Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Streptococcus suis surface-antigen recognition by antibodies and bacterial elimination is influenced by capsular polysaccharide structure

Streptococcus suis is an encapsulated bacterium causing severe diseases in swine. Here, we compared the protective properties of the capsular polysaccharide (CPS) of different S. suis serotypes by using serotype-switched mutants in a mouse model of infection. CPS structure influenced bacterial survival in mice, antibody binding, and antibody-mediated bacterial killing. The CPS of serotypes 3, 4 and 14 allowed more antibody binding and bacterial elimination than the CPS of serotypes 2, 7 and 9. Results suggest that the different CPS structures of S. suis provide varying levels of protection by influencing antigen availability and elimination by the host immune system.
Intestinal stem cells and gut microbiota therapeutics: hype or hope?

The vital role of the intestines as the main site for the digestion and absorption of nutrients for the body continues subconsciously throughout one’s lifetime, but underneath all the complex processes lie the intestinal stem cells and the gut microbiota that work together to maintain the intestinal epithelium. Intestinal stem cells (ISC) are multipotent stem cells from which all intestinal epithelial cells originate, and the gut microbiota refers to the abundant collection of various microorganisms that reside in the gastrointestinal tract. Both reside in the intestines and have many mechanisms and pathways in place with the ultimate goal of co-managing human gastrointestinal tract homeostasis. Based on the abundance of research that is focused on either of these two topics, this suggests that there are many methods by which both players affect one another. Therefore, this review aims to address the relationship between ISC and the gut microbiota in the context of regenerative medicine. Understanding the principles behind both aspects is therefore essential in further studies in the field of regenerative medicine by making use of the underlying designed mechanisms.
Influence of the Recombination Assisted by Tunneling Effect and Influence of the Surface Treatment on the Electric Performances of Cu-Rich Solar Cells Based on Cu(In,Ga)Se 2

In the paper, we study the influence of the tunneling effect recombination inside the interface absorber/ CdS and the effect of surface treatment in the absorber of solar cell CIGS Cu-rich. This study will be done with neutrals defects and charged defects. Whatever the charge of the defect, we noted that the cell efficiency decreases with this recombination and increases with the surface treatment. We have also observed that this surface treatment is more efficient and the recombination by tunnel effect is much more harmful when the defects are charged.
Lagrangian submanifolds at infinity and their parametrization

In this paper, we study a class of Lagrangian submanifolds which may be viewed as intersecting at inﬁnity. They are objects natu-rally associated with a class of tempered oscillatory integrals. In this context, we prove the adapted versions of the classical the-orems, such as parametrization results, as well as equivalence of phase functions.
Growth of tomato and cucumber seedlings under different light environments and their development after transplanting

Selecting suitable light conditions according to the plant growth characteristics is one of the important approaches to cultivating high-quality vegetable seedlings. To determine the more favorable LED light conditions for producing high-quality tomato and cucumber seedlings in plant factories with artificial light (PFALS), the growth characteristics of tomato and cucumber seedlings under seven LED light environments (CK, B, UV-A, FR, B+UV-A, UV-A+FR, and B+FR) and the development of these seedlings after transplanting into a plastic greenhouse were investigated. The results showed that the seedling height and hypocotyl length increased in treatments with far-red light supplementation (FR, UV-A+FR, and B+FR), but decreased in the B treatment, in both varieties. The seedling index of tomato seedlings increased in the B+UV-A treatment, while that of cucumber seedlings increased in the FR treatment. After transplanting into a plastic greenhouse, tomato plants that radiated with UV-A had greater flower numbers on the 15th day after transplanting. In cucumber plants of the FR treatment, the flowering time was significantly delayed, and the female flower exhibited at a lower node position. By using a comprehensive scoring analysis of all detected indicators, light environments with UV-A and FR were more beneficial for improving the overall quality of tomato and cucumber seedlings, respectively.
Evaluation of the snakebite severity in the brazilian midwest

