Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nonsynostotic Plagiocephaly: Prevention Strategies in Child Health Care

The dissertation, comprising a clinical intervention and three supporting studies, aimed to assess if it is possible to prevent nonsynostotic plagiocephaly while promoting safe infant sleeping practices. Five individuals were trained to assess cranial asymmetry and then reliability-tested; the interpreted results indicate substantial strength of rater-agreement. Intervention participants were allocated to group. Only intervention group nurses participated in the continuing education on plagiocephaly developed for nurses. A survey compared information intervention and control group parents received from nurses; intervention group parents were significantly more aware of recommendations than the controls. Nurse education was evaluated by asking intervention and control group nurses and parents two open-ended questions; the intervention group reported new re-positioning strategies. The effect of the intervention on cranial shape was evaluated by assessing asymmetry at 2, 4, and 12 months (176 intervention group; 92 controls). It was nine times more common that cranial asymmetry at two months reversed by four months when parents were aware of written recommendations from their nurse (OR = 9.09 [0.02; 0.48], p = 0.004) when adjusted for group. An infant’s risk of asymmetry persisting until 12 months was significantly reduced in the intervention group (RR = 0.35 [0.13; 0.94], p = 0.03). Preventing brachycephaly was difficult. Conclusions: the assessors were considered reliable; educating nurses promoted the integration of new recommendations in practice; the intervention was associated with early reversal of nonsynostotic plagiocephaly.
EFFECT OF pH ON INTERMEDIATES PRODUCED DURING GROWTH AND SPORULATION OF BACILLUS CEREUS

Nakata, H. M. (Washington State University, Pullman). Effect of pH on intermediates produced during growth and sporulation of Bacillus cereus. J. Bacteriol. 86:577–581. 1963. —Cultures of Bacillus cereus strain T, grown in an unbuffered glucose-yeast extract-mineral salts medium and in the same medium buffered at pH 6.4, 7.0, or 7.4, were examined to determine the effect of pH on the production and utilization of metabolic intermediates during growth and sporulation. Although the growth rate of the unbuffered cultures decreased as a result of changes in pH, the growth rates of the buffered cultures were constant and similar. Only slight differences were observed in the final number of spores produced, and in the time required for the completion of the sporulation process. Acetic and lactic acids were the chief acidic end products of growth in buffered media, in which more than twice the amount of these acids accumulated than was detected in unbuffered cultures. In the latter cultures, pyruvic acid, rather than lactic acid, was formed together with acetate. Acetoin also accumulated in the unbuffered cultures, but none was detected in any of the buffered cultures. All of these intermediates were rapidly utilized by the cells once sporulation began. Poly-β-hydroxybutyric acid accumulation in the cells during the early stages of sporulation was also influenced by pH, with the greatest accumulation of this polymer occurring in the cells grown at pH 6.2 to 6.4. These results support the hypothesis that high polymer content in the cells is not imperative for the completion of sporulation. However, if any is formed, it is completely utilized during the final stages of spore formation.
Media Representation of Children’s Privacy in the Context of the Use of “Smart” Toys and Commercial Data Collection

The growing use of “smart” toys has made it increasingly important to understand the various privacy implications of their use by children and families. The article is a case study of how the risks to young children’s privacy, posed by the commercial data collection of producers of “smart” toys, were represented in the media. Relying on a content analysis of media coverage in twelve European countries and Australia collected during the Christmas season of 2016/2017, and reporting on a follow-up study in selected countries during the Christmas season of 2017/2018, our article illustrates how the issue of children’s privacy risks was dealt with in a superficial manner, leaving relevant stakeholders without substantive information about the issue; and with minimum representation of children’s voices in the coverage itself.
The Association of ADORA2A and ADORA2B Polymorphisms with the Risk and Severity of Chronic Heart Failure: A Case-Control Study of a Northern Chinese Population

