Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lessons From the Field: Rapid Antigen Testing Is Efficient and Practical for Mitigation of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Outbreaks in Long-Term Care Facilities

Abstract Background Mitigation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreaks in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) is facilitated by rapid identification and isolation of infectious individuals to interrupt viral transmission. Immunochromatographic (IC) tests, or rapid antigen tests, have high sensitivity and specificity during the contagious period for COVID-19. Mathematical modeling predicts frequent IC surveillance will be more efficient than polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based strategies, especially during community surges when reporting of PCR results can be delayed. However, there are few published field studies evaluating IC testing strategies in this long-term care setting. Methods In fall and winter of 2020, the Marin Health and Human Services Department implemented thrice-weekly IC mass testing by nonlaboratory workers in outbreaks that occurred in 2 LTCFs, in addition to then-standard semiweekly PCR testing. The IC test performance was characterized using same-day PCR specimens as reference standard. Cumulative incidence and duration of transmission for the 2 IC intervention facility outbreaks were compared with 6 reference LTCFs that used weekly to semiweekly PCR alone during an outbreak response. Results Of 123 same-day test pairs, IC test sensitivity and specificity were 75% (95% confidence interval [CI], 48%–93%) and 100% (95% CI, 97%–100%), respectively. The median duration of outbreak transmission was 19.5 days in the 2 intervention sites and 28 days in the reference facilities (P = .40). Cumulative incidence for the outbreaks among LTCF residents was 41% in the intervention facilities versus 52% in the reference facilities (P = .04, Fisher 2-sided exact). Conclusions Thrice-weekly mass IC testing as used by nonlaboratory personnel can be highly practical and effective for COVID-19 outbreak mitigation in the LTCF setting.
Aspirin Discontinuation at 24 to 28 Weeks' Gestation in Pregnancies at High Risk of Preterm Preeclampsia: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance Aspirin reduces the incidence of preterm preeclampsia by 62% in pregnant individuals at high risk of preeclampsia. However, aspirin might be associated with an increased risk of peripartum bleeding, which could be mitigated by discontinuing aspirin before term (37 weeks of gestation) and by an accurate selection of individuals at higher risk of preeclampsia in the first trimester of pregnancy. Objective To determine whether aspirin discontinuation in pregnant individuals with normal soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 to placental growth factor (sFlt-1:PlGF) ratio between 24 and 28 weeks of gestation was noninferior to aspirin continuation to prevent preterm preeclampsia. Design, Setting, and Participants Multicenter, open-label, randomized, phase 3, noninferiority trial conducted in 9 maternity hospitals across Spain. Pregnant individuals (n = 968) at high risk of preeclampsia during the first-trimester screening and an sFlt-1:PlGF ratio of 38 or less at 24 to 28 weeks of gestation were recruited between August 20, 2019, and September 15, 2021; of those, 936 were analyzed (intervention: n = 473; control: n = 463). Follow-up was until delivery for all participants. Interventions Enrolled patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to aspirin discontinuation (intervention group) or aspirin continuation until 36 weeks of gestation (control group). Main Outcomes and Measures Noninferiority was met if the higher 95% CI for the difference in preterm preeclampsia incidences between groups was less than 1.9%. Results Among the 936 participants, the mean (SD) age was 32.4 (5.8) years; 3.4% were Black and 93% were White. The incidence of preterm preeclampsia was 1.48% (7/473) in the intervention group and 1.73% (8/463) in the control group (absolute difference, -0.25% [95% CI, -1.86% to 1.36%]), indicating noninferiority. Conclusions and Relevance Aspirin discontinuation at 24 to 28 weeks of gestation was noninferior to aspirin continuation for preventing preterm preeclampsia in pregnant individuals at high risk of preeclampsia and a normal sFlt-1:PlGF ratio. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03741179 and ClinicalTrialsRegister.eu Identifier: 2018-000811-26.
Multi-omics Investigation of Freeze Tolerance in the Amur Sleeper, an Aquatic Ectothermic Vertebrate

