julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
Factors supporting the engagement of first-semester students in teacher education
2024-06-03

As the transition to higher education can be challenging for students, it is easy to see how the (partial) closure of higher education institutions during the Covid pandemic posed an even greater challenge to engaging in more self-regulated learning and connecting with faculty and peers. Building on Kahu &amp; Nelson’s (2018) framework, the aim of our study is to better understand student engagement. In the autumn semester of 2020, students on two programmes at a Swiss University of Teacher Education participated in a survey (n=291). Overall, students reported rather low levels of engagement. Our analyses show that factors of the learning environment, such as missed contact with peers as well as educational interface variables (self-efficacy, enjoyment, belonging), can explain differences in engagement.
Self-Reported Functional Vision in USH2A-Associated Retinal Degeneration as Measured by the Michigan Retinal Degeneration Questionnaire
2024-06-04

Self-reported FV measured by the MRDQ, when applied to USH2 and ARRP participants, had good distributional characteristics and correlated well with visual function tests. MRDQ adds a new dimension of understanding on vision-related functioning and establishes this PRO tool as an informative measure in evaluating USH2A outcomes.
The role of emotional intelligence and quality relationships in athletes’ and coaches’ levels of satisfaction: a multi-study analysis
2024-06-04

The purpose of the current research was to examine emotional intelligence (EI) within the context of the coach-athlete relationship. A series of studies were conducted to test (a) the associations between coaches' and athletes' EI and facets of performance satisfaction and (b) whether the coach-athlete relationship quality explains the association between individuals' EI and performance satisfaction. The first two studies included data from British (study 1; n = 254) and Belgium athletes (study 2; n = 256) participating in team sports. The third study employed a sample of 109 British (n = 24) and Belgian (nn = 79) team sport coaches. Data were obtained using a multi-section questionnaire. Path analyses revealed that both athletes' and coaches' EI predicted performance satisfaction and that coach-athlete relationship quality explained the association between EI and performance satisfaction. The findings of this study add to the growing literature on EI in sport and highlight the important role of emotional abilities and interpersonal skills.
Evaluating UAV Path Planning Algorithms for Realistic Maritime Search and Rescue Missions
2024-06-04

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are emerging as very important tools in search and rescue (SAR) missions at sea, enabling swift and efficient deployment for locating individuals or vessels in distress. The successful execution of these critical missions heavily relies on effective path planning algorithms that navigate UAVs through complex maritime environments while considering dynamic factors such as water currents and wind flow. Furthermore, they need to account for the uncertainty in search target locations. However, existing path planning methods often fail to address the inherent uncertainty associated with the precise location of search targets and the uncertainty of oceanic forces. In this paper, we develop a framework to develop and investigate trajectory planning algorithms for maritime SAR scenarios employing UAVs. We adopt it to compare multiple planning strategies, some of them used in practical applications by the United States Coast Guard. Furthermore, we propose a novel planner that aims at bridging the gap between computation heavy, precise algorithms and lightweight strategies applicable to real-world scenarios.
Hippocampal volume and affect in response to fluctuating estrogens in menstrual cycle irregularity: a longitudinal single-subject study
2024-06-04

Abstract Irregular menstrual cycles, affecting approximately 30% of women in their reproductive years, are often overlooked in research, limiting our insights into the broader spectrum of hormonal interactions. Understanding the relationship between endogenous hormone fluctuations and brain function across the menstrual cycle, particularly beyond regular menstrual cycles, is essential for comprehending mental disorders prevalent in women. To this aim, a healthy female with an irregular menstrual cycle underwent dense sampling for 5 consecutive weeks, primarily covering the follicular phase and ovulation. Blood draws provided measurements of estradiol, estrone, and progesterone. T 1 -weighted MRI scans assessed bilateral hippocampal volumes. Positive and negative affect were collected at each session. Statistical analyses included cubic regression curves, Spearman correlations, and mediation regression models to explore hormonal associations with hippocampal morphology and affect. Significant fluctuations in hormonal concentrations, hippocampal volume, and affect were observed across the 25 testing days. Estradiol and estrone significantly correlated with hippocampal volume, while progesterone showed no significant association. Increasing concentrations of estrogens were linked to decreasing positive affect, mediated by hippocampal volume fluctuations. Increasing concentrations of estrogens were further associated with increasing negative affect, however, independently of hippocampal changes. Our findings suggest potential roles of estrogens in affect regulation and brain function in a participant with an irregular menstrual cycle. This research serves as a blueprint for future investigations into the complex interplay between sex hormones and structural brain dynamics beyond regular menstrual cycles and establishes a fundamental framework for the advancement of sex-specific precision medicine.
Synthesis, characterization and application of polyesters from diglycerol and triglycerol as lubricants and additives
2024-06-04

