Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of the Safety and Protection Efficacy of spiC and nmpC or rfaL Deletion Mutants of Salmonella Enteritidis as Live Vaccine Candidates for Poultry Non-Typhoidal Salmonellosis

Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) is a host-ranged pathogen that can infect both animals and humans. Poultry and poultry products are the main carriers of S. Enteritidis, which can be transmitted to humans through the food chain. To eradicate the prevalence of S. Enteritidis in poultry farms, it is necessary to develop novel vaccines against the pathogen. In this study, we constructed two vaccine candidates, CZ14-1∆spiC∆nmpC and CZ14-1∆spiC∆rfaL, and evaluated their protective efficacy. Both mutant strains were much less virulent than the parental strain, as determined by the 50% lethal dose (LD50) for three-day-old specific-pathogen free (SPF) White Leghorns and Hyline White chickens. Immunization with the mutant candidates induced highly specific humoral immune responses and expression of cytokines IFN-γ, IL-1β, and IL-6. In addition, the mutant strains were found to be persistent for almost three weeks post-infection. The survival percentages of chickens immunized with CZ14-1∆spiC∆nmpC and CZ14-1∆spiC∆rfaL reached 80% and 75%, respectively, after challenge with the parental strain. Overall, these results demonstrate that the two mutant strains can be developed as live attenuated vaccines.
The meaning of rehabilitation: a qualitative study exploring perspectives of occupational therapists and physiotherapists working with older people in acute care

Abstract Objective To explore how occupational therapists and physiotherapists constructed and interpreted the meaning of rehabilitation in relation to older people in acute care. Design A focussed ethnographic study was undertaken, primarily using observation, interviewing and review of clinical records within one acute medical ward in a general hospital in the UK. Five patient participants gave consent for their episode of care to be studied, with observations and interviews primarily involving the identified patients and five occupational therapy and physiotherapy professionals. Results Four themes were identified: rehabilitation as a process to facilitate physical improvement; rehabilitation as physiotherapy-led; rehabilitation as a place…but not here; and rehabilitation as a process which prioritises safety over function. Such conceptualisations of rehabilitation were recognised as rooted in social and historical perceptions and challenged the ideals of rehabilitation professionals. Conclusions The meaning of rehabilitation in acute care is shaped by a range of cultural, contextual and systemic influences. Recognising these influences, and subsequent challenges to rehabilitation ideals, can encourage professionals to work towards meaningful change. Implications for Rehabilitation A reductionist version of rehabilitation was evident within this context which placed value on physical improvement, achieving optimum safety and led by physiotherapy. This version of rehabilitation was unsatisfactory to occupational therapists and physiotherapists in this setting and different to their ideals. Where rehabilitation may be associated with another place, practitioners should reflect on whether this is influencing patients becoming a lower priority for interventions whilst waiting and address this, if required, within their own reasoning, prioritisation and delegation. Those who recognise similarities with their own practice context could individually, and within teams, revisit definitions of rehabilitation to notice, document and have conversations about the ideals of their professions versus the reality of practice. Occupational therapists and physiotherapists can be champions for organisational and cultural change to promote rehabilitation as a multi-disciplinary phase of care working towards optimising improvements in wellbeing, function and safety, irrespective of location.
Machine learning approach to single nucleotide polymorphism-based asthma prediction

Machine learning (ML) is poised as a transformational approach uniquely positioned to discover the hidden biological interactions for better prediction and diagnosis of complex diseases. In this work, we integrated ML-based models for feature selection and classification to quantify the risk of individual susceptibility to asthma using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). Random forest (RF) and recursive feature elimination (RFE) algorithm were implemented to identify the SNPs with high implication to asthma. K-nearest neighbor (kNN) and support vector machine (SVM) algorithms were trained to classify the identified SNPs whether associated with non-asthmatic or asthmatic samples. Feature selection step showed that RF outperformed RFE and the feature importance score derived from RF was consistently high for a subset of SNPs, indicating the robustness of RF in selecting relevant features associated with asthma. Model comparison showed that the integration of RF-SVM obtained the highest model performance with an accuracy, precision, and sensitivity of 62.5%, 65.3%, and 69%, respectively, when compared to the baseline, RF-kNN, and an external MeanDiff-kNN models. Furthermore, results show that the occurrence of asthma can be predicted with an Area under the Curve (AUC) of 0.62 and 0.64 for RF-SVM and RF-kNN models, respectively. This study demonstrates the integration of ML models to augment traditional methods in predicting genetic predisposition to multifactorial diseases such as asthma.
Automatic scoring of non-apnoea arousals using hand-crafted features from the polysomnogram

