Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
COVID-19 vaccine willingness among patients with mental illness compared with the general population.

Patients with mental illness are at an increased risk of COVID-19 infection, morbidity, and mortality, and prioritisation of this group for COVID-19 vaccination programmes has therefore been suggested. Vaccine uptake may, however, be compromised by vaccine hesitancy amongst patients with mental illness, posing a critical public health issue. We conducted two surveys to provide weighted estimates of vaccine willingness amongst patients with mental illness and the general population of Denmark. Vaccine willingness was high in both groups, but slightly lower amongst patients with mental illness (84.8%), compared with the general population (89.5%) (p < .001). Based on these findings, vaccine hesitancy does not appear to be a major barrier for vaccine uptake amongst patients with mental illness in Denmark, but may be so in other countries with lower general vaccine willingness. Replication of the present study in other countries is strongly warranted.
Effect of home-based rehabilitation of purposeful activity-based electrical stimulation therapy for chronic stroke survivors: a crossover randomized controlled trial

Background: In this trial we combined the effect of purposeful activity and electrical stimulation therapy (PA-EST) to promote transition of severely hemiparetic upper limb to auxiliary upper limb in chronic stroke survivors in a single-case study. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of PA-EST on the upper limb motor function in a crossover randomized controlled trial. Methods: The study included eight stroke survivors (age: 63.1±10.9 years) who were receiving home-based visiting occupational therapy. The average time since stroke onset was 8.8±5.6 years. All participants had severely hemiparetic upper limb, with the Fugl–Meyer Assessment upper extremity (FMA-U) score of 21.3±8.5. Participants were randomly assigned to group A or B. Group A received PA-EST for 3 months (phase 1), followed by standard stretching and exercise for 3 months (phase 2), whereas group B had the inverse order of treatments. To avoid carry-over effect, 1-month washout period was provided between the phase 1 and 2. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures was used for the analysis. The primary outcome was FMA-U, and the secondary outcomes were, Motor Activity Log (MAL; amount of use [AOU] and quality of movement [QOM]), and Goal attainment scale-light (GAS-light). Results: Repeated measures-ANOVA revealed a significant interaction between type of intervention and time for FMA-U (F = 16.303, P = 0.005), MAL AOU (F = 7.966, P = 0.026) and QOM (F = 6.408, P = 0.039), and GAS-light (F = 6.905, P = 0.034), where PA-EST was associated with significantly improved motor function and goal achievement compared with standard stretching. Conclusions: The PA-EST may have greater effects than stretch/exercise in the recovery of hand function as reflected in FMA-U, MAL, and GAS-light. Our results suggest that PA-EST is an important and useful home-based rehabilitation program for promoting the use of the severely hemiparetic upper limb in chronic stroke survivors.
Follitropin Delta as a State-of-the-Art Incorporated Companion for Assisted Reproductive Procedures: A Two Year Observational Study

Background and objectives: The latest reports suggest that follitropin delta is a highly efficient recombinant human follicle-stimulating hormone (r-hFSH) that became a part of the current assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). Therefore, the present study aims to assess a series of parameters (follicles, oocytes, and embryos) and further by the outcomes in women following the administration of follitropin delta. Materials and methods: This observational study included 205 women. They were aged between 21 and 43 years (mean 33.45) and an anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) level ranging from 0.11 to 16.00 ng/dL (mean 2.89). Results: In accordance with the established methodology and following the centralization of data, a total of fifty-eight pregnancies (28.29%) were achieved; forty-five (36.88%) were achieved in women under 35 years and thirteen (15.66%) in women above 35 years. These figures are positively correlated with women’s age considering that the number of follicles >18 mm, oocytes fertilized and embryo(s) varies among groups. Regarding the interest parameters, we noted n = 1719 follicles > 18 mm, n = 1279 retrieved oocytes, and n = 677 embryos at day 3. On the other hand, the following figures have been registered in women above 35 years: 814–follicles > 18 mm, 612 oocytes retrieved and 301 embryos at day 3. During this study, we registered only three cases of abortions (n = 1–0.81% in women under 35 years and n = 2–2.40% in women above 35 years). Nine pregnancies (7.37%) were stopped from evolution in females under 35 years, and twelve pregnancies (n = 8–6.55% in women under 35 years, while n = 4 in women above 35 years) were unsuccessful. A twin pregnancy has been confirmed (1.20%) in women above 35 years, six ongoing pregnancies (4.91%) in those under 35 years, and two in both groups (one per group–n = 1–0.81%, and 1.20%–n = 1) in which we did not know the exact result were registered at the end of the established studied interval. However, there were also situations in which the treatment cause an over-reactivity or had no effect; n = 2 were non-responders, and n = 1 exhibited moderate ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). Conclusions: Based on our results, we strongly encourage the use of this recombinant gonadotropin on a much larger scale.
Synthesis, Spectroscopic and Biologically Assessments of Calcium(II), Zinc(II), Palladium(II) and Gold(III) Sulfacetamide Sodium Complexes: Gold(III) Nano Medical Complex as an Anticancer Agent

