Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of people-first language with regard to obesity.

In their article titled “Evaluation of meal replacements and a home food environment intervention for long-term weight loss: a randomized controlled trial” (1), Lowe et al. investigated the efficacy of 3 weight-loss intervention methods: behavior therapy, behavior therapy plus meal replacements, and a comprehensive nutrition-based treatment aimed at changing the participants’ home food environment. Although the article addressed the challenge of maintaining lost weight in individuals with obesity, the authors did not use people-first language during their discussion of participants by consistently using phrases such as “obese individuals” throughout their text. People-first language strives to eliminate weight-bias by not labeling the person by their condition. Instead, the person is acknowledged first, followed by their condition (i.e., “person with obesity” rather than “obese person”) (2). Weight bias in patients with overweight or obesity has been shown to adversely influence how said individuals view their condition along with a negative impact on their overall quality of life. In addition, weightbiased attitudes and language exhibited by health care providers can further reduce the likelihood of patients using future health care services for weight-loss intervention (3). Utilizing people-first language when describing individuals with other medical conditions has been a widely accepted norm (i.e., “person with autism,” “person with diabetes,” or “person with hypertension”), but this is often not used for those with obesity. The Obesity Society recognized this disparity and emphasized the significance of changing the language in their journal (4). Furthermore, Armstrong et al. (5) highlighted the importance of the medical community demonstrating people-first language as opposed to the prominently used condition-first language, due to the latter reinforcing “the acceptability of this [condition-first language] standard” and perpetuating weight bias in patients of all ages. Despite the growing advocacy for people-first language usage, its application toward obesity continues to move at a slower pace than other disease states. We respectfully encourage people-first language as a requirement for manuscripts published by the Journal, which is one of the premier journals in nutrition. Establishing this specification would create more consistency in language, further eradicate weight bias, and improve the health outcomes of all individuals with obesity.
Glucosylceramide synthase inhibition with lucerastat lowers globotriaosylceramide and lysosome staining in cultured fibroblasts from Fabry patients with different mutation types

Abstract Fabry disease is an X-linked lysosomal storage disorder caused by mutations in the GLA gene coding for α-galactosidase A (α-GalA). The deleterious mutations lead to accumulation of α-GalA substrates, including globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) and globotriaosylsphingosine. Progressive glycolipid storage results in cellular dysfunction, leading to organ damage and clinical disease, i.e. neuropathic pain, impaired renal function and cardiomyopathy. Many Fabry patients are treated by bi-weekly intravenous infusions of replacement enzyme. While the only available oral therapy is an α-GalA chaperone, which is indicated for a limited number of patients with specific ‘amenable’ mutations. Lucerastat is an orally bioavailable inhibitor of glucosylceramide synthase (GCS) that is in late stage clinical development for Fabry disease. Here we investigated the ability of lucerastat to lower Gb3, globotriaosylsphingosine and lysosomal staining in cultured fibroblasts from 15 different Fabry patients. Patients’ cells included 13 different pathogenic variants, with 13 cell lines harboring GLA mutations associated with the classic disease phenotype. Lucerastat dose dependently reduced Gb3 in all cell lines. For 13 cell lines the Gb3 data could be fit to an IC50 curve, giving a median IC50 [interquartile range (IQR)] = 11 μM (8.2–18); the median percent reduction (IQR) in Gb3 was 77% (70–83). Lucerastat treatment also dose dependently reduced LysoTracker Red staining of acidic compartments. Lucerastat’s effects in the cell lines were compared to those with current treatments—agalsidase alfa and migalastat. Consequently, the GCS inhibitor lucerastat provides a viable mechanism to reduce Gb3 accumulation and lysosome volume, suitable for all Fabry patients regardless of genotype.
Re: ‘Application of the key characteristics of carcinogens in cancer hazard evaluation’: response to Goodman, Lynch and Rhomberg

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.
Successful Treatment with a High-dose Rifampin-containing Regimen for Pulmonary Tuberculosis with a Disputed rpoB Mutation

