Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Associations Between Plasma Betatrophin Levels and Coronary and Peripheral Artery Disease

Aim: Betatrophin, a recently identified circulating adipokine, affects lipid and glucose metabolism. However, association between plasma betatrophin levels and atherosclerotic diseases, such as coronary artery disease (CAD) and peripheral artery disease (PAD), has not been elucidated. Methods: We investigated plasma betatrophin levels in 457 patients undergoing elective coronary angiography who also had ankle-brachial index (ABI) test for PAD screening. Results: Of the 457 study patients, CAD was present in 241 patients (53%) (1-vessel [1-VD], n = 99; 2-vessel [2-VD], n = 71; 3-vessel disease [3-VD], n = 71). Compared to 216 patients without CAD, 241 with CAD had higher betatrophin levels (median 1120 vs. 909 pg/mL, p < 0.001). A stepwise increase in betatrophin levels was found depending on the number of > 50% stenotic coronary vessels: 909 in CAD(-), 962 in 1-VD, 1097 in 2-VD, and 1393 pg/ml in 3-VD (p < 0.001). Betatrophin levels correlated with the number of > 25% stenotic segments (r = 0.24, p < 0.001). PAD (ABI < 0.9) was found in 41 patients (9%). Plasma betatrophin levels were also significantly higher in 41 patients with PAD than in 416 without PAD (1354 vs. 981 pg/mL, p < 0.001). In the multivariate analysis, betatrophin levels were not a factor for CAD, but they were a significant factor for 3-VD and PAD independent of atherosclerotic risk factors. The odds ratios for 3-VD and PAD were 1.06 (95%CI = 1.01–1.11) and 1.07 (95%CI = 1.01–1.13) for a 100-pg/mL increase in betatrophin levels, respectively (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Plasma betatrophin levels were associated with the presence and severity of CAD and PAD, suggesting betatrophin has a role in atherosclerosis.
Development and Characterization of Mechanically Durable Silicone-Polythiourethane Composites Modified with Tetrapodal Shaped ZnO Particles for the Potential Application as Fouling-Release Coating in the Marine Sector

Ecological considerations strongly necessitate the development of environmentally friendly antifouling paints. A promising alternative to biocide containing antifouling paints are fouling-release coatings, which are non-toxic and designed to prevent permanent attachment of marine organisms to the surface, due to their low surface energy. However, these coatings suffer from insufficient mechanical properties, which make them unsuitable for mechanically stressed surfaces e.g., on ship hulls. To overcome those obstacles, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-polythiourethane (PTU) composites modified with tetrapodal shaped micro-nano ZnO particles (t-ZnO) were produced and characterized by evaluating the surface energy, mechanical properties, and fouling-release performance. Among all variations, PTU/1 wt. % PDMS composites with 1 wt. % t-ZnO particles possess superior properties for applications as fouling-release coatings for maritime purposes.
Estimation of Quasi-Stiffness of the Human Knee in the Stance Phase of Walking

