Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance of Charlson and Elixhauser Comorbidity Index to Predict in-Hospital Mortality in Patients with Stroke in Sumadija and Western Serbia

Background: Comorbidities are major predictors of in-hospital mortality in stroke patients. The Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) and the Elikhauser comorbidity index (ECI) are scoring systems for classifying comorbidities. We aimed to compare the performance of the CCI and ECI to predict in-hospital mortality in stroke patients. Methods: We included patients hospitalized for stroke in the Clinical Center of Kragujevac, Serbia for the last 7 years. Hospitalizations caused by stroke, were identified by the International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10) codes I60.0 – I69.9. All patients were divided into two cohorts: Alive cohort (n=3297) and Mortality cohort (n=978). Results: There were significant associations between higher CCIS and increased risk of in-hospital mortality (HR = 1.07, 95% CI = 1.01–1.12) and between higher ECIS and increased risk of in-hospital mortality (HR = 1.04, 95% CI = 0.99–1.09). Almost 2/3 patients (66.9%) had comorbidities included in the CCI score and 1/3 patients (30.2%) had comorbidities included in the ECI score. The statistically significant higher CCI score (t = −3.88, df = 1017.96, P <0.01) and ECI score (t = −6.7, df = 1447.32, P <0.01) was in the mortality cohort. Area Under the Curve for ECI score was 0.606 and for CCI score was 0.549. Conclusion: Both, the CCI and the ECI can be used as scoring systems for classifying comorbidities in the administrative databases, but the model’s ECI Score had a better discriminative performance of in-hospital mortality in the stroke patients than the CCI Score model.
User Identity Linkage Method Based on User Online Habit

User Identity Linkage (UIL) across social networks refers to the recognition of the accounts belonging to the same individual among multiple social network platforms. Due to the network user's identities have the characteristics of various sources and real identity cannot be confirmed, it is very easy to become the main means of malicious user to carry out network attacks and spread rumors. User Identity Linkage not only can make the service provider to understand the user and thus to provide better service to the user, but also plays a significant role in improving the ability to find and track malicious users. For the credibility problem on the associated clues of user identification resulted from dynamic IP, shared Internet access and other factors, a user identity linkage method based on user online habit is proposed. This method assumes that the people use multiple network services crosswise when using the internet, converts the association analysis problem of user identification to the frequent pattern mining problem, and performs the optimization from three respective aspects: the online transaction database construction, the fast algorithm for mining frequent patterns and frequent co-occurrence identities consolidation. In order to improve the efficiency of frequent pattern mining, a parallelization of FPGrowth algorithm called MRFP-Growth algorithm is proposed to mine the user identifications of frequent co-occurrence quickly and efficiently. Experiments show that this method can associate multiple accounts of a user in network traffic with more than 85% accuracy in the scenario of dynamic variable IP address with only IP address and online time.
Awareness of Common Cancer Risk Factors and Symptoms in Saudi Arabia: A Community-Based Study

Objective: To assess the level of cancer awareness and the relationship between the awareness of common cancer symptoms and risk factors and the sample’s sociodemographic profile. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study conducted in Tabuk city, a convenient sample of 675 participants completed a questionnaire about common factors causing cancer and symptoms related to cancer. Descriptive statistics and chi-squared analysis were used to measure sample characteristics and their association with knowledge of cancer risk factors and symptoms. Results: Level of education and family history were significantly related to awareness of cancer risk factors (P= 0.017) and (P= 0.048), respectively. Factors were significantly associated with awareness of cancer symptoms include Gender (P=0.000), nationality (P=0.013), and undergoing regular cancer screening tests (0.008). Internet was the primary source of information about cancer and related significantly to knowledge about cancer symptoms(P=0.000) and risk factors(P=0.00). More than half of the sample scored poorly for knowledge of both cancer risk factors (58.7%) and symptoms (66.2%) in terms of the overall level of cancer awareness. Smoking and heredity were the most identifiable cancer risk factors, and unexplained pain and weight loss were identified by the majority of study participants. Conclusion: The level of community knowledge requires further investigation, and more cancer awareness programs need to be conducted. People could be encouraged to use reliable sources of information to obtain accurate cancer information.
Targeted RNA sequencing in the routine clinical detection of fusion genes in salivary gland tumors