ABSTRACT Snakebites are of important public health concern as they can progress in severity and they may cause death, especially in populations with low socioeconomic status or in rural areas of tropical countries. In this retrospective cross-sectional study, we evaluated the clinical-epidemiological profiles of patients admitted for snakebites envenoming at a Reference Hospital in Goiás State, Brazil, from January 2018 to November 2019 with criteria and definitions for venomous accidents notified by the Epidemiological Surveillance Center. Of 326 reported cases, 268 (82.2%) involved Bothrops, 56 (17.9%) involved Crotalus, and 1 (0.3%) involved an elapid. The remaining case (0.3%) was caused by an unidentified snake, as the clinical signs were suggestive of both Bothrops and Crotalus envenomation and the patient received bivalent antivenom serum. Most snakebites occurred in men (n= 252, 77%) and in individuals from rural areas (n= 215, 65.9%). Pain occurred in 315 (96.9%) patients and edema in 274 (84.3%), being more common in the bothropic accidents. In the crotalic accidents, pain occurred in 50 (89.3%) patients and edema in 24 (44.9%). The snakebite severity was considered mild in 107 (32.8%), moderate in 129 (39.8%), and severe in 90 (27.6%) patients. Acute renal injury was the most common systemic complication, occurring in 64 patients (19.9%), while secondary infection was the most important local complication, occurring in 155 (47.5%) patients. Most cases were classified as moderate or severe, probably because our tertiary level hospital service handles with more complex cases. Additionally, a significant number of crotalic accidents had a local presentation, indicating that the venom of snakes in the region has a particular composition. KEY WORDS: Ophidian envenomation; Crotalus; Bothrops; secondary infection.
MODELING AND SIMULATION OF THE PERISTALTIC FLOW OF NEWTONIAN AND NON-NEWTONIAN FLUIDS WITH APPLICATION TO THE HUMAN BODY

Computational models are developed to investigate peristaltic motion in the human gastro-intestinal tract. The peristaltic motion is simulated by means of traveling waves which deform the boundary of the tubes. An axisymmetric tube of uniform diameter is used to model the small intestines, and an axisymmetric conical geometry is developed to model the lower part of the human stomach. The conical geometry represents a simplification of the more complicated three-dimensional models of the human stomach that have been used in other studies. Also, they seeks to reduce computational costs and circumvent difficulties of mesh generation. The computations are performed within the open source CFD environment OpenFOAM. Whenever possible, comparisons are made to the predictions of other geometrical models from the literature to validate our results. First, the transport of fluids via peristaltic motion in a cylindrical or a conical tube is investigated. The effect of flow, fluid, and geometrical parameters on the flow behavior is determined. Of particular interest is the transport efficiency, flow patterns, and strain rates. Second, the mixing characteristics of peristalsis is investigated for the human stomach when the pylorus is closed. Using the axisymmetric conical geometry, the effect of parameters such as wave speed, wave shape, relative occlusion, and fluid viscosity of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids on the flow behavior are determined. xxxiii The focus of these investigations is on the quantification of the retropulsive jet induced at the pylorus, as well as on the induced vorticities between peristaltic waves, both of which contribute to the mixing efficiency. Moreover, particle tracking techniques are used to determine strain rates along particle paths which allows the investigation of stresses experienced by food particles.
Interdisciplinary Healthcare Team Experience of Carboplatin and Oxaliplatin Desensitizations in a Tertiary Referral University Hospital

Purpose Repeated exposure to platinum compounds increases the risk of immunoglobulin E-mediated immediate hypersensitivity reactions (HSR). To date, many different desensitization protocols with varying success rates have been reported. The presented study is aimed at disseminating the real-world experience of an interdisciplinary healthcare team focusing on platin desensitization. Patients and Methods This is a cross-sectional, retrospective study of 7 female patients with carboplatin- or oxaliplatin-induced HSRs. After a discussion with the oncologist and the patient, desensitization protocols were performed by a team consisting of an allergy and immunology specialist, a clinical pharmacist, and a nurse. Clinical data were extracted from the patients’ medical records, and HSRs were reviewed and classified by an allergist according to severity and type. Results Twenty-five desensitization protocols were carried out for patients with carboplatin- or oxaliplatin-induced HSRs (N=4 and N=3, respectively; age range: 54–66). Two of the patients did not experience any HSR during a total of 8 desensitization cycles. The other patients had grade 1–3 HSRs on 15 cycles, which were successfully managed by oxygen and/or pharmacological interventions and infusions were resumed at a lower rate after stabilization of the patient. Compared to baseline, serum tryptase levels were elevated during HSRs (4.77±0.21 vs 9.50±1.71, P=0.028). Conclusion All the patients were able to finish the treatment protocol and receive full chemotherapeutic doses. Interdisciplinary teams may facilitate the preparation and administration of platinum-based chemotherapeutics and increase the success rates of desensitization protocols for platin-based chemotherapy, where the concentration and application of drugs differ from standard procedure.
Age of Information for Periodic Status Updates Under Sequence Based Scheduling

This paper considers a system in which multiple users send periodically generated status information to a common access point (AP) over a collision channel. To avoid high overhead, there is no time synchronization and no feedback information from the AP to indicate whether a transmission is successful or not. The performance metric that we focus on is the age-of-information (AoI), which represents the freshness of the status information received at the AP. For this model, we propose a sequence based MAC scheme in which each user is pre-assigned a periodic sequence to schedule transmissions. This scheme guarantees each user at least one successful packet transmission within a sequence period, in the absence of time synchronization and feedback information from the AP. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study investigating AoI performance under a sequence based MAC scheme. We derive the closed-form expressions for average AoI, average peak AoI and average age penalty under the sequence based scheduling. Besides, we derive several critical properties of the sequences to optimize the AoI performance. Comparison results show that our proposed sequence scheme outperforms slotted ALOHA and framed ALOHA in various settings.
A First Option Calibration of the GARCH Diffusion Model by a PDE Method

