Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mild Hypobaric Hypoxia Effects on Murine Skeletal Muscle Morphology and Macrophages and Well-Being.

BACKGROUND: In the last 10 yr, the number of ultra-haul flights-defined as flights greater than 12 h of flying time-has increased. While the medical complications of these flights are well-known, the underlying cellular effects are less clear. The primary objective of this study was to test the effects of extended mild hypobaric hypoxia on overall well-being and skeletal muscle morphology and macrophage populations.METHODS: A total of 22 male C57BL/6 mice were assigned to a normobaric (NB) or hypobaric (HB) chamber for 14-17 h. Overall mouse well-being and the general morphology and resident macrophage number in hindlimb muscles were compared between the two pressure conditions.RESULTS: During mild hypobaric hypoxia, the mice behaved normally and no changes were observed in general muscle morphology. Regarding resident macrophages, the mean antigen area of CD206 in the hindlimb muscles, lateral gastrocnemius (LG, 33.8 ± 2.0 vs. 35.3 ± 1.6), medial gastrocnemius (MG, 32.4 ± 1.6 vs. 32.6 ± 1.5), and quadriceps femoris (QF, 36.3 ± 1.2 vs. 34.3 ± 1.1) were similar between NB and HB conditions, and the number of CD68-positive cells in the LG and QF were similar between the two conditions. Significantly fewer CD206-positive cells were counted in the LG muscle under the HB condition.CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that extended exposure to mild hypobaric hypoxia, similar to that of an ultra-long-haul flight, does not adversely affect healthy skeletal muscle.Zhang L, Soulakova J, St. Pierre Schneider B. Mild hypobaric hypoxia effects on murine skeletal muscle morphology and macrophages and well-being. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2019; 90(12):1050-1054.
Life‐long impairment of glucose homeostasis upon prenatal exposure to psychostimulants

Maternal drug abuse during pregnancy is a rapidly escalating societal problem. Psychostimulants, including amphetamine, cocaine, and methamphetamine, are amongst the illicit drugs most commonly consumed by pregnant women. Neuropharmacology concepts posit that psychostimulants affect monoamine signaling in the nervous system by their affinities to neurotransmitter reuptake and vesicular transporters to heighten neurotransmitter availability extracellularly. Exacerbated dopamine signaling is particularly considered as a key determinant of psychostimulant action. Much less is known about possible adverse effects of these drugs on peripheral organs, and if in utero exposure induces lifelong pathologies. Here, we addressed this question by combining human RNA‐seq data with cellular and mouse models of neuroendocrine development. We show that episodic maternal exposure to psychostimulants during pregnancy coincident with the intrauterine specification of pancreatic β cells permanently impairs their ability of insulin production, leading to glucose intolerance in adult female but not male offspring. We link psychostimulant action specifically to serotonin signaling and implicate the sex‐specific epigenetic reprogramming of serotonin‐related gene regulatory networks upstream from the transcription factor Pet1/Fev as determinants of reduced insulin production.
Using δ13C and δ18O to analyze loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) response to experimental drought and fertilization.

Drought frequency and intensity are projected to increase throughout the Southeastern USA, the natural range of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.), and are expected to have major ecological and economic implications. We analyzed the carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions in tree ring cellulose of loblolly pine in a factorial drought (~30% throughfall reduction) and fertilization experiment, supplemented with trunk sap flow, allometry, and microclimate data. We then simulated leaf temperature and applied a multi-dimensional sensitivity analysis to interpret the changes in the oxygen isotope data. This analysis found that the observed changes in tree ring cellulose could only be accounted for by inferring a change in the isotopic composition of the source water, indicating that the drought treatment increased the uptake of stored moisture from earlier precipitation events. The drought treatment also increased intrinsic water-use efficiency, but had no effect on growth, suggesting that photosynthesis remained relatively unaffected despite 19% decrease in canopy conductance. In contrast, fertilization increased growth, but had no effect on the isotopic composition of tree ring cellulose, suggesting that the fertilizer gains in biomass were attributable to greater leaf area, and not to changes in leaf-level gas exchange. The multi-dimensional sensitivity analysis explored model behavior under different scenarios, highlighting the importance of explicit consideration of leaf temperature in the oxygen isotope discrimination (Δ18Oc) simulation, and is expected to expand the inference space of the Δ18Oc models for plant ecophysiological studies.
One-pot synthesized Bi2Te3/graphene for a self-powered photoelectrochemical-type photodetector

Bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) is a typical topological insulator, which possesses a narrow band gap and exhibits fascinating performance in the photodetector field. In this work, we fabricated a Bi2Te3/graphene heterostructure via a facile one-pot hydrothermal method. The as-prepared composites were used as the electrode materials for the photoelectrochemical (PEC)-type photodetector. From the results of PEC tests, we obviously found that the Bi2Te3/graphene heterostructure offers a remarkable improvement in photoresponse compared to that of sole Bi2Te3, and effectively demonstrates effective photocarrier generation and transfer at the interface between the graphene and Bi2Te3, which can enhance the properties of the photoresponse. Moreover, owing to the self-powered ability of the PEC-type photodetector, it can work under the bias potential of 0 V and exhibits a prominent photoresponse which can reach 2.2 mA W−1. Also, the photocurrent density of the prepared Bi2Te3/graphene heterostructure-based photodetector can almost linearly rise with the increased irradiation power density. Even if the light intensity was reduced to 40 mW cm−2, the photocurrent density could also reach 67 μA cm−2, which ensures the photodetection ability of the as-prepared Bi2Te3/graphene under low light intensity. The excellent performance of a Bi2Te3/graphene heterostructure for a PEC-type photodetector holds great promise in the field of photoelectric detection.
Inter-agency public health collaboration: western states Escherichia coli O157:H7 investigation associated with ground beef.

BONNIE W. KISSlER,1* ROSEMaRy TuRNER,2 TIMOThy C. IhRy,3 SCOTT a. SEyS4 and ThE INvESTIgaTION TEaM5 1u. S. Dept. of agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Office of Public health Science, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, MS a-38, atlanta, ga 30329, uSa; 2u. S. Dept. of agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Office of Field Operations, 210 Walnut St., Room 985, Des Moines, Ia 50309, uSa; 3u. S. Dept. of agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Office of Public health Science, 1616 Capitol ave., Room 260, Omaha, NE 68102, uSa; 4u.S. Dept. of agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Office of Public health Science, 100 North 6th St., Minneapolis, MN 55403, uSa; 5arizona Dept. of health Services, California Dept. of Public health, Colorado Dept. of Public health and Environment, utah Dept. of health, and Wyoming Dept. of health
CKD quality improvement intervention with PCMH integration: health plan results.

OBJECTIVES To execute a chronic kidney disease (CKD) intervention to assess feasibility and preliminary outcomes for a health plan. STUDY DESIGN This CKD quality improvement study was incorporated into an existing CareFirst primary care patient-centered medical home cohort with a pre- and postintervention assessment from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2017. METHODS The study targeted the population at risk for CKD with diabetes and/or hypertension by implementing a care plan according to the stratification by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (uACR) or CKD heat map class. RESULTS The population included 7420 individuals (51.8% female) with a mean age of 55.9 years; 19.1% had diabetes only, 42.2% had hypertension only, and 38.2% had both conditions. Overall, there was no change in eGFR testing among risk groups (84.8%), but a small significant increase in uACR testing occurred (from 31.3% to 33.0%; P = .0020). Reductions in admissions per 1000 patients were from 362.5 to 249.0 for class 3, 311.7 to 219.2 for class 4, and 590.9 to 323.5 for class 5. Lastly, there were reductions in 30-day readmissions per 1000 patients, from 51.9 to 13.7 for class 4 and 45.5 to 0 for class 5. Although there were increases in many of the per-member per-month costs assessed pre- versus post intervention, net savings in medical costs were $276.80 and $480.79 for CKD classes 3 and 5, respectively. CONCLUSIONS This scalable CKD intervention demonstrated feasibility. For advanced CKD, decreased hospitalization and a reduction in several important costs were observed. These preliminary results support the stratification of laboratory data for CKD population health innovation in commercial health plans.
Antigenic competition in CD4+ T cell responses in a randomized, multicenter, double-blind clinical HIV vaccine trial

