Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Burnout Syndrome and Associated Factors in Intensive Care Unit Nurses.

OBJECTIVE to estimate prevalence and factors associated with Burnout Syndrome in intensive care nurses in a city in the state of Bahia. METHODS a cross-sectional, population-based study carried out with 65 intensive care nurses through a self-administered questionnaire, from July to November 2016, containing sociodemographic data, lifestyle, work characteristics. To define burnout syndrome, the Maslach Burnout Inventory was used. RESULTS Burnout Syndrome prevalence was 53.6%, an association was observed with age, tobacco consumption, alcohol use, weekly night shift hours, employment relationship, having an intensive care specialist title, number of patients on duty, monthly income and considering active or high-strain job. CONCLUSION the results of this study can contribute to expanding the discussion on stressful working conditions in Intensive Care Units.
Development of 3D Printed Bruch’s Membrane-Mimetic Substance for the Maturation of Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells

Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is a monolayer of the pigmented cells that lies on the thin extracellular matrix called Bruch’s membrane. This monolayer is the main component of the outer blood–retinal barrier (BRB), which plays a multifunctional role. Due to their crucial roles, the damage of this epithelium causes a wide range of diseases related to retinal degeneration including age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, and Stargardt disease. Unfortunately, there is presently no cure for these diseases. Clinically implantable RPE for humans is under development, and there is no practical examination platform for drug development. Here, we developed porcine Bruch’s membrane-derived bioink (BM-ECM). Compared to conventional laminin, the RPE cells on BM-ECM showed enhanced functionality of RPE. Furthermore, we developed the Bruch’s membrane-mimetic substrate (BMS) via the integration of BM-ECM and 3D printing technology, which revealed structure and extracellular matrix components similar to those of natural Bruch’s membrane. The developed BMS facilitated the appropriate functions of RPE, including barrier and clearance functions, the secretion of anti-angiogenic growth factors, and enzyme formation for phototransduction. Moreover, it could be used as a basement frame for RPE transplantation. We established BMS using 3D printing technology to grow RPE cells with functions that could be used for an in vitro model and RPE transplantation.
Opportunities, challenges and trade-offs with decreasing avoidable food waste in the UK

Around 6 million tonnes of edible food are being wasted (post-farm gate) in the UK each year. This fraction of edible wasted food is known as avoidable food waste. In a circular economy food is a valuable resource that must be captured at all stages of the food supply chain and, where possible, redistributed for consumption. This can prevent avoidable food waste generation, and dissipation of food’s multidimensional value that spans environmental, economic, social, technical and political/organisational impacts. While the importance and benefits of surplus food redistribution have been well documented in the global literature, there are still barriers that prevent perfectly edible food from being wasted. This study looks at the main stages of the food supply chain, and amasses the opportunities, challenges and trade-offs associated with surplus food redistribution to the UK economy. It highlights points in the food system where interventions can be made, to improve food’s circularity and sustainability potential. Stakeholder interrelations, regulatory and socio-economic aspects are discussed in relation to their influence on decreasing avoidable food waste. The main output from this work is a diagrammatic depiction of where challenges and trade-offs occur along the food supply chain, and how policy and socio-economic reforms are needed to maximise avoidable food waste prevention, and the surplus avoidable food redistribution in the food supply chain for social benefit.
Protective Effect of Mitochondria-Targeted Antioxidants against Inflammatory Response to Lipopolysaccharide Challenge: A Review

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), the major component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, is the most abundant proinflammatory agent. Considerable evidence indicates that LPS challenge inescapably causes oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction, leading to cell and tissue damage. Increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS) generation triggered by LPS is known to play a key role in the progression of the inflammatory response. mtROS at excessive levels impair electron transport chain functioning, reduce the mitochondrial membrane potential, and initiate lipid peroxidation and oxidative damage of mitochondrial proteins and mtDNA. Over the past 20 years, a large number of mitochondria-targeted antioxidants (mito-AOX) of different structures that can accumulate inside mitochondria and scavenge free radicals have been synthesized. Their protective role based on the prevention of oxidative stress and the restoration of mitochondrial function has been demonstrated in a variety of common diseases and pathological states. This paper reviews the current data on the beneficial application of different mito-AOX in animal endotoxemia models, in either in vivo or in vitro experiments. The results presented in our review demonstrate the promising potential of approaches based on mito-AOX in the development of new treatment strategies against Gram-negative infections and LPS per se.
Computational intelligence identifies alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), and hemoglobin levels as most predictive survival factors for hepatocellular carcinoma

