Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lyophilized annelid mega-hemoglobin retains its’ quaternary structure and oxygen equilibrium properties after room temperature storage for over 6 months

The long-term storage stability and portability of hemoglobin (Hb)-based oxygen carriers are important design criteria in the development of these therapeutics. Lyophilization or storing proteins in a freeze-dried form is known to increase storage lifetime and reduce overall weight. In this study, we lyophilized the extracellular mega-hemoglobin of the annelid Lumbricus terrestris and tested the storage stability at different temperatures and oxygenation conditions. Storage in refrigerated conditions for over 6 months in the presence of N2 reduced oxidation by 50% while storage at room temperature in the presence of N2 reduced oxidation by 60%, all while maintaining the structural stability of the mega-hemoglobin. We also demonstrated a reliable strategy to freeze dry Hbs in the presence of a minimally non-reducing disaccharide sugar that could be easily re-solubilized in deionized water. Overall, this study made significant advances towards long term storage stability of oxygen therapeutics for direct applications in transfusion medicine.
Asthma-related mortality after release from prison: a retrospective data linkage study

Abstract Background People who experience incarceration are at increased risk of asthma and have a higher prevalence of risk factors associated with asthma-related mortality. However, there has been little research on the relationship between asthma and mortality in people released from prison. Objectives This study examined the association between asthma and all-cause and cause-specific mortality, and estimated the increased risk of asthma-related mortality among adults released from prison compared to the age- and sex-matched general population. Design We used data from a nested case-control sample (N = 1658) within a retrospective cohort study of all adults released from prisons in Queensland, Australia, from 1994 to 2007 (N = 42015). Deaths were identified using linkage to national mortality records. Nested study cases were sampled from deaths, with a matched control from the cohort. We examined medical and case management records to identify risk factors potentially associated with mortality. Asthma-related mortality in the cohort was compared to that of the matched general population of Queensland. Results People released from prison were more likely than their age and sex matched general population counterparts to have an asthma-related death (HR = 3.32 95%CI:2.14-5.16). Those who had been identified as having asthma in prison had increased odds of mortality from all-cause (OR = 1.86 95%CI:1.40-2.47), drug-related (OR = 2.5 95%CI:1.40-4.46), cardiovascular-related (OR = 3.2 95%CI:1.57-6.51), and respiratory-related (OR = 3.30 95%CI:1.63-6.70). Conclusion Among people exposed to incarceration, those with asthma are at elevated risk of death after release from custody. Improved management of respiratory disease in this population may contribute to reducing their high rate of preventable mortality.
Asynchronous Remote Assessment for Cognitive Impairment: Reliability Verification of the Neurotrack Cognitive Battery

Background As evidenced by the further reduction in access to testing during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an urgent, growing need for remote cognitive assessment for individuals with cognitive impairment. The Neurotrack Cognitive Battery (NCB), our response to this need, was evaluated for its temporal reliability and stability as part of ongoing validation testing. Objective The aim of this study is to assess the temporal reliability of the NCB tests (5 total) across a 1-week period and to determine the temporal stability of these measures across 3 consecutive administrations in a single day. Methods For test-retest reliability, a range of 29-66 cognitively healthy participants (ages 18-68 years) completed each cognitive assessment twice, 1 week apart. In a separate study, temporal stability was assessed using data collected from 31 different cognitively healthy participants at 3 consecutive timepoints in a single day. Results Correlations for the assessments were between 0.72 and 0.83, exceeding the standard acceptable threshold of 0.70 for temporal reliability. Intraclass correlations ranged from 0.60 to 0.84, indicating moderate to good temporal stability. Conclusions These results highlight the NCB as a brief, easy-to-administer, and reliable assessment for remote cognitive testing. Additional validation research is underway to determine the full magnitude of the clinical utility of the NCB.
Glial activation in prion diseases is selectively triggered by neuronal PrPSc

Although prion infections cause cognitive impairment and neuronal death, transcriptional and translational profiling shows progressive derangement within glia but surprisingly little changes within neurons. Here we expressed PrPC selectively in neurons and astrocytes of mice. After prion infection, both astrocyte and neuron‐restricted PrPC expression led to copious brain accumulation of PrPSc. As expected, neuron‐restricted expression was associated with typical prion disease. However, mice with astrocyte‐restricted PrPC expression experienced a normal life span, did not develop clinical disease, and did not show astro‐ or microgliosis. Besides confirming that PrPSc is innocuous to PrPC‐deficient neurons, these results show that astrocyte‐born PrPSc does not activate the extreme neuroinflammation that accompanies the onset of prion disease and precedes any molecular changes of neurons. This points to a nonautonomous mechanism by which prion‐infected neurons instruct astrocytes and microglia to acquire a specific cellular state that, in turn, drives neural dysfunction.
Understanding rural-living young adult cancer survivors’ motivation during a telehealth behavior change intervention within a single-arm feasibility trial