The preparation of metal-sulfa drug complexes has an important topic due to their biological applications as chemotherapeutic agents against bacterial infections in microorganism. This paper report the synthesis, characterization and antimicrobial screening of synthesized Ca(II), Zn(II), Pd(II) and Au(II) sulfacetamide sodium (SAM-Na) drug complexes. These complexes were assigned based on elemental analyses, molar conductance and some of essential spectral techniques like IR, 1H-NMR, and electronic spectroscopy. These analyses prove that the sulfacetamide sodium salt was reacted with Ca(II), Zn(II) and Pd(II) metal ions as a bidentate ligand through both oxygen atoms of acetamide and sulfonyl groups. On contrary, the SAM-Na acts as a monodentate ligand through its –NH2 amino in case of gold(III) complex. These complexes were placed in the following formulas: [Ca(SAM-Na)(Cl)2)]. 5H2O (1), [Zn(SAMNa)( Cl)2]. 3H2O (2), [Pd(SAM-Na)(Cl)2]. 3H2O (3) and [Au(SAM-Na)(Cl)3]. 4H2O (4). The molar conductance data reveals that all SAM-Na complexes is non-electrolyte. The morphological structures of SAM-Na complexes were checked using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analyzer.
Management of hyperpigmentation: Current treatments and emerging therapies

Hyperpigmentation of the skin refers to a dermatological condition which alters the color of the skin, making it discolored or darkened. The treatments for hyperpigmentation disorders often take very long to show results and have poor patient compliance. The first‐line treatment for hyperpigmentation involves topical formulations of conventional agents such as hydroquinone, kojic acid, and glycolic acid followed by oral formulations of therapeutic agents such as tranexamic acid, melatonin, and cysteamine hydrochloride. The second‐line approaches include chemical peels and laser therapy given under the observation of expert professionals. However, these therapies pose certain limitations and adverse effects such as erythema, skin peeling, and drying and require long treatment duration to show visible effects. These shortcomings of the conventional treatments provided scope for further research on newer alternatives for managing hyperpigmentation. Some of these therapies include novel formulations such as solid lipid nanocarriers, liposomes, phytochemicals, platelet‐rich plasma, microneedling. This review focuses on elaborating on several hyperpigmentation disorders and their mechanisms, the current, novel and emerging treatment options for management of hyperpigmentation.
A multi-microcarrier of metronidazole-biopolymers complexes as a potential vaginal delivery system

ABSTRACT The advantages of multiparticulate carriers over monolithic one are well known. In this study, mucoadhesive micropellets (MPs) composed of metronidazole (MTZ)–polysaccharide(s) polyelectrolytes complexes were prepared to be used as a localized vaginal healthcare product. The prepared all-natural MPs were characterized using FTIR spectroscopy as well as scanning electron microscopy studies. The MPs were evaluated by determination of drug encapsulation efficiency (EE), particle size (PS), drug release parameters, and ex vivo bioadhesivity using vaginal mucosa. MP-D composed of (MTZ:alginate:polycarbophil = 1:0.5:0.5) attained the highest EE (97.67%) as well as the most extended drug release properties. Microbiological study comparing MP-D to the market product (Amrizole vaginal suppository) showed the superiority of MP-D by its capability to constantly inhibit fungal growth all-over 24 h, while Amrizole suppository was effective for only 8 h. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Keep the fate: how chromatin regulators safeguard embryonic stem cell identity

Segregation of cells that form the embryo from those that produce the surrounding extra‐embryonic tissues is critical for early mammalian development, but the regulatory layers governing these first cell fate decisions remain poorly understood. Recent work in The EMBO Journal identifies two chromatin regulators, Hdac3 and Dax1, that synergistically restrict the developmental potential of mouse embryonic stem cells and act as a lineage barrier to primitive endoderm formation.
Strong emotional reactions for doctors working in palliative care: Causes, management and impact. A qualitative study

Doctors working in palliative care services are exposed to challenging emotional environments almost daily. Strong‐emotional reactions experienced in this setting have implications for patient care and doctor wellbeing. Existing research has not focused on doctors working in specialist palliative care. This study aimed to understand what strong emotional reactions are experienced by doctors working in specialist palliative care, the cause of these strong emotional reactions and the impact they have on the lives of palliative care doctors.
Self-supervised Learning for Accelerated 3D High-resolution Ultrasound Imaging.

