Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Breathing with fins: Do the pectoral fins of larval fishes play a respiratory role?

Convective water flow across respiratory epithelia in water-breathing organisms maintains transcutaneous oxygen (O2) partial pressure (PO2) gradients that drive O2 uptake. Following hatch, larval fishes lack a developed gill and the skin is the dominant site of gas transfer, yet few studies have addressed the contribution of convective water flow to cutaneous O2 uptake in larvae. We hypothesized that the pectoral fins, which can generate water flow across the skin in larvae, promote transcutaneous O2 transfer and thus aid in O2 uptake. In zebrafish (Danio rerio), the frequency of pectoral fin movements increased in response to hypoxia at 4 days post-fertilization (dpf), but the response was blunted by 15 dpf, when the gills become the dominant site of O2 uptake and was absent by 21 dpf. In rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), PO2 measured at the skin surface of ventilating larvae was lower when the pectoral fins had been surgically removed, directly demonstrating that fins contribute to convective flow that dissipates cutaneous PO2 boundary layers. Lack of pectoral fins compromised whole animal O2 consumption in trout during hypoxia, but this effect was absent in zebrafish. Overall, our findings support a respiratory role of the pectoral fins in rainbow trout, but their involvement in zebrafish remains equivocal.
Evidence on Competitive Advantage and Superior Stock Market Performance

This article analyzes the value-relevance of industry-based and resource-based competitive advantage in a large sample of firms listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. We measure competitive advantage by a single variable and perform a new decomposition into its underlying sources. In 1986-2005, the industry-based and the resource-based competitive advantage explain more than 20% of abnormal stock market returns, accumulated over five years. The resource-based advantage is almost four times more important than the industry-based advantage. Differences in both the return and the risk capability of firms’ net assets relative to their industry peers are significant parts of the resource-based advantage, estimated at 60% and 40%, respectively.
Reduced Cardiac Index Reserve and Hypovolemia in Severe Falciparum Malaria

Abstract Background Impaired microvascular perfusion is central to the development of coma and lactic acidosis in severe falciparum malaria. Refractory hypotension is rare on admission but develops frequently in fatal cases. We assessed cardiac function and volume status in severe falciparum malaria and its prognostic significance. Methods Patients with severe (N = 101) or acute uncomplicated falciparum malaria (N = 83) were recruited from 2 hospitals in India and Bangladesh, and healthy participants (N = 44) underwent echocardiography. Results Patients with severe malaria had 38% shorter left ventricular (LV) filling times and 25% shorter LV ejection times than healthy participants because of tachycardia; however, stroke volume, LV internal diameter in diastole (LVIDd), and LV internal diameter in systole (LVIDs) indices were similar. A low endocardial fraction shortening (eFS) was present in 17% (9 of 52) of severe malaria patients. Adjusting for preload and afterload, eFS was similar in health and severe malaria. Fatal cases had smaller baseline LVIDd and LVIDs indices, more collapsible inferior vena cavae (IVC), and higher heart rates than survivors. The LVIDs and IVC collapsibility were independent predictors for mortality, together with base excess and Glasgow Coma Scale. Conclusions Patients with severe malaria have rapid ejection of a normal stroke volume. Fatal cases had features of relative hypovolemia and reduced cardiac index reserve.
Distance covariance in metric spaces

We extend the theory of distance (Brownian) covariance from Euclidean spaces, where it was introduced by Szekely, Rizzo and Bakirov, to general metric spaces. We show that for testing independence, it is necessary and sufficient that the metric space be of strong negative type. In particular, we show that this holds for separable Hilbert spaces, which answers a question of Kosorok. Instead of the manipulations of Fourier transforms used in the original work, we use elementary inequalities for metric spaces and embeddings in Hilbert spaces.
Challenges Facing Apparel Traders in Nairobi, Kenya, and Strategies for Flourishing in a Liberalized Market

Abstract The lack of enabling policies that would have ensured fair trade amongst various stakeholders of contrasting interests in Kenya became obvious when market liberalization was introduced in the 1990s. It created increased importation of cheap textiles and apparel products to the detriment of the local industry. Market liberalization became a common phenomena in developing countries in the 1990s, prompting the need for their documented assessment, hence this study. Data were collected from a random sample of 90 apparel traders drawn from three market centers in Nairobi according to the types of apparel they sold (new imported, second-hand, locally produced, and custom-tailored apparel). Lack of customers and stiff competition were the major challenges facing over 55% of the apparel traders. Most traders provided high quality merchandise as the main strategy to increase purchase of apparel. Chi-square analysis showed that the trader's age, employment position/designation, and source of fabric/clothing were the socioeconomic characteristics that significantly influenced the type of apparel sold. Therefore, the study recommends that other apparel traders adopt these factors, to increase their competitive edge and enhance growth of the local industry.
Growth Identification and Facilitation : The Role of the State in the Dynamics of Structural Change Introduction

