Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mitral valve leaflet response to ischemic mitral regurgitation: From gene expression to tissue remodeling

Aims Ischemic mitral regurgitation is frequently observed following myocardial infarction and is associated with higher mortality and poor clinical prognosis if left untreated. Accumulating evidence suggests that mitral valve leaflets actively remodel post–myocardial infarction, yet the cellular mechanisms underlying these responses and how this affects tissue function remain largely unknown. We sought to elucidate mitral valve remodeling post myocardial infarction at the tissue, cellular, and transcriptomic levels. Methods and Results The mechanical behavior of ovine mitral valve leaflets pre– and 8 weeks post– myocardial infarction reveal a significant decrease in radial direction extensibility, which essentially eliminated the mechanical anisotropy typically observed in healthy mitral valves. Quantitative histology and ultrastructural assessment by transmission electron microscopy revealed altered leaflet composition and architecture at 8 weeks post–myocardial infarction. Assessment of the mitral valve interstitial cell nuclear aspect ratio, a metric of cellular deformation, revealed that they were on average rounder following myocardial infarction. RNA sequencing indicated that YAP-induced genes were elevated at 4 weeks post–myocardial infarction and genes related to extracellular matrix organization were some of the most downregulated in sheep with IMR compared to sheep without ischemic mitral regurgitation at 4 weeks post–myocardial infarction. Additionally, RNA sequencing revealed the possible recruitment of immune cells in this remodeling process due to the drastic elevation of CXCL9 and CLEC10A. Conclusions Our multiscale assessment revealed significant mechanical and microstructural changes due to myocardial infarction. RNA sequencing provided a baseline for global gene expression changes in response to myocardial infarction with and without ischemic mitral regurgitation and suggests YAP-induced mechanotransduction, altered expression of extracellular matrix–related genes, and recruitment of immune cells as mechanisms contributing to altered mitral valve biomechanics post–myocardial infarction.
Concurrent of stunting and overweight/obesity among children: evidence from Ethiopia

Background: Nutrition transition in many low and middle income countries (LMICs) has led to childhood nutritional outcomes to shift from a predominance of undernutrition to a dual burden of under and overnutrition. Yet, Infant and young child feeding programs in Ethiopia mainly focus on undernutrition. It is therefore crucial to assess the prevalence and determinants to better inform infant young child feeding programs. Methods: We analyzed anthropometric, sociodemographic and dietary data of children aged 6 to 23 months from 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS). A total of 2,674 children were included in the current study. Concurrent of Stunting and Overweight/Obesity (CSO) prevalence was estimated by distal, intermediate and proximal factors. To identify factors associated with CSO, we conducted hierarchical logistic regression analyses. Results: The overall prevalence of CSO was 2.45%. The odds of CSO was significantly higher in children of low household wealth category, compared to their counter parts in the richest category (AOR=2.07, 95%CI=1.06 to 4.03, P=0.033). In boys, the likelihood of CSO was 1.60 times that of girls (95%CI =1.03 to 2.49, P =0.038). Above 12 months of age was associated with a higher odd of CSO, compared to below 12months of age (AOR=1.76, 95% CI=1.07 to 2.88, P=0.026). Small birth size was significantly associated with a higher odd of CSO, compared to large birth size (AOR=2.53, 95%CI=1.45 to 4.41, P=0.001). Children who did not take vitamin A supplement within the previous six months had a higher odd of CSO, compared to those who took (AOR=1.91, 95%CI =1.19 to 3.07, P =0.007). Conclusion: Our study provided evidence on the co-existence of stunting and overweight/obesity among infants and young children in Ethiopia. CSO was associated with various factors originating from community and child levels. Therefore, identifying children at risk of growth flattering and excess weight gain provides IYCF programs in Ethiopia and beyond with an opportunity of earlier interventions.
The isotope hydrology of the Muskoka River Watershed, Ontario, Canada

