Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characteristics of teenagers who use dental floss.

OBJECTIVE To describe the use of dental floss by teenagers and study associations between flossing and approximal caries experience, oral health behaviours, gender, parental education and national background. METHODS The study included 2156 14-year-old teenagers. Data were collected in conjunction with routine dental examinations. Teenagers answered a questionnaire about frequency of and reasons for flossing, oral health behaviours and family characteristics. Information about approximal enamel (D₁₋₂Sa) and dentine caries experience (D₃MFSa) was collected from dental records. Data were cross-tabulated and tested with Chi-Square statistics and ANOVA, and analysed using multivariable logistic regression. The data was baseline data in a longitudinal study exploring effects of dental floss. The study was performed as part of the quality assurance system required by law in the dental services and did not require ethical approval. RESULTS Half of the teenagers (54%) used dental floss. Among teenagers who flossed, 15% reported doing so daily. Recommendation from dental personnel was the most important reason for using dental floss. Proportionately more girls and teenagers whose parents had high educational achievement reported flossing. Teenagers who flossed more often had more favourable oral health behaviours than other teenagers but more often had approximal enamel caries (D₁₋₂Sa) and approximal dentine caries experience (D₃MFSa) than other teenagers (p⟨0.05). CONCLUSION Use of dental floss was not a daily behaviour in most teenagers. Flossing was associated with having approximal caries lesions, indicating that teenagers having signs of approximal caries had been recommended to use dental floss.
Heterochromatin Patterns in Some Taxa of Crepis Praemorsa Complex

SUMMARYFour taxa have been distinguished in the Crepis praemorsa complex. These are four species (C. praemorsa s. st., C. froelichiana, C. incarnata and C. dinarica) well differenciated from geografical, ecological and genetical points of view. The karyological characteristics of each of them have been pointed out: number and distribution of constitutive hetechromatin bands. Moreover, by its telomeric distribution heterochromatin might influence the regular course of meiosis. A strong correlation between altitudinal distribution of taxa and heterochromatin quantity has been found. Then, heterochromatin might be important in adaptation to difficult ecological conditions.
Comparison of the Antioxidant Activities and Volatile Compounds of Coffee Beans Obtained Using Digestive Bio-Processing (Elephant Dung Coffee) and Commonly Known Processing Methods

There are different types of coffee processing methods. The wet (WP) and dry processing (DP) methods are widely practiced in different parts of coffee-growing countries. There is also a digestive bioprocessing method in which the most expensive coffee is produced. The elephant dung coffee is produced using the digestive bioprocessing method. In the present experiment, the antioxidant activity and volatile compounds of coffee that have been processed using different methods were compared. The antioxidant activity, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), and total tannin content (TTC) of green coffee beans from all treatments were higher as compared to roasted coffee beans. Regarding the green coffee beans, the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity of elephant dung coffee beans was higher as compared to that of the DP and WP coffee beans. The green coffee beans had higher DPPH activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) value compared to the roasted coffee beans. The green beans of elephant dung coffee had a high TPC than the beans obtained by WP and DP methods. TFC in elephant dung coffee in both green and roasted condition was improved in contrast to the beans processed using dry and wet methods. The elephant dung coffee had an increased TTC in comparison to the DP and WP coffee (green beans). About 37 volatile compounds of acids, alcohols, aldehydes, amide, esters, ethers, furans, furanones, ketones, phenols, pyrazines, pyridines, Heterocyclic N, and pyrroles functional classes have been found. Some of the most abundant volatile compounds detected in all treatments of coffee were 2-furanmethanol, acetic acid, 2-methylpyrazine, 2,6-dimethylpyrazine, pyridine, and 5-methylfurfural. Few volatile compounds have been detected only in elephant dung coffee. The principal component analysis (PCAs) was performed using the percentage of relative peak areas of the volatile compound classes and individual volatile compounds. This study will provide a better understanding of the impacts of processing methods on the antioxidants and volatile compounds of coffee.
Solution-processable PEDOT:PSS:α-In2Se3 with enhanced conductivity as a hole transport layer for high-performance polymer solar cells.

