Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Touchscreen Motivation Assessment Evaluated in Huntington's Disease Patients and R6/1 Model Mice

Apathy is pervasive across many neuropsychiatric disorders but is poorly characterized mechanistically, so targeted therapeutic interventions remain elusive. A key impediment has been the lack of validated assessment tools to facilitate translation of promising findings between preclinical disease models and patients. Apathy is a common symptom in Huntington's disease. Due to its established genetic basis and the availability of defined animal models, this disease offers a robust translational framework for linking motivated behavior with underlying neurobiology and an ideal context in which to evaluate a quantitative, translational apathy assessment method. In this study we therefore aimed to demonstrate the validity of using touchscreen-delivered progressive ratio tasks to mirror apathy assessment in Huntington's disease patients and a representative mouse model. To do this we evaluated Huntington's disease patients (n = 23) and age-matched healthy controls (n = 20), and male R6/1 mice (n = 23) and wildtype controls (n = 29) for apathy-like behavior using touchscreen-delivered progressive ratio tasks. The primary outcome measure of the assessment was breakpoint, defined as the highest number of touchscreen responses emitted before task engagement ceased. Patients and R6/1 mice were both found to exhibit significantly reduced breakpoints relative to their respective control groups, consistent with apathy-like behavior. This performance was also not associated with motoric differences in either species. These data demonstrate the utility of touchscreen-delivered progressive ratio tasks in detecting clinically relevant motivational deficits in Huntington's disease. This approach may offer a platform from which clinically relevant mechanistic insights concerning motivation symptoms can be derived and provide an effective route for translation of promising preclinical findings into viable therapeutic interventions.
Exergames for motor rehabilitation in older adults: an umbrella review

Abstract Background: Exergames have been used as an innovative motor rehabilitation method with the main aim of improving motivation and exercise. As research interest in exergaming for rehabilitation is rapidly growing, a review of existing systematic reviews is important to synthesize the available evidence and provide recommendations. Objectives: In this article, we systematically synthesized the information from reviews that have examined the effects if exergames on different body movement parameters in older adults with and without specific pathologies. Method: Searches were conducted in Web of Science, Scopus, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection, PubMed, SciELO, B-On and Google Scholar, articulating different terms and Boolean operators. Systematic reviews, meta-analysis and literature reviews published until May 2017 that investigated exergame interventions on physical outcomes, such as balance, gait, limb movements, muscle strength, in healthy and non-healthy older adults. Results: Based on prior reviews, exergaming, as a standalone intervention, has a positive effect on balance, gait, muscle strength, upper limb function, and dexterity. When compared to traditional physiotherapy, exergaming has at least similar effects on these outcomes. Many of the investigated studies indicated low methodological quality for the evaluation of the effects of exergames on different outcomes related to motor rehabilitation. Conclusions: Exergames could be used as a complement to traditional forms of motor rehabilitation, but future individual studies and reviews should follow more rigorous methodological standards in order to improve the quality of the evidence and provide guidelines for the use of exergames in motor rehabilitation.
Linearity Comparison of Three Colorimetric Cytotoxicity Assays

Cell viability assays, including techniques to assess the proliferation of cancer cell lines, constitute a rapid, inexpensive and sensitive screening method to pre-clinically evaluate the activity of a potential drug or substance. This study investigates and compares seeding densities and linearity of three such methods: MTT ((3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide), SRB (sulforhodamine B) and CVE (crystal violet elution) assays. SRB and CVE are staining assays for proteins, while MTT measures the mitochondrial activity of living cells. Assays were performed on five cancer cell lines, A375, PC3, DU145, HCT116 and COR-L105, and the coefficient of determination (R2) was employed to determine fit into a linear regression model. The results show that CVE is the most linear assay at fixed time points. SRB at 515 nm is better for measurements over time. Seeding densities between 9000 and 12,000 were the optimum. However, seeding densities and doubling times should be taken into consideration when designing an experiment.
Integrated real-time measurement method of filament lamp dimension based on machine vision

