Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Next steps after diagnosing dementia: interventions to help patients and families

The way that a diagnosis of dementia is delivered to patients, what information is provided and what practical advice and support is arranged has a lasting impact and deserves at least as much attention as the process of assessment and investigation. Individuals and their families require an honest yet sensitive discussion about the nature and cause of their problems, using non-technical language and tailored to their priorities and needs. This should lead on to the provision of good-quality information in an accessible format. Priorities for intervention include medication review, attention to sensory deficits, appropriate pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment, best use of memory aids and strategies and discussion of driving eligibility, financial entitlement and legal advice. Referral onwards should be made to an appropriate individual or service to provide ongoing emotional and practical support and signposting.
Simple magnetization of Fe3 O4 /MIL-53(Al)-NH2 for a rapid vortex-assisted dispersive magnetic solid phase extraction of phenol residues in water samples.

The present work describes a simple route to magnetize MIL-53(Al)-NH2 sorbent for rapid extraction of phenol residues from environmental samples. To enlarge the applications and performances of the metal-organic frameworks in the field of adsorption materials, we combined the properties of metal-organic frameworks and magnetite to shorten the extraction time and simplify the extraction process as well. In this study, a simple and quick vortex-assisted dispersive magnetic solid phase extraction method for extraction of ten United States Environmental Protection Agency's priority phenols from water samples prior to analysis by high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection was proposed. The developed method exhibits a rapid enrichment of the target analytes within 10 s for extraction and 10 s for desorption. Low detection limits of 1.8-41.7 μg L-1 and quantitation limits of 6.0-139.0 μg L-1 with the relative standard deviations for intra- and inter-day analyses less than 12% were achieved. Satisfactory recoveries in the range of 80-111% with the relative standard deviations less than 11% demonstrated that the Fe3 O4 /MIL-53(Al)-NH2 is promising sorbent in the field of magnetic solid phase extraction for environmental samples. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Ozone exposure results in various carry-over effects and prolonged reduction in biomass in birch (Betula pendula Roth)

In the first experiment, saplings of ozone-sensitive and a more tolerant clone of Betula pendula Roth were exposed to ambient ozone (control treatment, accumulated exposure over a threshold 40 nmol mol -1 (AOT40) exposure of 1.0 μmol mol -1 h) and 1.5 X ambient ozone (elevated-ozone treatment, AOT40 of 17.3 μmol mol -1 h) over one growing season, 1996. After over-wintering, the dormant elevated-ozone saplings were transferred to the control blocks and assessed for short-term carry-over effects during the following growing season. In the second experiment, three sensitive, four intermediate and three tolerant clones were grown under ambient ozone (control treatment, AOT40 of 0.5-0.8 μmol mol -1 h per growing season) and 1.6-1.7 X ambient ozone (elevated-ozone treatment, AOT40 of 18.3-18.6 μmol mol -1 h per growing season) from May 1994 until May 1996, and were assessed for long-term carry-over effects during growing season 1997, after a 12-16 months recovery period. Deleterious short-term carry-over effects of ozone exposure included reduced contents of Rubisco, chlorophyll, carotenoids, starch and nutrients in leaves, lower stomatal conductance, and decreased new shoot growth and net assimilation rate, followed by a 7.5% (shoot dry weight (DW)), 15.2% (root DW) and 23.2% (foliage area) decreased biomass accumulation and yield over the long term, including a reduced root:shoot ratio. However, a slow recovery of relative growth rates during the following two seasons without elevated ozone was apparent. Several long-lasting structural, biochemical and stomatal acclimation, stress-defence and compensation reactions were observed in the ozone-tolerant clone, whereas in the sensitive clone allocation shifted from growth towards defensive phenolics such as chlorogenic acid. The results provide evidence of persistent deleterious effects of ozone which remain long after the ozone episode.
Graphene Electro-Optical Switch Modulator by Adjusting Propagation Length Based on Hybrid Plasmonic Waveguide in Infrared Band

