Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A new way to quantify stratosphere-troposphere coupling in observations and climate models

Atmospheric mass is transported in and out of the stratospheric polar cap region by a wave-driven meridional circulation. Using composites of polar cap pressure anomalies, defined as deviations from the average annual cycle, it is shown that this stratospheric mass flux is accompanied by a similar mass flux near the surface. This ‘tropospheric amplification’ of the stratospheric signal is introduced as a new way to quantify stratosphere-troposphere coupling. Regression analysis is used to create a vertical profile of atmospheric pressure during a tropospheric amplification event, and the regression slope profile is used as a tool to quantify the amplification. Using data from 5 reanalysis datasets and 11 climate models, it is shown that high-top models, with a model lid of above 1 hPa, are significantly better at reproducing tropospheric amplification than low-top models, due to having more detailed parameterisations of stratospheric processes. However, the regression slope profiles of all models, bar one, are significantly different to the profile of reanalysis data at a 95% confidence level. Tropospheric amplification is also investigated in historical and future simulations from these models, and it is concluded that there is not expected to be a large change in the phenomenon over the next 100 years. The processes needed to reproduce tropospheric amplification can be identified by comparing idealised models of different complexity. A simple dry-core model is not able to reproduce tropospheric amplification, while a model with a comprehensive radiation scheme does produce the basic regression slope profile under certain configurations. The associations between pressure change and mass flux are further investigated using primitive equations. It is found that vertical and horizontal contributions to mass flux act to mostly cancel each other out, leaving a poorly-conditioned residual, and that the horizontal mass flux across the polar cap boundary has both geostrophic and ageostrophic components.
COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Hesitancy among the Elderly in Malaysian Residential Care Homes: A Cross-Sectional Study in Klang Valley

The elderly are considered a high-risk group for severe outcomes and death from COVID-19 infection. Given the emergence of new COVID variants and the immunity provided by vaccines waning over time, booster doses of the vaccine have been advocated for those at risk to stay protected. This study aimed to determine the factors associated with hesitancy toward the second booster of the COVID-19 vaccine among the elderly residing in residential care homes. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 24 residential care homes in the Klang Valley using a face-to-face interview questionnaire. The study population included individuals aged 60 and above who had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 up to the first booster dose. Second-booster hesitancy was assessed using the Oxford Vaccine Hesitancy Scale with seven items, the aggregate score of which ranges from seven to thirty-five; the higher the score, the greater the level of hesitancy. Multivariate linear regression was employed to determine factors associated with second-booster hesitancy, and a p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Data from 401 elderly individuals were included for analysis. The mean score of the Oxford Vaccine Hesitancy Scale was 21.6 ± 7.2. Predictors of second booster hesitancy were identified. Age, Indian ethnicity, being a recipient of the Sinovac vaccine as the first COVID-19 booster, experiencing the death of close friends or immediate family members following COVID-19 vaccination, and negative messages (indicating that taking a booster dose is harmful) from caregivers, friends, or family members were found to be associated with an increased second-booster-hesitancy score. Conversely, positive messages (indicating that taking a booster is helpful) from the government and caregivers, friends, or family members were identified as predictors associated with a reduction in the second-booster-hesitancy score. While vaccines effectively combat severe COVID-19, the majority of the elderly hesitate before taking the second booster. Their hesitancy, rooted in the perception of a low self risk and reliance on protection from the initial doses, emphasizes the need for intervention by relevant bodies. Taking into consideration the risk, albeit relatively low, of potentially serious side effects following COVID-19 vaccinations, it is imperative that transparent, appropriate, and positive messaging regarding booster vaccines, particularly in the context of the elderly from residential care homes, be available. Encouraging this high-risk group to embrace the second booster aligns with the goal of maximizing protection within the vulnerable elderly population.
A novel tunable matching network for dynamic load modulation of high power amplifiers

Dynamic load modulation (DLM) has been proposed as a promising technique to improve the backoff efficiency of power amplifier (PA) for wireless communication systems with high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), where the design of a tunable matching network (TMN) with wide impedance tuning range and low loss is essential. This work proposes a novel TMN circuit topology that has three main features satisfying closely to the requirements of DLM: able to generate impedance trajectory close to the pure resistance, easy to produce impedance trajectory of a wide tuning range, e.g., with reflection coefficient Γcoverage up to 0.9, and possessing high potential to generate a TMN having low loss especially at high Γ. A TMN circuit for load modulation of 2.14GHz Class-B GaN HEMT PAs based on the proposed topology is built and measured. Static measurements show that, given a properly selected PA, the drain efficiency is improved by 30% at 7.5dB backoff by the load modulation.
The Multi-Kingdom Microbiome of Wintering Migratory Birds in Poyang Lake, China

