Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of TNF-α -308G>A Polymorphism with Susceptibility to Cervical Cancer and Breast Cancer - a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND To date, several studies have been carried out on the association of TNF-α -308G>A with the risk of cervical cancer (CC) and breast cancer (BC). However, their conclusions were not consistent. Thus, we performed a comprehensive meta-analysis to evaluate the association more precisely from all eligible case-control studies. METHODS We searched the PubMed, Google Scholar and Cochrane Library databases systematically to identify relevant studies up to 1 February 2019. The pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated using a fixed-or random-effects model. RESULTS A total of 40 case-control studies including 20 studies with 4,780 cases and 4,620 controls on CC and 20 studies with 12,390 cases and 14,910 controls on BC were selected in this meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that the TNF-α -308G>A polymorphism was significantly associated with an increased risk of CC (A vs. G: OR 1.277; 95% CI 1.104-1.477; P = 0.001; AA vs. GG: OR 1.333; 95% CI 1.062-1.674; P = 0.013; AG vs. GG: OR 1.307; 95% CI 1.064-1.605; P = 0.011; and AA + AG vs. GG: OR 1.324; 95% CI 1.104-1.587; P = 0.002) and BC (AA vs. AG + GG: OR 0.094; 95% CI 0.058-0.152; P 0.001). In the stratified analyses by ethnicity, the TNF-α -308G>A polymorphism was significantly associated with the risk of CC (in Caucasians and Africans) and BC (Caucasians and Asians). CONCLUSION Our findings showed that TNF-α -308G>A polymorphism may be a risk factor for cervical cancer and breast cancer overall and by ethnicity.
Speech synthesis system

A speech synthesis unit comprises a text processor which breaks down text into phonemes, a prosodic processor which assigns properties such as length and pitch to the phonemes based on context, and a synthesis unit which outputs an audio signal representing the sequence of phonemes according to the specified properties. The prosodic processor includes a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) to predict the durations of the phonemes. Each state of the HMM represents a duration, and the outputs are phonemes. The HMM is trained on a set of data consisting of phonemes of known identity and duration, to allow the state transition and output distributions to be calculated. The HMM can then be used for any given input sequence of phonemes to predict a most likely sequence of corresponding durations.
Correlation of miRNA expression with intensity of neuropathic pain in man

Background Peripheral nerve injury causes changes in expression of multiple receptors and mediators that participate in pain processing. We investigated the expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) – a class of post-transcriptional regulators involved in many physiological and pathophysiological processes – and their potential role in the development or maintenance of chronic neuropathic pain following lingual nerve injury in human and rat. Methods We profiled miRNA expression in Sprague-Dawley rat and human lingual nerve neuromas using TaqMan® low-density array cards. Expression of miRNAs of interest was validated via specific probes and correlated with nerve injury-related behavioural change in rat (time spent drinking) and clinical pain (visual analogue scale (VAS) score). Target prediction was performed using publicly available algorithms; gene enrichment and pathway analysis were conducted with MetaCore. Networks of miRNAs and putative target genes were created with Cytoscape; interaction of miRNAs and target genomes in rat and human was displayed graphically using CircosPlot. Results rno-miR-138 was upregulated in lingual nerve of injured rats versus sham controls. rno-miR-138 and rno-miR-667 expression correlated with behavioural change at day 3 post-injury (with negative (rno-miR-138) and positive (rno-miR-667) correlations between expression and time spent drinking). In human, hsa-miR-29a was downregulated in lingual nerve neuromas of patients with higher pain VAS scores (painful group) versus patients with lower pain VAS scores (non-painful). A statistically significant negative correlation was observed between expression of both hsa-miR-29a and hsa-miR-500a, and pain VAS score. Conclusions Our results show that following lingual nerve injury, there are highly significant correlations between abundance of specific miRNAs, altered behaviour and pain scores. This study provides the first demonstration of correlations between human miRNA levels and VAS scores for neuropathic pain and suggests a potential contribution of specific miRNAs to the development of chronic pain following lingual nerve injury. Putative targets for candidate miRNAs include genes related to interleukin and chemokine receptors and potassium channels.
Whole-Genome Sequence of Lactobacillus acidophilus PNW3, Isolated from Weaned Piglets of the Indigenous South African Windsnyer Pig Breed

