Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Disordered eating behaviours and autistic traits—Are there any associations in nonclinical populations? A systematic review

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to critically review existing literature concerning the possible association between autistic-like behaviours and problematic eating behaviours in nonclinical populations. METHOD We performed a systematic literature search in three large databases. Studies were included if they assessed any association between a broad range of autistic-like behaviours and problematic eating behaviours in nonclinical samples. RESULTS Sixteen eligible studies were found covering 3,595 participants in total, including five studies on children/adolescents (n = 685). All studies were cross-sectional, and thus, only concurrent associations could be evaluated. Several autistic-like behaviours were found to be associated with problematic eating behaviours, with the overall "autism spectrum quotient," deficiencies in set-shifting, and theory of mind showing the strongest associations. CONCLUSIONS The existing literature indicates concurrent associations between specific autistic-like behaviours and problematic eating behaviours in nonclinical samples across ages. Large prospective longitudinal studies are needed for insight into the temporal order of these associations.
ISPAD Clinical Practice Consensus Guidelines 2018: Glycemic control targets and glucose monitoring for children, adolescents, and young adults with diabetes

HbA1c reflects mean BG over the prior three to four months and is currently the only long-term glycemic control measure with robust outcome data. Multiple studies in diverse populations have shown that elevated HbA1c values are associated with chronic complications of diabetes. Intensive management resulting in lower HbA1c concentrations is associated with fewer and delayed development of microvascular and macrovascular chronic complications 1-5 , see Chapter 18 (ref). Additionally, lower HbA1c shortly after diagnosis is associated with a lower risk of subsequent complications 6,7 . This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Human anisakiasis in Italy: a retrospective epidemiological study over two decades

A retrospective analysis on human anisakiasis in Italy since its first description in 1996 was performed by conducting a literature search. Inclusion criteria based on the presence of a larva and on parasite identification were applied. Epidemiological data and clinical features were analysed. Particular attention was paid to the source of infection. In total, 73 cases were included in the analysis, while 34 were excluded. Cases were reported from eight Italian regions, most frequently Abruzzo, Apulia and Latium. The parasite was detected by endoscopy (51.4%) or laparotomy (48.6%). The site of infection was intestinal (42.5%), gastric (43.8%), oesophageal (1.4%) or ectopic (12.3%). Most of the parasites (71.0%) were identified as Anisakis sp. or A. simplex (s.l.). However, when molecular methods were used (21 cases), A. pegreffii was always identified. In most of the patients (65.7%), the source of infection was raw or undercooked anchovies, followed by “anchovies or sardines” (15.1%), generic “raw seafood” (15.1%), and sardines (1.4%). In only 2 cases (2.7%), the source was not available. This is the first systematic analysis of Italian cases of anisakiasis. The main conclusions derived from the results are: i) attention should be given to the history, in particular when raw marinated anchovies, proven to be the main source of human anisakiasis in Italy, are consumed; ii) in order to assess correct epidemiological data, a confirmed and specific etiological identification should always be sought.
C-Reactive Protein Stimulates Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors to Control ATP-Mediated Monocytic Inflammasome Activation

Blood levels of the acute phase reactant C-reactive protein (CRP) are frequently measured as a clinical marker for inflammation, but the biological functions of CRP are still controversial. CRP is a phosphocholine (PC)-binding pentraxin, mainly produced in the liver in response to elevated levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and of the IL-1β-dependent cytokine IL-6. While both cytokines play important roles in host defense, excessive systemic IL-1β levels can cause life-threatening diseases such as trauma-associated systemic inflammation. We hypothesized that CRP acts as a negative feedback regulator of monocytic IL-1β maturation and secretion. Here, we demonstrate that CRP, in association with PC, efficiently reduces ATP-induced inflammasome activation and IL-1β release from human peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes and monocytic U937 cells. Effective concentrations are in the range of marginally pathologic CRP levels (IC50 = 4.9 µg/ml). CRP elicits metabotropic functions at nicotinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptors (nAChRs) containing subunits α7, α9, and α10 and suppresses the function of ATP-sensitive P2X7 receptors in monocytic cells. Of note, CRP does not induce ion currents at conventional nAChRs, suggesting that CRP is a potent nicotinic agonist controlling innate immunity without entailing the risk of adverse effects in the nervous system. In a prospective study on multiple trauma patients, IL-1β plasma concentrations negatively correlated with preceding CRP levels, whereas inflammasome-independent cytokines IL-6, IL-18, and TNF-α positively correlated. In conclusion, PC-laden CRP is an unconventional nicotinic agonist that potently inhibits ATP-induced inflammasome activation and might protect against trauma-associated sterile inflammation.
Open Source Automatic Speech Recognition for German

