Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perceptions and Acceptance of mHealth in Patients With Cardiovascular Diseases: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background Mobile health (mHealth)—a method of assisting long-term care in patients with chronic cardiovascular diseases (CVDs)—is gaining popularity in China, mainly owing to the large number of patients and limited clinical resources. Patients of different ages have varying needs for CVD management. However, evidence regarding how age influences Chinese CVD patients’ use and perceptions of mHealth is limited. Objective This study aimed to explore age-related differences among Chinese patients with CVD regarding their use and perceptions of mHealth and to determine the factors that influence this population’s willingness to use mHealth technologies. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study of patients with chronic CVDs in a tertiary hospital in Beijing using a new questionnaire designed by the investigators. Participants were sourced using nonproportional quota-sampling methods, being recruited consecutively in each sampling category (age 18-49, 50-64, 65-74, and ≥75 years, with at least 25 men and 25 women in each age group). The survey consisted of 5 parts, including sociodemographic profile and medical history; current disease management situation; self-evaluation of disease management; current usage of mobile and internet technology (IT); and willingness to use an mHealth solution to perform disease self-management. Responses were compared among the 4 age groups as well as between patients who were willing to use mHealth solutions and those who were not. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to identify predictors of willingness to use mHealth for self-management. Results Overall, 231 patients (124 men) completed the questionnaire; of these, 53 were aged 18-49 years, 66 were aged 50-64 years, 54 were aged 65-74 years, and 58 were aged ≥75 years. Patients in the older cohorts visited hospitals more often than did those in the younger cohorts (P<.001), and they also showed lower technology skills regarding the use of mobile or internet devices (P<.001) and searched for health-related information on the internet less often (P<.001). In addition, 68.0% (157/231) of the patients showed interest in using mHealth solution to manage their disease; of these, 40.8% (64/157) were aged ≥65 years. Patients who were more willing to use mHealth solution to manage their diseases were younger (P<.001), more educated (P<.001), still working (P=.001), possessed higher skill regarding mobile or internet device use (P<.001), and more frequently searched for health information on the internet (P<.001). Finally, multivariate logistic regression showed that IT skill was the single indicator (P=.003) of willingness to use mHealth, not age. Conclusions Although age is associated with the use of mobile or internet devices, the sole indicator of mHealth use for self-management was participants’ IT skills. Education regarding the use of mobile devices and development of easy-to-use software might improve the acceptance of mHealth solutions among older patient populations.
Probing the Link Between Perception and Oscillations: Lessons from Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation

Brain oscillations are regarded as important for perception as they open and close time windows for neural spiking to enable the effective communication within and across brain regions. In the past, studies on perception primarily relied on the use of electrophysiological techniques for probing a correlative link between brain oscillations and perception. The emergence of noninvasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) provides the possibility to study the causal contribution of specific oscillatory frequencies to perception. Here, we review the studies on visual, auditory, and somatosensory perception that employed tACS to probe the causality of brain oscillations for perception. The current literature is consistent with a causal role of alpha and gamma oscillations in parieto-occipital regions for visual perception and theta and gamma oscillations in auditory cortices for auditory perception. In addition, the sensory gating by alpha oscillations applies not only to the visual but also to the somatosensory domain. We conclude that albeit more refined perceptual paradigms and individualized stimulation practices remain to be systematically adopted, tACS is a promising tool for establishing a causal link between neural oscillations and perception.
Clinical Trials of Thermosensitive Nanomaterials: An Overview

Currently, we are facing increasing demand to develop efficient systems for the detection and treatment of diseases that can realistically improve distinct aspects of healthcare in our society. Sensitive nanomaterials that respond to environmental stimuli can play an important role in this task. In this manuscript, we review the clinical trials carried out to date on thermosensitive nanomaterials, including all those clinical trials in hybrid nanomaterials that respond to other stimuli (e.g., magnetic, infrared radiation, and ultrasound). Specifically, we discuss their use in diagnosis and treatment of different diseases. At present, none of the existing trials focused on diagnosis take advantage of the thermosensitive characteristics of these nanoparticles. Indeed, almost all clinical trials consulted explore the use of Ferumoxytol as a current imaging test enhancer. However, the thermal property is being further exploited in the field of disease treatment, especially for the delivery of antitumor drugs. In this regard, ThermoDox®, based on lysolipid thermally sensitive liposome technology to encapsulate doxorubicin (DOX), is the flagship drug. In this review, we have evidenced the discrepancy existing between the number of published papers in thermosensitive nanomaterials and their clinical use, which could be due to the relative novelty of this area of research; more time is needed to validate it through clinical trials. We have no doubt that in the coming years there will be an explosion of clinical trials related to thermosensitive nanomaterials that will surely help to improve current treatments and, above all, will impact on patients’ quality of life and life expectancy.
The iHOPE-20 study: Relationships between and prospective predictors of remission, clinical recovery, personal recovery and resilience 20 years on from a first episode psychosis

