Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of solar UV radiation on antioxidant enzymes and phenols biosynthesis in lettuce (Lactuca sativa).

This study aims to evaluate the effect of solar UV radiation on defensive enzymes activities in lettuce seedlings. Seeds of lettuce were grown in high tunnels for 35 days, exposed to three different levels of solar UV, created by using three different types of plastic films. Each plastic film transmits different levels of solar UV (0% in UV-B, 4% in UV-L and 83% in UV-T). The obtained results indicated that solar UV radiation has led to significant decrease in seedling fresh weight. UV-B treatment resulted the highest shoot and root length while UV-T treatments exhibited the highest shoot: root ratio. Solar UV radiations have no effect on peroxidase activity in shoots. While ascorbate peroxidase was activated and catalase was inhibited in shoot by UV-T treatments. In lettuce roots, peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, and catalase activities were increased by increasing the level of solar UV radiation. In case of UV-T, phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) activity in both shoots and roots of lettuce seedlings was higher than those of other treatments. In addition, Phenols are accumulated in lettuce shoots as a result of UV radiation in UV-L and UV-T treatments. Also, phenols in roots increased by increasing solar UV dose. The study concluded that solar UV radiation induced some antioxidant enzymes, increased the accumulation and biosynthesis of phenolic compounds and reduced lettuce seedlings growth.
Acute exacerbation of unclassifiable idiopathic interstitial pneumonia: comparison with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Background: Acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (AE-IPF) is well known as a life-threatening condition during its clinical course. However, the clinical features and prognosis in AE of unclassifiable idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (AE-UCIIP) remain to be elucidated. The aim of this study was to clarify the clinical features and prognosis of AE-UCIIP compared with those of AE-IPF. Methods: In 187 patients with UCIIP or IPF, 64 patients with AE-UCIIP or AE-IPF, who were diagnosed and treated at our hospital, were retrospectively evaluated. Results: A total of 24 patients with AE-UCIIP were significantly older (p = 0.011), included more women (p < 0.001) and never-smokers (p < 0.001), and showed fewer lung lesions on high-resolution computed tomography (p = 0.006) than 40 patients with AE-IPF. Incidence of AE-UCIIP was 10.29%/year and was significantly higher than in AE-IPF (Gray’s test, p = 0.008). Prognosis of AE-UCIIP was as poor as that of AE-IPF (log-rank, p = 0.681). Percent-predicted forced vital capacity (%FVC) [hazard ratio (HR) 0.934, p = 0.045], and GAP stage within 12 months before AE (HR 3.530, p = 0.023), and partial pressure arterial oxygen/fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2) ratio at AE (HR 0.998, p = 0.016) were significant prognostic factors. Finally, commencement of long-duration (⩾12 h) direct hemoperfusion with a polymyxin B-immobilised fibre column (PMX-DHP) within 2 days after admission significantly improved survival (log-rank, p = 0.038) and was a significant prognostic factor (HR 0.175, p = 0.0039) in AE-UCIIP. Long-duration PMX-DHP showed favourable treatment effects even in the combined group of patients with AE-UCIIP or AE-IPF (log-rank p = 0.002; HR 0.328, p = 0.006). Conclusions: Patients with AE-UCIIP were older and included more women and never-smokers than those with AE-IPF. Prognosis of AE-UCIIP was as poor as that of AE-IPF. The reviews of this paper are available via the supplemental material section.
Listeria spp. and Enterobacteriaceae group in sandwiches of meat and meat products.

Aims: To evaluate the Egyptian street-vended sandwiches of meat and meat products for the presence of Listeria monocytogenes and Enterobacteriaceae group. To evaluate the microbiological quality of street-vended sandwiches of meat and meat products sold in Cairo-Egypt. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Food Microbiology, National Research Center, Cairo, at during the period of January 2011 to September 2012. Methology: Seventy sandwiches of meat and meat products including ten samples each of burger, hawawshi, kofta, liver, luncheon, sausages and shawerma sandwiches were randomly collected from the street-vendors and food shops in Great-Cairo governorate. Samples were investigated for their loads of Enterobacteriaceae counts as well as the presence of L. monocytogenes. Enterobacteriaceae counts was done using the conventional International method (FDA), however isolation and identification of L. monocytogenes was carried out using three different microbiological examination methods including classic selective conventional media, chromogenic media, as well as rapid identification method “food-system kits”. 168 isolates of Listeria spp were identified Original Research Article AAAAAAA Article British Microbiology Research Journal, 4(4): 360-368, 2014 361 following the biochemical identification tests (Bergey’s Manual) and confirmed using Hi Listeria identification kits and latex test kits. Results: Enterobacteriaceae group were detected in 51% of the examined samples with an average counts of 37x10 cfu/g. Listeria spp. were detected in range between 24% and 36%, depended on the method used, with numbers ranged from 16x10 to 23x10 cfu/g. All samples that were contaminated with Listeria spp. harboured L. monocytogenes. Listeria spp. was not detected in all the examined Hawawshi sandwiches with an exception of one positive sample detected using the chromogenic media. The obtained results indicated that 37 out 68 (54%) isolates, picked up from classic selective conventional media, and 62 out of 100 (62%) isolates from chromogenic medium were confirmed as L. monocytogenes indicating that chromogenic medium may be the superior for isolation of the pathogen from ready-to-eat sandwiches of meat and products. Conclusion: The obtained results indicated that these foods presented a source of infection to the consumer. Measures to control the quality of the raw material, environmental and hygienic conditions during preparation and serving should be taken. The chromogenic media was the most efficient for the isolation of the pathogen during this course of study.
Integrated Family Planning and Immunization Service Delivery at Health Facility and Community Sites in Dowa and Ntchisi Districts of Malawi: A Mixed Methods Process Evaluation

