Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparing the sensitivities of two screening tests in nonblinded randomized paired screen‐positive trials with differential screening uptake

Before a new screening test can be used in routine screening, its performance needs to be compared to the standard screening test. This comparison is generally done in population screening trials with a screen‐positive design where participants undergo one or both screening tests after which disease verification takes place for those positive on at least one screening test. We consider the randomized paired screen‐positive design of Alonzo and Kittelson where participants are randomized to receive one of the two screening tests and only participants with a positive screening test subsequently receive the other screening test followed by disease verification. The tests are usually offered in an unblinded fashion in which case the screening uptake may differ between arms, in particular when one test is more burdensome than the other. When uptake is associated with disease, the estimator for the relative sensitivity derived by Alonzo and Kittelson may be biased and the type I error of the associated statistical test is no longer guaranteed to be controlled. We present methods for comparing sensitivities of screening tests in randomized paired screen‐positive trials that are robust to differential screening uptake. In a simulation study, we show that our methods adequately control the type I error when screening uptake is associated with disease. We apply the developed methods to data from the IMPROVE trial, a nonblinded cervical cancer screening trial comparing the accuracy of HPV testing on self‐collected versus provider‐collected samples. In this trial, screening uptake was higher among participants randomized to self‐collection.
Beneficial Effects of Several Nanoparticles on the Growth of Different Plants Species

The excessive use of nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers led to environmental pollution and serious health issues. Nanotechnology may solve such a type of problems by providing nanomaterials of high performance. Here, we reviewed the beneficial effects of some different nanoparticles on the growth of different parts of different plants belonging to 14 different families. Nanoparticles such as CNT, Ag-NPs, TiO2-NPs, Au-NPs, S-NPs, Ag-NPs+ Magnetic field-NPs, ZnO-NPs, Fe-NPs, SiO2-NPs, RA-NPs, Zinc-NPs, Silica-NPs, Apatite-NPs, CeO2-NPs, Cu-NPs, CaCO3-NPs, Chitosan- NKP-NPs and Carbon nono-tube coated NKP+ Chitosan NPK-NPs show better growth enhancement effect on different parts of plants and crop production when used in proper concentration. We find that the most favorable effect of NPs was on, chlorophyll contents, root and shoot length followed by proteins contents and plant biomass.
Cross-linguistic transfer between aspect in Cantonese and past tense in English in Cantonese-English bilingual preschool children

Abstract Purpose: This study addresses the question of whether sequential bilingual children’s past tense marking development in their second language (L2) is affected by their knowledge of temporal marking in their first language (L1). We investigated whether Cantonese-English sequential bilingual children’s knowledge of aspect markers in Cantonese (L1), along with external and internal factors, predicts their past tense marking in English (L2). Method: We examined 39 pre-school children’s production of perfective aspect markers in Cantonese and regular and irregular past tense morphemes in English using a story-retell task administered in both languages. Result: The results showed that children produced significantly more irregular past tense verbs than regular past tense verbs in English. Their English irregular past tense use, but not regular past tense use, was predicted by their knowledge of aspect markers in Cantonese. Conclusion: Findings suggest that semantic transfer between Cantonese and English might contribute to the early stages of acquiring English past tense marking. Clinically, the results could potentially lead to more informed assessment procedures and better diagnostic decision making for bilingual children.
Survival Rate and Shunt Infection Incidence Following Gastrostomy in Adult Patients with an Existing Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt

Ventriculoperitoneal shunts (VPS) and gastrostomies are frequently provided in daily practice. This study investigated the incidence of VPS infection and the survival rate among adult patients who underwent gastrostomy at least 1 month after VPS placement. This single-center retrospective cohort study was conducted among patients with a VPS, who underwent a gastrostomy. This procedure was performed on a standby basis after a period of at least 1 month had elapsed since VPS placement. Subsequent VPS infection and survival rates were assessed over a period of at least 6 months. We reviewed 31 patients who had a VPS at the time of gastrostomy. Gastrostomy was performed endoscopically in 29 cases and via open surgery in 2 cases. The average interval between VPS insertion and gastrostomy was 1135.5 ± 1717.1 days. A single case of VPS infection (3.2%) was diagnosed during the study. This infection rate was not significantly different than that among 230 patients who underwent their first VPS placement (without gastrostomy) at our institution during the same time period (P = .57); there was also no significant difference in the survival rate, compared to 38 age-matched patients (with cerebrovascular disease, but without a VPS) who underwent gastrostomy (P = .73). Gastrostomy performed after an interval of at least 1 month after VPS placement was extremely safe in adult patients, and their prognosis was excellent. Additional studies are required to develop appropriate nutritional interventions for patients with a VPS.
Pengaruh Nutrisi pada Produksi dan Karakterisasi Protease dari Bakteri Termofilik Isolat LS-1 Lumpur Sidoarjo

