Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Epidemiological survey of soil-transmitted helminths in occupational risk groups and non school going children in the Kintampo North District of Ghana.

Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) remain a major health threat to humans especially children throughout the world, mostly in developing nations including Ghana. The present de-worming programme by the Ministry of Health is only for children of school-going age; hence occupa-tional risk groups and non-school going children may remain as sources of infection throughout the year. The aim of this study was to conduct a survey on STHs in occupational risk groups and non-school going children in the Kintampo North District of the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. Seven hundred and eleven (711) individuals made up of occupational risk groups and non-school going children, between the ages of 1-90 years, were recruited in a cross sectional survey in six (6) rural communities in the Kintampo North District for various STHs. All faecal samples collected were analyzed using the Kato-Katz method which is recognized as the gold standard for the diagnosis of intestinal helminths. A total of 443 (62.3%) individuals were infected with at least one intestinal parasite. Parasites isolated included hookworm, 376/711 (52.9%); Ascaris lumbricoides, 15 (2.1%); Trichuris trichiura, 6 (0.8%); Hymenolepis nana, 38 (5.3%) and Tae-nia spp. , 8 (1.1%). Hookworm prevalence was higher in all the six communities (p 0.05). Hookworm intensities observed included 362/376 (96.3%) light infections, 10 (2.7%) moderate infections and 4 (1.1%) heavy infections. All the observed cases of Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura were of light intensities. The incidence rate of STH infection declined with age with the highest of 151/225 observed in the 1-10 age group. The highest prevalence of 81.1% (99/122) was however recorded among the 11-20 age group. Overall prevalence of intestinal parasite infection was found to be 62.3%. Hookworm is the predominant STH found among the general populace. The most affected risk groups are the non-school going children. General knowledge on STHs among the community members is low, with poor attitudes and practices towards STH prevention, control and treat-ment. It is recommended that future MoH de-worming programmes should include non-school going children and occupational risk groups.
Tightness of Jensen’s Bounds and Applications to MIMO Communications

Due to the difficulty in manipulating the distribution of Wishart random matrices, the performance analysis of multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) channels has mainly focused on deriving capacity bounds via Jensen’s inequality. However, to the best of our knowledge, the tightness of Jensen’s bounds has not yet been rigorously quantified in the general MIMO context. This paper proposes a new methodology for measuring the tightness of Jensen’s bounds via the sandwich theorem. In particular, we first compare the tightness of two different pairs of upper/lower bounds for a general class of MIMO channels based on the unordered eigenvalue of the instantaneous correlation matrix and for arbitrary numbers of antennas. The tightness of Jensen’s bounds in different channel scenarios is investigated including multiuser MIMO with maximal ratio combining. Our analysis is facilitated by deriving some new results for finite-dimensional Wishart matrices, i.e., for the arbitrary moments of the unordered eigenvalue of central and non-central Wishart matrices. Our results provide very interesting insights into the implications of the system parameters, such as the number of antennas, and signal-to-noise ratio, on the tightness of Jensen’s bounds, and showcase the suitability and limitations of Jensen’s bounds.
Discrete-Phase Constant Envelope Precoding for Massive MIMO Systems

We consider downlink of a multiuser massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system and focus on reducing the hardware costs by using a single common power amplifier and separate phase shifters (PSs) for antenna front-ends. In the previous literature, the use of analog PSs in this setup has been considered. Here, we study the use of practical digital PSs, which only support a limited set of discrete phases. Considering the sum of interference powers as a metric, we formulate the corresponding nonlinear discrete optimization problem and solve for the phases to be used during transmission. We devise a low-complexity algorithm, which employs a trellis structure providing suboptimal, but efficient and effective solutions. We demonstrate via examples that the proposed solutions have comparable performance to conventional analog PS-based algorithms. Furthermore, we prove that by utilizing discrete-phase constant envelope precoding, the interference can be made arbitrarily small by increasing the number of antennas. Therefore, the asymptotic gains promised by massive MIMO systems are preserved. We also obtain closed-form expressions for the rate loss due to errors in the phase and amplitude of the PSs, for both low and high SNR regimes.
Secure Transmissions in Millimeter Wave Systems