An integrated method is proposed for the real-time measurement of filament lamp dimension based on machine vision (FLDMV). First, an online detection platform is built, and the image is acquired by telecentric lenses and charge-coupled diode (CCD). Second, a series of image processing, including filter, edge extraction, ellipse fitting, recursive minimum bounding rectangle, and curvature restrict estimation. Finally, the actual size of lamp is obtained by system calibration. The experimental analysis and comparison show that the maximum measurement error of this method is 0.21mm, which meets the requirements of filament lamp dimension measurement. The curvature restrict estimation based on ellipse fitting are proposed to guarantee the accuracy and real time. Compared with the traditional measurement method, our method has the advantages of fast measurement speed, high accuracy, and real time. It also can be widely used in other parts of the measurement.
PREVALENCE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS OF EATING DISORDERS AMONG STUDENTS IN TAIBA UNIVERSITY, SAUDI ARABIA: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence and associated factors of eating disorders among health specialties students in Taiba University. Stratified and systematic random sampling technique were employed to select 342 students. The validated Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26) was used to measure eating disorders. The majority aged ≤22 years (64.6%), 25.4% were overweight and 9.9% were obese. High risk eating disorders was reported by 28.7% of respondents. The majority had GPA of ≤2.49. High risk eating disorders was significantly higher among females (OR=2.6, 95%CI 1.6-4.2), among those aged ≤22 years (OR=2.2, 95%CI 2.2-3.8), among those who had a GPA more than 2.49 (OR=2.2, 95%CI 1.2-4.3) and among those who are obese compared to underweight (OR= 3.1,95% CI 1.6-9.0). In conclusion, high risk eating disorders was relatively high and it was associated with gender, BMI, age and GPA.
Large vocabulary automatic chord estimation using bidirectional long short-term memory recurrent neural network with even chance training

Abstract This paper presents an argument for the necessity of a large vocabulary in automatic chord recognition systems, on the grounds of the requirements of machine musicianship. It proposes a system framework with a skewed class-sensitive training scheme that leads to a preliminary solution to large vocabulary automatic chord estimation. This framework applies a bidirectional long short-term memory recurrent neural network architecture, which employs an ‘even chance’ training scheme to make up for the lack of uncommon chords’ exposure. The main drawback of this approach is the low segmentation quality, which inevitably lowers the upper bound of chord estimation accuracy. Under a large vocabulary evaluation, the proposed system can significantly outperform the baseline system in terms of the overall weighted chord symbol recall, and there is no significant difference between them in terms of average chord quality accuracy. The results demonstrate preliminary success in our approach, and also prove the even chance training scheme to be effective in boosting uncommon chord symbol recalls as well as the average chord quality accuracy.
Study on the Antihypertensive Mechanism of Astragalus membranaceus and Salvia miltiorrhiza Based on Intestinal Flora-Host Metabolism

Our previous studies have shown that the combination of Astragalus membranaceus and Salvia miltiorrhiza (HD) had a good antihypertensive effect, but its potential mechanism remained unclear. This study aimed to investigate the role of intestinal flora and serum metabolism induced by HD against hypertension. 16 spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHRs) were divided into HD group (5.9 g/kg) and model group (M) (normal saline), with eight Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats as control group (W) (normal saline). Rats were fed by gavage once a day for 28 days. The changes of intestinal flora and serum metabolism were analyzed by 16S rDNA sequencing and LC-MS/MS assay. HD decreased blood pressure steadily, improved the structure and composition of imbalance flora in SHRs, increased the abundance and diversity of flora, and decreased flora Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio. Rumen bacterium NK4A214, Clostridium sp. MC 40 increased remarkably in M group. Akkermansia, Akkermansia muciniphila, and Lactobacillus intestinalis increased significantly in HD group, which were functionally related to the significant increase of Lachnoclostridium, Faecalibaculum, and Lactobacillus reuteri in W group, which were all probiotics producing butyric acid, lactic acid, and regulating inflammation and other antihypertensive related factors. HD also changed the serum metabolic pattern of SHRs. 16 potential biomarkers related to inflammation, vasodilation, steroid hormones, oxidative stress, and etc. changed significantly, mainly enriched in arachidonic acid metabolism, tryptophan metabolism, steroid hormone biosynthesis, and glutathione metabolism. The correlation analysis demonstrated that the dominant genius and species in three groups were highly correlated with steroid hormone biosynthesis, arachidonic acid metabolism, tryptophan metabolism, and vitamin B6 metabolism. Our research indicated that HD had a good antihypertensive effect, which may be driven by the protective intestinal flora and beneficial metabolites induced by it, and the metabolites were closely related to the changes of intestinal flora. It provided new insights for the antihypertensive mechanism of HD.
Anxiety, Depression and Quality of Life among Patients with Heart Failure

