Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reindeer control over subarctic treeline alters soil fungal communities with potential consequences for soil carbon storage

The climate‐driven encroachment of shrubs into the Arctic is accompanied by shifts in soil fungal communities that could contribute to a net release of carbon from tundra soils. At the same time, arctic grazers are known to prevent the establishment of deciduous shrubs and, under certain conditions, promote the dominance of evergreen shrubs. As these different vegetation types associate with contrasting fungal communities, the belowground consequences of climate change could vary among grazing regimes. Yet, at present, the impact of grazing on soil fungal communities and their links to soil carbon have remained speculative. Here we tested how soil fungal community composition, diversity and function depend on tree vicinity and long‐term reindeer grazing regime and assessed how the fungal communities relate to organic soil carbon stocks in an alpine treeline ecotone in Northern Scandinavia. We determined soil carbon stocks and characterized soil fungal communities directly underneath and >3 m away from mountain birches (Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii) in two adjacent 55‐year‐old grazing regimes with or without summer grazing by reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). We show that the area exposed to year‐round grazing dominated by evergreen dwarf shrubs had higher soil C:N ratio, higher fungal abundance and lower fungal diversity compared with the area with only winter grazing and higher abundance of mountain birch. Although soil carbon stocks did not differ between the grazing regimes, stocks were positively associated with root‐associated ascomycetes, typical to the year‐round grazing regime, and negatively associated with free‐living saprotrophs, typical to the winter grazing regime. These findings suggest that when grazers promote dominance of evergreen dwarf shrubs, they induce shifts in soil fungal communities that increase soil carbon sequestration in the long term. Thus, to predict climate‐driven changes in soil carbon, grazer‐induced shifts in vegetation and soil fungal communities need to be accounted for.
Association between Dietary Patterns and Major Depression in Adult Females: A Case-Control Study

Background: Depression is one of the most common mental disorders. This study aimed to determine the association between dietary patterns and major depression in adult females. Study design: A case-control study. Methods: This study was conducted on adult females suffering from major depression within the age range from 19 to 65 years. The total participants of this study included 170 cases and 340 controls. Dietary intakes were collected using a 168-item validated semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire. Household food security was measured using a locally adapted Household Food Insecurity Access Scale. Moreover, the depression status of the adult females was assessed through a validated "Beck" questionnaire. Logistic regression was utilized to assess the association between dietary pattern scores and depression. Results: The mean ±SD ages of the participants were 36.97 ±11.28 and 36.07 ±10.58 years in the case and control groups, respectively (P=0.374), and five major dietary patterns were extracted in this study. The odds ratio (OR) in the last adjusted model was (OR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.46, 0.81); therefore, the "Healthy pattern" was significantly inversely associated with the odds of depression. Adherence to the "Western pattern" significantly increased depression by 29% (OR: 1.29; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.59). Furthermore, the "Traditional pattern" was positively associated with depression (OR: 1.16; 95% CI: 0.94, 1.43). There was no significant association between "Sugar and fast food" and "red meat and oils" dietary pattern and depression. Conclusions: Healthy dietary pattern reduces the risk of depression in adult females; however, the western and traditional dietary patterns increases this risk.
Oxidized low density lipoprotein causes impaired efflux of cholesterol from macrophages : implications for atherogenesis

Oxidation of low density lipoproteins (LDL) has been implicated as a causal factor in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Oxidized LDL has been found to exhibit numerous potentially atherogenic properties, including receptor-mediated uptake by macrophages. The present study confirms that oxidized LDL is resistant to intracellular degradation and accumulates in a lysosomal compartment in macrophages. Continued accumulation of lipid by macrophages in the arterial intima results in transformation of these cells into lipid-laden "foam cells", which are one of the earliest signs of atherosclerosis. It is believed that high density lipoprotein (HDL) protects against atherosclerosis by removing excess cholesterol from cells of the artery wall, thereby retarding lipid accumulation by macrophages. We investigated the relative rates of HDL-mediated cholesterol efflux in murine resident peritoneal macrophages that had been loaded with acetylated LDL or oxidized LDL. It was found that acetylated LDL-loaded cells released approximately one-third of their total cholesterol to HDL-containing medium, whereas oxidized LDL-loaded cells released only one-tenth of their total cholesterol. To determine whether the impairment of cholesterol efflux was due to modification of the apolipoprotein B or the lipid component of LDL, cells were loaded with either acetylated LDL that had been oxidized for 5 hours or native LDL that had been modified with oxidized arachidonic acid. It was found that both the oxidized lipid component and the modified apolipoprotein B contributed to impaired efflux of cholesterol. To ascertain the proportion of cholesterol efflux mediated by the apolipoprotein component compared to the lipid component of HDL, we measured the rate of efflux when the cells were treated with trypsinized HDL. Very little efflux occurred when the
Assessment for cardiovascular fitness in patients with stroke: which cardiopulmonary exercise testing method is better?

