Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Technical Note: Dose prediction for head and neck radiotherapy using a three-dimensional dense dilated U-net architecture.

PURPOSE Radiation therapy treatment planning is a time-consuming and iterative manual process. Consequently, plan quality varies greatly between and within institutions. Artificial intelligence shows great promise in improving plan quality and reducing planning times. This technical note describes our participation in the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Open Knowledge-Based Planning Challenge (OpenKBP), a competition to accurately predict radiation therapy dose distributions. METHODS A three-dimensional (3D) densely connected U-Net with dilated convolutions was developed to predict 3D dose distributions given contoured CT images of head and neck patients as input. While traditional augmentation techniques such as rotations and translations were explored, it was found that training on random patches alone resulted in the greatest model performance. A custom-weighted mean squared error loss function was employed. Finally, an ensemble of best-performing networks was used to generate the final challenge predictions. RESULTS Our team (SuperPod) placed second in the dose stream of the OpenKBP challenge. The average mean absolute difference between the predicted and clinical dose distributions of the testing dataset was 2.56 Gy. On average, the predicted normalized target DVH metrics were within 3% of the clinical plans, and the predicted organ at risk DVH metrics were within 2 Gy of the clinical plans. CONCLUSIONS The developed 3D dense dilated U-Net architecture can accurately predict 3D radiotherapy dose distributions and can be used as part of a fully automated radiation therapy planning pipeline.
Face-to-face versus Video Teleconference Group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Anxiety and Related Disorders: A Preliminary Comparison

Objective: Telehealth is being increasingly incorporated into the delivery of mental health care and has received widespread attention during the COVID-19 pandemic for its ability to facilitate care during physical distancing restrictions. Videoconferencing is a common telehealth modality for delivering psychotherapy and has demonstrated similar outcomes to those of face-to-face therapy. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is the most common psychotherapy evaluated across various telehealth modalities; however, studies on CBT delivered via videoconference, particularly in a group therapy format, are lacking. Further, little research exists on videoconference group CBT for anxiety disorders. Accordingly, the present study compared the outcomes of group CBT for anxiety and related disorders delivered via videoconference versus face-to-face. Method: Using a non-randomized design, data on attendance, dropout, clinical outcomes, and functional impairment were collected from 413 adult outpatients of a tertiary care anxiety disorders clinic who attended a CBT group for panic disorder/agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), or obsessive-compulsive disorder delivered either face-to-face (pre-COVID-19 pandemic) or via videoconference (since the onset of COVID-19 pandemic). Outcomes were assessed using well-validated self-report measures. Data were collected pre-treatment, across 12 weekly sessions, and post-treatment. Intent-to-treat analyses were applied to symptom outcome measures. Results: Face-to-face CBT conferred only a slight benefit over videoconference CBT for symptom outcomes across all groups, but when assessed individually, only the GAD group showed greater symptom improvement in the face-to-face format. Effect sizes for significant differences between the delivery formats were small. Participants in videoconference groups tended to have slightly higher attendance rates in some instances, whereas functional improvement and treatment dropout were comparable across the delivery formats. Conclusions: Results provide preliminary evidence that videoconference group CBT for anxiety and related disorders may be a promising and effective alternative to face-to-face CBT. Additional research is needed to establish equivalence between these delivery formats.
Predictors of mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in older adults: the role of socio-demographic variables and COVID-19 anxiety

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate factors related to the mental health of Peruvian older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study had a cross-sectional and observational design. A total of 274 older adults in Lima, Peru (Mage = 67.86) filled out a sociodemographic survey, the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, Mental Health Inventory-5, Patient Health Questionnaire-2 item, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was estimated to test an a priori model that relates the sociodemographic variables, COVID-19 Anxiety, psychological well-being, anxiety and depression. The model fit indices indicated a good fit to the data. The socio-demographic variables explained 23.8% of the variance of the COVID-19 Anxiety (R2 = .238). Socio-demographic variables explained 50.5% of psychological well-being variance, 52% of anxiety and 46.9% of depression. Also, sex, work; being diagnosed with COVID-19; family member with COVID-19 diagnosis; and time of exposure to COVID-19 information had statistically significant effects psychological well-being, anxiety and depression. In conclusion, some sociodemographic characteristics and COVID-19 anxiety affect the psychological well-being, anxiety and depression. The findings may allow for a better understanding of the mental health of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic and guide government responses to detect, anticipate and minimize its impact on the mental health of this population.
DNB: A Joint Learning Framework for Deep Bayesian Nonparametric Clustering