Mutations in the rpoB gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis can result in resistance to rifampin. Among various mutations in the rpoB gene, some known as disputed rpoB mutations can cause low-level rifampin resistance. It has been suggested that a high-dose rifampin (20 mg/kg)-based regimen might be effective in treating tuberculosis (TB) caused by M. tuberculosis with disputed rpoB mutations exhibiting low-level resistance. We herein report the first two cases of pulmonary TB caused by M. tuberculosis with a disputed rpoB mutation (CTG511CCG) that showed successful treatment outcomes with a high-dose rifampin-based regimen.
Prevalence of Peripheral Artery Disease Is Higher in Persons Living With HIV Compared With Uninfected Controls

Methods: PLWH aged 40 years and older were recruited from the Copenhagen comorbidity in HIV infection (COCOMO) study. Sexand age-matched uninfected controls were recruited from the Copenhagen General Population Study. We defined PAD as ankle–brachial index #0.9 and assessed risk factors for PAD using logistic regression adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, dyslipidemia, diabetes, hypertension, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein.
Spontaneous switching of future dominance to a smaller follicle: commonality among monovular species †

Abstract Selection of a dominant follicle from a wave of follicles is manifested by diameter deviation between future dominant (F1) and largest subordinate (F2) follicles. On day –1 or 0 (day 0 = beginning of deviation), growth rate of F1 continues and growth rate of F2 decreases. Deviation occurs during the decline in the wave-stimulating FSH surge when F1 reaches means of 8.5, 10.5, and 22.5 mm in heifers, women, and mares, respectively. Diameter of F1 at the FSH peak vs at deviation is proportionally similar among these monovular species. In conventional deviation, F1 usually emerges first. In F1,F2-switched deviation, F2 is usually first to emerge and to reach a diameter characteristic of deviation. On day –1 or 0, the larger F2 and the smaller F1 switch so that the formerly larger F2 becomes subordinate and the formerly smaller F1 becomes dominant. In heifers and mares, the profile and prominence of the FSH surge are similar between deviation classes. Surge location relative to deviation differs so that the surge ends earlier in switched deviation. When the larger F2 reaches a diameter characteristic of deviation, FSH concentration is too low for continued growth of F2. The decrease in FSH ceases (heifers) or increases (mares) presumably from a decrease in FSH inhibitors; therefore, F1 continues to grow and becomes dominant. The frequency of switched deviation (e.g., 16 to 37% among species) can be problematic in follicle-selection research. Switching is a natural model for study of the interplay between follicles and FSH.
Using professor Harden’s four principles of learning for improving bedside teaching in infectious disease ward at Shiraz Medical School

Daya Z, Hearn JH. 2018. Mindfulness interventions in medical education: a systematic review of their impact on medical student stress, depression, fatigue and burnout. Med Teach. 40:146–153. Rotenstein LS, Ramos MA, Torre M, Segal JB, Peluso MJ, Guille C, Sen S, Mata DA. 2016. Prevalence of depression, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation among medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA. 316:2214–2236. Antonia Hamilton-Shield, John Logan and Akriti Nanda Medical Sciences Division, John Radcliffe, Oxford, England antonia.hamilton-shield@trinity.ox. ac.uk
Signaling Dynamics

The molecular basis of an all-or-none response in B cells is revealed. The signaling pathways that activate the transcription factor NF-κB are key regulatory pathways in cells of the immune system, and their dynamic properties are still being elucidated. In B cells, analysis of single-cell responses has shown that the stimulation of the B cell receptor causes a “digital” all-or-none response of cells to a stimulus. Shinohara et al. used a combination of mathematical modeling and experiments to show that this property of the system results from the presence of a positive feedback loop among the signaling components activated in response to the receptor. Studies in cells expressing mutated signaling components resolved key phosphorylation events that provide the threshold responses observed and identified potential molecular modifications that might modify the threshold or other aspects of the dynamic response. H. Shinohara, M. Behar, K. Inoue, M. Hiroshima, T. Yasuda, T. Nagashima, S. Kimura, H. Sanjo, S. Maeda, N. Yumoto, S. Ki, S. Akira, Y. Sako, A. Hoffmann, T. Kurosaki, M. Okada-Hatakeyama, Positive feedback within a kinase signaling complex functions as a switch mechanism for NF-κB activation. Science 344, 760–764 (2014). [Abstract] [Full Text]
Winners and Losers: Reward and Punishment Produce Biases in Temporal Selection

