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Emoji is becoming a ubiquitous language and gaining worldwide popularity in recent years including the field of software engineering (SE). As nonverbal cues, emojis are widely used in user understanding tasks such as sentiment analysis, but few work has been done to study emojis in SE scenarios. This paper presents a large scale empirical study on how GitHub users use emojis in development-related communications. We find that emojis are used by a considerable proportion of GitHub users. In comparison to Internet users, developers show interesting usage characteristics and have their own interpretation of the meanings of emojis. In addition, the usage of emojis reflects a positive and supportive culture of this community. Through a manual annotation task, we find that sentimental usage is a main intention of using emojis in issues, pull requests, and comments, while emojis are mainly used to emphasize important contents in README. These findings not only deepen our understanding about the culture of SE communities, but also provide implications on how to facilitate SE tasks with emojis such as sentiment analysis.

We describe the production of a highly-active mutant VEGF variant, α2-PI1-8-VEGF121, which contains a substrate sequence for factor XIIIa at the aminoterminus designed for incorporation into a fibrin gel. The α2-PI1-8-VEGF121 gene was synthesized, cloned into a pET-32a(+) vector and expressed in Escherichia coli Origami B (DE3) host cells. To increase the protein folding and the solubility, the resulting thioredoxin-α2-PI1-8-VEGF121 fusion protein was co-expressed with recombinant molecular chaperones GroES/EL encoded by independent plasmid pGro7. The fusion protein was purified from the soluble fraction of cytoplasmic proteins using affinity chromatography. After cleavage of the thioredoxin fusion part with thrombin, the target protein was purified by a second round of affinity chromatography. The yield of purified α2-PI1-8-VEGF121 was 1.4 mg per liter of the cell culture. The α2-PI1-8-VEGF121 expressed in this work increased the proliferation of endothelial cells 3.9-8.7 times in comparison with commercially-available recombinant VEGF121. This very high mitogenic activity may be caused by co-expression of the growth factor with molecular chaperones not previously used in VEGF production. At the same time, α2-PI1-8-VEGF121 did not elicit considerable inflammatory activation of human endothelial HUVEC cells and human monocyte-like THP-1 cells.

ObjectiveTo evaluate whether the clinical benefit and relapse rates in anti-muscle-specific kinase (MuSK) myasthenia gravis (MG) differ depending on the protocol of rituximab followed. MethodsThis retrospective multicentre study in patients with MuSK MG compared three rituximab protocols in terms of clinical status, relapse, changes in treatment, and adverse side effects. The primary effectiveness endpoint was clinical relapse requiring a further infusion of rituximab. Survival curves were estimated using Kaplan-Meier methods and survival analyses were undertaken using Cox proportional-hazards models. ResultsTwenty-five patients were included: 11 treated with protocol 4 + 2 (375 mg/m(2)/4 weeks, then monthly for 2 months), five treated with protocol 1 + 1 (two 1 g doses 2 weeks apart), and nine treated with protocol 4 (375 mg/m(2)/4 weeks). Mean follow-up was 5.0 years (SD 3.3). Relapse occurred in 18.2%, 80%, and 33.3%, and mean time to relapse was 3.5 (SD 1.5), 1.1 (SD 0.4), and 2.5 (SD 1.4) years, respectively. Based on Kaplan-Meier estimates, patients treated with protocol 4 + 2 had fewer and later relapses than patients treated with the other two protocols (log-rank test P = 0.0001). Patients treated with protocol 1 + 1 had a higher risk of relapse than patients treated with protocol 4 + 2 (HR 112.8, 95% CI, 5.7-2250.4, P = 0.002). Patients treated with protocol 4 showed a trend to a higher risk of relapse than those treated with protocol 4 + 2 (HR 9.2, 95% CI 0.9-91.8, P = 0.059). InterpretationThis study provides class IV evidence that the 4 + 2 rituximab protocol has a lower clinical relapse rate and produces a more durable response than the 1 + 1 and 4 protocols in patients with MuSK MG. I. Illa received research support from the Fondo de Investigacion en Salud, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministry of Health (Spain), FIS PI16/01440 (Fondos FEDER). E. Cortes-Vicente was supported by a FIS grant (CM16/00096) from Fondo de Investigacion en Salud, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministry of Health (Spain) and Fondo Social Europeo.