Objective: We present a system for automated annotation of non-apnoea arousals using twelve signals from the polysomnogram (PSG) including airflow, six signals of electroencephalogram, the electrooculogram, chin electromyogram, oximetry signal, and chest and abdominal respiratory effort signals. Approach: Fifty-nine time- and frequency-domain features were extracted from the twelve signals using 15 s epochs. Features from an epoch were combined with features from adjacent epochs and then processed with a bank of feed-forward networks that provided a probability estimate of the occurrence of a non-apnoea arousal event in every epoch. Data from the 2018 PhysioNet/Computing in Cardiology Challenge was used to develop and test the system. Ten-fold cross validation on the 994 PSGs of training data was used to compare the performance of different network configurations. Main results: Our highest performing configuration utilised a bank of 30 feed-forward neural networks. Each network processed ±4 epochs of features and each used a single hidden layer of 20 units. The performance of this configuration was evaluated on the independent test set of 989 PSGs and achieved an area under the receiver operator curve of 0.848 and an area under the precision-recall curve of 0.325 for correctly discriminating non-apnoea arousals from non-arousals samples. Significance: The classification performance results of our system demonstrate that automated annotation of non-apnoea arousals can be achieved with a high degree of reliability.
Large Scale Channel Modeling — Shadowing Reading assignment

1 Multipath Channel Because of the mobility and complex environment, there are two types of channel variations: 1) small scale variation which is due to primarily the random phase delay of multiple paths; 2) large scale variation due to the distance between Tx and Rx as well as the physical environment of a particular cell. This separation is illustrated in Figure 1 as we have seen before. x(t) x(t) y(t) y(t) h(t) cd,φ(ξ, t)
Block periodization of endurance training – a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Block periodization (BP) has been proposed as an alternative to traditional (TRAD) organization of the annual training plan for endurance athletes. Objective To our knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis to evaluate the effect BP of endurance training on endurance performance and factors determinative for endurance performance in trained- to well-trained athletes. Methods The PubMed, SPORTdiscus and Web of Science databases were searched from inception to August 2019. Studies were included if the following criteria were met: 1) the study examined a block-periodized endurance training intervention; 2) the study had a one-, two or multiple group-, crossover- or case-study design; 3) the study assessed at least one key endurance variable before and after the intervention period. A total of 2905 studies were screened, where 20 records met the eligibility criteria. Methodological quality for each study was assessed using the PEDro scale. Six studies were pooled to perform meta-analysis for maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) and maximal power output (Wmax) during an incremental exercise test to exhaustion. Due to a lower number of studies and heterogenous measurements, other performance measures were systematically reviewed. Results The meta-analyses revealed small favorable effects for BP compared to TRAD regarding changes in VO2max (standardized mean difference, 0.40; 95% CI=0.02, 0.79) and Wmax (standardized mean difference, 0.28; 95% CI=0.01, 0.54). For changes in endurance performance and workload at different exercise thresholds BP generally revealed moderate- to large-effect sizes compared to TRAD. Conclusion BP is an adequate, alternative training strategy to TRAD as evidenced by superior training effects on VO2max and Wmax in athletes. The reviewed studies show promising effects for BP of endurance training; however, these results must be considered with some caution due to small studies with generally low methodological quality (mean PEDro score =3.7/10).
Knowledge Development in Undergraduate Clinical Nursing Education

vi LIST OF TABLES x LIST OF FIGURES xi CHAPTER I. STUDY 1 Operative definitions 1 Aims 1 Questions 2 Background and Significance 2 II. LITERATURE REVIEW 6 Nursing Knowledge 6 Clinical Learning Environments 35 Theoretical Framework for the Study 68 III. METHODOLOGY 70 Research Design 70 Interview Questions 81 Data Analysis 84 IV. RESULTS 86 ix Design, Sample and Demographics 88 Data Analysis 88 Summary of Qualitative Analysis of Data 93 Themes and Sub-themes 104 Findings 110 V. DISCUSSION 127 Limitations of study 132 Implications 133 Conclusion . 137 APPENDICES A. INTERVIEW GUIDE 139 B. RECRUITMENT LETTER 141 C. INFORMED CONSENT 143 D. NURSING KNOWLEDGE RESULTS TABLE 145 BIBLIOGRAPHY 153
Comparison of School-Based and Community-Wide Mass Drug Administration for Schistosomiasis Control in an Area of Western Kenya with High Initial Schistosoma mansoni Infection Prevalence: A Cluster Randomized Trial

