Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Safety of Oral Bisphosphonates in Moderate‐to‐Severe Chronic Kidney Disease: A Binational Cohort Analysis

Bisphosphonates are the first‐line treatment for preventing fractures in osteoporosis patients. However, their use is contraindicated or to be used with caution in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, primarily because of a lack of information about their safety and effectiveness. We aimed to investigate the safety of oral bisphosphonates in patients with moderate to severe CKD, using primary‐care electronic records from two cohorts, CPRD GOLD (1997–2016) and SIDIAP (2007–2015) in the UK and Catalonia, respectively. Both databases were linked to hospital records. SIDIAP was also linked to end‐stage renal disease registry data. Patients with CKD stages 3b to 5, based on two or more estimated glomerular filtration rate measurements less than 45 mL/min/1.73 m2, aged 40 years or older were identified. New bisphosphonate users were propensity score–matched with up to five non‐users to minimize confounding within this population. Our primary outcome was CKD stage worsening (estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR] decline or renal replacement therapy). Secondary outcomes were acute kidney injury, gastrointestinal bleeding/ulcers, and severe hypocalcemia. Hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated using Cox regression and Fine and Gray sub‐HRs were calculated for competing risks. We matched 2447 bisphosphonate users with 8931 non‐users from CPRD and 1399 users with 6547 non‐users from SIDIAP. Bisphosphonate use was associated with greater risk of CKD progression in CPRD (sub‐HR [95% CI]: 1.14 [1.04, 1.26]) and SIDIAP (sub‐HR: 1.15 [1.04, 1.27]). No risk differences were found for acute kidney injury, gastrointestinal bleeding/ulcers, or hypocalcemia. Hence, we can conclude a modest (15%) increased risk of CKD progression was identified in association with bisphosphonate use. No other safety concerns were identified. Our findings should be considered before prescribing bisphosphonates to patients with moderate to severe CKD. © 2020 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).
Electrospun Nanofibers of Natural and Synthetic Polymers as Artificial Extracellular Matrix for Tissue Engineering

Many types of polymer nanofibers have been introduced as artificial extracellular matrices. Their controllable properties, such as wettability, surface charge, transparency, elasticity, porosity and surface to volume proportion, have attracted much attention. Moreover, functionalizing polymers with other bioactive components could enable the engineering of microenvironments to host cells for regenerative medical applications. In the current brief review, we focus on the most recently cited electrospun nanofibrous polymeric scaffolds and divide them into five main categories: natural polymer-natural polymer composite, natural polymer-synthetic polymer composite, synthetic polymer-synthetic polymer composite, crosslinked polymers and reinforced polymers with inorganic materials. Then, we focus on their physiochemical, biological and mechanical features and discussed the capability and efficiency of the nanofibrous scaffolds to function as the extracellular matrix to support cellular function.
Estimation of the Respiratory Rate from Localised ECG at Different Auscultation Sites

The respiratory rate (RR) is a vital physiological parameter in prediagnosis and daily monitoring. It can be obtained indirectly from Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals using ECG-derived respiration (EDR) techniques. As part of the study in designing an early cardiac screening system, this work aimed to study whether the accuracy of ECG derived RR depends on the auscultation sites. Experiments were conducted on 12 healthy subjects to obtain simultaneous ECG (at auscultation sites and Lead I as reference) and respiration signals from a microphone close to the nostril. Four EDR algorithms were tested on the data to estimate RR in both the time and frequency domain. Results reveal that: (1) The location of the ECG electrodes between auscultation sites does not impact the estimation of RR, (2) baseline wander and amplitude modulation algorithms outperformed the frequency modulation and band-pass filter algorithms, (3) using frequency domain features to estimate RR can provide more accurate RR except when using the band-pass filter algorithm. These results pave the way for ECG-based RR estimation in miniaturised integrated cardiac screening device.
Molecular Mechanisms of Colon Cancer Progression and Metastasis: Recent Insights and Advancements

Colorectal cancer (CRC), the third most common type of cancer, is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality rates worldwide. Although modern research was able to shed light on the pathogenesis of CRC and provide enhanced screening strategies, the prevalence of CRC is still on the rise. Studies showed several cellular signaling pathways dysregulated in CRC, leading to the onset of malignant phenotypes. Therefore, analyzing signaling pathways involved in CRC metastasis is necessary to elucidate the underlying mechanism of CRC progression and pharmacotherapy. This review focused on target genes as well as various cellular signaling pathways including Wnt/β-catenin, p53, TGF-β/SMAD, NF-κB, Notch, VEGF, and JAKs/STAT3, which are associated with CRC progression and metastasis. Additionally, alternations in methylation patterns in relation with signaling pathways involved in regulating various cellular mechanisms such as cell cycle, transcription, apoptosis, and angiogenesis as well as invasion and metastasis were also reviewed. To date, understanding the genomic and epigenomic instability has identified candidate biomarkers that are validated for routine clinical use in CRC management. Nevertheless, better understanding of the onset and progression of CRC can aid in the development of early detection molecular markers and risk stratification methods to improve the clinical care of CRC patients.
Modeling the Piezoelectric Cantilever Resonator with Different Width Layers