Studies of visual search demonstrate that the ‘learned value’ of stimuli (the extent to which they signal valued events, such as rewards and punishments) influences whether they will be prioritized by spatial attention. Recent work suggests that learned value also modulates attentional prioritization even when all stimuli are presented in the same location, suggesting an influence on temporal selection wherein value-related stimuli become more capable of disrupting central mechanisms of perceptual awareness. However, it remains unclear whether temporal selection is influenced specifically by learning about the relationship of stimuli with reward, or with punishment, or both. This question motivated the current experiments. Participants saw a stream of pictures in a central location, and had to identify the orientation of a rotated target picture. In Experiment 1, response accuracy was reduced if the target was preceded by a ‘valued’ distractor picture that signaled that a correct response to the target would be rewarded, relative to a distractor picture that did not signal reward. In Experiment 2, accuracy was reduced if the valued distractor picture signaled that an incorrect response would be punished, relative to a distractor that did not signal punishment. Experiment 3 replicated these findings, and demonstrated that the influence of rewards/punishments persisted into an extinction phase in which valued distractors were entirely task-irrelevant. These findings suggest that it is the motivational significance of the outcome, rather than its valence, that is the crucial determinant of the influence of learned value on temporal selection.
Electromechanical behavior of soft porous capacitive sensors

Soft tactile sensors are core components for enabling soft robots perception. Their performance can be tuned shaping the electromechanical characteristics of their materials and structure at the microscale. In this work, the behavior of soft capacitive pressure sensors, based on porous dielectric material, is studied by means of 2D FEM simulations. In particular, from the mechanical point of view, it is shown how the apparent Young's modulus decreases with increasing porosity. Then, the variation of initial capacitance and the output characteristics with different level of porosity is discussed, showing that the sensitivity in the simulated structure can improve remarkably, with a tenfold increase for porosity around 30%. Deviations from empirical or simplified analytical expression found in the literature are shown and discussed.
Intracellular calcium chelating agent (BAPTA‐AM) aids stallion semen cooling and freezing–thawing

This study aimed to investigate the effects of different concentrations of 1,2-bis-(o-aminophenoxy)-ethane-N,N,N0 N0-tetraacetic acid, tetra-acetoxymethyl ester (BAPTA-AM), an intracellular calcium chelating agent, on stallion semen cooling and freezing-thawing. After collection, semen was extended (1:1 v/v) on a skim milk-based extender, centrifuged and resuspended at 400 million/ml into cooling or freezing extenders containing 0, 5, 25, 50, 100 and 200 μΜ BAPTA-AM. Motility parameters were assessed after cooling in Equitainer at 5°C for 12, 24, 48, 72 and 120 hr and after freezing-thawing. In addition, mitochondrial membrane potential, intracellular ATP, reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde concentrations were measured in cryopreserved-thawed semen. Cooled stored (48 hr) semen containing 50 μΜ BAPTA-AM and control extender (0 μΜ BAPTA-AM) was used to assess fertility. Inclusion of 50 μΜ BAPTA-AM resulted in superior sperm motility parameters during cooled storage when compared to other groups (p < 0.05). Furthermore, semen cryopreserved in extender containing 50 μΜ BAPTA-AM showed increased intracellular ATP and mitochondrial membrane potential, whereas reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde were increased after thawing for all groups (p < 0.05). Addition of 50 μΜ BAPTA-AM to cooling extender resulted in similar pregnancy rates to the control group (75% vs. 73.6%, respectively; p > 0.05). In conclusion, the addition of BAPTA-AM to semen extenders aided stallion semen cryopreservation in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the cooling extender supplemented with 50 μΜ BAPTA-AM could be used to prolong the sperm motility during cooling without apparently compromising fertility. Field trials should be conducted to assess fertility of cryopreserved stallion semen with BAPTA-AM.
Automating neurosurgical tumor resection surgery: Volumetric laser ablation of cadaveric porcine brain with integrated surface mapping