Introduction: Heart failure as a chronic progressive disorder is a common and costly health problem throughout the world, affecting all aspects of patient quality of life. Patients with heart failure experience high level of anxiety and depression and their quality of life decrease significantly. Although it is important to study the quality of life in heart failure patients, there has been no comprehensive study in this regard in Iran. The present study aimed to assessment of the level of anxiety, depression, and quality of life among patients with heart failure. Methodology: The research community of this descriptive-analytical study included 251 patients with heart failure who were hospitalized in three hospitals of Ahvaz Jundishapur University through a six months period. The Minnesota questionnaire, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory were used to evaluate quality of life and the levels of anxiety and depression, respectively. Findings: Mean age of the participants was 65.8 years ± 9.8 years. Mean score for patients’ physical, mental, and general quality of life were 24.10 ± 7.15, 15.6 ± 4.96, and 62.23 ± 19.44, respectively. The results indicated low quality of life of the participants. Mean score for State and trait anxiety, and depression level were 48.40 ± 9.85, 51.98 ± 8.45, and 46.54 ± 12.15, respectively. The results revealed high levels of both trait and state anxiety in patients. According to the score the 97% of patients suffers from depression. Moreover, the results of this study demonstrated that variables factors including old age, low education level, low economic status, the number of admissions (more than four times), and advanced stages of disease (class III and IV) were associated with low quality of life and high anxiety and depression level (p<0.001). Conclusion: In this study, patients with heart failure had low quality of life and high levels of anxiety and depression. Therefore, the results of this study are a warning for researchers and physicians in order to provide care giving training and psychological supports to improve condition of patients with Heart failure.
Role of lipid profile in assessment of severity of cirrhosis

Background: Cirrhosis is defined anatomically as a diffuse process with fibrosis and nodule formation. It is the result of the fibrogenesis that occurs with chronic liver injury. For reduced liver biosynthesis capacity, low level of serum cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) is usually observed in the chronic liver disease. Due to the high prevalence of chronic liver disease in our country we have conducted this study to determine role of lipid profile in a patient with cirrhosis and to assess its relationship to the severity of cirrhosis.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, patients classified in 3 groups as per CTP classification for severity of cirrhosis. Serum lipid profile was observed in these patients. The primary aim was to assess changes in various parameters of lipid profile and its relationship with severity of liver cirrhosis.Results: About 74 cirrhotic patients were enrolled, 20 in class A, 25 in class B and 29 in class C. serum lipid profile was observed in these patients. Serum cholesterol and HDL cholesterol were decreased with increasing severity of cirrhosis. Serum triglyceride level increases with progression of cirrhosis and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) level has no correlation with severity of cirrhosis.Conclusions: Serum cholesterol and HDL level decreases with progression of cirrhosis. In future serum lipid profile can be used in classification criteria for assessing severity of liver cirrhosis.
Tumor-induced DNA methylation in the white blood cells of patients with colorectal cancer

The secretions of cancer cells alter epigenetic regulation in cancer stromal cells. The present study investigated the methylation changes in white blood cells (WBCs) caused by the secretions of colorectal cancer (CRC) cells. Changes in the DNA methylation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from normal individuals co-cultured with CRC cells were estimated using a methylation microarray. These changes were then compared against the DNA methylation changes and mRNA levels observed in the WBCs of patients with CRC. Procollagen-lysine, 2-oxoglutarate 5-dioxygenase 1 (PLOD1) and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) were selected to assess the DNA methylation of the WBCs from CRC patients using real-time methylation-specific PCR. The majority of the genes analyzed presented high levels of mRNA in the WBCs of the patients with CRC and DNA methylation in the co-cultured PBMCs. Intragenic methylation revealed the strongest association (P=8.52×10−21). For validation, MMP9 and PLOD1 were selected and used to test WBCs from 32 patients with CRC and 57 normal controls. The intragenic MMP9 methylation was commonly found (P<0.0001) with high sensitivity (90.63%) and high specificity (96.49%), and a positive predictive value of 93.33% and a negative predictive value of 93.22%. PLOD1 methylation was revealed to have lower sensitivity (30.00%) but higher specificity (97.92%). In addition to circulating WBCs, MMP9 protein expression was observed in infiltrating WBCs and the metastatic lymph nodes of patients with CRC. In conclusion, CRC cells secrete factors that induce genome wide DNA methylation changes in the WBCs of patients with CRC. These changes, including intragenic MMP9 methylation in WBCs, are promising CRC biomarkers to be tested in future CRC screening studies.
Analysis of the possibility to compensate menstrual blood loss in young Polish women by the dietary iron intake

Low iron intake, its low dietary bioavailability and menstruation are crucial factors in the development of iron deficiency in women at childbearing age. Therefore it is necessary to assess the iron need individually and to provide adequate iron intake to compensate menstrual blood loss . The aim of the study was to analyse the association between menstrual blood loss and blood count analysis, as well as to indicate if the menstrual blood loss is compensated by the dietary iron intake. Analysis of the total iron, animal iron, plant iron, haem-iron and non-haem iron intake was conducted in a group of 61 women aged 20–30, using a validated food frequency questionnaire (IRONIC-FFQ) (2) and metodology by Zhu et al. (2001). The parameters of the menstrual cycle were determined based on participants’ declarations using the methodology by Blanco-Rojo et al. (2014). Menstrual blood loss during the days with the heaviest bleeding was estimated using a validated menstrual pictogram by Wyatt et al. (2001). The complete blood count analysis was conducted directly before menstruation. The analysis of correlation between menstrual blood loss and haematological parameters, as well as menstrual blood loss and dietary iron intake were conducted using Spearman rank correlation coefficient. It was indicated that menstrual blood loss was not correlated with haematological parameters (Table 1), suggesting the possibility of compensating the blood loss with the dietary intake. However, compensating the blood loss with the dietary intake was not proven in the analysis of correlation (Table 2).
Linking of different ethnicities, races and religions to lipid profile patterns and hypolipidaemic drug usage patterns in coronary artery disease patients

