julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
Real-Life Results after the Administration of a Single 0.19 mg Fluocinolone Acetonide (ILUVIEN®) Implant in Patients with Refractory Diabetic Macular Edema
2024-08-19

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate real-life data on the functional and anatomical outcome of intravitreal fluocinolone acetonide (FAc) in patients with refractory diabetic macular edema (DME). Methods: Retrospective study on 44 eyes with chronic DME that received intravitreal FAc implant and were previously treated with intravitreal dexamethasone, triamcinolone, or anti-vascular endothelial growth factor. We assessed best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central maximum thickness (CMT), and foveal thickness (FT) as measured by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (Spectralis OCT; Heidelberg Engineering). Secondary outcomes were intraocular pressure (IOP), adverse events, time to additional treatments. Results: The FAc implant significantly reduced the CMT (baseline 541.23 ± 155.29 μm, p &lt; 0.001) and FT (baseline 460.34 ± 139.28 μm, p &lt; 0.001) for up to 36 months. Despite postoperative visual improvement over time, BCVA did not significantly shift from baseline (0.55 ± 0.38 logMAR, p = 0.568). The FAc implant effect diminished after 21.34 ± 12.74 months. IOP increased in 9% of eyes (n = 4) but was well controlled under topical (n = 1) or surgical therapy (n = 3). Conclusion: Even though patients’ visual recovery does not benefit significantly, the FAc implant addresses the important pillars of chronic DME therapy regarding reduced injection frequency and reduced DME.
Reported healthcare-seeking of loiasis patients and estimation of the associated monetary burden in Gabon: Data from a cross-sectional survey
2024-08-19

Background Loiasis is a disease of relevance in endemic populations and there has been advocacy for its inclusion on the World Health Organization’s neglected tropical diseases list. As loiasis-related healthcare-seeking behaviors and related costs are unknown, we aimed to evaluate these aspects in a population residing in an endemic region in Gabon. Methods Data were collected during a community-based, cross-sectional study assessing the disease burden due to loiasis. Diagnostics for microfilaremia were performed and a history of eyeworm was obtained. In addition, a standardized questionnaire about type of healthcare resources and frequency of use, as well as respective associated costs was administered to each participant. Loiasis related healthcare-seeking behaviors were evaluated, and the associated monetary burden was estimated as a secondary outcome of the study. Findings Individuals diagnosed with loiasis more frequently reported any healthcare-seeking (OR 1.52 (95%CI: 1.21–1.91)), self-medicating (OR 1.62 (1.26–2.08)), inability to work (OR 1.86 (1.47–2.35)), and consulting with traditional healers (logOdds 1.03 (0.52–1.53)), compared to loiasis negative individuals. The most frequently reported treatment for the eyeworm was traditional herbs. The estimated healthcare associated costs, per positive individual, was US- 3,206,000 (1,150,000–5,577,000). Interpretation Loiasis patients have demonstrated healthcare needs, often consulted traditional healers, and used traditional treatments for disease specific symptoms. Further, loiasis seems to be associated with substantial direct and indirect costs for individuals and thus may cause a relevant economic burden for endemic populations and economies of affected countries.
Fin clipping does not increase opercular beat rate in tricaine-treated zebrafish
2024-08-19

To carry out research with genetically modified animals, their genotype has to be assessed. A standard protocol to obtain required tissue samples from zebrafish is finclipping. However, some studies reported considerable stress induced by this protocol. We therefore assessed ventilation as a read-out for stress in zebrafish that underwent finclipping during routine genotyping in our fish facility. Our analysis could not confirm a strong increase of ventilation as had been previously reported. Instead, handled zebrafish showed ventilation rates in the range of controls that remained in their holding tanks. Additionally, we detected a slight reduction of ventilation rates up to an hour after anaesthesia in zebrafish treated with tricaine only, suggesting a prolonged protecting effect by this anaesthetic.
Reply on RC2
2024-08-19