Stable isotope tracers of δ18O and δ2H are increasingly being applied in the study of water cycling in regional‐scale watersheds in which human activities, like river regulation, are important influences. In 2015, δ18O and δ2H were integrated into a water quality survey in the Muskoka River Watershed with the aim to provide new regional‐scale characterization of isotope hydrology in the 5,100‐km2 watershed located on the Canadian Shield in central Ontario, Canada. The forest dominated region includes ~78,000 ha of lakes, 42 water control structures, and 11 generating stations, categorized as “run of river. ” Within the watershed, stable isotope tracers have long been integrated into hydrologic process studies of both headwater catchments and lakes. Here, monthly surveys of δ18O and δ2H in river flow were conducted in the watershed between April 2015 and November 2016 (173 surface water samples from 10 river stations). Temporal patterns of stable isotopes in river water reflect seasonal influences of snowmelt and summer‐time evaporative fractionation. Spatial patterns, including differences observed during extreme flood levels experienced in the spring of 2016, reflect variation in source contributions to river flow (e.g., snowmelt or groundwater versus evaporatively enriched lake storage), suggesting more local influences (e.g., glacial outwash deposits). Evidence of combined influences of source mixing and evaporative fractionation could, in future, support application of tracer‐enabled hydrological modelling, estimation of mean transit times and, as such, contribute to studies of water quality and water resources in the region.
Focusing on surgical and laser advances in glaucoma management

ABSTRACT Introduction: Lowering the IOP remains the mainstay treatment to stop the progression of glaucoma. Different modalities can be used to achieve this including IOP lowering medications, laser, and surgeries. Nowadays, minimally invasive glaucoma surgeries and newer lasers are becoming more popular due to their safety profile, and their efficacy, allowing the patients to be less dependent on life long medications and substituting more invasive procedures as trabeculectomy, and shunt operations. Areas covered: This review will go through how lasers and surgery are used to lower the IOP, and the newest techniques, and modalities used to achieve this. Expert opinion: the authors of this review believe that in five years’ time lasers and minimally invasive glaucoma procedures will replace eye drops and surgeries like trabeculectomy and shunt procedures.
Novel hollow-core chalcogenide fiber with anti-resonant arches for high-power infrared laser transmission

An innovative hollow-core fiber with anti-resonant arches (HC-ARA) is designed and made of chalcogenide glass As2S3. The HC-ARA fiber has a single layer of eight non-touching curved arches, each one being solidly attached at two locations on the outer solid region to prevent any lateral displacement and to preserve the arches’ shape and uniformity during the fabrication process. The thickness and spacing between the arches are selected to minimize the fiber transmission loss <0.1 dB/m for CO2 laser at 10.6 micron. Also the higher order modes of the HC-ARA fiber are more attenuated than the fundamental mode, so the fiber is effectively single mode after only a few meters. The HC-ARA preform is made by extrusion of chalcogenide glass through a die specifically designed to produce the anti-resonant arches. The extruded HC-ARA preform is pulled in a fiber using photonic crystal fiber draw techniques. Recent simulation and experimental results on the HC-ARA fiber are presented to illustrate a novel fiber solution for CO2 laser transmission at 10.6 micron.
The effects of preference and familiarity of background music on word encoding

A musica de fundo pode facilitar a codificacao de materiais verbais em comparacaoa contextos auditivos nao musicais, mas as causas desse fenomeno ainda permanecempouco exploradas. Testamos se a vantagem da musica depende do seu impacto emocionalou da sua capacidade de aumentar a atencao numa tarefa de codificacao. Por isso,analisamos se a preferencia (envolvimento emocional) ou a familiaridade (melhoria daatencao) com a musica de fundo modula a vantagem da musica em relacao ao silencio eaos sons ambientais no desempenho da memoria episodica. Pediu-se a jovens adultos(Experiencia 1) e idosos saudaveis (Experiencia 2) que codificassem uma lista de palavras(palavras old) enquanto ouviam silencio, sons ambientais e tres excertos de musicainstrumental. Os excertos foram classificados de acordo com a preferencia e familiaridadedos participantes. Comparamos a capacidade dos participantes em discriminar palavras olde new (memoria de item) em funcao do contexto auditivo, em funcao da preferencia(silencio, sons ambientais, musica preferida, musica nao preferida) e familiaridade(silencio, sons ambientais, musica familiar e musica nao familiar), bem como as suascapacidades para recuperar o contexto auditivo (memoria de fonte). Em ambas asexperiencias, verificamos uma vantagem da musica preferida em relacao aos outroscontextos na memoria de item e tambem na memoria de fonte. Nao houve vantagem damusica familiar nos jovens adultos (Experiencia 1), mas houve um efeito marginal namemoria de item nos mais velhos (Experiencia 2). Os nossos resultados sugerem que oenvolvimento emocional pode ser um mecanismo importante para compreender os efeitosfacilitadores da musica de fundo na codificacao e apontam para aplicacoes importantesrelacionadas com a melhoria do desempenho cognitivo ao longo da vida.
The Effect and Acceptability of Increased Whole Apple Consumption, Apple Extract and Freeze-Dried Apple Pieces on Biomarkers of CVD Risk: The APPS Pilot Study

