Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Climatic shifts drove major contractions in avian latitudinal distributions throughout the Cenozoic

Significance The fossil record reveals evidence of dramatic distributional shifts through time for many groups of organisms. One striking example is the early fossil record of modern birds, which shows that many bird groups currently restricted to the tropics were formerly found at high latitudes in North America and Europe. Tracking potentially suitable habitat for these clades over the last 56 million years reveals that cooling trends throughout this period may have largely dictated the geographic distributions of these “tropical” groups, complicating our understanding of where on Earth many of these lineages originated. Many higher level avian clades are restricted to Earth’s lower latitudes, leading to historical biogeographic reconstructions favoring a Gondwanan origin of crown birds and numerous deep subclades. However, several such “tropical-restricted” clades (TRCs) are represented by stem-lineage fossils well outside the ranges of their closest living relatives, often on northern continents. To assess the drivers of these geographic disjunctions, we combined ecological niche modeling, paleoclimate models, and the early Cenozoic fossil record to examine the influence of climatic change on avian geographic distributions over the last ∼56 million years. By modeling the distribution of suitable habitable area through time, we illustrate that most Paleogene fossil-bearing localities would have been suitable for occupancy by extant TRC representatives when their stem-lineage fossils were deposited. Potentially suitable habitat for these TRCs is inferred to have become progressively restricted toward the tropics throughout the Cenozoic, culminating in relatively narrow circumtropical distributions in the present day. Our results are consistent with coarse-scale niche conservatism at the clade level and support a scenario whereby climate change over geological timescales has largely dictated the geographic distributions of many major avian clades. The distinctive modern bias toward high avian diversity at tropical latitudes for most hierarchical taxonomic levels may therefore represent a relatively recent phenomenon, overprinting a complex biogeographic history of dramatic geographic range shifts driven by Earth’s changing climate, variable persistence, and intercontinental dispersal. Earth’s current climatic trajectory portends a return to a megathermal state, which may dramatically influence the geographic distributions of many range-restricted extant clades.
Guideline on the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: Let's Get It Into Practice!

Almost 18 million deaths were attributed to cardiovascular disease (CVD) globally in 2016; this was an increase of 14.5% during the previous decade. In the United States, although there has been substantial improvement in CVD outcomes during the past decade, CVD remains the leading cause of death forwomen andmen and formost racial or ethnic groups. The economic burden of CVD exceeds $200 billion dollars in annual healthcare costs, medications, and lost work productivity. In 2015, a primary diagnosis of CVDwas identified for more than 88 million physician office visits and 4.7 million emergency department visits. The excessive burden of CVD among Americans can be attributed in large part to suboptimal prevention and management of CVD risk factors. Effective strategies for primary
Regulating, Measuring, and Modeling the Viscoelasticity of Bacterial Biofilms

Biofilms occur in a broad range of environments under heterogeneous physicochemical conditions, such as in bioremediation plants, on surfaces of biomedical implants, and in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. In these scenarios, biofilms are subjected to shear forces, but the mechanical integrity of these aggregates often prevents their disruption or dispersal. ABSTRACT Biofilms occur in a broad range of environments under heterogeneous physicochemical conditions, such as in bioremediation plants, on surfaces of biomedical implants, and in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. In these scenarios, biofilms are subjected to shear forces, but the mechanical integrity of these aggregates often prevents their disruption or dispersal. Biofilms' physical robustness is the result of the multiple biopolymers secreted by constituent microbial cells which are also responsible for numerous biological functions. A better understanding of the role of these biopolymers and their response to dynamic forces is therefore crucial for understanding the interplay between biofilm structure and function. In this paper, we review experimental techniques in rheology, which help quantify the viscoelasticity of biofilms, and modeling approaches from soft matter physics that can assist our understanding of the rheological properties. We describe how these methods could be combined with synthetic biology approaches to control and investigate the effects of secreted polymers on the physical properties of biofilms. We argue that without an integrated approach of the three disciplines, the links between genetics, composition, and interaction of matrix biopolymers and the viscoelastic properties of biofilms will be much harder to uncover.
Interactions between β-Lactoglobulin and 3,3′-Diindolylmethane in Model System