Current surgical instruments for soft tissue resection including neurosurgical procedures rely on the accuracy and precision of the human operator and are fundamentally constrained by the human hand. Automated surgical action with the integration of intraoperative data sources can enable highly accurate and fast tissue manipulation using laser ablation. This study presents the first experiments with a prototype designed for automated tumor resection via laser ablation. We demonstrate targeted soft tissue resection in porcine brain with an integrated device that combines 3D scanning capabilities with a steerable surgical laser and discuss implications for future automated robotic neurosurgical procedures.
Clinical outcomes and prognostic factors in patients with mycosis fungoides who underwent radiation therapy in a single institution

Purpose We aimed to evaluate clinical outcomes including progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), partial response, and complete response in patients who underwent radiation therapy (RT) for mycosis fungoides (MF). Also, we sought to find prognostic factors for clinical outcomes. Materials and Methods Total 19 patients confirmed with MF between 1999–2015 were retrospectively reviewed. Clinical and treatment characteristics, clinical outcomes, and and toxicities were analyzed. Results Eleven patients were treated with total skin electron beam radiotherapy (TSEBT) and 8 patients with involved field radiation therapy (IFRT) with median dose of 30 Gy, respectively. The median time interval from diagnosis to RT was 2.6 months (range, 0.4 to 87.3 months). The overall response rate was 100%; 11 patients (57.9%) had a complete response and 8 patients (42.1%) a partial response. The presence of positive lymph node at the time of consultation of RT was associated with lower OS (p = 0.043). In multivariate analysis, PFS was significantly lower for patients with increased previous therapies experienced following RT (p = 0.019) and for patients showing PR during RT (p = 0.044). There were no reported grade 3 or more skin toxicities related with RT. Conclusion Both IFRT and TSEBT are effective treatment for MF patients. Patients with short disease course before RT or complete response during RT are expected to have longer PFS. Positive lymph node status at the initiation of RT was associated woth poor OS, suggesting other treatment modalities such as low-dose RT for patients with low life-expectancy.
A Semantic Mismatch Effect on Serial Recall: Evidence for Interlexical Processing of Irrelevant Speech

Short-term memory (STM) for serially presented visual items is disrupted by task-irrelevant, to-be-ignored speech. Five experiments investigated the extent to which irrelevant speech is processed semantically by contrasting the following two hypotheses: (1) semantic processing of irrelevant speech is limited and does not interfere with serial STM or (2) irrelevant speech is routinely processed semantically at an interlexical level to allow for the detection of stimuli that are of potential relevance for the individual. We tested these hypotheses by comparing the disruption of serial recall by distractor sentences with semantically expected endings to that of sentences with semantically unexpected endings. Sentences with unexpected endings consistently produced more disruption than sentences with expected endings. Phonologically expected, but semantically unexpected endings had the same effect, demonstrating that a semantic and not a phonological mismatch is responsible for the increased disruption. In all five experiments, the semantic mismatch effect was not reduced after repeated exposure to sentences with unexpected endings. The results suggest that (1) semantic processing occurs at the interlexical level of irrelevant speech, which requires the integration of words into the sentence context and (2) the semantic content of a distractor interferes with the maintenance of serial information in short-term-memory if it is unexpected.
Un análisis inicial del Dinero Electrónico en Ecuador y su impacto en la inclusión financiera

