Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Environmental Concentrations of Copper, Alone or in Mixture With Arsenic, Can Impact River Sediment Microbial Community Structure and Functions

In many aquatic ecosystems, sediments are an essential compartment, which supports high levels of specific and functional biodiversity thus contributing to ecological functioning. Sediments are exposed to inputs from ground or surface waters and from surrounding watershed that can lead to the accumulation of toxic and persistent contaminants potentially harmful for benthic sediment-living communities, including microbial assemblages. As benthic microbial communities play crucial roles in ecological processes such as organic matter recycling and biomass production, we performed a 21-day laboratory channel experiment to assess the structural and functional impact of metals on natural microbial communities chronically exposed to sediments spiked with copper (Cu) and/or arsenic (As) alone or mixed at environmentally relevant concentrations (40 mg kg-1 for each metal). Heterotrophic microbial community responses to metals were evaluated both in terms of genetic structure (using ARISA analysis) and functional potential (using exoenzymatic, metabolic and functional genes analyses). Exposure to Cu had rapid marked effects on the structure and most of the functions of the exposed communities. Exposure to As had almost undetectable effects, possibly due to both lack of As bioavailability or toxicity toward the exposed communities. However, when the two metals were combined, certain functional responses suggested a possible interaction between Cu and As toxicity on heterotrophic communities. We also observed temporal dynamics in the functional response of sediment communities to chronic Cu exposure, alone or in mixture, with some functions being resilient and others being impacted throughout the experiment or only after several weeks of exposure. Taken together, these findings reveal that metal contamination of sediment could impact both the genetic structure and the functional potential of chronically exposed microbial communities. Given their functional role in aquatic ecosystems, it poses an ecological risk as it may impact ecosystem functioning.
Online question answering practices to support healthcare data re‐use

Institutional data collection practices inevitably evolve over time, especially in a distributed clinical setting. Clinical and administrative data can improve health and healthcare, but only if researchers ensure that the data is well‐aligned to their reuse goals and that they have adequately accounted for changes in data collection practices over time. Our goal is to understand information behaviors of health services data users as they bridge the gap between the historical data and their intended data reuse goals. This project leverages more than a decade of listserv posts related to the use of clinical and administrative data by US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees, providing longitudinal insight into data reuse practices in both research and operational settings. In this paper we report the results of a pilot study that highlighted questions raised in the use of data and the knowledge engaged to answer them.
The Human Gut Microbiome – A Potential Controller of Wellness and Disease

Interest toward the human microbiome, particularly gut microbiome has flourished in recent decades owing to the rapidly advancing sequence-based screening and humanized gnotobiotic model in interrogating the dynamic operations of commensal microbiota. Although this field is still at a very preliminary stage, whereby the functional properties of the complex gut microbiome remain less understood, several promising findings have been documented and exhibit great potential toward revolutionizing disease etiology and medical treatments. In this review, the interactions between gut microbiota and the host have been focused on, to provide an overview of the role of gut microbiota and their unique metabolites in conferring host protection against invading pathogen, regulation of diverse host physiological functions including metabolism, development and homeostasis of immunity and the nervous system. We elaborate on how gut microbial imbalance (dysbiosis) may lead to dysfunction of host machineries, thereby contributing to pathogenesis and/or progression toward a broad spectrum of diseases. Some of the most notable diseases namely Clostridium difficile infection (infectious disease), inflammatory bowel disease (intestinal immune-mediated disease), celiac disease (multisystemic autoimmune disorder), obesity (metabolic disease), colorectal cancer, and autism spectrum disorder (neuropsychiatric disorder) have been discussed and delineated along with recent findings. Novel therapies derived from microbiome studies such as fecal microbiota transplantation, probiotic and prebiotics to target associated diseases have been reviewed to introduce the idea of how certain disease symptoms can be ameliorated through dysbiosis correction, thus revealing a new scientific approach toward disease treatment. Toward the end of this review, several research gaps and limitations have been described along with suggested future studies to overcome the current research lacunae. Despite the ongoing debate on whether gut microbiome plays a role in the above-mentioned diseases, we have in this review, gathered evidence showing a potentially far more complex link beyond the unidirectional cause-and-effect relationship between them.
Impact of cultural background on fundamental movement skill and its correlates

