Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Immunosuppressive Potential of Cholesterol Sulfate Through T Cell Microvilli Disruption

Cholesterol (CL) is required for various biomolecular production processes, including those of cell membrane components. Therefore, to meet these needs, CL is converted into various derivatives. Among these derivatives is cholesterol sulfate (CS), a naturally produced CL derivative by the sulfotransferase family 2B1 (SULT2B1), which is widely present in human plasma. CS is involved in cell membrane stabilization, blood clotting, keratinocyte differentiation, and TCR nanocluster deformation. This study shows that treatment of T cells with CS resulted in the decreased surface expression of some surface T-cell proteins and reduced IL-2 release. Furthermore, T cells treated with CS significantly reduced lipid raft contents and membrane CLs. Surprisingly, using the electron microscope, we also observed that CS led to the disruption of T-cell microvilli, releasing small microvilli particles containing TCRs and other microvillar proteins. However, in vivo, T cells with CS showed aberrant migration to high endothelial venules and limited infiltrating splenic T-cell zones compared with the untreated T cells. Additionally, we observed significant alleviation of atopic dermatitis in mice injected with CS in the animal model. Based on these results, we conclude that CS is an immunosuppressive natural lipid that impairs TCR signaling by disrupting microvillar function in T cells, suggesting its usefulness as a therapeutic agent for alleviating T-cell-mediated hypersensitivity and a potential target for treating autoimmune diseases.
Macroscopic relationship in primal-dual portfolio optimization problem

In the present paper, using a replica analysis, we examine the portfolio optimization problem handled in previous work and discuss the minimization of investment risk under constraints of budget and expected return for the case that the distribution of the hyperparameters of the mean and variance of the return rate of each asset are not limited to a specific probability family. Findings derived using our proposed method are compared with those in previous work to verify the effectiveness of our proposed method. Further, we derive a Pythagorean theorem of the Sharpe ratio and macroscopic relations of opportunity loss. Using numerical experiments, the effectiveness of our proposed method is demonstrated for a specific situation.
Arctic Ocean sediments as important current and future sinks for marine microplastics missing in the global microplastic budget

To better understand unexpectedly low plastic loads at the ocean’s surface compared with inputs, unidentified sinks must be located. Here, we present the microplastic (MP) budget for multi-compartments in the western Arctic Ocean (WAO) and demonstrate that Arctic sediments serve as important current and future sinks for MPs missing from the global budget. We identified an increase of 3% year−1 in MP deposition from sediment core observations. Relatively elevated MP abundances were found in seawater and surface sediments around the summer sea ice retreat region, implying enhanced MP accumulation and deposition facilitated by the ice barrier. We estimate 15.7 ± 2.30 × 1016 N and 0.21 ± 0.14 MT as total MP loads in the WAO with 90% (by mass) buried in the post-1930 sediments, which exceeds the global average of the current marine MP load. The slower increase in plastic burial versus production implies a lag in plastic delivery to the Arctic, indicating more pollution in the future.
Structure preserving model order reduction of large sparse second-order index-1 systems and application to a mechatronics model

ABSTRACT Nowadays, mechanical engineers heavily depend on mathematical models for simulation, optimization and controller design. In either of these tasks, reduced dimensional formulations are obligatory in order to achieve fast and accurate results. Usually, the structural mechanical systems of machine tools are described by systems of second-order differential equations. However, they become descriptor systems when extra constraints are imposed on the systems. This article discusses efficient techniques of Gramian-based model-order reduction for second-order index-1 descriptor systems. Unlike, our previous work, here we mainly focus on a second-order to second-order reduction technique for such systems, where the stability of the system is guaranteed to be preserved in contrast to the previous approaches. We show that a special choice of the first-order reformulation of the system allows us to solve only one Lyapuov equation instead of two. We also discuss improvements of the technique to solve the Lyapunov equation using low-rank alternating direction implicit methods, which further reduces the computational cost as well as memory requirement. The proposed technique is applied to a structural finite element method model of a micro-mechanical piezo-actuators-based adaptive spindle support. Numerical results illustrate the increased efficiency of the adapted method.
Obese Parturient: A Modern-Day Obstetric Challenge