Abstract. We conducted a cluster randomized trial comparing the target population and timing of mass drug administration (MDA) with praziquantel for control of schistosomiasis in villages in western Kenya with high initial prevalence (> 25%) according to a harmonized protocol developed by the Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation. A total of 150 villages were randomized into six treatment arms (25 villages per arm), were assessed at baseline, and received two or four rounds of MDA using community-wide (CWT) or school-based (SBT) treatment over 4 years. In the fifth year, a final evaluation was conducted. The primary outcomes were prevalence and intensity of Schistosoma mansoni infections in children aged 9–12 years, each year their village received MDA. Baseline and year 5 assessments of first-year students and adults were also performed. Using Poisson and negative binomial regression with generalized estimating equations, we found similar effects of CWT and SBT MDA treatment strategies in children aged 9–12 years: significant reductions of prevalence of infection in all arms and of heavy-intensity (≥ 400 eggs/gram) infections in most arms but no significant differences between arms. Combined arms of villages that received four rounds of treatment had greater reduction than villages in arms that only received two rounds of treatment. Surprisingly, we also found benefits of SBT for first-year primary students and adults, who never received treatment in those arms. Our data support the use of annual SBT for control programs when coupled with attention to infections in younger children and occasional treatment of adults.
Exosomes from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells can alleviate early brain injury following subarachnoid hemorrhage through miRNA129-5p-HMGB1 pathway.

In this study, the roles of exosomes (Exo) from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in attenuating early brain injury (EBI) in rat brain after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) had been investigated. The male Sprague-Dawley rats (300-350g) were used to establish the SAH model using endovascular perforation method. The animals were randomly divided into three groups: Sham (n=25), SAH+PBS(n=42) and SAH+Exo groups (n=33). At 1 hour after SAH, Exo or PBS was administered by femoral vein injection. The effects of Exo on the mortality, neurological function, brain water content and blood brain-barrier(BBB) were explored. Furthermore, the expressions of miRNA129-5p and high-mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) following Exo treatment was also detected. Additionally, immunohistochemistry and western blot were applied to investigate the mechanism of Exo's effects. The results indicated that Exo could improve the neurological functions, reduce brain water content and maintain BBB integrity after SAH. Following Exo treatment, the expression of miRNA129-5p was significantly increased, while the RNA level of HMGB1 was decreased. The protein levels of pro-inflammatory and pro-apoptosis factors, such as HMGB1, Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), p53 were increased after SAH, which were significantly declined after Exo application. The results indicated that Exo from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells could alleviate EBI following SAH through miRNA129-5p's anti-inflammation and anti-apoptosis effects via quenching the activity of HMGB1-TLR4 pathway.
Restoration of functional full-length dystrophin after intramuscular transplantation of Foamy Virus-transduced myoblasts.

Stem cell therapy is a promising strategy to treat muscle diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). To avoid immune-rejection of donor cells or donor-derived muscle, autologous cells which have been genetically modified to express dystrophin are preferable to cells derived from healthy donors. Restoration of full-length dystrophin using viral vectors is extremely challenging, due to the limited packaging capacity of the vectors, but we have recently shown that either a foamy viral or lentiviral vector is able to package full-length dystrophin open- reading-frame and transduce myoblasts derived from a DMD patient. Differentiated myotubes derived from these transduced cells produced full-length dystrophin. Here, we transplanted the foamy viral-dystrophin corrected DMD myoblasts intramuscularly into mdx nude mice, and showed that the transduced cells contributed to muscle regeneration, expressing full-length dystrophin in nearly all the muscle fibres of donor origin. Further, we showed that the restored full-length dystrophin recruited members of the dystrophin- associated protein complex and nNOS within donor-derived muscle fibres, evidence that the restored dystrophin protein is functional. Dystrophin-expressing donor-derived muscle fibres expressed lower levels of utrophin than host muscle fibres, providing additional evidence of functional improvement of donor-derived myofibres. This is the first in vivo evidence that foamy virus vector transduced DMD myoblasts can contribute to muscle regeneration and mediate functional dystrophin restoration following their intra-muscular transplantation, representing a promising therapeutic strategy for individual small muscles in DMD.
Complications After Immediate 2-Stage Tissue Expander/Implant Breast Reconstruction