Salivary gland tumors represent a diverse group of neoplasms that occasionally pose a diagnostic challenge for pathologists, particularly with limited sampling. Gene fusions, which may reflect genetic drivers, are increasingly recognized in a subset of these neoplasms, and can be leveraged for diagnostic purposes. We performed a retrospective analysis on a cohort of 80 benign and malignant salivary gland tumors, enriched for subtypes known to harbor recurrent fusion events, to validate the diagnostic use of a targeted RNA sequencing assay to detect fusion transcripts. Testing identified fusion genes in 71% (24/34) of pleomorphic adenoma and carcinoma‐ex‐pleomorphic adenoma, with 56% of cases showing rearrangement of PLAG1 and 15% HMGA2. In addition to confirming known partners for these genes, novel PLAG1 fusion partners were identified, including DSTN, NTF3, and MEG3; CNOT2 was identified as a novel fusion partner for HMGA2. In adenoid cystic carcinoma, 95% of cases (19/20) were positive for a fusion event. MYB was rearranged in 60% (12/20), MYBL1 in 30% (6/20), and NFIB in 5% (1/20); two tumors exhibited novel fusion products, including NFIB‐TBPL1 and MYBL1‐VCPIP1. Fusion genes were identified in 64% (9/14) of cases of mucoepidermoid carcinoma; MAML2 was confirmed to partner with either CRTC1 (43%) or CRTC3 (21%). One salivary duct carcinoma was found to harbor a novel RAPGEF6‐ACSL6 fusion gene. Finally, as anticipated, gene fusions were not detected in any of the five acinic cell carcinomas included in the cohort. In summary, targeted RNA sequencing represents a diagnostically useful ancillary technique for identifying a variety of existing, and novel, fusion transcripts in the classification of salivary gland neoplasms.
Concurrent chemotherapy and first‐generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)‐tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) with or without an antiangiogenic agent as first‐line treatment in advanced lung adenocarcinoma harboring an EGFR mutation

Previous studies have demonstrated the combination of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)‐tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and other antitumor agents may delay drug resistance. In this study, we retrospectively reviewed the efficacy and safety of first‐line concurrent EGFR‐TKIs and platinum‐based doublet chemotherapy with or without an antiangiogenic agent for advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients in the real world.
Evaluation of Twenty Genes in Prognosis of Patients with Ovarian Cancer Using Four Different Clustering Methods

Background: Comparison of gene expression algorithms may be beneficial for obtaining disease pattern or grouping patients based on the gene expression profile. The current study aimed to investigate whether the knowledge within these data is able to group the ovarian cancer patients with similar disease pattern. Methods: Four different clustering methods were applied on 20 genes expression data of 37 women with ovarian cancer. All selected genes in this study had prominent roles in the control of the activity of the immune system, as well as the chemotaxis, angiogenesis, apoptosis, and etc. Comparison of different clustering methods such as K-means, Hierarchical, Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) and Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm was the other aim of the present study. In addition, the percentage of correct prediction, Robustness-Performance Trade-off (RPT), and Silhouette criteria were used to evaluate the performance of clustering methods. Results: Six out of 20 genes (IFN-γ, Foxp3, IL-4, BCL-2, Oct4 and survivin) selected by the Laplacian score showed key roles in the development of ovarian cancer and their prognostic values were clinically and statistically confirmed. The results indicated proper capability of the expression pattern of these genes in grouping the patients with similar prognosis, i.e. patients alive after 5 years or dead (62.12%). Conclusion: The results revealed the better performance for k-means and hierarchical clustering methods, and confirmed the fact that by using the expression profile of these genes, patients with similar behavior can be grouped in the same cluster with acceptable accuracy level. Certainly, the useful information from these data may contribute to the prediction of prognosis in ovarian cancer patients along with other features of patients.
Chlorinated metabolites from Streptomyces sp. highlight the role of biosynthetic mosaics and superclusters in the evolution of chemical diversity.

