Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Value of the strain ratio in the differential diagnosis of intraocular tumors by elastosonography: A retrospective case-control study

Purpose: To examine the role of the strain ratio in elastosonography for the differential diagnosis of common intraocular tumors such as choroidal melanoma, choroidal hemangioma, choroidal metastatic carcinoma, and retinoblastoma. Methods: This study included patients suffering from intraocular space-occupying lesions and who visited Beijing Tongren Eye Center of Beijing Tongren Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University from June 2016 to March 2020. All patients underwent a physical examination, fundus examination with mydriasis, color Doppler ultrasonography, elastosonography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and fundus angiography within 1 week. All patients were grouped as choroidal melanoma, choroidal metastatic carcinoma, retinoblastoma, choroidal hemangioma, and optic disk melanocytoma. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to assess the strain ratio for diagnosing malignant intraocular tumors. Results: A total of 155 patients (161 eyes) were recruited. The strain ratios measured were 39.59 ± 15.92 for choroidal melanoma, 36.85 ± 13.64 for choroidal metastatic carcinoma, 38.93 ± 17.27 for retinoblastoma, 13.42 ± 10.93 for choroidal hemangioma, and 3.84 ± 1.32 for optic disk melanocytoma. The strain ratios of the three malignant lesions were significantly higher than those of the two benign lesions (all P < 0.001). The area under the ROC curve was 0.95 ± 0.028. The optimal cutoff point was 22.67, with 85.7% sensitivity and 96.4% specificity. Conclusion: There were significant differences in elasticity between the malignant and benign intraocular tumors. The strain ratio using elastosonography could serve as an important auxiliary examination to distinguish between benign and malignant intraocular tumors.
A Radio Survey of the Southern Milky Way at a Frequency of 1440 Mc/s. II. The Continuum Emission from the Galactic Disk

The 1440 Mcls survey (Part I of this series) has been used in conjunction with the 85·5Mc/s survey of Hill, Slee, and Mills (1958) to delineate the distribution of the thermal and nonthermal radiation from the disk component of the Southern Milky Way and so complete an investigation commenced by the Northern Hemisphere observers Westerhout (Leiden) and Large, Mathewson, and Haslam (Jodrell Bank). Results of the analysis show an intense concent,ration of ionized hydrogen in an irregular spiral structure in the inner regions of the Galaxy. From lII=256° to 88°, good agreement was obtained between the longitudes at which concentrations of neutral hydrogen were found to occur from H-line studies and the longitudes at which the ionized hydrogen was concentrated. The steps in the longitude distribution of the 85·5 Mcls radiation which Mills used to delineate the spiral arms of the Galaxy were not all visible in the longitude distribution of the nonthermal component obtained from this present analysis. It is believed that three of Mills's steps are thermal in origin.
A distinct septal pattern of late gadolinium enhancement specific for COVID-induced myocarditis: A multicenter cardiovascular magnetic resonance study.

BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) is a great medical challenge provoking acute respiratory distress, pulmonary manifestations, and cardiovascular (CV) consequences. AIMS This study compares cardiac injury in COVID-19 myocarditis patients with non-COVID myocarditis patients. METHODS Patients who recovered from COVID-19 were scheduled for cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) owing to clinical myocarditis suspicion. The retrospective non-COVID-19 myocarditis (2018-2019) group was enrolled (n=221 patients). All patients underwent a contrast-enhanced CMR, conventional myocarditis protocol, and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). The COVID study group included 552 patients with a mean (standard deviation [SD]) age 45.9 (12.6) years old. RESULTS CMR assessment confirmed a myocarditis-like LGE in 46% of the cases (68.5% of the segments with LGE <25% transmural extent), left ventricular (LV) dilatation in 10%, and systolic dysfunction in 16%. The COVID-myocarditis group showed a smaller median (interquartile range [IQR]) LV LGE (4.4% [2.9%-8.1%] vs. 5.9% [4.4%-11.8%]; P <0.001), lower LVEDV (144.6 [125.5-178] ml vs. 162.8 [136.6-194] ml; P <0.001), limited functional consequence (LVEF, 59% [54.1%-65%] vs. 58% [52%-63%]; P = 0.01), and a higher rate of pericarditis (13.6% vs. 6%; P = 0.03) compared to non-COVID myocarditis. The COVID-induced injury was more frequent in septal segments (2, 3, 14), and non-COVID myocarditis showed higher affinity to lateral wall segments (P <0.01). Neither obesity nor age was associated with LV injury or remodeling in subjects with COVID-myocarditis. CONCLUSIONS COVID-19-induced myocarditis is associated with minor LV injury with a significantly more frequent septal pattern and a higher pericarditis rate than non-COVID-19 myocarditis.
Inherited causes of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency in pediatric patients: clinical presentation and laboratory testing