PURPOSE Ultrasound (US) imaging has been widely used in diagnosis, image-guided intervention and therapy, where high-quality three-dimensional (3D) images are highly desired from sparsely acquired two-dimensional (2D) images. This study aims to develop a deep learning-based algorithm to reconstruct high-resolution 3D US images only reliant on the acquired sparsely distributed 2D images. METHODS We propose a self-supervised learning framework using cycle consistent generative adversarial network (cycleGAN), where two independent cycleGAN models are respectively trained with paired original US images and two sets of low-resolution US images. The two sets of low-resolution US images are respectively obtained through down sampling the original US images along the two axes. In US imaging, in-plane spatial resolution is generally much higher than through-plane resolution. By learning the mapping from down-sampled in-plane low-resolution images to original high-resolution US images, cycleGAN can generate through-plane high-resolution images from original sparely distributed 2D images. Finally, high-resolution 3D US images are reconstructed by combining the generated 2D images from the two cycleGAN models. RESULTS The proposed method was assessed on two different datasets. One is automatic breast ultrasound (ABUS) images from 70 breast cancer patients, the other is collected from 45 prostate cancer patients. By applying a spatial resolution enhancement factor of 3 to the breast cases, our proposed method achieved the mean absolute error (MAE) value of 0.90±0.15, the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) value of 37.88±0.88 dB, and the visual information fidelity (VIF) value of 0.69±0.01, which significantly outperforms bicubic interpolation. Similar performances have been achieved using the enhancement factor of 5 in these breast cases and using the enhancement factor of 5 and 10 in the prostate cases. CONCLUSIONS We have proposed and investigated a new deep learning-based algorithm for reconstructing high-resolution 3D US images from sparely acquired 2D images. Significant improvement on through-plane resolution has been achieved by only using the acquired 2D images without any external atlas images. Its self-supervision capability could accelerate high-resolution US imaging.
Structure memes: Intuitive visualization of sequence logo and subfamily logo information in a 3D protein‐structural context

The number of available protein sequences covering virtually all known species is tremendous and ever growing due to the feasibility of the underlying nucleotide sequencing. The speed at which protein structures are being determined is increasing, and as a result of refined cryo‐electron microscopy the proportion of solved membrane protein folds is expanding. Sequence data are used to illustrate evolution and to group proteins into families with various levels of subfamilies. Structure data of prototypical proteins provide insight into function brought about by an interplay of specific amino acid residues that are dispersed throughout the sequence. Visually combining rich sequence information with structure data in an intuitively comprehensible way would enhance the process of elucidating key protein aspects regarding evolution, sequence relations, and function. Here, a method is described that projects the information contained in sequence logos and subfamily logos onto protein structures. The amino acid composition at a site is encoded by a mix color in the red‐yellow‐blue space and the information content is presented by the radius of a sphere at the α‐carbon position. The resulting display is termed “structure meme. ” The underlying sequence and atom coordinate data are retained in the file for simple retrieval on demand using a molecular structure visualization program. Structure memes are recognizable and convey extensive information in a human‐discernable way that requires little training.
Identifying research gaps: A review of virtual patient education and self-management.

BACKGROUND Avatars in Virtual Reality (VR) can not only represent humans, but also embody intelligent software agents that communicate with humans, thus enabling a new paradigm of human-machine interaction. OBJECTIVE The research agenda proposed in this paper by an interdisciplinary team is motivated by the premise that a conversation with a smart agent avatar in VR means more than giving a face and body to a chatbot. Using the concrete communication task of patient education, this research agenda is rather intended to explore which patterns and practices must be constructed visually, verbally, para- and nonverbally between humans and embodied machines in a counselling context so that humans can integrate counselling by an embodied VR smart agent into their thinking and acting in one way or another. METHODS The scientific literature in different bibliographical databases was reviewed. A qualitative narrative approach was applied for analysis. RESULTS A research agenda is proposed which investigates how recurring consultations of patients with healthcare professionals are currently conducted and how they could be conducted with an embodied smart agent in immersive VR. CONCLUSIONS Interdisciplinary teams consisting of linguists, computer scientists, visual designers and health care professionals are required which need to go beyond a technology-centric solution design approach. Linguists' insights from discourse analysis drive the explorative experiments to identify test and discover what capabilities and attributes the smart agent in VR must have, in order to communicate effectively with a human being.
Knockin of the G275E mutation of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) α6 confers high levels of resistance to spinosyns in Spodoptera exigua

