Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Normotensive patients with obstructive sleep apnoea: changes in 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring with continuous positive airway pressure treatment.

BACKGROUND Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment reduces blood pressure (BP) in obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and hypertensive patients, but there is a lack of data about the effects of CPAP on the BP in normotensive patients. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to evaluate BP changes in normotensive OSA individuals receiving CPAP treatment. METHODS We selected 131 normotensive outpatients with an apnoea/hypopnoea index (AHI) greater than 15 events/hour who required CPAP treatment. All patients underwent a sleep study and 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) at baseline and after 6 months. In addition, the patients were assessed for the presence of baseline masked hypertension, defined as office BP less than 140/90 mmHg and increased BP on 24-h ABPM (mean 24-h BP ≥130/80 mmHg). RESULTS After 6 months of CPAP treatment, a mild reduction in all 24-h ABPM variables was observed, but only the mean 24-h DBP [-1.39 mmHg, 95% confidence interval (95% CI), -2.50 to -0.27], mean daytime DBP (-1.39 mmHg, 95% CI -2.56 to -0.22) and the mean 24-h ambulatory BP (-1.80 mmHg, 95% CI, -3.16 to -0.44) reached statistical significance. The reduction was primarily due to BP changes in individuals with masked hypertension who displayed a mean BP reduction of -4.78 mmHg (-7.25 to -2.30 mmHg). Consistent with a circadian BP pattern, a reduction in mean nocturnal BP of -4.73 mmHg (-7.39 to -2.06 mmHg) was observed at 6 months in nondippers; in contrast, the mean nocturnal BP in dippers increased by 2.61 mmHg (0.60-4.62 mmHg). CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that the CPAP effects may be different in normotensive outpatients depending on the presence of undiagnosed masked hypertension and the dipping pattern. Therefore, it is important to consider measuring ABPM in this type of patient.
Extended Line Map-Based Precise Vehicle Localization Using 3D LIDAR

An Extended Line Map (ELM)-based precise vehicle localization method is proposed in this paper, and is implemented using 3D Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR). A binary occupancy grid map in which grids for road marking or vertical structures have a value of 1 and the rest have a value of 0 was created using the reflectivity and distance data of the 3D LIDAR. From the map, lines were detected using a Hough transform. After the detected lines were converted into the node and link forms, they were stored as a map. This map is called an extended line map, of which data size is extremely small (134 KB/km). The ELM-based localization is performed through correlation matching. The ELM is converted back into an occupancy grid map and matched to the map generated using the current 3D LIDAR. In this instance, a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) was applied as the correlation matching method, and the matching time was approximately 78 ms (based on MATLAB). The experiment was carried out in the Gangnam area of Seoul, South Korea. The traveling distance was approximately 4.2 km, and the maximum traveling speed was approximately 80 km/h. As a result of localization, the root mean square (RMS) position errors for the lateral and longitudinal directions were 0.136 m and 0.223 m, respectively.
Psychedelics and music: neuroscience and therapeutic implications

Abstract From the beginning of therapeutic research with psychedelics, music listening has been consistently used as a method to guide or support therapeutic experiences during the acute effects of psychedelic drugs. Recent findings point to the potential of music to support meaning-making, emotionality, and mental imagery after the administration of psychedelics, and suggest that music plays an important role in facilitating positive clinical outcomes of psychedelic therapy. This review explores the history of, contemporary research on, and future directions regarding the use of music in psychedelic research and therapy, and argues for more detailed and rigorous investigation of the contribution of music to the treatment of psychiatric disorders within the novel framework of psychedelic therapy.
Breast cancer detection using synthetic mammograms from generative adversarial networks in convolutional neural networks

The Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is a promising technique to detect breast cancer based on mammograms. Training the CNN from scratch, however, requires a large amount of labeled data. Such a requirement usually is infeasible for some kinds of medical image data such as mammographic tumor images. Because improvement of the performance of a CNN classifier requires more training data, the creation of new training images -- image augmentation – could be one solution to this problem. In this study, we applied the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) to generate synthetic mammographic images from the Digital Database for Screening Mammography (DDSM). From the DDSM, we cropped two sets of regions of interest (ROIs) from the images: normal and abnormal (cancer/tumor) Those ROIs were used to train the GAN, and the GAN then generated synthetic images. To compare the GAN with the affine transformation augmentation methods, such as rotation, shifting, scaling, etc., we used six groups of ROIs (three simple groups: affine augmented, GAN synthetic, real (original), and three mixture groups of each pair of the three simple groups) for each to train a CNN classifier from scratch. And, we used real ROIs that were not used in training to validate classification outcomes. Our results show that, to classify the normal ROIs and abnormal (tumor) ROIs from DDSM, adding GAN-generated ROIs to the training data can reduce overfitting of the classifier. But the affine transformations performed slightly better than GAN. Therefore, GAN could be an optional augmentation approach. The images augmented by GAN or affine transformation cannot substitute entirely for real images to train CNN classifiers because the absence of real images in the training set will cause serious over-fitting with more training.
Relationship of Depth Adaptation Between Disparity-Specified Plaids and Their Components

In the luminance domain, studies show that perceived contrasts of plaids are a nonlinear summation of their components. In the disparity domain, perceived depth has been studied by using a depth adaptation paradigm with simple surfaces; however, the relationship between depth adaptation between plaids and their components has not been investigated. To clarify this, combinations of disparity-defined horizontal corrugation (marked as horizontal) and disparity-defined plaids as adaptor-probe pairs were used. Three experiments were performed: The first two compared the aftereffects between horizontal-horizontal and plaid-horizontal pairs (Comparison 1) and between horizontal-plaid and plaid-plaid pairs (Comparison 2). Experiments 1 and 2 controlled the plaids to have the same and doubled peak-to-trough amplitudes as the horizontal corrugation, respectively. In Comparison 1, the horizontal or horizontally oriented component of the plaids was adapted. In Comparison 2, the plaid adaptor or horizontally oriented component of the plaid test stimuli was adapted. Thus, depth adaptation may be linked to cyclopean-oriented depth-from-disparity bandpass filters. The depth adaptation degree was determined by the adaptation of amplitudes of the similar oriented channels between the adaptation and test stimuli. Experiment 3 compared the aftereffects between noise-horizontal and horizontal-horizontal pairs. Since the noise adaptor contained multispatial frequency channels, only the channels with similar spatial frequencies as the horizontal corrugation were adapted, thus causing smaller depth aftereffects.
The Influence of Polymers on the Supersaturation Potential of Poor and Good Glass Formers

The increasing number of poorly water-soluble drug candidates in pharmaceutical development is a major challenge. Enabling techniques such as amorphization of the crystalline drug can result in supersaturation with respect to the thermodynamically most stable form of the drug, thereby possibly increasing its bioavailability after oral administration. The ease with which such crystalline drugs can be amorphized is known as their glass forming ability (GFA) and is commonly described by the critical cooling rate. In this study, the supersaturation potential, i.e., the maximum apparent degree of supersaturation, of poor and good glass formers is investigated in the absence or presence of either hypromellose acetate succinate L-grade (HPMCAS-L) or vinylpyrrolidine-vinyl acetate copolymer (PVPVA64) in fasted state simulated intestinal fluid (FaSSIF). The GFA of cinnarizine, itraconazole, ketoconazole, naproxen, phenytoin, and probenecid was determined by melt quenching the crystalline drugs to determine their respective critical cooling rate. The inherent supersaturation potential of the drugs in FaSSIF was determined by a solvent shift method where the respective drugs were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide and then added to FaSSIF. This study showed that the poor glass formers naproxen, phenytoin, and probenecid could not supersaturate on their own, however for some drug:polymer combinations of naproxen and phenytoin, supersaturation of the drug was enabled by the polymer. In contrast, all of the good glass formers—cinnarizine, itraconazole, and ketoconazole—could supersaturate on their own. Furthermore, the maximum achievable concentration of the good glass formers was unaffected by the presence of a polymer.
matchbox: An open‐source tool for patient matching via the Matchmaker Exchange