Two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets have attracted enormous attention in photovoltaic devices owing to their outstanding photoelectric properties in recent years. Herein, 2D α-In2Se3 nanosheets with higher conductivity and suitable work function are synthesized by liquid phase exfoliation method. To ameliorate the low conductivity of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) (2.21×10-3 S cm-1), α-In2Se3 nanosheets are directly added into PEDOT:PSS to obtain PEDOT:PSS:α-In2Se3 composite film. The composite film exhibits excellent optical transmittance, suitable work function, and enhanced conductivity (1.54×10-2 S cm-1). To profoundly investigate the mechanism of conductivity improvement, XPS, Raman, EPR and AFM measurements are conducted. The results show that the synergistic effect of 2D α-In2Se3 nanosheets and isopropanol/deionized water cosolvent screens the Coulombic attraction among PEDOT and PSS. The screening effect results in the partial removal of PSS and the benzoid-quinoid transition of PEDOT. In addition, α-In2Se3 nanosheets may serve as physical linkers for PEDOT chains. Both effects are beneficial to increase interfacial contact area between PEDOT chains and form a larger conductive network of PEDOT, leading to an enhanced conductivity. The composite film is first employed as a hole transport layer (HTL) in polymer solar cells (PSCs). The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of PBDB-T:ITIC-based device with composite HTL is 10% higher than that of unmodified PBDB-T:ITIC-based device, and the maximum PCE of 15.89% is achieved in PM6:Y6 system. More interestingly, the stability of devices with composite HTL is improved owing to the partial removal of PSS. Thus the PEDOT:PSS:α-In2Se3 composite can be an application prospect HTL material in PSCs.
The Connection of Azole Fungicides with Xeno-Sensing Nuclear Receptors, Drug Metabolism and Hepatotoxicity

Azole fungicides, especially triazole compounds, are widely used in agriculture and as pharmaceuticals. For a considerable number of agricultural azole fungicides, the liver has been identified as the main target organ of toxicity. A number of previous studies points towards an important role of nuclear receptors such as the constitutive androstane receptor (CAR), the pregnane-X-receptor (PXR), or the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), within the molecular pathways leading to hepatotoxicity of these compounds. Nuclear receptor-mediated hepatic effects may comprise rather adaptive changes such as the induction of drug-metabolizing enzymes, to hepatocellular hypertrophy, histopathologically detectable fatty acid changes, proliferation of hepatocytes, and the promotion of liver tumors. Here, we present a comprehensive review of the current knowledge of the interaction of major agricultural azole-class fungicides with the three nuclear receptors CAR, PXR, and AHR in vivo and in vitro. Nuclear receptor activation profiles of the azoles are presented and related to histopathological findings from classic toxicity studies. Important issues such as species differences and multi-receptor agonism and the consequences for data interpretation and risk assessment are discussed.
Neural Mechanisms of Attentional Control for Objects: Decoding EEG Alpha When Anticipating Faces, Scenes,and Tools

Attentional selection mechanisms in visual cortex involve changes in oscillatory activity in the EEG alpha band (8–12 Hz), with decreased alpha indicating focal cortical enhancement and increased alpha indicating suppression. This has been observed for spatial selective attention and attention to stimulus features such as color versus motion. We investigated whether attention to objects involves similar alpha-mediated changes in focal cortical excitability. In experiment 1, 20 volunteers (8 males; 12 females) were cued (80% predictive) on a trial-by-trial basis to different objects (faces, scenes, or tools). Support vector machine decoding of alpha power patterns revealed that late (>500 ms latency) in the cue-to-target foreperiod, only EEG alpha differed with the to-be-attended object category. In experiment 2, to eliminate the possibility that decoding of the physical features of cues led to our results, 25 participants (9 males; 16 females) performed a similar task where cues were nonpredictive of the object category. Alpha decoding was now only significant in the early (<200 ms) foreperiod. In experiment 3, to eliminate the possibility that task set differences between the different object categories led to our experiment 1 results, 12 participants (5 males; 7 females) performed a predictive cuing task where the discrimination task for different objects was identical across object categories. The results replicated experiment 1. Together, these findings support the hypothesis that the neural mechanisms of visual selective attention involve focal cortical changes in alpha power not only for simple spatial and feature attention, but also for high-level object attention in humans. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Attention is the cognitive function that enables relevant information to be selected from sensory inputs so it can be processed in the support of goal-directed behavior. Visual attention is widely studied, yet the neural mechanisms underlying the selection of visual information remain unclear. Oscillatory EEG activity in the alpha range (8–12 Hz) of neural populations receptive to target visual stimuli may be part of the mechanism, because alpha is thought to reflect focal neural excitability. Here, we show that alpha-band activity, as measured by scalp EEG from human participants, varies with the specific category of object selected by attention. This finding supports the hypothesis that alpha-band activity is a fundamental component of the neural mechanisms of attention.
Regression shrinkage methods for clinical prediction models do not guarantee improved performance: Simulation study

