Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Health differences between multiple and single job holders in precarious employment in the Netherlands: A cross-sectional study among Dutch workers

Introduction Precarious employment is associated with poor health. Among employees in precarious employment, those with multiple jobs may face additional health risks, e.g. due to combining work schedules and job roles. Our research question is: do differences in health exist between multiple and single job holders in precarious employment? Methods Participants in the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey 2012 aged 25–64 years who were not employed through the Act on Social Work Provision and who had a precarious job were included. To select employees in precarious employment (n = 3,609), latent class analysis was performed, based on variables based on indicators described by Van Aerden. Differences in general self-perceived health, burnout complaints, musculoskeletal health, and sickness absence between multiple and single job holders were studied cross-sectionally using logistic regression analyses. Results No significant differences were found between multiple and single job holders in precarious employment for self-perceived health (OR = 0.9; 95%CI = 0.7–1.3), burnout complaints (OR = 0.9; 95%CI = 0.7–1.2), and musculoskeletal health (OR = 1.1; 95%CI = 0.8–1.5). In crude analyses, multiple job holders experienced less sickness absence than single job holders (OR = 0.7; 95%CI = 0.5–0.9). In adjusted analyses, this difference was no longer statistically significant (OR = 0.8; 95%CI = 0.6–1.0). Conclusions Despite potential health risks related to multiple job holding, we did not find health differences between multiple and single job holders in precarious employment in the Netherlands. More longitudinal research is necessary to provide recommendations for policy makers regarding multiple job holders in precarious employment.
Attempts to obtain fully xenogeneic fetuses in rat ↔ mouse model†,‡

Abstract The full-term development of the xenogeneic embryo in the uterus of the mother of different species is very restricted and can occur only in certain groups of closely related mammals. In the case of mouse ↔ rat chimeras, the interspecific uterine barrier is less hostile to interspecific chimeric fetuses. In current work, we tested the development of mouse and rat fetuses in uteri of females of the opposite species. We created chimeric mouse ↔ rat blastocysts by injection of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into eight-cell rat embryos and rat ESCs into eight-cell mouse embryos. Chimeras were transferred to the foster mothers of the opposite species. Despite a huge number of transferred embryos (>1000 in total for both variants), only one live fetus derived solely from the mouse ESCs was isolated at E13.5 from the rat uterus. All other fetuses and newborns were chimeric or were built only from the cells of the recipient embryo. We examined the possible reason for such an outcome and found that the xenogeneic fetuses are eliminated at the perigastrulation stage of development. Thus, we conclude that in the rat ↔ mouse combination even when extraembryonic tissues of the chimeric embryo are composed solely of the cells of the same species as the female to which embryos are transferred, the full-term development of the pure xenogeneic fetus is very unlikely. Summary sentence Full-term development of pure xenogeneic fetuses in the rat ↔ mouse model is very unlikely.
Low-temperature sintering of silver nanoparticles on paper by surface modification

Ultralow-temperature sintering plays a vital role in the development of flexible printed electronics, which improves flexibility and reduces energy consumption. This study investigates the ultralow-temperature sintering of large-sized silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) by laser modification of the substrate surface. Ag NPs in conductive ink were sintered at only 60 °C. Designing the appropriate size of modified regions, the sintered Ag layer exhibits a sheet resistance of only 0.274 Ω and withstands 10 000 folding cycles. Energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy showed that TiO2 formed by laser ablation promotes the sintering of Ag NPs and joining with the substrate. A paper-based flexible integrated circuit board was also prepared.
Voluntary and tremorogenic inputs to motor neuron pools of agonist/antagonist muscles in essential tremor patients