Exploiting millimeter wave is an effective way to meet the data traffic demand in the 5G wireless communication system. In this paper, we study secure transmissions under slow fading channels with multipath propagation in millimeter wave systems. Concerning the new propagation characteristics of millimeter wave, we investigate three transmission schemes, namely, maximum ratio transmitting (MRT) beamforming, artificial noise (AN) beamforming, and partial MRT (PMRT) beamforming. We evaluate the secrecy performance by analyzing both the secrecy outage probability (SOP) and the secrecy throughput for each scheme. Particularly, for the AN scheme, we derive a closed-form expression for the optimal power allocation ratio of the information signal power to the total transmit power that minimizes the SOP, as well as obtain an explicit solution on the optimal transmission parameters that maximize the secrecy throughput. By comparing the secrecy performances achieved by different strategies, we demonstrate that the secrecy performance of the millimeter wave system is significantly influenced by the relationship between the legitimate user’s and the eavesdropper’s spatially resolvable paths, which is different from the wireless systems with statistically independent channel models. In the absence of the common path between the legitimate user and the eavesdropper, MRT beamforming is the best scheme. In the presence of common paths, AN beamforming and PMRT beamforming show their respective superiorities depending on the transmit power and the number of common paths. Numerical results are provided to verify our theoretical analysis.
Construction of MDS Convolutional Error-Correcting Network Codes Over Cyclic Networks

Recently, the refined singleton bound over acyclic networks was extended to convolutional error-correcting network codes over cyclic networks using extended coding vectors. In this paper, it is shown that constructing an MDS code is equivalent to constructing a multicast code. This is used to develop an algorithm for constructing MDS field-based codes over acyclic networks when the sinks know the topology of the network and the network coding employed at all nodes. A lower bound is given on the size of the field required for the algorithm to be successful. Then this algorithm is extended to construct MDS convolutional error-correcting codes over cyclic networks. The complexity of the proposed algorithm is evaluated.
Th1/Th2 profile in patients suffering with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis: An analytical observational study

Aims: To compare the cytokine (Th1/Th2) profile in serum as well as in synovial fluid of patients suffering with osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Settings and Design: Hospital-based analytical observational study. Materials and Methods: The present study comprised of 70 patients of arthritis, out of which, 40 patients were patients suffering from RA and 30 patients suffering from OA. Patients fulfilling the revised ARA Criteria for the Classification of Rheumatoid Arthritis are diagnosed as a case of RA and recruited for this study. Patients fulfilling the clinical and radiological features of osteoarthritis included in the study. Cytokine assay estimated using Western Blot (Immuno-blot transfer). Statistical Analysis Used: Analysis was performed using SPSS version 16.0 Statistical package for windows (SPSS, Chicago, IL). Results: Arthritis is commonly seen in females than males. Proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1, IL-2 and IFN-γ), anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-4 and IL-10), regulatory cytokine (TGF-β) of blood as well as serum levels were raised in RA patients as compared with OA patients (P < 0.01). Tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), an proinflammatory cytokine, levels were also raised significantly in OA. Conclusions: Our study shows that both Th1 and Th2 cells derived inflammatory markers as well as levels of IL-1 and TNF-α (both blood as well as synovial fluid) were significantly raised in RA as compared with OA patients. Thus, high levels of these substances have been found in inflammatory arthropathies, in particular in those characterized by a more aggressive and destructive outcome, such as RA.
Adaptive Time-Switching Based Energy Harvesting Relaying Protocols