Abstract Pediatric patients with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) have symptoms that include abdominal pain, weight loss or poor weight gain, malnutrition, and steatorrhea. This condition can be present at birth or develop during childhood for certain genetic disorders. Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most prevalent disorder in which patients are screened for EPI; other disorders also are associated with pancreatic dysfunction, such as hereditary pancreatitis, Pearson syndrome, and Shwachman-Diamond syndrome. Understanding the clinical presentation and proposed pathophysiology of the pancreatic dysfunction of these disorders aids in diagnosis and treatment. Testing pancreatic function is challenging. Directly testing aspirates produced from the pancreas after stimulation is considered the gold standard, but the procedures are not standardized or widely available. Instead, indirect tests are often used in diagnosis and monitoring. Although indirect tests are more widely available and easier to perform, they have inherent limitations due to a lack of sensitivity and/or specificity for EPI.
A novel protein elicitor (PeSy1) from Saccharothrix yanglingensis induces plant resistance and interacts with a receptor‐like cytoplasmic kinase in Nicotiana benthamiana

Abstract Previously, we reported a rare actinomycete Saccharothrix yanglingensis Hhs.015 with strong biocontrol ability, which can colonize plant tissues and induce resistance, but the key elicitor and immune mechanisms were unclear. In this study, a novel protein elicitor screened from the genome of Hhs.015, PeSy1 (protein elicitor of S. yanglingensis 1), could induce a strong hypersensitive response (HR) and resistance in plants. The PeSy1 gene encodes an 11 kDa protein with 109 amino acids that is conserved in Saccharothrix species. PeSy1‐His recombinant protein induced early defence events such as a cellular reactive oxygen species burst, callose deposition, and the activation of defence hormone signalling pathways, which enhanced Nicotiana benthamiana resistance to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Phytophthora capsici, and Solanum lycopersicum resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. Through pull‐down and mass spectrometry, candidate proteins that interacted with PeSy1 were obtained from N. benthamiana. We confirmed the interaction between receptor‐like cytoplasmic kinase RSy1 (Response to PeSy1) and PeSy1 using co‐immunoprecipitation, bimolecular fluorescence complementation, and microscale thermophoresis. PeSy1 treatment promoted up‐regulation of marker genes in pattern‐triggered immunity. The cell death it elicited was dependent on the co‐receptors NbBAK1 and NbSOBIR1, suggesting that PeSy1 acts as a microbe‐associated molecular pattern from Hhs.015. Additionally, RSy1 positively regulated PeSy1‐induced plants resistant to S. sclerotiorum. In conclusion, our results demonstrated a novel receptor‐like cytoplasmic kinase in the plant perception of microbe‐associated molecular patterns, and the potential of PeSy1 in induced resistance provided a new strategy for biological control of actinomycetes in agricultural diseases.
Gut Microbial Genes and Metabolism for Methionine and Branched-Chain Amino Acids in Diabetic Nephropathy

