Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Platelet-rich plasma as an effective biological therapy in early-stage knee osteoarthritis: One year follow up

Objective: PRP is produced by centrifugation of whole blood containing highly concentrated platelets, associated growth factors, and other bioactive agents which has been shown to provide some symptomatic relief in early knee osteoarthritis (OA). The principal objective of our study was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of standardized intra-articular injection of autologous PRP in early osteoarthritis knee. Methods: A total of 98 eligible symptomatic patients received two injections of standardized PRP 3 weeks apart. Clinical outcomes were evaluated using the VAS and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC) questionnaire before treatment and at 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after treatment. Secondary objectives were safety (side effects), and the effect of PRP on the different grades of knee degeneration. Results: There was a statistically significant improvement in mean VAS and WOMAC scores at 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and slight loss of improvement at 1 year follow-up. There was also a correlation between the degree of degeneration and improvement in the mean scores. The decrease in mean pain score is more in grades 1 and 2 (early OA) than in grade 3. The intraarticular injection is safe, with no major complications. Conclusion: PRP is a safe and effective biological regenerative therapy for early OA Knees. It provides a significant clinical improvement in patients with some loss of improvement with time. More studies will be needed to confirm our findings.
Diet and physical activity after liver transplant: A qualitative study of barriers and facilitators to following advice.

BACKGROUND Liver transplant recipients are given diet and physical activity advice to aid recovery and promote long-term health. The present study aimed to explore patients' experiences of receiving and implementing diet and physical activity advice after liver transplant and identify barriers and facilitators to following recommendations. METHODS A qualitative descriptive design included purposive sampling of 13 liver transplant recipients. Semi-structured audio-recorded interviews and inductive thematic analysis using a framework were undertaken concurrently to enable recruitment until saturation of themes occurred. RESULTS Overall experiences varied between participants and settings, as well as over time. Seven themes emerged, all representing both barriers and facilitators to implementing advice. Poor capability and loss of confidence were barriers that improved in hospital because healthcare professionals enabled participants to set and achieve goals but remained key barriers after discharge from hospital. The format and consistency of advice influenced participants' confidence in the healthcare team. Social support helped participants to return to and implement advice, although social networks could also have a negative influence. Advice and modelling of behaviour from other transplant recipients were facilitators. Symptoms, side effects, comorbidities and the environment presented barriers and facilitators. The desire to return to normal and coping strategies were drivers of behaviours, which were also influenced by participants' beliefs and values. CONCLUSIONS The variation in experiences indicates a need for individually tailored advice that is consistent across the multidisciplinary team. Interventions for behaviour change that merit further investigation include goal setting, improving coping strategies, peer support and modifying the hospital and home environment.
X-RAY SCATTERING CROSS SECTIONS FOR MOLECULES, PLASTICS, TISSUES, AND FEW BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS

ABSTRACT Compton and Rayleigh scattering cross sections for bone, bakelite, polycarbonate, nylon, lucite, polystyrene, polyethylene, water, glycogen, fat, calcium hydroxyapatite and protein are calculated for various monoenergetic Kα X-ray energies covering the angular region from 0 to 180° using non-relativistic, relativistic, relativistic modified and molecular form factors and the non-relativistic incoherent scattering function. The scattered radiation from these materials will be very useful to develop a semianalytic model to investigate the potential applications of X-ray scatter imaging. The scatter model can be used as a tool for designing and optimizing X-ray imaging system. However, one particular area of interest is in Monte Carlo simulation of photon transport in applications to medical physics and radiography.
SGK1 inhibition in glia ameliorates pathologies and symptoms in Parkinson disease animal models

Astrocytes and microglia are brain‐resident glia that can establish harmful inflammatory environments in disease contexts and thereby contribute to the progression of neuronal loss in neurodegenerative disorders. Correcting the diseased properties of glia is therefore an appealing strategy for treating brain diseases. Previous studies have shown that serum/ glucocorticoid related kinase 1 (SGK1) is upregulated in the brains of patients with various neurodegenerative disorders, suggesting its involvement in the pathogenesis of those diseases. In this study, we show that inhibiting glial SGK1 corrects the pro‐inflammatory properties of glia by suppressing the intracellular NFκB‐, NLRP3‐inflammasome‐, and CGAS‐STING‐mediated inflammatory pathways. Furthermore, SGK1 inhibition potentiated glial activity to scavenge glutamate toxicity and prevented glial cell senescence and mitochondrial damage, which have recently been reported as critical pathologic features of and therapeutic targets in Parkinson disease (PD) and Alzheimer disease (AD). Along with those anti‐inflammatory/neurotrophic functions, silencing and pharmacological inhibition of SGK1 protected midbrain dopamine neurons from degeneration and cured pathologic synuclein alpha (SNCA) aggregation and PD‐associated behavioral deficits in multiple in vitro and in vivo PD models. Collectively, these findings suggest that SGK1 inhibition could be a useful strategy for treating PD and other neurodegenerative disorders that share the common pathology of glia‐mediated neuroinflammation.
Soft tissue sarcoma of the upper extremity: oncological and functional results after surgery