High quality Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is a prerequisite for speech-based applications and research. While state-of-the-art ASR software is freely available, the language dependent acoustic models are lacking for languages other than English, due to the limited amount of freely available training data. We train acoustic models for German with Kaldi on two datasets, which are both distributed under a Creative Commons license. The resulting model is freely redistributable, lowering the cost of entry for German ASR. The models are trained on a total of 412 hours of German read speech data and we achieve a relative word error reduction of 26% by adding data from the Spoken Wikipedia Corpus to the previously best freely available German acoustic model recipe and dataset. Our best model achieves a word error rate of 14.38 on the Tuda-De test set. Due to the large amount of speakers and the diversity of topics included in the training data, our model is robust against speaker variation and topic shift.
Psychometric Properties of the Outcome Rating Scale (ORS) in a Spanish Clinical Sample

Abstract The Outcome Rating Scale (ORS) is an ultra-brief measure of well-being designed to track outcome in psychotherapy. This research studied the psychometric properties of the ORS in a Spanish clinical sample. One-hundred and sixty-five adult participants from different primary care centers of the city of Barcelona were recruited. The psychometric properties of the ORS in the sample were explored and described, comparing them to the properties of other instruments already validated in Spain. Our results showed good reliability (α = .91 [.88, .93]; α = .96; test re-test correlations from .61 to .84), good validity (convergent validity correlations with distress and symptoms measures from –.32 to –.76), and good sensitivity to change (pre-post comparison through Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Mdnpre = 31.0, Mdnpost = 19.6, z = –7.38, p < .05, r = .42). These results are consistent with previous findings in other countries. We conclude suggesting that the instrument can be applied to monitor outcome in psychotherapy and to test the effectiveness of treatments imparted with Spanish speaking clients. However, further research with the ORS in Spanish could provide more evidence of its psychometric properties.
Cancer Cell-Intrinsic PD-1 and Implications in Combinatorial Immunotherapy

Programmed death 1 (PD-1) and its two natural ligands PD-L1 and PD-L2 are responsible for delivering inhibitory signals that regulate the balance between T cell activation, tolerance, and immunopathology. In previous studies, PD-1 was found only expressed on the surface of immune cells, such as T cells and B cells while PD-1’s ligands PD-L1 and PD-L2 were found expressed in some tumor cells. However, recent studies revealed intrinsic expression of PD-1 in melanoma and some other cancers. In melanoma cells, PD-1 can be activated by its ligand PD-L1 expressed by tumor cells, modulating downstream mammalian target of rapamycin signaling and promoting tumor growth independent of adaptive immunity. In addition to melanoma, PD-1 was also detected in liver cancer cells as well as in non-small lung cancer cells. Unlike its oncogenic functions in melanoma and hepatic carcinoma cells, PD-1 seemed to play a distinct role in lung cancer, as blockade of PD-1 instead promoted tumor cells proliferation. Tumor-intrinsic PD-1 expression seems to be widespread in many tumor types, according to our reanalysis on cancer transcriptomic and proteomic data. The multifaceted roles of PD-1 in tumor cells beyond immune checkpoint signaling may explain the differential therapeutic effects of anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 drugs and provide crucial information when developing combinatorial approaches to enhance antitumor immunity.
Hepatoprotectivity of Panduratin A against liver damage: In vivo demonstration with a rat model of cirrhosis induced by thioacetamide

