Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Economic burden of pneumococcal disease in children in Liguria, Italy

ABSTRACT Vaccinations against Streptococcus pneumoniae are included in infant immunization programs globally. However, a substantial burden due to pneumococcal disease (PD) remains. This study aimed to estimate the cost of emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations associated with invasive pneumococcal disease, all-cause pneumonia, and acute otitis media in children <15 years of age in the Liguria region of Italy between 2012 and 2018. The retrospective cohort study used data from the Liguria Region Administrative Health Databases and the Ligurian Chronic Condition Data Warehouse, which contain information on hospital stays, outpatient visits, laboratory/imaging techniques, surgical procedures, and pharmaceutical prescriptions. Patients with one or more ED or inpatient claim for PD (based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes) were included. Cost of ED visits and hospitalizations were estimated from the diagnosis-related group system and procedures performed in the ED. In Ligurian children <15 years of age during 2012–2018, the median annual number of hospitalizations plus ED visits due to PD was 4,009, and the median estimated annual cost was €3.6 million. All-cause pneumonia accounted for the majority of hospitalization costs during the study period. Number and costs of ED visits and hospitalizations increased from 2012 to 2018. Despite widespread infant immunization in Liguria, economic costs due to PD-associated ED visits and hospitalizations remained high in children 0–14 years of age.
Correlation between obstructive sleep apnea and ventricular function: a cross-sectional hospital-based study

Abstract Background Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a major cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality worldwide. Previous studies showed high prevalence of OSA in heart failure. We aimed to evaluate the association of OSA with cardiac dysfunction and the importance of myocardial performance index (Tei) in identifying cardiac dysfunction. Methods Participants with OSA and sinus rhythm were included, while participants with arrhythmia, debilitating disease, or significant valvular heart disease were excluded. Thirty participants were enrolled, consecutively allocated in a single group, and underwent nocturnal polysomnography, electrocardiogram, and transthoracic echocardiography. Results The prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and smoking in the study population was 50%, 30%, and 23.3%, respectively. The mean body mass index and apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI) of the study population was 40.11 ± 7.5 kg/m2 and22.12 ± 13.54 events/h, respectively. There were statistically significant differences between mild, moderate, and severe OSA regarding the left ventricular end diastolic diameter, left ventricular end systolic diameter, ejection fraction, and fractional shortening (p = 0.006, p = 0.002, p = 0.014 and p = 0.011),respectively. There were statistically significant regular positive correlations between the AHI and the right and left Tei (r = 0.447, p = 0.001 and r = 0.391, p = 0.003),respectively. Conclusions The prevalence of OSA was more in patients with comorbidities especially hypertension and diabetes. OSA was significantly associated with ventricular remodelling and cardiac dysfunction. A significant regular positive correlation was observed between the severity of OSA and worsening cardiac function as measured by Tei. Echocardiographic evaluation of the right and left ventricles and the right and left Tei could be considered as potentially valid, reproducible, and clinically applicable non-invasive methods for estimation of ventricular global function in patients with OSA.
Global increase in methane production under future warming of lake bottom waters

Lakes are significant emitters of methane to the atmosphere, and thus are important components of the global methane budget. Methane is typically produced in lake sediments, with the rate of methane production being strongly temperature dependent. Local and regional studies highlight the risk of increasing methane production under future climate change, but a global estimate is not currently available. Here, we project changes in global lake bottom temperatures and sediment methane production rates from 1901 to 2099. By the end of the 21st century, lake bottom temperatures are projected to increase globally, by an average of 0.86–2.60°C under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 2.6–8.5, with greater warming projected at lower latitudes. This future warming of bottom waters will likely result in an increase in methane production rates of 13%–40% by the end of the century, with many low‐latitude lakes experiencing an increase of up to 17 times the historical (1970–1999) global average under RCP 8.5. The projected increase in methane production will likely lead to higher emissions from lakes, although the exact magnitude of the emission increase requires more detailed regional studies.
Factors associated with cesarean birth in nulliparous women: A multicenter prospective cohort study

Abstract Background There is widespread concern around the rising rates of cesarean births (CBs), especially among first‐time mothers, despite evidence suggesting increased morbidities after birth by cesarean. There are uncertainties around factors associated with rising rates of CBs among first‐time mothers in Ireland, and insight into these is essential for understanding the rising trend in CBs. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the factors associated with CBs in nulliparous women. Methods A prospective cohort study was conducted in three maternity hospitals in the Republic of Ireland between 2012 and 2017. Data were collected from 3047 nulliparous women using self‐administered surveys antenatally and at 3 months postpartum and from consenting women’s hospital records (n = 2755) and analyzed using the Poisson regression to assess associations between demographic and clinical factors and the main outcome measures, planned and unplanned CBs. Results Common risk factors for planned and unplanned CBs were being aged ≥40 years, being in private care, multiple pregnancy, and fetus in breech or other malpresentations. An unplanned CB occurred for 22.43% (n = 377/1681) of women who did not have induction of labor (IOL) or who had IOL with no epidural, but the risk was about twice as high for women who had IOL and epidural. Conclusions Findings confirm multifactorial reasons for CB and the challenge of reversing the increasing CB rate if maternal age, overweight/obesity, infertility treatment, multiple pregnancy, and preexisting hypertension in Ireland continue to increase. There is a need to address prelabor interventions, especially IOL combined with epidural analgesia with respect to unplanned CB.
Discrete modeling for integration and analysis of large-scale signaling networks