Liver cancer kills approximately 800 thousand people annually worldwide, and its most common subtype is hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which usually affects people with cirrhosis. Predicting survival of patients with HCC remains an important challenge, especially because technologies needed for this scope are not available in all hospitals. In this context, machine learning applied to medical records can be a fast, low-cost tool to predict survival and detect the most predictive features from health records. In this study, we analyzed medical data of 165 patients with HCC: we employed computational intelligence to predict their survival, and to detect the most relevant clinical factors able to discriminate survived from deceased cases. Afterwards, we compared our data mining results with those obtained through statistical tests and scientific literature findings. Our analysis revealed that blood levels of alkaline-phosphatase (ALP), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), and hemoglobin are the most effective prognostic factors in this dataset. We found literature supporting association of these three factors with hepatoma, even though only AFP has been used in a prognostic index. Our results suggest that ALP and hemoglobin can be candidates for future HCC prognostic indexes, and that physicians could focus on ALP, AFP, and hemoglobin when studying HCC records.
Profiles of competence development in upper secondary education and their predictors

This registered report protocol elaborates on the theory, methods, and material of a study to identify latent profiles of competence development in reading and mathematics among German students in upper secondary education. It is expected that generalized (reading and mathematical competence develop similarly) and specialized (one of the domains develops faster) competence profiles will be identified. Moreover, it is hypothesized that students’ domain-specific interest and educational history will predict membership of these latent profiles as these factors influence the students’ learning environments. For this study, we will use data from the German National Educational Panel Study, including students from ninth grade in secondary schools (expected N = 14,500). These students were tracked across six years and provided competence assessments on three occasions. The latent profiles based on the students’ reading and mathematical competences will be identified using latent growth mixture modeling. If different types of profiles can be identified, multinomial regression will be utilized to analyze whether the likelihood of belonging to a certain competence development profile is influenced by students’ domain-specific interest or educational history. As this protocol is submitted before any analyses were conducted, it will provide neither results nor conclusions.
Prevalence of cognitive impairment in acute ischaemic stroke and use of Alberta Stroke Programme Early CT Score (ASPECTS) for early prediction of post-stroke cognitive impairment.

AIM OF STUDY This study aims to assess the prevalence of post-stroke cognitive impairment, and to evaluate the correlation of ASPECTS with impaired cognition. MATERIALS AND METHODS 150 patients presenting with acute middle cerebral artery territory ischaemic stroke were included in this study. Risk factors of ischaemic stroke and the initial NIHSS were determined. An initial and a follow-up non-contrast CT brain were carried out after seven days which were assessed by ASPECTS. The prevalence of cognitive impairment was determined by MoCA during the follow up of patients after three months. Correlations of ASPECTS, NIHSS and MoCA were done by Spearman correlation. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was carried out for the independent variables of cognitive impairment. RESULTS The prevalence of post-stroke cognitive impairment in this study, according to the threshold for cognitive impairment with a MoCA score of 25 or less, was 25.3% (38 patients). Significant positive correlations between ASPECTS and total MoCA test domains were found (r = 0.73 and P = 0.002). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the independent factors associated with cognitive impairment were older age, certain domains of the MoCA test like executive functions, memory, attention, language, NIHSS, HTN, and ASPECTS. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS There is a prevalence of cognitive impairment in about 25% of patients after three months of follow-up in cases with acute ischaemic stroke. ASPECTS is directly correlated with cognitive impairment, and may be considered as a biomarker of post-stroke cognitive impairment.
Intratracheal administration of mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles reduces lung injuries in a chronic rat model of bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

Early therapeutic effect of intratracheally (IT)-administered extracellular vesicles secreted by mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-EVs) has been demonstrated in a rat model of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) involving hyperoxia exposure in the first 2 postnatal weeks. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effects of IT-administered MSC-EVs in the long term. EVs were produced from MSCs following GMP standards. At birth, rats were distributed in three groups: a) animals raised in ambient air for 6 weeks (n=10); and animals exposed to 60% hyperoxia for 2 weeks and to room air for additional 4 weeks and treated with b) IT-administered saline solution (n=10), or c) MSC-EVs (n=10) on postnatal days 3, 7, 10 and 21. Hyperoxia exposure produced significant decreases in total number of alveoli, total surface area of alveolar air spaces and proliferation index, together with increases in mean alveolar volume, mean linear intercept and fibrosis percentage; all these morphometric changes were prevented by MSC-EVs treatment. The medial thickness index for <100 µm vessels was higher for hyperoxia-exposed/sham-treated than for normoxia-exposed rats; MSC-EV treatment significantly reduced this index. There were no significant differences in interstitial/alveolar and perivascular F4/8-positive and CD86-positive macrophages. Conversely, hyperoxia exposure reduced CD163-positive macrophages both in interstitial/alveolar and perivascular populations and MSC-EV prevented these hyperoxia-induced reductions. These findings furtherly support that IT-administered EVs could be an effective approach to prevent/treat BPD, ameliorating the impaired alveolarization and pulmonary artery remodelling also in a long-term model. M2 macrophage polarization could play a role through anti-inflammatory and proliferative mechanisms.
Theoretical studies of hydrogen bonding in liquid water and dilute aqueous solutions