Antigenic competition in CD4+ T cell responses occurs in HIV vaccine recipients. Troublesome T cells Many HIV vaccines aim to generate robust T cell responses, but two new studies show that this is not always straightforward. Chamcha et al. analyzed data from several nonhuman primate vaccine studies with SIV/SHIV challenges and discovered that achieving a certain threshold of vaccine-induced IFN-γ+ CD4 T cells lowered vaccine efficacy, possibly by providing target cells for the virus. Kallas et al. vaccinated people with HIV Gag/Pol alone or with Env to see whether antigenic competition could interfere with CD4 T cell responses; lower responses to Gag/Pol were detected when Env was also administered, indicating that including multiple antigens in a vaccine may preclude maximal T cell responses. Together, these studies highlight how we must tread carefully on the path to an effective HIV vaccine. T cell responses have been implicated in reduced risk of HIV acquisition in uninfected persons and control of viral replication in HIV-infected individuals. HIV Gag-specific T cells have been predominantly associated with post-infection control, whereas Env antigens are the target for protective antibodies; therefore, inclusion of both antigens is common in HIV vaccine design. However, inclusion of multiple antigens may provoke antigenic competition, reducing the potential effectiveness of the vaccine. HVTN 084 was a randomized, multicenter, double-blind phase 1 trial to investigate whether adding Env to a Gag/Pol vaccine decreases the magnitude or breadth of Gag/Pol-specific T cell responses. Fifty volunteers each received one intramuscular injection of 1 × 1010 particle units (PU) of rAd5 Gag/Pol and EnvA/B/C (3:1:1:1 mixture) or 5 × 109 PU of rAd5 Gag/Pol. CD4+ T cell responses to Gag/Pol measured 4 weeks after vaccination by cytokine expression were significantly higher in the group vaccinated without Env, whereas CD8+ T cell responses did not differ significantly between the two groups. Mapping of individual epitopes revealed greater breadth of the Gag/Pol-specific T cell response in the absence of Env compared to Env coimmunization. Addition of an Env component to a Gag/Pol vaccine led to reduced Gag/Pol CD4+ T cell response rate and magnitude as well as reduced epitope breadth, confirming the presence of antigenic competition. Therefore, T cell–based vaccine strategies should aim at choosing a minimalist set of antigens to reduce interference of individual vaccine components with the induction of the maximally achievable immune response.
Protecting patient privacy in survival analyses

OBJECTIVE Survival analysis is the cornerstone of many healthcare applications in which the "survival" probability (eg, time free from a certain disease, time to death) of a group of patients is computed to guide clinical decisions. It is widely used in biomedical research and healthcare applications. However, frequent sharing of exact survival curves may reveal information about the individual patients, as an adversary may infer the presence of a person of interest as a participant of a study or of a particular group. Therefore, it is imperative to develop methods to protect patient privacy in survival analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS We develop a framework based on the formal model of differential privacy, which provides provable privacy protection against a knowledgeable adversary. We show the performance of privacy-protecting solutions for the widely used Kaplan-Meier nonparametric survival model. RESULTS We empirically evaluated the usefulness of our privacy-protecting framework and the reduced privacy risk for a popular epidemiology dataset and a synthetic dataset. Results show that our methods significantly reduce the privacy risk when compared with their nonprivate counterparts, while retaining the utility of the survival curves. DISCUSSION The proposed framework demonstrates the feasibility of conducting privacy-protecting survival analyses. We discuss future research directions to further enhance the usefulness of our proposed solutions in biomedical research applications. CONCLUSION The results suggest that our proposed privacy-protection methods provide strong privacy protections while preserving the usefulness of survival analyses.
Positive, not negative, self-compassion mediates the relationship between self-esteem and well-being.