Most biological processes are orchestrated by large-scale molecular networks which are described in large-scale model repositories and whose dynamics are extremely complex. An observed phenotype is a state of this system that results from control mechanisms whose identification is key to its understanding. The Biological Pathway Exchange (BioPAX) format is widely used to standardize the biological information relative to regulatory processes. However, few modeling approaches developed so far enable for computing the events that control a phenotype in large-scale networks. Here we developed an integrated approach to build large-scale dynamic networks from BioPAX knowledge databases in order to analyse trajectories and to identify sets of biological entities that control a phenotype. The Cadbiom approach relies on the guarded transitions formalism, a discrete modeling approach which models a system dynamics by taking into account competition and cooperation events in chains of reactions. The method can be applied to every BioPAX (large-scale) model thanks to a specific package which automatically generates Cadbiom models from BioPAX files. The Cadbiom framework was applied to the BioPAX version of two resources (PID, KEGG) of the Pathway Commons database and to the Atlas of Cancer Signalling Network (ACSN). As a case-study, it was used to characterize sets of biological entities implicated in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Our results highlight the similarities between the PID and ACSN resources in terms of biological content, and underline the heterogeneity of usage of the BioPAX semantics limiting the fusion of models that require curation. Causality analyses demonstrate the smart complementarity of the databases in terms of combinatorics of controllers that explain a phenotype. From a biological perspective, our results show the specificity of controllers for epithelial and mesenchymal phenotypes that are consistent with the literature and identify a novel signature for intermediate states.
LncRNA 122049 suppresses apoptosis of renal tubular epithelial cells in ischemic AKI by targeting the miR‐330‐5p/ELK1 axis

Several studies have reported that long non‐coding RNAs (LncRNAs) were associated with the progression of acute kidney injury (AKI). However, the role and regulation mechanism of lncRNA122049 in ischemic AKI remains unknown. In the present study, we found that lncRNA 122049 protected against the ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) induced apoptosis in BUMPT cells. Mechanistically, the lncRNA 122049 directly sponged miR‐330‐5p, then increased the expression of ELK1(ETS transcription factor ELK1) to decrease renal cell apoptosis. In addition, miR‐330‐5p inhibitor completely reversed the pro‐apoptotic effect of LncRNA 122049 siRNA on I/R‐induced BUMPT cells apoptosis. Finally, overexpression of lncRNA 122049 attenuated ischemic mice AKI via targeting of the miR‐330‐5p/ELK1 axis. Collectively, the data demonstrated that LncRNA 122049 prevented the I/R‐induced renal cell apoptosis via regulation of the miR‐330‐5p/ELK1 axis, which brings new insights into the pathogenesis and potential targeted treatment of ischemic AKI.
Pharmacotherapeutic management of trigeminal neuropathic pain: an update

ABSTRACT Introduction Guidelines recommend a number of pharmacotherapeutic options used as monotherapy or in combination with others for treating the pain of trigeminal neuropathy. Areas Covered The authors examine the pharmacotherapeutic options for treating trigeminal neuralgia and supporting evidence in the literature. Guidelines reported the most effective treatment for trigeminal neuropathy, in particular trigeminal neuralgia, appears to be carbamazepine or oxcabazepine, but side effects can be treatment limiting. Lamotrigine and gabapentin are also recommended in guidance. In real-world clinical practice, baclofen, cannabinoids, eslicarbazepine, levetiracetam, brivaracetam, lidocaine, misoprostol, opioids, phenytoin, fosphenytoin, pimozide, sodium valproate, sumatriptan, tizanidine, tocainide, tricyclic antidepressants, and vixotrigine are sometimes used, either as monotherapy or in combination. The relatively small patient population has limited the number of large-scale studies and there is limited evidence on which to base prescribing choices. Expert opinion While there is no optimal pharmacotherapy for treating trigeminal neuropathy, advancements in our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of this condition and drug development indicate promise for NaV inhibitors, despite the fact that not all patients respond to them and they may have potentially treatment-limiting side effects. Nevertheless, better understanding of NaV channels may be important avenues for future drug development for trigeminal neuropathy.
Interpretation of gut microbiota data in the ‘eye of the beholder’: A commentary and re‐evaluation of data from ‘Impacts of radiation exposure on the bacterial and fungal microbiome of small mammals in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone’