When developing risk prediction models on datasets with limited sample size, shrinkage methods are recommended. Earlier studies showed that shrinkage results in better predictive performance on average. This simulation study aimed to investigate the variability of regression shrinkage on predictive performance for a binary outcome. We compared standard maximum likelihood with the following shrinkage methods: uniform shrinkage (likelihood-based and bootstrap-based), penalized maximum likelihood (ridge) methods, LASSO logistic regression, adaptive LASSO, and Firth’s correction. In the simulation study, we varied the number of predictors and their strength, the correlation between predictors, the event rate of the outcome, and the events per variable. In terms of results, we focused on the calibration slope. The slope indicates whether risk predictions are too extreme (slope < 1) or not extreme enough (slope > 1). The results can be summarized into three main findings. First, shrinkage improved calibration slopes on average. Second, the between-sample variability of calibration slopes was often increased relative to maximum likelihood. In contrast to other shrinkage approaches, Firth’s correction had a small shrinkage effect but showed low variability. Third, the correlation between the estimated shrinkage and the optimal shrinkage to remove overfitting was typically negative, with Firth’s correction as the exception. We conclude that, despite improved performance on average, shrinkage often worked poorly in individual datasets, in particular when it was most needed. The results imply that shrinkage methods do not solve problems associated with small sample size or low number of events per variable.
Special Issue about Head and Neck Cancers: HPV Positive Cancers

The oropharynx has become the leading primary site for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV)-associated head and neck cancer. HPV positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HPV+ OSCC) has emerged as an epidemic not easily recognized by many physicians, resulting in delays in diagnosis and management. HPV+ OSCC traditionally refers to younger, healthier patients with high economic status and high-risk sexual behavior and is related to improved prognosis. De-intensification strategies are being evaluated in ongoing clinical trials and if validated, might help spare severe morbidity associated with current cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy, which is the standard of care for all patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer. On the other hand, whether HPV status represents an important prognostic factor for non-oropharyngeal sites remains to be elucidated.
Wildlife impacts and vulnerable livelihoods in a transfrontier conservation landscape

Interactions between humans and wildlife resulting in negative impacts are among the most pressing conservation challenges globally. In regions of smallholder livestock and crop production, interactions with wildlife can compromise human well‐being and motivate negative sentiment and retaliation toward wildlife, undermining conservation goals. Although impacts may be unavoidable when human and wildlife land use overlap, scant large‐scale human data exist quantifying the direct costs of wildlife to livelihoods. In a landscape of global importance for wildlife conservation in southern Africa, we quantified costs for people living with wildlife through a fundamental measure of human well‐being, food security, and we tested whether existing livelihood strategies buffer certain households against crop depredation by wildlife, predominantly elephants. To do this, we estimated Bayesian multilevel statistical models based on multicounty household data (n = 711) and interpreted model results in the context of spatial data from participatory land‐use mapping. Reported crop depredation by wildlife was widespread. Over half of the sample households were affected and household food security was reduced significantly (odds ratio 0.37 [0.22, 0.63]). The most food insecure households relied on gathered food sources and welfare programs. In the event of crop depredation by wildlife, these 2 livelihood sources buffered or reduced harmful effects of depredation. The presence of buffering strategies suggests a targeted compensation strategy could benefit the region's most vulnerable people. Such strategies should be combined with dynamic and spatially explicit land‐use planning that may reduce the frequency of negative human–wildlife impacts. Quantifying and mitigating the human costs from wildlife are necessary steps in working toward human–wildlife coexistence.
The role of frontal and parietal cortex in the performance of gifted and average adolescents in a mental rotation task

Visual-spatial abilities are usually neglected in academic settings, even though several studies have shown that their predictive power in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics domains exceeds that of math and verbal ability. This neglect means that many spatially talented youths are not identified and nurtured, at a great cost to society. In the present work, we aim to identify behavioral and electrophysiological markers associated with visual spatial-ability in intellectually gifted adolescents (N = 15) compared to age-matched controls (N = 15). The participants performed a classic three-dimensional mental rotation task developed by Shepard and Metzler (1971) [33] while event-related potentials were measured in both frontal and parietal regions of interest. While response time was similar in the two groups, gifted subjects performed the test with greater accuracy. There was no indication of interhemispheric asymmetry of ERPs over parietal regions in both groups, although interhemispheric differences were observed in the frontal lobes. Moreover, intelligence quotient and working memory measures predicted variance in ERP’s amplitude in the right parietal and frontal hemispheres. We conclude that while gifted adolescents do not display a different pattern of electroencephalographic activity over the parietal cortex while performing the mental rotation task, their performance is correlated with the amplitude of ERPs in the frontal cortex during the execution of this task.
Associations Between the Breakroom Built Environment, Worker Health Habits, and Worker Health Outcomes: A Pilot Study Among Public Transit Rail Operators.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between the breakroom built environment and worker health outcomes. METHODS We conducted this study in a mass transit organization (rail). We collected a user-reported breakroom quality score (worker survey), a worksite health promotion score (validated audit tool), and self-reported worker health outcomes (survey). RESULTS Among the 12 breakrooms audited and 127 rail operators surveyed, the average worksite health promotion score was 9.1 (out of 15) and the average user-reported breakroom quality was 3.1 (out of 7). After multivariable regression, breakrooms with higher worksite health promotion scores and user-reported breakroom quality were associated with lower odds of depression and fewer medical disability days. CONCLUSIONS This cross-sectional study demonstrates an association between the quality of the breakroom built environment and worker health, specifically depression and medical disability days.
Continuing medical education during a pandemic: an academic institution’s experience