Pendahuluan: Telah dilakukan produksi protease dari bakteri termofilik isolat LS-1 yang dikulturkan dalam media cair mengandung natrium sitrat. Tujuan: Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendapatkan kondisi optimum produksi protease pada isolat bakteri termofilik lumpur Sidoarjo. Metode: Produksi protease dilakukan pada berbagai waktu, sumber karbon dan nitrogen. Karakterisasi protease dilakukan dengan menggunakan substrat azokasein dengan pengaruh berbagai suhu, pH dan pengaruh ion logam. Hasil: Produk enzim mencapai maksimum pada 10 jam dengan aktivitas 1,85U/mg protein. Beberapa sumber karbon yang dibutuhkan untuk produksi protease dalam penelitian ini telah dioptimasi. Amilum adalah substrat terbaik, diikuti oleh natrium sitrat, asam sitrat dan sukrosa. Di antara berbagai sumber nitrogen organik dan anorganik NH4NO3 telah diketahui yang terbaik. Studi karakterisasi protease yang diperoleh dalam penelitian ini menunjukkan suhu optimum pada 60ºC. Enzim stabil selama 2 jam pada suhu 30ºC, sementara pada suhu 40ºC dan 80ºC, menurun masing masing 16% dan 86% dari aktivitas awal. Pencapaian pH optimum enzim diketahui 8,0. Setelah larutan enzim kasar dinkubasi selama 24 jam pada pH 5,5, 8,0 dan 9,0, terjadi penurunan sekitar masing-masing 49%, 15% dan 63% dari aktivitas sebelumnya. Pengaruh K+, Hg2+ dan Cu2+ pada konsentrasi 1mM sebagai inhibitor kuat sehingga mengakibatkan hilangnya aktivitas. Ion yang berkontribusi mempengaruhi aktivitas adalah Mn2+ dan Ca2+, yang menunjukkan bahwa ion ini memiliki peran fungsional dalam struktur molekul enzim. Kesimpulan: Produksi protease optimum oleh bakteri termofilik isolat LS-1 pada waktu 10 jam. Amilum adalah substrat terbaik untuk produksi protease. Suhu dan temperatur optimum aktivitas protease masing masing pada suhu 60ºC dan pH 8,0. Aktivitas Protease dipengaruhi oleh ion logam Mn2+ dan Ca2+.
Ginsenoside Rb1 attenuates age-associated vascular impairment by modulating the Gas6 pathway

Abstract Context Ginsenoside Rb1 (Rb1) exerts many beneficial effects and protects against cardiovascular disease. Objective To investigate whether Rb1 could attenuate age-related vascular impairment and identify the mechanism. Materials and methods Female C57BL/6J mice aged 2 and 18 months, randomly assigned to Young, Young + 20 mg/kg Rb1, Old + vehicle, Old + 10 mg/kg Rb1 and Old + 20 mg/kg Rb1 groups, were daily intraperitoneal injected with vehicle or Rb1 for 3 months. The thoracic aorta segments were used to inspect the endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation. Left thoracic aorta tissues were collected for histological or molecular expression analyses, including ageing-related proteins, markers relevant to calcification and fibrosis, and expression of Gas6/Axl. Results We found that in Old + vehicle group, the expression of senescence proteins and cellular adhesion molecules were significantly increased, with worse endothelium-dependent thoracic aorta relaxation (58.35% ± 2.50%) than in Young group (88.84% ± 1.20%). However, Rb1 treatment significantly decreased the expression levels of these proteins and preserved endothelium-dependent relaxation in aged mice. Moreover, Rb1 treatment also reduced calcium deposition, collagen deposition, and the protein expression levels of collagen I and collagen III in aged mice. Furthermore, we found that the downregulation of Gas6 protein expression by 41.72% and mRNA expression by 52.73% in aged mice compared with young mice was abrogated by Rb1 treatment. But there was no significant difference on Axl expression among the groups. Conclusions Our study confirms that Rb1 could ameliorate vascular injury, suggesting that Rb1 might be a potential anti-ageing related vascular impairment agent.
Exploring the Links between Diet and Inflammation: Dairy Foods as Case Studies