Considering a dual-hop energy-harvesting (EH) relaying system, this paper advocates novel relaying protocols based on adaptive time-switching (TS) for amplify-and-forward and decode-and-forward modes, respectively. The optimal TS factor is first studied, which is adaptively adjusted based on the dual-hop channel state information (CSI), accumulated energy, and threshold signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), to achieve the maximum throughput efficiency per block. To reduce the CSI overhead at the EH relay, a low-complexity TS factor design is presented, which only needs single-hop CSI to determine the TS factor. Theoretical results show that, in comparison with the conventional solutions, the proposed optimal/low-complexity TS factor can achieve higher limiting throughput efficiency for sufficiently small threshold SNR. As the threshold SNR approaches infinity, the throughput efficiency of the proposed optimal/low-complexity TS factor tends to zero in a much slower pace than that of the conventional solutions. Simulation results are presented to corroborate the proposed methodology.
Discovery of robust in-plane ferroelectricity in atomic-thick SnTe

Thinning a ferroelectric makes it better As a ferroelectric material becomes thinner, the temperature below which it develops its permanent electrical polarization usually decreases. Chang et al. fabricated high-quality thin films of SnTe that, in contrast to this conventional wisdom, had a considerably higher transition temperature than that of the material in bulk (see the Perspective by Kooi and Noheda). This was true even for single-unit cell films, whereas only slightly thicker films became ferroelectric above room temperature. This finding may enable the miniaturization of ferroelectric devices. Science, this issue p. 274; see also p. 221 Scanning tunneling microscopy indicates lattice distortion and band-bending, characteristic of ferroelectricity. Stable ferroelectricity with high transition temperature in nanostructures is needed for miniaturizing ferroelectric devices. Here, we report the discovery of the stable in-plane spontaneous polarization in atomic-thick tin telluride (SnTe), down to a 1–unit cell (UC) limit. The ferroelectric transition temperature Tc of 1-UC SnTe film is greatly enhanced from the bulk value of 98 kelvin and reaches as high as 270 kelvin. Moreover, 2- to 4-UC SnTe films show robust ferroelectricity at room temperature. The interplay between semiconducting properties and ferroelectricity in this two-dimensional material may enable a wide range of applications in nonvolatile high-density memories, nanosensors, and electronics.
Visualizing the molecular sociology at the HeLa cell nuclear periphery

Close-up view of the nuclear periphery Cell biologists would like to be able to visualize complexes inside cells at molecular resolution. Several limitations, however, have prevented the field from realizing this goal. The thickness of most cells precludes cryo-electron tomography, a technique which itself does not provide sufficient contrast. Mahamid et al. successfully combined recent advances on both fronts to analyze structures in situ at the periphery of the nucleus. Their images reveal features that inform our understanding of the native organization of nuclear pores and of the nuclear lamina. Science, this issue p. 969 Cryo–electron tomography reveals the molecular organization of the cell nucleus periphery in situ. The molecular organization of eukaryotic nuclear volumes remains largely unexplored. Here we combined recent developments in cryo–electron tomography (cryo-ET) to produce three-dimensional snapshots of the HeLa cell nuclear periphery. Subtomogram averaging and classification of ribosomes revealed the native structure and organization of the cytoplasmic translation machinery. Analysis of a large dynamic structure—the nuclear pore complex—revealed variations detectable at the level of individual complexes. Cryo-ET was used to visualize previously elusive structures, such as nucleosome chains and the filaments of the nuclear lamina, in situ. Elucidation of the lamina structure provides insight into its contribution to metazoan nuclear stiffness.
Reuseable Silicon IP Cores for Discrete Wavelet Transform Applications

