Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Home-Based Pulmonary Rehabilitation for Patients With Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: A PILOT STUDY.

PURPOSE To evaluate the adherence and effectiveness of a home-based exergame program for patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). METHOD Patients with IPF were randomly assigned to a relatively unsupervised Wii Fit exergame intervention group or Wii video game control group (with no active whole-body movement involved). Participants in both groups were instructed to play their respective games 30 min/d, 3 d/wk for 12 wk. In addition, they were asked to perform their usual exercise/physical activities. Outcome measures were 6-min walk distance (6MWD), exercise-related dyspnea, and St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ). RESULTS The 20 participants differed significantly between intervention and control groups in baseline characteristics (forced vital capacity = 2.0 ± 0.5 vs 3.1 ± 0.7 L; forced expiratory volume in 1 sec = 1.7 ± 0.4 vs 2.5 ± 0.6 L, respectively). Participant adherence rate to the exergame program was very low (20%). There was no significant improvement in the outcome measures in either group. In fact, both the intervention and control groups had a deterioration in 6MWD (-22 ± 56 m vs -60 ± 111 m), respectively and SGRQ scores (3 ± 9 vs 1 ± 11), respectively. CONCLUSIONS The home-based exergame intervention for patients with IPF did not show improvement in functional performance, dyspnea, or health-related quality of life at the completion of the 12-wk program in our 2 heterogeneous groups. In addition to the low adherence rate, insufficient frequencies and durations of exergaming may contribute to the lack of improvement. A lack of effectiveness of home-based pulmonary rehabilitation using exergaming for patients with IPF appears consistent with prior observational studies that used more traditional modes of home-based exercise.
Concurrent engineering: an overview for Autotestcon

The authors summarize a 1988 investigation of concurrent engineering and its role in weapons system acquisition with some attention to testability implications. They describe the investigation, present highlights of the evidence, and set forth the principal findings and recommendations, related them to testability where appropriate. Included is the definition of concurrent engineering developed during this study. Some benefits reported include 60% reduction in product development time, elimination of two thirds of the inspectors in one factory, and several-million-dollars annual savings in chemical and soldering processes. The methods and technologies of concurrent engineering are outlined and the process management ideas, the computer support, and the problem-solving techniques are considered. A conceptual framework is offered to describe the continuing research needed in this area. <<ETX>>
Development and Application of an Active Plastic Multilayer Film by Coating a Plantaricin BM‐1 for Chilled Meat Preservation

Abstract In this study, an active antibacterial packaging film was developed by coating a polyethylene terephthalate/polyvinylidene chloride/retort casting polypropylene (PPR) plastic multilayer film with plantaricin BM‐1 and chitosan. The characteristics of the active packaging film and its antibacterial effect for chilled meat preservation were evaluated. Our results indicated that the barrier properties against oxygen were improved significantly and the tensile strength and the elongation at break were changed slightly. The active plantaricin film significantly (P < 0.05) decreased the viable counts of Listeria monocytogenes by 3.6 log10CFU/mL in liquid medium and approximately 1.4 log10CFU/g in meat stored at 4 °C for 8 days compared with the control. Moreover, the viable counts of aerobes and anaerobes in the meat packaged with the active plantaricin film were significantly (P < 0.05) decreased by approximately 0.6 log10CFU/g and 1.1 log10CFU/g when compared with that packaged with PPR film stored at 4 °C for 12 days. The total volatile base (TVB‐N) in the meat packaged with the active plantaricin film was significantly (P < 0.05) lower than that in the control during the entire storage period. Our results indicated that the active film could extend the meat shelf life by inhibiting the L. monocytogenes and the background spoilage bacteria in chilled meat stored at 4 °C. This outcome suggests that plastic multilayer film incorporating plantaricin BM‐1 can be potentially used for fresh meat packaging. Practical Application Fresh meat is highly perishable product. This study developed a plantaricin BM‐1 active plastic multilayer film that can inhibit the growth of microorganisms in chilled meat during storage at 4 °C.
Association of prevalent vascular disease with allograft failure and mortality in live‐donor kidney transplant recipients – a retrospective cohort study