Objective: Knowledge of outcome in psychotic illness is limited by the paucity of very long-term epidemiologically representative studies of incidence first episode psychosis (FEP) cohorts that measure and compare outcomes reflecting modern clinical practice, mental health policy and research agendas. Our study aimed to address this gap. Method: iHOPE-20 is a prospective 20-year follow-up study of a FEP incidence cohort (N = 171) conducted between 2014 and 2017 in Ireland. Data from previous studies and medical records were used to recruit cohort members. We assessed remission, clinical recovery, personal recovery and resilience at 20 years; explored the relationships between these outcomes and examined the predictive value of baseline characteristics in determining them. Results: At follow-up, 20 out of 171 cohort members (11.70%) were deceased. We assessed 80 out of 151 alive cohort members (53% recruitment rate); 65% were in remission; 35.2% were in Full Functional Recovery and 53.7% confirmed they were fully recovered according to their personal definition of recovery. A complex array of relationships between outcomes was found. Outcomes were better for people who had a short duration of untreated psychosis, displayed higher premorbid social adjustment (between the ages of 5–11) and at baseline, were older, not living alone, in full-time employment, given a non-affective diagnosis, and had lower Global Assessment of Functioning scores. Conclusion: Among participants, full remission of psychotic symptoms and personally defined recovery was not just possible but likely in the very long term. However, attaining positive functional outcomes and building resilience in FEP remain key challenges for mental health services.
Musical reward prediction errors engage the nucleus accumbens and motivate learning

Significance Prediction errors are crucial for perception, learning, and adaptability. Can they also explain the abstract pleasures we derive from seemingly nonadaptive behaviors? We present evidence of musically elicited reward prediction errors (RPEs), illustrating that an abstract stimulus without apparent biological value can engage the reward system simply by manipulating expectations. Our results demonstrate that musical events can elicit formally modeled RPEs like those observed for concrete rewards, such as food or money, and that these signals support learning. This extension of the RPE model to music implies that predictive processing might play a much wider role in reward and pleasure than previously realized, and inspires new perspectives on aesthetics as well as potential therapeutic and educational applications. Enjoying music reliably ranks among life’s greatest pleasures. Like many hedonic experiences, it engages several reward-related brain areas, with activity in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) most consistently reflecting the listener’s subjective response. Converging evidence suggests that this activity arises from musical “reward prediction errors” (RPEs) that signal the difference between expected and perceived musical events, but this hypothesis has not been directly tested. In the present fMRI experiment, we assessed whether music could elicit formally modeled RPEs in the NAc by applying a well-established decision-making protocol designed and validated for studying RPEs. In the scanner, participants chose between arbitrary cues that probabilistically led to dissonant or consonant music, and learned to make choices associated with the consonance, which they preferred. We modeled regressors of trial-by-trial RPEs, finding that NAc activity tracked musically elicited RPEs, to an extent that explained variance in the individual learning rates. These results demonstrate that music can act as a reward, driving learning and eliciting RPEs in the NAc, a hub of reward- and music enjoyment-related activity.
Cerebrospinal fluid levels of synaptic and neuronal integrity correlate with gray matter volume and amyloid load in the precuneus of cognitively intact older adults

The main pathophysiological alterations of Alzheimer's disease (AD) include loss of neuronal and synaptic integrity, amyloidogenic processing, and neuroinflammation. Similar alterations can, however, also be observed in cognitively intact older subjects and may prelude the clinical manifestation of AD. The objectives of this prospective cross‐sectional study in a cohort of 38 cognitively intact older adults were twofold: (i) to investigate the latent relationship among cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers reflecting the main pathophysiological processes of AD, and (ii) to assess the correlation between these biomarkers and gray matter volume as well as amyloid load. All subjects underwent extensive neuropsychological examinations, CSF sampling, [18F]‐flutemetamol amyloid positron emission tomography, and T1‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging. A factor analysis revealed one factor that explained most of the variance in the CSF biomarker dataset clustering t‐tau, α‐synuclein, p‐tau181, neurogranin, BACE1, visinin‐like protein 1, chitinase‐3‐like protein 1 (YKL‐40), Aβ1–40 and Aβ1–38. Higher scores on this factor correlated with lower gray matter volume and with higher amyloid load in the precuneus. At the level of individual CSF biomarkers, levels of visinin‐like protein 1, neurogranin, BACE1, Aβ1–40, Aβ1–38, and YKL‐40 all correlated inversely with gray matter volume of the precuneus. These findings demonstrate that in cognitively intact older subjects, CSF levels of synaptic and neuronal integrity biomarkers, amyloidogenic processing and measures of innate immunity (YKL‐40) display a latent structure of common variance, which is associated with loss of structural integrity of brain regions implicated in the earliest stages of AD.
Recreational use of GHB is associated with alterations of resting state functional connectivity of the central executive and default mode networks