Obesity has become a growing pandemic with a significant increase in incidence in recent years. The complications associated with pregnancy in obese patients can lead to increased morbidity and mortality in pregnant women. A 41-year-old morbidly obese female with primary hypertension and 32.4 weeks pregnant, presented with severe oligohydramnios, breech presentation, and a history of previous lower segment cesarean section (LSCS). The patient experienced abdominal pain, lower backache, and leaking per vaginal, and a decision was made to perform LSCS. Challenges were encountered during the procedure related to anesthesia management and the need for specialized equipment and additional assistants. A multidisciplinary approach was chosen for managing this patient with the special role of anesthetists. Intra-operative and post-operative management was crucial for a successful recovery. Obesity during pregnancy presents unique challenges for healthcare providers, and it is necessary to increase resources and prepare skilfully to manage these patients effectively.
Magnitude and factors influencing pastoralist women's maternity waiting home utilization in Teltelle district, Ethiopia: A cross‐sectional study

Pastoralists in Ethiopia benefit the least from health‐sector advances compared to the country's agrarian population. Maternity waiting homes (MWHs) have been established to provide mothers living in remote regions with access to skilled healthcare services during pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum periods. However, there is a dearth of data on the utilization of MWHs in pastoralist areas.
Prevalence of exposure to needle stick and sharp‐related injury and status of hepatitis B vaccination among healthcare workers: A cross‐sectional study

Hepatitis B is a leading cause of chronic liver disease and subsequent liver transplantation. This is a vaccine‐preventable illness. Health workers continue to be at risk for blood‐borne pathogens due to occupational exposures. The overall goals of our study were to determine the prevalence of exposure to needle sticks and sharp‐related injuries (NSSI) and hepatitis B vaccination status among healthcare workers (HCWs) of Nepalgunj Medical College Teaching Hospital (NGMCTH), Kohalpur, Banke, Nepal.
Comparison of Aerobic Capacity andCardiopulmonary Response to the Leger Test inUniversity of Mexico and Colombia

Introduction and objective: The 20 Meter Shuttle Run Test (20mSRT) is a cardiorespiratory fitness test that measures maximal aerobic power and indirectly maximum oxygen consumption; which, the larger it is, the greater the capacity of that organism to produce energy through aerobic metabolism. The objective was to compare the aerobic capacity and cardiopulmonary response of university students in Puebla, Mexico against university students in Cúcuta, Colombia. Materials and methods: Observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study with 2 groups of 100 participants of average age of 20.5±3 and 21±2 years for Mexicans and Colombians respectively. Anthropometry, vital signs, climatic conditions and the 20mSRT test were obtained. In addition, it was analyzed by means of the non-parametric Mann-Whitney test and then ANOVA with post hoc test using the Scheffe test. Results: 56% (62% Mex and 50.5% Col.) Of the participants had a BMI of normal weight, 9.5% (7% Mex and 6% Col.) Underweight and for overweight and obesity was 26% (28% Mex and 24% Col.) And 8.5% (9% Mex. And 8% Col.) Respectively. Regarding abdominal circumference, 93.73±11.84 and 81.37±12.20 were found for Mexican and Colombian university students, respectively. The VO2max. in the Mexican university students it was 34.7±6.06 with 672.8±385.4 meters and in the Colombian universities it was 32.9±7.12 with 533.8±371.3 meters. Conclusion: No significant differences were found in BMI (p=0.967), abdominal circumference (p=0.258), VO2max. (p=0.089) nor hemodynamic variables such as maximum heart rate (p=0.344), arterial oxygen saturation (p=0.811), TAS (p=0.945) and TAD (p=0.597) post test. In both groups, the results of aerobic capacity were below the “Good” or “Excellent” aerobic capacity.
A near-infrared light-activatable Ru(ii)-coumarin photosensitizer active under hypoxic conditions