ABSTRACT Background Assessment for cardiovascular disease (CVD) is important in stroke patients, both being one of the main factors limiting success in stroke rehabilitation and its increased risk in stroke patients. Reduced exercise capacity after stroke decreases patients’ functionality and further increases the risk of CVD. Carefully selected cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) can be safely used to determine the risk of CVD and to prescribe exercise program in stroke rehabilitation. Objectives The primary purpose of this study is to determine the most appropriate CPET in patients with stroke. The secondary aim is to determine the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and functional status of the patients. Methods Two CPETs using treadmill and bicycle ergometer protocols determined with a preliminary study were performed on participants. The main outcome measure was VO2peak. Patients were also evaluated according to Brunnstrom motor staging, Modified Ashworth Scale, Berg Balance Scale, and Functional Independence Measure. Results In total, 38 patients reached higher VO2peak values at treadmill test compared to bicycle test (p < 0.001). The mean VO2peak reached at treadmill CPET was 62% of the control group where mean VO2peak reached at bicycle was 76% of the control group. No significant correlation was found between Brunnstrom staging, spasticity, Berg Balance Scale, and VO2peak . Discussion The results of this study indicate that CPET can be performed safely in stroke patients when appropriate protocol was selected and that treadmill was more appropriate to determine cardiorespiratory fitness in this study population.
Blending interprofessional education and simulation learning: A mixed-methods study of an interprofessional learning experience with nursing and occupational therapy students

ABSTRACT In aiming to train health professional students to collaborate in patient care settings, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the perception of registered nurse (RN) students and occupational therapy (OT) students jointly participating in an interprofessional education (IPE) patient simulation learning experience. Eighty-five RN and OT students engaged in a 3-hour IPE patient simulation in an acute care hospital setting. Each student participant completed a pre- and post-test data collection, assessing interprofessional socialization using the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale (ISVS) Version 9A and provided qualitative feedback about their experience. Findings indicated a significant change in interprofessional socialization for RN and OT students after engaging in the IPE patient simulation learning experience. Furthermore, qualitative findings described the perceived benefits of IPE and collaboration, simulation as a learning tool, and areas for enhancing IPE patient simulation education for the future. Study findings have implications for using simulated IPE experiences with health professional students to foster interprofessional collaboration and socialization with the goal of delivering person-centered quality healthcare.
Is there proof of transferability of laparoscopic psychomotor skills from the simulator laboratory to the operating room? Results from a systematic review

Abstract This systematic review aims to understand better the translation of laparoscopic psychomotor skills, acquired in dry lab training, into a direct patient benefit in actual clinical practice in the operating room. The review was performed according to PRISMA guidance, searching database-specific filters for controlled trials: ‘laparoscopy’, ‘simulator’, ‘surgical training’, ‘dry lab’, ‘psychomotor skills’. We included only RCTs in which the study population was the surgical trainee or novice surgeon with no prior simulation training, and the intervention was simulation training in laparoscopic surgery, regardless of subspecialty. Ten studies were included in this systematic review. The mean performance score was higher compared to the control groups. Fewer errors were noted in the intervention groups. No clinical patient outcomes (mortality, morbidity, quality of life) were addressed in these studies. All the trials were at high risk of bias. Training outside the operating room may lead to better surgical performance and less operative time. Nevertheless, additional studies with better designs are needed to provide more robust evidence.
New Insights in Resistant Diabetic Macular Edema

Diabetic macular edema (DME) is the most common cause of vision loss in diabetic eyes, and due to the rapid rise in the number of diabetic patients, the treatment burden has increased exponentially. The introduction of antivascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapy has been a major breakthrough in the management of center-involving DME, replacing laser photocoagulation as the first-line treatment. Despite the improvement in DME treatment with anti-VEGF therapy, persistent DME remains a challenge due to the extremely complex pathogenesis and the involvement of several different biochemical pathways. This review focuses on therapeutic options for persistent DME, which include corticosteroids, laser, and surgery. Novel agents for DME control such as new anti-VEGF, interleukin inhibitor, Rho-kinase inhibitor, and neuroprotective agents that are being investigated are reviewed as well. Future treatment perspectives include an individualized DME management.
Predictive Significance of Ki-67 and Platelet Lymphocyte Ratio in Patients with Gastric Cancer Receiving Neoadjuvant FLOT Chemotherapy.