Limited data exist regarding the impact of prevalent vascular disease after live‐donor kidney transplantation. We aimed to determine the associations between the number of prevalent vascular diseases, allograft, and patient outcomes following live‐donor transplantation. This cohort study used data from the Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry. Rates between recipients of live‐donor kidney transplants ± prevalent vascular disease prior to transplantation were calculated. The associations between vascular disease, allograft failure, and all‐cause mortality were assessed using Cox regression modeling. Kaplan–Meier proportions were used to calculate all‐cause mortality and death with a function graft stratified by vascular disease burden. Of 4742 live‐donor recipients, 428 (9%) and 84 (2%) had prevalent vascular disease at 1 and ≥2 sites, respectively. Compared to recipients without vascular disease, the respective adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for patients with vascular disease at 1 and ≥2 sites were 1.78 (1.41–2.25) and 3.02 (2.03–4.50) for all‐cause mortality; and 1.54 (1.26–1.88) and 2.28 (1.54–3.38) for allograft failure. All‐cause mortality in recipients with vascular disease at 0, 1 and ≥2 sites was 0.028 (0.025, 0.031), 0.090 (0.073, 0.106) and 0.247 (0.196, 0.282) over the first 5‐year post‐transplant. There was an incremental association between the number of prevalent vascular disease sites and risk of allograft failure and all‐cause mortality in live‐donor kidney transplant recipients.
New Insights in Computational Methods for Pharmacovigilance: E-Synthesis, a Bayesian Framework for Causal Assessment

Today’s surge of big data coming from multiple sources is raising the stakes that pharmacovigilance has to win, making evidence synthesis a more and more robust approach in the field. In this scenario, many scholars believe that new computational methods derived from data mining will effectively enhance the detection of early warning signals for adverse drug reactions, solving the gauntlets that post-marketing surveillance requires. This article highlights the need for a philosophical approach in order to fully realize a pharmacovigilance 2.0 revolution. A state of the art on evidence synthesis is presented, followed by the illustration of E-Synthesis, a Bayesian framework for causal assessment. Computational results regarding dose-response evidence are shown at the end of this article.
Contrast-Induced Nephropathy: Further Investigations About Risk Factors Are Required

The incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) in patients undergoing coronary angiography is about 2% to 25%. The incidence of CIN is often higher in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) due to hemodynamic compromise and lack of time for adequate hydration. Patients at low risk may not have any adverse clinical consequences. However, multiple risk factors, such as chronic kidney disease (CKD) and hypotension, may result in a loss of functional nephrons and the impairment of the ability to regenerate renal tubular epithelial cells. With an increasing number of contrast media exposures, some nephrons are unlikely to recover, and eventually, this may lead to fibrosis. Therefore, for patients with high risk factors who will undergo coronary angiography, attention should be paid to monitor renal function to detect CIN early. Recommended strategies to prevent CIN include risk assessment, adequate hydration, use of low osmolar contrast media, and a high-dose statins. Most risk scores for predicting CIN are available for postprocedure risk assessment; the C-statistics of these models ranged from 0.61 to 0.92. The Syntax score is used for risk stratification based on the anatomical characteristics of coronary artery lesions among patients with AMI. It was found to predict CIN and major adverse cardiac events in several studies but a simpler preprocedure tool could be more practical for the prediction of CIN. As Aksu et al pointed out, the high level of autocorrelation between the parameters included for regression analysis could receive more attention to accurately adjust for confounders. The autocorrelation coefficient in our study was 0.10 between CKD and CIN (P < .01). Despite the positive result, the correlation is not strong. In addition, the autocorrelation coefficient was 0.03 between systolic blood pressure and b-blocker usage (P 1⁄4 .33). At present, there is no systematic review of all the absolute and relative risk factors for CIN, not to mention new, controversial or modifiable risk factors. Our research group is focusing on the risk factors of CIN and exploring hydration strategies. It is hoped that there will be a high-quality result to guide future clinical practice. Authors’ Note
Modeling genetic epilepsies in a dish

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), including embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells, provide a powerful platform for mechanistic studies of disorders of neurodevelopment and neural networks. hPSC models of autism, epilepsy, and other neurological disorders are also advancing the path toward designing and testing precision therapies. The field is evolving rapidly with the addition of genome‐editing approaches, expanding protocols for the two‐dimensional (2D) differentiation of different neuronal subtypes, and three‐dimensional (3D) human brain organoid cultures. However, the application of these techniques to study complex neurological disorders, including the epilepsies, remains a challenge. Here, we review previous work using both 2D and 3D hPSC models of genetic epilepsies, as well as recent advances in the field. We also describe new strategies for applying these technologies to disease modeling of genetic epilepsies, and discuss current challenges and future directions.
Long-term object tracking combined offline with online learning

Abstract. We propose a simple yet effective method for long-term object tracking. Different from the traditional visual tracking method, which mainly depends on frame-to-frame correspondence, we combine high-level semantic information with low-level correspondences. Our framework is formulated in a confidence selection framework, which allows our system to recover from drift and partly deal with occlusion. To summarize, our algorithm can be roughly decomposed into an initialization stage and a tracking stage. In the initialization stage, an offline detector is trained to get the object appearance information at the category level, which is used for detecting the potential target and initializing the tracking stage. The tracking stage consists of three modules: the online tracking module, detection module, and decision module. A pretrained detector is used for maintaining drift of the online tracker, while the online tracker is used for filtering out false positive detections. A confidence selection mechanism is proposed to optimize the object location based on the online tracker and detection. If the target is lost, the pretrained detector is utilized to reinitialize the whole algorithm when the target is relocated. During experiments, we evaluate our method on several challenging video sequences, and it demonstrates huge improvement compared with detection and online tracking only.
Breastfeeding experiences and support for women who are overweight or obese: A mixed‐methods systematic review