The causes of chronic heart failure (CHF) and its progression are likely to be due to complex genetic factors. Adenosine receptors A2A and A2B (ADORA2A and ADORA2B, respectively) play an important role in cardio-protection. Therefore, polymorphisms in the genes encoding those receptors may affect the risk and severity of CHF. This study was a case-control comparative investigation of 300 northern Chinese Han CHF patients and 400 ethnicity-matched healthy controls. Four common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of ADORA2A (rs2236625, rs2236624, rs4822489, and rs5751876) and one SNP of ADORA2B (rs7208480) were genotyped and an association between SNPs and clinical outcomes was evaluated. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the association. The rs4822489 was significantly associated with the severity of CHF after adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors (p = 0.040, OR = 1.912, 95% CI = 1.029–3.550). However, the five SNPs as well as the haplotypes were not found to be associated with CHF susceptibility. The findings of this study suggest that rs4822489 may contribute to the severity of CHF in the northern Chinese. However, further studies performed in larger populations and aimed at better defining the role of this gene are required.
Fisher’s Geometrical Model Emerges as a Property of Complex Integrated Phenotypic Networks

Models relating phenotype space to fitness (phenotype–fitness landscapes) have seen important developments recently. They can roughly be divided into mechanistic models (e.g., metabolic networks) and more heuristic models like Fisher’s geometrical model. Each has its own drawbacks, but both yield testable predictions on how the context (genomic background or environment) affects the distribution of mutation effects on fitness and thus adaptation. Both have received some empirical validation. This article aims at bridging the gap between these approaches. A derivation of the Fisher model “from first principles” is proposed, where the basic assumptions emerge from a more general model, inspired by mechanistic networks. I start from a general phenotypic network relating unspecified phenotypic traits and fitness. A limited set of qualitative assumptions is then imposed, mostly corresponding to known features of phenotypic networks: a large set of traits is pleiotropically affected by mutations and determines a much smaller set of traits under optimizing selection. Otherwise, the model remains fairly general regarding the phenotypic processes involved or the distribution of mutation effects affecting the network. A statistical treatment and a local approximation close to a fitness optimum yield a landscape that is effectively the isotropic Fisher model or its extension with a single dominant phenotypic direction. The fit of the resulting alternative distributions is illustrated in an empirical data set. These results bear implications on the validity of Fisher’s model’s assumptions and on which features of mutation fitness effects may vary (or not) across genomic or environmental contexts.
Nanostructured Bimetallic Block Copolymers as Precursors to Magnetic FePt Nanoparticles

Phase-separated block copolymers (BCPs) that function as precursors to arrays of FePt nanoparticles (NPs) are of potential interest for the creation of media for the next-generation high-density magnetic data storage devices. A series of bimetallic BCPs has been synthesized by incorporating a complex containing Fe and Pt centers into the coordinating block of four different poly(styrene-b-4-vinylpyridine)s (PS-b-P4VPs, P1–P4). To facilitate phase separation for the resulting metalated BCPs (PM1–PM4), a loading of the FePt-bimetallic complex corresponding to ca. 20% was used. The bulk and thin-film self-assembly of these BCPs was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy, respectively. The spherical and cylindrical morphologies observed for the metalated BCPs corresponded to those observed for the metal-free BCPs. The products from the pyrolysis of the BCPs in bulk were also characterized by TEM, powder X-ray diffraction, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, which i.
Development of an adapted version of the Boston Naming Test for Portuguese speakers.

OBJECTIVE To present the development of an adapted version of the Boston Naming Test for Portuguese speakers, and to investigate the effects of age, education and gender on both the original and the adapted Boston Naming Test in respect of Brazilian Portuguese speakers. METHOD Eighty items, including the 60 original ones and 20 adapted items were administered to 739 healthy Brazilian subjects aged between 6 and 77 years who received 0 to 17 years of education. RESULTS The coefficients of the General Linear Model estimation suggested that both age and education were statistically significant to predict total scores. In addition, score variances, justified by such predictors, were 41.20% in the original Boston Naming Test against 25.84% in the adapted Boston Naming Test. These results suggest that the scores from the original BNT are more dependent on age and education than those from the adapted Boston Naming Test. CONCLUSION These findings demonstrated the suitability of the adapted Boston Naming Test version for the Brazilian population and described provisional norms for the original and adapted Boston Naming Test for Portuguese speakers.
Death Anxiety among Lebanese Samples

