Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characteristics of children with leprosy: Factors associated with delay in disease diagnosis.

OBJECTIVES The objectives of the study were to characterize the clinical profile of childhood leprosy presenting at tertiary leprosy care hospitals in the states of Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh in India, and to determine the possible risk factors associated with disabilities at presentation. METHODS Subjects were children with newly diagnosed leprosy registered for treatment at tertiary Leprosy Mission Hospitals in Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Purulia (West Bengal) and Faizabad (Uttar Pradesh), India, between June and December 2019. Demographic and leprosy characteristics were collected at the time of diagnosis. Parents/guardians were interviewed on reasons for delay in presenting at the hospital. Associations between various factors and delay in diagnosis were assessed. RESULTS Among the 84 children, the mean (SD) age was 10 (3) years with a range of 4-14 years. There were more boys (58%) and most children were currently in school (93%), resident in rural areas (90%) and belonged to a lower socioeconomic status (68%). More children were diagnosed with multibacillary leprosy (69%), one-third of them being skin smear positive for Mycobacterium leprae. On presentation, 17% had deformity (5% grade 1 deformity and 12% grade 2), 29% had nerve involvement and skin lesions were spread across the body in half of the children. Mean (SD) duration of delay was 10.5 (9.8) months. Delayed presentation was more in boys (43% vs. 17%; P = 0.01), those without a history of migration for work compared to those who had a history of migration (40% vs. 9%; P = 0.008) and in those children who were from a poor economic status compared with those that came from a better economic status (44% vs. 7%; P = 0.001) Limitations: Because our study was conducted at tertiary care hospitals, the findings are not representative of the situation in the field. Furthermore, a comparison group of newly diagnosed adult leprosy patients with disability could have been included in the study. CONCLUSION Childhood leprosy continues to occur in endemic pockets in India and a substantial number present with skin smear positivity and deformity. Guardians of these children cite many reasons for the delay in presentation.
Psychometric properties of the behavior rating inventory of executive function, second edition (BRIEF2) in a sample of children with ADHD in Iran

ABSTRACT This study investigated the psychometric properties of a Persian translation of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function(BRIEF2) in 253 children with ADHD in Iran (137 boys, 116 girls)ages 8 to 12 years old (M = 10.04; SD = 1.42). The parents of the children completed the Persian BRIEF2 and the Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI). The findings indicated that the Persian version of BRIEF2 had good reliability (internal and test-retest) and satisfactory to good validity (convergent and construct). With respect to its construct validity, confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a three-factor solution was the best model fit for the nine subscales of the BRIEF2, which supports the valid interpretation of the three BRIEF2 indexes in the Persian BRIEF2. These findings support the clinical relevance of the Persian BRIEF in Iranian children with ADHD, as well as the multidimensional nature of executive functions.
Multiple strategies for metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for efficient production of glycolate

Glycolate is a bulk chemical with wide applications in the textile, food processing, and pharmaceutical industries. Glycolate can be produced from glucose via the glycolysis and glyoxylate shunt pathways, followed by reduction to glycolate. However, two problems limit the productivity and yield of glycolate when using glucose as the sole carbon source. The first is a cofactor imbalance in the production of glycolate from glucose via the glycolysis pathway, since NADPH is required for glycolate production, while glycolysis generates NADH. To rectify this imbalance, the NADP+‐dependent glyceraldehyde 3‐phosphate dehydrogenase GapC from Clostridium acetobutylicum was introduced to generate NADPH instead of NADH in the oxidation of glyceraldehyde 3‐phosphate during glycolysis. The soluble transhydrogenase SthA was further eliminated to conserve NADPH by blocking its conversion into NADH. The second problem is an unfavorable carbon flux distribution between the tricarboxylic acid cycle and the glyoxylate shunt. To solve this problem, isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDH) was eliminated to increase the carbon flux of glyoxylate and thereby improve the glycolate titer. After engineering through the integration of gapC, combined with the inactivation of ICDH, SthA, and by‐product pathways, as well as the upregulation of the two key enzymes isocitrate lyase (encoding by aceA), and glyoxylate reductase (encoding by ycdW), the glycolate titer increased to 5.3 g/L with a yield of 1.89 mol/mol glucose. Moreover, an optimized fed‐batch fermentation reached a titer of 41 g/L with a yield of 1.87 mol/mol glucose after 60 h.
Cytogenetic Damage of Human Lymphocytes in Humanized Mice Exposed to Neutrons and X Rays 24 h After Exposure