Rare disease investigators constantly face challenges in identifying additional cases to build evidence for gene‐disease causality. The Matchmaker Exchange (MME) addresses this limitation by providing a mechanism for matching patients across genomic centers via a federated network. The MME has revolutionized searching for additional cases by making it possible to query across institutional boundaries, so that what was once a laborious and manual process of contacting researchers is now automated and computable. However, while the MME network is beginning to scale, the growth of additional nodes is limited by the lack of easy‐to‐use solutions that can be implemented by any rare disease database owner, even one without significant software engineering resources. Here, we describe matchbox, which is an open‐source, platform‐independent, portable bridge between any given rare disease genomic center and the MME network, which has already led to novel gene discoveries. We also describe how matchbox greatly reduces the barrier to participation by overcoming challenges for new databases to join the MME.
The Combination of MiRNA-196b, LCN2, and TIMP1 is a Potential Set of Circulating Biomarkers for Screening Individuals at Risk for Familial Pancreatic Cancer

Individuals at risk (IAR) of familial pancreatic cancer (FPC) are good candidates for screening. Unfortunately, neither reliable imaging modalities nor biomarkers are available to detect high-grade precursor lesions or early cancer. Circulating levels of candidate biomarkers LCN2, TIMP1, Glypican-1, RNU2-1f, and miRNA-196b were analyzed in 218 individuals with sporadic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC, n = 50), FPC (n = 20), chronic pancreatitis (n = 10), IAR with relevant precursor lesions (n = 11) or non-relevant lesions (n = 5), 20 controls, and IAR with (n = 51) or without (n = 51) lesions on pancreatic imaging. In addition, corresponding duodenal juice samples were analyzed for Glypican-1 (n = 144) enrichment and KRAS mutations (n = 123). The panel miR-196b/LCN2/TIMP1 could distinguish high-grade lesions and stage I PDAC from controls with absolute specificity and sensitivity. In contrast, Glypican-1 enrichment in serum exosomes and duodenal juice was not diagnostic. KRAS mutations in duodenal juice were detected in 9 of 12 patients with PDAC and only 4 of 9 IAR with relevant precursor lesions. IAR with lesions on imaging had elevated miR-196b/LCN2/TIMP1 levels (p = 0.0007) and KRAS mutations in duodenal juice (p = 0.0004) significantly more often than IAR without imaging lesions. The combination miR-196b/LCN2/TIMP1 might be a promising biomarker set for the detection of high-grade PDAC precursor lesions in IAR of FPC families.
Antibody‐Based Tracers for PET/SPECT Imaging of Chronic Inflammatory Diseases

Chronic inflammatory diseases are often progressive, resulting not only in physical damage to patients but also social and economic burdens, making early diagnosis of them critical. Nuclear medicine techniques can enhance the detection of inflammation by providing functional as well as anatomical information when combined with other modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography or ultrasonography. Although small molecules and peptides were mainly used for the treatment and imaging of chronic inflammatory diseases in the past, antibodies and their fragments have also been emerging for chronic inflammatory diseases as they show high specificity to their targets and can have various biological half‐lives depending on how they are engineered. In addition, imaging with antibodies or their fragments can visualize the in vivo biodistribution of the probes or help monitor therapeutic responses, thereby providing physicians with a greater understanding of drug behavior in vivo and another means of monitoring their patients. In this review, we introduce various targets and radiolabeled antibody‐based probes for the molecular imaging of chronic inflammatory diseases in preclinical and clinical studies. Targets can be classified into three different categories: 1) cell‐adhesion molecules, 2) surface markers on immune cells, and 3) cytokines or enzymes. The limitations and future directions of using radiolabeled antibodies for imaging inflammatory diseases are also discussed.
Deep learning and color variability in breast cancer histopathological images: a preliminary study