Time-series calibrations often suggest that the GARCH diffusion model could also be a suitable candidate for option (risk-neutral) calibration. But unlike the popular Heston model, it lacks a fast, semi-analytic solution for the pricing of vanilla options, perhaps the main reason why it is not used in this way. In this paper we show how an efficient finite difference-based PDE solver can effectively replace analytical solutions, enabling accurate option calibrations in less than a minute. The proposed pricing engine is shown to be robust under a wide range of model parameters and combines smoothly with black-box optimizers. We use this approach to produce a first PDE calibration of the GARCH diffusion model to SPX options and present some benchmark results for future reference.
A decline in perceived social status leads to post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in adults half a year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic: consideration of the mediation effect of perceived vulnerability to disease

Background/purpose In December 2019, Wuhan, Hubei, China firstly reported the existence of the COVID-19 virus. It is crucial to prioritize the psychological well-being of citizens in lockdown cities and make more strides in the academic field of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to prepare for the post-pandemic era. Methods We took the cognitive-relational theory as our basis and collected Hubei province-level data (N = 3,465) to examine the impact of perceived social status decline on the prevalence of PTSD symptoms, and checked the mediating effect of perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) during the period of psychological adjustment. Results Using propensity score matching, we estimate the average treatment effect of perceived social status decline on PTSD level, and we robustly regress the two with weight adjustment generated in matching. We found that more decline in perceived social status is associated with a worse degree of PTSD symptoms, and confirmed PVD’s buffering role although the mediating effect was not as high as hypothesized. Conclusion and implications Our study confirmed the decisive role of subject social status in health prediction compared to traditional socioeconomic measures, which extends the cognitive-relational in examining socioeconomic status and contributes to the dialog on socioeconomic inequality. We also suggested providing more social support at the community level and enhancing individuals’ positive understanding to protect mental health.
Allometric equations for predicting biomass and carbon of Simarouba glauca plantations in dryland of Hyderabad, Telangana

Estimating the carbon stocked in planted forests is important to assess the mitigation effect and to predict potential impact of mechanisms to reduce carbon emissions. This study was conducted in Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad to develop the allometric equations for predicting the above and below ground biomass and total carbon in three different basal diameter classes (0-10 cm, 10-20 cm and 20-30 cm) of Simarouba glauca DC. Higher total biomass of 169.0 kg/tree in 20-30 diameter class followed by 10-20 cm (57.81 kg/tree) diameter class were recorded in S. glauca. From the findings, above ground biomass has a highly significant relationship with tree height, basal diameter, DBH, crown height, crown width. There was a significant linear relationship between below ground biomass and predictors, viz. tree height (0.803), basal diameter (0.820), DBH (0.810), crown height (0.985) and crown width (0.957). And also, strong non-linear relationship (0.985) exists between total biomass and crown height (0.985) followed by crown width (0.957). The allometric coefficients which were calculated from the allometric relations between the biomass of various tree components on total carbon for S. glauca. The highest and strong allometric coefficient registered between total carbon and crown height (0.992) followed by crown width (0.978). This finding may be first for S. glauca in India as no significant literature is available for estimation of biomass and carbon in different components of the species. So the result of this study will be helpful in predicting the amount of carbon credits earned by plantations on area basis, which are requisite under the Kyoto Protocol and REDD policy.
Characterization of the SRD5A3-CDG Clinical Spectrum

We aimed to characterize the clinical spectrum of patients diagnosed with SRD5A3-CDG, a subtype of congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) due to variants in the steroid 5a-reductase type 3 (SRD5A3) gene. It presents with multi-systemic involvement including neurological disability, dermatologic abnormalities, and ophthalmological defects. We conducted a cross-sectional study of children (n=6, ages 4-16 years) with a confirmed diagnosis of SRD5A3-CDG (c.57G>A, p.W19X). Families completed a detailed medical history questionnaire, two quality of life measures, and an adaptive behavior scale. Prevalent clinical features in our cohort included visual impairment (6/6), developmental delay (6/6), nystagmus (5/6), retinal dystrophy (4/6), and hypotonia (3/6). The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales demonstrated deficits across all functional domains (Composite Mean 36.17 ± 26.88), although one child did not show significant deficits. The QI-Disability Form demonstrated a mean total score of 64.8 (±12.7), and the PedsQL-Family Impact Module demonstrated a mean total score of 56.5 (±31.5). Vineland composite scores did not correlate with levels of disability captured by the QI-Disability Form (Pearson Correlation range -0.63 to +0.69, p>0.05 on all subscales). Ultimately, despite genotypic homogeneity, there is notable variability in adaptive functioning and quality of life among affected children that does not correlate with age.
Investigating the Effects of Recycled Aggregate and Mineral Admixtures on the Mechanical Properties and Performance of Concrete