OBJECTIVE We aimed to determine the predictive significance of Ki-67 and platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in patients with gastric cancer (GC), who received fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, docetaxel (FLOT) as neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). STUDY DESIGN Descriptive study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Department of Medical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun, Turkey from March 2016 to January 2020. METHODOLOGY Seventy-five patients with GC, who received FLOT treatment as NAC were included in the study. Ki-67 and PLR, which were examined pre-NAC and aft-NAC, were recorded. Associations between clinical-histopathological parameters with disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were analysed using Kaplan-Meier curves. Cox-regression analysis was used to assess their prognostic values. RESULTS There was a statistically significant difference between pre-NAC and aft-NAC Ki-67, and aft-NAC PLR values between groups with complete response, partial response, and stable disease aft-NAC (p: 0.023, p: <0.001; and p: 0.001, respectively). When the patients were grouped according to the pre-NAC and aft-NAC Ki-67 changes, a significant difference was found in terms of OS (p< 0.001). High pre-NAC and high aft-NAC Ki-67 were associated with shorter DFS and OS (p: 0.042, p: 0.049; p: 0.027, and p: 0.001, respectively). The high pre-NAC PLR was associated with shorter OS, while the high aft-NAC PLR was associated with shorter DFS (p: 0.018, and p: 0.001, respectively). In multivariate analysis, aft-NAC Ki-67 was found to be an independent prognostic factor for OS. CONCLUSION Ki-67 and PLR have predictive significance in GC patients treated with neoadjuvant FLOT. Ki-67 is an independent prognostic marker for OS in gastric cancer. Key Words: FLOT, Gastric cancer, Ki-67, Platelet lymphocyte ratio.
Effect of Chronological Age on Pulse Rate Discrimination in Adult Cochlear-Implant Users

Cochlear-implant (CI) users rely heavily on temporal envelope cues to understand speech. Temporal processing abilities may decline with advancing age in adult CI users. This study investigated the effect of age on the ability to discriminate changes in pulse rate. Twenty CI users aged 23 to 80 years participated in a rate discrimination task. They attempted to discriminate a 35% rate increase from baseline rates of 100, 200, 300, 400, or 500 pulses per second. The stimuli were electrical pulse trains delivered to a single electrode via direct stimulation to an apical (Electrode 20), a middle (Electrode 12), or a basal location (Electrode 4). Electrically evoked compound action potential amplitude growth functions were recorded at each of those electrodes as an estimate of peripheral neural survival. Results showed that temporal pulse rate discrimination performance declined with advancing age at higher stimulation rates (e.g., 500 pulses per second) when compared with lower rates. The age-related changes in temporal pulse rate discrimination at higher stimulation rates persisted after statistical analysis to account for the estimated peripheral contributions from electrically evoked compound action potential amplitude growth functions. These results indicate the potential contributions of central factors to the limitations in temporal pulse rate discrimination ability associated with aging in CI users.
A Cross-Sectional Study of Perceived Dental Treatment Needs and Oral Health Status in Community-Dwelling Older Australian Men: The Concord Health and Ageing in Men Project

Background Assessing perceived needs for dental treatment is important in understanding and predicting people's health behaviours. The purpose of this study is to examine older men's perceptions regarding dental treatment needs, and to investigate the disparity between perceived needs and the actual oral health of a population of community-dwelling older Australians. Methods Using cross-sectional data from the 4th wave of the Concord Health and Ageing in Men Project, logistic regression analysis of perceived needs for dental treatment was conducted for 596 men aged 78 and over, with functional tooth units (FTUs), number of decayed tooth surfaces, and periodontitis as independent variables. Results Thirty-six percent (n = 216) of the participants believed they required some form of dental treatment. The remaining participants did not perceive a need for treatment, yet 65.3% objectively required prosthodontic or restorative care. The regression model showed men with lower FTUs were significantly more likely to report a perceived need for dental treatment than those with 12 FTUs [0–6 FTUs: adjusted odds ratio (OR) 2.58, 95% CI 1.28–5.20; 7–11 FTUs: adjusted OR 2.43, 95% CI 1.16–5.10]. However, neither the number of decayed tooth surfaces nor the existence of periodontitis was associated with perceived dental treatment needs. Conclusions Most older men viewed their oral health positively, and the majority of those with objectively assessed needs, did not perceive themselves as requiring dental treatment. Loss of FTUs appears to alert participants to seek treatment, but not the presence of dental caries or periodontitis.
Ionic Propulsion Based on Heated Taylor Cones of Ionic Liquids

Electrical propulsion characteristics of emissions from heated Taylor cones in vacuo are investigated for the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazoliumbis(perfluoroethylsulfonyl)imide. Low specific impulses are encounteredat room temperature. However, the drop size decreases and the ion currents become very large at increasing temperatures, leading above 119°C to the appearance of a purely ionic regime with currents in excess of 4 μA. This mode of operation leads to thrusts approaching 1 μN per Taylor cone, at a specific impulse above 2000 s. The ion beam is dominated by the dimer ion (∼80%), with a mass-over-charge ratio larger than 600 amu, substantially larger than possible with traditional ion sources. The purely ionic regime had been previously observed in roomtemperature 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium + -BF 4 , but this is the first report where this regime exists over a wide range of currents. The levels of both thrust and specific impulse reported are considerably higher than those previously attained from single Taylor cones of organic electrolytes.
Comment