Abstract Women who are overweight or obese have increased health risks during and beyond pregnancy, with consequences for their infants' shorter and longer term health. Exclusive breastfeeding to 6 months has many benefits for women and their infants. However, women who are overweight or obese have lower rates of breastfeeding intention, initiation, and duration compared with women with normal weight. This systematic review aimed to examine evidence of (a) breastfeeding barriers and support experienced and perceived by women who are overweight or obese, (b) support shown to be effective in increasing breastfeeding initiation and duration among these women, and (c) perceptions of health care professionals, peer supporters, partners, and family members regarding providing breastfeeding support to these women. Sixteen quantitative and qualitative papers were included and critically appraised. Thematic synthesis was undertaken to obtain findings. Maternal physical barriers such as larger breasts, difficulties of positioning to breastfeed, delayed onset of lactation, perceived insufficient supply of breast milk, and impact of caesarean birth were evident. Maternal psychological barriers including low confidence in ability to breastfeed, negative body image, embarrassment at breastfeeding in public, and experiencing stigma of obesity were also described. Support from health care professionals and family members influenced breastfeeding outcomes. Education for maternity care professionals is needed to enable them to provide tailored, evidence‐based support to women who are overweight or obese who want to breastfeed. Research on health care professionals, partners, and family members' experiences and views on supporting this group of women to breastfeed is needed to support development of appropriate interventions.
SCD1 regulates the AMPK/SIRT1 pathway and histone acetylation through changes in adenine nucleotide metabolism in skeletal muscle

Stearoyl‐CoA desaturase (SCD) is a rate‐limiting enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids. It plays an important role in regulating skeletal muscle metabolism. Lack of the SCD1 gene increases the rate of fatty acid β‐oxidation through activation of the AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway and the upregulation of genes that are related to fatty acid oxidation. The mechanism of AMPK activation under conditions of SCD1 deficiency has been unclear. In the present study, we found that the ablation/inhibition of SCD1 led to AMPK activation in skeletal muscle through an increase in AMP levels whereas muscle‐specific SCD1 overexpression decreased both AMPK phosphorylation and the adenosine monophosphate/adenosine triphosphate (AMP/ATP) ratio. Changes in AMPK phosphorylation that were caused by SCD1 down‐ and upregulation affected NAD+ levels following changes in NAD+‐dependent deacetylase sirtuin‐1 (SIRT1) activity and histone 3 (H3K9) acetylation and methylation status. Moreover, mice with muscle‐targeted overexpression of SCD1 were more susceptible to high‐fat diet‐induced lipid accumulation and the development of insulin resistance compared with wild‐type mice. These data show that SCD1 is involved in nucleotide (ATP and NAD+) metabolism and suggest that the SCD1‐dependent regulation of muscle steatosis and insulin sensitivity are mediated by cooperation between AMPK‐ and SIRT1‐regulated pathways. Altogether, the present study reveals a novel mechanism that links SCD1 with the maintenance of metabolic homeostasis and insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle.
Transcriptomic Analysis Provides Novel Insights into Heat Stress Responses in Sheep

Simple Summary The general increase in global temperatures has meant that heat stress has become an increasingly significant problem for sheep. This has both direct and indirect impact on their physiological functions, productivity, and health of sheep. Sheep generally live in high-temperature environments; however, the genes and pathways that play regulatory roles in the heat stress responses of sheep remain unclear. In this study, we applied RNA-Seq technology to analyze liver tissues of sheep from heat-stressed and control groups, and screened genes and pathways related to sheep heat stress. This work provides a theoretical foundation for the breeding and production of heat-resistant sheep. Abstract With the intensified and large-scale development of sheep husbandry and global warming, sheep heat stress has become an increasingly important issue. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms related to sheep responses to heat stress. In this study, transcriptomic analysis of liver tissues of sheep in the presence and absence of heat stress was conducted, with the goal of identifying genes and pathways related to regulation when under such stress. After a comparison with the sheep reference genome, 440,226,436 clean reads were obtained from eight libraries. A p-value ≤ 0.05 and fold change ≥ 2 were taken as thresholds for categorizing differentially expressed genes, of which 1137 were identified. The accuracy and reliability of the RNA-Seq results were confirmed by qRT-PCR. The identified differentially expressed genes were significantly associated with 419 GO terms and 51 KEGG pathways, which suggested their participation in biological processes such as response to stress, immunoreaction, and fat metabolism. This study’s results provide a comprehensive overview of sheep heat stress-induced transcriptional expression patterns, laying a foundation for further analysis of the molecular mechanisms of sheep heat stress.
Induced sputum analysis: step by step