This DPR Debate is based on the contribution by Justin Lin, Chief Economist at the World Bank, and his colleague Célestin Monga, on ‘Growth Identification and Facilitation: The Role of the State in the Dynamics of Structural Change’. The article under consideration is important and timely as it articulates a number of new policy implications from Justin Lin’s earlier work on New Structural Economics, which was discussed in a previous DPR debate (Lin and Chang, 2009). This symposium contains the article and comments on it from five distinguished specialists, and closes with a rejoinder by Lin and Monga. This introduction discusses the article, the comments and the rejoinder.
Positive and Negative Conception of God and Its Relationship with Student's Self-Esteem and Mental Health

The objective of this study is investigation of the relationship of positive and negative conception of God with self-esteem and mental health among high school students. The sample of this research includes 300 students (149 girls and 151 boys) in grade two at high school in different fields of study. The students were selected by the use of simple random sampling method and were evaluated through three instruments, mental health questionnaire (GHQ, 28), Cooper selfesteem questionnaire and the questionnaire of conception of God. For analyzing the collected data, three statistical methods of correlation coefficient, multi-variable variance and step by step regression were used. The findings of the research showed that a significant positive correlation is seen between positive conception of God with mental health and self-esteem. Moreover, the results of the findings have shown that a significant positive correlation is seen between selfesteem and mental health. Additionally, the result of step by step regression test showed that the first factor having a determining contribution in predicting mental health is self-esteem factor
The Relationship Between Electronic Cigarette Use and Conventional Cigarette Smoking Is Largely Attributable to Shared Risk Factors.

INTRODUCTION The growing popularity of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) among youth raises concerns about possible causal effects on conventional cigarette smoking. However, past research remains inconclusive due to heavy confounding between cigarette and e-cigarette use. This study uses propensity score methods to robustly adjust for shared risk in estimating the relationship between e-cigarette use and conventional smoking. METHODS Cross-sectional data from 8th and 10th graders were drawn from the 2015-2016 waves of Monitoring the Future (n = 12 421). The effects of (1) lifetime and (2) current e-cigarette use on (A) lifetime and (B) current conventional cigarette smoking were examined using logistic regression analyses with inverse propensity weighting based on 14 associated risk factors. RESULTS After accounting for the propensity for using e-cigarettes based on 14 risk factors, both lifetime and current e-cigarette use significantly increased the risk of ever smoking a conventional cigarette (OR = 2.49, 95% CI = 1.77 to 3.51; OR = 2.32, 95% CI = 1.66 to 3.25, respectively). However, lifetime (OR = 2.17, 95% CI = 0.62 to 7.63) and current e-cigarette use (OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.55 to 1.63) did not significantly increase the risk of current conventional cigarette smoking. CONCLUSIONS E-cigarette use does not appear to be associated with current, continued smoking. Instead, the apparent relationship between e-cigarette use and current conventional smoking is fully explained by shared risk factors, thus failing to support claims that e-cigarettes have a causal effect on concurrent conventional smoking among youth. E-cigarette use has a remaining association with lifetime cigarette smoking after propensity score adjustment; however, future research is needed to determine whether this is a causal relationship or merely reflects unmeasured confounding. IMPLICATIONS This study examines the relationship between e-cigarette use and conventional smoking using inverse propensity score weighting, an innovative statistical method that produces less-biased results in the presence of heavy confounding. Our findings show that the apparent relationship between e-cigarette use and current cigarette smoking is entirely attributable to shared risk factors for tobacco use. However, e-cigarette use is associated with lifetime cigarette smoking, though further research is needed to determine whether this is a causal relationship or merely reflects unaccounted-for confounding. Propensity score weighting produced significantly weaker effect estimations compared to conventional regression control.
Spatiotemporal Patterns of Cholera Hospitalization in Vellore, India

Systematically collected hospitalization records provide valuable insight into disease patterns and support comprehensive national infectious disease surveillance networks. Hospitalization records detailing patient’s place of residence (PoR) can be utilized to better understand a hospital’s case load and strengthen surveillance among mobile populations. This study examined geographic patterns of patients treated for cholera at a major hospital in south India. We abstracted 1401 laboratory-confirmed cases of cholera between 2000–2014 from logbooks and electronic health records (EHRs) maintained by the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. We constructed spatial trend models and identified two distinct clusters of patient residence—one around Vellore (836 records (61.2%)) and one in Bengal (294 records (21.5%)). We further characterized differences in peak timing and disease trend among these clusters to identify differences in cholera exposure among local and visiting populations. We found that the two clusters differ by their patient profiles, with patients in the Bengal cluster being most likely older males traveling to Vellore. Both clusters show well-aligned seasonal peaks in mid-July, only one week apart, with similar downward trend and proportion of predominant O1 serotype. Large hospitals can thus harness EHRs for surveillance by utilizing patients’ PoRs to study disease patterns among resident and visitor populations.
Climate-relevant behavioural spillover : A review of the literature