A draft genome sequence of Lactobacillus acidophilus PNW3 is reported. The genome assembly is 1,857,655 bp long in 25 contigs with an N50 value of 230,557 bp and a G+C content of 34.6%. The total number of predicted protein-coding genes is 1,776, with 58 predicted RNAs and 42 predicted pseudogenes. ABSTRACT A draft genome sequence of Lactobacillus acidophilus PNW3 is reported. The genome assembly is 1,857,655 bp long in 25 contigs with an N50 value of 230,557 bp and a G+C content of 34.6%. The total number of predicted protein-coding genes is 1,776, with 58 predicted RNAs and 42 predicted pseudogenes.
The role of sex hormones and social determinants in assessment of facial attractiveness.

OBJECTIVES The current study is focused on assessing the factors of attractiveness of opposite-sex individuals based on evaluating photographs of their faces. BACKGROUND When assessing the attractiveness, factors of both, the assessed individual and the assessor play a role. The relationship of the preference for partners based on their physical appearance with the markers of prenatal testosterone is not fully understood. METHODS Sex hormone levels were measured in saliva, while age, social status, income and occupation were recorded. A total of 30 women and 35 men were enrolled. RESULTS The identified factors determining the attractiveness of menare their age and prenatal testosterone level (second-to-fourth digit ratio - 2D:4D). The attractiveness of men is more influenced by the factors of evaluating women, namely the rating assigned to the men positively correlates with age, 2D:4D, and salivary estradiol of the evaluating women. The attractiveness of women correlated negatively with age and positively with prenatal exposure to androgens (2D:4D). The women with lower estradiol were rated higher by men who themselves had low estradiol levels. The attractiveness did not correlate with current testosterone. CONCLUSION This study contributes to the knowledge on the role of sex hormones in human sexuality and partner choice. Further studies should include genetic factors of testosterone metabolism. (Tab. 4, Ref. 23).
Effects of ambient temperature on growth performance and carcass traits of male growing White Pekin ducks

ABSTRACT 1. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of ambient temperature on growth performance and carcass traits in male growing Pekin ducks from 14 to 42 d of age in order to establish their optimal temperature requirements. 2. A total of 216 14 d old male White Pekin ducks were allocated randomly to six environmentally controlled chambers with ambient temperature set at 20°C, 22°C, 24°C, 26°C, 28°C, and 30°C from 14 to 42 d of age, respectively. 3. As ambient temperature increased from 20°C to 30°C, the body weight and weight gain decreased linearly or quadratically (P < 0.05) and was accompanied by linearly decreasing feed intake (P < 0.05). According to broken-line regression, the upper critical level of ambient temperature during the growing period for body weight, weight gain, and feed conversion ratio were 27.4°C, 27.4°C, and 26.0°C, respectively. 4. The weight of breast meat, leg meat, and abdominal fat decreased linearly or quadratically as ambient temperature increased and declined to a minimum when the temperature increased to 30°C (P < 0.05). The percentage of breast meat and abdominal fat showed a linear or quadratic decreasing response to increasing temperature, but leg meat percentage increased as temperature increased and reached maximum at 30°C (P < 0.05). According to broken-line regression, the upper critical ambient temperatures during the growing period for breast meat weight and percentage were 25.5°C and 25.6°C, respectively. 5. It was concluded that both growth performance and breast meat of growing ducks were sensitive to increasing ambient temperature and this should be kept below the upper critical temperature during the growing period in order to optimise growth performance and carcass traits at market age.
A Method for Generating History Questions using LOD and Its Evaluation