Whole metagenomic sequencing uncovered specific members of the gut microbiota associated with DMN. The gene families derived from the discovered species are involved in the metabolic pathways of methionine and branched-chain amino acids. ABSTRACT Diabetic mellitus nephropathy (DMN) is a serious complication of diabetes and a major health concern. Although the pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus (DM) leading to DMN is uncertain, recent evidence suggests the involvement of the gut microbiome. This study aimed to determine the relationships among gut microbial species, genes, and metabolites in DMN through an integrated clinical, taxonomic, genomic, and metabolomic analysis. Whole-metagenome shotgun sequencing and nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomic analyses were performed on stool samples from 15 patients with DMN and 22 healthy controls. Six bacterial species were identified to be significantly elevated in the DMN patients after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Multivariate analysis found 216 microbial genes and 6 metabolites (higher valine, isoleucine, methionine, valerate, and phenylacetate levels in the DMN group and higher acetate levels in the control group) that were differentially present between the DMN and control groups. Integrated analysis of all of these parameters and clinical data using the random-forest model showed that methionine and branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) were among the most significant features, next to the eGFR and proteinuria, in differentiating the DMN group from the control group. Metabolic pathway gene analysis of BCAAs and methionine also revealed that many genes involved in the biosynthesis of these metabolites were elevated in the six species that were more abundant in the DMN group. The suggested correlation among taxonomic, genetic, and metabolic features of the gut microbiome would expand our understanding of gut microbial involvement in the pathogenesis of DMN and may provide potential therapeutic targets for DMN. IMPORTANCE Whole metagenomic sequencing uncovered specific members of the gut microbiota associated with DMN. The gene families derived from the discovered species are involved in the metabolic pathways of methionine and branched-chain amino acids. Metabolomic analysis using stool samples showed increased methionine and branched-chain amino acids in DMN. These integrative omics results provide evidence of the gut microbiota-associated pathophysiology of DMN, which can be further studied for disease-modulating effects via prebiotics or probiotics.
Laser Combined with Radiotherapy for Keloid Treatment: A Novel and Efficient Comprehensive Therapy with a Lower Recurrence Rate

Background: Keloids are a fibroproliferative skin disorder with a high recurrence rate. Combined therapies are often used in clinical treatment, but, in addition to the relatively high risk of relapse and complexity of the treatment process, side effects remain unknown for combination therapies. Methods: A total of 99 patients with keloids in 131 positions were included in this retrospective study. Fractional CO2 laser therapy was first applied with energy ranging from 360 to 1008 mJ; then, 6-Mev, 900-cGy electron beam irradiation was applied twice. The first pass was initiated within 24 hours after the laser therapy, and the second pass was performed on the seventh day after laser therapy. The Patient and Observer Scar Scale evaluated the lesions before the treatment and at 6, 12, and 18 months after treatment. At each follow-up visit, the patients filled out a questionnaire on recurrence, side effects, and satisfaction. Results: The authors found a significant decrease in total Patient and Observer Scar Scale score [29 (23, 39) versus 61.2 ± 13.4; P < 0.001] at the 18-month follow-up compared with the baseline value (before the therapy). A total of 12.1% of the patients had recurrences during the 18-month follow-up period (11.1% partial recurrence and 1.0% complete recurrence). The total satisfaction rate was 97.0%. No severe adverse effects were observed during the follow-up period. Conclusions: Laser combined with radiotherapy is a new comprehensive therapy comprising ablative lasers and radiotherapy for keloids. It had excellent clinical efficacy, low recurrence rate, and no serious adverse effects. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, IV.
Weight Control following Body Contouring Surgery: Long-Term Assessment of Postbariatric and Nonbariatric Patients

Background: Few reports of weight maintenance following body contouring (BC) surgery present weight measurements as percentage weight change, and most of these studies do not isolate BC to specific body areas. This study analyzed weight control in the trunk-based BC population and further compared BC outcomes in postbariatric and nonbariatric patients. Methods: The authors performed a retrospective cohort study of consecutive postbariatric and nonbariatric patients who underwent trunk-based BC (abdominoplasty, panniculectomy, and circumferential lipectomy) from January 1, 2009, through July 31, 2020, at West Virginia University. A minimum 12-month follow-up was required for inclusion. With BC surgery date as the reference point, percentage total weight loss was assessed at 6-month intervals for 2 years following BC and every year thereafter. Change over time was compared between postbariatric and nonbariatric patients. Results: Within the 12-year timeframe, 121 patients meeting criteria underwent trunk-based BC. Average follow-up from date of BC was 42.9 months. Sixty patients (49.6%) had previously undergone bariatric surgery. From before BC to endpoint follow-up, postbariatric and nonbariatric patients experienced a 4.39% ± 10.93% and 0.25% ± 9.43% increase in weight from baseline, respectively (P = 0.0273). Once nadir weight loss was attained, weight regain occurred through endpoint follow-up in both groups (11.81% in the postbariatric cohort and 7.56% in the nonbariatric BC cohort; P = 0.0106). Conclusions: Long-term weight regain is common following trunk-based BC operations—specifically, in postbariatric patients. Although this should not contend with the psychological benefit of removing this excess tissue, it is important to report results with ideal weight metrics to optimally assess outcomes in this population. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Risk, II.
Anti-quorum sensing effects of batatasin III: in vitro and in silico studies