In this work, the effects of recycled concrete aggregate, modified with mineral admixtures and nanosilica, on the mechanical properties and performance of concrete after curing in tap water for 28 and 90 days were investigated. The compressive (ƒc), indirect tensile (ƒt), and flexural (ƒb) strengths for the cured concrete specimens were measured, and the concrete strength ratios were analyzed. The water and rapid chloride permeabilities were measured. SEM analysis of the microstructure was also performed. The coarse aggregates used were dolomite (control) and recycled concrete aggregate, incorporating different mineral admixtures, including ground, granulated blast slag, granite, and nanosilica. It was found that the slump values of the dolomite concrete decreased compared with recycled aggregate concrete. Compared to the control mix produced with the recycled aggregate, the slump value of the concrete mixes created with the recycled aggregate increased by approximately 11.1% with the addition of binary cementing materials of 1% NS. The results also indicate that the concrete mix containing the recycled aggregate had the highest compressive strength, tensile strength, and flexural strength compared to that of the dolomite aggregate. Regarding the compressive strength, the addition of 1% NS and 15% slag improved the physico-mechanical properties of the recycled aggregate concretes compared to the other mixes after curing in tap water. Compared to the other mixes, the concrete mix containing 1% NS and 15% slag had a comparatively dense and compact microstructure.
Explicit staggered grid scheme for rotating shallow water equations on geostrophic flows

This paper is devoted to the description of an explicit staggered grid scheme for the rotating shallow water equations in one and two-dimension. The shallow water equations is approximated using the momentum conservative scheme, and the Coriolis terms is calculated using the Crank-Nicolson method. The resulting scheme is implemented for simulating various rotating phenomena, such as, the interior gravity wave, oscillation in a paraboloid, coastal and equatorial Kelvin waves. Comparison with exact solution or other collocated scheme (Suliciu or HLLC scheme) give good agreement. The discrete L1 error and the convergence rate of the scheme are shown to be satisfied. Moreover, our numerical experiments satisfy entropy stability. Except from adjustment for the initial and boundary conditions, no special treatment are required for all simulations above. And these indicate the robustness of our explicit staggered grid scheme.
Global Analysis of a Liénard System with Quadratic Damping

In this paper, the global analysis of a Liénard equation with quadratic damping is studied. There are 22 different global phase portraits in the Poincaré disc. Every global phase portrait is given as well as the complete global bifurcation diagram. Firstly, the equilibria at finite and infinite of the Liénard system are discussed. The properties of the equilibria are studied. Then, the sufficient and necessary conditions of the system with closed orbits are obtained. The degenerate Bogdanov-Takens bifurcation is studied and the bifurcation diagrams of the system are given.
Effect of Assisted Surgery on Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorder Prevalence by Body Area among Surgeons: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Surgeons are highly exposed to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). The objective of this review was to summarize the WMSD prevalence by body area with and without assistive devices. The underlying question was whether there is an effect of assistive device use (robot, video, or other) during surgery on WMSD prevalence by body area among surgeons, regardless of their specialty. The systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. The Google Scholar, Pubmed/Medline, and ScienceDirect databases were scanned to identify relevant studies. The article selection, review, critical appraisal, and data extraction were performed by two authors independently. Among the 34,854 unique identified records, 77 studies were included. They were divided into two groups: 35 focused on robotic- and video-assisted surgery (RVAS) and 48 concerning surgery without video/robotic assistance (WAS) (6 studies evaluated the prevalence for both groups). WMSD prevalence was reported for 13 body areas: the neck, back, upper back, mid-back, lower back, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers, thumbs, hips, knees, and ankles. The results showed that WMSD prevalence was significantly higher (unpaired t-test, p < 0.05) for RVAS in the shoulders (WAS: 28.3% vs. RVAS: 41.9%), wrists (WAS: 20.9% vs. RVAS: 31.5%), and thumbs (WAS: 9.9% vs. RVAS: 21.8%). A meta-analysis was performed for 10 body areas (with 4 areas including more than 25 studies). No sufficient data were available for the mid-back, thumbs, or hips. A high heterogeneity (Cochran’s Q test and I2 statistic) was observed. A random-effects model revealed that the highest worldwide prevalence was in the neck (WAS: 41% and RVAS: 45.3%), back (WAS: 37.7% and RVAS: 49.9%), lower back (WAS: 40.0% and RVAS: 37.8%), and shoulders (WAS: 27.3% and RVAS: 41.4%). Future work could focus on work environment design, particularly the positioning and adjustment of equipment, and on postural analysis to reduce the appearance of WMSDs. Recommendations are proposed for future reviews and meta-analyses.