An increased intake of fruit and vegetables has been associated with decreased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, it is currently unclear as to whether particular fruits and vegetables convey more benefit than others, and if the form in which a particular fruit or vegetable is delivered, for example, depending on polyphenol content or the degree of processing, affects potential health benefits. The aim of this study was to conduct a pilot randomised placebo-controlled trial (RCT) with the ultimate aim of assessing if different apple products differentially affect CVD risk factors. The RCT was conducted in those at elevated risk of CVD. Participants were randomised to receive high polyphenol apples, low polyphenol apples, capsules containing apple extract, dried apple pieces or placebo capsules to take for four weeks. A range of risk factors and biomarkers associated with CVD were measured before and after the intervention period. A total of 55 participants were randomised and completed the study. Change in hip circumference was significantly different across the groups after 4 weeks (P=0.02) Change in fibre intake was also statistically significant between groups, with those consuming high polyphenol apples having a higher intake than those on the apple extract (P=0.01). There was a significant within-group change in fasting oxidised LDL in the apple extract group (P=0.008). A significant difference in change in volume-corrected epicatechin was observed (P=0.03), with those on apple extract having higher levels than those on placebo capsule (P=0.002) or low polyphenol apples (P=0.01) Overall, interventions were generally acceptable to participants. Apple products appeared to have a positive effect on some risk factors for CVD in this pilot study, which indicated a definitive RCT is feasible. Further adequately powered studies need to be conducted to definitively test these findings.
Institutional experiences with panitumumab monotherapy in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients (pts) intolerant to cetuximab

14579 Background: Two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor are approved for the treatment (tx) of advanced mCRC - panitumumab (Vectibix™), a fully human mAb, and cetuximab (Erbitux®), a chimeric mAb. Potential for cross-reactivity between these two mAbs with regard to infusion reactions (IR) has not been fully explored. Given the lack of sequence homology between the 2 agents and the fully human nature of panitumumab, it is hypothesized that pts intolerant to cetuximab due to IR could be tolerant to panitumumab. Methods: Single pt tx IND applications to administer panitumumab monotherapy in pts with advanced mCRC were approved by the FDA and local institutions as part of the Panitumumab Compassionate Use program. Eligibility also included previous tx with standard chemotherapy and intolerability to cetuximab, ie. CTCAE v3.0 grade 3 (severe) or grade 4 (life-threatening) IR. Results: Upon informed consent, 4 pts (2M/ 2F) were enrolled in 4 centers. Median (range) age .
OP28 Gene expression (GE) values in a phase 2 trial of mirikizumab in ulcerative colitis (UC) correlate better with histopathology (HP) than endoscopy (EN) and Mayo scores

