Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Preoperative and Postoperative Psychological Symptoms on Clinical Outcome after Shoulder Surgery: A Prospective Longitudinal Cohort Study

Background Psychological symptoms are highly prevalent in patients with shoulder complaints. Psychological symptoms in patients with shoulder complaints might play a role in the aetiology, perceived disability and pain and clinical outcome of treatment. The aim of this study was to assess whether preoperative symptoms of distress, depression, anxiety and somatisation were associated with a change in function after shoulder surgery and postoperative patient perceived improvement of pain and function. In addition, the change of psychological symptoms after shoulder surgery was analyzed and the influence of postoperative symptoms of psychological disorders after surgery on the change in function after shoulder surgery and perceived postoperative improvement of pain and function. Methods and Findings A prospective longitudinal cohort study was performed in a general teaching hospital. 315 consecutive patients planned for elective shoulder surgery were included. Outcome measures included change of Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) score and anchor questions about improvement in pain and function after surgery. Psychological symptoms were identified before and 12 months after surgery with the validated Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire (4DSQ). Psychological symptoms were encountered in all the various shoulder diagnoses. Preoperative symptoms of psychological disorders persisted after surgery in 56% of patients, 10% of patients with no symptoms of psychological disorders before surgery developed new psychological symptoms. Preoperative symptoms of psychological disorders were not associated with the change of DASH score and perceived improvement of pain and function after shoulder surgery. Patients with symptoms of psychological disorders after surgery were less likely to improve on the DASH score. Postoperative symptoms of distress and depression were associated with worse perceived improvement of pain. Postoperative symptoms of distress, depression and somatisation were associated with worse perceived improvement of function. Conclusions Preoperative symptoms of distress, depression, anxiety and somatisation were not associated with worse clinical outcome 12 months after shoulder surgery. Symptoms of psychological disorders before shoulder surgery persisted in 56% of patients after surgery. Postoperative symptoms of psychological disorders 12 months after shoulder surgery were strongly associated with worse clinical outcome.
Silica-supported sulfonic acids as recyclable catalyst for esterification of levulinic acid with stoichiometric amounts of alcohols

Converting biomass into value-added chemicals holds the key to sustainable long-term carbon resource management. In this context, levulinic acid, which is easily obtained from cellulose, is valuable since it can be transformed into a variety of industrially relevant fine chemicals. Here we present a simple protocol for the selective esterification of levulinic acid using solid acid catalysts. Silica supported sulfonic acid catalysts operate under mild conditions and give good conversion and selectivity with stoichiometric amounts of alcohols. The sulfonic acid groups are tethered to the support using organic tethers. These tethers may help in preventing the deactivation of the active sites in the presence of water.
Analysis of HIV Diversity in HIV-Infected Black Men Who Have Sex with Men (HPTN 061)

Background HIV populations often diversify in response to selective pressures, such as the immune response and antiretroviral drug use. We analyzed HIV diversity in Black men who have sex with men who were enrolled in the HIV Prevention Trials Network 061 study. Methods A high resolution melting (HRM) diversity assay was used to measure diversity in six regions of the HIV genome: two in gag, one in pol, and three in env. HIV diversity was analyzed for 146 men who were HIV infected at study enrollment, including three with acute infection and 13 with recent infection (identified using a multi-assay algorithm), and for 21 men who seroconverted during the study. HIV diversification was analyzed in a paired analysis for 62 HIV-infected men using plasma samples from the enrollment and 12-month (end of study) visits. Results Men with acute or recent infection at enrollment and seroconverters had lower median HRM scores (lower HIV diversity) than men with non-recent infection in all six regions analyzed. In univariate analyses, younger age, higher CD4 cell count, and HIV drug resistance were associated with lower median HRM scores in multiple regions; ARV drug detection was marginally associated with lower diversity in the pol region. In multivariate analysis, acute or recent infection (all six regions) and HIV drug resistance (both gag regions) were associated with lower median HRM scores. Diversification in the pol region over 12 months was greater for men with acute or recent infection, higher CD4 cell count, and lower HIV viral load at study enrollment. Conclusions HIV diversity was significantly associated with duration of HIV infection, and lower gag diversity was observed in men who had HIV drug resistance. HIV pol diversification was more pronounced in men with acute or recent infection, higher CD4 cell count, and lower HIV viral load.
Depletion of regulatory T cells leads to an exacerbation of delayed-type hypersensitivity arthritis in C57BL/6 mice that can be counteracted by IL-17 blockade