An Arabic version of the Templer Death Anxiety Scale was administered to 673 Lebanese volunteer subjects (164 boys, 165 girls in secondary school, 170 men, 174 women undergraduates). Females attained higher mean death anxiety scores than males. The Lebanese samples had either the same or a lower mean score on death anxiety than their Arab peers, that is, Egyptians and Kuwaitians and also US samples. Split-half reliabilities ranged from . 57 to . 68.
Neuroinflammatory Signals in Alzheimer Disease and APP/PS1 Transgenic Mice: Correlations With Plaques, Tangles, and Oligomeric Species

Abstract To understand neuroinflammation-related gene regulation during normal aging and in sporadic Alzheimer disease (sAD), we performed functional genomics analysis and analyzed messenger RNA (mRNA) expression by quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction of 22 genes involved in neuroinflammation-like responses in the cerebral cortex of wild-type and APP/PS1 transgenic mice. For direct comparisons, mRNA expression of 18 of the same genes was then analyzed in the entorhinal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and frontal cortex area 8 of middle-aged human subjects lacking Alzheimer disease–related pathology and in older subjects with sAD pathology covering Stages I–II/0(A), III–IV/A–B, and V–VI/C of Braak and Braak classification. Modifications of cytokine and immune mediator mRNA expression were found with normal aging in wild-type mice and in middle-aged individuals and patients with early stages of sAD-related pathology; these were accompanied by increased protein expression of certain mediators in ramified microglia. In APP/PS1 mice, inflammatory changes coincided with &bgr;-amyloid (A&bgr;) deposition; increased levels of soluble oligomers paralleled the modified mRNA expression of cytokines and mediators in wild-type mice. In patients with sAD, regulation was stage- and region-dependent and not merely acceleration and exacerbation of mRNA regulation with aging. Gene regulation at first stages of AD was not related to hyperphosphorylated tau deposition in neurofibrillary tangles, A&bgr; plaque burden, concentration of A&bgr;1–40 (A&bgr;40) and A&bgr;1–42 (A&bgr;42), or fibrillar A&bgr; linked to membranes but rather to increased levels of soluble oligomers. Thus, species differences and region- and stage-dependent inflammatory responses in sAD, particularly at the initial stages, indicate the need to identify new anti-inflammatory compounds with specific molecular therapeutic targets.
Xyloglucan homeostasis and microtubule dynamics synergistically maintain meristem geometry and robustness of phyllotaxis in Arabidopsis

The shoot apical meristem (SAM) gives rise to all aerial organs of the plant. The cell walls are supposed to play a central role in this process, translating molecular regulation into dynamic changes of growth rates and directions, although their precise role in morphogenesis during organ formation remains not well understood. Here we investigate the role of xyloglucans (XyGs), which form a major, yet functionally poorly characterized, wall component in the SAM. Using immunolabeling, biochemical analysis, genetic approaches, micro-indentation, laser ablations and live imaging, we show that XyGs are important for meristem shape and phyllotaxis, although no difference in cell wall stiffness could be observed when XyGs are perturbed. Mutations in enzymes required for XyG synthesis also affect other cell wall components such as cellulose content and the pectin methylation status. Interestingly, we show that the control of cortical microtubules dynamics by the severing enzyme KATANIN becomes vital when XyGs are perturbed or absent. This suggests an active role of the cytoskeleton in compensating for altered wall composition.
Optimal lattice spacing for GFDM with Gaussian waveform

The application of non-orthogonal waveforms is one promising approach to meet the requirements of future mobile radio systems. The Gaussian waveform can considerably decrease the sensitivity to distortions and synchronization errors. The shape of the impulse can be adjusted according to the statistics of the channel, but the positions of lattice points in time-frequency-grid need to be adapted as well. It is shown that optimizing power allocations does lead to considerable improvements in the high Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) region. To avoid the increased computational effort of the power allocation, the optimal lattice spacing is derived for Gaussian input alphabets as well as discrete modulation schemes. It is shown that adjusting the lattice spacing can achieve the same gain as a tedious power allocation. Furthermore, an analytical expression for a high SNR approximation of the optimal spacing is introduced.
Is Cow's Milk Harmful to a Child's Health?