Biomechanical data characterizing the quasi-stiffness of lower-limb joints during human locomotion is limited. Understanding joint stiffness is critical for evaluating gait function and designing devices such as prostheses and orthoses intended to emulate biological properties of human legs. The knee joint moment-angle relationship is approximately linear in the flexion and extension stages of stance, exhibiting nearly constant stiffnesses, known as the quasi-stiffnesses of each stage. Using a generalized inverse dynamics analysis approach, we identify the key independent variables needed to predict knee quasi-stiffness during walking, including gait speed, knee excursion, and subject height and weight. Then, based on the identified key variables, we used experimental walking data for 136 conditions (speeds of 0.75–2.63 m/s) across 14 subjects to obtain best fit linear regressions for a set of general models, which were further simplified for the optimal gait speed. We found R2 > 86% for the most general models of knee quasi-stiffnesses for the flexion and extension stages of stance. With only subject height and weight, we could predict knee quasi-stiffness for preferred walking speed with average error of 9% with only one outlier. These results provide a useful framework and foundation for selecting subject-specific stiffness for prosthetic and exoskeletal devices designed to emulate biological knee function during walking.
Spatial Navigation in the Elderly with Alzheimer's Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND Spatial navigation is a fundamental cognitive ability that allows an individual to maintain independence by facilitating the safe movement from one place to another. It emerges as one of the first deficits in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). OBJECTIVE To compare spatial navigation performance in the healthy elderly and AD patients through use of the Floor Maze Test (FMT)- an easy-to-apply two-dimensional (2D) maze- and determine which cognitive and functional capacities were associated with performance in this task. METHODS The FMT was administered to 24 AD patients and 36 healthy controls. Spatial navigation was evaluated through the FMT. Functional capacity was evaluated through the Senior Fitness Test battery of tests. Cognitive functions were evaluated through the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), verbal fluency, digit span test, and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). RESULTS The group with AD was significantly slower and presented more errors at all stages of the FMT. Planning Time (PT) performance was associated with cardiorespiratory resistance (Step test) and delayed memory according to the RAVLT (R2 = 0.395, p < 0.001). Performance in the Immediate Maze Time (IMT) and Delayed Maze Time (DMT) was associated with global cognitive status (MMSE) (R2 = 0.509) and delayed memory (R2 = 0.540). CONCLUSION Patients with AD present significant spatial navigation deficits. Their performance on the FMT is influenced by cardiorespiratory capacity, memory, and global cognitive function. As exercise helps to improve executive function and functional capacity, future intervention studies should be carried out to analyze the possible effects of physical exercise on spatial navigation.
Zbtb1 controls NKp46+ ROR-gamma-T+ innate lymphoid cell (ILC3) development

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) play a central role conferring protection at the mucosal frontier. In this study, we have identified a requirement of the transcription factor Zbtb1 for the development of RORγt+ ILCs (ILC3s). Zbtb1-deficient mice lacked NKp46+ ILC3 cells in the lamina propria of the small and large intestine. This requirement of Zbtb1 was cell intrinsic, as NKp46+ ILC3s were not generated from Zbtb1-deficient progenitors in bone marrow chimeras and Zbtb1-deficient RORγt+ CCR6−NKp46− ILC3s didn't generate NKp46+ ILC3s in co-cultures with OP9-DL1 stroma. In correlation with this impairment, Zbtb1-deficient ILC3 cells failed to upregulate T-bet expression, and to acquire IFN-γ production characteristic of NKp46+ cells. Finally, absence of NKp46+ILC3 cells combined with the absence of T-cells in Zbtb1-deficient mice, led to a transient susceptibility to C. rodentium infections. Altogether, these results establish that Zbtb1 is essential for the development of NKp46+ ILC3 cells.
Digital Follow-Up and the Perspective of Patient-Centered Care in Oncology: What’s the PROblem?

There is accumulating evidence from randomized trials suggesting that digital patient-centered care allows a more reliable detection of tumour-related symptoms and adverse events – with a direct impact on overall survival. Consequently, a variety of unsynchronized approaches were kicked off to (electronically) measure patient-reported outcomes (PROs). Despite increasing evidence that PRO data are highly relevant for patient care, the data generated in these initial projects lack standardized processing pathways in order to impact clinical routine; therefore, potential future routine PRO assessments require adequate analysis, storage and processing to allow a robust, reproducible and reliable incorporation into routine clinical decision-making. Here, we discuss relevant challenges of digital follow-up that need to be tackled to render PRO data as relevant to physicians as laboratory or biomarker data.
Coarse behavioral context decoding