ABSTRACT Rodent models of arthritis have been extensively used in the elucidation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pathogenesis and are instrumental in the development of therapeutic strategies. Here we utilise delayed-type hypersensitivity arthritis (DTHA), a model in C57BL/6 mice affecting one paw with synchronised onset, 100% penetrance and low variation. We investigate the role of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in DTHA through selective depletion of Tregs and the role of IL-17 in connection with Treg depletion. Given the relevance of Tregs in RA, and the possibility of developing Treg-directed therapies, this approach could be relevant for advancing the understanding of Tregs in inflammatory arthritis. Selective depletion of Tregs was achieved using a Foxp3-DTR-eGFP mouse, which expresses the diphtheria toxin receptor (DTR) and enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) under control of the Foxp3 gene. Anti-IL-17 monoclonal antibody (mAb) was used for IL-17 blockade. Numbers and activation of Tregs increased in the paw and its draining lymph node in DTHA, and depletion of Tregs resulted in exacerbation of disease as shown by increased paw swelling, increased infiltration of inflammatory cells, increased bone remodelling and increased production of inflammatory mediators, as well as increased production of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies. Anti-IL-17 mAb treatment demonstrated that IL-17 is important for disease severity in both the presence and absence of Tregs, and that IL-17 blockade is able to rescue mice from the exacerbated disease caused by Treg depletion and caused a reduction in RANKL, IL-6 and the number of neutrophils. We show that Tregs are important for the containment of inflammation and bone remodelling in DTHA. To our knowledge, this is the first study using the Foxp3-DTR-eGFP mouse on a C57BL/6 background for Treg depletion in an arthritis model, and we here demonstrate the usefulness of the approach to study the role of Tregs and IL-17 in arthritis. Summary: This paper increases the understanding of disease drivers and regulators in delayed-type hypersensitivity arthritis, a robust and reproducible arthritis model in C57BL/6 mice.
Estimating sensitivity of seabed habitats to disturbance by bottom trawling based on the longevity of benthic fauna

Abstract Bottom fishing such as trawling and dredging may pose serious risks to the seabed and benthic habitats, calling for a quantitative assessment method to evaluate the impact and guide management to develop mitigation measures. We provide a method to estimate the sensitivity of benthic habitats based on the longevity composition of the invertebrate community. We hypothesize that long‐lived species are more sensitive to trawling mortality due to their lower pace of life (i.e., slower growth, late maturation). We analyze data from box‐core and grab samples taken from 401 stations in the English Channel and southern North Sea to estimate the habitat‐specific longevity composition of the benthic invertebrate community and of specific functional groups (i.e., suspension feeders and bioturbators), and examine how bottom trawling affects the longevity biomass composition. The longevity biomass composition differed between habitats governed by differences in sediment composition (gravel and mud content) and tidal bed‐shear stress. The biomass proportion of long‐lived species increased with gravel content and decreased with mud content and shear stress. Bioturbators had a higher median longevity than suspension feeders. Trawling, in particular by gears that penetrate the seabed >2 cm, shifted the community toward shorter‐lived species. Changes from bottom trawling were highest in habitats with many long‐lived species (hence increasing with gravel content, decreasing with mud content). Benthic communities in high shear stress habitats were less affected by bottom trawling. Using these relationships, we predicted the sensitivity of the benthic community from bottom trawling impact at large spatial scale (the North Sea). We derived different benthic sensitivity metrics that provide a basis to estimate indicators of trawling impact on a continuous scale for the total community and specific functional groups. In combination with high resolution data of trawling pressure, our approach can be used to monitor and assess trawling impact and seabed status at the scale of the region or broadscale habitat and to compare the environmental impact of bottom‐contacting fishing gears across fisheries.
Patients’ perspectives and preferences in the choice of inhalers: the case for Respimat® or HandiHaler®

Poor inhaler technique hampers the efficacy of drug therapy in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Not only does this affect individual patient care, but it also impacts on the wider health care economics associated with these conditions. Treatment guidelines recommend a systematic approach to drug class selection; however, standardization of inhaler selection is currently difficult owing to the complexity of the interaction between the inhaler device and the patient. Specifically, individual patient preference can influence how successful a treatment is overall. This article reviews inhaler devices from the patient perspective, with a particular focus on the dry powder inhaler HandiHaler® and Respimat® Soft Mist™ Inhaler. It discusses factors that influence device preference and treatment compliance and reviews tools that can aid health care professionals to better match inhaler devices to individual patients’ needs.
Update on Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Light of Recent Evidence: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association