ABSTRACT Systemic chronic inflammation may be a contributing factor to many noncommunicable diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity. With the rapid rise of these conditions, identifying the causes of and treatment for chronic inflammation is an important research priority, especially with regard to modifiable lifestyle factors such as diet. An emerging body of evidence indicates that consuming certain foods, including dairy foods like milk, cheese, and yogurt, may be linked to a decreased risk for inflammation. To discuss both broader research on diet and inflammation as well as research on links between individual foods and inflammation, the National Dairy Council sponsored a satellite session entitled “Exploring the Links between Diet and Inflammation: Dairy Foods as Case Studies” at the American Society for Nutrition's 2020 LIVE ONLINE Conference. This article, a review based on the topics discussed during that session, explores the links between diet and inflammation, focusing most closely on the relations between intake of dairy fat and dairy foods like milk, cheese, and yogurt, and biomarkers of inflammation from clinical trials. While there is currently insufficient evidence to prove an “anti-inflammatory” effect of dairy foods, the substantial body of clinical research discussed in this review indicates that dairy foods do not increase concentrations of biomarkers of chronic systemic inflammation.
Breaking walls: combined peptidic activities against Gram-negative human pathogens

Antibiotic resistance has become one of the biggest threats to global health and development today. The most difficult-to-treat infections are caused by Gram-negative pathogens. Nisin and vancomycin are among the most widely used antimicrobials. Nevertheless, the activity of nisin/vancomycin against Gram-negative bacteria is much lower than that against Gram-positive bacteria. The main reason is that the protective outer-membrane of Gram-negative bacteria forms an efficient barrier to prevent nisin/vancomycin to reach its target, lipid II, at the inner membrane. In order to expand spectrum and use of nisin or vancomycin to inhibit the growth of Gram-negative pathogens, two strategies were employed. One is bioengineering of nisin. Several tails with transmembrane activity were attached to various nisin moieties and the full peptides were biosynthesized in Lactococcus lactis. We found the tail can help nisin moiety to pass through the outer-membrane of Gram-negative pathogens and inhibit their growth. Another strategy is the synergism between membrane perturbing peptides and nisin and vancomycin. When combined them, the concentration of each compounds can be decreasd to 32-fold lower. It is hypothesized that the peptides can perform as a gate-opener. The best combination, which is vancomycin and GNP-D8, was proved to neither caused lysis of erythrocytes nor showed significant toxicity against the human cell line HEK-239 when tested alone or in combination. Even though further in vivo tests are needed. The fused peptides here described and combinations of two compounds constitute new and relevant therapeutic approaches to deal with (MDR) Gram-negative pathogens.
Tracking ankle joint movements during gait cycle via control of functional electrical stimulation

Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is an effective method to induce muscle contraction and to improve movements in individuals with injured central nervous system. In order to develop the FES systems for an individual with gait impairment, an appropriate control strategy must be designed to accurate tracking performance. The goal of this study is to present a method for designing proportional-derivative (PD) and sliding mode controllers (SMC) for the FES applied to the musculoskeletal model of an ankle joint to track the desired movements obtained by experiments on two healthy individuals during the gait cycle. Simulation results of the developed controller on musculoskeletal model of the ankle joint illustrated that the SMC is able to track the desired movements more accurately than the PD controller and prevents oscillating patterns around the experimentally measured data. Therefore, the sliding mode as the nonlinear method is more robust in face to unmodeled dynamics and model errors and track the desired path smoothly. Also, the required control effort is smoother in SMC with respect to the PD controller because of the nonlinearity.
miRNAs as modulators of cholesterol in breast cancer stem cells: an approach to overcome drug resistance in cancer.