Abstract Evidence that exposure to environmental pollutants can alter the gut microbiota composition of wildlife includes studies of rodents exposed to radionuclides. Antwis et al. (2021) used amplicon sequencing to characterise the gut microbiota of four species of rodent (Myodes glareolus, Apodemus agrarius, A. flavicollis and A. sylvaticus) inhabiting the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) to examine possible changes in gut bacteria (microbiota) and gut fungi (mycobiota) associated with exposure to radionuclides and whether the sample type (from caecum or faeces) affected the analysis. The conclusions derived from the analyses of gut mycobiota are based on data that represent a mixture of ingested fungi (e.g. edible macrofungi, polypores, lichens and ectomycorrhizae) and gut mycobiota (e.g. microfungi and yeasts), which mask the patterns of inter‐ and intraspecific variation in the authentic gut mycobiota. Implying that ‘faecal samples are not an accurate indicator of gut composition’ creates an unnecessary controversy about faecal sampling because the comparison of samples from the caecum and faeces confounds many other possible drivers (including different animals from different locations, sampled in different years) of variation in gut microbiota. It is relevant also that Antwis et al.'s (2021) data lack statistical power to detect an effect of exposure to radionuclides on the gut microbiota because (1) all of their samples of Apodemus mice had experienced a medium or high total absorbed dose rate and (2) they did not collect samples of bank voles (M. glareolus) from replicate contaminated and uncontaminated locations. Discussion of Antwis et al.'s (2021) analysis, especially the claims presented in the Abstract, is important to prevent controversy about the outcome of research on the biological impacts of wildlife inhabiting the CEZ.
Simultaneous Multiplexed Imaging of Biomolecules in Transgenic Mouse Brain Tissues Using Mass Spectrometry Imaging: A Multi-omic Approach

The importance of multi-omic-based approaches to better understand diverse pathological mechanisms including neurodegenerative diseases has emerged. Spatial information can be of great help in understanding how biomolecules interact pathologically and in elucidating target biomarkers for developing therapeutics. While various analytical methods have been attempted for imaging-based biomolecule analysis, a multi-omic approach to imaging remains challenging due to the different characteristics of biomolecules. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) is a powerful tool due to its sensitivity, chemical specificity, and high spatial resolution in visualizing chemical information in cells and tissues. In this paper, we suggest a new strategy to simultaneously obtain the spatial information of various kinds of biomolecules that includes both labeled and label-free approaches using ToF-SIMS. The enzyme-assisted labeling strategy for the targets of interest enables the sensitive and specific imaging of large molecules such as peptides, proteins, and mRNA, a task that has been, to date, difficult for any MS analysis. Together with the strength of the analytical performance of ToF-SIMS in the label-free tissue imaging of small biomolecules, the proposed strategy allows one to simultaneously obtain integrated information of spatial distribution of metabolites, lipids, peptides, proteins, and mRNA at a high resolution in a single measurement. As part of the suggested strategy, we present a sample preparation method suitable for MS imaging. Because a comprehensive method to examine the spatial distribution of multiple biomolecules in tissues has remained elusive, our strategy can be a useful tool to support the understanding of the interactions of biomolecules in tissues as well as pathological mechanisms.
Criteria for creating new standard reading passages for the assessment of speech and voice: A Delphi consensus study

ABSTRACT Standard reading passages allow for the study of the integrated functions of speech and voice components in contextual, running speech, with target stimuli in a controlled environment. In both clinical practice and research, these texts provide rapid insight into the characteristics of the patient’s speech, with fewer hesitations than in conversational speech and better predictability by the evaluator. Although a plethora of texts exist in different languages, they present various limitations. A specifically created standardised text in each language allowing for an ecological assessment of speech and voice functions, meeting most required criteria for standard speech and voice assessment and adapted to the target language’s cultural and linguistic specificities, would therefore be an interesting option. However, no guidelines exist for the creation of such a reading passage. This article describes the international Delphi consensus study carried out to identify a minimal set of criteria to take into account when creating standard reading passages for an overall speech and voice assessment in adolescents and adults. This survey was conducted in three consecutive rounds; forty experts participated in the first round, with a total dropout of 17% from round 1 to round 3. It results in a minimal set of ten criteria which were selected by a majority of the experts and were rated as most important. This set contains five phoneme-level, two word-level, two sentence-level criteria and one global-level criterion. It can be used as a general guideline for the creation of standard reading passages in Indo-European Romance and Germanic languages such as English, French and German. The construction of a new reading passage in French following this guideline is briefly described.
Comparison of Phenolic Compounds and Antioxidant Activities of the Extracts of Grape Seed, Rosemary, Green Tea and Olive Leaf