LCMS-guided screening of a library of biosynthetically talented bacteria and fungi identified Streptomyces sp. MST-144321 as a prolific producer of chlorinated metabolites. We isolated and characterised six new and nine reported compounds from MST-144321, belonging to three discrete classes - the depsipeptide svetamycins, the indolocarbazole borregomycins and the aromatic polyketide anthrabenzoxocinones. Following genome sequencing of MST-144321, we describe, for the first time, the svetamycin biosynthetic gene cluster (sve), its mosaic structure and its relationship to several distantly related gene clusters. Our analysis of the sve cluster suggested that the reported stereostructures of the svetamycins may be incorrect. This was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, allowing us to formally revise the absolute configurations of svetamycins A-G. We also show that the borregomycins and anthrabenzoxocinones are encoded by a single supercluster (bab) implicating superclusters as potential nucleation points for the evolution of biosynthetic gene clusters. These clusters highlight how individual enzymes and functional subclusters can be co-opted during the formation of biosynthetic gene clusters, providing a rare insight into the poorly understood mechanisms underpinning the evolution of chemical diversity.
Stethoscope – An essential diagnostic tool or a relic of the past?

ABSTRACT Rene Laennec came up with the idea of a stethoscope in 1816 to avoid the embarrassment of performing immediate auscultation on women. Soon many doctors around the world started using this tool because of its increased accuracy and ease of use. Stethoscopes hold great significance in the medical community. However, is the importance placed on stethoscopes justified today? We now have devices like portable ultrasound machines that make it much easier to visualize the body. These devices offset their higher initial cost by reducing downstream costs due to their greater accuracy and their capability of detecting diseases at an earlier stage. Also, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, new ways are being investigated to reduce the transmission of diseases. Stethoscopes being a possible vector for infectious agents coupled with the advent of newer devices that can visualize the body with greater accuracy put into question the continued use of stethoscopes today. With that said, the use of stethoscopes to diagnose diseases is still crucial in places where buying these new devices is not yet possible. The stethoscope is a great symbol of medicine, but its use needs to be in line with what is best for the patient.
PWWP2B Fine‐Tunes Adipose Thermogenesis by Stabilizing HDACs in a NuRD Subcomplex

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are widely involved in many biological processes, as well as in control of brown and beige adipose physiology, but the precise molecular mechanisms by which HDACs are assembled into transcriptional machinery to fine‐tune thermogenic program remain ill‐defined. PWWP domain containing 2b (PWWP2B), which is identified as a component of the nucleosome remodeling and deacetylation complex (NuRD), interacts and stabilizes HDAC1/2 at the thermogenic gene promoters to suppress their expression. Ablation of Pwwp2b promotes adipocyte thermogenesis and ameliorates diet‐induced obesity in vivo. Intriguingly, Pwwp2b is not only a brown fat‐enriched gene but also dramatically induced by cold and sympathetic stimulation, which may serve as a physiological brake to avoid over‐activation of thermogenesis in brown and beige fat cells.
Development of Intravascular Large B-cell Lymphoma during Methotrexate Treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis

A 56-year-old woman with rheumatoid arthritis who had been taking methotrexate (MTX) for six years visited our hospital with dyspnea and dizziness. Abdominal ultrasonography revealed mild splenomegaly. Laboratory examinations showed a marked elevation in soluble interleukin-2 receptor and lactate dehydrogenase levels. These abnormalities revealed a spontaneous regression after MTX discontinuation, however, they worsened again four months later. Skin biopsies revealed a diagnosis of intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVLBCL), and we diagnosed MTX-associated IVLBCL (MTX-IVLBCL) based on its characteristic course. Despite the recurrence of IVLBCL, it showed a good response to chemotherapy. MTX-IVLBCL should therefore be treated with consideration since it has different characteristics from that of de novo IVLBCL.
Analysis of Geometric and Dosimetric Effects of Bra Application to Support Large or Pendulous Breasts During Radiotherapy Planning: A Retrospective Single-Center Study