Pathological tremor is an oscillation of body parts at 3–10 Hz, determined by the output of spinal motor neurons (MNs), which receive synaptic inputs from supraspinal centers and muscle afferents. The behavior of spinal MNs during tremor is not well understood, especially in relation to the activation of the multiple muscles involved. Recent studies on patients with essential tremor have shown that antagonist MN pools receive shared input at the tremor frequency. In this study, we investigated the synaptic inputs related to tremor and voluntary movement, and their coordination across antagonist muscles. We analyzed the spike trains of motor units (MUs) identified from high-density surface electromyography from the forearm extensor and flexor muscles in 15 patients with essential tremor during postural tremor. The shared synaptic input was quantified by coherence and phase difference analysis of the spike trains. All pairs of spike trains in each muscle showed coherence peaks at the voluntary drive frequency (1–3 Hz, 0.2 ± 0.2, mean ± SD) and tremor frequency (3–10 Hz, 0.6 ± 0.3) and were synchronized with small phase differences (3.3 ± 25.2° and 3.9 ± 22.0° for the voluntary drive and tremor frequencies, respectively). The coherence between MN spike trains of antagonist muscle groups at the tremor frequency was significantly smaller than intramuscular coherence. We predominantly observed in-phase activation of MUs between agonist/antagonist muscles at the voluntary frequency band (0.6 ± 48.8°) and out-of-phase activation at the tremor frequency band (126.9 ± 75.6°). Thus MNs innervating agonist/antagonist muscles concurrently receive synaptic inputs with different phase shifts in the voluntary and tremor frequency bands. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Although the mechanical characteristics of tremor have been widely studied, the activation of the affected muscles is still poorly understood. We analyzed the behavior of motor units of pairs of antagonistic wrist muscle groups in patients with essential tremor and studied their activity at voluntary movement- and tremor-related frequencies. We found that the phase relation between inputs to antagonistic muscles is different at the voluntary and tremor frequency bands.
The impact of an income-generating activities programme on children and mothers’ undernutrition in extreme poor rural Bangladeshi households

Abstract Objective: The current study assessed changes in children and mothers’ nutritional status before and after raising Bangladeshi households out of extreme poverty through an income-generating activities (IGA) programme. Design: Extreme poor households took part in the IGA programme for 2 years and recruitment took place over four waves in annual cycles. Children and mothers were measured with regarding their nutritional status before and after the IGA programme commenced. Settings: Rural Bangladesh. Subjects: Three-hundred and eighty-two children under 5 years of age at recruitment, and their mothers. Results: After 2 years of the IGA programme, the prevalence of stunting significantly declined from 40·3 % to 33·0 % (P = 0·003), anaemia declined from 51·6 % to 44·0 % (P = 0·020) while mothers’ CED (Chronic Energy Deficiency) declined from 52·0 % to 42·7 % (P < 0·001), but no significant changes were found in children’s wasting, declining from 25·4 % to 21·5 %, underweight which remained the same at 43·2 %, while mothers’ anaemia rose from 39·3 % to 42·7 %. There were also highly significant improvements in household socio-economic status. Increases in socio-economic security (especially in relation to cash savings and net income) and improvements in food quantity and quality (indicated by greater food diversity and animal food intake) were associated with normal nutritional status, and cessation of open defecation was associated with reduction in mothers’ and child anaemia. Conclusion: The IGA programme was associated with increased household socio-economic security, such as asset accumulation, food security and sanitation, and with improvements in the nutritional status of children and their mothers in extreme poor households.
Nut1/Hos1 and Sas2/Rpd3 control the H3 acetylation of two different sets of osmotic stress-induced genes

ABSTRACT Epigenetic information is able to interact with the cellular environment and could be especially useful for reprograming gene expression in response to a physiological perturbation. In fact the genes induced or repressed by osmotic stress undergo significant changes in terms of the levels of various histone modifications, especially in the acetylation levels of histone H3. Exposing yeast to high osmolarity results in the activation of stress-activated protein kinase Hog1, which plays a central role in gene expression control. We evaluated the connection between the presence of Hog1 and changes in histone H3 acetylation in stress-regulated genes. We found a parallel increase in the acetylation of lysines 9 and 14 of H3 in induced genes during stress, which was largely dependent on Hog1 at the genome-wide level. Conversely, we observed that acetylation decreased in repressed genes and was not dependent on Hog1. However, lack of Hog1 sometimes produced different, and even opposite, effects on the induction and acetylation of H3 of each gene. We also found that the acetylation state of lysine 9 of H3 was altered in the strains deficient in Nut1 HAT and Hos1 HDAC in the genes up-regulated during osmotic stress in an Msn2/Msn4-independent manner, while lysine 9 acetylation of H3 varied in the strains deficient in Sas2 HAT and Rpd3 HDAC for the Msn2/Msn4-dependent induced genes. The results presented here show new, unexpected participants in gene regulation processes in response to environmental perturbations.
Measuring rapport in neuropsychological assessment: the Barnett Rapport Questionnaire