A modulator is the core of many optoelectronic applications such as communication and sensing. However, a traditional modulator can hardly reach high modulation depth. In order to achieve the higher modulation depth, a graphene electro-optical switch modulator is proposed by adjusting propagation length in the near infrared band. The switch modulator is designed based on a hybrid plasmonic waveguide structure, which is comprised of an SiO2 substrate, graphene–Si–graphene heterostructure, Ag nanowire and SiO2 cladding. The propagation length of the hybrid plasmonic waveguide varies from 0.14 μm to 20.43 μm by the voltage tunability of graphene in 1550 nm incident light. A modulator with a length of 3 μm is designed based on the hybrid waveguide and it achieves about 100% modulation depth. The lower energy loss (~1.71 fJ/bit) and larger 3 dB bandwidth (~83.91 GHz) are attractive for its application in a photoelectric integration field. In addition, the excellent robustness (error of modulation effects lower than 8.84%) is practical in the fabrication process. Most importantly, by using the method of adjusting propagation length, other types of graphene modulators can also achieve about 100% modulation depth.
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF SOLUTIONS OF HIGH POLYMERS: THE EMPIRICAL CONSTANT IN THE ACTIVITY EQUATION

According to Raoult's law, the thermodynamic activity (a1 or ad of each component of a solution is equal to its mole fraction (N1 or Nz) in that solution. For solutions containing only small molecules, this law is known to hold well, if the heat of mixing of the components is negligible. For solutions of high polymers in small molecule solvents, however, this is not the case. Such solutions show very large deviations from Raoult's law, much larger than can be accounted for by the observed heats of mixing. These deviations can he attributed to a large entropy of mixing effect, a result of a randomness of orientation of each segment of the solute molecule chain relative to the adjacent segments. Using the methods of statistical mechanics, Flory' and the writer2-4 (independently) have calculated the entropy of mixing of binary solutions of flexible long-chain niolecules in small molecule solvents and have arrived a t the following equations for the activities of the components.
Towards a coupled paradigm of NH3‐CO2 biosphere–atmosphere exchange modelling

Stomatal conductance, one of the major plant physiological controls within NH3 biosphere–atmosphere exchange models, is commonly estimated from semi‐empirical multiplicative schemes or simple light‐ and temperature‐response functions. However, due to their inherent parameterization on meteorological proxy variables, instead of a direct measure of stomatal opening, they are unfit for the use in climate change scenarios and of limited value for interpreting field‐scale measurements. Alternatives based on H2O flux measurements suffer from uncertainties in the partitioning of evapotranspiration at humid sites, as well as a potential decoupling of transpiration from stomatal opening in the presence of hygroscopic particles on leaf surfaces. We argue that these problems may be avoided by directly deriving stomatal conductance from CO2 fluxes instead. We reanalysed a data set of NH3 flux measurements based on CO2‐derived stomatal conductance, confirming the hypothesis that the increasing relevance of stomatal exchange with the onset of vegetation activity caused a rapid decrease of observed NH3 deposition velocities. Finally, we argue that developing more mechanistic representations of NH3 biosphere–atmosphere exchange can be of great benefit in many applications. These range from model‐based flux partitioning, over deposition monitoring using low‐cost samplers and inferential modelling, to a direct response of NH3 exchange to climate change.
Design of a Low-Cost Ultra-Wide-Band Radar Platform

This paper proposes an improved design of a pulse-based radar. An improved design of a pulse generator is presented using step recovery diodes and a signal mixer for the received signal. Two-step recovery diodes produce pulses of 120 ps in duration. A pulse generator is improved by removing the negative power supply, resulting in a reduced number of electronic pulses. A sampling mixer at the receiver’s site receives the generated signal and stretches it from picoseconds into microseconds. The improved pulse generator is also used in the sampling mixer as a strobe pulse generator, which makes the sampling mixer much simpler. The stretched signal is then sampled by a low sample rate using an analog to digital converter. The proposed radar design achieves up to 8 GHz bandwidth and an equivalent receiving sample rate of about 100 GSa/s. The radar is controlled using a software-defined radio called Red Pitaya, which is also used for data acquisition. The proposed radar design uses widely available commercial components, which makes radar design widely available with low cost implementation.
Leading Interaction Components in the Structure and Reactivity of Noble Gases Compounds