Clustering algorithms based on deep neural networks have been widely studied for image analysis. Most existing methods require partial knowledge of the true labels, namely, the number of clusters, which is usually not available in practice. In this article, we propose a Bayesian nonparametric framework, deep nonparametric Bayes (DNB), for jointly learning image clusters and deep representations in a doubly unsupervised manner. In doubly unsupervised learning, we are dealing with the problem of “unknown unknowns,” where we estimate not only the unknown image labels but also the unknown number of labels as well. The proposed algorithm alternates between generating a potentially unbounded number of clusters in the forward pass and learning the deep networks in the backward pass. With the help of the Dirichlet process mixtures, the proposed method is able to partition the latent representations space without specifying the number of clusters a priori. An important feature of this work is that all the estimation is realized with an end-to-end solution, which is very different from the methods that rely on post hoc analysis to select the number of clusters. Another key idea in this article is to provide a principled solution to the problem of “trivial solution” for deep clustering, which has not been much studied in the current literature. With extensive experiments on benchmark datasets, we show that our doubly unsupervised method achieves good clustering performance and outperforms many other unsupervised image clustering methods.
“I’ve Never Told Anyone”: A Qualitative Analysis of Interviews With College Women Who Experienced Sexual Assault and Remained Silent

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the decision made by some college women who are raped to tell no one. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 college women between the ages of 19-24 who had never shared their sexual assault with anyone prior to speaking to the researchers. This study provides a systematic investigation of the factors underlying women’s decisions to remain silent. The knowledge and understanding gained from these in-depth interviews offer insight for individuals and institutions to support these students and for the development of future efforts encouraging women survivors to tell someone.
Efficacy of siltuximab in the treatment of idiopathic multicentric castleman disease, the first Polish, real-world experience with long-term observation

Beata Ostrowska , Agnieszka Szymczyk, Magdalena Olszewska-Szopa, Joanna Romejko-Jarosi nska, Katarzyna Doma nska-Czy_ z, Anna Dąbrowska-Iwanicka, Waldemar Tomczak, Sebastian Rybski, Marek Hus, Tomasz Wr obel and Jan Walewski Department of Lymphoid Malignancies, Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, Warsaw, Poland; Department of Haematooncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, Medical University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland; Department of Hematology, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland; Mathematical Oncology Unit, Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, Warsaw, Poland
Evaluation and Comparison of Clinical and Laboratory Characterstics of Patients With IgA Epidermolysis Bullosa Acquisita, Linear IgA Bullous Dermatosis, and IgG Epidermolysis Bullosa Acquisita.

Importance Immunoglobulin A (IgA) epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA) is an autoimmune skin blistering disease with IgA autoantibodies directed against type VII collagen. There is debate whether it should be considered part of the clinical spectrum of linear IgA bullous dermatosis (LABD) or a separate disease entity. Objective This cohort study aimed to define the clinical features and treatment responses of IgA EBA and anti-BP180-driven LABD, and to compare the prevalences of IgA EBA anti-BP180 LABD and classic IgG-mediated EBA in an autoimmune diagnostic laboratory database. Design, Setting, and Participants This retrospective cohort study and case series study included demographic, immunopathologic, and serologic data from 300 patients diagnosed with IgA EBA, IgG EBA, or LABD. Furthermore, clinical features and treatment responses of IgA EBA were analyzed in a case series including 4 patients with IgA EBA. All patients from the database of the autoimmune diagnostic laboratory at the Department of Dermatology, University of Lübeck, Germany, who were diagnosed with IgA EBA, LABD, or IgG EBA between October 2010 and July 2019 were included. Four patients diagnosed with IgA EBA between October 2015 and January 2018 are described in detail. Main Outcomes and Measures The clinical course of IgA EBA was observed before and during different treatments. Results The database search yielded 21 cases of IgA EBA (12 females [57%]/9 males [43%]), 222 cases of LABD (111 females [51%]/106 males [49]), and 57 cases of IgG EBA (29 females [50%]/28 males [48%]). The median (range) age of each cohort was 64 (4-81) years for IgA EBA, 56 (3-92) years for IgG EBA, and significantly older compared with IgG EBA (P = .002) for those with LAPD (median [range], 70 [1-94] years). The patients with IgA EBA exhibited heterogeneous clinical presentations that significantly differed from those of anti-BP180 LABD. All 4 patients with IgA EBA described in detail were first treated with dapsone, but only 1 responded to this treatment. The others required treatment with high-dose dexamethasone, rituximab, and/or intravenous immunoglobulins to achieve partial clinical remission. Conclusions and Relevance Overall, the findings of this cohort study and small case series suggest that IgA EBA may be more common than expected and may require more intensive systemic treatment than LABD, suggesting it should be considered a separate disease entity.
Transition Experiences of Indian Nurses Into Australian Mental Health System