Monte Carlo computer simulations of liquid water and dilute aqueous solutions are analyzed in terms of the nature and extent of intermolecular hydrogen bonding. A geometric definition of the hydrogen bond is used. Calculations on liquid water at 25 °C, 37 °C, and 50 °C, were carried out based on the quantum mechanical MCY potential of Matsuoka, Clementi, and Yoshimine and at 10 °C based on the empirical ST2 potential. The effect of a dissolved solute on aqueous hydrogen bonding was studied for dilute aqueous solutions of Li+, Na+, K+, F−, Cl−, and CH4. The nature of the hydrogen bonding was characterized with quasicomponent distribution functions defined as a function of the intermolecular coordinates relevant to hydrogen bonding. The extent of the hydrogen bonding is described using a network analysis approach developed by Geiger, Stillinger, and Rahman. The results on the quasicomponent distribution functions show that the average hydrogen bond angle deviates with 10 °–25 ° from a linear form, quite ind.
Vasospasm and delayed cerebral ischaemia in patients with spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage (aneurysmal and pretruncal non-aneurysmal): a centre's perspective.

BACKGROUND Spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) is a significant cause of stroke and associated with high morbidity and mortality. One substantial complication of SAH is cerebral vasospasm (CV) and delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI). This study aimed to define the clinical profile in patients with SAH, CV and DCI secondary to spontaneous SAH (aneurysmal and pretruncal non-aneurysmal). MATERIALS AND METHODS We analysed 122 consecutive patients with spontaneous SAH following intracranial aneurysmal and non-aneurysmal information (including patients' pattern characterisation and their possible risk factor association to pre-operative clinical decision and long-term clinical outcome) was documented and analysed. RESULTS The main clinical presentations for spontaneous SAH following ruptured intracranial aneurysm and nonaneurysm were headache (77%) and nausea/vomiting (62.3%). The most common sites for SAH following ruptured intracranial aneurysm rupture were the anterior and posterior communicating arteries (57.5%). Hypertension was the most common cause for SAH at 64.8%. It was found 26.2% (n=32) out of the 122 patients developed CV and DCI. The mean day of vasospasm was 6.0 ± 2.8 (range: 1-14 days) Age, length of stay, nausea/vomiting and visual field defect were significantly associated (p<0.05) with vasospasm. Mortality rate was also higher in the CV group compared to the group without CV in both at discharge and at 6 months; 281 versus 278 per 1000 and 312 vs 300 per 1000, respectively. CONCLUSION CV and DCI have a significant incidence among local patients with spontaneous SAH following an intracranial aneurysmal and non-aneurysmal rupture and it is associated with substantial morbidity. Prevention, effective monitoring, and early detection are keys to successful management. Regional investigation using a multicentre cohort to analyse mortality and survival rates may aid in improving national resource management of these patients.
Trauma and Coping Strategies in Police Officers: A Quantitative-Qualitative Pilot Study

Background. Because of their work, emergency workers, such as police officers (POs), are exposed to traumatic events on a daily basis. These experiences can have consequences in terms of physical and emotional stress. Primary attachment relationships affect the development of coping strategies for dealing with stressful events (primarily hyperactivating strategies in entangled adults and hypo-activating strategies in dismissing adults). In this study, we explored how POs describe the experience of traumatic accidents, the effects they reported and their coping strategies related to their attachment style. Methods. We used a quantitative-qualitative method. Thirty-nine POs were administered the Beck Depression Inventory, the Maslach Burnout Inventory and a semi-structured interview about traumatic events and reactions. Interviews were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Results. Traumatic events at work predominantly concerned aggressions, witnessing deaths, forced hospitalizations, and domestic violence involving children. POs with a responsible role were more likely than POs to use security-based strategies. Most POs narrated overactivation and deactivation strategies, which were associated with depressive symptoms, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization. Conclusions. These results can be useful to improve trauma-informed interventions for POs based on their different attachment styles and coping strategies.
Confirmatory factor analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9: A study amongst tuberculosis patients in the Free State province