The implications of globalization and increased openness for optimal monetary policy have been the subject of a rapidly growing literature. In this paper, Richard Clarida uses the New Keynesian two‐country model of Clarida, Gali, and Gertler (2002) to partly address such questions. The paper focuses on the degree of trade openness. It does not address the implications of financial globalization, which is arguably an equally important feature of the current wave of globalization. The Clarida et al.model has become a benchmark for studying the interaction of monetary policy in a two‐country world. The model is extremely elegant and allows seeing exactly what is going on. At the same time, it is very stylized, focusing on the terms of trade as the main international transmission channel. International risk sharing is assumed to be perfect. In the second part of the paper, Clarida then performs an empirical analysis of recent Fed behavior. This exercise is in the spirit of Taylor’s (1993) original analysis using “eyeball econometrics. ” Themain question asked is whether the Taylor rule can fit recent Fed behavior. Clarida argues that globalizationmay have affected some of the necessary inputs for calibrating a policy rule such as the equilibrium real interest rate and expectations of inflation. He therefore uses expectations data from financial markets to overcome this problem. These expectations measures should be immune to breaks and changes in regime that may plague the use of traditional instrumental generalized method of moment estimation of forward‐looking Taylor rules. The Clarida et al. model gives hints about how openness may affect the optimal reaction coefficients in a Taylor rule. It would therefore be useful to explore some of those hints in the empirical part of the paper.However, in the second part the reaction coefficients in the closed‐economy Taylor rule are basically kept constant. How does openness affect the optimal relative weight on output gap versus inflation stabilization? In the stylized model of Clarida et al.
Comment

Molodtsova and Papell (MP hereafter) investigate the outofsample predictability of exchange rates using Taylor rules during the recent fi nancial crisis. Several recent works, including Engel and West (2006), Molodtsova and Papell (2009), and Molodtsova, NikolskoRzhevskyy, and Papell (2010), among others, have emphasized the usefulness of Taylor rules for forecasting exchange rates. Let me fi rst provide some background on how Taylor rules can be used to forecast exchange rates. To fi x ideas, let the traditional Taylor rule be it = + t − ( ) + yt , where the interest rate of the “home” country (it) is decided according to a monetary policy reaction function that reacts to the infl ation gap (i.e., how much the infl ation rate πt exceeds the infl ation target ) and to the output gap ( yt ). Let asterisks denote the foreign country’s variables and assume that the foreign country’s monetary policy follows a similar Taylor rule, with the same coeffi cients: t * = * + ( t* − ) + yt gap,*. The difference of the Taylor rules for the two countries, together with the uncovered interest parity condition (UIRP: Et et+1 = it − it*, where et is the nominal exchange rate between the two countries and et+1 ≡ et+1 − et), gives: Et et+1 = + ( t − t*) + (yt gap − yt *), (1)
Comment

Dennis Quinn and Hans‐Joachim Voth’s paper “Free Flow, Limited Diversification: Openness and the Fall and Risk of Stock Market Correlations, 1890–2001” provides important new data and insights into the causes of the portfolio home bias puzzle, a topic that has intrigued economists for decades (see Lewis [1999] for a summary of the literature). Historically, the correlation of equity returns across countries has been relatively low, suggesting that investors could significantly reduce risk by diversifying their portfolios to include greater shares of foreign stocks. But, investors often have not done so. Rather, they have tended to overweight domestic equities relative to foreign equities. This paper provides evidence that the lack of international portfolio diversification in part reflects restrictions on capital mobility. In a nutshell, investors historically did not take advantage of the hypothesized gains from international diversification because they were not allowed to do so. In particular, the authors find that the low historical correlation in equity returns is associated with periods in which capital controls were very restrictive. With the widespread relaxation of capital controls in recent decades, the correlations of equity returns across countries have risen dramatically, suggesting that the hypothetical benefits from diversification have shrunk just as investors have gained the ability to take advantage of them. The paper makes two key contributions. First, the authors extend the Quinn‐Toyoda measure of capital account openness to cover over 110 years of data for 16 countries. Data are a public good essential for research, and the creation of new high‐quality data is worthy of high praise on its own. Second, the paper provides compelling evidence of a positive empirical link between theirmeasure of capitalmarket openness and correlations in equity returns across pairs of countries. Above and beyond the application to the portfolio home bias puzzle, these