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) represents a promising approach for cancer treatment. However, the oxygen dependency of PDT to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) hampers its therapeutic efficacy, especially against hypoxic solid tumors. In addition, some photosensitizers (PSs) have dark toxicity and are only activatable with short wavelengths such as blue or UV-light, which suffer from poor tissue penetration. Herein, we developed a novel hypoxia-active PS with operability in the near-infrared (NIR) region based on the conjugation of a cyclometalated Ru(ii) polypyridyl complex of the type [Ru(C^N)(N^N)2] to a NIR-emitting COUPY dye. The novel Ru(ii)-coumarin conjugate exhibits water-solubility, dark stability in biological media and high photostability along with advantageous luminescent properties that facilitate both bioimaging and phototherapy. Spectroscopic and photobiological studies revealed that this conjugate efficiently generates singlet oxygen and superoxide radical anions, thereby achieving high photoactivity toward cancer cells upon highly-penetrating 740 nm light irradiation even under hypoxic environments (2% O2). The induction of ROS-mediated cancer cell death upon low-energy wavelength irradiation along with the low dark toxicity exerted by this Ru(ii)-coumarin conjugate could circumvent tissue penetration issues while alleviating the hypoxia limitation of PDT. As such, this strategy could pave the way to the development of novel NIR- and hypoxia-active Ru(ii)-based theragnostic PSs fuelled by the conjugation of tunable, low molecular-weight COUPY fluorophores.
A proximal alternating direction method for multi-block coupled convex optimization

In this paper, we propose a proximal alternating direction method (PADM) for solving the convex optimization problems with linear constraints whose objective function is the sum of multi-block separable functions and a coupled quadratic function. The algorithm generates the iterate via a simple correction step, where the descent direction is based on the PADM. We prove the convergence of the generated sequence under some mild assumptions. Finally, some familiar numerical results are reported for the new algorithm.
The Pickup Ion-mediated Solar Wind

The New Horizons Solar Wind Around Pluto (NH SWAP) instrument has provided the first direct observations of interstellar and He pickup ions (PUIs) at distances between ∼11.26 and 38 au in the solar wind. The observations demonstrate that the distant solar wind beyond the hydrogen ionization cavity is indeed mediated by PUIs. The creation of PUIs modifies the underlying low-frequency turbulence field responsible for their own scattering. The dissipation of these low-frequency fluctuations serves to heat the solar wind plasma, and accounts for the observed non-adiabatic solar wind temperature profile and a possible slow temperature increase beyond ∼30 au. We develop a very general theoretical model that incorporates PUIs, solar wind thermal plasma, the interplanetary magnetic field, and low-frequency turbulence to describe the evolution of the large-scale solar wind, PUIs, and turbulence from 1–84 au, the structure of the perpendicular heliospheric termination shock, and the transmission of turbulence into the inner heliosheath, extending the classical models of Holzer and Isenberg. A detailed comparison of the theoretical model solutions and observations derived from the Voyager 2 and NH SWAP data sets shows excellent agreement between the two for reasonable physical parameters.
Barium titanate (BaTiO 3 ) RF characterization for application in electro-optic modulators

Barium titanate (BaTiO3 or BTO) is currently one of the most promising ferroelectric materials for enabling Pockels modulation that is compatible with silicon photonic circuits. The relative permittivity of BTO has been characterized in thin films deposited on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. High values between 800 and 1600 have been estimated at 20 GHz. Furthermore, no substantial difference has been obtained by using BTO grown by molecular beam epitaxy and sputtering. The obtained permittivity has been used to properly design the RF electrodes for high-speed modulation in hybrid BTO/Si devices. Electrodes have been fabricated and the possibility of achieving modulation bandwidths up to 40 GHz has been demonstrated. The bandwidth is limited by the microwave propagation losses and, in this case, different losses have been measured depending on the BTO growth process.
Exploring Eye of Typhoon “Marge,” 1951