— Architectures and methods for the rapid design of silicon cores for implementing discrete wavelet transforms over a wide range of specifications are described. These architectures are efficient, modular, scalable, and cover orthonormal and biorthogonal wavelet transform families. They offer efficient hardware uti- lization by exploiting a number of core wavelet filter properties and allow the creation of silicon designs that are highly parame- terized, including in terms of wavelet type and wordlengths. Control circuitry is embedded within these systems allowing them to be cascaded for any desired level of decomposition without any interface glue logic. The time to produce chip designs for a specific wavelet application is typically less than a day and these are com-parable in area and performance to handcrafted designs. They are also portable across a wide range of silicon foundries and suitable for field programmable gate array and programmable logic data implementation. The approach described has also been extended to wavelet packet transforms.
EFFICACY OF SOME DRUGS AND BIOLOGIC PREPARATIONS AS THERAPEUTIC AGENTS FOR TULAREMIA

Rather extensive literature is accumulating on therapy for tularemia. Among the numerous agents used for the treatment of tularemia, several have received special mention. These are: (1) serum, (2) sulfonamide compounds, (3) arsenic compounds, (4) ferrous iodide, (5) metaphen and (6) acriflavine. In brief resume, the first of these, serum, has had the most extensive trials both clinically and experimentally. Unfortunately the work of Foshay 1 in clinical trials and of Francis and Felton 2 in experimental trials has led to opposing conclusions. The data which Foshay obtained from treating human beings led him to believe that serum effects a significant reduction in both morbidity and mortality. Francis and Felton, on the other hand, concluded that antitularemic serums prepared from horses, sheep and rabbits as well as from convalescent human beings show no evidence of protective effect in white mice. Many other clinicians have reported on the use of serum
Cloud Processing of Secondary Organic Aerosol from Isoprene and Methacrolein Photooxidation

Aerosol-cloud interaction contributes to the largest uncertainties in the estimation and interpretation of the Earth’s changing energy budget. The present study explores experimentally the impacts of water condensation-evaporation events, mimicking processes occurring in atmospheric clouds, on the molecular composition of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from the photooxidation of methacrolein. A range of on- and off-line mass spectrometry techniques were used to obtain a detailed chemical characterization of SOA formed in control experiments in dry conditions, in triphasic experiments simulating gas-particle-cloud droplet interactions (starting from dry conditions and from 60% relative humidity (RH)), and in bulk aqueous-phase experiments. We observed that cloud events trigger fast SOA formation accompanied by evaporative losses. These evaporative losses decreased SOA concentration in the simulation chamber by 25–32% upon RH increase, while aqueous SOA was found to be metastable and slowly evaporated after cloud dissipation. In the simulation chamber, SOA composition measured with a high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer, did not change during cloud events compared with high RH conditions (RH > 80%). In all experiments, off-line mass spectrometry techniques emphasize the critical role of 2-methylglyceric acid as a major product of isoprene chemistry, as an important contributor to the total SOA mass (15–20%) and as a key building block of oligomers found in the particulate phase. Interestingly, the comparison between the series of oligomers obtained from experiments performed under different conditions show a markedly different reactivity. In particular, long reaction times at high RH seem to create the conditions for aqueous-phase processing to occur in a more efficient manner than during two relatively short cloud events.
A new method of Lyapunov functionals for delayed cellular neural networks

Lyapunov functionals and Lyapunov functions coupled with the Razumikhin technique are still the most popular tools in studying the stability of large-scale retarded nonlinear systems. However, it is generally difficult to construct Lyapunov functionals or functions that satisfy the strong conditions required in the classical stability theory. We show that for some delay differential systems such as additive neural networks with delays, we can weaken the condition that the Lyapunov functional or function is positive definite, by using the equivalence between the state stability and the output stability. We apply our general theory to obtain some new stability conditions for cellular neural network models. It is represented that it is easy to construct Lyapunov functionals or functions satisfied conditions of our theorems.
RNA splicing is a primary link between genetic variation and disease