Background There is growing evidence that depression is frequently comorbid with tuberculosis (TB) and is often associated with a decreased quality of life and poor treatment outcomes. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) is widely used to screen for depression in clinical settings in low-and middle-income countries. This study examined the construct validity and reliability of an interviewer-administered PHQ-9 in a sample of new TB patients in the Free State province of South Africa. Methods A pilot study was conducted in 2019 amongst 208 new adult TB patients attending primary healthcare facilities in the Lejweleputswa District in the Free State. Trained fieldworkers administered a structured questionnaire comprising of questions on patient’s socio-demographic characteristics and the nine-item PHQ-9 to the patients. Confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha were respectively used to investigate the construct validity and internal consistency of the PHQ-9. Results The model was a good fit, with a Tucker–Lewis index of 0.976, a comparative fit index of 0.982 and a root mean square error of approximation of 0.062 (90% CI: 0.032–0.089). All indicators showed significant positive factor loadings, with standardised coefficients ranging from 0.467 to 0.799. The PHQ-9 was characterised by a single factor latent structure – depression – underlying all items. The Cronbach’s alpha of the scale was 0.84. Conclusion The results support a unidimensional structure of the PHQ-9, with satisfactory internal consistency implying that the scale is valid and reliable. The TB programme can confidently consider the PHQ-9 for the routine assessment of depression amongst TB patients in the Free State province and similar settings.
VME-DWT: An Efficient Algorithm for Detection and Elimination of Eye Blink From Short Segments of Single EEG Channel

Objective: Recent advances in development of low-cost single-channel electroencephalography (EEG) headbands have opened new possibilities for applications in health monitoring and brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. These recorded EEG signals, however, are often contaminated by eye blink artifacts that can yield the fallacious interpretation of the brain activity. This paper proposes an efficient algorithm, VME-DWT, to remove eye blinks in a short segment of the single EEG channel. Method: The proposed algorithm: (a) locates eye blink intervals using Variational Mode Extraction (VME) and (b) filters only contaminated EEG interval using an automatic Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) algorithm. The performance of VME-DWT is compared with an automatic Variational Mode Decomposition (AVMD) and a DWT-based algorithms, proposed for suppressing eye blinks in a short segment of the single EEG channel. Results: The VME-DWT detects and filters 95% of the eye blinks from the contaminated EEG signals with SNR ranging from −8 to +3 dB. The VME-DWT shows superiority to the AVMD and DWT with the higher mean value of correlation coefficient (0.92 vs. 0.83, 0.58) and lower mean value of RRMSE (0.42 vs. 0.59, 0.87). Significance: The VME-DWT can be a suitable algorithm for removal of eye blinks in low-cost single-channel EEG systems as it is: (a) computationally-efficient, the contaminated EEG signal is filtered in millisecond time resolution, (b) automatic, no human intervention is required, (c) low-invasive, EEG intervals without contamination remained unaltered, and (d) low-complexity, without need to the artifact reference.
Accuracy of the Resting Energy Expenditure Estimation Equations for Healthy Women

Background: There exist several prediction equations for the estimation of resting energy expenditure (REE). However, none of these equations have been validated in the Chilean female population yet. The aims of this study are (1) to determine the accuracy of existing equations for prediction of REE and (2) to develop new equations in a sample of healthy Chilean women. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out on 620 Chilean women. The sample showed an age range between 18 and 73 years, a body mass index average of 28.5 ± 5.2 kg/m2, and a prevalence of overweight and obesity of 41% and 33.2%, respectively. REE was measured by indirect calorimetry (REEIC), which was used as the gold standard to determine the accuracy of twelve available REE prediction equations and to calculate alternative formulas for estimation of REE. Paired t-tests and Bland–Altman plots were used to know the accuracy of the estimation equations with REEIC. At the same time, multiple linear regressions were performed to propose possible alternative equations. The analyses were carried out by age groups and according to nutritional status. Results: All the equations showed a tendency to overestimate REE, regardless of age or nutritional status. Overall, the Ireton-Jones equation achieved the highest mean percentage difference from REEIC at 67.1 ± 31%. The alternative new equations, containing variables of body composition, reached a higher percentage of classification within ±10% of REEIC. Conclusions: The available equations do not adequately estimate REE in this sample of Chilean women. Although they must be validated, the new formulas proposed show better adaptation to this Chilean sample.
Association of polypharmacy and Parkinson's disease prevalence.

OBJECTIVE Polypharmacy and multiple diseases are common in geriatric practice; however, such kind of multiple interventions might result in adverse effects. Some previous studies have found the association of polypharmacy and Parkinson's disease, to confirm this relationship, we conducted a meta-analysis to analyze this issue quantitively. MATERIALS AND METHODS In total, we included 8 studies, 165,689 polypharmacy subjects and 373,660 non-polypharmacy controls, and 5644 PD patients among these subjects and controls. RESULTS For model without any adjustment, polypharmacy group has a significantly higher prevalence than control, OR = 2.53, 95 %CI [2.00, 3.20] (p < 0.001). However, this model showed a very high heterogeneity (I2 = 91 %, p < 0.001). In age, gender and disease history adjusted model, polypharmacy group has a significantly higher prevalence than control, OR = 1.43, 95 %CI [1.35, 1.52], p < 0.001. The heterogeneity decreased to zero (I2 = 0 %, p < 0.45). CONCLUSION In this study we have found an association between PD risk and polypharmacy, a better designed prospective long-term cohort study might be required for further discussion on this issue (Tab. 1, Fig. 5, Ref. 14).