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Deep learning models have achieved state-of-the-art performance for text classification in the last two decades. However, this has come at the expense of models becoming less understandable, limiting their application scope in high-stakes domains. The increased interest in explainability has resulted in many proposed forms of explanation. Nevertheless, recent studies have shown that rationales , or language explanations, are more intuitive and human-understandable, especially for non-technical stakeholders. This survey provides an overview of the progress the community has achieved thus far in rationalization approaches for text classification. We first describe and compare techniques for producing extractive and abstractive rationales. Next, we present various rationale-annotated data sets that facilitate the training and evaluation of rationalization models. Then, we detail proxy-based and human-grounded metrics to evaluate machine-generated rationales. Finally, we outline current challenges and encourage directions for future work., Competing Interests: VS was employed at ASUS Intelligent Cloud Services. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Mendez Guzman, Schlegel and Batista-Navarro.)

Background: In France, human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage is low, with 30.7% of 17-year-old girls having received a complete HPV vaccination schedule in 2020., Aim: To determine the perspective and behaviors of general practitioners (GPs) regarding HPV vaccination with their patients and if a reluctance is observed., Design and Setting: A qualitative study based on semi-directed individual interviews was conducted between December 2019 and December 2020. A representative sample of GPs with various profiles were included in 4 French regions., Method: A purposive sampling was used and interviews were continued until data saturation was reached. The analysis was based on the grounded theory., Results: Twenty-six GPs aged 29-66 years were interviewed. The measures taken by the French health authorities (lowering the target age, reimbursing the vaccine, extending the target population to boys) were perceived as facilitators. The reported barriers were organizational, due to low attendance of adolescents, and relational, mainly due to parental vaccine hesitancy. Physicians had to deal with fears about the perceived risks and concerns about sexuality conveyed by HPV vaccination and linked to the socio-cultural characteristics of the families. Physicians developed strategies, including scientific knowledge mobilization, empowerment of families by promoting health through prevention, repetition of the vaccination proposals, personal experience and relationship. Different practices were identified according to three GP typologies: effective, convinced but unpersuasive, and reluctant physicians., Conclusion: Based on these results, specific interventions, including communication techniques, especially for hesitant or unpersuasive physicians, are needed to enable GPs to become more effective., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Dietary interventions for high cholesterol, a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease, are generally considered before prescribing drugs., Objective: This study investigated the effects of whole Great Northern beans (wGNBs) and their hull (hGNB) incorporated into a high-saturated-fat (HSF) diet on cholesterol markers and hepatic/small intestinal genes involved in cholesterol regulation., Methods: Each of the 4 groups of 11 male golden Syrian hamsters at 9 wk old were fed a normal-fat [NF; 5% (wt:wt) of soybean oil], HSF [5% (wt:wt) of soybean oil + 10% (wt:wt) of coconut oil], HSF+5% (wt:wt) wGNB, or HSF+0.5% (wt:wt) hGNB diet for 4 wk. Cholesterol markers and expression of genes involved in cholesterol metabolism and absorption were analyzed from plasma, liver, intestinal, and fecal samples. Data were analyzed by 1-factor ANOVA and Pearson correlations., Results: Compared with the HSF group, the HSF+wGNB group had 62% and 85% lower plasma and liver cholesterol and 3.6-fold and 1.4-fold greater fecal excretion of neutral sterol and bile acid, respectively (P ≤ 0.05). The HSF+hGNB group had 54% lower plasma triglycerides (P < 0.001) and 53% lower liver esterified cholesterol (P = 0.0002) than the HSF group. Compared with the HSF group, the expression of small intestinal Niemann-Pick C1 like 1 (Npc1l1), acyl-coenzyme A:cholesterol acyltransferase 2 (Acat2), and ATP binding cassette transporter subfamily G member 5 (Abcg5) were 75%, 70%, and 49% lower, respectively, and expression of hepatic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase (Hmgr) was 11.5-fold greater in the HSF+wGNB group (P ≤ 0.05)., Conclusions: Consumption of wGNBs resulted in lower cholesterol concentration in male hamsters fed an HSF diet by promoting fecal cholesterol excretion, most likely caused by Npc1l1 and Acat2 suppression. The hGNB may partially contribute to the cholesterol-lowering effect of the wGNBs., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society for Nutrition.)