Urgent and radical transition to lower-carbon forms of society is imperative to limit current and future climate change impacts. Behavioural spillover theory offers a way to catalyse broad lifestyle change from one behaviour to another in ways that generate greater impacts than piecemeal interventions. Despite growing policy and research attention, the evidence for behavioural spillover and the processes driving the phenomenon are unclear. The literature is split between studies that provide evidence for positive spillover effects (where an intervention targeting an environmentallyconscious behaviour leads to an increase in another functionally related behaviour) and negative spillover effects (where an intervention targeting an environmentally-conscious behaviour leads to a decrease in another functionally-related behaviour). In summarising findings, particular attention is given to the implications for climate-relevant behaviours. While few examples of climate-relevant behavioural spillover exist, studies do report positive and negative spillovers to other actions, as well as spillovers from behaviour to support for climate change policy. There is also some evidence that easier behaviours can lead to more committed actions. The potential contribution of social practice theory to understanding spillover is discussed, identifying three novel pathways to behavioural spillover: via carriers of practices, materiality, and through relationships between practices within wider systems of practice. In considering future research directions, the relatively neglected role of social norms is discussed as a means to generate the momentum required for substantial lifestyle change, and as a way of circumventing obstructive and intransigent climate change beliefs. Graphical/Visual Abstract and Caption One route through which social practices (adapted from Shove et al., 2012) may evolve, overlaid with spillover processes identified by Thøgersen, (2012)
Comparison of pain during intravitreal dexamethasone, ranibizumab and aflibercept injection

Background This study aimed to compare pain scores of patients during intravitreal aflibercept, ranibizumab or dexamethasone implant injection procedures. Methods This study included 162 eyes of 162 patients, who received intravitreal ranibizumab, aflibercept or dexamethasone implant injections at our clinic. Following the injection, patients were asked to rate their pain from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst pain) using a visual analogue pain score survey (VAS). VAS was evaluated according to age, sex, indication for the injection, number of previous intravitreal injections, and lens status in the study eye. Results The mean VAS in the ranibizumab, aflibercept or dexamethasone implant groups was 3.38 ± 2.31, 3.82 ± 2.46, and 3.61 ± 2.94, respectively. Female patients reported a higher average pain score than male patients (p = 0.02). Also, phakic patients reported a higher average pain score than pseudophakic patients (p = 0.01). Pain did not significantly correlate with indication for the injection, number of injections, and injection drugs (p > 0.05). Conclusion Pain associated with intravitreal injection is generally mild and associated with sex, age, and lens status. There was no significant difference in pain between intravitreal injections of dexamethasone implant, ranibizumab or aflibercept.
Thermal stability of nonhydrogenated multilayer amorphous carbon prepared by the filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique

Through discrete modulation of the deposition biasing conditions, multilayered nonhydrogenated diamondlike amorphous carbon films were prepared by the filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique. Films deposited under different conditions were divided into two groups in order to study how the modulation as well as sublayer content affect various mechanical and material properties as deposited and after annealing in vacuum. A 30% decrease in the residual stress of the multilayer films from 4.3to2. 8GPa was observed with only marginal (5%) changes in the hardness. The frictional characteristics of the multilayer films were also studied and shown to be excellent, having a coefficient of friction of 0.1 and stable with annealing. A larger decrease in the resistance to wear was observed in multilayer films richer in soft sublayers which was linked to the decreased in sp3 content in the films.
On the Physical Layer Security Characteristics for MIMO-SVD Techniques for SC-FDE Schemes

Multi-Input, Multi-Output (MIMO) techniques are seeing widespread usage in wireless communication systems due to their large capacity gains. On the other hand, security is a concern of any wireless system, which can make schemes that implement physical layer security key in assuring secure communications. In this paper, we study the physical layer security issues of MIMO with Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) schemes, employed along with Single-Carrier with Frequency-Domain Equalization (SC-FDE) techniques. More concretely. the security potential against an unintended eavesdropper is analysed, and it is shown that the higher the distance between the eavesdropper and the transmitter or receiver, the higher the secrecy rate. In addition, in a scenario where there is Line of Sight (LOS) between all users, it is shown that the secrecy rate can be even higher than in the previous scenario. Therefore, MIMO-SVD schemes combined with SC-FDE can be an efficient option for highly secure MIMO communications.
Liver Fat and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors Among School‐Age Children