Abstract Glycerol is produced on a large scale as a byproduct in the biodiesel market. In order to give an application to glycerol, this work uses diglycerol from synthesized polyglycerol and commercial triglycerol in the synthesis of long chain esters obtained from esterification and transesterification reactions with oleic acid, methyl oleate, and epoxidized methyl oleate. Diglycerol tetraoleate (DGMO), epoxidized diglycerol tetraoleate (DGEMO), and triglycerol pentaoleate (TGOA) were synthesized and characterized by 1 H and 13 C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Polyglycerol esters were evaluated for basic lubrication properties such as density, kinematic viscosity, viscosity index, melting point, and thermo‐oxidative stability. The ester that showed best thermo‐oxidative stability was DGEMO. In addition, the influence of esters synthesized as additives in a pure paraffinic oil lubricant was evaluated and the TGOA showed greater change in viscosity at 100 and 40°C and in melting point which was increased by 1.56°C.
DarA—the central processing unit for the integration of osmotic with potassium and amino acid homeostasis in Bacillus subtilis
2024-06-04

ABSTRACT Cyclic di-adenosine monophosphate (c-di-AMP) is a second messenger involved in diverse metabolic processes including osmolyte uptake, cell wall homeostasis, as well as antibiotic and heat resistance. This study investigates the role of the c-di-AMP receptor protein DarA in the osmotic stress response in Bacillus subtilis . Through a series of experiments, we demonstrate that DarA plays a central role in the cellular response to osmotic fluctuations. Our findings show that DarA becomes essential under extreme potassium limitation as well as upon salt stress, highlighting its significance in mediating osmotic stress adaptation. Suppressor screens with darA mutants reveal compensatory mechanisms involving the accumulation of osmoprotectants, particularly potassium and citrulline. Mutations affecting various metabolic pathways, including the citric acid cycle as well as glutamate and arginine biosynthesis, indicate a complex interplay between the osmotic stress response and metabolic regulation. In addition, the growth defects of the darA mutant during potassium starvation and salt stress in a strain lacking the high-affinity potassium uptake systems KimA and KtrAB can be rescued by increased affinity of the remaining potassium channel KtrCD or by increased expression of ktrD, thus resulting in increased potassium uptake. Finally, the darA mutant can respond to salt stress by the increased expression of MleN , which can export sodium ions. IMPORTANCE Environmental bacteria are exposed to rapidly changing osmotic conditions making an effective adaptation to these changes crucial for the survival of the cells. In Gram-positive bacteria, the second messenger cyclic di-AMP plays a key role in this adaptation by controlling (i) the influx of physiologically compatible organic osmolytes and (ii) the biosynthesis of such osmolytes. In several bacteria, cyclic di-adenosine monophosphate (c-di-AMP) can bind to a signal transduction protein, called DarA, in Bacillus subtilis . So far, no function for DarA has been discovered in any organism. We have identified osmotically challenging conditions that make DarA essential and have identified suppressor mutations that help the bacteria to adapt to those conditions. Our results indicate that DarA is a central component in the integration of osmotic stress with the synthesis of compatible amino acid osmolytes and with the homeostasis of potassium, the first response to osmotic stress.
Radiation-Induced DNA Damage in Uveal Melanoma Is Influenced by Dose Delivery and Chromosome 3 Status
2024-06-04

Fractionated irradiation led to more DNA damage than single-dose treatment in primary UM. As tumors with monosomy 3 showed less DNA breaks than those with disomy 3, this may indicate that they are less radiosensitive, which may influence the efficacy of irradiation.
Writing Romantic Climate Change
2024-06-04

In the Romantic period, women writers developed specific aesthetics and writing strategies in their engagements with climate change and climate catastrophe. Anya Heise-von der Lippe draws on intersectional feminist and ecocritical approaches to highlight gender as a complicating category in Romantic engagements with these topics. She addresses the ways in which gendered critical framings continue to resonate in current Anthropocene discourses that use Romantic conceptualizations of »Nature«, impacting contemporary approaches to the relationship between humans and non-humans in the ongoing climate catastrophe.
GLIDE Score
2024-06-05