RNA splicing links genetics to disease Many genetic variants associated with disease have no apparent effect on any specific protein coding sequence. Li et al. systematically analyzed the effects of DNA variants on the main steps of gene regulation, from the chromatin state through protein function. One-third of expression quantitative train loci (QTLs) are mediated through transcriptional processes, not chromatin. Splice QTLs and expression QTLs are about comparable in their complex disease risk. Posttranscriptional mechanisms therefore play a large role in translating genotype to phenotype. Science, this issue p. 600 Phenotype is most affected by genetic variants that influence gene expression and transcript splicing. Noncoding variants play a central role in the genetics of complex traits, but we still lack a full understanding of the molecular pathways through which they act. We quantified the contribution of cis-acting genetic effects at all major stages of gene regulation from chromatin to proteins, in Yoruba lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs). About ~65% of expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) have primary effects on chromatin, whereas the remaining eQTLs are enriched in transcribed regions. Using a novel method, we also detected 2893 splicing QTLs, most of which have little or no effect on gene-level expression. These splicing QTLs are major contributors to complex traits, roughly on a par with variants that affect gene expression levels. Our study provides a comprehensive view of the mechanisms linking genetic variation to variation in human gene regulation.
Durably reducing transphobia: A field experiment on door-to-door canvassing

Not just turnout, but turnaround matters In the last several U.S. presidential elections, the campaign mantra has focused on making sure that voters already aligned with one's candidate do get out to vote. There is a long history of unsuccessful efforts to change people's attitudes. Nevertheless, Broockman and Kalla conducted a field experiment showing that Miami voters shifted their attitudes toward transgender individuals and maintained those changed positions for 3 months (see the Perspective by Paluck). Science, this issue p. 220; see also p. 147 Asking voters to see the world from other people’s eyes can alter their attitudes for quite a long time. [Also see Perspective by Paluck] Existing research depicts intergroup prejudices as deeply ingrained, requiring intense intervention to lastingly reduce. Here, we show that a single approximately 10-minute conversation encouraging actively taking the perspective of others can markedly reduce prejudice for at least 3 months. We illustrate this potential with a door-to-door canvassing intervention in South Florida targeting antitransgender prejudice. Despite declines in homophobia, transphobia remains pervasive. For the intervention, 56 canvassers went door to door encouraging active perspective-taking with 501 voters at voters’ doorsteps. A randomized trial found that these conversations substantially reduced transphobia, with decreases greater than Americans’ average decrease in homophobia from 1998 to 2012. These effects persisted for 3 months, and both transgender and nontransgender canvassers were effective. The intervention also increased support for a nondiscrimination law, even after exposing voters to counterarguments.
Nuclear-localized cyclic nucleotide–gated channels mediate symbiotic calcium oscillations

Calcium signals the making of symbiosis Plant cell nuclei respond to signals from symbiotic nitrogenfixing rhizobial bacteria or arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi with oscillating Ca2+ release. Charpentier et al. identified a trio of responsible Ca2+ channels in a legume. These channels contain nuclear localization signals and are expressed in root cell nuclear envelopes. The channels function early in the establishment of symbiosis to produce oscillations in Ca2+ release from nuclear stores. Science, this issue p. 1102 Calcium channels coordinate to release pulses of calcium in response to microbes to initiate plant root symbioses. Nuclear-associated Ca2+ oscillations mediate plant responses to beneficial microbial partners—namely, nitrogen-fixing rhizobial bacteria that colonize roots of legumes and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi that colonize roots of the majority of plant species. A potassium-permeable channel is known to be required for symbiotic Ca2+ oscillations, but the calcium channels themselves have been unknown until now. We show that three cyclic nucleotide–gated channels in Medicago truncatula are required for nuclear Ca2+ oscillations and subsequent symbiotic responses. These cyclic nucleotide–gated channels are located at the nuclear envelope and are permeable to Ca2+. We demonstrate that the cyclic nucleotide–gated channels form a complex with the postassium-permeable channel, which modulates nuclear Ca2+ release. These channels, like their counterparts in animal cells, might regulate multiple nuclear Ca2+ responses to developmental and environmental conditions.