Gamma‐hydroxybutyrate acid (GHB) is a recreational drug with a high addictive potential. Severe side effects such as GHB‐induced coma are common and linked to increased emergency room attendances. Task‐based functional‐imaging studies have revealed an association between the regular use of GHB and multiple GHB‐induced comas, and altered neurocognitive function. However the effects of multiple GHB‐induced comas and regular GHB‐use on intrinsic brain connectivity during rest remain unknown. The study population consisted of 23 GHB‐users with ≥4 GHB‐induced comas (GHB‐Coma), 22 GHB‐users who never experienced a GHB‐induced coma (GHB‐NoComa) and 24 polydrug users who never used GHB (No‐GHB). Resting‐state scans were collected to assess resting‐state functional‐connectivity within and between the default mode network (DMN), the bilateral central executive network (CEN) and the salience network (SN). The GHB‐NoComa group showed decreased rsFC of the right CEN with a region in the anterior cingulate cortex (pFWE = 0.048) and decreased rsFC between the right CEN and the DMN (pFWE = 0.048) when compared with the No‐GHB group. These results suggest that regular GHB‐use is associated with decreased rsFC within the right CEN and between the right CEN and the DMN. The presence of multiple GHB‐induced comas is not associated with (additional) alterations in rsFC.
Discrete Optimization A hybrid genetic algorithm for the job shop scheduling problem

This paper presents a hybrid genetic algorithm for the job shop scheduling problem. The chromosome representation of the problem is based on random keys. The schedules are constructed using a priority rule in which the priorities are defined by the genetic algorithm. Schedules are constructed using a procedure that generates parameterized active schedules. After a schedule is obtained a local search heuristic is applied to improve the solution. The approach is tested on a set of standard instances taken from the literature and compared with other approaches. The computation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Local Adaptation Signatures in Thermal Performance of the Temperate Coral Astrangia poculata

LOCAL ADAPTATION SIGNATURES IN THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF THE TEMPERATE CORAL ASTRANGIA POCULATA Hannah Elise Aichelman Old Dominion University, 2018 Director: Dr. Daniel J. Barshis The Northern Star Coral (Astrangia poculata) is an understudied temperate scleractinian coral that provides unique opportunities to understand the roles of phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation in coral physiological tolerance limits. Astrangia poculata inhabits hard bottom ecosystems from the northwestern Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico and withstands an annual temperature range up to 20°C. Additionally, A. poculata is facultatively symbiotic and co-occurs in both symbiotic (“brown”) and aposymbiotic (“white”) states. Here, brown and white A. poculata were collected from Virginia (VA) and Rhode Island (RI), USA and exposed to heat (18-32°C) and cold (18-6°C) temperature assays during which photosynthesis (P), respiration (R), and symbiont photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) were measured. Thermal performance curves (TPCs) of respiration revealed differences consistent with local adaptation of the RI and VA populations to their natal thermal environments. RI corals exhibited higher respiration rates overall, and higher respiration at 6, 15, 18, 22, and 26°C. Additionally, thermal optimum (Topt) analyses show a 3.76°C (brown) and 6.88°C (white) greater Topt in the VA population, corresponding to the warmer in situ thermal environment in VA. In contrast to respiration, no origin effect was detected in photosynthesis rates or Fv/Fm, suggesting a possible host-only signature of local adaptation. This study is the first to consider A. poculata’s response to both heat and cold stress across symbiotic states and geography and provides insight into the effects of future climate change on valuable hard bottom communities along the East Coast of the US.
Effects of Mediterranean Diet and Physical Activity on Pulmonary Function: A Cross-Sectional Analysis in the ILERVAS Project

A few studies showed that both adherence to Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) and physical activity practice have a positive impact on pulmonary function in subjects with lung disease. These associations are not well studied in subjects free from lung disease. In a cross-sectional study conducted in 3020 middle-aged subjects free of lung disease, adherence to the MedDiet using the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener, and physical activity practice using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire short form were recorded. Respiratory function was assessed using forced spirometry and the results were evaluated according to the Global initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the associations between adherence to the MedDiet and physical activity practice with the presence of ventilatory defects. Participants with a high adherence to MedDiet, in comparison to those with low adherence, had both higher forced vital capacity (FVC; 100 (87–109) vs. 94 (82–105) % of predicted, p = 0.003) and forced expired volume in the first second (FEV1; 100 (89–112) vs. 93 (80–107) % of predicted, p < 0.001). According to their degree of physical activity, those subjects with a high adherence also had both higher FVC (100 (88–107) vs. 94 (83–105) % of predicted, p = 0.027) and FEV1 (100 (89–110) vs. 95 (84–108) % of predicted, p = 0.047) in comparison with those with low adherence. The multivariable logistic regression models showed a significant and independent association between both low adherence to MedDiet and low physical activity practice, and the presence of altered pulmonary patterns, with differences between men and women. However, no joint effect between adherence to MedDiet and physical activity practice on respiratory function values was observed. Low adherence to MedDiet and low physical activity practice were independently associated with pulmonary impairment. Therefore, the lung mechanics seem to benefit from heart-healthy lifestyle behaviors.
Combined Exercise Training Positively Affects Muscle Wasting in Tumor-Bearing Mice.