Cardiovascular disease risk factor control as primary prevention in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus has changed substantially in the past few years. The purpose of this scientific statement is to review the current literature and key clinical trials pertaining to blood pressure and blood glucose control, cholesterol management, aspirin therapy, and lifestyle modification. We present a synthesis of the recent literature, new guidelines, and clinical targets, including screening for kidney and subclinical cardiovascular disease for the contemporary management of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Gene × Physical Activity Interactions in Obesity: Combined Analysis of 111,421 Individuals of European Ancestry

Numerous obesity loci have been identified using genome-wide association studies. A UK study indicated that physical activity may attenuate the cumulative effect of 12 of these loci, but replication studies are lacking. Therefore, we tested whether the aggregate effect of these loci is diminished in adults of European ancestry reporting high levels of physical activity. Twelve obesity-susceptibility loci were genotyped or imputed in 111,421 participants. A genetic risk score (GRS) was calculated by summing the BMI-associated alleles of each genetic variant. Physical activity was assessed using self-administered questionnaires. Multiplicative interactions between the GRS and physical activity on BMI were tested in linear and logistic regression models in each cohort, with adjustment for age, age2, sex, study center (for multicenter studies), and the marginal terms for physical activity and the GRS. These results were combined using meta-analysis weighted by cohort sample size. The meta-analysis yielded a statistically significant GRS × physical activity interaction effect estimate (Pinteraction = 0.015). However, a statistically significant interaction effect was only apparent in North American cohorts (n = 39,810, Pinteraction = 0.014 vs. n = 71,611, Pinteraction = 0.275 for Europeans). In secondary analyses, both the FTO rs1121980 (Pinteraction = 0.003) and the SEC16B rs10913469 (Pinteraction = 0.025) variants showed evidence of SNP × physical activity interactions. This meta-analysis of 111,421 individuals provides further support for an interaction between physical activity and a GRS in obesity disposition, although these findings hinge on the inclusion of cohorts from North America, indicating that these results are either population-specific or non-causal.
Dynamic decomposition of spatiotemporal neural signals

Neural signals are characterized by rich temporal and spatiotemporal dynamics that reflect the organization of cortical networks. Theoretical research has shown how neural networks can operate at different dynamic ranges that correspond to specific types of information processing. Here we present a data analysis framework that uses a linearized model of these dynamic states in order to decompose the measured neural signal into a series of components that capture both rhythmic and non-rhythmic neural activity. The method is based on stochastic differential equations and Gaussian process regression. Through computer simulations and analysis of magnetoencephalographic data, we demonstrate the efficacy of the method in identifying meaningful modulations of oscillatory signals corrupted by structured temporal and spatiotemporal noise. These results suggest that the method is particularly suitable for the analysis and interpretation of complex temporal and spatiotemporal neural signals.
Integrating Heterogeneous Biomedical Data for Cancer Research: the CARPEM infrastructure

Summary Cancer research involves numerous disciplines. The multiplicity of data sources and their heterogeneous nature render the integration and the exploration of the data more and more complex. Translational research platforms are a promising way to assist scientists in these tasks. In this article, we identify a set of scientific and technical principles needed to build a translational research platform compatible with ethical requirements, data protection and data-integration problems. We describe the solution adopted by the CARPEM cancer research program to design and deploy a platform able to integrate retrospective, prospective, and day-to-day care data. We designed a three-layer architecture composed of a data collection layer, a data integration layer and a data access layer. We leverage a set of open-source resources including i2b2 and tranSMART. Citation: Rance B, Canuel V, Countouris H, Laurent-Puig P, Burgun A. Integrating heterogeneous biomedical data for cancer research: the CARPEM infrastructure.
Do we measure gray matter activation with functional diffusion tensor imaging?