Objective. Current brain-computer interface (BCI) studies demonstrate the potential to decode neural signals obtained from structured and trial-based tasks to drive actuators with high performance within the context of these tasks. Ideally, to maximize utility, such systems will be applied to a wide range of behavioral settings or contexts. Thus, we explore the potential to augment such systems with the ability to decode abstract behavioral contextual states from neural activity. Approach. To demonstrate the feasibility of such context decoding, we used electrocorticography (ECoG) and stereo-electroencephalography (sEEG) data recorded from the cortical surface and deeper brain structures, respectively, continuously across multiple days from three subjects. During this time, the subjects were engaged in a range of naturalistic behaviors in a hospital environment. Behavioral contexts were labeled manually from video and audio recordings; four states were considered: engaging in dialogue, rest, using electronics, and watching television. We decode these behaviors using a factor analysis and support vector machine (SVM) approach. Main results. We demonstrate that these general behaviors can be decoded with high accuracies of 73% for a four-class classifier for one subject and 71% and 62% for a three-class classifier for two subjects. Significance. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the potential to disambiguate abstract naturalistic behavioral contexts from neural activity recorded throughout the day from implanted electrodes. This work motivates further study of context decoding for BCI applications using continuously recorded naturalistic activity in the clinical setting.
Reduction of client waiting time using task shifting in an anti-retroviral clinic at Specialist Hospital Bauchi, Nigeria

Aiming to assess the impact of the intervention in reducing the patients' waiting time in the clinic, two surveys were conducted before and after task shifting intervention in an anti-retroviral (ARV) clinic at the Specialist Hospital, Bauchi, Nigeria in November 2008 and April 2009, respectively. Before the task shifting, six nurses from the clinic were trained on integrated management of adolescent and adult illness, as well as on the principle and guidelines for the anti-retroviral therapy, after which their schedule in the clinic was broadened to include seeing HIV patients presenting for routine refill and follow-up visits. In this study, fifty-six and sixty patients, respectively out of 186 and 202 who attended the clinic on the days of the pre- and post-intervention surveys, were randomly sampled. Data on patients' sex, age and marital status, whether patient a first timer or follow up visitor and the time spent in the clinic on that day as well as the number and composition of staff and equipment in the clinic was collected. The difference in waiting time spent between the first group before task shifting and second group after task shifting was statistically analyzed and significance tested using unpaired t-test. There was a reduction in the average waiting time for patients attending the clinic from 6.48 h before task shifting to 4.35 h after task shifting. The difference of mean was -2.13 h, with 95% CI: -2.44:-1.82 hours and the test of significance by unpaired t-test P<0.0001.
Treatment and Intervention for Children with Developmental Disabilities

Educational and welfare policies for children with developmental disabilities now emphasize the importance of early diagnosis and treatment, though not cure, through remedial education. Based on participant-observation fieldwork and interviews with staff and parents, this chapter, by Junko Teruyama, describes small-scale programs in Japan for autistic preschool children designed to train them to fit in at school and in larger society. Such children are seen both as rebels or delinquents who require appropriate socialization and as vulnerable members of society who require protection and support. Spatial layout and a visualized daily schedule are important, because they help children understand what is expected of them at each period of the day and train them to move from one activity to another. The staff puts children through social skills training and strategies of self-care; they also support the mothers, who are the children’s caretakers and who often receive criticism or blame from the extended family for their children’s problems.
Achieving short high-quality gate-all-around structures for horizontal nanowire field-effect transistors