Abstract Freeze tolerance, the ability of an organism to survive internal ice formation, is a striking survival strategy employed by some ectotherms living in cold environments. However, the genetic bases of this remarkable adaptation are largely unknown. The Amur sleeper (Perccottus glenii), the only known freeze-tolerant fish species, can overwinter with its entire body frozen in ice. Here, we sequenced the chromosome-level genome of the Amur sleeper and performed comparative genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic analyses to investigate its strategies for surviving freezing. Evolutionary analysis suggested that the Amur sleeper diverged from its closest non-cold-hardy relative about 15.07 million years ago and has experienced a high rate of protein evolution. Transcriptomic and metabolomic data identified a coordinated and tissue-specific regulation of genes and metabolites involved in hypometabolism, cellular stress response, and cryoprotectant accumulation involved in freezing and thawing. Several genes show evidence of accelerated protein sequence evolution or family size expansion were found as adaptive responses to freezing-induced stresses. Specifically, genetic changes associated with cytoskeleton stability, cryoprotectant synthesis, transmembrane transport, and neuroprotective adaptations were identified as potentially key innovations that aid in freezing survival. Our work provides valuable resources and opportunities to unveil the molecular adaptations supporting freeze tolerance in ectothermic vertebrates.
Psychological Well-being Relates to Healthcare and Financial Decision Making in a Study of Predominantly White Older Adults

The purpose of this study was to test the hypotheses that psychological well-being is associated with healthcare and financial decision making in older adults and that this association varies by the level of cognitive function. Participants were 1082 older adults (97% non-Latino White; 76% women; mean age = 81.04 years; SD = 7.53) without dementia (median MMSE score = 29.00, IQR = 27.86–30.00). In a regression model adjusted for age, gender, and years of education, higher levels of psychological well-being were associated with better decision making (estimate = 0.39, standard error [SE] = 0.11, p < .001), as was better cognitive function (estimate = 2.37, SE = 0.14, p < .0001). In an additional model, an interaction of psychological well-being and cognitive function was significant (estimate = −0.68, SE = 0.20, p < .001), such that higher levels of psychological well-being were most beneficial for decision making among participants with lower levels of cognitive function. Higher levels of psychological well-being may help sustain decision making among older persons, particularly those with lower levels of cognitive function.
Atorvastatin prevents cadmium-induced renal toxicity in a rat model

In many industrial processes, worker exposure to cadmium causes kidney damage; thus, protection against cadmium toxicity is important in workplace health. Cadmium toxicity involves oxidative stress by increasing the levels of reactive oxygen species. Statins have shown antioxidant effects that might prevent this increase in oxidative stress. We investigated the potential effects of atorvastatin pretreatment in protecting experimental rats against kidney toxicity caused by cadmium. Experiments were performed on 56 adult male Wistar rats (200 ± 20 g), randomly assigned to eight groups. Atorvastatin was administered by oral gavage for 15 days at 20 mg/kg/day, starting 7 days before cadmium chloride intra-peritoneal administration (at 1, 2, and 3 mg/kg) for 8 days. On day 16, blood samples were collected, and kidneys were excised to evaluate the biochemical and histopathological changes. Cadmium chloride significantly increased malondialdehyde, serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, and decreased superoxide dismutase, glutathione, and glutathione peroxidase levels. Pre-administration of rats with atorvastatin at a dose of 20 mg/kg decreased blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, and lipid peroxidation, increased the activities of antioxidant enzymes, and prevented changes in physiological variables compared with animals that were not pretreated. Atorvastatin pretreatment prevented kidney damage following exposure to toxic doses of cadmium. In conclusion, atorvastatin pretreatment in rats with cadmium chloride-induced kidney toxicity could reduce oxidative stress by changing biochemical functions and thereby decreasing damage to kidney tissue.
Application of M-Estimators to Cross-Section Effect Models