Detonation of an improvised nuclear device highlights the need to understand the risk of mixed radiation exposure as prompt radiation exposure could produce significant neutron and gamma exposures. Although the neutron component may be a relatively small percentage of the total absorbed dose, the large relative biological effectiveness (RBE) can induce larger biological DNA damage and cell killing. The objective of this study was to use a hematopoietically humanized mouse model to measure chromosomal DNA damage in human lymphocytes 24 h after in vivo exposure to neutrons (0.3 Gy) and X rays (1 Gy). The human dicentric and cytokinesis-block micronucleus assays were performed to measure chromosomal aberrations in human lymphocytes in vivo from the blood and spleen, respectively. The mBAND assay based on fluorescent in situ hybridization labeling was used to detect neutron-induced chromosome 1 inversions in the blood lymphocytes of the neutron-irradiated mice. Cytogenetics endpoints, dicentrics and micronuclei showed that there was no significant difference in yields between the 2 irradiation types at the doses tested, indicating that neutron-induced chromosomal DNA damage in vivo was more biologically effective (RBE ∼3.3) compared to X rays. The mBAND assay, which is considered a specific biomarker of high-LET neutron exposure, confirmed the presence of clustered DNA damage in the neutron-irradiated mice but not in the X-irradiated mice, 24 h after exposure.
Partner perceptions are associated with objective sensor‐measured adherence to oral appliance therapy in obstructive sleep apnea

The aims of the present prospective clinical study were to determine objective, sensor‐measured adherence to a mandibular advancement device (MAD) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and to identify partner‐specific adherence‐related factors. A total of 77 eligible participants with mild, moderate, or severe OSA and who were non‐adherent to continuous positive airway pressure (mean age 56.2 years) participated in the study (32.5% women). The mean (range) observation time between MAD delivery and final follow‐up was 8.3 (3.4–16.5) months. The mean apnea–hypopnea index (AHI) was 26.6 events/hr at baseline and 12.5 events/hr at the 8‐month follow‐up (both p < 0.001). The mean sensor‐measured adherence at the 8‐month follow‐up was 60.1% for ≥4 hr/night of appliance use for ≥5 days/week. Average usage was 6.4 hr/night, when worn. The mean reduction in the AHI was significantly greater in the “good adherence” (Δ 17.4) than the “poor adherence” group (Δ11.0; p < 0.05). From the partner’s perspective, the appliance had a positive effect on sharing a bedroom in the good‐ (55%) compared to the poor‐adherence group (25%; p < 0.05) and on their relationship (51.7% versus 17.9%, respectively; p < 0.05). Regression analyses identified the partner’s snoring and apneas to be the most significant factor predicting good adherence to MAD (odds ratio 4.4, 95% confidence interval 1.4–14.0). In conclusion, social factors, like partner perceptions, were positively associated with adherence, which indicate that partner’s attitudes and support may be a resource that can be utilised to improve adherence in oral appliance treatment of OSA.
Emergence of Non-Hexagonal Crystal Packing of Deswollen and Deformed Ultra-Soft Microgels Under Osmotic Pressure Control.