La presente investigacion incorpora a la literatura existente el uso de la tecnica de regresion en discontinuidad para la estimacion de la elasticidad precio de la demanda en el sector electrico residencial de la ciudad de Guayaquil. El uso del diseno de regresion en discontinuidad es efectivamente util para la estimacion de la elasticidad precio de la demanda en el sector electrico residencial, para lo cual, una deinicion adecuada del punto de corte es esencial.
Analysis of a Generalized Lorenz-Stenflo Equation

Although the globally attractive sets of a hyperchaotic system have important applications in the fields of engineering, science, and technology, it is often a difficult task for the researchers to obtain the globally attractive set of the hyperchaotic systems due to the complexity of the hyperchaotic systems. Therefore, we will study the globally attractive set of a generalized hyperchaotic Lorenz–Stenflo system describing the evolution of finite amplitude acoustic gravity waves in a rotating atmosphere in this paper. Based on Lyapunov-like functional approach combining some simple inequalities, we derive the globally attractive set of this system with its parameters. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is illustrated via numerical examples.
Connecting Patterns Inspire Link Prediction in Complex Networks

Link prediction uses observed data to predict future or potential relations in complex networks. An underlying hypothesis is that two nodes have a high likelihood of connecting together if they share many common characteristics. The key issue is to develop different similarity-evaluating approaches. However, in this paper, by characterizing the differences of the similarity scores of existing and nonexisting links, we find an interesting phenomenon that two nodes with some particular low similarity scores also have a high probability to connect together. Thus, we put forward a new framework that utilizes an optimal one-variable function to adjust the similarity scores of two nodes. Theoretical analysis suggests that more links of low similarity scores (long-range links) could be predicted correctly by our method without losing accuracy. Experiments in real networks reveal that our framework not only enhances the precision significantly but also predicts more long-range links than state-of-the-art methods, which deepens our understanding of the structure of complex networks.
Distributed Optimal Day-Ahead Scheduling in a Smart Grid: A Trade-Off among Consumers, Power Suppliers, and Transmission Owners

To cope with the challenges due to increasing peak load, an optimal day-ahead scheduling problem for social welfare maximization is proposed, in which not only the comfort level of consumers and costs of power suppliers but also the power losses in transmission and operation costs of transmission owners are taken into account. Then this optimal day-ahead scheduling problem is reformulated and solved via the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM), by which fast convergence is guaranteed and the privacy of participants is ensured, in a distributed manner. Specifically, in the proposed distributed optimal day-ahead scheduling, the hourly prices for consumers are divided into hourly supply prices and hourly delivery prices, which will be updated by the independent system operator based on the hourly demand-supply situations and hourly demand-delivery situations, respectively. And the consumers, power suppliers, and transmission owners make their individual optimal day-ahead scheduling based on their individual hourly prices, hourly supply prices, and hourly delivery prices, respectively, until the hourly demand-supply balances and hourly demand-delivery balances are achieved. Effectiveness of the proposed distributed optimal day-ahead scheduling is verified by the cases studied.
Pedestrian Group-Crossing Behavior Modeling and Simulation Based on Multidimensional Dirty Faces Game

The conflict between pedestrians and vehicles plays a significant role in influencing the efficiency of intersections. In turn, the effectiveness of intersections greatly affects the entire network. Statistical data indicates that up to 70% of people move in groups (such as friends, couples, or families walking together). The pedestrian group-crossing behavior, as well as an analysis of the dynamics between groups of pedestrians and vehicles at unsignalized intersections, deserves a thorough study. In this paper, a model based on the multidimensional dirty faces game is proposed to analyze the crossing behavior of pedestrians and vehicles as “rational people. ” Computer simulations were performed to investigate the effect of the group size on crossing behavior and conflict risks. The relationship between heterogeneity of waiting time and walking speed is also investigated. These findings can be used to advance understanding on the “Chinese style road crossing” phenomenon and elucidate the dynamics involved.