The piezoelectric cantilever resonator is used widely in many fields because of its perfect design, easy-to-control process, easy integration with the integrated circuit. The tip displacement and resonance frequency are two important characters of the piezoelectric cantilever resonator and many models are used to characterize them. However, these models are only suitable for the piezoelectric cantilever with the same width layers. To accurately characterize the piezoelectric cantilever resonators with different width layers, a novel model is proposed for predicting the tip displacement and resonance frequency. The results show that the model is in good agreement with the finite element method (FEM) simulation and experiment measurements, the tip displacement error is no more than 6%, the errors of the first, second, and third-order resonance frequency between theoretical values and measured results are 1.63%, 1.18%, and 0.51%, respectively. Finally, a discussion of the tip displacement of the piezoelectric cantilever resonator when the second layer is null, electrode, or silicon oxide (SiO2) is presented, and the utility of the model as a design tool for specifying the tip displacement and resonance frequency is demonstrated. Furthermore, this model can also be extended to characterize the piezoelectric cantilever with n-layer film or piezoelectric doubly clamped beam.
Chromatographic Separation of Derivatives of 4‐Alkoxy‐6‐methyl‐1H‐pyrrolo[3,4‐c]pyridine‐1,3(2H)‐dione by TLC and HPLC

Abstract Five derivatives of 4‐alkoxy‐6‐methyl‐pyrrolo[3,4‐c]pyridine‐1,3‐dione were separated by TLC and HPLC methods using silica gel 60 F254 plates, analytical columns: LiChrosorb® RP‐8 (250×4 mm, 5 µm) and LiChrospher® 100 RP‐18 (250×4 mm, 5 µm), respectively. From the seven remaining mobile phases, three were offered for use with two‐dimensional TLC. The values of separation parameter (α), constant of the pair separation (RF α), and ΔRF of two neighbouring spots on each chromatogram were defined. The mobile phase C (butan‐1‐ol–propan‐2‐ol–cyclohexane‐acetic acid (1.05 kg/L); 6:3:2:1, v/v/v/v) was used in the first dimension but mobile phase D (chloroform–propan‐2‐ol‐acetic acid (1.05 kg/L); 40:15:6, v/v/v) and/or E (chloroform–cyclohexane–propan‐2‐ol‐acetic acid (1.05 kg/L); 20:20:15:6, v/v/v/v) were used in the second dimension. The main validation parameters (linearity, limits of quantification (LOQ) and determination (LOD), repeatability of retention times) were evaluated for the analysis of all of the investigated derivatives in their mixture, by using RP‐HPLC with UV detection at 254 nm (LiChrospher® 100 RP‐18 column; acetonitrile–methanol–phosphate buffer, pH 7 (45:15:40), 1.5 mL/min).
Predictors of Pharmacy Student Performance on Written and Clinical Examinations in a Flipped Classroom Curriculum

Objective. To examine the effects of student demographics, prior academic performance, course engagement, and time management on pharmacy students’ performance on course examinations and objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs). Methods. Study participants were one cohort of pharmacy students enrolled in a five-year combined Bachelor and Master of Pharmacy degree program at one institution. Variables included student demographics, baseline factors (language assessment and situational judgement test scores), prior academic performance (high school admission rank), course engagement, and student time management of pre-class online activities. Data were collected from course, learning management system, and institutional databases. Data were analyzed for univariate, bivariate, and multivariate associations (four linear regression models) between explanatory factors and outcome variables. Results. Three years of data on 159 pharmacy students were obtained and entered in the dataset. Significant positive predictors of OSCE communication performance included domestic (ie, Australian) student designation, higher baseline written English proficiency, and pre-class online activity completion. Positive predictors of OSCE problem-solving included workshop attendance and low empathy as measured by a baseline situational judgment test (SJT). Positive predictors of performance on year 2 end-of-course examinations included the Australian Tertiary Academic Rank, completing pre-class online activities prior to lectures, and high integrity as measured by an SJT. Conclusion. Several explanatory factors predicted pharmacy students’ examination and OSCE performance in the regression models. Future research should continue to study additional contexts, explanatory factors, and outcome variables.
There and Back Again: Reticulate Evolution in Ceratopteris