This experiment evaluated Panduratin A (PA), a chalcone isolated from Boesenbergia rotunda rhizomes, for its hepatoprotectivity. Rats were subjected to liver damage induced by intra‐peritoneal injection of thioacetamide (TAA). PA was tested first for its acute toxicity and then administered by oral gavage at doses 5, 10, and 50 mg/kg to rats. At the end of the 8th week, livers from all rats were excised and evaluated ex vivo. Measurements included alkaline phosphatase (AP), alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST) and gamma‐glutamyl transferase (GGT), serum platelet‐derived growth factor (PDGF) and transforming growth factor (TGF‐β1), and hepatic metalloproteinase enzyme (MMP‐2) and its inhibitor extracellular matrix protein (TIMP‐1). Oxidative stress was measured by liver malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitrotyrosine levels, urinary 8‐hydroxy 2‐ deoxyguanosine (8‐OH‐dG), and hepatic antioxidant enzyme activities. The immunohistochemistry of TGF‐β1 was additionally performed. PA revealed safe dose of 250 mg/kg on experimental rats and positive effect on the liver. The results suggested reduced hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) activity as verified from the attenuation of serum PDGF and TGF‐β1, hepatic MMP‐2 and TIMP‐1, and oxidative stress. The extensive data altogether conclude that PA treatment could protect the liver from the progression of cirrhosis through a possible mechanism inhibiting HSCs activity.
ISPAD Clinical Practice Consensus Guidelines 2018: Psychological care of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes

A substantial research base developed over the past thirty years provides evidence for the significant role of psychosocial factors in the management of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in children and adolescents (3-7). We review the main findings from studies of psychological adjustment, psychiatric disorders, neurocognitive and educational functioning, family dynamics, social support, stress and coping, quality of life, and behavioral interventions in children and adolescents with T1D. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
P300 and Heart Rate Variability Recorded Simultaneously in Meditation

Sympathetic activation is required for attention. Separate studies have shown that meditation (a) improves attention and (b) reduces sympathetic activity. The present study assessed attention with the P300 and sympathetic activity with heart rate variability (HRV). Forty-seven male subjects (group mean age ± SD, 21.6 ± 3.4 years) were assessed in 4 mental states: (a) random thinking, (b) nonmeditative focusing, (c) meditative focusing, and (d) defocused meditation. These were recorded on 4 consecutive days. HRV, respiration, and P300 event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded before and after the sessions. Data were analyzed with repeated-measures analysis of variance followed by post hoc analysis. HRV showed a significant increase in low-frequency (LF) power, decrease in high-frequency (HF) power and an increase in average heart rate based on the average R-R interval after meditative focusing, compared with before. In contrast, the average heart rate decreased after defocused meditation compared with before. There was a significant increase in the P300 peak amplitude after meditative focusing and defocused meditation, with a reduction in peak latency after defocused meditation. These results suggest that after meditation with focusing, there was sympathetic arousal whereas after defocused meditation, there was a decrease in the average heart rate while participants carried out the P300 auditory oddball task sooner.
AXNet: ApproXimate computing using an end-to-end trainable neural network

Neural network based approximate computing is a universal architecture promising to gain tremendous energy-efficiency for many error resilient applications. To guarantee the approximation quality, existing works deploy two neural networks (NNs), e.g., an approximator and a predictor. The approximator provides the approximate results, while the predictor predicts whether the input data is safe to approximate with the given quality requirement. However, it is non-trivial and time-consuming to make these two neural network coordinate—they have different optimization objectives—by training them separately. This paper proposes a novel neural network structure—AXNet—to fuse two NNs to a holistic end-to-end trainable NN. Leveraging the philosophy of multi-task learning, AXNet can tremendously improve the invocation (proportion of safe-to-approximate samples) and reduce the approximation error. The training effort also decrease significantly. Experiment results show 50.7% more invocation and substantial cuts of training time when compared to existing neural network based approximate computing framework.
Observer-rated retardation but not agitation corresponds to objective motor measures in depression