Tricuspid valve transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (T-TEER) is the most widely used transcatheter therapy to treat patients with tricuspid regurgitation (TR). The aim of this study was to develop a simple anatomical score to predict procedural outcomes of T-TEER. All patients (n = 168) who underwent T-TEER between January 2017 and November 2022 at 2 centers were included in the derivation cohort. Additionally, 126 patients from 2 separate institutions served as a validation cohort. T-TEER was performed using 2 commercially available technologies. Core laboratory assessment of procedural transesophageal echocardiograms was used to determine septolateral and anteroposterior coaptation gap, leaflet morphology, septal leaflet length and retraction, chordal structure density, tethering height, en face TR jet morphology and TR jet location, image quality, and the presence of intracardiac leads. A scoring system was derived using univariable and multivariable logistic regression. Endpoints assessed were immediate postprocedural TR reduction ≥2 grades and TR grade moderate or less. The median age was 82 years (Q1-Q3: 78-84 years); 48% of patients were women; and patients presented with severe (55%), massive (36%), and torrential (8%) TR. Five variables (septolateral coaptation gap, chordal structure density, en face TR jet morphology, TR jet location, and image quality) were identified as best predicting procedural outcome and were incorporated in the GLIDE (Gap, Location, Image quality, density, en-face TR morphology) score (range 0-5). TR reduction ≥2 grades and TR grade moderate or less were observed in >90% of patients with GLIDE scores of 0 and 1 and in only 5.6% and 16.7% of those with GLIDE scores ≥4. The GLIDE score was then externally validated in a separate cohort (area under the curve: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.69-0.86). TR reduction significantly correlated with functional improvement assessed by NYHA functional class and 6-minute walk distance at 3 months. The GLIDE score is a simple, 5-component score that is readily obtained during patient imaging and can predict successful T-TEER.
Phase 3 study (PIVOTAL) of neoadjuvant intralesional daromun vs. immediate surgery in fully resectable melanoma with regional skin and/or nodal metastases.
2024-06-05

LBA9501 Background: PIVOTAL (NCT02938299) is an open label, randomized, multicenter, phase 3 trial evaluating Daromun as a neoadjuvant intralesional therapy for resectable, locally advanced Stage III melanoma. Daromun, a combination of two antibody-cytokine fusions (L19IL2 and L19TNF) showed efficacy in a phase 2 study (NCT02076633) in unresectable melanoma patients (pts). Methods: PIVOTAL was run at 22 sites in 4 EU countries. Pts were 1:1 randomly assigned to receive up to 4 weekly intratumoral injections of Daromun followed by surgery (week 5 to 8; treatment arm) or surgery alone within 4 weeks from randomization (control arm). Each weekly administration of Daromun (13 Mio IU of L19IL2 and 400 μg of L19TNF) was distributed among all injectable tumor lesions. Cutaneous melanoma pts with skin and/or LN metastases amenable to complete surgical resection were eligible. Prior anti-tumor treatments including surgery, radiation therapy (RT) and systemic therapies were allowed. Any approved adjuvant treatment post-surgery during follow-up was equally allowed. Pts with uveal or mucosal melanoma, metastatic melanoma with unknown primary, or distant metastases at screening (ruled out by PET/CT) were not eligible. Results: From 07/2016 to 08/2023, 127 pts were randomized to the treatment and 129 to the control arm. Most pts had received previous treatments, including surgery, systemic therapy or RT (Table). The study’s primary endpoint was relapse-free survival (RFS), assessed by investigators and confirmed by retrospective Blinded Independent Central Review (BICR) of PET/CT scans. The primary outcome analysis shows an HR between the RFS of the treatment and control arm of 0.59 [95% CI 0.41-0.86; log-rank p=0.005] as per BICR assessment and 0.61 [0.41-0.92; p=0.018] as per investigator assessment (power = 85%; two-sided α = 0.05). Median RFS was 16.7 mo. in the treatment and 6.9 mo. in the control arm as per BICR. Moreover, distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) was significantly improved by the neoadjuvant treatment, with an HR of 0.60 [0.37-0.95; p=0.029]. Complete pathological responses (pCR) after surgery were recorded in 21% of treatment arm pts. The safety profile of Daromun was characterized mostly by low-grade, local adverse events (14% grade 3 TEAEs). Systemic AEs were limited and of low grade (no autoimmune TEAEs and no drug-related death recorded). Conclusions: The analysis of the primary efficacy endpoint RFS and of secondary endpoints DMFS, pCR and safety show that neoadjuvant Daromun is an effective and safe therapeutic option for resectable, locally advanced melanoma pts. Clinical trial information: NCT02938299 . [Table: see text]
Defining the next generation of severe malaria treatment: a target product profile
2024-06-05