ABSTRACT Discussions and debates have recently emerged on the potential positive and negative effects of cow's milk in the paediatric community, also under the pressure of public opinion. The negative effects of cow's-milk consumption seem to be limited to iron status up to 9 to 12 months; then no negative effects are observed, provided that cow's milk, up to a maximum daily intake of 500 mL, is adequately complemented with iron-enriched foods. Lactose intolerance can be easily managed and up to 250 mL/day of milk can be consumed. Allergy to cow's-milk proteins is usually transient. Atopic children may independently be at risk for poor growth, and the contribution of dairy nutrients to their diet should be considered. The connection of cow's milk to autistic spectrum disorders is lacking, and even a cause–effect relation with type 1 diabetes mellitus has not been established because many factors may concur. Although it is true that cow's milk stimulates insulin-like growth factor-1 and may affect linear growth, association with chronic degenerative, noncommunicable diseases has not been established. Finally, fat-reduced milk, if needed, should be considered after 24 to 36 months. Cow's milk represents a major source of high nutritional quality protein as well as of calcium. Moreover, it has growth-promoting effects independent of specific compounds. Its protein and fat composition, together with the micronutrient content, is suggestive of a functional food, whose positive effects are emphasised by regular consumption, particularly under conditions of diets poor in some limiting nutrients, although in industrialised countries cow's milk's optimal daily intake should be around 500 mL, adequately complemented with other relevant nutrients.
Procalcitonin Fails to Differentiate Inflammatory Status or Predict Long-Term Outcomes in Peritoneal Dialysis-Associated Peritonitis

Background Peritonitis is the major complication in patients undergoing maintenance peritoneal dialysis (PD) and is associated with a significant risk of mortality. Previously, we have shown that patients treated for peritonitis and having prolonged elevation of C-reactive protein (CRP) are associated with higher mortality. The underlying cause for the chronic systemic inflammation remains unknown. We studied serum procalcitonin (PCT), which has been reported as an accurate marker for infection and inflammation, with respect to being a diagnostic and prognostic indicator of persistent chronic inflammation after peritonitis in patients with PD-related peritonitis. Methods We conducted a prospective study on PD patients that developed PD-related peritonitis. Blood samples obtained at routine check-up before the onset of peritonitis were taken as baseline (D0). When patients developed PD-related peritonitis, serial blood samples were obtained on day 1 (D1), day 7 (D7), and day 42 (D42) for PCT, CRP, and other inflammatory markers. Patients were followed up for at least 2 years, during which outcomes of peritonitis and causes of death were recorded. Serum levels of CRP and PCT at day 42 were analyzed to assess for long-term prognosis. Results 35 patients [female 42.9%; mean age 63.8 ± 13.1 years; 12 (34.3%) diabetics] were recruited. The onset of peritonitis was 3.61 ± 3.56 years after PD initiation and median residual renal function at that time was 1.06 (range 0 – 6.1) mL/min. Median total white cell counts in PD effluent at days 1, 3, 7, and 42 were 3505/mm3 (range 377 – 20500/mm3), 297 (8 – 5880)/mm3, 34 (0 – 5290)/mm3, and 10 (0 – 115)/mm3, respectively. Twelve (34.3%) and 14 (40%) PD effluents grew gram-positive and gram-negative micro-organisms respectively; others were culture negative. Median PCT was increased significantly at day 1 [2.00 (0.12 – 58.7) ng/mL, p < 0.001], day 7 [0.76 (0.13 – 15.25) ng/mL, p < 0.001], and day 42 [0.30 (0.13 – 0.79) ng/mL, p = 0.005] compared to baseline [0.20 (0.09 – 0.69) ng/mL]. Seven of 35 patients had false-negative results on day 1 (range 0.12 – 0.46) when PCT <0.5 ng/mL was used as the cutoff value for diagnosing peritonitis. For the long-term prognostic outcome, CRP at day 42 was significantly better than PCT in assessing overall prognosis (CRP: AUC 0.712, 95% CI 0.534 – 0.890 vs PCT: AUC 0.652, 95% CI 0.448 – 0.855). In Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, patients with elevated CRP (>3.0 mg/L) were associated with poorer long-term survival (p = 0.04) but elevated PCT at the 25th, 50th, or 75th percentiles failed to provide prognostic value. Conclusions PD patients after peritonitis may be associated with prolonged systemic inflammation. CRP was a better serum marker for monitoring inflammatory status and predicting long-term prognosis in our study. Although serum PCT is elevated in some patients at the time of peritonitis, its value in making a diagnosis and predicting long-term prognosis remains doubtful.
Evaluating the Potential of Commercial Forest Inventory Data to Report on Forest Carbon Stock and Forest Carbon Stock Changes for REDD+ under the UNFCCC