Highly solvent swollen poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) microgels were synthesized without exogenous crosslinker, making them extremely soft and deformable. These ultralow crosslinked microgels (ULC) were incubated under controlled osmotic pressure to provide a slow (and presumably thermodynamically controlled) approach to higher packing densities. We find that ULC microgels show stable colloidal packing over a very wide range of osmotic pressures and thus packing densities. We also make the surprising observation of co-existence between hexagonal and square lattices over the lower range of studied osmotic pressures, with microgels apparently changing shape from spheres to cubes in defects or grain boundaries. We propose that the unusual packing behavior observed for ULC microgels is due to the extreme softness of these particles, where deswelling causes deformation and shrinking of the particles that result in unique packing states governed by contributions to the entropy at the colloidal system, single particle and ionic levels. These observations further suggest that more detailed experimental and theoretical studies of ultra-soft microgels are required to obtain a complete understanding of their behavior in packed and confined geometries. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Effect of curvature correction on parameters extracted from hyperspectral images

Abstract. Significance: Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) has emerged as a promising optical technique. Besides optical properties of a sample, other sample physical properties also affect the recorded images. They are significantly affected by the sample curvature and sample surface to camera distance. A correction method to reduce the artifacts is necessary to reliably extract sample properties. Aim: Our aim is to correct hyperspectral images using the three-dimensional (3D) surface data and assess how the correction affects the extracted sample properties. Approach: We propose the combination of HSI and 3D profilometry to correct the images using the Lambert cosine law. The feasibility of the correction method is presented first on hemispherical tissue phantoms and next on human hands before, during, and after the vascular occlusion test (VOT). Results: Seven different phantoms with known optical properties were created and imaged with a hyperspectral system. The correction method worked up to 60 deg inclination angle, whereas for uncorrected images the maximum angles were 20 deg. Imaging hands before, during, and after VOT shows good agreement between the expected and extracted skin physiological parameters. Conclusions: The correction method was successfully applied on the images of tissue phantoms of known optical properties and geometry and VOT. The proposed method could be applied to any reflectance optical imaging technique and should be used whenever the sample parameters need to be extracted from a curved surface sample.
Zerfallseigenschaften von Nukliden in der Umgebung von 100Sn

Der Schwerpunkt der voliegenden Arbeit lag im Studium von Eigenschaften extrem neutronenarmer Kerne an der Stabilitatsgrenze um den doppelt magischen Kern 100Sn. In einem Experiment im Marz 2008 an der GSI in Darmstadt wurden die exotischen Kerne durch Projektilfragmentation eines 124Xe-Primarstrahls mit einer Strahlenergie von 1000 AMeV auf ein Beryllium-Target erzeugt, im FRS separiert und identifiziert und schlieslich zur Zerfallsspektroskopie in einem am Lehrstuhl E12 entwickelten komplexen Implantationsdetektor gestoppt. Zur Messung prompter und verzogerter Gammastrahlung wurde das Germaniumspektrometer RISING verwendet. Entlang der Protonenabbruchkante wurden Produktionsquerschnitte und Halbwertszeiten bestimmt. Erstmals wurden die drei Isotope 99Sn, 97In und 95Cd identifiziert. Weitere in dieser Arbeit untersuchte Kerne sind 103Sb, 96Cd sowie die beiden Zinn-Isotope 101Sn und 102Sn.
Degludec hospital trial: A randomized controlled trial comparing insulin degludec U100 and glargine U100 for the inpatient management of patients with type 2 diabetes

Limited data exist about the use of insulin degludec in the hospital. This multicentre, non‐inferiority, open‐label, prospective randomized trial compared the safety and efficacy of insulin degludec‐U100 and glargine‐U100 for the management of hospitalized patients with type 2 diabetes.
Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

A large body of work has demonstrated the utility of the Bayesian framework for capturing inference in both specialist and everyday contexts. However, the central tool of the framework, conditionaliza-tion via Bayes’ rule, does not apply directly to a common type of learning: the acquisition of conditional information. How should an agent change her beliefs on learning that “If A, then C”? This issue, which is central to both reasoning and argumentation, has recently prompted considerable research interest. In this paper, we critique a prominent proposal and provide a new, alternative, answer.
Effect of drying methods on the physicochemical and thermal properties of Mexican plum (Spondias purpurea L.)