Abstract Background Severe malaria is a life-threatening infection, particularly affecting children under the age of 5 years in Africa. Current treatment with parenteral artemisinin derivatives is highly efficacious. However, artemisinin partial resistance is widespread in Southeast Asia, resulting in delayed parasite clearance after therapy, and has emerged independently in South America, Oceania, and Africa. Hence, new treatments for severe malaria are needed, and it is prudent to define their characteristics now. This manuscript focuses on the target product profile (TPP) for new treatments for severe malaria. It also highlights preparedness when considering ways of protecting the utility of artemisinin-based therapies. Target product profile Severe malaria treatments must be highly potent, with rapid onset of antiparasitic activity to clear the infection as quickly as possible to prevent complications. They should also have a low potential for drug resistance selection, given the high parasite burden in patients with severe malaria. Combination therapies are needed to deter resistance selection and dissemination. Partner drugs which are approved for uncomplicated malaria treatment would provide the most rapid development pathway for combinations, though new candidate molecules should be considered. Artemisinin combination approaches to severe malaria would extend the lifespan of current therapy, but ideally, completely novel, non-artemisinin-based combination therapies for severe malaria should be developed. These should be advanced to at least phase 2 clinical trials, enabling rapid progression to patient use should current treatment fail clinically. New drug combinations for severe malaria should be available as injectable formulations for rapid and effective treatment, or as rectal formulations for pre-referral intervention in resource-limited settings. Conclusion Defining the TPP is a key step to align responses across the community to proactively address the potential for clinical failure of artesunate in severe malaria. In the shorter term, artemisinin-based combination therapies should be developed using approved or novel drugs. In the longer term, novel combination treatments should be pursued. Thus, this TPP aims to direct efforts to preserve the efficacy of existing treatments while improving care and outcomes for individuals affected by this life-threatening disease.
Endovascular therapy of isolated posterior cerebral artery occlusion stroke with and without general anesthesia
2024-06-05

Background The optimal anesthetic strategy for endovascular therapy (EVT) in acute ischemic stroke is still under debate. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical outcomes of patients with isolated posterior cerebral artery (PCA) occlusion stroke undergoing EVT by anesthesia modality with conscious sedation (non-GA) versus general anesthesia (GA). Methods Patients from the Posterior CerebraL Artery Occlusion (PLATO) study were analyzed with regard to anesthetic strategy. GA was compared with non-GA using multivariable logistic regression and inverse probability of weighting treatment (IPTW) methods. The primary endpoint was the 90-day distribution of the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score. Secondary outcomes included functional independence or return to Rankin at day 90, and successful reperfusion, defined as expanded Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction (eTICI) 2b to 3. Safety endpoints were symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage and mortality. Results Among 376 patients with isolated PCA occlusion stroke treated with EVT, 183 (49%) had GA. The treatment groups were comparable, although the GA group contained more patients with severe stroke and lower posterior circulation Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (pc-ASPECTS). On IPTW analysis, there was no difference between groups with regard to ordinal mRS shift analysis (common OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.53 to 1.51, P=0.67) or functional independence (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.50 to 1.39, P=0.49). There were greater odds for successful reperfusion with GA (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.17 to 2.47, P=0.01). Safety outcomes were comparable between groups. Conclusion In patients with isolated PCA occlusion undergoing EVT, patients treated with GA had higher reperfusion rates compared with non-GA. Both GA and non-GA strategies were safe and functional outcomes were similar.
Aggregation-resistant alpha-synuclein tetramers are reduced in the blood of Parkinson’s patients
2024-06-05

Abstract Synucleinopathies such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) are defined by the accumulation and aggregation of the α-synuclein protein in neurons, glia and other tissues. We have previously shown that destabilization of α-synuclein tetramers is associated with familial PD due to SNCA mutations and demonstrated brain-region specific alterations of α-synuclein multimers in sporadic PD patients following the classical Braak spreading theory. In this study, we assessed relative levels of disordered and higher-ordered multimeric forms of cytosolic α-synuclein in blood from familial PD with G51D mutations and sporadic PD patients. We used an adapted in vitro-cross-linking protocol for human EDTA-whole blood. The relative levels of higher-ordered α-synuclein tetramers were diminished in blood from familial PD and sporadic PD patients compared to controls. Interestingly, the relative amount of α-synuclein tetramers was already decreased in asymptomatic G51D carriers, supporting the hypothesis that α-synuclein multimer destabilization precedes the development of clinical PD. Our data, therefore suggest that measuring α-synuclein tetramers in blood may have potential as a facile biomarker assay for early detection and quantitative tracking of PD progression.