This retrospective study evaluates outcomes after treatment of upper-extremity soft tissue sarcoma in 44 patients. We re-resected 19 tumours that had been resected elsewhere without adequate preoperative planning, and we made 25 well-planned primary resections. Four patients in the unplanned group and five in the planned group eventually received amputations. Thirty-three patients were alive at a median follow-up time of 33 months (IQR 18 to 57). Tumour size > 7 cm, tumour Grade 3 and the presence of distant organ metastases were the main factors affecting the oncological outcomes. We found no statistical differences between the planning groups. Functional outcomes and quality of life were significantly worse after amputation or major nerve resections. We conclude with this sized sample that the lack of planning in itself did not influence the final results, but there were differences in tumour size, grade and localization between the groups that may play a role. Level of evidence: IV
Impact of Chronic Kidney Disease on Aortic Disease-related Mortality: A Four-year Community-Based Cohort Study

Objective Despite advances in medicine, aortic diseases (ADs), such as aneurysm rupture and aortic dissection, remain fatal and carry extremely high mortality rates. Due to its low frequency, the risk of developing AD has not yet been fully elucidated. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an established risk factor for cardiovascular disease and mortality. The aim of the present study was to examine whether or not CKD is a risk for AD-related mortality in the general population. Methods We used a nationwide database of 554,442 subjects (40-75 years old) who participated in the annual “Specific Health Check and Guidance in Japan” checkup between 2008 and 2013. Results There were 131 aortic aneurysm and dissection deaths during the follow-up period of 2,123,512 person-years. A Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that subjects with CKD had a higher rate of AD-related deaths than those without it. A multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis demonstrated that CKD was an independent risk factor for AD-related death in the general population after adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors. The addition of CKD to cardiovascular risk factors significantly improved the C, net reclassification, and integrated discrimination indexes. Conclusion CKD is an additional risk for AD-related death, suggesting that CKD may be a target for the prevention and early identification of subjects at high risk for AD-related death in the general population.
Luteolin delays photoreceptor degeneration in a mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa

Luteolin is neuroprotective for retinal ganglion cells and retinal pigment epithelial cells after oxidative injury, whereby it can inhibit microglial neurotoxicity. Therefore, luteolin holds the potential to be useful for treatment of retinal diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether luteolin exhibits neuroprotective effects on rod cells in rd10 mice, a slow photoreceptor-degenerative model of retinitis pigmentosa. Luteolin (100 mg/kg) intraperitoneally injected daily from postnatal day 14 (P14) to P25 significantly enhanced the visual performance and retinal light responses of rd10 mice at P25. Moreover, it increased the survival of photoreceptors and improved retinal structure. Mechanistically, luteolin treatment attenuated increases in reactive oxygen species, photoreceptor apoptosis, and reactive gliosis; increased mRNA levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines while lowering that of pro-inflammatory and chemoattractant cytokines; and lowered the ratio of phospho-JNK/JNK. Application of the JNK inhibitor SP600125 exerted a similar protective effect to luteolin, suggesting that luteolin delays photoreceptor degeneration and functional deterioration in rd10 mice through regulation of retinal oxidation and inflammation by inhibiting the JNK pathway. Therefore, luteolin may be useful as a supplementary treatment for retinitis pigmentosa. This study was approved by the Qualified Ethics Committee of Jinan University, China (approval No. IACUC-20181217-02) on December 17, 2018.
Sty in the Mind’s Eye: A Meta-Analytic Investigation of the Nomological Network and Internal Consistency of the “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Test

The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) is the most popular adult measure of individual differences in theory of mind. We present a meta-analytic investigation of the test’s psychometric properties (k = 119 effect sizes, 61 studies, ntotal = 8,611 persons). Using random effects models, we found the internal consistency of the test was acceptable (α = .73). However, the RMET was more strongly related with emotion perception (r = .33, ρ = .48) relative to alternative theory of mind measures (r = .29, ρ = .39), and weakly to moderately related with vocabulary (r = .25, ρ = .32), cognitive empathy (r = .14, ρ = .20), and affective empathy (r = .13, ρ = .19). Overall, we conclude that the RMET operates rather as emotion perception measure than as theory of mind measure, challenging the interpretation of RMET results.
DETERMINATION OF PIGMENTS AND BINDERS IN POMPEIAN WALL PAINTINGS USING SYNCHROTRON RADIATION – HIGH-RESOLUTION X-RAY POWDER DIFFRACTION AND CONVENTIONAL SPECTROSCOPY – CHROMATOGRAPHY