<strong class="journal-contentHeaderColor">Abstract.</strong> Recent applications of the in-situ (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronometry technique demonstrate its potential to address some of the analytical challenges associated with the whole-grain technique. In this study, we adapted state-of-the-art apatite and zircon production-ejection-diffusion models for application to in-situ dating methods, aiming to enhance the applicability of this technique to a broad range of geologic samples and applications. Our modifications to thermal history models include accommodation of the full range of stopping distances for alpha-particles and cylindrical grain geometries. This investigation focuses on several key aspects of in-situ data interpretation: (i) exploring the relationship between in-situ dates and the position of ablation spots across individual grains, (ii) assessing differences and similarities between whole-grain and in-situ dates, (iii) determining optimal strategies and performance for reconstructing cooling histories from in-situ (U-Th-Sm)/He data, and (iv) reporting the effects of radionuclide zoning on (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronology. Results indicate that the measured in-situ helium distribution is a function of grain size, ablation spot position and size, and cooling history. Together, these analytical and natural factors result in systematic variations in in-situ dates with distance from the grain rim. Therefore, similar to whole-grain analyses, robust interpretation requires determining grain geometry and the distance of the laser spot to the nearest prismatic face. In most cases, resulting in-situ dates are approximately 30 % older than corresponding whole-grain dates, except for samples exhibiting negligible diffusional helium loss. Reconstruction of cooling histories using in-situ (U-Th-Sm)/He data can be achieved through single measurements in several grains with varying grain size and/or effective uranium content, or within a single grain with measurements taken at different distances from the grain rim. In addition, statistical analysis of a large compilation of measured radionuclide variations in apatite and zircon grains reveals that radionuclide zoning strongly impacts whole-grain analyses, but can be directly measured with the in-situ method. Overall, our results suggest that in-situ measurements for (U-Th-Sm)/He date determination offer a means to extract meaningful cooling signals from samples with poor reproducibility from traditional whole-grain techniques.
Reply on RC1
2024-08-19

<strong class="journal-contentHeaderColor">Abstract.</strong> Recent applications of the in-situ (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronometry technique demonstrate its potential to address some of the analytical challenges associated with the whole-grain technique. In this study, we adapted state-of-the-art apatite and zircon production-ejection-diffusion models for application to in-situ dating methods, aiming to enhance the applicability of this technique to a broad range of geologic samples and applications. Our modifications to thermal history models include accommodation of the full range of stopping distances for alpha-particles and cylindrical grain geometries. This investigation focuses on several key aspects of in-situ data interpretation: (i) exploring the relationship between in-situ dates and the position of ablation spots across individual grains, (ii) assessing differences and similarities between whole-grain and in-situ dates, (iii) determining optimal strategies and performance for reconstructing cooling histories from in-situ (U-Th-Sm)/He data, and (iv) reporting the effects of radionuclide zoning on (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronology. Results indicate that the measured in-situ helium distribution is a function of grain size, ablation spot position and size, and cooling history. Together, these analytical and natural factors result in systematic variations in in-situ dates with distance from the grain rim. Therefore, similar to whole-grain analyses, robust interpretation requires determining grain geometry and the distance of the laser spot to the nearest prismatic face. In most cases, resulting in-situ dates are approximately 30 % older than corresponding whole-grain dates, except for samples exhibiting negligible diffusional helium loss. Reconstruction of cooling histories using in-situ (U-Th-Sm)/He data can be achieved through single measurements in several grains with varying grain size and/or effective uranium content, or within a single grain with measurements taken at different distances from the grain rim. In addition, statistical analysis of a large compilation of measured radionuclide variations in apatite and zircon grains reveals that radionuclide zoning strongly impacts whole-grain analyses, but can be directly measured with the in-situ method. Overall, our results suggest that in-situ measurements for (U-Th-Sm)/He date determination offer a means to extract meaningful cooling signals from samples with poor reproducibility from traditional whole-grain techniques.
The Effects of Assumed AI vs. Human Authorship on the Perception of a GPT-Generated Text
2024-08-20