Introduction: In the past decade, there has been an influx of migrant nurses from India to Australia. Migrant professionals have specific transition needs associated with working in Mental Health (MH). This study aimed to explore the transition experience of overseas trained nurses from India working in Australian MH settings. Method: Hermeneutic phenomenology was the methodological approach used in the study. The participants (N = 16) were overseas trained nurses from India. Data were collected through in-depth interview and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: The findings resulted in the identification of the following themes: (1) Living in dual culture, (2) Loneliness, (3) Discrimination, and (4) Feeling incomplete. Discussion: It is evident that the transition to work in MH in Australia was a journey of mixed experiences. While certain findings of this study are comparable with experiences of migrant nurses in other settings, it provides insight into those that are working in MH.
MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF TELEROENTGENOGRAPHIC PARAMETERS ACCORDING TO THE METHOD OF SCHWARZ A. M. DEPENDING ON THE BASIC CEPHALOMETRIC PARAMETERS IN UKRAINIAN YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN WITH DIFFERENT FACE TYPES.

OBJECTIVE The aim: Is development and analysis of regression models of teleroentgenographic indices according to Schwarz A. M. , which can be adjusted during surgery depending on the parameters that usually do not change in Ukrainian young men and young women with with normal occlusion close to orthognathic occlusion and different facial types. PATIENTS AND METHODS Materials and methods: Teleroentgenographic indices were obtained using a dental cone-beam tomograph Veraviewepocs 3D Morita and studied in 49 young men and 76 young women with normal occlusion close to orthognathic. Persons were divided into groups with different face types according to the recommendations of Schwarz A. M. In the license package "Statistica 6.0", regression models of teleroentgenographic indices were built according to Schwarz A. M. RESULTS Results: For young men with orthognathic occlusion and with different types of faces according to Schwarz A. M. constructed 10 of 27 possible reliable regression models of the group of teleroentgenographic indicators, which can be corrected during surgical, orthopedic interventions in dentistry depending on the group of basic, invariable cephalometric indicators greater than 0.6 (R2 = from 0.609 to 0.996); and in young women with different face types, 8 of the 27 possible reliable regression models in which the coefficient of determination is greater than 0.6 (R2 = from 0.642 to 0.986). CONCLUSION Conclusions: The developed regression models provide the most individualized approach in determining the method and scope of the required dental intervention.
Becoming an Expert by Experience: Benefits and Challenges of Educating Mental Health Nursing Students

Abstract Expert by Experience involvement in mental health nursing education is increasing in popularity as a teaching technique. The emerging literature attests to its benefits in enriching the educational experience for students. Much less attention has been devoted to the experience from the perspective of the Experts themselves. To address this gap and ensure this important perspective is captured and considered, the aim of this paper is to present the perceptions and experiences of Experts by Experience in delivering an educational module to mental health nursing students. A qualitative exploratory approach was adopted, involving in-depth individual interviews with Experts by Experience who delivered a learning module to nursing students in Australia and Europe. Data were analysed thematically. Analysis produced two overarching themes: Empowerment, and Challenges. Challenges included six sub-themes: Being constructive, not just critical; Time to unpack and reflect; Need for co-production and support from nursing academics; Emotional and practical support; maintaining personal boundaries; and adapting to the audience. These findings make a significant contribution to a broader understanding of Expert by Experience involvement in mental health education. The use of standards to maintain integrity and avoid tokenism is recommended.
Rarity patterns of woody plant species are associated with life form and diversification rates in Pacific islands forests

Premise Rarity is a complex and central concept in ecology and conservation biology. Yet, it is still poorly understood why some species are rare and others common. Here, we aimed to understand the drivers of species rarity patterns in woody plant communities. Methods We analyzed the local abundance and landscape frequency of 121 woody plant species across 238 plots on American Samoa and Hawaiian islands. We first assessed whether taxonomy, life form (shrub, small tree, large tree), and dispersal syndrome (dispersed by animals or by other means) are associated with the rarity of species. We then analyzed phylogenetic patterns in plant rarity and tested whether rarity patterns are associated with species evolutionary distinctiveness and the number of species within genera and families. Results Large trees were less abundant but more frequent than shrub species. Animal‐dispersed species tended to be less abundant than species dispersed by other means, while species frequency was not associated with dispersal syndromes. Relative frequency in Hawai′i exhibited a more robust phylogenetic signal than did abundance. Both evolutionary distinctiveness and taxa species richness were significantly associated with the frequency of shrub species in Hawai′i. Conclusions Life form appears consistently associated with the rarity of species. High diversification rate is probably a key factor explaining landscape‐scale rarity of native species on isolated archipelagos like Hawai′i. At the landscape scale, rarity appears to be inversely associated with evolutionary distinctiveness, but at the local scale, species abundance may be not associated with evolutionary distinctiveness.
Cannabis use of patients with inflammatory bowel disease in Germany: a cross-sectional survey