The nature, strength, range and role of the bonds in adducts of noble gas atoms with both neutral and ionic partners have been investigated by exploiting a fine-tuned integrated phenomenological–theoretical approach. The identification of the leading interaction components in the noble gases adducts and their modeling allows the encompassing of the transitions from pure noncovalent to covalent bound aggregates and to rationalize the anomalous behavior (deviations from noncovalent type interaction) pointed out in peculiar cases. Selected adducts affected by a weak chemical bond, as those promoting the formation of the intermolecular halogen bond, are also properly rationalized. The behavior of noble gas atoms excited in their long-life metastable states, showing a strongly enhanced reactivity, has been also enclosed in the present investigation.
Prostaglandin E2 stimulates the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) in cultured mouse cortical collecting duct cells in an autocrine manner

In murine cortical collecting duct cells, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) stimulates transepithelial sodium transport mediated by the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC). PGE2 is synthesized and secreted by the cells and acts on basolateral prostaglandin E receptor type 4 (EP4).
High expression of SRY-box transcription factor 30 associates with well differentiation, absent lymph node metastasis and predicts longer survival in nonsmall-cell lung cancer patients

Abstract The present study aimed to investigate SRY-box transcription factor 30 (SOX30) expression in nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumor tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues, and further explore the correlation of tumor SOX30 expression with clinical characteristics and survival profiles in patients with NSCLC. Totally, 365 patients with NSCLC who underwent resection were screened, and SOX30 expression was detected in their tumor tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues via immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay, which was assessed by a semiquantitative method considering the multiplying staining intensity score and staining density score. According to the tumor SOX30 expression, patients were categorized as tumor SOX30 low (IHC score ≤3) and high (IHC score 4–12) patients, the latter were further divided into tumor SOX30 high+ (IHC score 4–6), high++ (IHC score 7–9), and high+++ (IHC score 10–12) patients. SOX30 was downregulated in NSCLC tumor tissues compared with adjacent noncancerous tissues. Meanwhile, tumor SOX30 high expression associated with well differentiation, absent lymph node metastasis, decreased TNM stage, but did not associated with age, gender, history of smoke and drink, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, tumor size, or carcinoembryonic antigen level. Both accumulating disease-free survival and overall survival were the longest in tumor SOX30 high+++ patients, followed by tumor SOX30 high++ patients, and tumor SOX30 high+ patients, and the shortest in tumor SOX30 low patients. Besides, tumor SOX30 high expression was an independent predictor for longer disease-free survival and overall survival. Tumor SOX30 exhibits the potential to be a novel biomarker for survival prediction of patients with NSCLC.
Gait Variability Using Waist- and Ankle-Worn Inertial Measurement Units in Healthy Older Adults

Gait variability observed in step duration is predictive of impending adverse health outcomes among apparently healthy older adults and could potentially be evaluated using wearable sensors (inertial measurement units, IMU). The purpose of the present study was to establish the reliability and concurrent validity of gait variability and complexity evaluated with a waist and an ankle-worn IMU. Seventeen women (age 74.8 (SD 44) years) and 10 men (73.7 (4.1) years) attended two laboratory measurement sessions a week apart. Their stride duration variability was concurrently evaluated based on a continuous 3 min walk using a force plate and a waist- and an ankle-worn IMU. Their gait complexity (multiscale sample entropy) was evaluated from the waist-worn IMU. The force plate indicated excellent stride duration variability reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient, ICC = 0.90), whereas fair to good reliability (ICC = 0.47 to 0.66) was observed from the IMUs. The IMUs exhibited poor to excellent concurrent validity in stride duration variability compared to the force plate (ICC = 0.22 to 0.93). A good to excellent reliability was observed for gait complexity in most coarseness scales (ICC = 0.60 to 0.82). A reasonable congruence with the force plate-measured stride duration variability was observed on many coarseness scales (correlation coefficient = 0.38 to 0.83). In conclusion, waist-worn IMU entropy estimates may provide a feasible indicator of gait variability among community-dwelling ambulatory older adults.
The comparison of aggregation and folding of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) by spectroscopic studies

GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein) is well known for its unique chromophore which is formed by autocatalytic cyclization of a polypeptide backbone of Ser65, Tyr66 and Gly67, and is able to emit green visible light. Due to unusual chromophore responsible for the fluorescence GFP and its mutants (e.g., EGFP) have become widely used reporter proteins in molecular biology and biotechnology. GFP can easily be fused to any protein of interest and co-expressed in cells; the GFP fluorescence is then used to visualize the distribution, transport and aggregation of the protein in the cell. However, GFP has a tendency to aggregate itself, and also formation of its chromophore critically depends on the presence of reducing agents. Therefore we have undertaken spectroscopic kinetic studies of EGFP folding and aggregation as a function of pH, and in the presence of various reducing agents, to study the competition between these two processes. The best conditions for folding of EGFP provides BME as a reducing agent. Aggregation of EGFP depends strongly on pH, and on the concentration of the protein. The careful control experiments must therefore be performed during investigations of proteins fused with EGFP, especially at pH lower than 7.
Range prediction for the Giant Fruit-Eating Bat, Artibeus amplus (Phyllostomidae: Stenodermatinae) in South America

Suitable habitat range for Artibeus amplus in the Neotropics was predicted using maximum entropy niche modeling, environmental covariates, and museum records from 61 locations across Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname. Environmental covariates included (a) bioclimatic data; (b) elevation; (c) geology; and (d) soil. Model selection was based on graphic analyses of omission/commission, and Akaike information criterion (AIC), small sample size corrected AIC (AICc) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC). Models incorporating all of the above covariates performed best. The predicted suitable habitat range adjusted well to the known range of A. amplus. However, our analysis identifies northern Brazil as a spot requiring further research to determine the presence of A. amplus.
Experimental Laboratory Testing on Behavior of Dowels in Concrete Pavements

This paper describes the testing of effectiveness and behavior of dowels placed in transversal joints of concrete pavements, while focusing on dimensions and quality of commonly used materials. The analysis uses experimental tests in laboratory conditions which were performed independently in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. The comparison of quality as well as potential use of alternative materials of dowels is made with the use of developed tests focusing on main requirements, such as longitudinal displacement in cement concrete, resistance of coating to damage, and reduced potential to concrete damage. Furthermore, the paper describes and compares loading results of the relative concrete deformations around dowels by strain gauges that were analyzed. Results of deformations on beams with an inserted dowel and the findings that were observed during the measurement are presented.
Detection and Diagnosis of Breast Cancer Using Artificial Intelligence Based Assessment of Maximum Intensity Projection Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Images

We aimed to evaluate an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can detect and diagnose lesions of maximum intensity projection (MIP) in dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We retrospectively gathered MIPs of DCE breast MRI for training and validation data from 30 and 7 normal individuals, 49 and 20 benign cases, and 135 and 45 malignant cases, respectively. Breast lesions were indicated with a bounding box and labeled as benign or malignant by a radiologist, while the AI system was trained to detect and calculate possibilities of malignancy using RetinaNet. The AI system was analyzed using test sets of 13 normal, 20 benign, and 52 malignant cases. Four human readers also scored these test data with and without the assistance of the AI system for the possibility of a malignancy in each breast. Sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were 0.926, 0.828, and 0.925 for the AI system; 0.847, 0.841, and 0.884 for human readers without AI; and 0.889, 0.823, and 0.899 for human readers with AI using a cutoff value of 2%, respectively. The AI system showed better diagnostic performance compared to the human readers (p = 0.002), and because of the increased performance of human readers with the assistance of the AI system, the AUC of human readers was significantly higher with than without the AI system (p = 0.039). Our AI system showed a high performance ability in detecting and diagnosing lesions in MIPs of DCE breast MRI and increased the diagnostic performance of human readers.
Dietary inflammatory index and cardiovascular risk and mortality