Educational aims To introduce the standardised method for sputum induction To provide a guide for sputum processing To highlight important methodological aspects that may influence results To briefly summarise potential clinical and research use Summary Sputum induction is a relatively non-invasive mode of airway sampling that provides an opportunity for analysis of cellular components and infective agents, including bacteria and viruses, together with fluid-phase constituents. Both induction and processing of sputum samples are standardised and several manuals are available to help to educate professionals to perform the technique to the highest standard [36]. Using this standardised technique, the results are reproducible and comparable between different laboratories. Detailed studies on methodological issues provided enough evidence for standardisation and careful use of the methodology enabled the field to develop rapidly from a research tool to a useful clinical test. Eosinophil differential count in induced sputum is a recommended, evidence-based mode of assessing airway inflammation in asthma and its use is incorporated into the relevant guidelines.
What are research nurses' experiences of obtaining consent from or for patients participating in emergency care research? A qualitative review.

INTRODUCTION If studies are to be valid, recruitment of representative samples is essential. In 2012 28% of UK emergency departments met the 80% standard for recruitment to trials set by the National Institute for Health Research. Research nurses play a vital role in the conduct of high-quality research and it has been argued that dedicated research nurses are needed if clinical trials are to recruit successfully to target. REVIEW QUESTION What are research nurses' experiences of obtaining consent from or for patients participating in emergency care research? A qualitative evidence review. METHODS A qualitative integrative literature review with a narrative synthesis of the evidence. PRISMA guidelines for reporting systematic qualitative reviews (Supplementary File 1) were followed. A search of five electronic data bases was performed in December 2018 along with a hand search which yielded 125 citations: 10 papers and 1 PhD thesis met the review eligibility criteria. Methodological quality of the selected studies was evaluated and data were extracted and synthesised. RESULTS Three themes were identified: Access, Organisation, and Timing. Research nurses encountered both general and specific barriers when seeking to obtain consent for participation in research. In particular it was found there was lack of experience among staff of working in emergency research and with securing deferred consent. The distinction between nurse researchers with a clinical role and those dedicated to solely to research only is often not clear and warrants further investigation. CONCLUSION Nurse Researchers with and without a clinical role can make a positive difference in recruitment to trials in emergency care. The involvement of dedicated research nurses in the consent process can increase recruitment to emergency care research. Experience of recruiting to clinical trials in non-emergency settings does not seem to help when recruiting for trials in emergency care. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Emerging Roles for NlpE as a Sensor for Lipoprotein Maturation and Transport to the Outer Membrane in Escherichia coli

Outer membrane biogenesis is a complex process for Gram-negative bacteria as the components are synthesized in the cytoplasm or at the inner membrane and then transported to the outer membrane. Stress pathways monitor and respond to problems encountered in assembling the outer membrane. The two-component system CpxAR was recently reported to be a stress pathway for transport of lipoproteins to the outer membrane, but it was unclear how this stress is sensed. May et al. [K. L. May, K. M. ABSTRACT Outer membrane biogenesis is a complex process for Gram-negative bacteria as the components are synthesized in the cytoplasm or at the inner membrane and then transported to the outer membrane. Stress pathways monitor and respond to problems encountered in assembling the outer membrane. The two-component system CpxAR was recently reported to be a stress pathway for transport of lipoproteins to the outer membrane, but it was unclear how this stress is sensed. May et al. [K. L. May, K. M. Lehman, A. M. Mitchell, and M. Grabowicz, mBio 10(3):e00618-19, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00618-19] determined that an outer membrane lipoprotein, NlpE, is the sensor for lipoprotein biogenesis stress. The group demonstrated that CpxAR is activated by the N-terminal domain of NlpE when the lipoprotein accumulates at the inner membrane. Further, this work resolved a previously debated role for NlpE in sensing copper stress; copper was shown to inhibit acylation of lipoproteins, preventing them from being transported to the outer membrane.
Direct measurement of dT/dΔ

In this paper we describe and demonstrate a least square method for direct measurement of the wave parameter dT/d Δ. The information necessary for doing this is the coordinates of arbitrarily spaced seismic stations and relative arrival times of the phase under investigation. The dT/d Δ parameter is derived from a function in ϕ and λ, representing the variation of T over the array. An iteration loop is included for examining and selecting a T -response function of simple form, i.e., containing few parameters, and thus making the method applicable even to arrays containing few stations. Using data from Jeffreys-Bullen tables where sometimes random errors are added, the calculated dT/d Δ values at the array centers deviate less than 0.06 from the true value and the estimates have standard errors around ±0.15.