Abstract Objective To explore the correlations between observer ratings and instrumental parameters across domains of psychomotor functioning in depression. Method In total, 73 patients with major depressive disorder underwent extensive psychomotor and clinical testing. Psychomotor functioning was assessed with (i) an observer-rated scale (the CORE measure) and also objectively with (ii) 24-h actigraphy, and (iii) a fine motor drawing task. Results Observer ratings of retardation correlated with instrumental assessments of fine and gross motor functioning. In contrast, observer ratings of agitation did not correlate with observer ratings of retardation or with the instrumental measures. These associations were partly influenced by age and, to a lesser extent, by depression severity. Conclusion Psychomotor disturbance is a complex concept with different manifestations in depressed patients. Although observer ratings of retardation correspond well with instrumental measures of the motor domains, objective measurement of agitation and other aspects of psychomotor disturbance require further research.
Current Ideas on the Treatment Of Diabetic Neuropathies

ABSTRACT Diabetic neuropathies are common and their prevalence is rising with the growth in the global prevalence of type 2 diabetes. Several patterns of neuropathy have now been described, with diabetic sensorimotor polyneuropathy (DPN) being the most common. Autonomic neuropathy, entrapment neuropathies including carpal tunnel syndrome and ulnar neuropathy at the elbow pose additional burdens. DPN can be detected in over half of all diabetic subjects and approximately 20% of all patients with DPN also experience neuropathic pain, a complication with major impacts on quality of life. Currently, the only available treatments for DPN are optimal glucose control and pain management, whereas interventions, beyond optimizing hyperglycemic control, to address the underlying polyneuropathy are not available. Here we review current treatment options and new literature relating to DPN, with an emphasis on novel and emerging treatments.
A systematic review of the safety of incretin-based therapies in type 2 diabetes

ABSTRACT Introduction: Large randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that incretin-based therapies provide effective glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. Long-term safety assessments are ongoing. Methods: This systematic review of incretin-based therapy safety is based on 112 randomized clinical trials of duration ≥26 weeks published between January 2000 and February 2015 in patients with type 2 diabetes. Results: As expected, hypoglycemia rates were lower with dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4is) and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) versus other oral antidiabetic drugs and insulin. The most common adverse events were infection and infestation (DPP-4is) and gastrointestinal (GLP-1 RAs). Pancreatitis cases were rare across all studies and, in the SAVOR-TIMI and EXAMINE trials, pancreatitis rates were similar in DPP-4i- and placebo-treated patients. No thyroid tumors were reported, and increased risk of cardiovascular events was not associated with DPP-4is in SAVOR-TIMI and EXAMINE, albeit over a short follow-up period. Conclusions: Overall, incretin-based therapies were well tolerated; however, their long-term safety profile should continue to be periodically assessed.
Ovarian function, fertility and reproductive lifespan in cancer patients

ABSTRACT Introduction: The increasing survival of girls and young women after cancer has led to a rapid growth in research into assessment of ovarian function after treatment. Areas covered: This aim of this review is to discuss normal ovarian function over time, the impact of cancer treatment on ovarian function, the assessment of ovarian reserve after treatment, and pretreatment predictors of ovarian recovery. Expert commentary: Ovarian function damage after chemotherapy and radiotherapy will impact on fertility and reproductive lifespan, but with great variability. Age at menopause has implications for the duration of estrogen deficiency, with its own adverse health consequences. This has led to identification of the key treatment and patient factors at the time of treatment, notably age and ovarian reserve that impact on post-treatment ovarian function. However, most studies have used outcome measures such as ongoing menses, or biomarkers such as anti-mullerian hormone (AMH), with few reporting on fertility or age at menopause.
Current status of clinical testing for human papillomavirus in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