ABSTRACT Plum slices (diameter 2.5 cm and thickness 0.2 cm) were dried using vertical tray-drying (VTD) and freeze-drying. Models were used to determine the thermal conductivity (k) and specific heat (Cp). In addition, water activity (aw), colour total change (∆E), pectin yield (ypec) and rehydration capacity were investigated. The moisture content of tray- and freeze-dried plum was relatively significant (p < 0.05). No significant difference was found in terms of aw. There was a maximum decrease in k and Cp of 90% and 91.5% during drying process, respectively. In terms of quality, ∆E showed that tray-dried samples had slight darker (browning), whereas the freeze-dried samples had a lighter colouring compared to the fresh fruit. The quality and rehydration characteristics of freeze-dried plum were higher than that of a tray-dried product; however, VTD could be appropriate for industrial production because of its advantages in lower cost and energy consumption.
PARTUM AND POST-PARTUM BEHAVIOURS OF WEST AFRICAN DWARF DOES AND KIDS

Seventeen West African Dwarf does housed intensively were used for this study. Does were naturally mated and pregnancy was confirmed by non-return to oestrus. The predicted parturition date was calculated. Two days to the predicted date of parturition, the does were closely monitored until the day they actually kidded. The behaviours of the does (duration of parturition, and latency to groom kids) and the kids (latency to stand) were recorded. Data were subjected to independent T-test of SPSS statistical package. The mean duration of parturition in WAD does was 9.5±2.65 min and the latency of kids to stand was 10.5±3.45mins. Duration of parturition was greater (P<0.05) in the 1st than 2nd parity does. A significant negative correlation was established between parity and duration of parturition (r =-0.635, P˂0.05). Kids from 1st parity does stood up earlier (P<0.05) compared to those from the 2nd parity does. A positive correlation was established between parity and the latency of the kids to stand (r = 0.598, P˂0.05). In conclusion, the duration of parturition and latency of kid to stand were not affected by the sex of the kid delivered, however WAD does groomed female kids earlier than the male kids.
Are the Business Cycles of Argentina and Brazil Different? New Features and Stylized Facts*

This paper deals with the macroeconomic behavior of Argentina and Brazil for the period 1995.1-2018.4. It explores whether their economic fluctuations followed a similar pattern according to their duration, intensity and timing. Although some features clearly coincide, according to the findings, Argentina’s business fluctuations are sharper and longer than those of Brazil. If they are analyzed together, the highest coincidence is observed in GDP fluctuations (72% of the observations lie on the same side of the zero line). Nevertheless, as to the rest of GDP components, the coincidences drop to nearly 50%. While Argentinian GDP, private consumption and imports have a significant correlation with their Brazilian counterparts, this association is quite modest.
Does the non-native Harlequin ladybird disrupt the feeding behaviour of the native two-spot ladybird?

Abstract Since its arrival in 2004, the non-native Harlequin ladybird Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) has rapidly spread throughout Britain, and it is now the most common coccinellid in England. There have since been concerns about the detrimental effects it may have on native coccinellids because there is a strong correlation between the arrival of H. axyridis and the decline in native species, including the two-spot ladybird, Adalia bipunctata. However, there have been few studies of the behavioural interactions between these two species, which occupy a high-niche overlap. This study investigated if the presence of H. axyridis impacts the feeding behaviour of A. bipunctata through direct competition for aphid prey. Foraging and interactive behaviour of A. bipunctata and H. axyridis were investigated within microcosms. Adalia bipuncata exhibited a similar consumption rate and time in the presence of H. axridis, yet H. axyridis consumed 3.5 times more prey items and were seven times faster compared to A. bipuncata. Observations showed that H. axyridis does not directly disrupt the feeding behaviour of A. bipunctata, but rather indirectly excludes the native species through being a superior competitor for prey items. Results indicate that the decline in native coccinellid species may be a consequence of H. axyridis competitive advantage, but that the concept of coexistence should not be dismissed.
Initial energy deposition and initiation mechanism of nanosecond laser damage caused by KDP surface micro-defects