Abstract Rapport is an important component of neuropsychological test administration; however, there is a lack of psychometrically sound measures of rapport in the context of neuropsychological assessment. The purpose of this study was to explore adapting measures of the psychotherapeutic alliance specifically to neuropsychological test administration and investigate their feasibility and construct validity. College students (N = 126) were administered a brief battery of neuropsychological tests in either a high-rapport or low-rapport condition. Participants in the high-rapport condition rated rapport as being higher, suggesting that the items captured the nature of the interpersonal interaction between examiner and examinee. The results suggest the feasibility of adapting items from measures of the psychotherapeutic alliance for measuring rapport in neuropsychological testing. This article introduces the Barnett Rapport Questionnaire, a measure of rapport in the context of neuropsychological assessment.
Validation of PROMIS CATs and PROMIS Global Health in an Interdisciplinary Pain Program for Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain.

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort study OBJECTIVE. : To (1) confirm validity of PROMIS physical function and pain interference computer adaptive tests (CATs) and (2) assess the validity of PROMIS Global Health (GH) and five additional PROMIS CATs: social role satisfaction, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance in a population of chronic low back pain (cLBP) patients who completed a 3-month Interdisciplinary Pain Program (IPP). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Recent recommendations for assessing outcomes in cLBP patients have included PROMIS scales, however there is a need for further evaluation, and PROMIS GH has not been studied in this population. METHODS The study cohort included cLBP patients who completed the entirety of a 3-month IPP between 8/2016-12/2018. PROMs were analyzed prior to the start of the IPP and at graduation. Convergent and discriminant validity were evaluated using Pearson correlation coefficients. Known groups validity assessed the change in PROMIS scores stratified by improvement on the Modified LBP Disability Questionnaire (MDQ). Responsiveness was evaluated with standardized response means (SRM) based on global impression of change. RESULTS IPP was completed by 217 patients (67.7% female, age 53.8 ± 12.8). Convergent validity was supported (p < 0.01 for all pairwise PROMs comparisons). All PROMs improved significantly by graduation, with the largest improvement for PROMIS pain interference, physical function, social role satisfaction, and MDQ. Known groups validity demonstrated the greatest change on PROMIS physical function, social role satisfaction, pain interference, and depression. Responsiveness was supported for all PROMs in 170 (78.3%) patients who indicated at least minimal improvement (SRMs 0.43-1.06). CONCLUSIONS Our study provides support of PROMIS CATs, highlights the importance of including other meaningful outcome measures, such as social role satisfaction, and provides the first validation of PROMIS GH, in cLBP patients. PROMs collection can be streamlined through the use of PROMIS CATs which offer advantages over legacy measures. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 3.
Multinomial N‐mixture models for removal sampling

Multinomial N ‐mixture models are commonly used to fit data from a removal sampling protocol. If the mixing distribution is negative binomial, the distribution of the counts does not appear to have been identified, and practitioners approximate the requisite likelihood by placing an upper bound on the embedded infinite sum. In this paper, the distribution which underpins the multinomial N ‐mixture model with a negative binomial mixing distribution is shown to belong to the broad class of multivariate negative binomial distributions. Specifically, the likelihood can be expressed in closed form as the product of conditional and marginal likelihoods and the information matrix shown to be block diagonal. As a consequence, the nature of the maximum likelihood estimates of the unknown parameters and their attendant standard errors can be examined and tests of the hypothesis of the Poisson against the negative binomial mixing distribution formulated. In addition, appropriate multinomial N ‐mixture models for data sets which include zero site totals can also be constructed. Two illustrative examples are provided.
2017 Military Supplement: Hemoglobin-based Oxygen Carriers: Current State-of-the-Art and Novel Molecules.