The compound 3,3′-diindolylmethane (DIM) has a broad spectrum of anticancer activities. However, low stability and bioavailability limit its application. Elucidating interactions between DIM and β-lactoglobulin (β-LG) may be useful for fabricating whey protein-based protecting systems. Interaction with DIM increased the diameter and absolute zeta potential value of β-LG. UV-absorption spectra suggested that there was a complex of DIM and β-LG. β-LG showed enhanced fluorescence intensity by complexing with DIM with a binding constant of 6.7 × 105 M−1. Upon interaction with DIM, β-LG was decreased in secondary structure content of helix and turn while increased in β-sheet and unordered. FT-IR spectra and molecular docking results indicated the roles of hydrophobic interaction and hydrogen bond for the formation of DIM and β-LG nanocomplexes. Data suggested that β-LG may be a good vehicle for making a protein-based DIM protection and delivery system due to the tight binding of DIM to β-LG.
Mixed endometrioid and clear cell carcinoma arising from laparoscopic trocar site endometriosis

Laparoscopic port site endometriosis is less common in abdominal wall endometriosis, and malignant transformation of abdominal wall endometriosis is rare. We reported a case of mixed endometrioid and clear cell carcinoma arising from port site endometriosis. The patient was a 49‐year‐old woman with a history of laparoscopic excision of ovarian endometrioma. Physical examination revealed a subcutaneous solid tumor around the laparoscopic surgical scar. Imaging showed a suspicious malignancy. She underwent radical marginal resection of the abdominal wall tumor, flap reconstruction of the abdominal wall, hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo‐oophorectomy and omental biopsy. Histological examination revealed mixed endometrioid and clear cell carcinoma. Computed tomography scan showed no evidence of recurrence after six cycles of chemotherapy. This is the first case of malignant transformation from laparoscopic trocar site endometriosis.
Early Detection of Human Epileptic Seizures Based on Intracortical Microelectrode Array Signals

Objective: We examine, for the first time, the use of intracortical microelectrode array (MEA) signals for early detection of human epileptic seizures. Methods: 4×4 mm2 96-channel-MEA recordings were obtained during neuro-monitoring preceding resective surgery in five participants. The participant-specific seizure-detection framework consisted of: first, feature extraction from local field potentials (LFPs) and multiunit activity (MUA); second, nonlinear cost-sensitive support vector machine (SVM) classification of ictal and interictal states based on LFP, MUA, and combined LFP-MUA (a SVM was trained for each participant separately); and third, Kalman filter postprocessing of SVM scoring functions. Performance was assessed on data including 17 seizures and 39.0 h interictal and preictal recordings. Results: The use of combined LFP-MUA features resulted in 100% sensitivity with short detection latency (average: 2.7 s; median: 2.5 s) and five false alarms (0.13/h). The average detection performance based on the area under the receiver operating characteristic corresponded to 0.97. Importantly, technically false alarms were related to epileptiform activity, subclinical seizures, and recording artifacts. Extreme gradient boosting classifiers ranked features based on LFP spectral coherence or MUA count among the top features for seizures characterized by spike-wave complexes, whereas features related to LFP power spectra were ranked higher for seizures characterized by sustained gamma LFP oscillations. Conclusion: The combination of intracortical LFP and MUA signals may allow reliable detection of human epileptic seizures by improving latency and false alarm rate. Significance: Intracortical MEAs provide promising signals for closed-loop seizure-control systems based on seizure early-detection in people with pharmacologically resistant epilepsies.
The effect of Xenopus laevis egg extracts with/without BRG1 on the development of preimplantation cloned mouse embryos

Summary Much effort has been devoted to improving the efficiency of animal cloning. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of BRG1 contained in Xenopus egg extracts on the development of cloned mouse embryos. The results showed that mouse NIH/3T3 cells were able to express pluripotent genes after treatment with egg extracts, indicating that the egg extracts contained reprogramming factors. After co-injection of Xenopus egg extracts and single mouse cumulus cells into enucleated mouse oocytes, statistically higher pronucleus formation and development rates were observed in the egg Extract− co-injected group compared with those in the no egg extract-injected (NT) group (38–66% vs 18–34%, P<0.001). Removal of BRG1 protein from Xenopus egg extracts was conducted, and the BRG1-depleted extracts were co-injected with single donor cells into recipient oocytes. The results showed that the percentages of pronucleus formation were significantly higher in both BRG1-depleted and BRG1-intact groups than that in the nuclear transfer (NT) group (94, 64% vs 50%, P<0.05). Furthermore, percentages in the BRG1-depleted group were even higher than in the BRG1-intact group (94% vs 64%). More confined expression of Oct4 in the inner cell mass (ICM) was observed in the blastocyst derived from the egg extract-injected groups. However, Nanog expression was more contracted in the ICM of cloned blastocysts in the BRG1-depleted group than in the BGR1-intact group. Based on the present study, BRG1 might not play an essential role in reprogramming, but the factors enhancing pronucleus formation and development of cloned mouse embryos are contained in Xenopus egg extracts.
How many leaders does it take to lead a sports team? The relationship between the number of leaders and the effectiveness of professional sports teams