Variability in the color appearance in H and E stained histopathological images are typically observed. Color normalization has been found useful in standardizing the color appearance of H and E stained histopathological images prior to quantitative analysis with machine learning (using handcrafted features). However, its usefulness has not been previously studied when deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are used in classifying H and E stained breast cancer histopathological images. In this paper, we have adopted a representative CNN for classifying breast cancer histopathological images and evaluated the benefit/necessity of color normalisation using the commonly used Macenko, Khan and Reinhard color normalization methods. The representative CNN was implemented in-house and was verified. The BreaKHis dataset was used to train and test the CNN model. The preliminary results did not show significant superiority in the CNN performance when color normalization was used to standardize the color appearance of histopathological image. Furthermore, the classification performance of a magnification-independent CNN is comparable to that of magnification-specific CNNs with an additional benefit of a simpler classification scheme and training for only one CNN models (rather than multiple magnificationspecific models). It may also have an advantage in clinical practice when the magnification factor of a histopathological image is not known.
Stage III Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer Treated With Concurrent Chemoradiation Followed or Not by Consolidation Chemotherapy: A Survival Analysis From a Brazilian Multicentric Cohort

Purpose Of newly diagnosed patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), stage III accounts for 30%. Most patients are treated with concurrent chemoradiation therapy, but the addition of consolidation chemotherapy (CC) is debatable. We examined the effect of CC in Brazilian patients with stage III NSCLC treated in routine clinical practice. Methods We retrospectively collected data for patients from five different Brazilian cancer institutions who had stage III NSCLC and who were treated with chemoradiation therapy followed or not by CC. Eligible patients were age 18 years or older and must have been treated with cisplatin-carboplatin plus etoposide, paclitaxel, or vinorelbine, concurrently with thoracic radiation therapy (RT). Patients treated with surgery or neoadjuvant chemotherapy were excluded. The primary end point was overall survival (OS). Associations between CC and clinical variables and demographics were evaluated by using Pearson’s χ2 test. Survival curves were calculated by using the Kaplan-Meier method and were compared using the log-rank test. Univariable and multivariable analysis used a Cox proportional hazards model. Results We collected data from 165 patients. Median age was 60 years. Most patients were male (69.1%), white (77.9%), current or former smokers (93.3%), and had stage IIIB disease (52.7%). Adenocarcinoma was the most common histology (47.9%). Weight loss of more than 5% was observed in 39.1% and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 2 was observed in 14.6%. The only variable associated with CC was T stage (P = .022). We observed no statistically significant difference in OS between patients treated or not with CC (P = .128). A total delivered RT dose ≥ 61 Gy was the only variable independently associated with improved survival (P = .012). Conclusion Brazilian patients with locally advanced NSCLC who were treated with standard treatment achieved OS similar to that reported in randomized trials. CC did not improve OS in patients with stage III NSCLC after concurrent chemoradiation therapy. An RT dose of less than 61 Gy had a negative effect on OS.
CCDC85B promotes non‐small cell lung cancer cell proliferation and invasion