It has been postulated that a small number of cancer stem cells (CSCs) buried in tumour mass drive cancer growth and impart cancer drug resistance. However, their eradication has not been achieved so far as the mechanistic understanding around CSCs' role in cancer development and growth is limited. The cholesterol accumulation and efflux processes have been shown to play an important role in maintaining cell's integrity and its sensitivity towards drugs, as altered cholesterol pathways contribute to cancer drug resistance. Emerging evidences have indicated miRNAs as regulators of CSCs, and also as regulators of cholesterol pathways in cancer cells, but a link between the two has not been fully established so far. In this review, we have collated key signalling pathways, and published evidences emphasising the involvement of miRNAs and cholesterol in CSCs related drug resistance. Additionally, we have used bioinformatics analysis to identify miRNAs that may modulate cholesterol pathways in CSCs at molecular level to contribute to cancer drug resistance. Our results that two miRNAs (hsa-miR-34a-5p and hsa-miR-373-3p) interact, and bind to two known Breast CSC markers (CD44 and CD24), and mediate expression of several cholesterol-related genes (INSIG2, APOL2, CYP51A1, HDLB, and DHCR7). Furthermore, survival analysis of the breast cancer patients' gene expression data revealed that higher expression of these genes is associated with poor disease free survival. We therefore propose that targeting these two miRNAs could possibly provide a way to alter cell's response to drugs via modulating cholesterol pathway in CSCs.
Serum Adiponectin in Alzheimer's Disease (AD): Association with AD Biomarkers and Cognitive Outcome.

BACKGROUND The association between dementia and serum adiponectin has been evaluated in many studies; however, conclusions remain mixed. OBJECTIVE We investigated the cross-sectional associations of adiponectin with cognitive function and Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers and whether serum adiponectin levels can predict cognitive outcomes. METHODS This study included 496 participants from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative 1 (ADNI1) with available serum adiponectin levels at baseline and ≥65 years of age. Subjects were stratified based on sex and apolipoprotein ɛ4 (APOE4) carrier status to determine associations between adiponectin and cognitive function. The linear mixed model was used to analyze associations between adiponectin level and cognitive outcome in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) patients. RESULTS Serum adiponectin levels were higher in aMCI and AD than in CN subjects among APOE4 non-carrier males (adiponectin in CN, aMCI, and AD: 0.54±0.24, 0.74±0.25, and 0.85±0.25, respectively, p < 0.001). In this group, serum adiponectin levels were associated with age (p = 0.001), ADAS13 (p < 0.001), memory function (p < 0.001), executive function (p < 0.001), total tau (p < 0.001), and phosphorylated tau (p < 0.001) measures in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Higher adiponectin level was not associated with cognitive outcome in aMCI patients in the linear mixed model analysis over 5.3±2.6 years of mean follow-up. CONCLUSION Serum adiponectin level was associated with cognitive function and CSF AD biomarkers among APOE4 non-carrier males. However, serum adiponectin level was not associated with longitudinal cognitive function outcome in aMCI.
Transforming an Orthopaedic Unit Into an “Age-Friendly” Unit Through Implementation of the American Geriatrics Society's CoCare: Ortho Program

Objective: To transform an inpatient orthopaedic unit into an age-friendly unit for geriatric fracture center (GFC) patients. Design: Pragmatic dissemination study of a continuous quality improvement intervention with episodic data review. Setting: Large quaternary care university hospital with no on-site geriatrics program and no dedicated geriatric inpatient unit. Participants: Individuals 60 years of age and older with fragility fracture of the native proximal femur hospitalized from July 2017 to June 2020. Intervention: A hospital medicine-orthopaedics comanagement model for a GFC was developed using processes, tools, and education provided by the American Geriatrics Society's AGS CoCare: Ortho program to support the age-friendly 4Ms principles: mentation, mobility, medications, and what matters. Delirium reduction strategies included minimizing sleep interruption through changes in blood draw times, order sets for pain management, and nursing education. Mobility specialists were incorporated to improve early mobilization on the orthopaedic unit. Main Outcome Measurements: Frequency of weight-bearing on postoperative day 1 and frequency of delirium among GFC patients on the orthopaedic unit were compared with those among concurrent GFC patients on other units. Results: Frequency of delirium was 26% among patients on the orthopaedic unit versus 35% among those on other units (P = 0.055). Frequency of weight-bearing on post-operative day 1 was 84% among patients on the orthopaedic unit versus 72% among those on other units (P = 0.003). Conclusions: AGS CoCare: Ortho is an effective dissemination program for establishing a hospital medicine-orthopaedics comanagement program and making an orthopaedic unit age-friendly in a hospital without onsite geriatricians or a dedicated geriatrics unit. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Network pharmacology for systematic understanding of Schisandrin B reduces the epithelial cells injury of colitis through regulating pyroptosis by AMPK/Nrf2/NLRP3 inflammasome