Spinosyns, including spinosad and spinetoram, act on the insect central nervous system, gradually paralyzing or destroying the target insect. Spinosad resistance is associated with loss‐of‐function mutations in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) α6 subunit in a number of agricultural pests. Using gene editing, nAChR α6 has been verified as a target for spinosyns in five insect species. Recently, a point mutation (G275E) in exon 9 of nAChR α6 was identified in spinosad‐resistant strains of Thrips palmi and Tuta absoluta. To date, no in vivo functional evidence has been obtained to support that this mutation is involved in spinosyn resistance in lepidopteran pests. In this study, the G275E mutation was introduced into the nAChR of Spodoptera exigua using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) / CRISPR‐associated protein 9 (Cas9) gene‐editing technology. Reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction and sequencing confirmed that this mutation was present in exon 9 of the nAChR transcripts in the edited 275E strain. The results of bioassays showed that the 275E strain was highly resistant to spinosad (230‐fold) and spinetoram (792‐fold) compared to the unedited background strain, directly confirming that the G275E mutation of the nAChR α6 subunit confers high levels of spinosyn resistance in S. exigua. Inheritance analysis showed that the resistance trait is autosomal and incompletely recessive. This study employs a reverse genetics approach to validate the functional role played by the G275E mutation in nAChR α6 of S. exigua in spinosyns resistance and provides another example of the use of CRISPR/Cas9 gene‐editing technology to confirm the role played by candidate target site mutations in insecticide resistance.
Comparative phylogenetics of repetitive elements in a diverse order of flowering plants (Brassicales)

Abstract Genome sizes of plants have long piqued the interest of researchers due to the vast differences among organisms. However, the mechanisms that drive size differences have yet to be fully understood. Two important contributing factors to genome size are expansions of repetitive elements, such as transposable elements (TEs), and whole-genome duplications (WGD). Although studies have found correlations between genome size and both TE abundance and polyploidy, these studies typically test for these patterns within a genus or species. The plant order Brassicales provides an excellent system to further test if genome size evolution patterns are consistent across larger time scales, as there are numerous WGDs. This order is also home to one of the smallest plant genomes, Arabidopsis thaliana—chosen as the model plant system for this reason—as well as to species with very large genomes. With new methods that allow for TE characterization from low-coverage genome shotgun data and 71 taxa across the Brassicales, we confirm the correlation between genome size and TE content, however, we are unable to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships and do not detect any shift in TE abundance associated with WGD.
State-Anxiety Modulates the Effect of Emotion Cues on Visual Temporal Sensitivity in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Atypical processing of stimulus inputs across a range of sensory modalities in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are widely reported. Sensory processing is known to be influenced by bodily internal states such as physiological arousal and anxiety. Since a sizeable proportion of ASD individuals reportedly have co-morbid anxiety disorders that are linked with dysregulated arousal, we investigated if face-emotion arousal cues, influenced visual sensory sensitivity (indexed by temporal resolution) in an ASD group (n=20) compared to a matched group of typically-developed individuals (TD, n=21). We asked further if emotion-cued changes in visual sensitivity associated with individual differences in state- and trait-anxiety. Participants reported the laterality of the second of two consecutive Gaussian-blob flashes in a visual temporal order judgment task (v-TOJ), demanding higher-level visual processing. The key manipulation was presenting a task-irrelevant face emotion cue briefly at unexpected time points preceding the task-relevant flashes. Disgust vs Neutral emotion signals enhanced the visual temporal resolution in ASD individuals. Furthermore, individual state-anxiety scores correlated with the emotion-cued change of temporal resolution (Disgust vs Neutral) in the ASD group. Both these effects were absent in the TD group. The results show that individual state-anxiety levels significantly modulate the effect of emotions on visual temporal sensitivity in ASD individuals, which was absent in our TD sample. The findings support a nuanced approach to understand the disparate sensory features in ASD individuals, by factoring in the interplay of the individual reactivity to environmental affective information and the severity of anxiety.
Long‐term nitrogen input alters plant and soil bacterial, but not fungal beta diversity in a semiarid grassland

Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) input is known to alter plant and microbial α‐diversity, but how N enrichment influences β‐diversity of plant and microbial communities remains poorly understood. Using a long‐term multilevel N addition experiment in a temperate steppe, we show that plant, soil bacterial and fungal communities exhibited different responses in their β‐diversity to N input. Plant β‐diversity decreased linearly as N addition increased, as a result of increased directional environmental filtering, where soil environmental properties largely explained variation in plant β‐diversity. Soil bacterial β‐diversity first increased then decreased with increasing N input, which was best explained by corresponding changes in soil environmental heterogeneity. Soil fungal β‐diversity, however, remained largely unchanged across the N gradient, with plant β‐diversity, soil environmental properties, and heterogeneity together explaining an insignificant fraction of variation in fungal β‐diversity, reflecting the importance of stochastic community assembly. Our study demonstrates the divergent effect of N enrichment on the assembly of plant, soil bacterial and fungal communities, emphasizing the need to examine closely associated fundamental components (i.e., plants and microorganisms) of ecosystems to gain a more complete understanding of ecological consequences of anthropogenic N enrichment.