Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validation and Adaptation of the “Modified Transplant Symptom Occurrence and Symptom Distress Scale” for Kidney Transplant Recipients

The aim was to adapt and validate the Modified Transplant Symptom Occurrence and Symptom Distress Scale (MTSOSD-59R) for kidney transplant recipients undergoing immunosuppressive therapy in Korea. The MTSOSD-59R has been used with solid organ transplant recipients globally to assess the adverse effects of immunosuppressive medication. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used. MTSOSD-59R was first translated, and pilot tested. Next, content validity was established with nine organ transplant experts. Then, from October 2017 to October 2018, the Korean MTOSOSD-59R was administered to a convenience sample of 122 kidney transplant recipients recruited from a single center. Ridit analysis was used to measure symptom occurrence and distress. The known-group approach was used to test the construct validity using Mann–Whitney U tests for between-group comparisons. The content validity index for MTSOSD-59R was 0.98, and known-group validity was confirmed. The split-half Spearman–Brown corrected reliability coefficient was 0.902 for symptom occurrence and 0.893 for symptom distress. The four most frequent and distressing symptoms were fatigue, lack of energy, thinning hair, and erectile dysfunction (male). Results suggest this Korean MTSOSD-59R adaptation has adequate language, construct validity, and reliability to gather meaningful information from kidney transplant recipients in Korea.
"We're in the background": Facilitators and barriers to fathers' engagement and participation in a health intervention during the early parenting period.

ISSUES ADDRESSED Little is known about the barriers and facilitators associated with engaging fathers in interventions targeting their physical and mental health. The current research therefore aimed to explore fathers' perceived barriers and facilitators to engagement and participation in a health intervention delivered during the early parenting period. METHODS Eleven fathers of young children (0-4 years) were interviewed about their perceptions and experiences of facilitators and barriers to engaging and participating in an intervention (Working Out Dads) to target their mental and physical health. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS Fathers identified a number of program related and father related facilitators and barriers which impacted their engagement and participation. Program related facilitators included: accessibility of the program; father advocacy of the program; group fitness/exercise component; and having a father-specific program. Facilitating factors related to fathers included: making social connections; learning how to be a better dad/partner; and partner support and encouragement to attend. Program related barriers included: travel; lack of awareness; and gender roles. While father related barriers included: being time poor; sacrifices to family; and apprehension. CONCLUSIONS The current findings identified many areas that facilitate, encourage and motivate men to participate in interventions which support their mental and physical health during the early parenting period. RELEVANCE Generating evidence on barriers and facilitators to health interventions is important to improving the current intervention along with informing the development of engaging and targeted health interventions for fathers in early parenthood.
Sphingopyxis sp. Strain OPL5, an Isoprene-Degrading Bacterium from the Sphingomonadaceae Family Isolated from Oil Palm Leaves

The volatile secondary metabolite, isoprene, is released by trees to the atmosphere in enormous quantities, where it has important effects on air quality and climate. Oil palm trees, one of the highest isoprene emitters, are increasingly dominating agroforestry over large areas of Asia, with associated uncertainties over their effects on climate. Microbes capable of using isoprene as a source of carbon for growth have been identified in soils and in the tree phyllosphere, and most are members of the Actinobacteria. Here, we used DNA stable isotope probing to identify the isoprene-degrading bacteria associated with oil palm leaves and inhabiting the surrounding soil. Among the most abundant isoprene degraders of the leaf-associated community were members of the Sphingomonadales, although no representatives of this order were previously known to degrade isoprene. Informed by these data, we obtained representatives of the most abundant isoprene degraders in enrichments, including Sphingopyxis strain OPL5 (Sphingomonadales), able to grow on isoprene as the sole source of carbon and energy. Sequencing of the genome of strain OPL5, as well as a novel Gordonia strain, confirmed their pathways of isoprene degradation and broadened our knowledge of the genetic and taxonomic diversity of this important bacterial trait.
Microfluidics in Gas Sensing and Artificial Olfaction