Background Complications after 2-stage tissue expander/implant breast reconstruction have been studied as outcomes of a single procedure. We separately evaluated complications after the second stage and assessed factors associated with the outcomes of the second stage of breast reconstruction. Methods Patients who underwent immediate 2-stage breast reconstruction between February 2010 and April 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Patient demographics, surgical factors of the first stage of breast reconstruction, and complications and number of revision surgeries after the second stage were recorded. Factors associated with postoperative complications were analyzed, and a risk-scoring system was devised. Results We analyzed 619 patients who underwent 653 immediate 2-stage breast reconstructions. Multivariate analysis showed that complications were associated independently with smoking history, radiotherapy, and a final inflation volume of 450 mL or greater. Each factor contributed 1 point in the creation of a risk-scoring system. The overall complication rate was increased as the risk score increased (1.2%, 4.7%, and 16.0% for 0, 1, and 2 risk scores, respectively, P < 0.001). Revision operation rate was also significantly different across the 3 groups (0.2%, 1.6%, and 12.0% for 0, 1, and 2 risk scores, respectively, P < 0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.732 and 0.731 for the logistic regression model and risk-scoring system, respectively (P = 0.975). Conclusions In the second stage of immediate 2-stage tissue expander/implant breast reconstruction, the rate of complication and revision surgery can be predicted by a novel risk-scoring system. Greater attention and preventive measures for complications are needed for high-risk patients.
AND score: a simple tool for predicting infection in acute ischemic stroke patients without a ventilator in the Chinese population

Objective We aimed to develop a simple and user-friendly scoring system to predict all-cause hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) after acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in the Chinese population. Methods AIS patients from a retrospective cohort study at our center were included from January 2016 to December 2018. HAIs were diagnosed based on the current criteria from Ministry of Health of the People’s Republic of China. Stepwise logistic regression models were performed to screen independent predictors of HAI after AIS. A scoring system was developed by including each of the above significant predictors. Results Among 1211 patients, 76 patients (6.28%) developed HAI. Age, baseline National Institute of Health stroke scale (NIHSS) score, and dysphagia were independent predictors of HAI. For the AND score, A refers to age, N refers to NIHSS, and D refers to dysphagia. The AND score showed a high area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) curve (0.679), which comprised age (65–74 years was 4 points, 75–84 years was 6 points, ≥85 years was 8 points), NIHSS score ≥10 (5 points), and dysphagia (6 points). Conclusions We developed a simple scoring system to predict all-cause infections after AIS patients without a ventilator in the Chinese population.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation induced early silent period and rebound activity re-examined

Despite being widely studied, the underlying mechanisms of transcranial magnetic brain stimulation (TMS) induced motor evoked potential (MEP), early cortical silent period (CSP) and rebound activity are not fully understood. Our aim is to better characterize these phenomena by combining various analysis tools on firing motor units. Responses of 29 tibialis anterior (TA) and 8 abductor pollicis brevis (APB) motor units to TMS pulses were studied using discharge rate and probability-based tools to illustrate the profile of the synaptic potentials as they develop on motoneurons in 24 healthy volunteers. According to probability-based methods, TMS pulse produces a short-latency MEP which is immediately followed by CSP that terminates at rebound activity. Discharge rate analysis, however, revealed not three, but just two events with distinct time courses; a long-lasting excitatory period (71.2 ± 9.0 ms for TA and 42.1 ± 11.2 ms for APB) and a long-latency inhibitory period with duration of 57.9 ± 9.5 ms for TA and 67.3 ± 13.8 ms for APB. We propose that part of the CSP may relate to the falling phase of net excitatory postsynaptic potential induced by TMS. Rebound activity, on the other hand, may represent tendon organ inhibition induced by MEP activated soleus contraction and/or long-latency intracortical inhibition. Due to generation of field potentials when high intensity TMS is used, this study is limited to investigate the events evoked by low intensity TMS only and does not provide information about later parts of much longer CSPs induced by high intensity TMS. Adding discharge rate analysis contributes to obtain a more accurate picture about the characteristics of TMS-induced events. These results have implications for interpreting motor responses following TMS for diagnosis and overseeing recovery from various neurological conditions.
Impact of perceived distances on international tourism

Worldwide tourism revenues have tripled in the last decade. Yet, there is a gap in our understanding of how distances shape peoples’ travel choices. To understand global tourism patterns we map the flow of tourists around the world onto a complex network and study the impact of two types of distances, geographical and through the World Airline Network, a major infrastructure for tourism. We find that although the World Airline Network serves as infrastructural support for the International Tourism Network, the flow of tourism does not correlate strongly with the extent of flight connections available worldwide. Instead, unidirectional flows appear locally forming communities that shed light on global travelling behaviour since there is only a 15% probability of finding bidirectional tourism between a pair of countries. We find that most tourists travel to neighbouring countries and mainly cover larger distances when there is a direct flight, irrespective of the time it takes. This may be a consequence of one-way cyclic tourism that we uncover by analysing the triangles that are formed by the network of flows in the International Tourism Network.
Using the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Delivery Decision Tool to Consider Transporting Medical Supplies via Drone

We developed an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Delivery Decision Tool to help health system decision makers identify their transport challenges and explore the potential utility and impact of UAVs on the broader health system. We developed an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Delivery Decision Tool to help health system decision makers identify their transport challenges and explore the potential utility and impact of UAVs on the broader health system.