The Government of Malawi’s Health Sector Strategic Plan II highlights the importance of service integration; however, in practice, this has not been fully realized. We conducted a mixed methods evaluation of efforts to systematically implement integrated family planning and immunization services in all health facilities and associated community sites in Ntchisi and Dowa districts during June 2016–September 2017. Methods included secondary analysis of service statistics (pre- and postintervention), focus group discussions with mothers and fathers of children under age one, and in-depth interviews with service providers, supervisors, and managers. Results indicate statistically significant increases in family planning users and shifts in use of family planning services from health facilities to community sites. The intervention had no effect on immunization doses administered or dropout rates. According to mothers and fathers, benefits of service integration included time savings, convenience, and improved understanding of services. Provision and use of integrated services were affected by availability of human resources and commodities, community linkages, data collection procedures and availability, sociocultural barriers, organization of services, and supervision and commitment of health surveillance assistants. The integration approach was perceived to be feasible and beneficial by clients and providers.
Improving Caries Risk Prediction Modeling: A Call for Action

Dentistry has entered an era of personalized/precision care in which targeting care to groups, individuals, or even tooth surfaces based on their caries risk has become a reality to address the skewed distribution of the disease. The best approach to determine a patient’s prognosis relies on the development of caries risk prediction models (CRPMs). A desirable model should be derived and validated to appropriately discriminate between patients who will develop disease from those who will not, and it should provide an accurate estimation of the patient’s absolute risk (i.e., calibration). However, evidence suggests there is a need to improve the methodological standards and increase consistency in the way CRPMs are developed and evaluated. In fact, although numerous caries risk assessment tools are available, most are not routinely used in practice or used to influence treatment decisions, and choice is not commonly based on high-quality evidence. Research will propose models that will become more complex, incorporating new factors with high prognostic value (e.g., human genetic markers, microbial biomarkers). Big data and predictive analytic methods will be part of the new approaches for the identification of promising predictors with the ability to monitor patients’ risk in real time. Eventually, the implementation of validated, accurate CRPMs will have to follow a user-centered design respecting the patient-clinician dynamic, with no disruption to the clinical workflow, and needs to operate at low cost. The resulting predictive risk estimate needs to be presented to the patient in an understandable way so that it triggers behavior change and effectively informs health care decision making, to ultimately improve caries outcomes. However, research on these later aspects is largely missing and increasingly needed in dentistry.
A Comparison of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms Between Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Medical Residents: A Report from the Medical Trainee CHANGE Study.

Purpose: The pervasiveness of sexual minority stressors in the U.S. medical training environment is well documented, yet little is known about the mental health impact of such stressors on sexual minority medical residents. We compared depression and anxiety symptoms between sexual minority and heterosexual third-year medical residents, adjusting for depression and anxiety before residency, and examined the role of perceived residency belonging during the second year of residency as a predictor of subsequent sexual identity-based differences in depression and anxiety. Methods: In 2010-2011, first-year medical students enrolled in the Cognitive Habits and Growth Evaluation Study and completed surveys in the last year of medical school (MS4; 2014), as well as second (R2; 2016) and third (R3; 2017) year of residency. The surveys contained measures of sexual identity, residency belonging, depression, and anxiety. Results: Of the 2890 residents who provided information about their sexual identity, 291 (10.07%) identified as sexual minority individuals. Sexual minority residents reported significantly higher levels of depression (p = 0.009) and anxiety (p = 0.021) than their heterosexual peers at R3, even after adjusting for depression and anxiety at MS4. Sexual minority residents also reported a lower sense of belonging at R2 than did heterosexual residents (p = 0.006), which was in turn associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety at R3 (ps < 0.001). Conclusion: Sexual minority residents experienced higher levels of depression and anxiety than their heterosexual counterparts, and these mental health disparities were associated with lower perceived belonging in residency. Residency programs should prioritize evidence-based, targeted interventions for sexual minority mental health.
A Cheap Feature Selection Approach for the K-Means Algorithm