Rapid, real-time, and non-invasive identification of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and gases is an increasingly relevant field, with applications in areas such as healthcare, agriculture, or industry. Ideal characteristics of VOC and gas sensing devices used for artificial olfaction include portability and affordability, low power consumption, fast response, high selectivity, and sensitivity. Microfluidics meets all these requirements and allows for in situ operation and small sample amounts, providing many advantages compared to conventional methods using sophisticated apparatus such as gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. This review covers the work accomplished so far regarding microfluidic devices for gas sensing and artificial olfaction. Systems utilizing electrical and optical transduction, as well as several system designs engineered throughout the years are summarized, and future perspectives in the field are discussed.
Prediction of Transporter-Mediated Rosuvastatin Hepatic Uptake Clearance and Drug Interaction in Humans Using Proteomics-Informed REF Approach

Suspended, plated, or sandwich-cultured human hepatocytes are routinely used for in vitro to in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE) of transporter-mediated hepatic clearance (CL) of drugs. However, these hepatocyte models have been reported to underpredict transporter-mediated in vivo hepatic uptake CL (CLuptake,in vivo) of some drugs. Therefore, we determined whether transporter-expressing cells (TECs) can accurately predict the CLuptake,in vivo of drugs. To do so, we determined the uptake CL (CLint,uptake,cells) of rosuvastatin (RSV) by TECs (organic anion transporting polypeptides/Na+-taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide) and then scaled it to that in vivo by relative expression factor (REF) (the ratio of transporter abundance in human livers and TEC) determined by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry–based quantitative proteomics. Both the TEC and hepatocyte models did not meet our predefined success criteria of predicting within 2-fold the RSV CLuptake,in vivo value obtained from our positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. However, the TEC performed better than the hepatocyte models. Interestingly, using REF, TECs successfully predicted RSV CLint,uptake,hep obtained by the hepatocyte models, suggesting that the underprediction of RSV CLuptake,in vivo by TECs and hepatocytes is due to endogenous factor(s) not present in these in vitro models. Therefore, we determined whether inclusion of plasma (or albumin) in TEC uptake studies improved IVIVE of RSV CLuptake,in vivo. It did, and our predictions were close to or just fell above our lower 2-fold acceptance boundary. Despite this success, additional studies are needed to improve transporter-mediated IVIVE of hepatic uptake CL of drugs. However, using REF and TEC, we successfully predicted the magnitude of PET-imaged inhibition of RSV CLuptake,in vivo by cyclosporine A. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We showed that the in vivo transporter-mediated hepatic uptake CL of rosuvastatin, determined by PET imaging, can be predicted (within 2-fold) from in vitro studies in transporter-expressing cells (TECs) (scaled using REF), but only when plasma proteins were included in the in vitro studies. This conclusion did not hold when plasma proteins were absent in the TEC or human hepatocyte studies. Thus, additional studies are needed to improve in vitro to in vivo extrapolation of transporter-mediated drug CL.
Dissecting the Genetic Architecture of Biofuel-Related Traits in a Sorghum Breeding Population

In sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], hybrid cultivars for the biofuel industry are desired. Along with selection based on testcross performance, evaluation of the breeding population per se is also important for the success of hybrid breeding. In addition to additive genetic effects, non-additive (i.e., dominance and epistatic) effects are expected to contribute to the performance of early generations. Unfortunately, studies on early generations in sorghum breeding programs are limited. In this study, we analyzed a breeding population for bioenergy sorghum, which was previously developed based on testcross performance, to compare genomic selection models both trained on and evaluated for the per se performance of the 3rd generation S0 individuals. Of over 200 ancestral inbred accessions in the base population, only 13 founders contributed to the 3rd generation as progenitors. Compared to the founders, the performances of the population per se were improved for target traits. The total genetic variance within the S0 generation progenies themselves for all traits was mainly additive, although non-additive variances contributed to each trait to some extent. For genomic selection, linear regression models explicitly considering all genetic components showed a higher predictive ability than other linear and non-linear models. Although the number and effect distribution of underlying loci was different among the traits, the influence of priors for marker effects was relatively small. These results indicate the importance of considering non-additive effects for dissecting the genetic architecture of early breeding generations and predicting the performance per se.
Blood functional assay for rapid clinical interpretation of germline TP53 variants