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the consequence of atherosclerosis in which inadequate blood flow in the coronary arteries leads to myocardial necrosis. The impact of ethnic on CAD might be underestimated within Indian communities. There have never been any studies done associating them to lipid profile patterns in the Indian setup hence this study is the first of its kind to work towards attending the absence of data in this direction.The study aimed to evaluate the presence of ethnic differences in lipid profile patterns and hypolipidemic drug use in CAD patients.Methods: An 8-week cross-sectional prospective study was conducted in the cardiology OPD of a tertiary care hospital. Adult CAD patients prescribed with at least one hypolipidaemic drug, having their lipid profile values and willing to give informed consent were selected. The prescription pattern was noted, and the lipid profile values of the patients classified as per ATP III guidelines by NCEP. Atherogenic dyslipidaemia was considered when patients had triglyceride levels >150 mg/dl and HDL<40 mg/dl. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS. P value less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.Results: A total of 123 patients enrolled. Out of these, 115 were Hindus and among Hindus, most were Brahmins (34). The most prescribed hypolipidaemic drug was Rosuvastatin. Thirty six patients had high triglyceride levels out of which 35 were Hindus. Low HDL (<40 mg/dl) was present in 70 patients out of which 64 were Hindus. Atherogenic dyslipidaemia was seen in 44 patients. Majority of them belonged to the age group of 51-60 years (43.2%) and were Patels. Total cholesterol and LDL were high in 1 and 2 Jains respectively. Lipid values were higher in Tier-3 city patients.Conclusion: Hindu patients in this study showed a poorer lipid profile while among the castes, Jains and Patel’s fared poorly. It was seen that atherogenic dyslipidemia is on a rise in the Indian population.
ITPA, TPMT, and NUDT15 Genetic Polymorphisms Predict 6-Mercaptopurine Toxicity in Middle Eastern Children With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common cancer seen in children worldwide and in the Middle East. Although there have been major advances in treatment approaches for childhood ALL, serious toxicities do occur but with significant inter-individual variability. The aim of this study is to measure the frequency of polymorphisms in candidate genes involved in 6-Mercaptopurine (6-MP) disposition in a combined cohort of Middle Eastern Children with ALL, and evaluate whether these polymorphisms predict 6-MP intolerance and toxicity during ALL maintenance therapy. Methods: The study includes children treated for ALL on two treatment protocols from two cohorts; one from Lebanon (N = 136) and another from Kurdistan province of Iran (N = 74). Genotyping for the following six candidate genetic polymorphisms: ITPA 94C > A (rs1127354) and IVS2+21A > C (rs7270101), TPMT*2 238G > C (rs1800462), TPMT*3B 460G > A (rs1800460) and *3C 719A > G (rs1142345), and NUDT15 415C > T (rs116855232) was performed and analyzed in association with 6-MP dose intensity and toxicity. Results: As expected, TPMT and NUDT15 variants were uncommon. As for ITPA, both polymorphisms were more common in the Lebanese as compared to the Kurdish cohort with a minor allele frequency of 0.05 for 94C > A and 0.14 for IVS2+21A > C in the Lebanese only (N = 121), and of 0.01 for either ITPA polymorphism in Kurds. The most significant toxic effects were depicted with the NUDT15 polymorphism with a median 6-MP dose intensity of 33.33%, followed by 46.65% for TPMT*3A polymorphism, followed by 65.33% for two ITPA risk allele carriers and 74% for one ITPA risk allele carriers, in comparison to a median of 100% for the homozygous wild type in the combined cohort (P < 0.001). In addition, the onset of febrile neutropenia was significantly higher in variant allele carriers in the combined cohorts. Conclusions: These data confirm the predictive role of TPMT, NUDT15, and ITPA in 6-MP intolerance in Middle Eastern children with ALL. Given the relatively high frequency of ITPA variants in our study and their significant association with 6-MP dose intensity, we recommend that physicians consider genotyping for ITPA variants in conjunction with TPMT and NUDT15 prior to 6-MP therapy in these children.