: The objective of this research is to propose a method to create natural language history questions using current LOD. By combining LOD with a history domain ontology and a history domain dependent question ontology specifying a domain-independent taxonomy, our method can generate content-dependent questions. To be able to support learning, the quality of the questions need to be high. We evaluated the quality of the generated questions by asking a human expert to compare them to questions created by human. The results showed that the system generated question could cover most (84%) of the question supporting basic knowledge acquisition. The results also confirmed that the system generated questions could enhance historical thinking with the same average quality as human generated questions.
Impact of spray‐drying on the pili of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG

The preservation of the viability of microorganisms in probiotic formulations is the most important parameter ensuring the adequate concentration of live microorganisms at the time of administration. The formulation and processing techniques used to produce these probiotic formulations can influence the preservation of the microbial viability. However, it is also required that the bacteria maintain their key probiotic capacities during processing, formulation and shelf life. In this study, we investigated the impact of spray‐drying on different cell wall properties of the model probiotic strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, including its adherence to intestinal epithelial cells. The dltD gene knock‐out mutant, L. rhamnosus GG CMPG5540, displaying modified cell wall lipoteichoic acids, showed significantly increased colony‐forming units after spray‐drying and subsequent storage under standard conditions compared to wild‐type L. rhamnosus GG. In contrast, disruption of the biosynthesis of exopolysaccharides or pili expression did not impact survival. However, spray‐drying did significantly affect the adherence capacity of L. rhamnosus GG. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the pili, key surface factors for adherence to intestinal cells and mucus, were sheared off during the spray‐drying process. These data thus highlight that both the functionality and viability of probiotics should be assessed during the spray‐drying process and subsequent storage.
Online Passwords：Keep It Complicated 拿什么拯救你．我的密码

曾经以为，一个密码就能锁住所有的秘密. 但如今．当密码泄露事件接：二连曼地发生，当黑客处心积虑地想盗取你的信息，人们再也无法死心塌地地把存款甚至更为性命攸关的东西托付给几个简短的密码。 于是，密码的麻烦也随之到来：越简单就意味着越不安全，越复杂就意味着越难记忆、那么，你是宁愿让简单的密码接受运气的考验，还是绞爆脑汁地去记那一串复杂的字符？
Fluoride Varnish and Dental Caries in Preschoolers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of fluoride varnish (FV) in reducing dentine caries at the patient, tooth, and surface levels as well as caries-related hospitalizations in preschoolers. We performed a systematic review of clinical trials of FV, alone or associated with an oral health program, compared with placebo, usual care, or no intervention. Bibliographical search included electronic searches of seven databases, registers of ongoing trials, and meeting abstracts, as well as hand searching. We performed random-effects meta-analyses and calculated confidence and prediction intervals. The search yielded 2,441 records; 20 trials were included in the review and 17 in at least one meta-analysis. Only one study had low risk of bias in all domains. We found no study reporting on caries-related hospitalizations. At the individual level, the pooled relative risk was 0.88 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.81, 0.95); this means that in a population of preschool children with 50% caries incidence, we need to apply fluoride varnish in 17 children to avoid new caries in one child. At the tooth level, the pooled weighted mean difference was –0.30 (95% CI –0.69, 0.09) and at the surface level –0.77 (95% CI –1.23, –0.31). Considering the prediction intervals, none of the pooled estimates were statistically significant. We conclude that FV showed a modest and uncertain anticaries effect in preschoolers. Cost-effectiveness analyses are needed to assess whether FV should be adopted or abandoned by dental services.
Comprehensive geriatric assessments in integrated care programs for older people living at home: A scoping review