Background The interpretation of germline TP53 variants is critical to ensure appropriate medical management of patients with cancer and follow-up of variant carriers. This interpretation remains complex and is becoming a growing challenge considering the exponential increase in TP53 tests. We developed a functional assay directly performed on patients’ blood. Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were cultured, activated, exposed to doxorubicin and the p53-mediated transcriptional response was quantified using reverse transcription–multiplex ligation probe amplification and RT-QMPSF assays, including 10 p53 targets selected from transcriptome analysis, and two amplicons to measure p53 mRNA levels. We applied this blood functional assay to 77 patients addressed for TP53 analysis. Results In 51 wild-type TP53 individuals, the mean p53 functionality score was 12.7 (range 7.5–22.8). Among eight individuals harbouring likely pathogenic or pathogenic variants, the scores were reduced (mean 4.8, range 3.1–7.1), and p53 mRNA levels were reduced in patients harbouring truncating variants. We tested 14 rare unclassified variants (p.(Pro72His), p.(Gly105Asp), p.(Arg110His), p.(Phe134Leu), p.(Arg158Cys), p.(Pro191Arg), p.(Pro278Arg), p.(Arg283Cys), p.(Leu348Ser), p.(Asp352Tyr), p.(Gly108_Phe109delinsVal), p.(Asn131del), p.(Leu265del), c. -117G>T) and 12 yielded functionally abnormal scores. Remarkably, the assay revealed that the c. *1175A>C polymorphic variant within TP53 poly-adenylation site can impact p53 function with the same magnitude as a null variant, when present on both alleles, and may act as a modifying factor in pathogenic variant carriers. Conclusion This blood p53 assay should therefore be a useful tool for the rapid clinical classification of germline TP53 variants and detection of non-coding functional variants.
Performance of Graphite and Titanium as Cathode Electrode Materials on Poultry Slaughterhouse Wastewater Treatment

Despite the potential applicability of the combination between aluminium (anode) and graphite or titanium (cathode) for poultry slaughterhouse wastewater treatment, their technical and economic feasibilities have not been comprehensively captured. In this study, aluminium (anode) and graphite and titanium as cathode electrode materials were investigated and compared in terms of their performance on poultry slaughterhouse wastewater treatment. The wastewater samples collected from the Izhevsk Production Corporative (PC) poultry farm in Kazakhstan were treated using a lab-based electrochemical treatment plant and then analyzed after every 20 and 40 min of the treatment processes. Cost analysis for both electrode combinations was also performed. From the analysis results, the aluminium–graphite electrode combination achieved high removal efficiency from turbidity, color, nitrite, phosphates, and chemical oxygen demand, with removal efficiency ranging from 72% to 98% after 20 min, as well as 88% to 100% after 40 min. A similar phenomenon was also observed from the aluminium–titanium electrode combination, with high removal efficiency achieved from turbidity, color, total suspended solids, nitrite, phosphates, and chemical oxygen demand, ranging from 81% to 100% after 20 min as well as from 91% to 100% after 40 min. This means the treatment performances for both aluminium–graphite and aluminium–titanium electrode combinations were highly affected by the contact time. The general performance in terms of removal efficiency indicates that the aluminium–titanium electrode combination outperformed the aluminium–graphite electrode combination. However, the inert character of the graphite electrode led to a positive impact on the total operating cost. Therefore, the aluminium–graphite electrode combination was observed to be cheaper than the aluminium–titanium electrode combination in terms of the operating cost.
Asymptomatic neurocognitive impairment is a risk for symptomatic decline in a large HIV Canadian cohort study.