In blood, the primary role of RBCs is to transport oxygen via highly regulated mechanisms involving hemoglobin (Hb). Hb is a tetrameric porphyrin protein comprising of two α- and two β-polypeptide chains, each containing an iron-containing heme group capable of binding one oxygen molecule. In military as well as civilian traumatic exsanguinating hemorrhage, rapid loss of RBCs can lead to sub-optimal tissue oxygenation and subsequent morbidity and mortality. In such cases, transfusion of whole blood or RBCs can significantly improve survival. However, blood products including RBCs present issues of limited availability and portability, need for type matching, pathogenic contamination risks, and short shelf-life, causing substantial logistical barriers to their pre-hospital use in austere battlefield and remote civilian conditions. While robust research is being directed to resolve these issues, parallel research efforts have emerged towards bioengineering of semi-synthetic and synthetic surrogates of RBCs, using various cross-linked, polymeric and encapsulated forms of Hb. These Hb-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs) can potentially provide therapeutic oxygenation when blood or RBC are not available. Several of these HBOCs have undergone rigorous pre-clinical and clinical evaluation, but have not yet received clinical approval in the USA for human use. While these designs are being optimized for clinical translations, several new HBOC designs and molecules have been reported in recent years, with unique properties. The current article will provide a comprehensive review of such HBOC designs, including current state-of-the-art and novel molecules in development, along with a critical discussion of successes and challenges in this field.
Novel bioinformatics quality control metric for next-generation sequencing experiments in the clinical context

Abstract As the use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) for the Mendelian diseases diagnosis is expanding, the performance of this method has to be improved in order to achieve higher quality. Typically, performance measures are considered to be designed in the context of each application and, therefore, account for a spectrum of clinically relevant variants. We present EphaGen, a new computational methodology for bioinformatics quality control (QC). Given a single NGS dataset in BAM format and a pre-compiled VCF-file of targeted clinically relevant variants it associates this dataset with a single arbiter parameter. Intrinsically, EphaGen estimates the probability to miss any variant from the defined spectrum within a particular NGS dataset. Such performance measure virtually resembles the diagnostic sensitivity of given NGS dataset. Here we present case studies of the use of EphaGen in context of BRCA1/2 and CFTR sequencing in a series of 14 runs across 43 blood samples and 504 publically available NGS datasets. EphaGen is superior to conventional bioinformatics metrics such as coverage depth and coverage uniformity. We recommend using this software as a QC step in NGS studies in the clinical context. Availability: https://github.com/m4merg/EphaGen or https://hub.docker. com/r/m4merg/ephagen.
Histological Assessment of Palatal Donor Site Wound Healing after Application of Moringa oleifera Lamarck Leaf Extract in Rats

Abstract Objective Palatal excisional wound healing in 60 Sprague–Dawley rats was studied for a period of 14 days. Materials and Methods The wounds were made with a punch biopsy instrument with a diameter of 4 mm. After wounding, the test groups received a topical gel of Moringa oleifera Lamarck 2% or 4% leaf extract, whereas control groups received povidone iodine gel and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC 4%). Three rats were killed at 0, 3, 7, 10, and 14 days after wounding from each allocated group. The wounds were assessed at different control times and light microscopy was employed to view serial sections from blocks with magnification. Results Histological examination revealed that group treated with M. oleifera Lamarck 4% leaf extract showed the highest fibroblast synthesis and collagen deposition. Conclusion This study suggests that M. oleifera Lamarck leaf extract could be developed as a therapeutic agent for wound healing.
The intrinsically disordered region of the cytokinetic F-BAR protein Cdc15 performs a unique essential function in maintenance of cytokinetic ring integrity