The employment of synchrotron techniques complemented by conventional laboratory systems has allowed us to deepen and improve our knowledge of Roman wall painting procedures. The palette identified in wall paintings from Pompeii and Herculaneum from the second century bc includes goethite, hematite, cinnabar, glauconite, Egyptian blue, and other components such as calcite and aragonite. Proof of the use of organic binders is provided by FTIR and PY–GC/MS. Therefore, the possibility of the use of ‘a secco’ techniques cannot be ruled out. Pigments in wall paintings are usually found in small percentages and conventional X-ray diffractometers do not detect them. Synchrotron radiation – high-resolution X-ray powder diffraction has allowed identification with only a few micrograms of sample.
Automated Feature Extraction from Large Cardiac Electrophysiological Data Sets

Rationale A new multi-electrode array-based application for the long-term recording of action potentials from electrogenic cells makes possible exciting cardiac electrophysiology studies in health and disease. With hundreds of simultaneous electrode recordings being acquired over a period of days, the main challenge becomes achieving reliable signal identification and quantification. Objective We set out to develop an algorithm capable of automatically extracting regions of high-quality action potentials from terabyte size experimental results and to map the trains of action potentials into a low-dimensional feature space for analysis. Methods and Results Our automatic segmentation algorithm finds regions of acceptable action potentials in large data sets of electrophysiological readings. We use spectral methods and support vector machines to classify our readings and to extract relevant features. We are able to show that action potentials from the same cell site can be recorded over days without detrimental effects to the cell membrane. The variability between measurements 24 h apart is comparable to the natural variability of the features at a single time point. Conclusions Our work contributes towards a non-invasive approach for cardiomyocyte functional maturation, as well as developmental, pathological and pharmacological studies.
Casein micelles: diffusivity as a function of renneting time

The diffueivity of K-casein micelles in renneted skim milk was measured by dynamic light scattering. By use of the Stokes-Einstein relation, the apparent particle radius was calculated. Aa a result of the enzymatic proteolysis of the K-casein peptides that provide the steric stabilization of the casein micelles, the hydrodynamic radius diminishes. However, as a result of the increasing attractive interactions the apparent micelle radius increases. Depending on the length scale, one can distinguish collective diffusion and self-diffusion. For both phenomena, theoretical descriptions exist. Combining this theory with an adhesive-hard-sphere model for the casein micelles allowe a quantitative prediction of the experimental resulta. In this way a clear insight into the initial stages of the renneting proces is gained and this can be used for further modeling and control of the cheesemaking process.
Shape Evolution of Electrodeposited Copper Bumps

The initial stage of bumps was electrodeposited at diffusion control overvoltage. Their shapes were observed by scanning electron microscopy and are discussed with numerical fluid dynamics computation. The bumps were electrodeposited either by varying the Peclet numbers or by varying dot diameters. For the Peclet number of 1.31 with 100 {micro}m dot diameter, the bump shows a maximum height hump at the circumference of upstream side and a lower hump exists at the downstream side. For 41.6, however, the hump at the upstream side slightly shifts to downstream and the hump becomes flat at the downstream side. The bump shows a maximum height at the upstream side for 200, 100, and 30 {micro}m in dot diameter for the Peclet number of 1.31. A lower hump exists at the downstream side. The bump shapes become flat for 15, 10, and 5 {micro}m dot diameters. These observed bump shapes are explained by the fluid dynamics calculations of vortex evolution and penetration flow. The calculated flux profiles coincide well with observed bump shapes.
The thyroid risk score (TRS) for nodules with indeterminate cytology.

Cytology is the gold standard method for the differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules, though 25-30% of them are classified as indeterminate. We aimed to set up a 'thyroid risk score' (TRS) to increase the diagnostic accuracy in these cases. We prospectively tested 135 indeterminate thyroid nodules. The pre-surgical TRS derived from the sum of the scores assigned at cytology, EU-TIRADS classification, nodule measurement, and molecular characterization, which was done by our PTC-MA assay, a customized array able to cost-effectively evaluate 24 different genetic alterations including point mutations and gene fusions. We found that the risk of malignancy (ROM) increased paralleling the score: in the category >4 and ≤ 6 (low suspicion), >6 ≤ 8 (intermediate suspicion), and >8 (high suspicion), ROM was 10%, 47% and 100%, respectively. ROC curves selected the score >6.5 as the best threshold to differentiate between malignant and benign nodules (P<0.001). The TRS>6.5 had a better performance than the single parameters evaluated separately, with an accuracy of 77% and 82% upon inclusion of noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features among malignant or benign cases, respectively. We generated for the first time a score combining a cost-effective molecular assay with already validated tools, harboring different specificities and sensitivities, for the differential diagnosis of indeterminate nodules. The combination of different parameters reduced the number of false negatives inherent to each classification system. The TRS >6.5 was highly suggestive for malignancy and retained a high accuracy in the identification of patients to be submitted to surgery.
Maternal and infant antiretroviral therapy adherence among women living with HIV in rural South Africa: a cluster randomised trial of the role of male partner participation on adherence and PMTCT uptake