OBJECTIVE To examine whether persons with asymptomatic neurocognitive impairment (ANI) were more likely to show progression to mild neurocognitive disorder (MND) or HIV-associated dementia (HAD) than those who were neuropsychologically normal (NP-N). DESIGN Longitudinal observational cohort study METHODS:: Study sample included 720 HIV-1 seropositive persons (317 with ANI and 403 NP-N) receiving care in Toronto, Canada (83% were on antiretroviral treatment; 71% had undetectable (<50 copies/mL) plasma HIVRNA). Neuropsychological (NP) assessments were conducted at 12 months intervals for a median follow-up time of 34 months. NP data were corrected for age, education, sex and race/ethnicity, and corrected for practice effect at follow-ups. Progression to MND and HAD at each time point was determined using the Global Deficit Score and presence of cognitive symptoms. RESULTS Over the follow-up period, 170 individuals (24%) progressed to symptomatic HAND. Persons with ANI were more likely to progress to symptomatic HAND than persons with NP-N after adjusting for baseline and time-varying confounders (adjusted hazards ratio, HR: 1.88; 95% confidence interval: 1.37- 2.60; p < 0.001). Female gender, depression, and cigarette smoking were associated with higher risk of progression to symptomatic HAND, but traditional HIV markers and antiretroviral treatment were not. CONCLUSIONS ANI is associated with a two-fold increased risk of progression to symptomatic HAND in a cohort with universal healthcare access. This represents the largest replication of comparable U.S. RESULTS Reproducibility of these findings indicate that routine monitoring of persons with ANI and exploration of clinical interventions to prevent or delay progression to symptomatic HAND are imperative. SEARCH TERMS HIV, HIV-associated Neurocognitive Disorders (HAND), HIV-associated dementia, cohort study, Replicability, Reproducibility.
Attention Networks in ADHD Adults after Working Memory Training with a Dual n-Back Task

Patients affected by Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are characterized by impaired executive functioning and/or attention deficits. Our study aim is to determine whether the outcomes measured by the Attention Network Task (ANT), i.e., the reaction times (RTs) to specific target and cue conditions and alerting, orienting, and conflict (or executive control) effects are affected by cognitive training with a Dual n-back task. We considered three groups of young adult participants: ADHD patients without medication (ADHD), ADHD with medication (MADHD), and age/education-matched controls. Working memory training consisted of a daily practice of 20 blocks of Dual n-back task (approximately 30 min per day) for 20 days within one month. Participants of each group were randomly assigned into two subgroups, the first one with an adaptive mode of difficulty (adaptive training), while the second was blocked at the level 1 during the whole training phase (1-back task, baseline training). Alerting and orienting effects were not modified by working memory training. The dimensional analysis showed that after baseline training, the lesser the severity of the hyperactive-impulsive symptoms, the larger the improvement of reaction times on trials with high executive control/conflict demand (i.e., what is called Conflict Effect), irrespective of the participants’ group. In the categorical analysis, we observed the improvement in such Conflict Effect after the adaptive training in adult ADHD patients irrespective of their medication, but not in controls. The ex-Gaussian analysis of RT and RT variability showed that the improvement in the Conflict Effect correlated with a decrease in the proportion of extreme slow responses. The Dual n-back task in the adaptive mode offers as a promising candidate for a cognitive remediation of adult ADHD patients without pharmaceutical medication.
Mindfulness-Based Program Plus Amygdala and Insula Retraining (MAIR) for the Treatment of Women with Fibromyalgia: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