Purpose: To evaluate geometric and dosimetric effects of bra application during radiotherapy planning for breast cancer patients with large and pendulous breasts. Materials and Methods: Twenty patients with chest sizes >38 inches between April 2019 and July 2019 underwent radiotherapy planning with and without a radiation bra (Chabner XRT®). Geometric and dosimetric parameters included the breast volume, superior-inferior (SI) distance, separation (S) as the distance of the longest diameter of the clinical target volume (CTV), conformity number (CN), and homogeneity index (HI) of CTV. The organs at risk (OARs) were defined as the lungs, heart, and liver. Results: The use of the radiation bra provided mean changes of −0.51 cm for S, −1.45 cm for SI, and −61.18 cc for breast volume (all P < 0.05). Breast volume was correlated with bra-related changes in cross diameter (r = 0.641, P = 0.002) and volume (r = 0.680, P = 0.001). Significant dose reductions were observed for the lungs (mean V10: 19.58 cc, V20: 17.13 cc, Dmean: 86.24 cGy) and heart (Dmean: 170.23 cGy). No significant differences were observed for CN (0.62-0.67) and HI (0.19-0.20) of the CTV. Conclusion: The application of a radiation bra was associated with better geometric and dosimetric planning parameters, with a smaller CTV and lower doses to the OARs (lungs and heart) in the radiotherapy field. In addition, we expect that bra use during radiotherapy would provide emotional benefits.
Potential therapeutic target genes for systemic lupus erythematosus: a bioinformatics analysis

ABSTRACT Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease involving multiple organs. However, the underlying etiology and mechanisms remain unclear. This study was performed to identify potential therapeutic targets for SLE using bioinformatics methods. First, 584 differentially expressed genes were identified based on the GSE61635 dataset. Tissue-specific analyses, enrichment analyses, and Protein–Protein interaction network were successively conducted. Furthermore, ELISA was performed to confirm the expression levels of key genes in the control and SLE blood samples. The findings revealed that tissue-specific expression of markers of the hematological system (25.5%, 28/110) varied significantly. CCL2, MMP9, and RSAD2 expression was markedly increased in the SLE samples compared with controls. In conclusion, the identified key genes (CCL2, MMP9, and RSAD2) may act as possible therapeutic targets for the treatment of SLE. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Dominant effect of gap junction communication in wound‐induced calcium‐wave, NFAT activation and wound closure in keratinocytes

Wounding induces a calcium wave and disrupts the calcium gradient across the epidermis but mechanisms mediating calcium and downstream signalling, and longer‐term wound healing responses are incompletely understood. As expected, live‐cell confocal imaging of Fluo‐4‐loaded normal human keratinocytes showed an immediate increase in [Ca2+]i at the wound edge that spread as a calcium wave (8.3 µm/s) away from the wound edge with gradually diminishing rate of rise and amplitude. The amplitude and area under the curve of [Ca2+]i flux was increased in high (1.2 mM) [Ca2+]o media. 18α‐glycyrrhetinic acid (18αGA), a gap‐junction inhibitor or hexokinase, an ATP scavenger, blocked the wound‐induced calcium wave, dependent in part on [Ca2+]o. Wounding in a high [Ca2+]o increased nuclear factor of activated T‐cells (NFAT) but not NFkB activation, assessed by dual‐luciferase receptor assays compared to unwounded cells. Treatment with 18αGA or the store‐operated channel blocker GSK‐7975A inhibited wound‐induced NFAT activation, whereas treatment with hexokinase did not. Real‐time cell migration analysis, measuring wound closure rates over 24 h, revealed that 18αGA essentially blocked wound closure whereas hexokinase and GSK‐7975A showed relatively minimal effects. Together these data indicate that while both gap‐junction communication and ATP release from damaged cells are important in regulating the wound‐induced calcium wave, long‐term transcriptional and functional responses are dominantly regulated by gap‐junction communication.
Influence of Collagen I Nanospheres on the Growth and Osteogenic Difference of Rat Bone Marrow Stromal Cells

Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) are a promising cell source for bone tissue-engineering application due to their osteogenic differentiation potential. Effective growth and osteoblastic differentiation of BMSCs are required in promoting successful bone formation. In this study, the effect of collagen I nanospheres on the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of rat BMSCs in vitro was investigated by the addition of collagen I nanospheres directly into the culture medium. The mitochondrial activity of rat BMSCs was measured by colorimetric assay: results showed that collagen I nanospheres promoted rat BMSC proliferation. Osteogenic differentiation of rat BMSCs was qualified via measurements of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and matrix mineralization. Our results demonstrated that there was a striking difference in ALP staining and von Kossa staining. Collagen I nanospheres induced an increase in the number of ALP-positive cells. Bone nodule formation occurred under cells treated with or without collagen I nanospheres, but the extent of mineralization was increased when collagen I nanospheres were present in cultures. These data support that collagen I nanospheres might be suitable for the cultivation of BMSCs for clinical applications. Moreover, the observations suggest that collagen I nanospheres might have a great potential for bone tissue engineering.
SPECT-CCTA: guiding treatment in ischaemic heart disease

Abstract Combining myocardial perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT-MPI) and coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is an interesting hybrid imaging option in modern cardiovascular medicine. The integrated hybrid technique has a number of advantages compared to visual side-by-side analysis of the separate modalities. CT attenuation map can correct for attenuation artefacts and thus improve the diagnostic accuracy of SPECT-MPI. Moreover, the anatomical information of the CCTA and the perfusion map of SPECT-MPI allow for vessel-based correlation and culprit vessel identification. Combining SPECT-MPI with CCTA is an appealing tool in the work-up of complex ischaemic heart disease and might help determine the optimal treatment strategy. This case series illustrates the role of SPECT-CCTA in decision-making of revascularization strategy in complex ischaemic heart disease.
The raw truth about paper mills

In 2018, the community first observed scientific papers in the biomedical literature that seemed to display systematically fabricated data, pointing to the existence of paper mills: unofficial, potentially illegal organizations selling fake scientific manuscripts. In the present article, we share relevant information specifically about the ‘raw data’ associated with paper mill manuscripts. If a submitted manuscript displays clear indicators of potential paper mill involvement, we found that the raw data at close inspection often raise doubts about their authenticity. In the absence of real data, paper mills may need to fabricate raw data images when responding to requests from journals. Given the necessity to streamline production of fake manuscripts, the alleged raw data might be created using templates. Some potential methods for generating fake Western blot images are discussed. Paying close attention to image data, including graphs, diagrams, plots and tables, ideally at pre‐publication stage, can clearly help prevent publication of incorrect and fabricated information.
Comparative Effectiveness of Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter 2 Inhibitors vs Sulfonylureas in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

Key Points Question What is the comparative effectiveness of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors vs sulfonylureas associated with the risk of all-cause mortality among individuals using metformin for treatment of type 2 diabetes? Findings In this comparative effectiveness study analyzing data from the US Department of Veterans Affairs and including 128 293 individuals with type 2 diabetes receiving metformin, use of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors was associated with reduced risk of all-cause mortality compared with sulfonylureas, regardless of cardiovascular disease status, estimated glomerular filtration rate category, and albuminuria status. Use of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors with metformin therapy was associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality compared with sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors without metformin therapy. Meaning The results of this cohort study provide real-world data on the risk of all-cause mortality associated with sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors vs sulfonylureas, which may help guide the choice of antihyperglycemic therapy in people with type 2 diabetes.