Abstract. Examples of reticulate evolution are known from throughout the tree of life, but are particularly common in ferns due to their unique reproductive biology and few prezygotic reproductive barriers. However, untangling the complex evolution history of these groups can be challenging. Often, several different types of data are needed to understand the full story of reticulate evolution; for example, chloroplast markers trace maternal inheritance, while nuclear markers complete the picture by suggesting paternal inheritance. Next generation sequencing can provide thousands of nuclear loci, which are informative for estimating reticulate evolutionary histories. The model fern genus Ceratopteris is known to have cryptic allotetraploid taxa, and hybridization is common between many species in the genus. To better understand the patterns of hybridization and reticulate evolution in the genus, we constructed a split network analysis using thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms from samples collected throughout the pan-tropical range of Ceratopteris. Our split network organizes taxa based on genomic similarity, revealing potential introgression between lineages. Combining this analysis with Patterson's D to measure gene flow, as well as contributions by previous authors, we show extensive hybridization and reticulate evolution in Old World Ceratopteris, and also provide evidence for natural hybridization events involving the model species C. richardii.
Shifting Attention in Feature Space: Fast Facilitation of the To-Be-Attended Feature Is Followed by Slow Inhibition of the To-Be-Ignored Feature

Abstract In an explorative study, we investigated the time course of attentional selection shifts in feature-based attention in early visual cortex by means of steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs). To this end, we presented four flickering random dot kinematograms with red/blue, horizontal/vertical bars, respectively. Given the oscillatory nature of SSVEPs, we were able to investigate neural temporal dynamics of facilitation and inhibition/suppression when participants shifted attention either within (i.e., color to color) or between feature dimensions (i.e., color to orientation). Extending a previous study of our laboratory [Müller, M. M. , Trautmann, M. , & Keitel, C. Early visual cortex dynamics during top–down modulated shifts of feature-selective attention. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 28, 643–655, 2016] to a full factorial design, we replicated a critical finding of our previous study: Facilitation of color was quickest, regardless of the origin of the shift (from color or orientation). Furthermore, facilitation of the newly to-be-attended and inhibition/suppression of the then to-be-ignored feature is not a time-invariant process that occurs instantaneously, but a biphasic one with longer time delays between the two processes. Interestingly, inhibition/suppression of the to-be-ignored feature after the shifting cue had a much longer latency with between- compared to within-dimensional shifts (by about 130–150 msec). The exploratory nature of our study is reasoned by two limiting factors: (a) Identical to our precursor study, we found no attentional SSVEP amplitude time course modulation for orientation, and (b) the signal-to-noise ratio for single trials was too poor to allow for reliable statistical testing of the latencies that were obtained with running t tests of averaged data.
Knowing How You Know: Toddlers Reevaluate Words Learned From an Unreliable Speaker

Abstract There has been little investigation of the way source monitoring, the ability to track the source of one’s knowledge, may be involved in lexical acquisition. In two experiments, we tested whether toddlers (mean age 30 months) can monitor the source of their lexical knowledge and reevaluate their implicit belief about a word mapping when this source is proven to be unreliable. Experiment 1 replicated previous research (Koenig & Woodward, 2010): children displayed better performance in a word learning test when they learned words from a speaker who has previously revealed themself as reliable (correctly labeling familiar objects) as opposed to an unreliable labeler (incorrectly labeling familiar objects). Experiment 2 then provided the critical test for source monitoring: children first learned novel words from a speaker before watching that speaker labeling familiar objects correctly or incorrectly. Children who were exposed to the reliable speaker were significantly more likely to endorse the word mappings taught by the speaker than children who were exposed to a speaker who they later discovered was an unreliable labeler. Thus, young children can reevaluate recently learned word mappings upon discovering that the source of their knowledge is unreliable. This suggests that children can monitor the source of their knowledge in order to decide whether that knowledge is justified, even at an age where they are not credited with the ability to verbally report how they have come to know what they know.
Similarities and Differences between Performers and Observers in Processing Auditory Action Consequences: Evidence from Simultaneous EEG Acquisition

Abstract In our social environment, we easily distinguish stimuli caused by our own actions (e.g., water splashing when I fill my glass) from stimuli that have an external source (e.g., water splashing in a fountain). Accumulating evidence suggests that processing the auditory consequences of self-performed actions elicits N1 and P2 ERPs of reduced amplitude compared to physically identical but externally generated sounds, with such reductions being ascribed to neural predictive mechanisms. It is unexplored, however, whether the sensory processing of action outcomes is similarly modulated by action observation (e.g., water splashing when I observe you filling my glass). We tested 40 healthy participants by applying a methodological approach for the simultaneous EEG recording of two persons: An observer observed button presses executed by a performer in real time. For the performers, we replicated previous findings of a reduced N1 amplitude for self- versus externally generated sounds. This pattern differed significantly from the one in observers, whose N1 for sounds generated by observed button presses was not attenuated. In turn, the P2 amplitude was reduced for processing action- versus externally generated sounds for both performers and observers. These findings show that both action performance and observation affect the processing of action-generated sounds. There are, however, important differences between the two in the timing of the effects, probably related to differences in the predictability of the actions and thus also the associated stimuli. We discuss how these differences might contribute to recognizing the stimulus as caused by self versus others.
The Development of Novel Miniaturized Immuno-sensing Devices: A Review of a Small Technology with a Large Future