Coiled‐coil domain containing 85 B (CCDC85B) is involved in diverse biological processes; however, its expression patterns and functions in human cancers are yet unknown. The present study demonstrated that the expression of CCDC85B in the cytoplasm of the non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumor cells was significantly higher compared to adjacent normal lung tissues (P < 0.05). Furthermore, CCDC85B expression correlated with advanced TNM stage (P = 0.004) and positive regional lymph node metastasis (P = 0.009) of NSCLC. In addition, in A549 and H1299 lung cancer cell lines, the overexpression of CCDC85B promoted cell proliferation and invasion, while siRNA‐mediated CCDC85B knockdown exhibited opposite effects. CCDC85B promoted AKT and GSK3β phosphorylation and upregulated the levels of active β‐catenin, Wnt targets c‐myc, cyclin D1, and MMP7. Besides, the CCDC85B‐induced upregulation of phosphorylated GSK3β and active β‐catenin was rescued following the treatment with PI3 K inhibitor, LY294002. In conclusion, CCDC85B was associated with NSCLC progression as it promoted the proliferation and invasion of lung cancer cells through activated AKT/GSK3β/β‐catenin oncogenic signaling pathway. Therefore, CCDC85B might serve as a novel target for NSCLC treatment.
The Import Patterns of the Korean Agro-manufactures

Using annual trade data during the period of 1976-2016, this study conducted cointegration analysis of the Korean trade pattern in the imports of agricultural manufactures. We find that Korea has comparative disadvantage and trade deficits in the imports of agricultural manufactures. Granger causality tests indicates that in short-run, there is no Granger causality between the improvements in trade balance and comparative advantages in the Korean imports of agricultural manufactures; in the long-run, the efforts adversely hurt the comparative advantages. Keywords—Korea; import pattern; agricultural manufactures; granger causal relationship
Kidney Function Decline in Patients with CKD and Untreated Hepatitis C Infection.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Studies evaluating the role of hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection on the progression of CKD are few and conflicting. Therefore, we evaluated the association of untreated HCV on kidney function decline in patients with stage 3-5 CKD. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS This retrospective cohort study included members of Kaiser Permanente Southern California and Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic States aged ≥18 years, with incident HCV and CKD diagnoses from January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2014. We used generalized estimating equations to compare the rate of change in eGFR between those with HCV and CKD versus CKD alone, adjusting for covariates. Cox proportional hazards models compared the risk of 25% decrease in eGFR and ESKD (defined as progression to eGFR<15 ml/min per 1.73 m2 on two or more occasions, at least 90 days apart) in those with HCV and CKD versus CKD alone, adjusting for covariates. RESULTS We identified 151,974 patients with CKD only and 1603 patients with HCV and CKD who met the study criteria. The adjusted annual decline of eGFR among patients with HCV and CKD was greater by 0.58 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.31 to 0.84) ml/min per 1.73 m2, compared with that in the CKD-only population (HCV and CKD, -1.61; 95% CI, -1.87 to -1.35 ml/min; CKD only, -1.04; 95% CI, -1.06 to -1.01 ml/min). Adjusted for covariates, the hazard for a 25% decline in eGFR and for ESKD were 1.87 (95% CI, 1.75 to 2.00) and 1.93 (95% CI, 1.64 to 2.27) times higher among those with HCV and CKD, respectively, compared with those with CKD only. CONCLUSIONS Untreated HCV infection was associated with greater kidney function decline in patients with stage 3-5 CKD.
Opioids and the Internet: Convergence of Technology and Policy to Address the Illicit Online Sales of Opioids

The United States is in the midst of an opioid public health emergency, one that is also influenced by a convergence of Internet-based technology, health policy, and the need for stakeholder collaboration and action around the need to combat the illicit online sales of opioids by illegal online pharmacies and digital drug dealers. This risk is not new, however, with calls to actively reduce online opioid availability as online pharmacies use a growing array of digital channels, including search engines, social media platforms, and the dark Web. In response, the US Food and Drug Administration convened a special June 2018 summit bringing together technology companies, government agencies, researchers, and advocacy groups with the goal of collaboratively developing and implementing solutions to tackle the problem. Yet after this meeting, stakeholders remain fragmented in approaches despite the availability of technology that can detect, classify, and report illicit sellers who are in direct violation of Federal law. Despite ongoing challenges, advances in data science and the resources and expertise technology companies can contribute will be a key factor in ensuring that the Internet helps end and not fuel the public health emergency of opioid abuse.