Abstract The spread of multidrug resistant bacteria has fueled the development of new antibiotics to combat bacterial infections. Disrupting the quorum sensing (QS) mechanism with biomolecules is a promising approach against bacterial infections. Plants used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) represent a valuable resource for the identification of QS inhibitors. In this study, the in vitro anti-QS activity of 50 TCM-derived phytochemicals against the biosensor Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 was tested. Among the 50 phytochemicals, 7-methoxycoumarin, flavone, batatasin III, resveratrol, psoralen, isopsoralen, and rhein inhibited violacein production and showed good QS inhibitory effects. Batatasin III was selected as the best QS inhibitor based on drug-likeness, physicochemical properties, toxicity, and bioactivity score prediction analyses using SwissADME, PreADMET, ProtoxII, and Molinspiration. At 30 μg/ mL, Batatasin III inhibited violacein production and biofilm formation in C. violaceum CV026 by more than 69% and 54% respectively without affecting bacterial growth. The in vitro cytotoxicity evaluation by MTT assay demonstrated that batatasin III reduced the viability of 3T3 mouse fibroblast cells to 60% at 100 μg/mL. Furthermore, molecular docking studies showed that batatasin III has strong binding interactions with the QS-associated proteins CViR, LasR, RhlR, PqsE, and PqsR. Molecular dynamic simulation studies showed that batatasin III has strong binding interactions with 3QP1, a structural variant of CViR protein. The binding free energy value of batatasin III-3QP1 complex was −146.295 ± 10.800 KJ/mol. Overall results suggested that batatasin III could serve as a lead molecule that could be developed into a potent QS inhibitor. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma
Derivation and Internal Validation of a Risk Score for Predicting Chlamydia trachomatis Infection in Kenyan Women Planning Conception

In Kenyan women with fertility intent, Chlamydia trachomatis prevalence was 7.4%. Participants' age, bacterial vaginosis, and alcohol use contributed to a risk score predicting infection in this population (area under the receiver operating curve, 0.78). Background Availability of laboratory confirmation of sexually transmitted infections is increasing in low- and middle-income countries, but costs continue to limit their access. Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is a sexually transmitted infection of significant clinical importance, particularly among women. This study aimed to develop a risk score to identify women with a higher likelihood of CT infection, who could then be prioritized for laboratory testing, in a population of Kenyan women planning pregnancies. Methods Women with fertility intentions were included in this cross-sectional analysis. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios for the association between demographic, medical, reproductive, and behavioral characteristics and the prevalence of CT infection. A risk score was developed and validated internally based on the regression coefficients in the final multivariable model. Results The prevalence of CT was 7.4% (51 of 691). A risk score for predicting CT infection, with scores 0 to 6, was derived from participants' age, alcohol use, and presence of bacterial vaginosis. The prediction model yielded an area under the receiver operating curve of 0.78 (95% confidene interval [Cl], 0.72–0.84). A cutoff of ≤2 versus >2 identified 31.8% of women as higher risk with moderate sensitivity (70.6%; 95% Cl, 56.2–71.3) and specificity (71.3%; 95% Cl, 67.7–74.5). The bootstrap-corrected area under the receiver operating curve was 0.77 (95% Cl, 0.72–0.83). Conclusions In similar populations of women planning pregnancies, this type of risk score could be useful for prioritizing women for laboratory testing and would capture most women with CT infections while performing more costly testing in less than half of the population.
Flow cell sorting followed by PCR‐based clonality testing may assist in questionable diagnosis and monitoring of acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Multicolor flow cytometry (MFC) has highly reliable and flexible algorithms for diagnosis and monitoring of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, MFC analysis can be affected by poor sample quality or novel therapeutic options (e.g., targeted therapies and immunotherapy). Therefore, an additional confirmation of MFC data may be needed. We propose a simple approach for validation of MFC findings in ALL by sorting questionable cells and analyzing immunoglobulin/T‐cell receptor (IG/TR) gene rearrangements via EuroClonality‐based multiplex PCR.
Correcting for non-compliance in randomized trials using structural nested mean models

