Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gender and Socioeconomic Differences in the Prevalence and Patterns of Multimorbidity among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in China

Background: Multimorbidity has become a global public health concern. Knowledge about the prevalence and patterns of multimorbidity will provide essential information for public intervention and clinical management. This study aimed to examine gender and socioeconomic differences in the prevalence and patterns of multimorbidity among a nationally representative sample of middle-aged and older Chinese individuals. Methods: Data were obtained from the 2018 wave of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Latent class analysis was conducted to discriminate among the multimorbidity patterns. Multinomial logit analysis was performed to explore gender and socioeconomic factors associated with various multimorbidity patterns. Results: A total of 19,559 respondents over 45 years old were included in the study. The findings showed that 56.73% of the respondents reported multimorbidity, with significantly higher proportions among women. Four patterns, namely “relatively healthy class”, “respiratory class”, “stomach-arthritis class” and “vascular class”, were identified. The women were more likely to be in the stomach-arthritis class. Respondents with a higher SES, including higher education, urban residence, higher consumption, and medical insurance, had a higher probability of being in the vascular class. Conclusions: Significant gender and socioeconomic differences were observed in the prevalence and patterns of multimorbidity. The examination of gender and socioeconomic differences for multimorbidity patterns has great implications for clinical practice and health policy. The results may provide insights to aid in the management of multimorbidity patients and improve health resource allocation.
Rubbing Salt in the Wound: Molecular Evolutionary Analysis of Pain-Related Genes Reveals the Pain Adaptation of Cetaceans in Seawater

Simple Summary Cetaceans are aquatic mammals that evolved a series of specializations for life in an aquatic habitat, such as lack of distal hindlimbs, loss of hair, and derivation of echolocation. Notably, in the face of high salinity of seawater, the molecular mechanism of adaptation to pain in cetacean is still unclear. In this study, we performed molecular evolutionary analyses of genes related to pain perception (pain) and pain relief (analgesia) in selected representatives of mammals to explore the molecular mechanisms of pain adaptation in cetaceans to ‘rubbing salt in the wound’. Relaxed selection, positive selection, and convergent and specific amino acid substitutions were identified within cetacean’s pain-related genes, showing that the adaptation of mammals to a seawater environment might also include molecular evolution towards greater sensitivity to pain and more effective analgesia. Our study could have implications for diagnosis and treatment of human pain. Abstract Pain, usually caused by a strong or disruptive stimulus, is an unpleasant sensation that serves as a warning to organisms. To adapt to extreme environments, some terrestrial animals have evolved to be inherently insensitive to pain. Cetaceans are known as supposedly indifferent to pain from soft tissue injury representatives of marine mammals. However, the molecular mechanisms that explain how cetaceans are adapted to pain in response to seawater environment remain unclear. Here, we performed a molecular evolutionary analysis of pain-related genes in selected representatives of cetaceans. ASIC4 gene was identified to be pseudogenized in all odontocetes (toothed whales) except from Physeter macrocephalus (sperm whales), and relaxed selection of this gene was detected in toothed whales with pseudogenized ASIC4. In addition, positive selection was detected in pain perception (i.e., ASIC3, ANO1, CCK, and SCN9A) and analgesia (i.e., ASIC3, ANO1, CCK, and SCN9A) genes among the examined cetaceans. In this study, potential convergent amino acid substitutions within predicted proteins were found among the examined cetaceans and other terrestrial mammals, inhabiting extreme environments (e.g., V441I of TRPV1 in cetaceans and naked mole rats). Moreover, specific amino acid substitutions within predicted sequences of several proteins were found in the studied representatives of cetaceans (e.g., F56L and D163A of ASIC3, E88G of GRK2, and F159L of OPRD1). Most of the substitutions were located within important functional domains of proteins, affecting their protein functions. The above evidence suggests that cetaceans might have undergone adaptive molecular evolution in pain-related genes through different evolutionary patterns to adapt to pain, resulting in greater sensitivity to pain and more effective analgesia. This study could have implications for diagnosis and treatment of human pain.
Efficacy of Different Modalities and Frequencies of Physical Exercise on Glucose Control in People with Prediabetes (GLYCEX Randomised Trial)

To assess the efficacy of different modalities and frequencies of physical exercise on glycaemic control in adults with prediabetes. A two-phase, parallel, randomised, controlled clinical trial will be carried out, in 210 participants. In phase 1, 120 participants will be randomized into four arms: (1) aerobic exercise, (2) aerobic exercise combined with resistance, (3) high-intensity intervallic exercise and (4) control group. In phase 2, 90 new participants will be randomized into three arms, using the exercise modality that showed the best glycaemic control in phase 1 in the following manner: (1) frequency of 5 days/week, (2) frequency of 3 days/week and (3) frequency of 2 days/week. The control group (n = 30) will be included in phase 1 to evaluate the effect of any type of intervention versus no intervention. Data collection will be performed at baseline and after 15 weeks of follow up. Sociodemographic data, medication, comorbidity, blood biochemical parameters, blood pressure, anthropometric measurements, body composition, physical activity, sedentary lifestyle, diet, smoking, alcohol consumption, quality of life and sleep questionnaires will be collected. Physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep will be further determined with an accelerometer, and continuous glycaemia will be determined with a glycaemic monitor, both during seven days, at two time points. The main dependent variable will be the reduction in the mean amplitude of glycaemic excursions. The impact of these interventions on health will also be evaluated through gene expression analysis in peripheral blood cells. The results of this study will contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms behind the glucose response to physical exercise in a population with prediabetes as well as improve physical exercise prescriptions for diabetes prevention. Increasing glycaemic control in people with prediabetes through physical exercise offers an opportunity to prevent diabetes and reduce associated comorbidities and health costs.
Asymmetric Two-Stage CycleGAN for Generation of Faces With Shadow Puppet Style