Wild birds are a natural reservoir for zoonotic viruses. To clarify the role of migratory birds in viruses spread in Poyang Lake, we investigated the microbiome of 250 wild bird samples from 19 species in seven orders. The bacterial and viral content abundance and diversity were preliminarily evaluated by Kraken2 and Bracken. After de novo assembly by Megahit and Vamb, viral contigs were identified by CheckV. The reads remapped to viral contigs were quantified using Bowtie2. The bacterial microbiome composition of the samples covers 1526 genera belonging to 175 bacterial orders, while the composition of viruses covers 214 species belonging to 22 viral families. Several taxonomic biomarkers associated with avian carnivory, oral sampling, and raptor migration were identified. Additionally, 17 complete viral genomes belonging to Astroviridae, Caliciviridae, Dicistroviridae, Picornaviridae, and Tombusviridae were characterized, and their phylogenetic relationships were analyzed. This pioneering metagenomic study of migratory birds in Poyang Lake, China illuminates the diverse microbial landscape within these birds. It identifies potential pathogens, and uncovers taxonomic biomarkers relevant to varied bird habitats, feeding habits, ecological classifications, and sample types, underscoring the public health risks associated with wintering migratory birds.
Pregnancy outcomes of day 5 embryo transfer in patients at high risk of developing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and analysis of factors affecting blastocyst formation

Objectives To investigate the effects of day 5 embryo transfer (D5ET) compared with day 3 embryo transfer (D3ET) in patients at high risk of developing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS); to analyse factors affecting blastocyst formation. Methods Patients at high risk of developing OHSS underwent either D3ET or D5ET. Results A total of 253 patients received D3ET; 263 received D5ET. The number of embryos transferred was lower in the D5ET group than in the D3ET group. There were no between-group differences in pregnancy or live birth rates. Implantation rate was higher, and multifetation rate lower, in the D5ET group compared with the D3ET group. In addition, the incidence of moderate or severe OHSS was lower in the D5ET group than in the D3ET group. The woman’s age, gonadotrophin dosage and insemination method were associated with the quality of blastocyst formation. Conclusions In patients with a high risk of developing OHSS, compared with D3ET, D5ET decreased the multifetation rate and the incidence of moderate or severe OHSS, but did not affect the pregnancy or live birth rate. Women of a younger age, who have had an appropriate gonadotrophin dose and insemination by in vitro fertilization, are suitable candidates for blastocyst transfer.
School Districts and Student Achievement

School districts are a focus of education reform efforts in the United States, but there is very little existing research about how important they are to student achievement. We fill this gap in the literature using 10 years of student-level, statewide data on fourth- and fifth-grade students in Florida and North Carolina. A variance decomposition analysis based on hierarchical linear models indicates that districts account for only a small share (1 to 2 percent) of the total variation in student achievement. Nevertheless, the differences between lower- and higher-performing districts are large enough to be of practical and policy significance, with a one standard deviation difference in district effectiveness corresponding to about 0.11 standard deviations in student achievement (about nine weeks of schooling). District performance is generally stable over time, but there are examples of districts that have shown significant increases or decreases in performance.
Edge detector evaluation using empirical ROC curves

A method is demonstrated to evaluate edge detector performance using receiver operating characteristic curves. It involves matching edges to manually specified ground truth to count true positive and false positive detections. Edge detector parameter settings are trained and tested on different images, and aggregate test ROC curves presented for two sets of 10 images. The performance of eight different edge detectors is compared. The Canny and Heitger detectors provide the best performance.
A molecular model of membrane excitability.

Alamethicin, monazomycin, or EIM induce electrical excitability in lipid bilayers. The voltage-dependent gating displays all the characteristics observed in excitable cells and its basic features can be quantitatively described by the Hodgkin-Huxley equations. A common molecular mechanism of membrane excitation has been postulated. It assumes that in the absence of an electrical field the channel-forming molecules lie at the surface of the membrane. An applied potential tilts them from the surface into the hydrocarbon region of the bilayer. Once in this position the molecules diffuse laterally and form aggregates which act as channels for the flow of ions. In the case of alamethicin we assume that the molecule forms an elongated ellipsoid with two glutamic residues at one end, and a metal ion in four- or five-fold coordination with peptide carbonyl oxygens at the other. An applied field pulls the cationic end through the membrane to the other side, while the glutamic residues hold the other end attached to the original surface. The molecules now span the membrane and aggregate, forming oligomeric channels in which most of the peptide carbonyls face toward the center, and the methyl groups outward. Monomers and dimers do not conduct and an individual channel can have different conductance values depending on the number of monomers in the aggregate and the resulting channel diameter. A quantitative description of this process matches observed gating kinetics, gating currents, and the single channel conductance increments. Without additional assumptions, inactivation follows directly from the aggregation process because with proper rate constants, the average degree of polymerization and therefore number of open channels goes through a maximum in time. The model may also apply to the excitation process of higher cells.
Polymorphisms in the 3′UTR of the human leptin gene and their role in hypertension