OBJECTIVES The study examined the predictive strengths of self-esteem, and positive and negative self-compassion for hedonic and eudaimonic well-being as well as assessed the relative mediating roles of positive and negative self-compassion for the relationships among self-esteem, and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. DESIGN A correlational design was employed through which self-esteem, self-compassion, and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being were measured. METHODS One hundred thirty-four male (M = 25.11, SD = 1.66) and 138 female (M = 21.89, SD = 1.87) participants were chosen by a convenient sampling. RESULTS The findings evinced that there were significant positive correlations among self-esteem, positive self-compassion, and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being while negative self-compassion exhibited small positive correlations with both the well-being measures (criterion). The regression analyses showed that self-esteem and positive self-compassion reflected significant predictive strengths for hedonic as well as eudaimonic well-being while negative self-compassion did not. This was also true for the social and psychological aspects of well-being. The β values reflected that positive self-compassion did show a higher contribution for both the well-being measures as compared to self-esteem. CONCLUSIONS The findings evinced that positive, not negative, self-compassion mediated the relationship between self-esteem and hedonic well-being as well as self-esteem and eudaimonic well-being. Moreover, self-esteem and self-compassion have predictive strengths for both kinds of well-being. The findings showed the relevance of self-esteem and self-compassion to underscore well-being. The implications and directions for future researchers have been discussed. PRACTITIONER POINTS Contrary to the earlier findings suggesting self-esteem and self-compassion carrying relevance to explicate performance and well-being of people with individualistic and collectivistic cultures, respectively, the findings of this study suggest both the constructs to be useful to understand the well-being of people with both the values belonging especially to the fast-changing societies like India. The study also suggests reconceptualization and empirical verification of self-compassion that will make it more effective for enhancing and promoting interventions for positive life outcomes.
Patterns of gambling and substance use initiation in African American and White adolescents and young adults.

The focus of the current investigation is to examine the temporal relationship of gambling onset and alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis initiation in adolescents and young adults (M age = 20.3 years) by examining the prevalence and pattern of onset for each substance and gambling pairing and the associated risk between gambling and each substance use. Data were drawn from the multiwave Missouri Family Study (n = 1,349) of African American (AA; n = 450) and White families (n = 317) enriched for risk for alcohol use disorder and includes those who were assessed for gambling behaviors and problems: AA (360 males, 390 females) and White (287 males, 312 females). Findings indicated racial differences in the overall prevalence of gambling behaviors and substance use as well as patterns of initiation-particularly within gambling/alcohol and gambling/tobacco for males. Survival models revealed some similarities as well as differences across race and gender groups in associations of gambling with initiation of substances, as well as substances with initiation of gambling. Alcohol use (AA males only) and cannabis use (AA males and White females) elevated the hazards of initiating gambling. In contrast, gambling significantly elevated the hazards of initiation alcohol across 3 of 4 groups and of cannabis use in AA males only. The results highlight some overlapping as well as distinct risk factors for both gambling and substance use initiation in this cohort enriched for vulnerability to alcohol use disorder (AUD). These findings have implications for integrating gambling prevention into existing substance use prevention and intervention efforts-particularly but not exclusively for young AA males. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Squash cytology of langerhans cell histiocytosis of sellar region

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a systemic disease, which usually involves the skeleton and skin of children with occasional involvement of the central nervous system (hypothalamo–pituitary axis). We report the case of a 16-year-old male with a space-occupying lesion (SOL) in the sellar region and diabetes insipidus. However, no systemic abnormality was noted. A clinical diagnosis of pituitary adenoma was given. However, on intraoperative consultation by squash smears, cells with nuclear grooves and few eosinophils were seen. Hence, a differential diagnosis of LCH was also given, which was confirmed by histopathology and immunohistochemistry. Hence, as a matter of fact, LCH should be considered as one of the rare differential diagnoses of SOL of sellar region.
A 12‐week, randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled, four‐arm dose‐finding phase 2 study evaluating bexagliflozin as monotherapy for adults with type 2 diabetes