Abstract In many integrated care programs, a comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) is conducted to identify older people's problems and care needs. Different ways for conducting a CGA are in place. However, it is still unclear which CGA instruments and procedures for conducting them are used in integrated care programs, and what distinguishes them from each other. Furthermore, it is yet unknown how and to what extent CGAs, as a component of integrated care programs, actually reflect the main principles of integrated care, being comprehensiveness, multidisciplinarity and person‐centredness. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to: (a) describe and compare different CGA instruments and procedures conducted within integrated care programs for older people living at home, and (b) describe how the principles of integrated care were applied in these CGAs. A scoping review of the scientific literature on CGAs in the context of integrated care was conducted for the period 2006–2018. Data were extracted on main characteristics of the identified CGA instruments and procedures, and on how principles of integrated care were applied in these CGAs. Twenty‐seven integrated care programs were included in this study, of which most were implemented in the Netherlands and the United States. Twenty‐one different CGAs were identified, of which the EASYcare instrument, RAI‐HC/RAI‐CHA and GRACE tool were used in multiple programs. The majority of CGAs seemed to reflect comprehensiveness, multidisciplinarity and person‐centredness, although the way and extent to which principles of integrated care were incorporated differed between the CGAs. This study highlights the high variability of CGA instruments and procedures used in integrated care programs. This overview of available CGAs and their characteristics may promote (inter‐)national exchange of CGAs, which could enable researchers and professionals in choosing from the wide range of existing CGAs, thereby preventing them from unnecessarily reinventing the wheel.
Evaluation of the Two-Bag System in Adult Diabetic Ketoacidosis Patients

Purpose: Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a serious complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). This study was designed to assess if the two-bag (TB) system, which utilizes 2 intravenous (IV) fluid bags, one containing sodium chloride and the other containing sodium chloride and dextrose, is an effective and safe alternative to the traditional one-bag (OB) system in adults with DKA. Methods: A retrospective review was performed at an academic medical center. Adults with DKA were included if treated with the OB or TB system. The primary outcome was time to anion gap closure. Secondary outcomes included duration of insulin infusion, time to serum bicarbonate correction, number of continuous IV fluid orders, intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital length of stay (LOS), and rates of hypoglycemia and hypokalemia. Results: One hundred twenty-two patients were included. Sixty-eight were treated with the OB system and 54 with the TB system. There were no differences in time to anion gap closure, duration of insulin infusion, ICU LOS, or hospital LOS. Time to bicarbonate correction was shorter in the OB group (13.5 [IQR: 7-29] vs 25 [IQR: 11-50] hours; P = .03). There were no differences in rates of hypoglycemia or hypokalemia between groups. Conclusion: The TB system had similar efficacy and safety when compared to the OB system. Both approaches can be considered in adults with DKA.
Prevalence of Molar-Incisor Hypomineralisation in an Emerging Community, and a Possible Correlation with Caries, Fluorosis and Socioeconomic Status.

PURPOSE To determine the prevalence of molar-incisor hypomineralisation (MIH) in 7- to 9-year-old (±1 year) schoolchildren living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and to find a possible association with caries, fluorosis and socioeconomic status. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this cross-sectional study, a representative sample of 779 children with an age of 7 to 9 years ±1 year in primary schools in Dubai were randomly selected and examined by one investigator who had previously been trained and calibrated with the diagnostic criteria of European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry (EAPD) for MIH, caries diagnostic criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Dean's criteria for fluorosis. RESULTS The prevalence of MIH in Dubai was 7.57% and was almost identical for both genders (female 7.57% and male 7.58%). The caries index was high (2.41±1.7). Children with MIH in Dubai exhibited statistically significantly higher DMFT values than did children without MIH (mean 3.5 ± 1.7 vs 2.3 ± 1.7; p < 0.001). The prevalence of fluorosis was 10.9% with no statistically significant age or gender differences. CONCLUSION The prevalence of MIH in Dubai is low. However, the caries and fluorosis values are much higher, which calls for strengthening caries-preventive efforts.
Adaptation of the Hierarchical Factor Segmentation method to noisy activity data