Combination HIV prevention covers a range of biomedical, behavioral, and socio-structural interventions. Despite the growing availability of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), it is not always accessible in European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reporting countries and may not meet the needs of all at-risk populations. Based on the Flash! PrEP in Europe data, multiple correspondence analysis and hierarchical clustering were used to identify patterns in HIV prevention strategies among 9980 men who have sex with men (MSM). PrEP interest was evaluated among four identified clusters: (A) "high condom use, sometimes Treatment as Prevention (TasP)"; (B) "mix of methods, infrequent condom use"; (C) "high condom use, tendency to choose partners based on serological status" and (D) "moderate use of condoms mixed with other prevention strategies". Clusters B and D had higher PrEP interest. These results suggest that MSM use a range of behavioral and biomedical risk reduction strategies that are often combined. On-demand PrEP may meet the needs of MSM who infrequently use condoms and other prevention methods., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Sagebrush ( Artemisia spp.) are dominant wild plants in large areas of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and they include several species and subspecies. The aim was to determine if there are significant differences in essential oil (EO) yield, composition, and biological activity of sagebrush within the Bighorn Mountains, U.S. The EO yield in fresh herbage varied from 0.15 to 1.69% for all species, including 0.25-1.69% in A. tridentata var. vaseyana , 0.64-1.44% in A. tridentata var. tridentata , 1% in A. tridentata var. wyomingensis , 0.8-1.2% in A. longifolia , 0.8-1% in A. cana , and 0.16% in A. ludoviciana . There was significant variability in the EO profile between species, and subspecies. Some EO constituents, such as α-pinene (0-35.5%), camphene (0-21.5%), eucalyptol (0-30.8%), and camphor (0-45.5%), were found in most species and varied with species and subspecies. The antioxidant capacity of the EOs varied between the species and subspecies. None of the sagebrush EOs had significant antimicrobial, antimalarial, antileishmanial activity, or contained podophyllotoxin. Some accessions yielded EO with significant concentrations of compounds including camphor, eucalyptol, cis-thujone, α-pinene, α-necrodol-acetate, fragranol, grandisol, para-cymene, and arthole. Therefore, chemotypes can be selected and possibly introduced into culture and be grown for commercial production of these compounds to meet specific industry needs.