In a randomized trial designed to study the effect of a treatment of interest on the evolution of the mean of a time-dependent outcome variable, subjects are assigned to a treatment regime, or, equivalently, a treatment protocol. Unfortunately, subjects often fail to comply with their assigned regime. From a public health point of view, the causal parameter of interest will often be a function of the treatment differences that would have been observed hadcontrary to fact, all subjects remained on protocol. This paper considers the identification and estimation of these treatment differences based on a new class of structural models, the multivariate structural nested mean models, when reliable estimates of each subject's actual treatment are available. Estimates of “actual treatment” might, for example, be obtained by measuring the amount of “active drug” in the subject's blood or urine at each follow-up visit or by pill counting techniques. In addition, we discuss a natural extension of our methods to ob.
Investigation of the effect of postoperative early-term high-flow oxygen use on new-onset atrial fibrillation in high-risk patient groups after isolated coronary artery bypass graft operations.

OBJECTIVE Postoperative atrial fibrillation (PoAF) is a significant complication that may occur after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgeries. High-flow nasal oxygen (HFNO) therapy has recently been used in adult patients. In this current study, we aimed to investigate the effect of early HFNO treatment after extubation on the development of postoperative atrial fibrillation, in patient groups at risk for PoAF. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients who underwent isolated CABG surgery in our clinic between October 2021 and January 2022 and had a preoperative HATCH score of above 2, were retrospectively included in this study. After the extubation, patients who were followed-up with HFNO were defined as Group 1, and patients who were followed-up with a standard oxygen treatment were determined as Group 2. RESULTS Group 1 consisted of thirty-seven patients with a median age of 56 (ranging between 37 and 75) years, while Group 2 had seventy-one patients with a median age of 58 (ranging between 41 and 71) years (p=0.357). The groups were similar in terms of gender, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, smoking, body mass index, and ejection fraction. The need for positive inotropic support and incidence of PoAF was significantly higher in Group 2 (p=0.022, p=0.017, respectively). CONCLUSIONS In this study, we showed that HFNO treatment can reduce the rates of PoAF in high-risk patient groups.
IntegriSense molecular image sequence classification using Gaussian mixture model

Targeted fluorescence imaging agents such as IntegriSense 680 can be used to label integrin αvβ3 expressed in tumor cells and to distinguish tumor from normal tissues. Coupled with endomicroscopy and image-guided intervention devices, fluorescence contrast captured from the fiber-optic imaging technique can be used in a Minimally Invasive Multimodality Image Guided (MIMIG) system for on-site peripheral lung cancer diagnosis. In this work, we propose an automatic quantification approach for IntegriSense-based fluorescence endomicroscopy image sequences. First, a sliding time-window is used to calculate the histogram of the frames at a given timepoint, also denoted as the IntegriSense signal. The intensity distributions of the endomicroscopy image sequences can be briefly classified into three groups: high, middle and low intensities, which might correspond to tumor, normal tissue, and background (air) tissues within the lungs, respectively. At a given time-point, the histogram calculated from the sliding time-window is fit with a Gaussian mixture model, and the average and standard deviation (std), as well as the weight of each Gaussian distribution can be identified. Finally, a threshold can be used to the weighting parameter of the high intensity group for tumor information detection. This algorithm can be used as an automatic tumor detection tool from IntegriSense-based endomicroscopy. In experiments, we validated the algorithm using 20 IntegriSense-based fluorescence endomicroscopy image sequences collected from 6 rabbit experiments, where VX2 tumor was implanted into the lung of each rabbit, and image-guided endomicroscopy was performed. The automatic classification results were compared with manual results, and high sensitivity and specificity were obtained.