INTRODUCTION Cancer cachexia is characterized by loss of muscle mass and function. Increased protein catabolism, inflammation, impaired anabolism, and mitochondrial function markedly contribute to the pathogenesis of this syndrome. Physical activity has been suggested as a useful tool to prevent or at least delay the onset and progression of cancer-induced muscle wasting. Two main types of exercise can be adopted, namely, resistance and endurance training. The present study is aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a combined (resistance + endurance) exercise protocol in preventing/reverting cancer-induced muscle wasting. METHODS Mice bearing the C26 colon carcinoma have been used as a model of cancer cachexia. They have been exposed to combined exercise training during 6 wk (4 before tumor implantation, 2 during tumor growth). Climbing a 1-m ladder inclined at 85° has been used for resistance training, while aerobic (endurance) exercise has been carried out on the same day using a motorized wheel. RESULTS In C26-bearing mice, both muscle mass and strength are improved by combined training, while just the latter increased in exercised healthy animals. Such a pattern is associated with modulations of two markers of autophagy, namely, LC3B-I/II ratio, increased in sedentary tumor hosts and reduced in exercised C26-bearing mice, and p62, steadily increased in both sedentary and trained tumor-bearing animals. Finally, combined training is not able to modify PGC-1α protein levels, but it improves succinate dehydrogenase activity, both reduced in the muscle of the C26 hosts. CONCLUSION The data reported in the present study show that combined training improves muscle mass and function in the C26 hosts, likely modulating autophagy and improving mitochondrial function; these observations suggest that combined exercise might become part of a multimodal approach to treat cancer cachexia.
The toxicity, transport and uptake of nanoparticles in the in vitro BeWo b30 placental cell barrier model used within NanoTEST

Abstract Despite the rapid ongoing expansion in the use of nanomaterials, we still know little about their biological interaction and biodistribution within the human body. If medically relevant nanoparticles can cross specific cell barriers they may disseminate through the body beyond the original target and may reach particularly sensitive areas such as the foetus. This study utilised an in vitro barrier model of the placenta to explore toxicity, uptake and transport of iron oxide and silica nanoparticles. The findings indicate that these nanoparticles can transfer extensively across the placental barrier model but physico-chemical characteristics such as surface chemistry impact upon both uptake and transport. Iron oxide cytotoxicity was evident at lower doses and shorter exposure compared with silica and may be of clinical relevance. In vivo correlation of in vitro findings is essential but in vitro models may provide worst case-exposure estimates to help reduce the amount of testing required.
Elevated diastolic wall shear stress in regurgitant semilunar valvular lesions

Alterations in wall shear stress (WSS) assessed using 4D flow MRI have been shown to play a role in various vascular pathologies, such as bicuspid aortic valve aortopathy. Most studies have focused on systolic WSS, whereas altered diastolic hemodynamics in regurgitant semilunar valvular lesions have not so far been well characterized.
Regimen Complexity and Prescription Adherence in Dialysis Patients

Objectives: Poor medication adherence is common in end-stage renal disease and may cause suboptimal outcomes and increased healthcare costs. We assessed the association between regimen complexity, perceived burden of oral therapy (BOT) and medication adherence in a large sample of hemodialysis (HD) patients. Methods: 1,238 HD patients in 54 Italian centers participated. Data were collected on patients’ socio-demographic characteristics, perceived BOT, quality of life, healthcare satisfaction, social support and medication adherence with a self-administered questionnaire. Data on medication regimen, comorbidities, hospitalizations, and transplant listing status were provided by the nursing staff. We estimated the adjusted association of regimen complexity, BOT and medication adherence with logistic regression. Results: There were 789 (64%) men and the median age was 67 years. Mean daily burden was 9.7 tablets and 48% of patients were adherent to medication prescriptions. The number of tablets prescribed in the medication regimen was associated to adherence likelihood after adjustment for possible confounders. Perceived BOT moderated the association between tablet count and self-reported adherence. Conclusion: Poor adherence was very common in our sample. Reducing tablet burden might help patients be adherent. However, our results suggest that modulating regimen complexity might be ineffective if patients’ negative attitudes toward medications are not addressed concurrently.