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has demonstrated its ability to undertake writing tasks, including automated journalism. Prior studies suggest no differences between human and AI authors regarding perceived message credibility. However, research on people’s perceptions of AI authorship on complex topics is lacking. In a between-groups experiment (N = 734), we examined the effect of labeled authorship on credibility perceptions of a GPT-written science journalism article. The results of an equivalence test showed that labeling a text as AI-written vs. human-written reduced perceived message credibility (d = 0.36). Moreover, AI authorship decreased perceived source credibility (d = 0.24), anthropomorphism (d = 0.67), and intelligence (d = 0.41). The findings are discussed against the backdrop of a growing availability of AI-generated content and a greater awareness of AI authorship.
The Causal Effect of Intrapancreatic Fat Deposition on Acute and Chronic Pancreatitis: A Mendelian Randomization Study
2024-08-20

INTRODUCTION: Recent associative studies have linked intrapancreatic fat deposition (IPFD) with risk of pancreatitis, but the causal relationship remains unclear. METHODS: Using Mendelian randomization, we evaluated the causal association between genetically predicted IPFD and pancreatitis. This approach used genetic variants from genomewide association studies of IPFD (n = 25,617), acute pancreatitis (n = 6,787 cases/361,641 controls), and chronic pancreatitis (n = 3,875 cases/361,641 controls). RESULTS: Genetically predicted IPFD was significantly associated with acute pancreatitis (odds ratio per 1-SD increase: 1.40 [95% CI: 1.12–1.76], P = 0.0032) and chronic pancreatitis (odds ratio: 1.64 [95% CI: 1.13–2.39], P = 0.0097). DISCUSSION: Our findings support a causal role of IPFD in pancreatitis, suggesting that reducing IPFD could lower the risk of pancreatitis.
Slow-wave sleep drives sleep-dependent renormalization of synaptic AMPA receptor levels in the hypothalamus
2024-08-20

According to the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis (SHY), sleep serves to renormalize synaptic connections that have been potentiated during the prior wake phase due to ongoing encoding of information. SHY focuses on glutamatergic synaptic strength and has been supported by numerous studies examining synaptic structure and function in neocortical and hippocampal networks. However, it is unknown whether synaptic down-regulation during sleep occurs in the hypothalamus, i.e., a pivotal center of homeostatic regulation of bodily functions including sleep itself. We show that sleep, in parallel with the synaptic down-regulation in neocortical networks, down-regulates the levels of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptors (AMPARs) in the hypothalamus of rats. Most robust decreases after sleep were observed at both sites for AMPARs containing the GluA1 subunit. Comparing the effects of selective rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and total sleep deprivation, we moreover provide experimental evidence that slow-wave sleep (SWS) is the driving force of the down-regulation of AMPARs in hypothalamus and neocortex, with no additional contributions of REM sleep or the circadian rhythm. SWS-dependent synaptic down-regulation was not linked to EEG slow-wave activity. However, spindle density during SWS predicted relatively increased GluA1 subunit levels in hypothalamic synapses, which is consistent with the role of spindles in the consolidation of memory. Our findings identify SWS as the main driver of the renormalization of synaptic strength during sleep and suggest that SWS-dependent synaptic renormalization is also implicated in homeostatic control processes in the hypothalamus.
Lymphocytic Myocarditis in Children with Parvovirus B19 Infection: Pathological and Molecular Insights
2024-08-20