Abstract Background: The role of dietary inflammatory index (DII) in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and mortality is still controversial. This systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies aimed to evaluate the effect of DII, indicating a pro-inflammatory diet, on the incidence and mortality of CVD. Methods: A comprehensive literature search of articles published through August 2019 was performed in Medline, EMBASE, and Web of Science. The pooled relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for highest vs lowest DII in relation to CVD risk or mortality were estimated using a DerSimonian and Laird random effects model. The heterogeneity among studies was tested using Cochran's Q test and I2 statistic. Results: A total of 15 cohort studies were finally included in this meta-analysis. The highest DII score was significantly associated with a higher risk of CVD incidence (RR = 1.41, 95% CI 1.12–1.78) or mortality (RR = 1.31, 95% CI 1.19–1.44), compared with the lowest DII score. There was statistically significant heterogeneity among the studies on the association between DII and CVD mortality (P < .001; I2 = 70.8%). No obvious heterogeneity was observed among the studies on the association between DII and CVD risk (P = .160; I2 = 37.0%). In the sensitivity analysis, exclusion of any single study did not materially alter the pooled RRs. Conclusion: The present systematic review and meta-analysis indicates that a higher DII score is related to a higher risk of CVD. Further well-designed prospective cohort or trials are warranted to validate our preliminary findings.
The Prognostic Value of Quantitative Bone SPECT/CT Before 223Ra Treatment in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Radiolabeled bisphosphonates such as 99mTc-3,3-diphosphono-1,2-propanodicarboxylic acid (99mTc-DPD) typically show intense uptake in skeletal metastases from metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Extensive bone involvement is regarded as a risk factor for mCRPC patients treated with 223Ra-dichloride (223Ra). The aim of this study was to quantify 99mTc-DPD uptake by means of SPECT/CT before 223Ra and compare the results with the feasibility of treatment and overall survival (OS). Methods: Sixty consecutive mCRPC patients were prospectively included in this study. SPECT/CT of the central skeleton covering the skull to the mid-femoral level was performed before the first cycle of 223Ra. The bone compartment was defined by means of low-dose CT. Emission data were corrected for scatter, attenuation, and decay supplemented by resolution recovery using dedicated software. The Kaplan–Meier estimator, U test, and Cox regression analysis were used for statistics. Results: Total 99mTc-DPD uptake of the central skeleton varied between 11% and 56% of injected dose (%ID) or between 1.8 and 10.5 %ID/1,000 mL of bone volume (%ID/L). SUVmean ranged from 1.9 to 7.4, whereas the SUVmax range was 18–248. Patients unable to complete 223Ra treatment because of progression and/or cytopenia (n = 23) showed significantly higher uptake (31.9 vs. 25.4 %ID and 6.0 vs. 4.7 %ID/L; P < 0.02). OS after 223Ra (median, 15.2 mo) was reduced to 7.3 mo in cases of skeletal uptake that was 26 %ID or higher, as compared with 30.8 mo if lower than 26 %ID (P = 0.008). Similar results were obtained for %ID/L and SUVmean. SUVmax did not correlate with survival. %ID/L was identified as an independent prognostic factor for OS (hazard ratio, 1.381 per unit), along with number of previous treatment lines. Conclusion: Quantitative SPECT/CT of bone scans performed at baseline is prognostic for survival in mCRPC patients treated with 223Ra.
A new species of Camarops and phylogenetic analysis of related taxa in the Boliniaceae

Camarops rogersii is described as a new species in the family Boliniaceae (Order Boliniales) from Puerto Rico, distinguished by confluent, monostichous, soft, brightly-colored stromata. It is most similar to Camarops flava and Mollicamarops stellata . These taxa differ in ascospore morphologies, distant geographic distributions and their occurrence in distinct habitats. Camaropella pugillus is reassessed based on a collection from North Carolina and compared to Camaropella lutea . Phylogenetic analysis of nuclear 28S large subunit (LSU) DNA sequences supports the recognition of these taxa.