Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The prevalence and risk factors of diabetic retinopathy in selected primary care centers during the 3-year screening intervals

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the prevalence and progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and its risk factors in patients with diabetes attending primary care centers. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional chart review that was conducted in three randomly selected primary care centers. A total of 250 patients with diabetes had three consecutive annual screenings for DR from April 2014 to April 2017. At the initial visit, the ophthalmological findings were recorded. For three successive yearly screening, the screening results were assessed to estimate the changes that occurred in the prevalence, incidence, and progression of DR in addition to the degree of association with the most predictable risk factors. Results: The initial prevalence of DR was 15.2%. In this study, the findings over three consecutive screening intervals revealed that there was a steady increase in the prevalence of DR. The findings of this study showed that there was no significant association with DR and known risk factors including sex, type of diabetes mellitus (DM), obesity, and smoking. On the other hand, the duration of DM, hemoglobin A1c level, uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, nephropathy, insulin treatment, and age were identified as strong predictors of DR among diabetics in this study. Conclusion: DR, a serious microvascular complication of DM, is an asymptomatic disease with a slow onset and gradual progression. Primary prevention is highly recommended to control the risk factors that will delay the onset and progression of DR.
What Patients, Families, Health Professionals and Hospital Volunteers Told Us about Advance Directives

Objective: An advance directive (AD) is a document that allows mentally competent individuals to make healthcare decisions about their condition that they might no longer be able to make in the future. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of AD decision-making of various stakeholders in the Chinese palliative care setting. Methods: Patients with life-limiting diseases, family members, health professionals, and hospital volunteers were recruited in the palliative care unit of two hospitals in Hong Kong by purposive sampling on age and sex. Qualitative semi-structured individual interviews were conducted. Results: A total of 96 participants, including 24 participants from each group, completed the study. Most participants were willing to discuss AD but had not heard about it before the interview. Patients regarded the decisions made in the AD as a way to reduce their future sufferings, while they also considered the welfare of their family. Family members were concerned about the psychological burden when discussing about the AD. Health professionals emphasized the logistic and process of the AD. Hospital volunteers pointed out the impact of Chinese culture on AD acceptance and the lack of AD promotion in the community. Conclusions: The findings of the study indicated the need for more promotion of AD in the society. It is important to consider the opinion of a patient's family during AD discussions in a Chinese culture. Health professionals may need to identify the best timing for the discussion of AD with patients and their families.
Prevalence of nocturnal enuresis among children in Primary Health Care Centers of Family and Community Medicine, PSMMC, Riyadh City, KSA

Background: Nocturnal enuresis (NE) is commonly known as any intermittent incontinence while asleep in a child being at least 5-year old. The families of the children having this disorder can be greatly worried because this disorder can lead to considerable emotional distress and some psychological consequences. This study is aimed to estimate the prevalence of NE among children and to identify the characteristics of children who has NE. The third aim is to identify the consultation pattern to solve this problem. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed in Primary Health Care Centers of Family and Community Medicine, PSMMC, Riyadh City, KSA, during 2017. Results: Out of 65 families that have children with NE, 38.7% was the frequency of bedwetting every night; 22.6% of the children were stressed as a result of new child birth; 14% of the families did not feel a family load of having children with NE; 29% of the families did not try to treat their children because of their improvement with time; and 12% of the families that tried to treat their children used fluid restriction and waked their children up frequently at night. Conclusions: The prevalence of NE was 18.5% among families with a higher prevalence in boys. Prevalence of NE decreased with increasing age with many children found of having stressful events in their life other than parents’ divorce. We would like to refer that it is important for families that have children with NE to seek medical consultation immediately, which can lead to behavioral modifications.
Associations between Aquaglyceroporin Gene Polymorphisms and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Objectives AQP7 and AQP9 represent glycerol channel in adipose tissue and liver and have been associated with metabolic diseases. We aimed to investigate the associations between genetic variants in AQP7 and AQP9 genes and the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in Chinese population. Methods Blood samples were drawn from 400 T2DM patients and 400 age- and gender-matched controls. Genomic DNA was extracted by proteinase K digestion and phenol–chloroform extraction. Genotyping of 5 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in AQP7 (rs2989924, rs3758269, and rs62542743) and AQP9 (rs57139208, rs16939881) was performed by the polymerase chain reaction assay with TaqMan probes. Results The subjects with rs2989924 GA+AA genotypes had 1.47-fold increased risk of T2DM (odds ratio [OR] 1.47, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-2.04), compared to those with GG genotype, and this association remained significant after adjustment for covariates (OR 1.66, 95% CI 1.07-2.57). When compared with rs3758269 CC genotype, the subjects with CT+TT genotypes had 45% decreased T2DM risk after multivariate adjustment (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.35-0.85). The associations were evident in elder and overweight subjects and those with central obesity. No association was observed between AQP9 SNPs and T2DM risk. Conclusions AQP7 SNP rs2989924 and rs3758269 were associated with T2DM risk in Chinese Han population.
Polycomb and Notch signaling regulate cell proliferation potential during Caenorhabditis elegans life cycle