A single-arm feasibility trial was conducted to explore rural-living young adult cancer survivors’ physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, and motivational processes underlying any behavior changes during a telehealth behavior change intervention grounded in self-determination theory. Participants (n = 7; 85.7% female; Mage = 33.9, range = 28–37) met with a health coach once a week for 60 min for 12 weeks. Participants completed pre- and post-intervention surveys that assessed their behaviors, basic psychological needs satisfaction, and behavioral regulations. Participants also completed a semi-structured interview post-intervention. Quantitative results indicate behavioral outcomes, basic psychological needs satisfaction, and behavioral regulations increased from pre- to post-intervention. Five themes provide context for the observed increases. Results provide preliminary evidence that motivation for physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption may be facilitated by a one-on-one telehealth intervention among rural-living young adult cancer survivors. Large scale studies are needed to determine effectiveness of the intervention and identify mechanisms underpinning behavioral outcomes.
Predictive factors for lymph node involvement in sporadic medullary thyroid microcarcinoma: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to determine the impact of laboratory and imaging tests in predicting central and lateral neck lymph node/LN involvement and in decision making for surgical extent. MATERIALS AND METHODS A PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus search was performed according to PRISMA criteria. The relationship between nodule size, diagnostic biomarkers and imaging with LN involvement were evaluated. RESULTS The available data analysis did not yield clear indications of the relationship between each of these topics and the presence, number, and location of LN involved. There was no conclusive data for the selective indication of central neck dissection in the preoperative diagnosis of microMTC. CONCLUSIONS There is no justification for less invasive interventions than total thyroidectomy with lymph node dissection.
Outcome of Total Colonic Aganglionosis Involving the Small Bowel Depends on Bowel Length, Liver Disease, and Enterocolitis

ABSTRACT Objectives: Total colonic aganglionosis involving the small bowel is a rare form of Hirschsprung disease. We aim to analyse the long-term outcomes, digestive autonomy, and complications, to suggest recommendations for prevention and treatment. Methods: All patients born between 2000 and 2015 followed in our centre were retrospectively included. We analysed the length of aganglionosis, surgical procedures, growth, duration of parenteral nutrition (PN), enterocolitis, liver disease, intestinal transplantation. Results: Twenty-five patients were followed for a median of 10.9 years. Fifteen patients had less than 80 cm of ganglionic small bowel (SB) with a median of 20 cm. Ten patients had more than 80 cm of ganglionic sB with a median of 115 cm. The median PN duration was significantly shorter for patients with more than 80 cm: 0.9 versus 7.5 years in those with less than 80 cm (P < 0.001). No patient with less than 80 cm was weaned off PN, except 1 who underwent intestinal transplantation. Ten patients with less than 80 cm develop enterocolitis on the excluded segment, leading to emergency entero-colectomy in 5. Liver disease was more frequent in patients with less than 80 cm (11 vs 0). Three patients required combined liver-intestine transplantation; 2 underwent an isolated intestinal transplantation. Conclusions: Digestive autonomy was possible in most patients with more than 80 cm of ganglionic SB. The more severe complication was enterocolitis. Liver disease compromised long-term survival without transplantation. Both complications should be prevented by early diversion and enterectomy of the whole aganglionic segment. Follow-up in or together with a multidisciplinary intestinal rehabilitation centre is suggested.
Understanding non-routine discharge: Factors that are associated with premature termination from higher levels of care in adults with anorexia nervosa

ABSTRACT This study sought to replicate and extend associations between clinical and demographic features at admission and types of premature treatment termination for adults diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (AN) in higher-level-of-care settings. Secondary data analyses examined a study population comprised of adults with AN (N = 565) who were admitted to one of two United States eating disorder treatment centers (April 2015–April 2020) for intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization, residential, or inpatient services. There were no significant differences in the type of non-routine discharge according to level of care. At admission, those with lower BMI were more likely to discharge against medical advice, and those with lower cognitive restraint and elevated binge eating were more likely to discharge against medical advice or by staff-initiated request, respectively. Discharge by parent/patient request was more likely among those who were older or who reported lower baseline desire for muscularity. Overall older age, elevated binge eating, and lower weight, desire for muscularity, and cognitive restraint may be associated with less tolerance/acceptability for AN treatment. Increased understanding of how to better support patients who admit to higher levels of care with these clinical features will contribute to better odds of completion of a full course of treatment. Clinical implications Inpatient services showed less routine discharges compared to other levels of care Level of care does not appear to associate with a specific type of discharge Factors associated with premature discharge include older age and elevated binge eating Lower weight, desire for muscularity, and restraint associate with premature discharge Patients who admit with lower restraint and BMI are more likely to discharge against medical advice
Listening to Music Through Hearing Aids: Potential Lessons for Cochlear Implants