Background: The purpose of this study was to explore predictors for anxiety as the most common form of psychological distress in cancer survivors while accounting for physical comorbidity., Methods: We conducted a secondary data analysis of a large study within the German National Cancer Plan which enrolled primary care cancer survivors diagnosed with colon, prostatic, or breast cancer. We selected candidate predictors based on a systematic MEDLINE search. Using supervised machine learning, we developed a prediction model for anxiety by splitting the data into a 70% training set and a 30% test set and further split the training set into 10-folds for cross-validating the hyperparameter tuning step during model selection. We fit six different regression models, selected the model that maximized the root mean square error (RMSE) and fit the selected model to the entire training set. Finally, we evaluated the model performance on the holdout test set., Results: In total, data from 496 cancer survivors were analyzed. The LASSO model (α = 1.0) with weakly penalized model complexity (λ = 0.015) slightly outperformed all other models (RMSE = 0.370). Physical symptoms, namely, fatigue/weakness (β = 0.18), insomnia (β = 0.12), and pain (β = 0.04), were the most important predictors, while the degree of physical comorbidity was negligible., Conclusions: Prediction of clinically significant anxiety in cancer survivors using readily available predictors is feasible. The findings highlight the need for considering cancer survivors' physical functioning regardless of the degree of comorbidity when assessing their psychological well-being. The generalizability of the model to other populations should be investigated in future external validations., (© 2021 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The World Health Organization recommends pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for all populations at substantial risk of HIV infection, including women. However, data regarding PrEP interest among women is lacking, particularly in Europe. Factors associated with interest in using PrEP were assessed among women respondents to the Flash! PrEP in Europe (FPIE) survey. This community-based cross-sectional study, conducted in 12 European countries, aimed to assess PrEP knowledge and interest. "High objective risk" (HOR) was assessed using established risk criteria following EACS and CDC guidelines. Factors associated with interest in using PrEP were assessed in univariable and multivariable logistic regression models. Among 678 women, 12.5% (n = 85) were considered at HOR, 46.8% (n = 317) indicated prior PrEP knowledge and 18.0% (n = 122) reported interest in using PrEP. Among women at HOR, 40.0% (n = 34) were interested in PrEP. Factors significantly associated with PrEP interest in the final multivariable model were: younger age (18-29 years) (aOR 1.91[95CI: 1.07; 3.41]), bad self-perceived financial status (1.84[1.09; 3.11]), migrant status (south to north) (2.87[1.05; 7.89]), single or dating relationship status (1.93[1.23; 3.03]), sexual abuse history (1.86[1.17; 2.97]), "rather high"/ "high" self-perceived HIV risk (3.21[1.32; 7.81]), and HOR (2.49[1.42; 4.35]). These results show that women at HOR and those who perceived themselves to be at high risk are interested in using PrEP. There is a critical need for targeted information and improved access to PrEP to increase uptake of this HIV prevention tool to meet PrEP interest among women., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

High-resolution 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis was employed to molecularly screen the lipid, lipid oxidation product (LOP), and antioxidant compositions of four natural (unrefined) cod liver oil (CLO) products. Products 1-3 were non-fermented CLOs, whilst Product 4 was isolated from pre-fermented cod livers. Supporting analytical data that were acquired included biogenic amine, flavanone, tannin, phenolic antioxidant, α-tocopherol, and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) determinations by recommended HPLC, LC/MS/MS, or spectrophotometric methods. SDS-PAGE, HPLC, and 1 H NMR analyses investigated and determined collagenous antioxidants and their molecular mass ranges. 1 H NMR analysis of aldehydic LOPs was employed to explore the susceptibilities/resistivities of each CLO product to peroxidation that is induced by thermal stressing episodes (TSEs) at 180°C, or following prolonged (42 day) storage episodes at 4 and 23 °C. Product 4 displayed extremely high ORAC values, which were much greater than those of Products 1-3, and that were predominantly ascribable to significant levels of peroxidation-blocking and/or aldehyde-consuming collagenous polypeptides/peptides and ammoniacal agents therein. Significantly lower levels of toxic aldehydes were generated in the pre-fermented Product 4 during exposure to TSEs, or the above long-term storage episodes. These results confirmed the enhanced peroxidative resistivity of a fermented, antioxidant-fortified natural CLO product over those of non-fermented unrefined products. Product 4: Green Pasture Blue Ice™ Fermented Cod Liver Oil., Competing Interests: J.Z. is an employee of Green Pasture Products, 416 E. Fremont Street, O’Neill, NE 68763, USA. None of the other authors declare any conflicts of interest. The sponsoring body had no role in the design, execution, interpretation, or writing of the study.

The addition of various dipolar molecules is shown to affect the temperature dependence of the spin state occupancy of the much studied spin crossover Fe(II) complex, [Fe{H 2 B(pz) 2 } 2 (bipy)] (pz  =  pyrazol-1-yl, bipy  =  2,2'-bipyridine). Specifically, the addition of benzimidazole results in a re-entrant spin crossover transition, i.e. the spin state starts in the mostly low spin state, then high spin state occupancy increases, and finally the high spin state occupancy decreases with increasing temperature. This behavior contrasts with that observed when the highly polar p -benzoquinonemonoimine zwitterion C 6 H 2 (…NH 2 ) 2 (…O) 2 was mixed with [Fe{H 2 B(pz) 2 } 2 (bipy)], which resulted in locking [Fe{H 2 B(pz) 2 } 2 (bipy)] largely into a low spin state while addition of the ethyl derivative C 6 H 2 (…NHC 2 H 5 ) 2 (…O) 2 did not appear to perturb the spin crossover transition of [Fe{H 2 B(pz) 2 } 2 (bipy)].