ABSTRACT ‘Mother-to-child transmission of HIV’ can occur during the period of pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding. ‘Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV’ (PMTCT) in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, is especially vital as the prevalence of HIV is 28.2% in women aged 15–49. PMTCT interventions resulted in a drop of MTCT rates in Mpumalanga from ∼2% in 2015 to 1.3% in 2016. This randomised controlled trial in Mpumalanga examined the potential impact of a lay healthcare worker administered intervention, ‘Protect Your Family’, on maternal and infant adherence, and to assess the relative influence of male partner involvement on infant and maternal adherence. This cluster randomised controlled trial used a two-phase and two-condition (experimental or control) study design where participants (n = 1399) did assessments both during pregnancy and post-postpartum. Only women participated in Phase 1, and both female and male partners participated in Phase 2. Results indicated that male involvement was associated with self-reported maternal or infant antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence, but the intervention was not associated with ART adherence. Self-reported adherence was associated with depression, age, and partner HIV status. The study results provide support for the involvement of men in the antenatal clinic setting during pregnancy. Results also support further research on the meaning and assessment of male involvement and clarification of the constructs underlying the concept in the sub-Saharan African context. Outcomes provide support for male involvement and treatment of depression as adjuncts to improve uptake of both maternal and infant medication as part of the PMTCT protocol.
DYNAMICS OF RARE GASES IN ZEOLITES : INSTANTANEOUS NORMAL MODE ANALYSIS

The instantaneous normal mode (INM) spectra of rare gases in zeolites is analyzed with a view to understanding the short-time dynamical behavior of fluids adsorbed in confining media. Xenon adsorption in all-silica polymorphs of four zeolites (silicalite, mordenite, zeolite-A, and zeolite-Y) is studied using molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations. The participation ratio distribution is shown to be a particularly good indicator of the extent of ballistic behavior in the short-time dynamics. The fraction of imaginary modes in the INM spectrum is shown to be correlated with the self-diffusion coefficient; however, a significant number of imaginary modes would appear to be due to the negative curvature of the confining potential rather than to the existence of barrier crossing motions. The Einstein frequency shows interesting temperature-dependent behavior which is sensitive to the structure and framework density of the zeolite. The gradual emergence of liquidlike behavior with increasing concentration is reflected in both the participation ratio distribution and the harmonicity ratio; these features of the INM spectrum are therefore expected to be useful for indexing the modification of dynamical behavior of a fluid on confinement.
Corticosteroid delivery using oral mucosa equivalents for the treatment of inflammatory mucosal diseases

Abstract Oral lichen planus (OLP) is an immune‐mediated disease of the oral mucosa with idiopathic aetiology. It is frequently treated with topical corticosteroids (applied as gels, mouthwashes, or sprays); however, the mucosal exposure times of topical corticosteroids are short because of removal by the constant flow of saliva and mechanical forces. In this study we used cell monolayers, as well as oral mucosal equivalents (OMEs) containing activated T‐cells, to examine corticosteroid potency and delivery of clobetasol‐17‐propionate from a novel electrospun mucoadhesive patch. The OMEs displayed tight junctions, desmosomes, hemidesmosomes, and an efficient permeability barrier. Following application of corticosteroids to cells cultured as monolayers, the degree of cytotoxicity measured correlated to the level of potency recognized for each corticosteroid; by contrast, OMEs were largely unaffected by corticosteroid treatment. Permeation of clobetasol‐17‐propionate into and through the OMEs was time‐ and dose‐dependent, regardless of whether this corticosteroid was delivered in liquid form or from a mucoadhesive patch, and both liquid‐ and patch‐delivered clobetasol‐17‐propionate significantly reduced the secretion of interleukin‐2 by activated T‐cells. This study confirms that OMEs are more suitable models than cell monolayers for evaluating toxicity and drug delivery. After topical exposure, clobetasol‐17‐propionate accumulated in OMEs at a higher level than betamethasone‐17‐valerate and hydrocortisone‐17‐valerate, and exerted its immunosuppressive actions following application via the patch delivery system, highlighting the efficacy of this mode of drug delivery to treat OLP.
Contributions of biomass/solid fuel burning to blood pressure modification in women: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Approximately 2½ billion people worldwide rely on solid/biomass fuel as fuel for cooking/heating the home. Environmental exposure to the smoke associated with biomass fuel burning has been associated respiratory diseases, cardiac disorders, and altered blood pressure. Therefore, a systematic review and meta‐analysis was conducted to study this relationship across multiple studies.