Objective: Total antioxidant activities and phenolic compounds of ethanol extract of grape seed, rosemary, green tea and olive leaf were investigated in this study. Material and Methods: The total antioxidant activities of plant extracts were analyzed by two different methods, including 2.2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl hydrate (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC). Carnosic acid, rosmarinic acid in rosemary extract (RE), total catechins in green tea extract (GTE) and oleuropein in olive leaf extract (OLE) were identified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. Condensed tannins of grape seed extract (GSE) was analyzed by butanol-HCl method. Results: The total phenolic contents of plant extracts determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method ranged from 141.7 to 315.56 mg of gallic acid equivalents (GAE) g -1 . According to results obtained this study, RE exhibited the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity, and GTE exhibited highest TEAC activity. Additionally, obtained data revealed high linear correlation (r=0.82) between total phenolic contents and TEAC values and low linear correlation (r=0.47) between total phenolic con- tents and DPPH values. Conclusion: The potent antioxidant activity of plant extracts provided from agro-industrial by-pro- ducts, medicinal and aromatic plants makes it possible used them as natural sources of antioxidants in feed, food and pharmaceutical industries.
Efek pemberian ekstrak etanol pegagan (Centella asiatica) terhadap kinerja tikus galur Wistar pasca restraint stres

Hamidi BL, Samigun, Lestari A. 2010. The effect of extract ethanol of pegagan (Centella asiatica) on the performance of Wistar rats after restraint stress. Biofarmasi 8: 11-16. The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of extract ethanol of pegagan (Centella asiatica) after treated with restraint stress by measuring the eight arms radial maze performance of rats. Pre-test and post-test controlled groups design was applied in this research. Male Wistar rats (Rattus novergicus) with the mean age of 8 weeks and the body weight of 150-200 grams which used for sample were divided randomly into 4 groups, each group consisted of 6 rats, i.e. (i) control group (without any treatment), (ii) stress group (it was given by restraint stress for 2 hours/day for each rat), (iii) pegagan group (it was given by 0.3 mg/g BW/day/rat extract ethanol of pegagan), and (iv) pegagan and stress group (it was given by 0.3 mg/g BW/day/rat extract ethanol of pegagan and restraint stress for 2 hours/day for each rat). The treatments were given for 21 days. Within 12 days for each pre-treatment and post-treatment, a test on the eight arm radial maze was conducted on individual rat to observe its performance. The assessment of rat performance in the eight arms radial maze test was conducted based on error type B. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests with SPSS for Windows 16 version were applied to analyze statistically the difference between four groups. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to show the significant performance level difference between four groups of rats with p=0.001, while Mann-Whitney test was used to determine the significant difference between stress group and pegagan group (p=0.001), also stress group and pegagan and stress group (p=0.001). The result of research showed that there was no significant difference between control group and stress group (p=0.051), control group and pegagan group (p=0.143), control group and pegagan and stress group (p=0.143), also pegagan group and pegagan and stress group (p=0.952). It was concluded that extract ethanol of pegagan improved the performances of rats on the eight arms radial maze after treated with restraint stress.
University of Birmingham Clinically meaningful and lasting improvement in HbA1c rarely occurs after 4 years of type 1 diabetes (T1D) duration: an argument for early, targeted and aggressive intervention following T1D diagnosis’

Aims/hypothesis Our objectives were to explore whether the phenomenon of HbA 1c ‘ tracking ’ occurs in individuals with type 1 diabetes, how long after diagnosis does tracking take to stabilise, and whether there is an effect of sex and age at diagnosis on tracking. Methods A total of 4525 individuals diagnosed with type 1 diabetes between 1 January 1995 and 1 May 2015 were identified from The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database. Mixed models were applied to assess the variability of HbA 1c levels over time with random effects on general practices (primary care units) and individuals within practices. Results 4525 individuals diagnosed with type 1 diabetes were identified in THIN over the study period. The greatest difference in mean HbA 1c measurement ( − 7.0 [95% CI − 8.0, − 6.1] mmol/mol [0.6%]) was seen when comparing measurements made immediately after diagnosis (0 – 1 year since diagnosis) with those at 10 or more years (the reference category). The mean difference in HbA 1c for the successive periods compared with 10 or more years after diagnosis declined and was no longer statistically significant after 5 years. In the stratified analysis using sex and age group there was considerable heterogeneity with adult onset type 1 diabetes appearing to track earlier and at a lower mean HbA 1c . Conclusions/interpretation In individuals with type 1 diabetes, glycaemic control measured by HbA 1c settles onto a long-term ‘ track ’ and this occurs on average by 5 years following diagnosis. Age at diagnosis modifies both the rate at which individuals settle into their track and the absolute HbA 1c tracking level for the next 10 years.