HP is considered integral to the definition of mucosal healing of UC. The regulated transcription of genes determines cell identity and function, and, consequentially, HP and EN appearance. Here we correlate GE in a UC clinical trial with EN and HP indices, and the modified Mayo score (MMS). 249 patients. with moderately-to-severely active UC were randomised to placebo or different doses of mirikizumab, a p19-directed IL-23 antibody (NCT02589665). Gene expression in baseline biopsy samples from the most affected area in the colon was evaluated using Affymetrix HTA2.0 exon-format microarray with a typical Bioconductor workflow (DOI: 10.1186/gb-2004-5-10-r801). Genes were represented by their largest groups of highly correlated exon groups. Expression values were correlated with Robart‘s Histopathology Index (RHI), Geboes score (GS), Ulcerative Colitis Endoscopic Index of Severity (UCEIS), and modified Mayo score (MMS) at baseline. A threshold of false-discovery rate (FDR)-adjusted p-value ≤0.05 was applied to the significance of the r-values. Subsets of genes of interest were subjected to pathway enrichment using MetaCore (Clarivate Analytics). Simulation analysis (SIM) was performed to estimate any bias in correlation estimates caused by the number of levels used for different clinical scores. The plot (Figure 1) shows more genes with expression values that correlate significantly (q < 0.05) with RHI (4647), than UCEIS (1232), or MMS (869) (refer to legend). There are 498 genes that intersect all scores, representing predominantly the pathways/networks in Table 1. The RHI covers 86 % (1064/1232) of the genes that correlate with UCEIS. The genes unique to the UCEIS (168) do not significantly map to a specific pathway/network. Highest absolute r-values were RHI 0.56, GS 0.45, UCEIS 0.4 and MMS 0.3. The corresponding lowest q values expressed in −Log10 are 15, 9, 4, and 2.5. SIM shows only a minimal bias of <0.03 units (Pearson’s and Spearman’s r). In our analysis, RHI tracked baseline gene expression values best, followed by another HP index (GS), followed by EN (UCEIS) and finally MMS. Judging by the orders-of-magnitude greater significance of correlation with gene expression values, the histology indices are particularly information-rich. Regulated gene expression, fundamental to a phenotypic appearance in HP, seems to best mirrored by the RHI, followed by GS. The genes that track with all indices predominantly modulate cell adhesion and leukocyte trafficking. The genes that are unique to the UCEIS, compared with the RHI, do not significantly belong to any recognisable pathway or network. Further evaluation of what current EN scores contribute relative to HP disease activity assessment in UC may be useful.
Evaluating the impact of service delivery initiatives on patients’ waiting times in diagnostic radiology: a mixed methods study

This thesis describes the impact of service delivery initiatives (SDIs) on patients’ waiting times within radiology departments. A systematic review of the literature (71 studies included) found the following broad type of SIDs: extended scope practice, quality management, productivity-enhancing technologies, outsourcing, pay-for-performance and multiple interventions. Ninety-six percent of the studies used either the pre- and post-intervention without control or the post-intervention only designs; but these designs are fundamentally weak and prone to bias. Furthermore, this thesis also described a case-study for the evaluation of the impact on patients’ waiting times of a 320-slice computed tomography (CT) scanner, speech recognition reporting and extended-working-hours within the Birmingham Heartlands Hospital (Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust), Birmingham. The evaluation combined the interrupted time series (ITS) design and qualitative interviews with healthcare professionals in a mixed methods approach. The mixed methods approach leverages the strengths of the quantitative and qualitative methods, so that the triangulation of the findings of one research method might be strengthened when supported by the findings of the other research method. The thesis used a distinctive implementation of ITS segmented regression which accounts for the changing trends of patients waiting times – an approach referred to as ITS ‘segmented spline’ regression.
PANTHER: Prospective randomized phase III trial of tailored and dose-dense versus standard tri-weekly adjuvant chemotherapy for high-risk breast cancer in the modern era of endocrine and anti-HER2 therapy.

1002Background: Standard dosing of chemotherapy (ct) based on body surface area results in marked inter-patient variation in pharmacokinetics, toxicities and efficacy. Methods: 2,017 patients with node-positive or high-risk node-negative breast cancer were randomized (1:1) in 86 centers in Sweden, Austria and Germany between February 2007 and September 2011 to either four cycles of leukocyte nadir-based tailored and dose-dense adjuvant epirubicin (E) 38-120 mg/m 2, start at 90 mg/m 2) and cyclophosphamide (C) 450-1200 mg/m 2, start at 600 mg/m 2) Q2W, followed by four cycles of docetaxel (D) 75-100 mg/m 2, start at 75 mg/m 2) Q2W (three weeks pause between EC and D) (tdd arm) or three cycles of standard 5-Fluorouracil (F) 500 E100 C500 Q3W followed by three cycles of D100 Q3W (control arm). Total treatment duration was the same in the two arms. The primary endpoint was breast cancer relapse-free survival (BCRFS) assessed in the intention to treat population. Secondary endpoints included event-free surviva.
Genetic Variants and Risk in Sudden Cardiac Death Syndromes

ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . iii TABLE OF CONTENTS . iv LIST OF FIGURES . viii LIST OF TABLES . ix FUNDING AND SUPPORT . xi PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS RELATED TO THIS THESIS . xii ABBREVIATIONS . xiv THESIS OUTLINE . xvi SUDDEN CARDIAC DEATH: A REVIEW . 1 Chapter 1 1.1 Epidemiology . 2 1.1.1 Incidence of sudden cardiac death . 2 1.1.2 Age distribution, sex differences and ethnicity . 3 1.1.3 Circadian variation . 4 1.2 Cardiac conduction and electrophysiology . 4 1.2. 1 Structure of the cardiac conduction system . 4 1.2. 2 The electrocardiogram . 5 1.2. 3 Ion channels and cardiac conduction . 6 1.3 Pathophysiology of sudden cardiac death . 7 1.4 Inherited causes of sudden cardiac death . 8 1.4. 1 Long QT syndrome . 8 1.4. 2 Brugada syndrome . 21 1.4. 3 Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia . 23 1.4. 4 Short QT syndrome . 24 1.4. 5 Early repolarisation syndrome . 25 1.4. 6 Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy . 25 1.4. 7 Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy . 28 1.4. 8 Dilated cardiomyopathy . 29 1.4. 9 Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome . 29 1.5 Acquired causes of sudden cardiac death . 30 1.5. 1 Coronary artery disease and acute coronary syndromes . 30 1.5. 1 Heart failure secondary to coronary artery disease . 35 1.5. 2 Valvular heart disease . 36 1.5. 3 Inflammatory and infiltrative diseases . 36 1.5. 4 Acquired conduction disorders . 37 1.5. 5 Commotio cordis . 37 1.5. 6 Stress cardiomyopathy (Takotsubo cardiomyopathy) . 38
Inferences from Variety of Implementations in Learner Centered Approach

From person to society there are many different layers of the meaning of education. Nevertheless, none of them is unnecessary and superficial. This meaning intensiveness is one of the main problems of education. For many years education in different regions served for variety of functions. Sometimes it become an agent for economic productivity, sometimes a tool for hustings and indoctrination. Educational discourse in Turkey have been turned to “putting learner first” in the education system for last decade. As a result, in 2007 a constructivist curriculum began to implement for the sake of learner-centered education. This inference lead researchers goes deeper to investigate what can be the implications for the learner-centered education. To this attempt a fieldtrip was organized to gather data from different alternative schools in the U.S. that main orientation is learner centered education. In these schools, interviews and unstructured observations were conducted to gain wider perspective on milieu. This study seeks to provide inferences from variety of schools in order to apply the learner-centered education.
Hybrid Deep Neural Network-Based Text Representation Model to Improve Microblog Retrieval

Abstract Retrieving relevant information from Twitter is always a challenging task given its vocabulary mismatch, sheer volume and noise. Representing the content of text tweets is a critical part of any microblog retrieval model. For this reason, deep neural networks can be used for learning good representations of text data and then conduct to a better matching. In this paper, we are interested in improving both representation and retrieval effectiveness in microblogs. For that, a Hybrid-Deep Neural-Network-based text representation model is proposed to extract effective features’ representations for clustering oriented microblog retrieval. HDNN combines recurrent neural network and feedforward neural network architectures. Specifically, using a bi-directional LSTM, we first generate a deep contextualized word representation which incorporates character n-grams form FasText. However, these contextual embedded existing in a high-dimensional space are not all important. Some of them are redundant, correlated and sometimes noisy making the learning models over-fitting, complex and less interpretable. To deal with these problems, we proposed a Hybrid-Regularized-Autoencoder-based method which combines autoencoder with Elastic Net regularization for an effective unsupervised feature selection and extraction. Our experimental results show that the performance of clustering and especially information retrieval in microblogs depend heavily on features’ representation.