AbstractOnly a few studies have assessed the long-term duration of the humoral immune response against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).In this nationwide longitudinal study from the Faroe Islands with close to full participation of all individuals on the Islands with PCR confirmed COVID-19 during the two waves of infections in the spring and autumn 2020 (n=172 & n=233), samples were drawn at three longitudinal time points (3, 7 and 12 months and 1, 3 and 7 months after disease onset, respectively).Serum was analyzed with a direct quantitative IgG antibody binding ELISA to detect anti–SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD antibodies and a commercially available qualitative sandwich RBD ELISA kit measuring total antibody binding.The seropositive rate in the convalescent individuals was above 95 % at all sampling time points for both assays. There was an overall decline in IgG titers over time in both waves (p < 0.001). Pairwise comparison showed that IgG declined significantly from the first sample until approximately 7 months in both waves (p < 0.001). After that, the antibody level still declined significantly (p < 0.001), but decelerated with an altered slope remaining fairly stable from 7 months to 12 months after infection. Interestingly, the IgG titers followed a U-shaped curve with higher antibody levels among the oldest (67+) and the youngest (0– 17) age groups compared to intermediate groups (p < 0.001).Our results indicate that COVID-19 convalescent individuals are likely to be protected from reinfection up to 12 months after symptom onset and maybe even longer. We believe our results can add to the understanding of natural immunity and the expected durability of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine immune responses.

الملخص: أهداف البحث: يعد فقر الدم المنجلي من أكثر أمراض خضاب الدم المنتشرة في العالم. ومن مضاعفات المرض تكون حصى المرارة وتتفاوت الأعراض المصاحبة لحصى المرارة من كونها صامتة ولا تظهر على المريض أي أعراض، إلى حدوث التهابات المرارة، والقنوات الصفراوية وكذلك البنكرياس. تهدف هذه الدراسة إلى تحديد نسبة حدوث حصوات المرارة لدى الأطفال المصابين بفقر الدم المنجلي في السعودية. طرق البحث: تمت الدراسة عن طريق مراجعة السجلات الطبية لجميع المرضى الذين تتراوح أعمارهم ما بين عامين إلى ثمانية عشر عاما المصابين بفقر الدم المنجلي. ودراسة عوامل الخطورة المرتبطة بتكوين حصوات المرارة. النتائج: أظهرت النتائج حدوث حصوات المرارة بنسبة ٢٧٪ لدى المرضى المصابين بفقر الدم المنجلي عند متوسط عمر سبعة سنوات تقريبا. ومن عوامل الخطورة التي ساهمت في زيادة تكون الحصوات بشكل ملحوظ هي زيادة العمر، وارتفاع نسبة خضاب الدم من النوع ''س'' وزيادة حجم كريات الدم الحمراء. كما لوحظت زيادة نسبة الحصى لدى الذكور عن الاناث، والسعوديين عن غيرهم، ومرضى فقر الدم المنجلي عن فقر الدم المنجلي والبحر المتوسط، لكن هذه الاختلافات لم تكن ذات مدلولات إحصائية. الاستنتاجات: وجدت الدراسة أن نسبة حدوث حصى المرارة عالية لدى الأطفال المصابين بفقر الدم المنجلي. وكانت العلاقة مع العمر وزيادة نسبة خضاب الدم من النوع ''س'' وزيادة حجم كريات الدم الحمراء علاقة ذات دلالة إحصائية. Abstract: Objective: Sickle cell disease is one of the most common inherited hemoglobinopathies in the world. Chronic haemolysis predisposes individuals to the development of bilirubinate cholelithiasis, which can be asymptomatic or can result in cholecystitis, choledocholithiasis, cholangitis, and gallstone pancreatitis. We aimed to determine the prevalence of cholelithiasis and associated gallstone disease among patients with paediatric sickle cell disease in a Saudi hospital. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted among all patients aged between 2 and 18 years. We reviewed the medical records of patients diagnosed with sickle cell anaemia. Mean and standard deviation were calculated for quantitative variables, and the Student t-test was used to compare means. The chi-square test was used to assess those risk factors possibly associated with cholelithiasis. A P-value of ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Approximately 75% of participants developed cholelithiasis (27.5%) at a mean age of 6.9 ± 3.4 years. The frequency of cholelithiasis was significantly higher with increasing age (40.8% in participants 12 years and older) and among those with high levels of haemoglobin S (Hb S) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV). Moreover, cholelithiasis was more frequent among males than females, Saudis than non-Saudis, and in those with sickle cell disease than in those with sickle thalassemia. However, these differences were not statistically significant. Conclusion: In this study, the prevalence of cholelithiasis among children with sickle cell anaemia was found to be high. This association was significantly increased with age and high levels of MCV and Hb S. الكلمات المفتاحية: حصى المرارة, فقر الدم المنجلي, Keywords: Cholelithiasis, Gallstones, Sickle cell anaemia