Statistical models with cross-section effects have been used frequently in econometrics, where there are differences in behavior over cross-section units. However, the sensitivity of the model can be disturbed due to the appearance of outlier events. A robust M-estimation is applied to this cross-section model, a small simulation study has also been carried out to provide a relative efficiency of robust M-estimates relative to the GLS estimates, and a numerical example has been presented.
Missing responses in generalised linear mixed models when the missing data mechanism is nonignorable

SUMMARY We propose a method for estimating parameters in the generalised linear mixed model with nonignorable missing response data and with nonmonotone patterns of missing data in the response variable. We develop a Monte Carlo EM algorithm for estimating the parameters in the model via the Gibbs sampler. For the normal random effects model, we derive a novel analytical form for the E- and M-steps, which is facilitated by integrating out the random effects. This form leads to a computationally feasible and extremely efficient Monte Carlo EM algorithm for computing maximum likelihood estimates and standard errors. In addition, we propose a very general joint multinomial model for the missing data indicators, which can be specified via a sequence of one-dimensional conditional distributions. This multinomial model allows for an arbitrary correlation structure between the missing data indicators, and has the potential of reducing the number of nuisance parameters. Real datasets from the International Breast Cancer Study Group and an environmental study involving dyspnoea in cotton workers are presented to illustrate the proposed methods.
Encoding of 3D physical dimensions by face-selective cortical neurons

Significance Object-selective neurons in the inferior temporal (IT) cortex are modulated by changes to image scale, although the essence of such modulation is unknown. Here, we asked whether the two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) geometry of an object is the critical factor. We used a 3D macaque avatar rendered stereoscopically at different size and distance combinations to independently assess the contributions of retinal and physical size parameters. We discovered that neurons in a face-selective region of IT are strongly modulated by 3D physical size. This finding demonstrates that IT neurons encode metric and spatial parameters, in addition to semantic and featural information.
Convergence in Distribution of Stochastic Integrals

Abstract : A type of convergence of stochastic processes, convergence in linear law, is introduced. It entails convergence of finite dimensional distributions and a condition on the covariance kernels of the processes. A method is presented under which a sequence of finite collections of random variables, with suitable covariance structure, may be embedded in a sequence of continuous time processes satisfying the covariance conditions for linear law convergence. The paper illustrates that certain functionals of stochastic processes can be shown to converge in distribution to the corresponding functional of the limiting process, without an analysis of sample paths. Applications to limiting distributions of linear combinations of order statistics and linear combinations of successive differences of order statistics are presented. Limiting distributions are also obtained for certain random variables arising in nuclear chemistry and reliability.
Glycyrrhetinic acid ameliorates diosbulbin B‐induced hepatotoxicity in mice by modulating metabolic activation of diosbulbin B

Exposure to diosbulbin B (DBB), the primary component of the herbal medicine Dioscorea bulbifera L. (DB), can cause liver injury in humans and experimental animals. A previous study found DBB‐induced hepatotoxicity was initiated by CYP3A4‐mediated metabolic activation and subsequent formation of adducts with cellular proteins. The herbal medicine licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.) is frequently combined with DB used in numerous Chinese medicinal formulas in an effort to protect against DB‐elicited hepatotoxicity. Importantly, glycyrrhetinic acid (GA), the major bioactive ingredient in licorice, inhibits CYP3A4 activity. The study aimed to investigate the protection of GA against DBB‐induced hepatotoxicity and the underlying mechanism. Biochemical and histopathological analysis showed GA alleviated DBB‐induced liver injury in a dose‐dependent manner. In vitro metabolism assay with mouse liver microsomes (MLMs) indicated that GA decreased the generation of metabolic activation‐derived pyrrole‐glutathione (GSH) conjugates from DBB. Toxicokinetic studies demonstrated that GA increased maximal serum concentration (Cmax) and area under the serum–time curve (AUC) of DBB in mice. In addition, GA attenuated hepatic GSH depletion caused by DBB. Further mechanistic studies showed that GA reduced the production of DBB‐derived pyrroline‐protein adducts in a dose‐dependent manner. In conclusion, our findings demonstrated that GA exerted protective effect against DBB‐induced hepatotoxicity, mainly correlated with suppressing the metabolic activation of DBB. Therefore, the development of a standardized combination of DBB with GA may protect patients from DBB‐induced hepatotoxicity.
The ideal patient positioning in spine surgery: a preventive strategy