This study aimed to analyze the number of task, social and external athlete leaders within sports teams, and to examine the effectiveness of different leadership structures in male and female teams. The participants were 317 male and 214 female soccer players belonging to 18 teams playing in the third highest male division and to 13 teams playing in the highest female division in Spain, respectively. First, we identified the leadership structure in each team (i.e., having zero, one, two or three leaders); second, we grouped the teams according to these leadership structures; and third, MANOVA was used to compare different leadership groups in terms of their effectiveness. The results demonstrated that: (a) the most common structure within the teams was to have one task leader, one social leader, and two external leaders; (b) shared leadership across and within leadership roles was seen as the most effective leadership structure for male and female teams; and (c) male teams showed more benefits when having more task and external leaders, while female teams experienced more benefits when having more task and social leaders on the team. Based on these findings, coaches can optimize their team’s functioning by implementing a structure of shared leadership within their teams, both across and within the different leadership roles.
Consistency between individuals' past and current romantic partners' own reports of their personalities

Significance Although a romantic partner’s personality creates an interpersonal environment that can be highly consequential for emotional and physical well-being, little research has examined to what degree romantic partners’ personalities are similar across relationships. In this study, we provide evidence of stability in partner personality, implementing a rigorous analysis using self-reports of personalities from both past and current partners themselves. The significant degree of unique similarity between an individual’s past and current partners could not be explained by important potential confounds. Our results also provided tentative evidence that this similarity is weaker for people who are more extraverted or open to experience. Do people have a “type” when it comes to their romantic partners’ personalities? In the present research, we used data from a 9-y longitudinal study in Germany and examined the similarity between an individual’s ex- and current partners using the partners’ self-reported personality profiles. Based on the social accuracy model, our analyses distinguished similarity between partners that was attributable to similarity to an average person (normative similarity) and resemblance to the target participant himself/herself (self-partner similarity) to more precisely examine similarity from partner to partner (distinctive similarity). The results revealed a significant degree of distinctive partner similarity, suggesting that there may indeed be a unique type of person each individual ends up with. We also found that distinctive partner similarity was weaker for people high in extraversion or openness to experience, suggesting that these individuals may be less likely to be in a relationship with someone similar to their ex-partner (although the individual difference effects were not mirrored in an alternative analytic approach). These findings provide evidence for stability in distinctive partner personality and have important implications for predicting future partnering behaviors and actions in romantic relationships.
Attention-enabled 3D boosted convolutional neural networks for semantic CT segmentation using deep supervision

A deeply supervised attention-enabled boosted convolutional neural network (DAB-CNN) is presented as a superior alternative to current state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for semantic CT segmentation. Spatial attention gates (AGs) were incorporated into a novel 3D cascaded CNN framework to prioritize relevant anatomy and suppress redundancies within the network. Due to the complexity and size of the network, incremental channel boosting was used to decrease memory usage and facilitate model convergence. Deep supervision was used to encourage semantically meaningful deep features and mitigate local minima traps during training. The accuracy of DAB-CNN is compared to seven architectures: a variation of U-Net (UNet), attention-enabled U-Net (A-UNet), boosted U-Net (B-UNet), deeply-supervised U-Net (D-UNet), U-Net with ResNeXt blocks (ResNeXt), life-long learning segmentation CNN (LL-CNN), and deeply supervised attention-enabled U-Net (DA-UNet). The accuracy of each method was assessed based on Dice score compared to manually delineated contours as the gold standard. One hundred and twenty patients who had definitive prostate radiotherapy were used in this study. Training, validation, and testing followed Kaggle competition rules, with 80 patients used for training, 20 patients used for internal validation, and 20 test patients used to report final accuracies. Comparator p -values indicate that DAB-CNN achieved significantly superior Dice scores than all alternative algorithms for the prostate, rectum, and penile bulb. This study demonstrated that attention-enabled boosted convolutional neural networks (CNNs) using deep supervision are capable of achieving superior prediction accuracy compared to current state-of-the-art automatic segmentation methods.
A qualitative descriptive study of the contextual factors influencing the practice of emergency nurses in managing emerging infectious diseases