We introduce a fabrication method for gate-all-around nanowire field-effect transistors. Single nanowires were aligned perpendicular to underlying bottom gates using a resist-trench alignment technique. Top gates were then defined aligned to the bottom gates to form gate-all-around structures. This approach overcomes significant limitations in minimal obtainable gate length and gate-length control in previous horizontal wrap-gated nanowire transistors that arise because the gate is defined by wet-etching. In the method presented here gate-length control is limited by the resolution of the electron-beam-lithography process. We demonstrate the versatility of our approach by fabricating a device with an independent bottom gate, top gate, and gate-all-around structure as well as a device with three independent gate-all-around structures with 300, 200, and 150 nm gate length. Our method enables us to achieve subthreshold swings as low as 38 mV dec−1 at 77 K for a 150 nm gate length.
Selection of optimal molecular targets for tumor-specific imaging in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Discrimination of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) from chronic pancreatitis (CP) or peritumoral inflammation is challenging, both at preoperative imaging and during surgery, but it is crucial for proper therapy selection. Tumor-specific molecular imaging aims to enhance this discrimination and to help select and stratify patients for resection. We evaluated various biomarkers for the specific identification of PDAC and associated lymph node metastases. Using immunohistochemistry (IHC), expression levels and patterns were investigated of integrin αvβ6, carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 5 (CEACAM5), Cathepsin E (Cath E), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), hepatocyte growth factor receptor (c-MET), thymocyte differentiation antigen 1 (Thy1), and urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR). In a first cohort, multiple types of pancreatic tissue were evaluated (n=62); normal pancreatic tissue (n=8), CP (n=7), PDAC (n=9), tumor associated lymph nodes (n=32), and PDAC after neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy (n=6). In a second cohort, tissues were investigated (n=55) with IHC and immunofluorescence (IF) for concordance of biomarker expression in all tissue types, obtained from an individual patient. Integrin αvβ6 and CEACAM5 showed significantly higher expression levels in PDAC versus normal pancreatic tissue (P=0.001 and P<0.001, respectively) and CP (P=0.003 and P<0.001, respectively). Avβ6 and CEACAM5 expression identified tumor-positive lymph nodes correctly in 84% and 68%, respectively, and in 100% of tumor-negative nodes for both biomarkers. In conclusion, αvβ6 and CEACAM5 are excellent biomarkers to differentiate PDAC from surrounding tissue and to identify lymph node metastases. Individually or combined, these biomarkers are promising targets for tumor-specific molecular imaging of PDAC.
ErbB4 Receptors in the Medial Habenula Regulate Contextual Fear Memory

The Medial Habenular (MHb) and the Lateral Habenular nuclei are 2 main parts of the habenular complex (Hb). Recent studies showed that MHb plays an important role in memory, and in the expression of ErbB4. However, the expression of MHb ErbB4 receptor and its role in fear memory is not well understood. In this study, western blotting and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction were used to assess the protein and mRNA levels of ErbB4 in the process of contextual fear conditioning. A pharmacological approach was used to block and stimulate the ErbB4 receptor. Contextual fear conditioning tests induced a significant increase on the expression of ErbB4 at various times in the Hb and the MHb. Moreover, the blockade and stimulation of MHb ErbB4 receptors did not affect the fear formation but impaired and improved the contextual-dependent fear expression. Furthermore, in vitro electrophysiological recordings showed that the blockade of the MHb ErbB4 receptor reduced the presynaptic gamma-amino butyric acid release. ErbB4 is a susceptible gene for schizophrenia and the above findings may provide new insights into the mechanisms of fear-related responses.
Autophagic, apoptotic, and necrotic cancer cell fates triggered by acidic pH microenvironment

Cancer as a multifactorial and smart disease is now considered a challenging problem. Despite many investigations on drug discovery, it remains incurable, in part, due to insufficient understanding of its special mechanisms. For the first time, we collaterally investigated the effect of acidosis on the contribution of apoptosis, necrosis, and autophagy in MDA‐MB 231 cells. Our data showed that necrosis, apoptosis, and intracellular reactive oxygen species production drastically decreased from 48 to 72 hr while cell viability and autophagy increased along with a gap between the percentages. Eventually, the decrease of necrosis and apoptosis was related to upregulation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase and fatty acid synthetase, respectively. It seems that at the early stage of cancer progression, apoptosis is the main mechanism of cell mortality and afterward autophagy would be the main mechanism of cell survival. Therefore, at the acute phase of cancer, apoptotic inducer medications would be effective while at the chronic phase of cancer progression, autophagy inhibitor medication would be added as well. This eventually means that autophagy acts as both cell death and survival mechanisms at the onset of cancer progression with the approach towards cell survival. Besides other unknown cell survival mechanisms are involved in cell viability, except for apoptosis and necrosis inhibition and autophagy improvement. This study reiterates the inefficaciousness of autophagy inhibitor's medication at the onset of disease. It also emphasizes discovering other cell death mechanisms for cancer cell adaptation at the onset of disease with the aim of their targeting in cancer invasion therapy.
Return to Duty Following Open Reduction and Internal Fixation of Unstable Ankle Fractures in the Active Duty Population.