Background: This study aims to evaluate the role of parvovirus B19 (B19V) in the pathogenesis of myocarditis in a paediatric population, including post-mortem samples from two children. Methods: From 2004 to 2023, endomyocardial biopsies (EMBs) from children under 16 years of age were analyzed using histology, immunohistochemistry, and molecular pathology. A total of 306 children with acute and 1060 children with chronic lymphocytic myocarditis were identified. Results: B19V infection was more frequent in acute myocarditis than in chronic myocarditis (43% vs. 14%), with higher viral loads in acute cases regardless of age. The most prominent cardiac CD3+ T cell infiltration was noted in children &lt; 2 years, correlating with high cardiac B19V loads. In two male infants who died from B19V infection, B19V DNA was localized in the endothelial cells of multiple organs using in situ hybridization. Virus replication was found in the endothelial cells of small cardiac arterioles and venules but not in capillaries. B19V DNA/mRNA was also detected in immune cells, especially in the spleen and lymph nodes, revealing virus replication in B lymphocytes. Conclusions: B19V can induce severe lymphocytic myocarditis, especially in young children. The simultaneous histopathological and molecular assessment of EMBs is important for early diagnosis of viral myocarditis, preventing severe disease, and ensuring appropriate therapy.
Expansion by regions meets angular integrals
2024-08-20

A bstract We study the small-mass asymptotic behavior of so-called angular integrals, appearing in phase-space calculations in perturbative quantum field theory. For this purpose we utilize the strategy of expansion by regions, which is a universal method both for multiloop Feynman integrals and various parametric integrals. To apply the technique to angular integrals, we convert them into suitable parametric integral representations, which are accessible to existing automation tools. We use the code asy.m to reveal regions contributing to the asymptotic expansion of angular integrals. To evaluate the contributions of these regions in an epsilon expansion we apply the method of Mellin-Barnes representation. Our approach is checked against existing results on angular integrals revealing a connection between contributing regions and angular integrals constructed from an algebraic decomposition. We explicitly calculate the previously unknown asymptotics for angular integrals with three and four denominators and formulate a conjecture for the leading asymptotics and the pole part for a general number of denominators and masses.
Considering Multiple Parameters beyond BMI Alone Provides a Better Understanding of Cardiometabolic Risks Associated with Severe Obesity in Children
2024-08-20

Background: The increasing prevalence of severe obesity among children and adolescents poses a significant challenge for pediatricians and general practitioners. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between biochemical results, anthropometry, blood pressure measurements and bioimpedance analysis (BIA)-derived parameters, to identify potential cardiometabolic complications associated with severe obesity. Methods: The study included 347 children (162 boys, 185 girls) aged 0-19 years, meeting criteria for severe obesity based on BMI thresholds for different age groups. Patients were recruited in four pediatric endocrinology centers in Poland (Zabrze, Cracow, Rzeszow, Szczecin). Each participant underwent anthropometric measurements, pubertal stage assessment, blood pressure measurement, biochemical and hormonal tests and BIA. Results: BMI showed significant associations with fat mass percentage (FM%) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), but not waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). The relationship between BMI and FM% was stronger in girls and prepubertal children. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) Z-score showed a strong positive correlation with BMI in pubertal children. Negative correlation between HDL and triglycerides was observed only in boys. Prepubertal children exhibited more significant correlations despite a smaller sample size and shorter duration of obesity. Conclusions: Considering multiple parameters beyond BMI alone provides a better understanding of cardiometabolic risks associated with severe obesity in children. MetS Z-score was not a reliable indicator of increased cardiometabolic risk in younger children. Early-onset severe obesity was associated with a higher risk of metabolic complications. Early intervention is crucial to mitigate metabolic complications in this population.
Jaxley: Differentiable simulation enables large-scale training of detailed biophysical models of neural dynamics
2024-08-21

Abstract Biophysiscal neuron models provide insights into cellular mechanisms underlying neural computations. However, a central challenge has been the question of how to identify the parameters of detailed biophysical models such that they match physiological measurements at scale or such that they perform computational tasks. Here, we describe a framework for simulation of detailed biophysical models in neuroscience—J axley —which addresses this challenge. By making use of automatic differentiation and GPU acceleration, J axley opens up the possibility to efficiently optimize large-scale biophysical models with gradient descent. We show that J axley can learn parameters of biophysical neuron models with several hundreds of parameters to match voltage or two photon calcium recordings, sometimes orders of magnitude more efficiently than previous methods. We then demonstrate that J axley makes it possible to train biophysical neuron models to perform computational tasks. We train a recurrent neural network to perform working memory tasks, and a feedforward network of morphologically detailed neurons with 100,000 parameters to solve a computer vision task. Our analyses show that J axley dramatically improves the ability to build large-scale data- or task-constrained biophysical models, creating unprecedented opportunities for investigating the mechanisms underlying neural computations across multiple scales.
Computational psychiatry and the evolving concept of a mental disorder
2024-08-21