Objectives: To explore the impact of depression on heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) as a marker of autonomic nervous system (ANS) impairment in depressed and non-depressed patients with advanced type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and to explore possible effects of an acceptance- and mindfulness-based group intervention (MBSR) on HR and HRV., Methods: Alongside a prospective clinical trial, we collected demographic, psychosocial and clinical data from 113 chronic T2DM patients in a standardized setting. At baseline and after one year, depressive mood was assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and autonomic function was determined by measuring HR and HRV markers. A subsample was randomly assigned to take part in eight MBSR sessions., Results: Of the 113 T2DM patients (77.9% men; mean age=58.8±7.0 years; diabetes duration 11.5±7.0 years), 33 showed clinically relevant depressive symptoms at baseline. In cross-sectional analysis, we found no association between depression and HR/HRV (all comparisons p>0.05). In prospective regression analysis depression did not predict follow-up scores of HRV. The patients who participated in the MBSR intervention showed a tendency toward improved parasympathetic control (RMSSD, CV, E-I-Ratio) with small-to-moderate effect sizes (d≤0.38)., Conclusions: Depression was not directly associated with cardiac autonomic control in this sample, but MBSR training may have positively influenced HR and HRV. In advanced diabetes, somatic and behavioral parameters seem to be more predictive than depression for the course of autonomic functioning, but the pathways remain unclear., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

Background: Pinto beans contain multiple active agents such as polyphenols, flavonoids, and saponins, and have been shown to lower cholesterol, but the mechanisms involved in this effect have not been explored., Objective: This study was to investigate the changes in cholesterol metabolism in response to whole pinto beans (wPB) and their hulls (hPB) supplemented into a diet rich in saturated fat and the molecular mechanisms potentially responsible for these effects in hamsters., Methods: Forty-four 9-wk-old male Golden Syrian hamsters were randomly assigned to 4 diet groups (n = 11), including a 5% (wt:wt) fat diet [normal-fat diet (NF)], a 15% (wt:wt) fat diet [diet rich in saturated fat (HSF), saturated fatty acids accounted for 70% of total fatty acids], or HSF supplemented with 5% (wt:wt) wPB or 0.5% (wt:wt) hPB for 4 wk. Plasma, liver, intestinal, and fecal samples were collected to evaluate multiple cholesterol markers and gene targets., Results: The plasma non-high-density lipoprotein (non-HDL) concentration was significantly reduced in the wPB- and hPB-supplemented groups by 31.9 ± 3.5% and 53.6 ± 3.2%, respectively, compared with the HSF group (P < 0.01), to concentrations comparable with the NF group. The wPB-supplemented hamsters had significantly lower liver cholesterol (45.1%, P < 0.001) and higher fecal cholesterol concentrations (94.8%, P = 0.001) than those fed the HSF. The expressions of hepatic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase (Hmgcr) and small intestinal acyl-coenzyme A: cholesterol acyltransferase 2 (Acat2) were significantly decreased in animals administered wPB (by 89.1% and 63.8%, respectively) and hPB (by 72.9% and 47.7%, respectively) compared with their HSF-fed counterparts (P < 0.05). The wPB normalized the expression of Acat2 to the level of the NF group., Conclusion: Pinto beans remediated high cholesterol induced by HSF in male hamsters by decreasing hepatic cholesterol synthesis and intestinal cholesterol absorption, effects which were partially exerted by the hulls., (Copyright © American Society for Nutrition 2019.)