The increase in the number of features that need to be analyzed in a wide variety of areas, such as genome sequencing, computer vision, or sensor networks, represents a challenge for the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-means algorithm. In this regard, different dimensionality reduction approaches for the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-means algorithm have been designed recently, leading to algorithms that have proved to generate competitive clusterings. Unfortunately, most of these techniques tend to have fairly high computational costs and/or might not be easy to parallelize. In this article, we propose a fully parallelizable feature selection technique intended for the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-means algorithm. The proposal is based on a novel feature relevance measure that is closely related to the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-means error of a given clustering. Given a disjoint partition of the features, the technique consists of obtaining a clustering for each subset of features and selecting the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$m$ </tex-math></inline-formula> features with the highest relevance measure. The computational cost of this approach is just <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {O}(m\cdot \max \{n\cdot K,\log m\})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> per subset of features. We additionally provide a theoretical analysis on the quality of the obtained solution via our proposal and empirically analyze its performance with respect to well-known feature selection and feature extraction techniques. Such an analysis shows that our proposal consistently obtains the results with lower <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-means error than all the considered feature selection techniques: Laplacian scores, maximum variance, multicluster feature selection, and random selection while also requiring similar or lower computational times than these approaches. Moreover, when compared with feature extraction techniques, such as random projections, the proposed approach also shows a noticeable improvement in both error and computational time.
Silent cerebral infarct in sickle cell anemia patients of southern Turkey

Background/aim Silent cerebral infarct (SCI) is an ischemic lesion seen before clinical signs of brain infarct and ischemic changes in brain tissue. This study aimed to detect SCI with noninvasive methods and to determine related risk factors in patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA). Materials and methods Fifty-four SCA patients who had no history of cerebral infarct and whose neurological examinations were normal were included in this study. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion MRI were taken and the acquired data was compared statistically. Results SCI was detected in 11.1% (6/54) of the patients. No statistical differences in age, sex, physical examination findings, or treatments were detected between the 2 groups (with and without SCI). When examined in terms of HbS, the median (min–max) value in SCI-positive patients was 85.4 (80.5–92.1); the median value was 77.2 (49.0–96.7) in SCI-negative patients. The HbS values of the SCI group were statistically significantly higher than those of the group without SCI (P = 0.014). Patients with the HbSS or HbSβ0 genotypes had a significantly higher prevalence of SCI when compared with other sickle cell syndromes (P = 0.038). Conclusion SCI is not uncommon among SCA patients in Turkey. The presence of homozygote HbSS/Sβ0 genotype, high MCV, and HbS are risk factors for SCI.
Responses of triacylglycerol synthesis in Skeletonema marinoi to nitrogen and phosphate starvations

Skeletonema marinoi is one of the most widespread marine planktonic diatoms in temperate coastal regions and sometimes can form massive blooms. Yet, the molecular mechanisms of triacylglycerol (TAG) synthesis in nutrient‐deficient conditions for this species are still unknown. This study aimed to investigate how the TAG biosynthetic pathway of S. marinoi reacts to the culture age and nitrogen (N) or phosphorus (P) deficiency at molecular levels. Meanwhile, we also described the physiological and biochemical changes of S. marinoi in response to N or P starvation over time. To obtain reliable qRT‐PCR data, six putative reference genes were identified for assessing expression stability using geNorm and BestKeeper software, and Actin exhibited the most stable expression across 45 tested S. marinoi samples. We found that the expression of TAG biosynthesis‐related genes and ACCase enzyme activity varied in response to the different nutrient conditions and culture age. Taken together, we speculated that the capacity of TAG biosynthesis in S. marinoi is induced by N or P stress, and increases with culture age. Furthermore, TAG biosynthesis appears to respond more strongly to P deficiency than to N deficiency. Our study provides important insights into how diatoms regulate the TAG biosynthetic pathway when stressed by nutrient limitation. Besides, the data obtained from this study also provide useful clues for further exploring genes that can be used for metabolic engineering to enhance lipid production.
High mutation burden of circulating cell‐free DNA in early‐stage breast cancer patients is associated with a poor relapse‐free survival

High tumor mutation burden is shown to be associated with a poor clinical outcome. As the tumor‐derived fraction of circulating cell‐free DNA (cfDNA) is shown to reflect the genetic spectrum of the tumor, we examined whether the mutation burden of cfDNA could be used to predict the clinical outcomes of early‐stage breast cancer (BC) patients.
Importance of indigenous arbuscular mycorrhiza for growth and phosphorus uptake in tropical forage grasses growing on an acid, infertile soil from the Brazilian savannas