While a variety of human papillomavirus (HPV) tests and surrogate markers are available, currently there is no consensus on the best detection method(s) that should be used to identify HPV‐related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas and serve as a standard test (or tests) for routine diagnostic use. As we begin to consider using the results of HPV testing for clinical purposes beyond simple prognostication, such as making decisions on treatment dose or duration or for targeted therapies that may be highly dependent on viral‐mediated pathways, we need to be more rigorous in assessing and ensuring the performance of the test (or tests) used. Here we provide an overview of the platforms and technologies, including the strengths and limitations of each test, and discuss what steps are needed to generate confidence in their performance for use in clinical practice.
Gene therapy for the treatment of X-linked retinitis pigmentosa

ABSTRACT Introduction: X-linked retinitis pigmentosa caused by mutations in the retinitis pigmentosa GTPase regulator (RPGR) gene is the most common form of recessive RP. The phenotype is characterised by its severity and rapid disease progression. Gene therapy using adeno-associated viral vectors is currently the most promising therapeutic approach. However, the construction of a stable vector encoding the full-length RPGR transcript has previously proven to be a limiting step towards gene therapy clinical trials. Recently however, a codon optimised version of RPGR has been shown to increase the stability and fidelity of the sequence, conferring a therapeutic effect in murine and canine animal models. Areas covered: This manuscript reviews the natural history of X-linked retinitis pigmentosa and the research performed from the discovery of the causative gene, RPGR, to the preclinical testing of potential therapies that have led to the initiation of three clinical trials. Expert opinion: X-linked retinitis pigmentosa is an amenable disease to be treated by gene therapy. Codon optimisation has overcome the challenge of designing an RPGR vector without mutations, and with a therapeutic effect in different animal models. With the RPGR gene therapy clinical trials still in the early stages, the confirmation of the safety, tolerability and potency of the therapy is still ongoing.
Influence of Image Classification Accuracy on Saliency Map Estimation

Saliency map estimation in computer vision aims to estimate the locations where people gaze in images. Since people tend to look at objects in images, the parameters of the model pre-trained on ImageNet for image classification are useful for the saliency map estimation. However, there is no research on the relationship between the image classification accuracy and the performance of the saliency map estimation. In this study, it is shown that there is a strong correlation between image classification accuracy and saliency map estimation accuracy. The authors also investigated the effective architecture based on multi-scale images and the up-sampling layers to refine the saliency-map resolution. The model achieved the state-of-the-art accuracy on the PASCAL-S, OSIE, and MIT1003 datasets. In the MIT saliency benchmark, the model achieved the best performance in some metrics and competitive results in the other metrics.
Learning low dimensional word based linear classifiers using Data Shared Adaptive Bootstrap Aggregated Lasso with application to IMDb data

In this article we propose a new supervised ensemble learning method called Data Shared Adaptive Bootstrap Aggregated (AdaBag) Lasso for capturing low dimensional useful features for word based sentiment analysis and mining problems. The literature on ensemble methods is very rich in both statistics and machine learning. The algorithm is a substantial upgrade of the Data Shared Lasso uplift algorithm. The most significant conceptual addition to the existing literature lies in the final selection of bag of predictors through a special bootstrap aggregation scheme. We apply the algorithm to one simulated data and perform dimension reduction in grouped IMDb data (drama, comedy and horror) to extract reduced set of word features for predicting sentiment ratings of movie reviews demonstrating different aspects. We also compare the performance of the present method with the classical Principal Components with associated Linear Discrimination (PCA-LD) as baseline. There are few limitations in the algorithm. Firstly, the algorithm workflow does not incorporate online sequential data acquisition and it does not use sentence based models which are common in ANN algorithms . Our results produce slightly higher error rate compare to the reported state-of-the-art as a consequence.