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory disease with increasing incidence and prevalence in many countries. The purpose of this study is to explore the function of Schisandrin B and its underlying molecular mechanisms in colitis. In this study, mice with colitis were induced by giving 2.0% dextran sulfate sodium (DSS, MP) in the drinking water for seven days. Furthermore, TCMSP server and GEO DataSets were used to analyze the mechanism of Schisandrin B in colitis. It was found that Schisandrin B presented colitis in mice model. At the same time, Schisandrin B not only reduced inflammation in vivo and vitro model of colitis, but also suppressed the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain, leucine-rich repeat and pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in vivo and vitro model of colitis. In addition, Schisandrin B induced AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) / Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) signaling pathway in model of colitis, and regulated AMPK protein at 316 sites. The inhibition of AMPK reduced the anti-inflammation effects of Schisandrin B on NLRP3 inflammasome. Apart from that, Schisandrin B decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced mitochondrial damage and reduced epithelial cells damage of colitis through regulating pyroptosis. Collectively, our novel findings for first time showed that, Schisandrin B suppressed NLRP3 inflammasome activation-mediated interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) level and pyroptosis in intestinal epithelial cells of colitis model through the activation of AMPK/Nrf2 dependent signaling-ROS-induced mitochondrial damage, which may be a significant therapeutic approach in the treatment of acute colitis.
A Formulation And Characterization Of Bromocriptine Mesylate as Liquid Self nano Emulsifying Drug Delivery System

Bromocriptine mesylate is a semisynthetic ergot alkaloid derivative with potent dopaminergic activity, used in the treatment of pituitary tumors, Parkinson's disease (PD), hyperprolactinaemia, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, and type 2 diabetes ,the oral bioavailability is approximately 6%, therefore aim its prepare and evaluate bromocriptine mesylate as liquid self nano emulsifying drug delivery system to enhance its solubility , dissolution and stability . Solubility study was made in different vehicles to select the best excipients for dissolving bromocriptine mesylate. Pseudo-ternary phase diagrams were constructed at 1:1, 2:1, 3:1 and 4:1 ratios of surfactant and co-surfactant, four formulations were prepared using various concentrations of castor oil, tween 80 and ethanol. All prepared formulations were evaluated for particle size distribution, polydispersity index, drug content, thermodynamic stability, dispersibility and emulsification time, robustness to dilution and in vitro drug dissolution. It was found that release rate and extent for all prepared formulations were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than plain drug powder. from the study, it was concluded that self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system is a promising approach to improve solubility, dissolution, and stability of bromocriptine mesylate.
Parallel Minimum Spanning Forest Computation using Sparse Matrix Kernels

Formulations of graph algorithms using sparse linear algebra have yielded highly scalable distributed algorithms for problems such as connectivity and shortest path computation. We develop the first formulation of the Awerbuch-Shiloach parallel minimum spanning forest (MSF) algorithm using linear algebra primitives. We introduce a multilinear kernel that operates on an adjacency matrix and two vectors. This kernel updates graph vertices by simultaneously using information from both adjacent edges and vertices. In addition, we explore optimizations to accelerate the shortcutting step in the Awerbuch-Shiloach algorithm. We implement this MSF algorithm with Cyclops, a distributed-memory library for generalized sparse tensor algebra. We analyze the parallel scalability of our implementation on the Stampede2 supercomputer.