A pot experiment was conducted to examine the signifi cance of indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) for growth and phosphorus uptake in some important introduced forage grasses at different soil pH levels in a Brazilian Oxisol. Plants of Brachiaria brizantha (BB), B. decumbens (BD), B. humidicola (HU) and Panicum maximum (PM) were grown in a glasshouse for 70 days with or without inoculation with indigenous AMF at 3 levels of initial soil pH (4.3, 5.1 and 6.4). After the growth period, dry weight, concentration of phosphorus (P) and P uptake were determined in both shoots and roots. Inoculation with AMF increased both shoot and root dry weights in BD, BB and PM, but not in HU. Shoot and root P concentrations and total P uptake per pot in all species were improved by mycorrhizal inoculation. Plant growth and P uptake were directly related to soil pH in all grass species. All grass species showed the highest mycorrhizal dependency for dry matter production and P uptake at the lowest soil pH level.
Limited diagnostic value of serum inflammatory biomarkers in the diagnosis of fracture-related infections.

AIMS The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of preoperative serum CRP, white blood cell count (WBC), percentage of neutrophils (%N), and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) when using the fracture-related infection (FRI) consensus definition. METHODS A cohort of 106 patients having surgery for suspected septic nonunion after failed fracture fixation were studied. Blood samples were collected preoperatively, and the concentration of serum CRP, WBC, and differential cell count were analyzed. The areas under the curve (AUCs) of diagnostic tests were compared using the z-test. Regression trees were constructed and internally cross-validated to derive a simple diagnostic decision tree. RESULTS Using the FRI consensus definition, 46 patients (43%) were identified as infected. Sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of CRP were 67% (95% confidence interval (CI) 52% to 80%), 61% (95% CI 47% to 74%), and 0.64 (95% CI 0.54 to 0.74); of WBC count were 17% (95% CI 9% to 31%), 95% (95% CI 86% to 99%), and 0.57 (95% CI 0.50 to 0.62); of %N 13% (95% CI 6% to 26%), 87% (95% CI 76% to 93%), and 0.50 (95% CI 0.43 to 0.56); and of NLR 28% (95% CI 17% to 43%), 80% (95% CI 68% to 88%), and 0.54 (95% CI 0.46 to 0.63), respectively. A better performance of serum CRP was shown in comparison to the leucocyte count (p = 0.006), %N (p < 0.001), and NLR (p = 0.001). A statistically lower serum CRP level was shown in patients with an infection caused by a low virulence microorganism in comparison to high virulence bacteria (p = 0.008). We found that a simple decision tree approach using only low serum neutrophils (< 3.615 × 109/l) and low CRP (< 2.45 mg/l) may allow better identification of aseptic cases. CONCLUSION The evaluated serum inflammatory markers showed limited diagnostic value in the preoperative diagnosis of FRI when using the uniform FRI Consensus Definition. Therefore, they should remain as suggestive criteria in diagnosing FRI. Although CRP showed a higher performance in comparison to the other serum markers, it is insufficiently accurate to diagnose a septic nonunion, especially when caused by low virulence microorganisms. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2020;102-B(7):904-911.
Integrative crosstalk between hypoxia and the cold: Old data and new opportunities

What is the topic of this review? The aim was to examine the influence of hypoxia on thermoregulatory and cardiovascular control in the cold. What advances does it highlight? Exposure to hypoxia seems to alter both thermoregulatory and cardiovascular control, but these conclusions are based on limited data, and this review highlights the need for future research in this area.
La résistance aux anthelminthiques chez les nématodes des équidés

Parascaris equorum and cyathostomins are currently considered as the most important parasites of horses and during the twenty last years, they have been controlled with anthelmintics belonging to three drug classes: benzimidazoles, the tetrahydropyrimidine pyrantel, and macrocyclic lactones. For over 40 years, the use of control programs based on the frequent and regular application of anthelmintics to all horses has led to considerable selection pressure on parasite populations and to the development and extension of anthelmintic resistance in cyathostomins and P. equorum. Thus, resistance to benzimidazoles, and to a lesser extent to pyrantel, is now widespread in cyathostomins and reduced efficacy to macrocyclic lactones is suspected, principally measured as a reduction in strongyle egg reappearance period observed after treatment. Furthermore, resistance of P. equorum to ivermectin has been described in several European countries. Because there is no obvious possibility of reversion to anthelmintic susceptibility and no imminent marketing of new equine anthelmintics, horse owners and veterinarians must work closely together to abandon old practices and develop sustainable control programs. These programs will aim to reduce the frequency of treatments, and to maintain a sufficient level of refugia by performing treatments at strategic times and selective treatments based on fecal egg counts. They will also imperatively rely on sanitary measures applied to horse environment.