ABSTRACT Children’s fundamental movement skill levels (FMS) predict moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Asian children have been reported as less active than English-Europeans, possibly due to poorer skills. This study compared the FMS of children from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds and examined FMS correlates. A total of 261 children (122 males) aged 9-to-11 years were divided based on language spoken at home: English-European (n = 105) and Asian (n = 156). Height, mass, FMS (Test of Gross Motor Development-2), MVPA (accelerometer) and cardio-respiratory fitness (20m multistage shuttle run) were directly measured. Sex, age, language and perceived sport competence (CY-PSPP) were self-reported. Independent sample t-tests assessed age, BMI, FMS and perception by CALD group. Linear mixed models examined FMS correlates. Asian-speaking children had lower object control skill (35.5 v 37.2; CI [0.17, 3.18]; p < 0.03) compared to English-European- children, but no between-group differences in locomotor skills were observed. Fitness, physical activity and sport competence perception were positively associated with object control, yet adjusting for these variables (and age and BMI) did not remove the CALD effect (B = −2.02, SE = 0.69, p = 0.004). Cultural factors may affect object control competence in Asian-Australian children.
Privacy-Preserving Authentication and Key Agreement Protocols for D2D Group Communications

Device-to-Device (D2D) communications play a key role in the next generation mobile communication networks and wireless systems (5G) and the Internet of Things ecosystem. D2D group communications are significant for group based services. In spite of its benefits, new application scenarios and new system architecture expose the D2D group communications to unique security threats. Although there are numerous studies on security and privacy in two-user D2D communications, a lack of solutions on secure and privacy-preserving D2D group communications would restrict their wide usage. In this paper, we propose two privacy-preserving authentication and key Agreement protocols (PPAKA-HAMC and PPAKA-IBS) to guarantee secure and anonymous D2D group communications. In our protocols, a group of D2D users mutually authenticate with each other without leaking their identity information while negotiate a common D2D group session key for secure communications in a D2D session. Formal security analysis and comprehensive performance evaluation show security and effectivity of our protocols.
2.5D Glass Panel Embedded (GPE) Packages with Better I/O Density, Performance, Cost and Reliability than Current Silicon Interposers and High-Density Fan-Out Packages

This paper demonstrates for the first time a next generation high-bandwidth 2.5D glass panel embedding (GPE) architecture with better I/O density, performance, cost and reliability than silicon interposers and high density fan-out packages for heterogeneous integration. Silicon interposers were the first 2.5D technology to enter volume manufacturing, first with TSVs as CoWoS by TSMC and later as embedded bridge EMIB by Intel. High density fan-out packages by chip-first, such as InFO by TSMC, and RDL-first were recently developed. However, all current approaches face challenges in meeting future 2.5D I/O, performance, cost and reliability needs. This paper presents the first demonstration of a revolutionary new concept in scaling power-efficient bandwidth, cost, large package size and board-level reliability, called 2.5D glass panel embedding (GPE). High temperature and low CTE glass reduces die shifts from tens of microns in current molded fan-out to less than 2 microns in GPE. RDL connecting to embedded ICs with 1-2 micron lines and vias overcomes the solder thermo-compression bonding limitations. RDL with much lower resistance and capacitance than BEOL RDL continues power-efficient bandwidth scaling. Ultra-thin glass is readily available in large panels for lower cost. The tailorable CTE of glass allows for reliable direct SMT attach to board of large GPE packages. With a total package thickness of less than 200 microns, this paper describes the fabrication process for an ultra-thin 2.5D GPE, and a systematic parametric process optimization to reduce die shifts to less than 2 microns, leading to the first known demonstration of side-by-side embedding of HBM test chips with all-Cu interconnections at 40 micron I/O pitch.
A K-Band Power Amplifier with 26-dBm Output Power and 34% PAE with Novel Inductance-based Neutralization in 90-nm CMOS

A fully-integrated K-band transformer combined power amplifier (PA) with novel neutralization technique is presented and implemented in 90-nm CMOS technology for 5G and 24-GHz ISM-band applications. Four single-stage cascode cells are combined with transformers as two differential amplifier cells. Current-combining topology is used to combine the two differential amplifier cells to increase output power. The asymmetrical transformers are designed to compensate phase imbalance. The novel inductance-based neutralization structure is utilized to cope with the overall stability issue. Thus, the optimal transistor sizes can be chosen to achieve high output power and power added efficiency (PAE). The measurement results demonstrate 16.3-dB small-signal gain, saturated power (Psat) of 26.0 dBm, output 1-dB compression point (OP1dB) of 23.2 dBm, and peak PAE of 34% at 28 GHz. The chip size with all pads is 0.401 mm2. To the authors' knowledge, this circuit demonstrates a superior output power and PAE performance compared with the reported K-band CMOS PAs
Provably Secure Identity-Based Signcryption Scheme for Crowdsourced Industrial Internet of Things Environments