ABSTRACT The Hierarchical Factor Segmentation (HFS) method is a non-parametric statistical method for detection of the phase of a biological rhythm shown in an actogram. The detection accuracy of this method was measured on actograms showing only circadian rhythms with a constant ratio of signal to noise (S/N). In the present study, we generated 84 types of artificial actograms including circadian or circatidal rhythms by using three parameters: α/ρ, S/N and period length τ, and evaluated the effectiveness of our devised adaptation of the HFS method, the cycle-by-cycle adaptation. The results showed the effectiveness of the cycle-by-cycle adaptation was high even though S/N or τ was fluctuating through a whole actogram. These suggested that the cycle-by-cycle adaptation could be effectively applied to various kinds of rhythmic activity data. The C++ source code of the cycle-by-cycle adaptation is available on the website at https://github.com/KazukiSakura/cHFS.git.
Short- and long-term outcomes after incident pneumonia in adults with chronic kidney disease: a time-dependent analysis from the Stockholm CREAtinine Measurement project

Abstract Background Little is known about the health sequelae of pneumonia in persons with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods We studied adults with CKD in Stockholm during 2006–11, who not previously been diagnosed with lower respiratory tract infections. We used multivariable-adjusted Cox regression with pneumonia as a time-varying exposure to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) [95% confidence intervals (CIs)] for the events of death, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), acute kidney injury (AKI), CKD progression or hospitalization for urinary tract infections (UTIs)/sepsis. Cataract and knee/joint replacement served as negative control outcomes. Results We identified 71 931 adults (mean age 79 years, 59% women), of whom 8379 (12%) were diagnosed with pneumonia during follow-up; incident pneumonia was associated with 10 times higher adjusted mortality risk during the first 90 days [HR = 10.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) 9.5–10.5] and double the mortality beyond 90 days from pneumonia diagnosis (HR = 2.0; 95% CI 1.9–2.1). Incident pneumonia was similarly associated with higher adjusted risk of MACE (<90 days: HR = 12.6; 95% CI 12.0–13.3; ≥90 days: HR = 1.5; 95% CI 1.4–1.6). The adjusted risk of CKD progression and UTI/sepsis hospitalization was highest within 90 days from pneumonia but remained elevated thereafter. For AKI, the association with incident pneumonia was only seen within 90 days. Neither cataract nor knee/joint replacement was related to pneumonia. Conclusions Incident pneumonia was associated with increased risks of MACE, CKD progression, severe UTI/sepsis and death, with risks highest soon after pneumonia diagnosis but extending beyond 90 days. Our findings highlight the susceptibility for adverse outcomes of CKD patients following pneumonia diagnosis, and may inform clinical decisions regarding vaccination strategies.
A Review of Perspectives on the Use of Randomization in Phase II Oncology Trials

Abstract Historically, phase II oncology trials assessed a treatment’s efficacy by examining its tumor response rate in a single-arm trial. Then, approximately 25 years ago, certain statistical and pharmacological considerations ignited a debate around whether randomized designs should be used instead. Here, based on an extensive literature review, we review the arguments on either side of this debate. In particular, we describe the numerous factors that relate to the reliance of single-arm trials on historical control data and detail the trial scenarios in which there was general agreement on preferential utilization of single-arm or randomized design frameworks, such as the use of single-arm designs when investigating treatments for rare cancers. We then summarize the latest figures on phase II oncology trial design, contrasting current design choices against historical recommendations on best practice. Ultimately, we find several ways in which the design of recently completed phase II trials does not appear to align with said recommendations. For example, despite advice to the contrary, only 66.2% of the assessed trials that employed progression-free survival as a primary or coprimary outcome used a randomized comparative design. In addition, we identify that just 28.2% of the considered randomized comparative trials came to a positive conclusion as opposed to 72.7% of the single-arm trials. We conclude by describing a selection of important issues influencing contemporary design, framing this discourse in light of current trends in phase II, such as the increased use of biomarkers and recent interest in novel adaptive designs.