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is a major risk factor for cardiometabolic disease in adults. The burden of liver fat and associated cardiometabolic risk factors in healthy children is unknown. In a population‐based prospective cohort study among 3,170 10‐year‐old children, we assessed whether both liver fat accumulation across the full range and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease are associated with cardiometabolic risk factors already in childhood.
Athena X-IFU synthetic observations of galaxy clusters to probe the chemical enrichment of the Universe

Answers to the metal production of the Universe can be found in galaxy clusters, notably within their intra-cluster medium (ICM). The X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) on board the next-generation European X-ray observatory Athena (2030s) will provide the necessary leap forward in spatially-resolved spectroscopy required to disentangle the intricate mechanisms responsible for this chemical enrichment. In this paper, we investigate the future capabilities of the X-IFU in probing the hot gas within galaxy clusters. From a test sample of four clusters extracted from cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, we present comprehensive synthetic observations of these clusters at different redshifts (up to z ≤ 2) and within the scaled radius R500 performed using the instrument simulator SIXTE. Through 100 ks exposures, we demonstrate that the X-IFU will provide spatially resolved mapping of the ICM physical properties with little to no biases (⪅5%) and well within statistical uncertainties. The detailed study of abundance profiles and abundance ratios within R500 also highlights the power of the X-IFU in providing constraints on the various enrichment models. From synthetic observations out to z = 2, we have also quantified its ability to track the chemical elements across cosmic time with excellent accuracy, and thereby to investigate the evolution of metal production mechanisms as well as the link to the stellar initial mass-function. Our study demonstrates the unprecedented capabilities of the X-IFU of unveiling the properties of the ICM but also stresses the data analysis challenges faced by future high-resolution X-ray missions such as Athena.
Person and knowledge

The relation between person and epistemicity has been a topic of investigation throughout the humanities, including linguistics, but has mostly been focused on how conceptualisations of these two notions overlap, or diverge. This paper reviews some of these conceptualisations, but also adds a finergrained picture of how they intersect in the world's languages. Purported categories such as egophoric marking and lesser known expressions such as non-selected arguments (i.e. "ethical datives") are compared to evidentials and modals from a synchronic and diachronic perspective in order to explain how the roles of the speech-act participants as specific arguments relate to their respective function as epistemic authorities. The aim of the paper is to introduce separate contributions relating to such systems as they are found in various parts of the world.
Pink1-Mediated Chondrocytic Mitophagy Contributes to Cartilage Degeneration in Osteoarthritis

Cartilage loss is a central event in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA), though other than mechanical loading, the biochemical mechanisms underlying OA pathology remain poorly elucidated. We investigated the role of Pink1-mediated mitophagy in mitochondrial fission, a crucial process in OA pathogenesis. We used a monosodium iodoacetate (MIA)-induced rodent model of OA, which inhibits the activity of articular chondrocytes, leading to disruption of glycolytic energy metabolism and eventual cell death. The OA rat cartilage exhibits significant induction of autophagy-related proteins LC3B and p62, similar to human osteoarthritic cartilage. Moreover, expression of Pink1 and Parkin proteins were also increased in OA. Here, we confirm that Pink1-mediated mitophagy leads to cell death in chondrocytes following MIA treatment, while deficiency in Pink1 expression was associated with decreased cartilage damage and pain behaviors in MIA-induced OA. Finally, we found that autophagy and mitophagy-related genes are highly expressed in human osteoarthritic cartilage. These results indicate that OA is a degenerative condition associated with mitophagy, and suggest that targeting the Pink1 pathway may provide a therapeutic avenue for OA treatment.
Lower circulating zinc and selenium levels are associated with an increased risk of asthma: evidence from a meta-analysis

Abstract Objective: Previous studies evaluating the associations of circulating Zn and Se levels with asthma have produced inconsistent results. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to summarize and quantitatively synthesize the evidence from observational research. Design: Meta-analysis. Setting: We searched PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases up to May 2019 for relevant available articles. Random-effects model was adopted to estimate the pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95 % CI. Meta-regression analysis and ‘leave-one-out’ sensitivity analysis were used to assess heterogeneity. Participants: The meta-analysis focused on general populations. Results: A total of twenty-six studies for Zn and forty studies for Se were included in the meta-analysis. The overall analyses identified that asthma patients had lower Zn (SMD = −0·40; 95 % CI −0·77, −0·03; I2 = 94·1 %) and Se (SMD = −0·32; 95 % CI −0·48, −0·17; I2 = 90·9 %) levels in serum or plasma compared with healthy controls. After removing the studies that contributed to the heterogeneity, the pooled SMD were −0·26 (95 % CI −0·40, −0·13; I2 = 37·42 %) for Zn and −0·06 (95 % CI −0·13, 0·02; I2 = 43·54 %) for Se. Conclusions: Lower circulating Zn and Se levels might be associated with an increased risk of asthma.