Some of the problems experienced by users of hearing aids (HAs) when listening to music are relevant to cochlear implants (CIs). One problem is related to the high peak levels (up to 120 dB SPL) that occur in live music. Some HAs and CIs overload at such levels, because of the limited dynamic range of the microphones and analogue-to-digital converters (ADCs), leading to perceived distortion. Potential solutions are to use 24-bit ADCs or to include an adjustable gain between the microphones and the ADCs. A related problem is how to squeeze the wide dynamic range of music into the limited dynamic range of the user, which can be only 6–20 dB for CI users. In HAs, this is usually done via multi-channel amplitude compression (automatic gain control, AGC). In CIs, a single-channel front-end AGC is applied to the broadband input signal or a control signal derived from a running average of the broadband signal level is used to control the mapping of the channel envelope magnitude to an electrical signal. This introduces several problems: (1) an intense narrowband signal (e.g. a strong bass sound) reduces the level for all frequency components, making some parts of the music harder to hear; (2) the AGC introduces cross-modulation effects that can make a steady sound (e.g. sustained strings or a sung note) appear to fluctuate in level. Potential solutions are to use several frequency channels to create slowly varying gain-control signals and to use slow-acting (or dual time-constant) AGC rather than fast-acting AGC.
An Overview of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission, and Operations Challenges

[Abstract] The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was launched on August 12, 2005 by an Atlas V launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and arrived at Mars on March 10, 2006. MRO carries a rich set of science instruments to Mars, and provides global and regional survey, and targeted observations. In addition, a set of engineering instruments providing optical navigation, Ka band telecommunication and ultra-high frequency (UHF) relay services to future Mars missions are part of the MRO payload. After arriving at Mars on March 10, 2006, MRO was captured in a 35.5 hour orbit around Mars. On March 23, 2006, MRO had begun its aerobraking operations to reduce its orbit time to less than two hours and reach the preferred ascending node time of 3:00 pm Mars Local Time. On August 31, 2006, an aerobraking termination maneuver was carried out onboard MRO in order to finish the aerobraking phase, and a set of maneuvers were conducted to finalize the Primary Science Orbit (PSO). A set of transition activities, including engineering and science instrument calibrations and a weeks worth of “science practice” were carried out during this period as well, immediately prior to MRO’s entrance into the solar conjunction period. During the Primary Science Phase (PSP) of the mission, the MRO operations teams were presented with two major challenges – unprecedented high data rate and data volumes, and complex science planning and resource sharing. MRO has the capability to communicate with earth at a maximum of six Megabits per second (Mbps), which is more than 50 times any previous Mars missions. With the current Deep Space Network (DSN) contact schedule of 19 eight-hour tracks per week, the baseline mission plan is for MRO to return 34 Terabits of raw science data during the two-year primary science phase. Each of the science instruments has its unique requirements for global mapping, regional survey, and targeted observations. Some instruments prefer nadir-only observations, while others require offnadir observations (especially for stereo viewing). The requirements from these Mars viewing instruments presented a significant challenge for the operations team to design the complex science planning and resource sharing and allocation process. In addition, because of the high resolution instruments, navigation accuracy requirement at this low orbit became critical. This paper describes the implementations put forth by MRO to solve these challenges, and some of the subsequent results.
ICT AND QUALITY OF TEACHING–LEARNING RELATED ACTIVITIES IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN OGOJA EDUCATION ZONE OF CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA

The paper is a report of a study carried out to examine how information and communication technology (ICT) enhance teaching learning related activities in primary schools in Ogoja education zone of Cross River State, Nigeria. To achieve the purpose of the study, one research question was formulated to direct the study. Ex - post facto research design was adopted for the study. A sample of six hundred and twenty teachers were randomly selected for the study. The instruments for data collection were the ICT and teaching learning related activities questionnaire (ICTTLRAQ) developed by the researcher. The reliability estimate of the instrument was established through the cronbach alpha reliability method. To analyze the data, simple percentage was adopted. The result of the analysis revealed an enhancement of teaching learning related activities through the use of information and communication technology in Ogoja education zone. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that government should provide computer at affordable price to all teachers in the zone. KEYWORDS : Information and technology, teaching and learning, Related activities and primary school
Improving usability benchmarking for the eHealth domain: The development of the eHealth UsaBility Benchmarking instrument (HUBBI)