Caenorhabditis elegans lineage is invariant between animals. By challenging cell fate in differentiated worms, an unexpected role of Polycomb and Notch signaling in the control of cell proliferation was uncovered, suggesting that the lineage is more flexible than believed. Stable cell fate is an essential feature for multicellular organisms in which individual cells achieve specialized functions. Caenorhabditis elegans is a great model to analyze the determinants of cell fate stability because of its invariant lineage. We present a tractable cell fate challenge system that uses the induction of fate-specifying transcription factors. We show that wild-type differentiated animals are highly resistant to fate challenge. Removal of heterochromatin marks showed marked differences: the absence of histone 3 lysine 9 methylation (H3K9) has no effect on fate stability, whereas Polycomb homolog mes-2 mutants lacking H3K27 methylation terminally arrest larval development upon fate challenge. Unexpectedly, the arrest correlated with widespread cell proliferation rather than transdifferentiation. Using a candidate RNAi larval arrest-rescue screen, we show that the LIN-12Notch pathway is essential for hyperplasia induction. Moreover, Notch signaling appears downstream of food-sensing pathways, as dauers and first larval stage diapause animals are resistant to fate challenge. Our results demonstrate an equilibrium between proliferation and differentiation regulated by Polycomb and Notch signaling in the soma during the nematode life cycle.
Cumulative reproductive costs on current reproduction in a wild polytocous mammal

Abstract The cumulative cost of reproduction hypothesis predicts that reproductive costs accumulate over an individual's reproductive life span. While short‐term costs have been extensively explored, the prevalence of cumulative long‐term costs and the circumstances under which such costs occur alongside or instead of short‐term costs, are far from clear. Indeed, few studies have simultaneously tested for both short‐term and cumulative long‐term reproductive costs in natural populations. Even in mammals, comparatively little is known about cumulative effects of previous reproduction, especially in species with high variation in offspring numbers, where costs could vary among successful reproductive events. Here, we quantify effects of previous short‐term and cumulative long‐term reproduction on current reproduction probability and litter size in wild female yellow‐bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer) and test how these effects vary with age and between two contrasting environments. We provide evidence for cumulative long‐term effects: females that had both reproduced frequently and weaned large litters on average in previous years had decreased current reproduction probability. We found no evidence for short‐term reproductive costs between reproductive bouts. However, females weaned larger litters when they had weaned larger litters on average in previous years and had lower current reproduction probability when their previous reproductive success was low. Together these results suggest that, alongside persistent among‐individual variation, long‐term reproductive history affects current reproductive success.
A health sciences library promotes wellness with free yoga

Background Yoga is a popular physical exercise activity with mental health benefits. Public and academic libraries have offered free yoga as their primary movement-based program. Case Presentation In an attempt to bolster wellness and connect to the health sciences community, an academic health sciences library offered free yoga as a ten-week trial series in summer 2016. At the end of the trial series, weekly attendance and online feedback data determined that this series should continue. Conclusions Yoga provides health professionals and students with a welcomed midday break from a stressful work environment. Additionally, by partnering with yoga instructor trainee programs, the financial burden is low for the library.
Las creencias en la adquisición de segundas lenguas: la habilidad para los idiomas desde un marco incremental/fijo

espanolHay estudiantes que se creen incapaces de aprender un segundo idioma. Cuando buscan la causa de esa incapacidad que perciben, alguna/os piensan en el concepto de la habilidad para los idiomas. A lo largo de los anos, creencias de este tipo han sido examinadas, por una parte, con la escala el Beliefs About Language Learning Index (BALLI), que ha mostrado que la gran mayoria de los y las estudiantes, ademas del profesorado, creen que existe una habilidad especial e innata para los idiomas para algunas personas. Sin embargo, hay una carencia de informacion en este sentido. En particular, si creen en la habilidad, ? la ven como algo fija, o algo que se puede cambiar? Puesto de otra forma, ? se nace con ello, o es posible desarrollarla? Este estudio examina estas creencias dentro de este marco basado en el trabajo de Dweck sobre mentalidades fijas y cambiables. Las personas que participaron eran 51 estudiantes adultos estudiando en cursos de ingles en un programa publico en Extremadura, Espana. Se hicieron cuestionarios cuantitativos sobre sus creencias antes y despues de un test de estres para ver como les afectaba tanto sus creencias como su persistencia en una tarea de de ingles. Ademas, se hicieron entrevistas de uno-a-uno con estudiantes de grupos incrementales y fijos que aportaron una riqueza de detalles sobre las creencias estudiantiles. EnglishThere are students who believe that they are incapable of learning a foreign language. When they look to the causes of this perceived ineptitude, some turn to the concept of language aptitude. Students' beliefs about the nature of aptitude are important to how they may perceive their success or failure. Over the years, beliefs about language aptitude have been partially examined through a nine-item section on the Beliefs About Language Learning Index (BALLI). There it has been shown that the great majority of students and teachers across many cultures believe that a special ability to learn languages exists for some people. However, more information is needed. Specifically, it is important to understand the nature of this belief. If students believe in a special language aptitude, do they see this as fixed or malleable? Is one born with it, or can one acquire it over time? This study examined beliefs within such a framework, based on Dweck's work in entity and incremental mindsets. The subjects were 51 adult continuing education students enrolled in English courses in a state-sponsored program in Extremadura, Spain. Quantitative belief questionnaires were issued before and after a stress test to determine how beliefs changed. Finally, one-to-one semi-structured interviews were undertaken with students from fixed-leaning and incrementally-leaning groups, which provided a wealth of detail.
Human central auditory plasticity: A review of functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure cochlear implant performance and tinnitus perception

Functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an emerging noninvasive technology used to study cerebral cortex activity. Being virtually silent and compatible with cochlear implants has helped establish fNIRS as an important tool when investigating auditory cortex as well as cortices involved with hearing and language processing in adults and during child development. With respect to this review article, more recently, fNIRS has also been used to investigate central auditory plasticity following hearing loss and tinnitus or phantom sound perception.
Prevalence, clinical features, and diagnosis of Trichomonas vaginalis among female STI clinic attendees in Trinidad

Background: Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) is one of the most common pathogens causing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in both men and women. Since there are no accurate prevalence data available on TV infection among women for Trinidad and Tobago and in the Caribbean region, there is a great need for research to study the dynamics of the infection and its transmission. Objectives: To determine the prevalence and diagnose TV infection in women attending the STI clinic and to provide recommendations for control and prevention of trichomoniasis in the community. Study Design: A cross-sectional study was designed after obtaining the informed consent. Following a routine clinical examination, vaginal swabs were collected – one for wet mount preparation, one for InPouch culture, and other two for OSOM rapid test/and fluorescent antibody testing. Cotton swabs and Dacron swabs were used for testing. Results: A prevalence of 16% of trichomoniasis out of 422 females was recorded. In all, 65 (65%) were in the age range of 15–29 years and peak of 30% in the age group of 20–24 years. Vaginal discharge was a common complaint (83%); 75.6% had foul odor and only 9.8% had typical fishy odor. The majority of them (87%) had whitish-yellow colored discharge. Conclusion: Prevalence of trichomoniasis is significant in the female population attending STI clinic. Targeting high-risk age group between 15 and 29 years for control and prevention would be beneficial. Prompt and accurate diagnosis using appropriate laboratory test is recommended.
Acute Myelomonocytic Leukemia Presenting as Perianal Pain

Extramedullary involvement of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is a rare entity as most patients present with lymphoreticular organ involvement. Its detection and diagnosis can be extremely challenging, as these patients would present with unusual clinical symptoms. We diagnosed and managed a patient with leukemic infiltration of GIT who presented with perianal pain. Prompt use of MRI played an important role in detecting underlying pathology, and effective tissue sampling confirmed the diagnosis. This resulted in overall successful management of the patient.
Cancer- and Chemotherapy-Related Symptoms and the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Although chemotherapy has significantly improved overall survival, patients experience a wide range of physical and psychological symptoms that impact their quality of life. Symptoms seldom occur in isolation. Chemotherapy‐induced hair loss remains greatly feared, with a negative impact on the well‐being of many cancer patients. Cancer‐ and chemotherapy‐induced poor appetite is usually the result of taste changes, mouth sores, nausea and vomiting, increased satiety, medication side effects, pain, fatigue, depressed mood, and anxiety. The associated decline in nutritional intake is often associated with progressive weight loss in cancer cachexia. Mouth sores, associated pain, and poor nutrition can place immunocompromised patients at an increased risk for infection. Conversely, some of the patients may be suffering from chemotherapy‐related fluid retention edema which may lead to significant weight gain during chemotherapy. Fatigue was the most upsetting and unmanageable symptom among frequently occurring side effects during treatment. Moreover, fatigue is a hidden source of other upsetting symptoms. It seems possible that chemotherapy‐related fatigue was significantly more intense, incapacitating, distressing, or depressing. Fatigue, sleep disruption, pain, and depressed mood are positively interrelated and co‐occur, exacerbating one another and decreasing the quality of life of a patient during chemotherapy. These multiple concurrent physical symptoms and psychological distress during chemotherapy are often very debilitating in nature, resulting in significant interference in daily life, consequently affecting patients’ ability to receive prescribed treatments. The impact of these multiple symptoms on the patient can be collectively described as “symptom burden,” a concept that includes the occurring of symptoms, the level of distress, and manageability of the symptom experienced. Therefore, symptom burden is a distinct concept in symptom experience that contributes to an understanding of patients’ physiological and psychological functioning during the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Despite the fact that patients’ symptoms are managed through established conventional medical treatment,
Exposure to Enriched Environment Restores Altered Passive Avoidance Learning and Ameliorates Hippocampal Injury in Male Albino Wistar Rats Subjected to Chronic Restraint Stress