INTRODUCTION Literature on functional outcomes after ankle surgery is for the most part limited to return to sport studies. The purpose of this study was to determine occupational and functional outcomes following operative treatment of unstable ankle fractures in the active duty military population. MATERIALS AND METHODS All ankle fractures treated with open reduction internal fixation at a single institution from 2013 to 2015 were reviewed. Inclusion criteria included active duty personnel with a single-sided injury requiring operative management. All patients had a minimum of 6 months follow-up. Forty-seven records were reviewed with 43 patients fitting these criteria. Patients were predominantly male (91%) with an average age of 26 years at the time of fracture. Functional outcomes were evaluated using AOFAS and SANE scores. Occupational outcomes were determined in reference to a service member's ability to return to full duty. RESULTS Of the 43 subjects, 81% (n = 35) returned to active duty. Of the eight individuals who did not return to active duty, six were medically boarded out of the military. Looking at demographic, surgical, and functional variables, only the SANE and AFAOS scores functional outcomes showed a significant correlation with individual return to duty. Individuals who reported less pain and increased functional outcomes had increased return to duty rates. CONCLUSION This study sought to determine predictors for return to duty within an active duty military population after ORIF of unstable ankle fractures. Given the paucity of military literature on this subject, the end goal was to provide realistic recovery expectations for both injured service members and their command teams. Overall, 81% of patients were able to return to active duty following operative treatment of unstable ankle fractures. There were no associations found between age, gender, military rank, or fracture patterns and return to duty.
Unsolved Issues in the Treatment of Spontaneous Peritonitis in Patients with Cirrhosis: Nosocomial Versus Community-acquired Infections and the Role of Fungi.

INTRODUCTION Historically, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) has represented one of the most frequent and relevant infectious complications of advanced liver disease, and this is still valid today. Nevertheless, in recent years the role of fungi as causative pathogens of primary peritonitis in patients with cirrhosis has become not negligible. Another issue is linked with the traditional distinction, instrumental in therapeutic choice, between community-acquired and nosocomial forms, according to the onset. Between these two categories, another one has been introduced: the so-called "healthcare-associated infections". OBJECTIVE To discuss the most controversial aspects in the management of SBP nowadays in the light of best available evidence. METHODS A review of recent literature through MEDLINE was performed. RESULTS The difference between community-acquired and nosocomial infections is crucial to guide empiric antibiotic therapy, since the site of acquisition impact on the likelihood of multidrug-resistant bacteria as causative agents. Therefore, third-generation cephalosporins cannot be considered the mainstay of treatment in each episode. Furthermore, the distinction between healthcare-associated and nosocomial form seems very subtle, especially in areas wherein antimicrobial resistance is widespread, warranting broad-spectrum antibiotic regimens for both. Finally, spontaneous fungal peritonitis is a not common but actually underestimated entity, linked to high mortality. Especially in patients with septic shock and/or failure of an aggressive antibiotic regimen, the empiric addition of an antifungal agent might be considered. CONCLUSION Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis is one of the most important complications in patients with cirrhosis. A proper empiric therapy is crucial to have a positive outcome. In this respect, a careful assessment of risk factors for multidrug-resistant pathogens is crucial. Likewise important, mostly in nosocomial cases, is not to overlook the probability of a fungal ascitic infection, namely a spontaneous fungal peritonitis.