Background Currently, most usability benchmarking tools used within the eHealth domain are based on re-classifications of old usability frameworks or generic usability surveys. This makes them outdated and not well suited for the eHealth domain. Recently, a new ontology of usability factors was developed for the eHealth domain. It consists of eight categories: Basic System Performance (BSP), Task-Technology Fit (TTF), Accessibility (ACC), Interface Design (ID), Navigation & Structure (NS), Information & Terminology (IT), Guidance & Support (GS) and Satisfaction (SAT). Objective The goal of this study is to develop a new usability benchmarking tool for eHealth, the eHealth UsaBility Benchmarking Instrument (HUBBI), that is based on a new ontology of usability factors for eHealth. Methods First, a large item pool was generated containing 66 items. Then, an online usability test was conducted, using the case study of a Dutch website for general health advice. Participants had to perform three tasks on the website, after which they completed the HUBBI. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), we identified the items that assess each factor best and that, together, make up the HUBBI. Results A total of 148 persons participated. Our selection of items resulted in a shortened version of the HUBBI, containing 18 items. The category Accessibility is not included in the final version, due to the wide range of eHealth services and their heterogeneous populations. This creates a constantly different role of Accessibility, which is a problem for a uniform benchmarking tool. , Conclusions The HUBBI is a new and comprehensive usability benchmarking tool for the eHealth domain. It assesses usability on seven domains (BSP, TTF, ID, NS, IT, GS, SAT) in which a score per domain is generated. This can help eHealth developers to quickly determine which areas of the eHealth system’s usability need to be optimized.
Predicting patients who will drop out of out-patient psychotherapy using machine learning algorithms

Background About 30% of patients drop out of cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT), which has implications for psychiatric and psychological treatment. Findings concerning drop out remain heterogeneous. Aims This paper aims to compare different machine-learning algorithms using nested cross-validation, evaluate their benefit in naturalistic settings, and identify the best model as well as the most important variables. Method The data-set consisted of 2543 out-patients treated with CBT. Assessment took place before session one. Twenty-one algorithms and ensembles were compared. Two parameters (Brier score, area under the curve (AUC)) were used for evaluation. Results The best model was an ensemble that used Random Forest and nearest-neighbour modelling. During the training process, it was significantly better than generalised linear modelling (GLM) (Brier score: d = –2.93, 95% CI (−3.95, −1.90)); AUC: d = 0.59, 95% CI (0.11 to 1.06)). In the holdout sample, the ensemble was able to correctly identify 63.4% of cases of patients, whereas the GLM only identified 46.2% correctly. The most important predictors were lower education, lower scores on the Personality Style and Disorder Inventory (PSSI) compulsive scale, younger age, higher scores on the PSSI negativistic and PSSI antisocial scale as well as on the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) additional scale (mean of the four additional items) and BSI overall scale. Conclusions Machine learning improves drop-out predictions. However, not all algorithms are suited to naturalistic data-sets and binary events. Tree-based and boosted algorithms including a variable selection process seem well-suited, whereas more advanced algorithms such as neural networks do not.
RF COVERAGE ESTIMATION OF CELLULAR MOBILE SYSTEM

In the design of any cellular mobile system, the fundamental task is to predict the coverage of the proposed system. A wide variety of approaches have been developed over the years to predict coverage using propagation models. Propagation models are useful for predicting signal attenuation or path loss which may be used as a controlling factor for system performance or coverage so as to achieve perfect reception. In this paper Asset’s path loss model for macro cells has been used and then the received signal strength is calculated to determine coverage. Section 1 introduces the cellular mobile system. Section 2 describes the propagation model. Path loss formula is discussed in section 3. Problem formulation and effects of variation in antenna height, antenna power and antenna tilt on RF coverage area are described in section 4. Finally the best configuration to achieve largest coverage area is concluded in section 5.
Functional and morphological changes in shoulder girdle muscles after repeated climbing exercise

ABSTRACT This study aimed to investigate the acute effect of repeated climbing actions on functional and morphological measures of the shoulder girdle. Fifteen male indoor climbers participated in this study. All the climbers declared route level 6a+, as the best climbing grade (French climbing grade scale). Functional (range of motion – ROM and muscle strength), and morphological measurements (muscle/tendon stiffness and thickness) after a repeated climbing exercise protocol were analysed. The ROM and muscle strength showed significant decreases from baseline to Immediate-Post (IA) as well as significant increases from IA to 1 h-Post for all movements (p ≤ .001 for all). Muscle stiffness showed significant increases from baseline to IA after as well as significant decreases from IA to 1 h-Post for all muscles (p ≤ .001 for all). However, the thickness showed significant increases from baseline to IA for supraspinatus tendon and muscle thickness and occupation ratio (p ≤ .001 for all), while a significant decrease was observed in acromiohumeral distance (p ≤ .001). Significant decreases from IA to 1 h-Post were found for muscles/tendons and occupation ratio (p ≤ .001 for all), while a significant increase for AHD (p ≤ .001). Our data demonstrated acute alterations in tendon thickness due to acute signs of implement symptom in climbers.