Leptin is a protein hormone, mainly synthesized in adipocytes, that regulates the food intake and energy expenditure of the body. Rare mutations in the leptin gene cause obesity. Common polymorphisms of the leptin gene have been associated with obesity, however their association with arterial blood pressure has not been fully elucidated. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of variants in the 3′ flanking region of the leptin gene on blood pressure in hypertensive subjects with high (35.2±5.12) and low (20.13±1.3) body mass index (BMI). Microsatellite polymorphisms and the C538T SNP in the 3′UTR of the leptin gene were screened in 362 subjects, and different biochemical and anthropometric parameters were measured. The levels of serum urea, creatinine, glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, leptin and angiotensin II were determined in all subjects. A strong association of microsatellite polymorphisms with essential hypertension was found in subjects with a high BMI, but this association was only slight in subjects with a normal BMI. The C538T variant was not found in this population. The frequency of the Class I/Class I and Class I/Class II genotype for tetranucleotide polymorphisms was also significantly higher in the hypertensive compared to the normotensive group (p≤0.0001). In addition, a significant correlation was found between serum leptin and Class I/I and Class I/II genotypes. Linear regression analysis showed an independent correlation of leptinemia with BMI (p=0.019), while a notable correlation was found between serum leptin concentration and angiotensin II. The study confirmed that shorter alleles of microsatellites in the 3′ flanking region of leptin are significantly associated with hypertension, however, the underlying mechanism remains unknown.
Characterization of the Cell-Wall Polysaccharides of Arabidopsis thaliana Leaves

The cell-wall polysaccharides of Arabidopsis thaliana leaves have been isolated, purified, and characterized. The primary cell walls of all higher plants that have been studied contain cellulose, the three pectic polysaccharides homogalacturonan, rhamnogalacturonan I, and rhamnogalacturonan II, the two hemicelluloses xyloglucan and glucuronoarabinoxylan, and structural glycoproteins. The cell walls of Arabidopsis leaves contain each of these components and no others that we could detect, and these cell walls are remarkable in that they are particularly rich in phosphate buffer-soluble polysaccharides (34% of the wall). The pectic polysaccharides of the purified cell walls consist of rhamnogalacturonan I (11%), rhamnogalacturonan II (8%), and homogalacturonan (23%). Xyloglucan (XG) accounts for 20% of the wall, and the oligosaccharide fragments generated from XG by endoglucanase consist of the typical subunits of other higher plant XGs. Glucuronoarabinoxylan (4%), cellulose (14%), and protein (14%) account for the remainder of the wall. Except for the phosphate buffer-soluble pectic polysaccharides, the polysaccharides of Arabidopsis leaf cell walls occur in proportions similar to those of other plants. The structures of the Arabidopsis cell-wall polysaccharides are typical of those of many other plants.
IIGP, a member of the IFN inducible and microbial defense mediating 47 kDa GTPase family, interacts with the microtubule binding protein hook3

Innate immunity against intracellular pathogens is critically determined by an as yet unknown interferon (IFN)-inducible mechanism exerted by members of the 47 kDa GTPase family. The association of IGTP and IIGP with membranous compartments, the endoplasmic reticulum and, in addition in case of IIGP, the Golgi, implicate these GTPases in intracellular membrane trafficking or processing. We identified the cytoplasmic linker molecule hook3 as an interactor for IIGP by yeast two-hybrid screening. The physical complex between these molecules was present in lysates of IFNγ-stimulated macrophages as demonstrated by co-immunoprecipitation. Only a minor subfraction of total cellular IIGP or hook3 was co-purified, indicating that this interaction is either transient and/or involves distinct subpopulations of the total cellular pools of these molecules. Binding of IIGP to hook3 depends on a GTP-bound conformation. Hook3 is a microtubule-binding protein which participates in the organization of the cis-Golgi compartment. Both proteins were detected in the Golgi-membrane-enriched fraction upon subcellular fractionation. Apart from the Golgi localization of both proteins, hook3 was detected in perinuclear regions in close spatial proximity to IIGP, associated with the endoplasmic reticulum. Our experiments identify hook3 as the first cooperation partner of a member of the 47 kDa GTPase protein family and indicate that hook3 links in an IFNγ-inducible fashion to cytoskeleton-based membrane trafficking.
Emergency contraception: potential role of ulipristal acetate