Patient positioning on the surgical table is a critical step in every spine surgery. The most common surgical positions in spine surgery are supine, prone and lateral decubitus. There are countless lesions that can occur during spine surgery due to patient mispositioning. Ulnar nerve and brachial plexus injuries are the most common nerve lesions seen in malpositioned patients. Devastating complications due to increased intraocular pressure or excessive abdominal pressure can also occur in prone decubitus and are real concerns that the surgical team must be aware of. All members of the surgical team (including surgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses) should know how to correctly position the patient, identify possible positioning errors and know how to avoid them in order to prevent postoperative morbidity. This work pretends to do a review of the most common positions during spine surgery, alert to errors that can happen during the procedure and how to avoid them.
Cohort study of fistulotomy with external tract fistulectomy and primary sphincter reconstruction in high trans‐sphincteric fistula‐in‐ano

Treatment of complex fistula‐in‐ano is challenging and there is no consensus on the optimal treatment that can provide complete healing and preserve sphincter function. The aim of this study was to evaluate fistulotomy with external tract fistulectomy and primary sphincter reconstruction (FFSR) in the treatment of high trans‐sphincteric fistula.
Association of anorexia/appetite loss with malnutrition and mortality in older populations: A systematic literature review

Anorexia/appetite loss in older subjects is frequently underrecognized in clinical practice, which may reflect deficient understanding of clinical sequelae. Therefore, we performed a systematic literature review to assess the morbidity and mortality burden of anorexia/appetite loss in older populations. Following PRISMA guidelines, searches were run (1 January 2011 to 31 July 2021) in PubMed, Embase® and Cochrane databases to identify English language studies of adults aged ≥ 65 years with anorexia/appetite loss. Two independent reviewers screened titles, abstracts and full text of identified records against pre‐defined inclusion/exclusion criteria. Population demographics were extracted alongside risk of malnutrition, mortality and other outcomes of interest. Of 146 studies that underwent full‐text review, 58 met eligibility criteria. Most studies were from Europe (n = 34; 58.6%) or Asia (n = 16; 27.6%), with few (n = 3; 5.2%) from the United States. Most were conducted in a community setting (n = 35; 60.3%), 12 (20.7%) were inpatient based (hospital/rehabilitation ward), 5 (8.6%) were in institutional care (nursing/care homes) and 7 (12.1%) were in other (mixed or outpatient) settings. One study reported results separately for community and institutional settings and is counted in both settings. Simplified Nutritional Appetite Questionnaire (SNAQ Simplified, n = 14) and subject‐reported appetite questions (n = 11) were the most common methods used to assess anorexia/appetite loss, but substantial variability in assessment tools was observed across studies. The most commonly reported outcomes were malnutrition and mortality. Malnutrition was assessed in 15 studies, with all reporting a significantly higher risk of malnutrition in older individuals with anorexia/appetite loss (vs. without) regardless of country or healthcare setting (community n = 9, inpatient n = 2, institutional n = 3, other n = 2). Of 18 longitudinal studies that assessed mortality risk, 17 (94%) reported a significant association between anorexia/appetite loss and mortality regardless of either healthcare setting (community n = 9, inpatient n = 6, institutional n = 2) or method used to assess anorexia/appetite loss. This association between anorexia/appetite loss and mortality was observed in cohorts with cancer (as expected) but was also observed in older populations with a range of comorbid conditions other than cancer. Overall, our findings demonstrate that, among individuals aged ≥ 65 years, anorexia/appetite loss is associated with increased risk of malnutrition, mortality and other negative outcomes across community, care home and hospital settings. Such associations warrant efforts to improve and standardize screening, detection, assessment and management of anorexia/appetite loss in older adults.
Stochastic Fluctuations in a Babcock-Leighton Model of the Solar Cycle