In the context of the adoption at the 16th Conference of the Parties in 2010 on the REDD+ mitigation mechanism, it is important to obtain reliable data on the spatiotemporal variation of forest carbon stocks and changes (called Emission Factor, EF). A re-occurring debate in estimating EF for REDD+ is the use of existing field measurement data. We provide an assessment of the use of commercial logging inventory data and ecological data to estimate a conservative EF (REDD+ phase 2) or to report on EF following IPCC Guidance and Guidelines (REDD+ phase 3). The data presented originate from five logging companies dispersed over Gabon, totalling 2,240 plots of 0.3 hectares.We distinguish three Forest Types (FTs) in the dataset based on floristic conditions. Estimated mean aboveground biomass (AGB) in the FTs ranges from 312 to 333 Mg ha−1. A 5% accuracy is reached with the number of plots put in place for the FTs and a low sampling uncertainty obtained (± 10 to 13 Mg ha−1). The data could be used to estimate a conservative EF in REDD+ phase 2 and only partially to report on EF following tier 2 requirements for a phase 3.
N-continuous symbol padding OFDM for sidelobe suppression

N-continuous orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a modulation technique that has a lower sidelobe than the original OFDM as a result of the continuous connection with its higher-order derivatives between the OFDM symbols. However, N-continuous OFDM requires an iterative algorithm for removing correction symbols from received signals at the receiver. In this paper, a method called N-continuous symbol padding is proposed, which inserts N-continuous OFDM correction symbols only into the guard interval and seamlessly connects each OFDM symbol, thereby suppressing the sidelobes. It has been demonstrated by numerical experiments that the N-continuous symbol padding method provides power spectral density and SER characteristics equal to or better than those of the conventional method, without using an iterative algorithm. This method is particularly effective for a system with a small number of subcarriers.
Cellular signalling effects in high precision radiotherapy

Radiotherapy is commonly planned on the basis of physical dose received by the tumour and surrounding normal tissue, with margins added to address the possibility of geometric miss. However, recent experimental evidence suggests that intercellular signalling results in a given cell’s survival also depending on the dose received by neighbouring cells. A model of radiation-induced cell killing and signalling was used to analyse how this effect depends on dose and margin choices. Effective Uniform Doses were calculated for model tumours in both idealised cases with no delivery uncertainty and more realistic cases incorporating geometric uncertainty. In highly conformal irradiation, a lack of signalling from outside the target leads to reduced target cell killing, equivalent to under-dosing by up to 10% compared to large uniform fields. This effect is significantly reduced when higher doses per fraction are considered, both increasing the level of cell killing and reducing margin sensitivity. These effects may limit the achievable biological precision of techniques such as stereotactic radiotherapy even in the absence of geometric uncertainties, although it is predicted that larger fraction sizes reduce the relative contribution of cell signalling driven effects. These observations may contribute to understanding the efficacy of hypo-fractionated radiotherapy.