Unintended pregnancy is a global reproductive health problem. Emergency contraception (EC) provides women with a safe means of preventing unwanted pregnancies after having unprotected intercourse. While 1.5 mg of levonorgestrel (LNG) as a single dose or in 2 doses with 12 hours apart is the currently gold standard EC regimen, a single dose of 30 mg ulipristal acetate (UPA) has recently been proposed for EC use up to 120 hours of unprotected intercourse with similar side effect profiles as LNG. The main mechanism of action of both LNG and UPA for EC is delaying or inhibiting ovulation. However, the ‘window of effect’ for LNG EC seems to be rather narrow, beginning after selection of the dominant follicular and ending when luteinizing hormone peak begins to rise, whereas UPA appears to have a direct inhibitory effect on follicular rupture which allows it to be also effective even when administered shortly before ovulation, a time period when use of LNG is no longer effective. These experimental findings are in line with results from a series of clinical trials conducted recently which demonstrate that UPA seems to have higher EC efficacy compared to LNG. This review summarizes some of the data available on UPA used after unprotected intercourse with the purpose to provide evidence that UPA, a new type of second-generation progesterone receptor modulator, represents a new evolutionary step in EC treatment.
Neutrophil degranulation mediates severe lung damage triggered by streptococcal M1 protein

Streptococcus pyogenes of the M1 serotype can cause streptococcal toxic shock syndrome commonly associated with acute lung injury. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of neutrophils and their secretion products in M1 protein-induced lung damage. The degranulation of neutrophils by M1 protein was studied in whole blood using marker analysis for individual granule subsets. In mice, M1 protein was injected intravenously and the lung damage was assessed by histology, electron microscopy, cell count in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and analysis of lung vascular permeability. Comparisons were made in mice with intact white blood count, neutropenic mice and neutropenic mice injected with the secretion of activated neutrophils. In whole blood, M1 protein forms complexes with fibrinogen that bind to β2-integrins on the neutrophil surface, resulting in degranulation of all four subsets of neutrophil granules. Intravenous injection of M1 protein into mice induced neutrophil accumulation in the lung, increase in vascular permeability and acute lung damage. Depletion of neutrophils from the circulation completely abrogated lung injury and vascular leakage. Interestingly, the lung damage was restored by injecting neutrophil secretion. The present data suggest that neutrophil granule proteins are directly responsible for lung damage induced by the streptococcal M1 protein.
Average performance analysis of circular and hyperbolic geolocation

A comparative performance analysis of four geolocation methods in terms of their theoretical root mean square positioning errors is provided. Comparison is established in two different ways: strict and average. In the strict type, methods are examined for a particular geometric configuration of base stations (BSs) with respect to mobile position, which determines a given noise profile affecting the respective time-of-arrival (TOA) or time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) estimates. In the average type, methods are evaluated in terms of the expected covariance matrix of the position error over an ensemble of random geometries, so that comparison is geometry independent. Exact semianalytical equations and associated lower bounds (depending solely on the noise profile) are obtained for the average covariance matrix of the position error in terms of the so-called information matrix specific to each geolocation method. Statistical channel models inferred from field trials are used to define realistic prior probabilities for the random geometries. A final evaluation provides extensive results relating the expected position error to channel model parameters and the number of base stations.
Prevalence and risk factors of hepatitis B virus transmission among children in Enugu, Nigeria

Background: Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection has reached pandemic proportions all over the world with areas of highest prevalence being the subSaharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Most deaths related to HBV are due to complications from chronic infection. Acquisition of infection at a younger age is the most important predictor of chronicity. Eradication of HBV is an important but difficult tasks facing public health. HB immunization is the single most important factor in hepatitis B control and was commenced in 2004 in Nigeria. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) among children in the era of HB immunization, the risk factors of transmission and knowledge of mothers about their HB status. Methods: A cross sectional study carried out on one hundred and forty children aged 18 months to 15 years at the children outpatient clinic (CHOP) of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was determined using Determine Test Kits and a structured interviewer administered questionnaire administered. Results: Six were positive for HBsAg, giving a prevalence rate of 4.3%. HBsAg was least prevalent among children 1-5 years (2%). None of the children ≤ 5 years who received HB vaccination was positive for HBsAg though one child > 5 years who received the vaccine was positive. Sharing of toothbrushes among siblings was found to be a significantly associated risk factor. Only 6.4% of mothers knew their hepatitis B status. Conclusion: There is a gradual fall in the prevalence of HBsAg in our environment due to HB immunization. Sharing of toothbrushes may be a potent means of transmission of HBV infection.