Abstract Background and Aims Progressive legalization and increasing utilization of medical cannabis open up potential new applications, including for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This study aimed to collect current figures on the use of and experience with cannabis among IBD patients in Germany. Methods A 71-item questionnaire was mailed to a randomly selected representative sample of 1000 IBD patients. Results Questionnaires were returned by 417 patients (mean age 49.1 ± 17.0 years; 55.8 % women; 43.4 % ulcerative colitis and 54.7 % Crohn’s disease). Seventy-three respondents (17.5 %) stated past cannabis use for recreational purposes, while 12 users mentioned usage at the time the questionnaire was completed (2.9 %). Seventeen patients (4.1 %) indicated past use of cannabis, and 18 participants (4.3 %) reported current use of cannabis to treat IBD. Perceived benefits of cannabis use by its users included reduced abdominal pain, improved sleep quality, and relief of unease and worry. They reported lower quality of life and higher levels of anxiety or depression than non-users. Of notice, 52.9 % of cannabis users obtained their cannabis from the black market. A total of 76.5 % of former and 50 % of current users did not report their cannabis use to the physician. Conclusion This survey reveals the largest data set on cannabis use among IBD patients in Germany, with the potential for further research. Cannabis is mainly procured from the black market, with unknown quality.
Is neutrophilic dermatosis a manifestation of familial Mediterranean fever?

Objectives: Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is the most frequent monogenic autoinflammatory disease. It is associated with MEFV mutations. Its main features are recurrent episodes of fever and serositis. Patients can display dermatological manifestations such as erysipelas-like erythema, generally considered as a neutrophilic dermatosis (ND). It has been suggested that FMF can be associated with other types of ND. Our aim was to perform a systematic review of the literature to assess the link between ND and FMF. Method: A systematic review of the literature was performed using MEDLINE from 1946 to 2018. Three independent investigators identified reports of non-erysipelas-like erythema neutrophilic dermatosis (NEND) associated with FMF, selected the criteria to establish the diagnosis of FMF and ND, and evaluated the link between the two conditions. FMF-associated NEND was supported by confirmation of both diagnoses and exclusion of other causes of ND. Results: Eighteen articles were selected. Nine articles reported FMF patients with the following NEND: neutrophilic panniculitis (n = 4), Sweet syndrome (n = 6), and pyoderma gangrenosum (n = 1). None of these cases was supported by histological confirmation, fulfilled diagnostic criteria for definitive or probable FMF, or confirmed the exclusion of all the most frequent diseases associated with NEND. As a result, there is insufficient evidence to support a potential relationship between NEND and FMF. Conclusions: The association between FMF and NEND remains unclear. In FMF patients with NEND, every differential diagnosis and alternative cause of NEND should be excluded before drawing any conclusions about a potential causal relationship.
Development and Evaluation of Solid Witepsol Nanoparticles for Gene Delivery

Objectives Gene therapy approaches have become increasingly attractive in the medical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnological industries due to their applicability in the treatment of diseases with no effective conventional therapy. Non-viral delivery using cationic solid lipid nanoparticles (cSLNs) can be useful to introduce large nucleic acids to target cells. A careful selection of components and their amounts is critical to obtain a successful delivery system. In this study, solid Witepsol nanoparticles were formulated, characterized, and evaluated in vitro for gene delivery purposes. Materials and Methods Solid Witepsol nanoparticles were formulated through the microemulsion dilution technique using two grades of Witepsol and three surfactants, namely Cremephor RH40, Kolliphor HS15, and Peceol. Dimethyldioctadecylammonium bromide was incorporated into the system as a cationic lipid. Twelve combinations of these ingredients were formulated. The obtained nanoparticles were then evaluated for particle size, zeta potential, DNA binding and protection ability, cytotoxicity, and transfection ability. Results Particle sizes of the prepared cationic cSLNs were between 13.43±0.06 and 68.80±0.78 nm. Their zeta potential, which is important for DNA binding efficiency, was determined at >+40 mV. Gel retardation assays revealed that the obtained cSLNs can form a compact complex with plasmid DNA (pDNA) encoding green fluorescent protein and that this complex can protect pDNA from DNase I-mediated degradation. Cytotoxicity evaluation of nanoparticles was performed on the L929 cell line. In vitro transfection data revealed that solid Witepsol nanoparticles could effectively transfect fibroblasts. Conclusion Our findings indicate that solid Witepsol nanoparticles prepared using the microemulsion dilution technique are promising non-viral delivery systems for gene therapy.