To enable an exploration of the initiation mechanism of nanosecond laser damage on a potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) surface, a defect-assisted energy deposition model is developed that involves light intensity enhancement and a sub-band gap energy level structure. The simulations provide an explanation on why the laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of the KDP crystal is two orders of magnitude lower than the theoretical value. The model is verified by use of the transient images that appear during the laser damage. In addition, the dimensions of the “dangerous” surface defects that are the most sensitive to the laser damage are proposed. This work enables clarification on the initial energy deposition (IED) and initiation mechanism of the nanosecond laser damage caused by the KDP surface defects on micro-nano scale. It is helpful in understanding the laser-matter interactions and to improve the processing technique for high quality optical components.
Relationships Between Perceived Neighborhood Disorder and Depressive Symptomatology: The Stress Buffering Effects of Social Support Among Older Adults

ABSTRACT Existing research indicates neighborhood is an important determinant of depressive symptoms. However, this research has several limitations. These include a lack of investigation of older adults’ experiences and of social support as a possible moderator. The current study aims to fill these gaps by increasing knowledge about the relationships between perceived neighborhood disorder and depressive symptoms among older adults. Applying stress process theory, this study investigated the relationships between two subjective indicators of neighborhood stressors – physical and social perceived neighborhood disorder and depressive symptoms. This study also tested whether social support moderated the effects of the neighborhood stressors on depressive symptoms. This study was based on secondary data analysis from the Health and Retirement Study 2016 (N = 3,684; age 50+). This study applied a negative binomial regression in that the outcome was a count variable. The results showed the stress buffering effects of social support were not significant for both perceived neighborhood social disorder and physical disorder. Not as a moderator but as the main effect, lower social support was significantly related to higher depressive symptoms. Having a depression history, lower self-rated health, female, and lower education were also related to higher depressive symptoms. This study contributes to social work practice by addressing older adults’ depressive symptomatology. Findings identified vulnerable older adults to target for interventions based on individual characteristics. Focusing on social support should be a vital component of interventions. Social workers can help older adults maintain and strengthen their social support, with beneficial effects on their depressive symptomatology.
The completely delocalized region of the Erdős-Rényi graph

We analyse the eigenvectors of the adjacency matrix of the Erdős-Rényi graph on N vertices with edge probability d N . We determine the full region of delocalization by determining the critical values of d log N down to which delocalization persists: for d log N > 1 log 4−1 all eigenvectors are completely delocalized, and for d log N > 1 all eigenvectors with eigenvalues away from the spectral edges are completely delocalized. Below these critical values, it is known [1, 3] that localized eigenvectors exist in the corresponding spectral regions.
Brand Label Albedo Extraction of eCommerce Products using Generative Adversarial Network

In this paper we present our solution to extract albedo of branded labels for e-commerce products. To this end, we generate a large-scale photo-realistic synthetic data set for albedo extraction followed by training a generative model to translate images with diverse lighting conditions to albedo. We performed an extensive evaluation to test the generalisation of our method to in-the-wild images. From the experimental results, we observe that our solution generalises well compared to the existing method both in the unseen rendered images as well as in the wild image.
Commonsense Reasoning and Inference: Commonsense-Based Pre-Training

Commonsense reasoning has been regarded as one of the hardest problems for artiﬁcial intelligence systems to solve, but recently there has been some break-through using pure deep representation models. Namely, pre-trained language representation models, such as BERT, perform quite well on Natural Language Understanding (NLU) tasks, including those that require commonsense reasoning. However, there is still a lot improvement space to both reach human-level performance and increase the interpretability of these models. Some recent efforts have been devoted to augmenting the pre-trained Language Models (LMs) with commonsense knowledge. This lecture will brieﬂy introduce how LMs are used for commonsense tasks and then will discuss models that aim to augment them with commonsense-based pre-training