academic institutions are now recruiting early career researchers (ECRs) from systemically marginalized populations who specialize in equity-related research. As a result, these ECRs are likely to conduct research within their communities on topics that have personal relevance—insider research. Methodological training for insider research places an emphasis on methods, such as reflexivity, to ensure rigor; however, the emotional and psychological impacts of these research methods on the researcher are seldom discussed. Therefore, I use analytic autoethnography to illustrate the embodied impacts of conducting insider research using an example of personal relevance and argue that methodological practices require an embodied reflexivity that centers the researcher and the impacts the research has on them. This paradoxically rewarding and taxing work necessitates changes in methodological training and practice, institutional support, and an openness to innovation when calling for equity, diversity, and inclusion in the academy.
A qualitative study of nurse-perceived barriers to body temperature management in postoperative patients

Although evidence-based practices exist for preventing hypothermia in patients during surgery, few studies have focused on this concern in postoperative patients. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the most challenging issues experienced by surgical ward nurses while managing the body temperature of adult surgical patients. To address this research gap, this study used a qualitative descriptive design to document barriers to body temperature management as reported by a sample of 16 perioperative nurses. The semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using inductive content analysis. The main barriers fell into three categories: professional nursing ability limitations, unfavourable working conditions and management of human resources. The eight subcategories were disadvantageous professional views, professional knowledge limitations, low motivation to provide nursing care, non-standard treatment environment, inadequate equipment and care protocols, heavy nursing care loads, inadequate staff training and ineffective staff supervision. These findings highlighted the importance of adequate resources, proper education and evidence-based care protocols in the effective delivery of body temperature management to postoperative patients.