Abstract As a discipline, psychiatry is in the process of finding the right set of concepts to organize research and guide treatment. Dissatisfaction with the status quo as expressed in standard manuals has animated a number of computational paradigms, each proposing to rectify the received concept of mental disorder. We explore how different computational paradigms: normative modeling, network theory and learning-theoretic approaches like reinforcement learning and active inference, reconceptualize mental disorders. Although each paradigm borrows heavily from machine learning, they differ significantly in their methodology, their preferred level of description, the role they assign to the environment and, especially, the degree to which they aim to assimilate psychiatric disorders to a standard medical disease model. By imagining how these paradigms might evolve, we bring into focus three rather different visions for the future of psychiatric research. Although machine learning plays a crucial role in the articulation of these paradigms, it is clear that we are far from automating the process of conceptual revision. The leading role continues to be played by the theoretical, metaphysical and methodological commitments of the competing paradigms.
Biomechanical Assessment of Liver Integrity: Prospective Evaluation of Mechanical Versus Acoustic MR Elastography
2024-08-21

Background Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) can quantify tissue biomechanics noninvasively, including pathological hepatic states like metabolic dysfunction‐associated steatohepatitis. Purpose To compare the performance of 2D/3D‐MRE using the gravitational (GT) transducer concept with the current commercial acoustic (AC) solution utilizing a 2D‐MRE approach. Additionally, quality index markers (QIs) were proposed to identify image pixels with sufficient quality for reliably estimating tissue biomechanics. Study Type Prospective. Population One hundred seventy participants with suspected or confirmed liver disease (median age, 57 years [interquartile range (IQR), 46–65]; 66 females), and 11 healthy volunteers (median age, 31 years [IQR, 27–34]; 5 females). Field Strength/Sequence Participants were scanned twice at 1.5 T and 60 Hz vibration frequency: first, using AC‐MRE (2D‐MRE, spin‐echo EPI sequence, 11 seconds breath‐hold), and second, using GT‐MRE (2D‐ and 3D‐MRE, gradient‐echo sequence, 14 seconds breath‐hold). Assessment Image analysis was performed by four independent radiologists and one biomedical engineer. Additionally, superimposed analytic plane shear waves of known wavelength and attenuation at fixed shear modulus were used to propose pertinent QIs. Statistical Tests Spearman's correlation coefficient ( r ) was applied to assess the correlation between modalities. Interreader reproducibility was evaluated using Bland–Altman bias and reproducibility coefficients. P ‐values &lt;0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results Liver stiffness quantified via GT‐2D/3D correlated well with AC‐2D ( r ≥ 0.89 [95% CI: 0.85–0.92]) and histopathological grading ( r ≥ 0.84 [95% CI: 0.72–0.91]), demonstrating excellent agreement in Bland–Altman plots and between readers ( κ ≥ 0.86 [95% CI: 0.81–0.91]). However, GT‐2D showed a bias in overestimating stiffness compared to GT‐3D. Proposed QIs enabled the identification of pixels deviating beyond 10% from true stiffness based on a combination of total wave amplitude, temporal sinusoidal nonlinearity, and wave signal‐to‐noise ratio for GT‐3D. Conclusion GT‐MRE represents an alternative to AC‐MRE for noninvasive liver tissue characterization. Both GT‐2D and 3D approaches correlated strongly with the established commercial approach, offering advanced capabilities in abdominal imaging compared to AC‐MRE. Evidence Level 1 Technical Efficacy Stage 2