Abstract Miniaturized screening devices (MSDs) are an emerging technology with a variety of possible applications e.g., detection of diseases, analysis of antibiotics or illicit drugs. MSDs include a variety of different working principles and components. They are generally referred to in the literature as biochips, nanochips, micro-arrays, µTas systems and high throughput screening devices. They consist of a miniaturized device or ‘chip’ with different probes immobilized on the surface that may carry out multiplex analysis (i.e., detection of genes, proteins, illicit or novel drugs etc.,). Such a device is envisaged to be fully autonomous, incorporating micro-fluidics and appropriate means of signal transduction. The vast majority of MSDs that have been developed, to date, are based on DNA probes. DNA-based arrays have been generated to analyse genomes, detect diseases e.g., cancer, and cellular responses to various stimuli e.g., carcinogens, at the genetic level. MSDs may provide a relatively inexpensive, rapid and user-friendly method of diagnosis. However, there is an increasing shift in research toward proteomic analysis, yielding MSDs that incorporate protein probes e.g., antibodies, for the detection of a much wider range of compounds. The specificity and relative ease of production of antibodies facilitate their use as ideal probes for the development of the ‘lab on a chip’ or µTas system. In this review, particular emphasis will be on optical based MSDs with antibody probes and their future application in the developing fields of point-of-care testing (POCT), µTas systems and high throughput screening (HTS). There are further sub-divisions of this nomenclature depending on the biological components or probes they may contain and the method of signal transduction that they utilize.
The Biogeography of Polyploid Ferns Across Space and Time

Abstract. A review of work on the origin and phylogenetic relationships of six systems of allopolyploid homosporous ferns and their progenitors serves as the basis for assessing the history and status of ideas relating to the biogeography of polyploid ferns. The likely dates of origin for the polyploids from recent analyses provide a historical context not previously available, making possible rigorous tests of hypotheses about the history of polyploids, especially the origin, distribution, and duration of polyploid ferns as lineages. Insularity figures prominently in developing an understanding of polyploid fern biogeography. The origin and persistence of polyploid ferns is enhanced by the empty niche space and high disturbance on Darwinian islands. In addition, the greater precinctiveness of polyploid ferns related to larger spore size is likely a selective advantage on islands, consistent with the number of high polyploids encountered among ferns on oceanic islands. Though recently originated polyploid ferns usually have identifiable progenitors with which they are partially sympatric, the rate of expansion of these ferns beyond the range of their progenitors varies. In two cases from Austral regions, long-term persistence and divergent speciation have been demonstrated in widespread polyploids and polyploid lineages with unknown diploid progenitors, though the general consensus is that polyploids do not persist in the long term.
Explaining Anomalous Wage Inflation in the 1930s United States

The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 80, No. 4 (December 2020). © The Economic History Association. All rights reserved. doi: 10.1017/S0022050720000510 Christopher Hanes is Professor, Department of Economics, State University of New York at Binghamton, P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902. E-mail: chanes@binghamton.edu. This paper is derived from an earlier working paper “Monetary Policy Alternatives at the Zero Bound: Lessons from the 1930s U.S.” (March 2013). For comments and suggestions on that paper and the present version I thank William English, John Fernald, Price Fishback, James Hamilton, Andrew Jalil, Barry Jones, Edward Nelson, Gary Richardson, Eric Swanson, Susan Wolcott, and Wei Xiao. I would also like to thank participants at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco conference “The Past and Future of Monetary Policy” (March 2013) and economic history workshops at Yale, Rutgers, and Colgate. Special thanks to Carola Binder for her news index from Binder (2016). Explaining Anomalous Wage Inflation in the 1930s United States
A Pilot Study on the Effect of the Flipped Classroom Model on Pre-Calculus Performance

A more effective math education has never been more pressing than in today’s world. However, it is no mystery that students continue to struggle with basic mathematics concepts, let alone more advanced math such as Pre-Calculus. Thus, in the present study, two Pre-Calculus math classrooms were randomly assigned to either a flipped classroom model of instruction or one that employed traditional lecture. Data on two aspects of Pre-Calculus—matrices and vectors (operations and application)—were collected at pretest and again at posttest. Results revealed that students who were exposed to the flipped classroom model outperformed students in the control classroom but only on matrices items. We discuss implications and recommendations for math education.