Nowadays, the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing have become more pervasive in the context of the industry as digitization becomes a business priority for various organizations. Therefore, industries outsource their crowdsourced Industrial IoT (IIoT) data in the cloud in order to reduce the cost for sharing data and computation. However, the privacy of such crowdsourced data in this environment has attracted wide attention across the globe. Signcryption is the significant cryptographic primitive that meets both requirement of authenticity and confidentiality of crowdsourced data among users/industries, and thus, it is ideal for ensuring secure authentic data storage and transmission in industrial crowdsourcing environments. In this paper, we introduce a new identity-based signcryption (IBSC) scheme using bilinear pairing for IIoT deployment. Besides, two hard problems are studied, called as, modified bilinear Diffie–Hellman inversion (MBDHI) assumption and modified bilinear strong Diffie–Hellman (MBSDH) assumption. The rigorous security analysis demonstrates that our IBSC scheme for IIoT is provably secure based on the intractability of decisional-MBDHI and MBSDH assumptions under formal security model without considering the concept of the random oracle. The performance comparison with other signcryption schemes shows satisfactory results. Thus, our IBSC scheme is appropriate for IIoT crowdsourcing environments, and also applicable for low-bandwidth communications.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Versus Treatment as Usual in the Treatment of Depression: A Randomized-Controlled Trial

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a well-established treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Recent research suggested that it may be effective in treating depressive disorders as well. The present study is part of a multicenter randomized-controlled trial, the EDEN study, in which a homogenous group of 30 patients was treated to test whether EMDR plus treatment as usual (TAU) would achieve superior results compared to TAU only in a psychosomatic-psychotherapeutic inpatient treatment setting. Both groups were assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and the Global Severity Index and depression subscale of the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised. The EMDR + TAU group improved significantly better than the TAU group on the BDI-II and Global Severity Index, while a marginally significant difference favoring the EMDR + TAU group over the TAU group was found on the depression subscale. In the EMDR + TAU group, seven out of 14 patients improved below nine points on the BDI-II, which is considered to be a full remission, while four out of 16 in the TAU group did so. These findings confirm earlier suggestions that EMDR therapy may provide additional benefit in the treatment of depression. The present study strengthens the previous literature on EMDR therapy in the treatment of depression due to the randomized-controlled design of the EDEN study.
Epigenetic Aging in Osteoporosis

To the editor, We have read with great interest the recent article in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, "Primary Osteoporosis Is Not Reflected by Disease-Specific DNA Methylation or Accelerated Epigenetic Age in Blood" (1). They analyzed age-related DNA methylation profiles in peripheral blood cells and did not find significant differences between osteoporotic patients and non-osteoporotic controls.
Microfluidically Reconfigurable Reflection Phase Shifter

A microfluidic-based reconfiguration approach is presented for realizing a reflection phase shifter. The phase shifter consists of quadrature hybrid coupler with reflective microstrip line terminations. A selectively metallized plate (SMP) that can be repositioned inside a microfluidic channel is brought in close proximity (<10 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) of the reflective microstrip line terminations to vary their electrical lengths through capacitive RF short mechanism. The concept is demonstrated through a 9.5 GHz <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$X$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-band phase-shifter design. Specifically, the design exhibits a footprint of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$24\times15$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm<sup>2</sup>, operates with <0.95 dB insertion loss, and attains the 360° phase shift with a total of 9.5 mm SMP motion resulting in 1.95 s total actuation time with the selected external micropumps. These phase shifters may be suitable for applications that prioritize low-loss and high power handling capability over reconfiguration speed.
Fusarium graminearum ATP-Binding Cassette Transporter Gene FgABCC9 Is Required for Its Transportation of Salicylic Acid, Fungicide Resistance, Mycelial Growth and Pathogenicity towards Wheat

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters hydrolyze ATP to transport a wide range of substrates. Fusarium graminearum is a major causal agent of Fusarium head blight, which is a severe disease in wheat worldwide. FgABCC9 (FG05_07325) encodes an ABC-C (ABC transporter family C) transporter in F. graminearum, which was highly expressed during the infection in wheat and was up-regulated by the plant defense hormone salicylic acid (SA) and the fungicide tebuconazole. The predicted tertiary structure of the FgABCC9 protein was consistent with the schematic of the ABC exporter. Deletion of FgABCC9 resulted in decreased mycelial growth, increased sensitivity to SA and tebuconazole, reduced accumulation of deoxynivalenol (DON), and less pathogenicity towards wheat. Re-introduction of a functional FgABCC9 gene into ΔFgABCC9 recovered the phenotypes of the wild type strain. Transgenic expression of FgABCC9 in Arabidopsis thaliana increased the accumulation of SA in its leaves without activating SA signaling, which suggests that FgABCC9 functions as an SA exporter. Taken together, FgABCC9 encodes an ABC exporter, which is critical for fungal exportation of SA, response to tebuconazole, mycelial growth, and pathogenicity towards wheat.
Long-read DNA metabarcoding of ribosomal rRNA in the analysis of fungi from aquatic environments