ABSTRACT Purpose: Emergency nurses are engaged in the management of epidemic events that unfold along with the evolution of diseases. The goal of this study was to explore the contextual factors that inhibited the ability of emergency nurses to perform their duties in response to an outbreak. Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was used to explore the experiences and perceptions of emergency nurses. Participants were purposively recruited from 12 emergency departments in Hong Kong. Semi-structured face-to-face individual interviews were conducted with 26 emergency nurses. The audio-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and interpreted with a thematic analysis approach. Results: Four intertwined themes emerged from the analysis: resource constraints, threats of infection, ubiquitous changes and lingering uncertainties. These themes portrayed the constraints and challenges surrounding the work environment of emergency nurses. Conclusion: This study described the instabilities and vulnerabilities of the circumstances in which the emergency nurses were situated in during epidemic events. The findings shed light on the importance of hospitals and emergency departments in addressing both the technical problems and adaptive challenges that face emergency nurses during epidemic events.
Non‐Cartesian GRAPPA and coil combination using interleaved calibration data – application to concentric‐ring MRSI of the human brain at 7T

Proton MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) benefits from B0 ≥ 7T and multichannel receive coils, promising substantial resolution improvements. However, MRSI acquisition with high spatial resolution requires efficient acceleration and coil combination. To speed up the already‐fast sampling via concentric rings, we implemented additional, non‐Cartesian, hybrid through‐time/through‐k‐space (tt/tk)‐generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisition (GRAPPA). A new multipurpose interleaved calibration scan (interleaved MUSICAL) acquires reference data for both coil combination and PI. This renders the reconstruction process (especially PI) less sensitive to instabilities.
Comparative Analysis of the Chemical Composition and Microstructure Conformation Between Different Dental Implant Bone Drills

Background: Hardness is considered an important parameter for evaluating the clinical performance of dental implant bone drills. It is connected to the chemical composition, microstructure conformation and manufacture of the surgical drills. Methods: Microstructure of five dental implant drills using scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) integrated with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry. Vickers microhardness was measured using a CV 2000 microhardness tester with an indentation force of 500 g. Results: Composition of the implant drills was typical of martensitic stainless steel (MSS). The drills contained 13%–17% of Cr; Mo, Si and Mn were present as minor ligands. The examined bone drills showed different external surface conformation and hardness in relation to the different industrial production processes. A rougher external surface and a higher hardness value are characteristics of the surgical bone drills produced by hot forming; the implant drills produced by machining showed mailing lines on their external surface and a lower hardness. Conclusions: Different compositions and treatments were used by the manufacturers to improve the hardness of the external layer of the dental implant drills making them prone to a diverse heat generation during the implant site preparation.
Opportunities and Challenges of Using Big Data to Detect Drug‐Drug Interaction Risk

Bioinformatics approaches applied to healthcare data are a crucial tool to identifying potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs). Researchers must exercise caution in their interpretation of results from big data studies, as structure and function of databases may generate bias. Assessment of results may be hampered by the lack of gold standard positive and negative interacting drug pairs. However, integrating clinical data mining with mechanistic understanding of drug action can promote confidence in DDI predictions
An open‐ended primary‐care group intervention for insomnia based on a self‐help book – A randomized controlled trial and 4‐year follow‐up

Chronic insomnia is a common and burdensome problem for patients seeking primary care. Cognitive behavioural therapy has been shown to be effective for insomnia, also when presented with co‐morbidities, but access to sleep therapists is limited. Group‐treatment and self‐administered treatment via self‐help books have both been shown to be efficacious treatment options, and the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of an open‐ended group intervention based on a self‐help book for insomnia, adapted to fit a primary‐care setting. Forty primary‐care patients with insomnia (mean age 55 years, 80% women) were randomized to the open‐ended group intervention based on a cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia self‐help book or to a care as usual/wait‐list control condition. Results show high attendance to group sessions and high treatment satisfaction. Participants in the control group later received the self‐help book, but without the group intervention. The book‐based group treatment resulted in significantly improved insomnia severity, as well as shorter sleep‐onset latency, less wake time after sleep onset, and less use of sleep medication compared with treatment as usual. The improvements were sustained at a 4‐year follow‐up assessment. A secondary analysis found a significant advantage of the combination of the book and the open‐ended group intervention compared with when the initial control group later used only the self‐help book. An open‐ended treatment group based on a self‐help book for insomnia thus seems to be an effective and feasible intervention for chronic insomnia in primary‐care settings.