In August 1951 an unusual airplane reconnaissance of a mature typhoon succeeded in collecting extensive data from the eye and adjacent rain area of the storm. The eye, which was clear except for a low stratocumulus undercast, was circular, 40 miles in diameter, and had a central pressure at the surface of 26.43 inches (895 mb) with a sizable pressure gradient from the center to edge of the eye. Walls of nimbostratus surrounding the eye rose like a huge coliseum to a height of 35,000 feet. Two eye soundings from the surface to 17,000 feet were made, the first at midday, the second in late afternoon. These revealed exceptionally warm temperatures, more than 16° C at 17,000 feet, with lapse rates essentially isothermal from the surface to 10,000 feet. Marked cooling occurred between these two soundings in the layer 7,000–10,000 feet. Horizontally, temperature varied little at 800 feet; at 9,000 feet, however, the eye center was nearly 8 C° warmer, and at 18,000 feet 18 C° warmer than the adjacent rain area.
Exploring community reintegration among Nigerian stroke survivors

Background Community reintegration is one of the ultimate goals of stroke rehabilitation. The increasing burden of stroke morbidity by other non-communicable diseases in Nigeria indicated the need for our study. Objectives The authors explored the factors contributing to successful community reintegration among Nigerian stroke survivors. Method We conducted an explorative qualitative study design to achieve this aim using in-depth semi-structured interviews with 12-purposively sampled stroke survivors. Results Three overarching themes emerged: restriction of participation experienced by stroke survivors, activity limitation as pointers to the quality-of-life experience of stroke survivors and enablers or barriers to community reintegration for stroke survivors. Among the core, sub-themes included incapability of returning to work, difficulty performing domestic activities, social isolation or separation, recreation and leisure time. Enablers of community reintegration included creating a positive mindset, encouragement and social support, while barriers included mobility and speech or language challenges. Conclusion Stroke survivors have challenges in returning to work and experience varying levels of activity limitation, which affects their quality of life with identifiable enablers or barriers to community reintegration. Clinical implications Stroke survivors with severe functional deficits should be monitored closely and given further rehabilitative assistance to aid functional recovery, thereby facilitating community reintegration.
Hypoxia sensing requires H2S-dependent persulfidation of olfactory receptor 78

Oxygen (O2) sensing by the carotid body is critical for maintaining cardiorespiratory homeostasis during hypoxia. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) signaling is implicated in carotid body activation by low O2. Here, we show that persulfidation of olfactory receptor 78 (Olfr78) by H2S is an integral component of carotid body activation by hypoxia. Hypoxia and H2S increased persulfidation in carotid body glomus cells and persulfidated cysteine240 in Olfr78 protein in heterologous system. Olfr78 mutants manifest impaired carotid body sensory nerve, glomus cell, and breathing responses to H2S and hypoxia. Glomus cells are positive for GOlf, adenylate cyclase 3 (Adcy3) and cyclic nucleotide–gated channel alpha 2 (Cnga2), key molecules of odorant receptor signaling. Adcy3 or Cnga2 mutants exhibited impaired carotid body and glomus cell responses to H2S and breathing responses to hypoxia. These results suggest that H2S through redox modification of Olfr78 participates in carotid body activation by hypoxia to regulate breathing.
A Practical Leader–Follower Tracking Control Scheme for Multiple Nonholonomic Mobile Robots in Unknown Obstacle Environments

This brief addresses the leader–follower (L-F) tracking control problem for multiple nonholonomic mobile robots in unknown obstacle environments. Unlike most of the existing approaches investigating similar problems, a series of practical issues is considered and tackled in the proposed scheme. For leader tracking, a class of bounded barrier functions are employed to formulate distance and bearing angle constraints introduced by sensor limitations and L-F collision avoidance requirement. To ensure robot safety in unknown environments, a multiregion obstacle avoidance algorithm is proposed which prioritizes different control objectives in different regions. This brief also studies the leader-loss situation, which may be caused by illumination variation, motion blurring, or visual occlusion by obstacles. To deal with this case, a fault-tolerant strategy is designed to drive <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$F$ </tex-math></inline-formula> to the place where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$L$ </tex-math></inline-formula> was lost immediately. The control scheme proposed in the brief is primarily designed for a communication-free environment where only local state measurements are available. Furthermore, it has control input constraints explicitly taken into account. Real robot experiment has been performed to validate the proposed method.
The queue-number of planar posets