Aims: The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of exposure to enriched environment (EE) on passive avoidance learning and hippocampal cellular morphology in rats exposed to chronic restraint stress. Materials and Methods: Adult male albino Wistar rats were assigned into the following groups: normal control (NC) remained undisturbed in their home cages; stressed group (S) subjected to restrained stress (6 h/day) followed by housing in standard housing for 21 days; And stressed + EE (S + EE) subjected to restrained stress followed by housing in EE for 21 days. On 22nd day, six animals from each of the three groups were exposed to passive avoidance test. The remaining animals were sacrificed. Hippocampus was isolated and processed for cellular morphology using cresyl violet staining. Statistical Analysis Used: Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey's multiple comparison test (post hoc). Results: Stressed rats exposed to EE showed significant improvement in passive avoidance learning test compared to NC. Quantification of the surviving neurons in the hippocampal subfields and their cellular morphology revealed significant neuroprotection in S + EE in cornu ammonis-2 (CA2) neurons and CA3 hippocampal neurons. No significant changes were found in CA1 hippocampal subfield. Conclusions: The outcome of this study makes us to think the possibilities of adopting EE as an alternative strategy in brain diseases where there is chronic stress and to minimize the impairment in learning and memory.
No support for the sexy‐sperm hypothesis in the seed beetle: Sons of monandrous females fare better in post‐copulatory competition

Abstract The sexy‐sperm hypothesis posits that polyandrous females derive an indirect fitness benefit from multi‐male mating because they increase the probability their eggs are fertilized by males whose sperm have high fertilizing efficiency, which is assumed to be heritable and conferred on their sons. However, whether this process occurs is contentious because father‐to‐son heritability may be constrained by the genetic architecture underlying traits important in sperm competition within certain species. Previous empirical work has revealed such genetic constraints in the seed beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus, a model system in sperm competition studies in which female multi‐male mating is ubiquitous. Using the seed beetle, I tested a critical prediction of the sexy‐sperm hypothesis that polyandrous females produce sons that are on average more successful under sperm competition than sons from monandrous females. Contrary to the prediction of the sexy‐sperm hypothesis, I found that sons from monandrous females had significantly higher relative paternity in competitive double matings. Moreover, post hoc analyses revealed that these sons produced significantly larger ejaculates when second to mate, despite being smaller. This study is the first to provide empirical evidence for post‐copulatory processes favoring monandrous sons and discusses potential explanations for the unexpected bias in paternity.
Sex Differences in the Association between Night Shift Work and the Risk of Cancers: A Meta-Analysis of 57 Articles

Objectives To identify the association between night shift work and the risk of various cancers with a comprehensive perspective and to explore sex differences in this association. Methods We searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science for studies on the effect of night shift work on cancer, including case-control, cohort, and nested case-control studies. We computed risk estimates with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) in a random or fixed effects model and quantified heterogeneity using the I 2 statistic. Subgroup, metaregression, and sensitivity analyses were performed to explore potential sources of heterogeneity. Contour-enhanced funnel plots and the trim and fill method were used together to analyze bias. Linear dose–response analysis was used to quantitatively estimate the accumulative effect of night shift work on the risk of cancer. Results Fifty-eight studies were eligible for our meta-analysis, including 5,143,838 participants. In the random effects model, the pooled odds ratio (OR) of cancers was 1.15 (95% CI = 1.08–1.22, P < 0.001; I 2 = 76.2%). Night shift work increased the cancer risk in both men (OR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.05–1.25, P = 0.003) and women (OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.04–1.20, P = 0.002). Subgroup analyses showed that night shift work positively increased the risk of breast (OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.08–1.38), prostate (OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.05–1.52), and digestive system (OR = 1.15, 95% CI = 1.01–1.32) cancers. For every 5 years of night shift work, the cancer risk increased by 3.2% (OR = 1.032, 95% CI = 1.013–1.051). Conclusion This is the first meta-analysis identifying the positive association between night shift work and the risk of cancer and verifying that there is no sex difference in the effect of night shift work on cancer risk. Cancer risk increases with cumulative years of night shift work.