DNA metabarcoding is now widely used to study prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial diversity. Technological constraints have limited most studies to marker lengths of ca. 300-600 bp. Longer sequencing reads of several 5 thousand bp are now possible with third-generation sequencing. The increased marker lengths provide greater taxonomic resolution and enable the use of phylogenetic methods of classifcation, but longer reads may be subject to higher rates of sequencing error and chimera formation. In addition, most well-established bioinformatics tools for DNA metabarcoding were originally 10 designed for short reads and are therefore not suitable. Here we used Pacifc Biosciences circular consensus sequencing (CCS) to DNA-metabarcode environmental samples using a ca. 4,500 bp marker that included most of the eukaryote ribosomal SSU and LSU rRNA genes and the ITS spacer region. We developed a long-read analysis pipeline that reduced error rates to levels 15 comparable to short-read platforms. Validation using fungal isolates and a mock community indicated that our pipeline detected 98% of chimeras de novo i.e., even in the absence of reference sequences. We recovered 947 OTUs from water and sediment samples in a natural lake, 848 of which could be classifed to phylum, 486 to family, 397 to genus and 330 to species. By 20 allowing for the simultaneous use of three global databases (Unite, SILVA, RDP LSU), long-read DNA metabarcoding provided better taxonomic resolution than any single marker. We foresee the use of long reads enabling the cross-validation of reference sequences and the synthesis of ribosomal rRNA gene databases. The universal nature of the rRNA operon and our recovery of >100 25 non-fungal OTUs indicate that long-read DNA metabarcoding holds promise for the study of eukaryotic diversity more broadly.
Feasibility, safety and effectiveness in measuring microvascular resistance with regadenoson.

AIMThe study aims to test whether simultaneous measurement of fractional flow reserve (FFR), coronary flow reserve (CFR) and index of microcirculatory resistance (IMR) is feasible, safe and effective during regadenoson-induced hyperemia.METHODS AND RESULTSFFR, CFR and IMR were measured simultaneously during regadenoson (Rapiscan 400 μg) -induced hyperemia in 50 patients with stable coronary artery disease with a SYNTAX score of <22. Simultaneous measurement of FFR, CFR and IMR was technically feasible in all cases (50/50). No side effects occurred and even patients fulfilling classical contraindications for the use of adenosine (10/50) could be included. Regadenoson-induced hyperemia remained stable after maximal pressure drop for more than 35 sec as measured by systemic aortic and distal coronary pressure. There was a significant drop in transit mean time from baseline to hyperemia of more than 50% (1.0 ± 0.6 s vs. 0.4 ± 0.2 s, p < 0.01). Patients' mean IMR value was 23.4, and IMR values above 75th percentile significantly correlated with metformin demanding diabetes mellitus with OR 21.76 and nicotine abuse with OR 10.28. CONCLUSIONA single intravenous regadenoson bolus via peripheral line increases coronary blood flow without harmful systemic side effects enabling interventionists to simultaneously assess FFR, CFR and IMR in patients with stable coronary artery disease.
HYDRA: Hypothesis Driven Repair Automation

HYDRA is an automated mechanism to repair code in response to successful attacks. Given a set of malicious inputs that include the attack and a set of benign inputs that do not, along with an ability to test the victim application with these labelled inputs, HYDRA quickly provides rank ordered patches to close the exploited vulnerability. HYDRA also produces human-readable summaries of its findings and repair actions to aid the manual vulnerability mitigation process. We tested HYDRA using 8 zero-days, HYDRA produced patches that stopped the attacks in all 8 cases and preserved application functionality in 7 of the 8 cases.
Chitosan-based nanoparticles as drug delivery systems: a review on two decades of research

Abstract Chitosan (CS) is one of the most functional natural biopolymer widely used in the pharmaceutical field due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability. These privileges lead to its application in the synthesis of nanoparticles for the drug during the last two decades. This article gives rise to a general review of the different chitosan nanoparticles (CSNPs) preparation techniques: Ionic gelation, emulsion cross-linking, spray-drying, emulsion-droplet coalescence method, nanoprecipitation, reverse micellar method, desolvation method, modified ionic gelation with radial polymerisation and emulsion solvent diffusion, from the point of view of the methodological and mechanistic aspects involved. The physicochemical behaviour of CSNPs including drug loading, drug release, particles size, zeta potential and stability are briefly discussed. This review also directs to bring an outline of the major applications of CSNPs in drug delivery according to drug and route of administration. Finally, derivatives of CSNPs and CS nano-complexes are also discussed.