To compare the safety and efficacy of bexagliflozin administered as monotherapy at three dosage strengths over a 12‐week period to patients with type 2 diabetes who were either naïve to pharmacotherapy or were previously prescribed one oral hypoglycaemic agent and underwent a 6‐week period of medication abstinence.
Vitamin C Bioequivalence from Gummy and Caplet Sources in Healthy Adults: A Randomized-Controlled Trial

Abstract Background: The efficacy of Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) supplementation can be assessed by uptake into the blood and retention in leukocytes. Vitafusion® Power C gummy is an alternative vitamin C source which may exhibit similar bioavailability to comparator caplets. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the bioequivalence of vitamin C from a vitafusion® Power C gummy formulation and a comparator caplet in healthy adults. Methods: Thirty healthy men and women, 34.0 ± 11.4 years of age and Body Mass Index (BMI) 24.5 ± 3.6 kg/m2 completed the randomized examiner-blind, comparator controlled, cross-over trial with two sequences: gummy (1000 mg) to caplet (1000 mg) or caplet to gummy. Intake of foods fortified with Vitamin C was restricted 7 days prior to each dosing. Blood samples were collected pre-dose and at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 24 h post-dose for plasma and leukocytes; and urine was collected pre-dose and between 0-2, 2-4, 4-8, 8-12 and 12-24 h post-dose for L-ascorbic acid analysis. Results: Vitafusion® Power C gummy and comparator caplet demonstrated similar plasma absorption profiles as there were no significant differences in plasma L-ascorbic acid total Area Under the Curve (AUC)0-24h, and Tmax between gummy and caplet. The caplet did elicit a significantly higher Cmax than the gummy (p < 0.05), however, the difference was numerically small. Leukocyte L-ascorbic acid total AUC0-24h and Cmax were not significantly different between gummy and caplet, however Tmax of the gummy group was significantly longer (p = 0.012). Urinary L-ascorbic acid levels were also not significantly different between gummy and caplet. There were no serious adverse events and safety parameters remained within normal clinical range for both products. Conclusion: Vitafusion® Power C gummy exhibited similar Vitamin C absorption and bioavailability to a comparator caplet in healthy adults and were considered bioequivalent.
Prenatal and Infancy Nurse Home Visiting Effects on Mothers: 18-Year Follow-up of a Randomized Trial

In this study, we summarize the effects of prenatal and infancy home visits on maternal life course in an 18-year follow-up of a randomized clinical trial. BrightcoveDefaultPlayer10.1542/6138652456001PEDS-VA_2018-3889 Video Abstract BACKGROUND: Prenatal and infancy home-visiting by nurses is promoted as a means of improving maternal life-course, but evidence of long-term effects is limited. We hypothesized that nurse-visitation would lead to long-term reductions in public-benefit costs, maternal substance abuse and depression, and that cost-savings would be greater for mothers with initially higher psychological resources. METHODS: We conducted an 18-year follow-up of 618 out of 742 low-income, primarily African-American mothers with no previous live births enrolled in an randomized clinical trial of prenatal and infancy home visiting by nurses. We compared nurse-visited and control-group women for public-benefit costs, rates of substance abuse and depression, and examined possible mediators of intervention effects. RESULTS: Nurse-visited women, compared with controls, incurred $17 310 less in public benefit costs (P = .03), an effect more pronounced for women with higher psychological resources ($28 847, P = .01). These savings compare with program costs of $12 578. There were no program effects on substance abuseor depression. Nurse-visited women were more likely to be married from child age 2 through 18 (19.2% vs 14.8%, P = .04), and those with higher psychological resources had 4.64 fewer cumulative years rearing subsequent children after the birth of the first child (P = .03). Pregnancy planning was a significant mediator of program effects on public benefit costs. CONCLUSIONS: Through child age 18, the program reduced public-benefit costs, an effect more pronounced for mothers with higher psychological resources and mediated by subsequent pregnancy planning. There were no effects on maternal substance abuse and depression.