Heath and Pemmaraju conjectured that the queue-number of a poset is bounded by its width and if the poset is planar then also by its height. We show that there are planar posets whose queue-number is larger than their height, refuting the second conjecture. On the other hand, we show that any poset of width $2$ has queue-number at most $2$, thus confirming the first conjecture in the first non-trivial case. Moreover, we improve the previously best known bounds and show that planar posets of width $w$ have queue-number at most $3w-2$ while any planar poset with $0$ and $1$ has queue-number at most its width.
A Very Wideband Circularly Polarized Crossed Straight Dipole Antenna with Cavity Reflector and Single Parasitic Element

A very wideband circularly polarized (CP) crossed dipole antenna is presented in this paper. The primary radiating element of the antenna consists of two straight dipoles arranged orthogonally through double printed rings. To further enhance the axial ratio bandwidth, a cavity with proper size and single parasitic element are employed to generate two additional bands. The use of cavity reflector is investigated thoroughly, providing a solid framework for designing this type of antennas. The final design with an overall size of 0. 92λo × 0. 92λo × 0. 32λo at the center CP frequency yields a measured –10 dB-impedance bandwidth of 75.2% and 3 dB-axial ratio bandwidth of 67.7%. The proposed antenna exhibits right-handed circular polarization and an average broadside gain of about 8.3 dBi over the CP operating bandwidth.
Comparison of theory and experiment for nonadiabatic tunneling in circularly polarized fields

We compare results of the recent experiment by Herath et al [T. Herath, L. Yan, S. K. Lee, and W. Li, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 043004 (2012)] on strong-field nonadiabatic tunneling in circularly polarized laser fields with the original predictions of our theory [I. Barth and O. Smirnova, Phys. Rev A 84, 063415 (2011)] that stimulated these experiments. We show that the theory and experiment are in very good agreement. We also explain why the initial comparison performed by Herath et al [T. Herath, L. Yan, S. K. Lee, and W. Li, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 043004 (2012)] has suggested quantitative discrepancies with our theory. We confirm that these seeming discrepancies are removed with an accurate application of our theoretical model. We suggest an experiment for unique determination of the ionization preference of valence orbitals p+ or p-.
Redefinition of the self-bias voltage in a dielectrically shielded thin sheath RF discharge

In a geometrically asymmetric capacitively coupled discharge where the powered electrode is shielded from the plasma by a layer of dielectric material, the self-bias manifests as a nonuniform negative charging in the dielectric rather than on the blocking capacitor. In the thin sheath regime where the ion transit time across the powered sheath is on the order of or less than the Radiofrequency (RF) period, the plasma potential is observed to respond asymmetrically to extraneous impedances in the RF circuit. Consequently, the RF waveform on the plasma-facing surface of the dielectric is unknown, and the behaviour of the powered sheath is not easily predictable. Sheath circuit models become inadequate for describing this class of discharges, and a comprehensive fluid, electrical, and plasma numerical model is employed to accurately quantify this behaviour. The traditional definition of the self-bias voltage as the mean of the RF waveform is shown to be erroneous in this regime. Instead, using the maxima of the RF waveform provides a more rigorous definition given its correlation with the ion dynamics in the powered sheath. This is supported by a RF circuit model derived from the computational fluid dynamics and plasma simulations.In a geometrically asymmetric capacitively coupled discharge where the powered electrode is shielded from the plasma by a layer of dielectric material, the self-bias manifests as a nonuniform negative charging in the dielectric rather than on the blocking capacitor. In the thin sheath regime where the ion transit time across the powered sheath is on the order of or less than the Radiofrequency (RF) period, the plasma potential is observed to respond asymmetrically to extraneous impedances in the RF circuit. Consequently, the RF waveform on the plasma-facing surface of the dielectric is unknown, and the behaviour of the powered sheath is not easily predictable. Sheath circuit models become inadequate for describing this class of discharges, and a comprehensive fluid, electrical, and plasma numerical model is employed to accurately quantify this behaviour. The traditional definition of the self-bias voltage as the mean of the RF waveform is shown to be erroneous in this regime. Instead, using the maxima of .