Successful separation of two daughter cells (i.e., cytokinesis) is essential for life. Many eukaryotic cells divide using a contractile apparatus called the cytokinetic ring (CR) that associates dynamically with the plasma membrane (PM) and generates force that contributes to PM ingression between daughter cells. In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, important membrane–CR scaffolds include the paralogous F-BAR proteins Cdc15 and Imp2. Their conserved protein structure consists of the archetypal F-BAR domain linked to an SH3 domain by an intrinsically disordered region (IDR). Functions have been assigned to the F-BAR and SH3 domains. In this study we probed the function of the central IDR. We found that the IDR of Cdc15 is essential for viability and cannot be replaced by that of Imp2, whereas the F-BAR domain of Cdc15 can be swapped with several different F-BAR domains, including that of Imp2. Deleting part of the IDR results in CR defects and abolishes calcineurin phosphatase localization to the CR. Together these results indicate that Cdc15’s IDR has a nonredundant essential function that coordinates regulation of CR architecture.
Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia: The Effect of Long-Term, Community-Based Psychiatric Intervention

Negative symptoms in schizophrenia, a term going back to the last century [1], have been the subject of research interest on the part of a number of investigators, who have studied their etiology, prognostic value, and treatment [2-10]. Negative symptoms have been defined as deficit symptoms or impairment in functioning, the clinical picture being characterized by blunted, flat affect, psychomotor retardation, and poverty of speech [2-4]. Wing [11] considers the clinical poverty syndrome synonymous with chronic schizophrenia, in which these symptoms are present. Recent clinical research has provided evidence that negative symptoms do not constitute a bipolar continuum, but rather are part of a process of severe psychopathology and social dysfunction responding fairly poorly to antipsychotic medication. The latter finding, along with laboratory indices, has prompted some researchers to hypothesize that negative symptoms reflect structural brain deficits [4,10,12]. Despite the pessimism resulting from the poor prognosis of schizophrenic patients with negative symptoms, some investigators have shown that psychosocial intervention can predict a better social outcome of such patients [13]. A review of the recent literature on negative symptoms reveals a
A bioinformatics analysis of exosomal microRNAs released following mycobacterial infection

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) still remains a major health threat worldwide. The current TB diagnostics are suboptimal, and there is a high clinical need for identifying novel biomarkers of disease prevalence. Circulating exosomes have been currently attractive as novel biomarkers in a wide range of pathological conditions. Methods: In this study, we performed bioinformatics analysis on the downstream targets of a dysregulated microRNA (miRNA) cluster induced by Bacillus Calmette–Guerin infection of human macrophages to provide greater understanding of their potential roles in disease pathogenesis. Results: Our analysis demonstrated that these dysregulated miRNAs have central roles in the host metabolic and energy pathways. Conclusion: This suggests that the host miRNA network is perturbed by Mycobacterium to re-patterning host metabolism machinery to favor its intracellular survival. The dysregulated miRNAs can be delivered to local and distal cells by exosomes and thereby modulate their function.
Recombinant Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) Expressing Sigma C Protein of Avian Reovirus (ARV) Protects against Both ARV and NDV in Chickens

Newcastle disease (ND) and avian reovirus (ARV) infections are a serious threat to the poultry industry, which causes heavy economic losses. The mesogenic NDV strain R2B is commonly used as a booster vaccine in many Asian countries to control the disease. In this seminal work, a recombinant NDV strain R2B expressing the sigma C (σC) gene of ARV (rNDV-R2B-σC) was generated by reverse genetics, characterized in vitro and tested as a bivalent vaccine candidate in chickens. The recombinant rNDV-R2B-σC virus was attenuated as compared to the parent rNDV-R2B virus as revealed by standard pathogenicity assays. The generated vaccine candidate, rNDV-R2B-σC, could induce both humoral and cell mediated immune responses in birds and gave complete protection against virulent NDV and ARV challenges. Post-challenge virus shedding analysis revealed a drastic reduction in NDV shed, as compared to unvaccinated birds.