We investigate the effect of stochastic fluctuations on a flux transport model of the solar cycle based on the Babcock-Leighton mechanism. Specifically, we make use of our recent flux transport model (Dikpati & Charbonneau) to investigate the consequences of introducing large-amplitude stochastic fluctuations in either or both the meridional flow and poloidal source term in the model. Solar cycle-like oscillatory behavior persists even for fluctuation amplitudes as high as 300%, thus demonstrating the inherent robustness of this class of solar cycle models. We also find that high-amplitude fluctuations lead to a spread of cycle amplitude and duration showing a statistically significant anticorrelation, comparable to that observed in sunspot data. This is a feature of the solar cycle that is notoriously difficult to reproduce with dynamo models based on mean field electrodynamics and relying only on nonlinearities associated with the back-reaction of the Lorentz force to produce amplitude modulation. Another noteworthy aspect of our flux transport model is the fact that meridional circulation in the convective envelope acts as a "clock" regulating the tempo of the solar cycle; shorter-than-average cycles are typically soon followed by longer-than-average cycles. In other words, the oscillation exhibits good phase locking, a property that also characterizes the solar activity cycle. This shows up quite clearly in our model, but we argue that it is in fact a generic property of flux transport models based on the Babcock-Leighton mechanism, and relies on meridional circulation as the primary magnetic field transport agent.
An analytic study of the May-Leonard equations

Approximate analytic solutions are developed to the equations of May and Leonard (SIAM J. Appl. Math., 29 (1975), pp. 243–253) describing nonlinear competition among three populations. Transformation of the population variables to generalized coordinates which reflect symmetry inherent to the system permits tracing of time evolution in dynamical detail. The observed oscillations of increasing cycle time can be understood in terms of distance of closest approach of the system point past a unit population configuration, while the transition time between two such configurations is fixed by the two parameters of the model. The analytic solutions show close agreement, within their respective regions of intended applicability, with numerical computer solutions of the exact equations.
Fast Time Analysis of Intermittent Point‐to‐Plane Corona in Air. II. The Positive Pre‐Onset Streamer Corona

Analysis has been made of pre‐onset streamers in room air at 760 mm with fast oscilloscope using both photomultiplier and electrical registration. The shape of the photon pulse observed by W. N. English is confirmed, and is interpreted. Current and luminosity roughly parallel each other in the streamer. Tip velocities ranged from 6×107 cm/sec to 2×107 cm/sec being highest near the point. The luminosity is constant over the path except at the very beginning and at the end of the path suggesting that ionization is also constant. The net number of positive ions left behind per cm length of streamer in consequence of the electron flow into the point is constant, and has been measured to be about 8×109 ions per cm in general agreement with earlier work. Lateral deflection of the ends of streamer tracks by space charge left behind from previous streamers was directly observed.
Miniature imaging photon detectors. III. An assessment of the performance of the resistive anode IPD

For pt.II see ibid., vol.13, p.763 (1980). The imaging performance of a proximity-focused imaging photon detector using microchannel plate (MCP) intensifiers, and a resistive anode is determined by four major factors. These are: the electron optics of the biplanar lens formed by the photocathode and MCP, with a gap of between 300 mu m and 1 mm; the random walk process of intensification within a triple-MCP (Z-plate) intensifier; the noise factor of the anode and the preamplifiers, and the errors of the main signal processing electronics. A device with a 1.0 mm photocathode to MCP gap and a potential difference of about 250V across this gap, and a 'linear' resistive anode read-out system, shows a point spread function with a full width half maximum (FWHM) of 86 mu m. Consideration of the potential improvements which would materially affect resolution indicate that about 30 mu m FWHM is achievable, corresponding to a limiting resolution of 34 line pairs per mm, at 3% modulation.
Radio observations of SN 1006

Abstract In this article I review our present knowledge of SN 1006 based on radio observations since the identification of the radio remnant four decades ago. I also report preliminary results of a new radio expansion study which combines VLA 1991/92 data with new VLA and ATCA observations performed in 2003.