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected healthcare systems worldwide. The disruption to hospital routines has affected continuing medical education (CME) for specialty trainees (STs). We share our academic institution's experience in mitigating the disruption on the CME programme amidst the pandemic. Most specialty training programmes had switched to videoconferencing to maintain teaching. Some programmes also utilized small group teachings with precautions and e-learning modules. Surgical residencies were disproportionately affected due to reductions in elective procedures but some ways to provide continued surgical exposure include going through archived surgical videos with technical pointers from experienced faculty and usage of surgical simulators . We should adapt CME sessions to keep trainees up to date with core clinical competencies as they will continue to manage both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 cases and this pandemic may last until year's end.
Spread of hybridization between native westslope cutthroat trout, Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi, and nonnative rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss

We examined spatial and temporal patterns of hybridization between native westslope cutthroat trout, Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi, and nonnative rainbow trout, O. mykiss, in streams of the Flathead River system in Montana, U.S.A. We detected hybridization in 24 of 42 sites sampled from 1998 to 2001. We found new Oncorhynchus mykiss introgression in seven of 11 sample populations that were determined to be nonhybridized in 1984. Patterns of spatial autocorrelation and linkage disequilibrium indicated that hybridization is spreading among sites and is advancing primarily via post-F1 hybrids. Although hybridized populations were distributed widely throughout the study area, the genetic contribution from O. mykiss decreased with increasing upstream distance from the Flathead River mainstem, suggesting that O. mykiss introgression is spreading in an upstream direction. The spread of hybridization may be constrained more by demographic than by environmental factors, given that (i) hybridized populations generally.
Wnt gene cluster in ventral ectoderm patterning of Drosophila embryo

Evolutionarily conserved gene clusters serve as important genomic assets and are exploited to elucidate primal designs of genome evolution. The quest to understand contemporary functional significance of such clusters underlying their persistent evolutionary selection is reasonable. One such gene cluster in Drosophila is the ‘Wnt cluster’ comprising of DWnt4-wg-DWnt6-DWnt10 on the left arm of the second chromosome. Wnts are secreted glycoproteins that work as cell signaling molecules and are involved in myriad of cellular, developmental processes and diseases like cancer. Wingless (wg) is prototype of this family along with other 6 Wnt genes reported in Drosophila melanogaster. Wingless (wg) functions during ventral epidermis patterning in embryo, wing morphogenesis etc. DWnt4 semi- lethal mutants are known in the context of cell motility in ovarian morphogenesis. However, no lethal mutations for DWnt4 are reported so far. Similarly, the understanding of potential biological roles of DWnt6 and DWnt10 remains elusive as no classical genetic alleles are reported. To fill this lacuna we have tried to decipher the plausible role of DWnt6 and DWnt10 in ectoderm patterning of embryo. Here we report that though DWnt6 and DWnt10 are not expressed in ventral ectoderm of embryo, they are able to rescue the defects in cuticles in absence of DWnt4 or wg. Similarly knockdown of DWnt6 and DWnt10 transcripts in DWnt4 and wg epidermal/cuticular mutants resulted in increased defects in cuticles. These findings indicates that DWnt6 and DWnt10 can use canonical or non canonical Wnt pathway in absence of DWnt4 or wg and most probably they are using the same signaling mechanism in their natural function of domain which is yet to be known.
Egg dumping by predatory insects

Synovigenic insects resorb oocytes when food is scarce and mature oocytes when food is plentiful. These two antagonistic processes allow an optimal allocation of resources to reproduction and somatic functions. Unlike hymenopteran parasitoids, ladybirds cannot resorb mature oocytes present in the oviducts. Is the energy contained in these oocytes lost or is there a mechanism for recovering it when needed? Females of two species of ladybird beetles Adalia bipunctata (L.) and Adalia decempunctata (L.) that are starved for >24 h lay single infertile eggs, which they immediately eat, and these eggs comprise the mature oocytes in the oviducts at the onset of starvation. This behaviour has some similarities to egg dumping reported in herbivorous insects and is part, in ladybird beetles, of a process to retrieve energy invested in reproduction. Such behaviour may exist in other predatory synovigenic insects species that do not invest in maternal care.