The lack of highly effective treatments for fibromyalgia (FM) represents a great challenge for public health. The objective of this parallel, pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) was two-fold: (1) to analyze the clinical effects of mindfulness plus amygdala and insula retraining (MAIR) compared to a structurally equivalent active control group of relaxation therapy (RT) in the treatment of FM; and (2) to evaluate its impact on immune-inflammatory markers and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in serum. A total of 41 FM patients were randomized into two study arms: MAIR (intervention group) and RT (active control group), both as add-ons of treatment as usual. MAIR demonstrated significantly greater reductions in functional impairment, anxiety, and depression, as well as higher improvements in mindfulness, and self-compassion at post-treatment and follow-up, with moderate to large effect sizes. Significant decreases in pain catastrophizing and psychological inflexibility and improvements in clinical severity and health-related quality of life were found at follow-up, but not at post-treatment, showing large effect sizes. The number needed to treat was three based on the criteria of ≥50% Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) reduction post-treatment. Compared to RT, the MAIR showed significant decreases in BDNF. No effect of MAIR was observed in immune-inflammatory biomarkers (i.e., TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10, and hs-CRP). In conclusion, these results suggest that MAIR, as an adjuvant of treatment-as-usual (TAU), appears to be effective for the management of FM symptoms and for reducing BDNF levels in serum.
Dose–Response Relationship between Western Diet and Being Overweight among Teachers in Malaysia

The rising prevalence of overweight and obesity is partly due to nutrition transition. The reported association between dietary patterns and overweight/obesity has been controversial because of inconsistent results and weak observed associations. Although it has been hypothesized that an unhealthy diet can increase obesity risk, none of the previous studies have examined the dose–response association using nonlinear dose–response analyses. This study aimed to examine the dose–response association between major dietary patterns and overweight/obesity. This was a cross-sectional study involving teachers selected through stratified multistage sampling from public schools in three Malaysian states. Dietary intake was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire, and two major dietary patterns (Western and Prudent diet) were extracted using factor analysis. Logistic regression followed by trend analysis was used to test the difference in odds of overweight and obesity in each quintile of diet score. A further analysis using restricted cubic spline models was performed to examine the dose–response associations of dietary patterns with odds of overweight/obesity. The logistic regression analysis showed that participants with the highest quintile of Western diet score were 1.4 times more likely to be overweight/obese compared to those in the lowest quintile (95% CI: 1.11, 1.83, p-trend < 0.001). The odds of overweight/obesity showed a significant increasing trend across quintiles of Western diet among both men and women (p-trend < 0.001). In the dose–response analysis, a positive linear association (Pnonlinearity = 0.6139) was observed where overweight/obesity was more likely to occur among participants with a Western diet score greater than a mean score of zero. There was an inverse trend of odds of overweight/obesity across quintiles of Prudent diet score, significant only for men (p for trend < 0.001). Linear association was found between Prudent diet score and odds of overweight/obesity among both men (Pnonlinearity = 0.6685) and women (Pnonlinearity = 0.3684) in the dose–response analysis. No threshold at the level of adherence to Prudent diet was linked to odds of overweight/obesity. Dose–response analysis indicated that women with a Western diet score greater than zero were more likely to be overweight or obese among women. In men, higher adherence to Western diet was associated with increased odds of overweight/obesity, while greater adherence to Prudent diet decreased the odds of overweight/obesity. Promoting and enhancing the consumption of Prudent diet and limit in Western diet may be used to guide the development of evidence-based diet interventions to curb overweight and obesity.
Association between Area-Level Socioeconomic Deprivation and Prehospital Delay in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients: An Ecological Study

We analyzed the associations between area-level socioeconomic status (SES) and prehospital delay in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients by degree of urbanization with the use of an ecological framework. The participants were 13,637 patients over 18 years of age who experienced AIS from 2007 to 2012 and were admitted to any of the 29 hospitals in South Korea. Area-level SES was determined using 11 variables from the 2010 Korean census. The primary outcome was a prehospital delay (more than three hours from AIS onset time). Multilevel logistic regression was conducted to define the associations of individual- and area-level SES with prehospital delay after adjusting for confounders, which includes the use of emergency medical services (EMS) and individual SES. After adjusting for covariates, it was found that the area-level SES and urbanization were not associated with prehospital delay and EMS use was beneficial in both urban and rural areas. However, after stratification by urbanization, low area-level SES was significantly associated with a prehospital delay in urban areas (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.24, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04–1.47) but not in rural areas (aOR 1.04, 95% CI 0.78–1.38). Therefore, we posit that area-level SES in urban areas might be a significant barrier to improving prehospital delay in AIS patients.