In this comment by Autio and Roberts (2014) on our second fDTI article “Functional Diffusion Tensor Imaging at 3 Tesla” (Mandl et al., 2013) the authors suggest that BOLD signal originating from gray matter could in part explain the reported task-related FA changes in white matter. The rationale is that the relative contribution from activated gray matter to the measured signal increases in voxels containing both gray and white matter. Because the ADC value for gray matter is between the parallel and perpendicular ADC for white matter, this increased contribution effectively could lead to an increase in the measured parallel ADC and a decrease in the measured perpendicular ADC and hence an increase in FA. Indeed, contamination by signal “leaking” from gray matter into white matter has been one of our major concerns in both our fDTI articles, together with the effects of motion. However, we think that the proposed mechanism by Autio and Roberts to the reported task-related FA changes does not contribute to our finding. One, the use of the non-parametric sign test in our first fDTI paper (Mandl et al., 2008) prevents that only a few voxels (e.g., the end points of the tract touching active gray matter) can result in activation of a complete tract. Two, the global shift of the histograms presented in Figure 5 Mandl et al. (2008) shows that a large part of the white matter voxels in the active tracts contribute to the measured task-related FA change. Of course this in itself does not rule out the proposed mechanism because it could be that the active tracts are (for a large part) surrounded by active gray matter voxels. This may for instance be the case for the optic radiations. These tracts are relatively short and are for a large part adjacent to (possible active) gray matter voxels. However, this certainly is not the case for the active thalamo-cortical tracts as can be seen in the supplementary movie (Mandl et al., 2008, Movie S1). This movie shows the combined fDTI and BOLD fMRI results for the tactile experiment in a single subject (subject nr 5). It can be readily seen that the hypothesized partial voluming with possible active gray matter could only occur at the endpoints of the fiber bundle. Furthermore, three, in the second fDTI paper (Mandl et al., 2013) we introduce a time lag between the stimulus and the start of the acquisition of a fDTI volume to make the measurement less sensitive to relatively fast varying signal changes (e.g., BOLD related signal changes). Still, similar effects were reported for the tactile experiment. Taken together we conclude that although the hypothesized mechanism by Autio and Roberts is intriguing and more experiments are needed to obtain better insight in the underlying mechanisms it cannot explain our measured task-related changes in FA in functional Diffusion Tensor Imaging.
Maximum swimming speeds of sailfish and three other large marine predatory fish species based on muscle contraction time and stride length: a myth revisited

ABSTRACT Billfishes are considered to be among the fastest swimmers in the oceans. Previous studies have estimated maximum speed of sailfish and black marlin at around 35 m s−1 but theoretical work on cavitation predicts that such extreme speed is unlikely. Here we investigated maximum speed of sailfish, and three other large marine pelagic predatory fish species, by measuring the twitch contraction time of anaerobic swimming muscle. The highest estimated maximum swimming speeds were found in sailfish (8.3±1.4 m s−1), followed by barracuda (6.2±1.0 m s−1), little tunny (5.6±0.2 m s−1) and dorado (4.0±0.9 m s−1); although size-corrected performance was highest in little tunny and lowest in sailfish. Contrary to previously reported estimates, our results suggest that sailfish are incapable of exceeding swimming speeds of 10-15 m s−1, which corresponds to the speed at which cavitation is predicted to occur, with destructive consequences for fin tissues. Summary: Using muscle contraction measurements, this work provides evidence that sailfish are most likely unable to reach the extremely high speeds claimed by previous research and popular articles.
Reduced neural sensitivity to social stimuli in infants at risk for autism

In the hope of discovering early markers of autism, attention has recently turned to the study of infants at risk owing to being the younger siblings of children with autism. Because the condition is highly heritable, later-born siblings of diagnosed children are at substantially higher risk for developing autism or the broader autism phenotype than the general population. Currently, there are no strong predictors of autism in early infancy and diagnosis is not reliable until around 3 years of age. Because indicators of brain functioning may be sensitive predictors, and atypical social interactions are characteristic of the syndrome, we examined whether temporal lobe specialization for processing visual and auditory social stimuli during infancy differs in infants at risk. In a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study, infants aged 4–6 months at risk for autism showed less selective neural responses to social stimuli (auditory and visual) than low-risk controls. These group differences could not be attributed to overall levels of attention, developmental stage or chronological age. Our results provide the first demonstration of specific differences in localizable brain function within the first 6 months of life in a group of infants at risk for autism. Further, these differences closely resemble known patterns of neural atypicality in children and adults with autism. Future work will determine whether these differences in infant neural responses to social stimuli predict either later autism or the broader autism phenotype frequently seen in unaffected family members.
Evolution of Seventh Cholera Pandemic and Origin of 1991 Epidemic, Latin America

Thirty single-nucleotide polymorphisms were used to track the spread of the seventh pandemic caused by Vibrio cholerae. Isolates from the 1991 epidemic in Latin America shared a profile with 1970s isolates from Africa, suggesting a possible origin in Africa. Data also showed that the observed genotypes spread easily and widely.