In this paper, we study the problem of cross-domain image-to-image transformation from real faces to faces with shadow puppet style. Our aim is to make target images retain the salient features of real faces and capture the artistic style of shadow puppet faces. This task involves dual changes of contents and geometric structures to the source image, and the target distribution is a transitional distribution, that cannot be solved by existing solutions. We propose a new CycleGAN-based scheme that extends the transformation of two image domains to that of three domains. We adopt a two-stage generation strategy in the forward transformation and urge the generator of the first stage to learn the target distribution. To this end, we set up a discriminator for the generator to guide its generation. We also present a multiple contrastive training strategy to address the problem of difficulty in training the discriminator, because there is no way to obtain real samples from the target domain. The experimental results show that our scheme is effective and that the target generator can produce intermediate images that meet the requirements.
Implications of anomalous relative sea-level rise for the peopling of Remote Oceania

Significance Settlement of Remote Oceania began ~3,500 to 3,300 y ago and coincided with falling sea level across the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Archaeological evidence suggests that people arrived on Pohnpei and Kosrae (high islands in Micronesia) ~1,000 y later than on other high islands. We reconstruct sea level on Pohnpei and Kosrae using mangrove sediment and find that rather than falling, sea level rose by ~4.3 m over the past ~5,700 y because of subsidence. This rise likely submerged coastal evidence for the initial settlement and current estimates of when people arrived are therefore biased young. Our results allow reconsideration of the pathways and interactions between voyaging groups across Remote Oceania, and the interpretation of the Nan Madol and Leluh monuments.
The generation and decay of vorticity

Abstract Vorticity, although not the primary variable of fluid dynamics, is an important derived variable playing both mathematical and physical roles in the solution and understanding of problems. The following treatment discusses the generation of vorticity at rigid boundaries and its subsequent decay. It is intended to provide a consistent and very broadly applicable framework within which a wide range of questions can be answered explicitly. The rate of generation of vorticity is shown to be the relative tangential acceleration of fluid and boundary without taking viscosity into account and the generating mechanism therefore involves the tangential pressure gradient within the fluid and the external acceleration of the boundary only. The mechanism is inviscid in nature and independent of the no-slip condition at the boundary, although viscous diffusion acts immediately after generation to spread vorticity outward from boundaries. Vorticity diffuses neither out of boundaries nor into them, and the only.
DIFFUSION APPROXIMATION OF RADIATIVE TRANSFER EQUATIONS IN A CHANNEL

We address the propagation of elastic waves generated by an earthquake in the earth crust modeled by a channel separated from the atmosphere and the mantel by two horizontal interfaces. Geophysical studies have shown the validity of radiative transfer in this frequency regime to describe the phase space energy density of seismic waves. For long times and large distances, radiative transfer in weakly absorbing media can be approximated by a diffusion equation. However, the thickness of the crust is of the order of the transport mean free path, the average distance it takes for waves with a wavenumber v to be scattered into another wavenumber v′ by interaction with the inhomogeneous underlying medium. Hence there cannot be diffusion in the vertical direction. This paper shows that diffusion is still valid in the following sense. The radiative transfer solution factors asymptotically in the limit of vanishing mean free paths as the product of a two-dimensional diffusion term in the horizontal directions and a one-dimensional transport term in the vertical direction.
What 20 Years of MDRC RCTs Suggest About Predictive Relationships Between Intervention Features and Intervention Impacts for Community College Students

This article provides evidence about predictive relationships between features of community college interventions and their impacts on student progress. This evidence is based on analyses of student-level data from large-scale randomized trials of 39 (mostly) community college interventions. Specifically, the evidence consistently indicates that impacts tend to be larger as the number of intervention components increases and with the degree to which interventions promote full-time enrollment in fall and spring and/or summer enrollment. Less consistent evidence suggests that impacts tend to be larger for interventions that increase advising, tutoring, and, to a lesser extent, financial support. These results provide food for thought about the design of future community college innovations to be tested by researchers or tried by practitioners.
Design of Solid State Circuit Breaker

DC microgrids require fast and reliable means of overcurrent protection. Typical fuses, electrothermal circuit breakers, and hybrid solutions are too slow for microgrids that are usually highly capacitive and have reduced inductance. Solid state circuit breakers with a MOSFET as a switching element provide a solution. Although the power loss of such a device can be higher than that of the device with mechanical contacts, the reaction speed is the decisive factor. The control of such devices can be divided into fast short-circuit detection with discrete elements based logic circuits and slower microcontroller-based overload protection, fault management, and data communication. This paper analyzes the design factors of MOSFET-based solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB), and its control circuits. A prototype SSCB with a nominal current of 16 A is designed for 350 V DC residential microgrids and tested. Materials in this paper can be used to compare the widely used electrothermal circuit breakers with those of solid state and to support the design of new SSCBs for residential DC microgrids.
Homogeneous azeotropic distillation: Comparing entrainers

In this article, we present practical solutions (in the case of entrainers which add no azeotropes) to two problems of industrial relevance: Given a binary azeotrope which we want to separate into pure components, and a set of candidate entrainers, how do we determine which one is the best? Also, for each of these entrainers, what is the flowsheet of the feasible separation sequence(s)? We obtain these solutions by analyzing in details the mechanisms by which heavy, intermediate and light entrainers make separation feasible, using the new notions of equivolatility curves, of isovolatility curves and of local volatility order. We show that the second question finds an easy solution from the volatility order diagram. This analysis shows that a good entrainer is a component which “breaks” the azeotrope easily (i.e., even when its concentration is small) and yields high relative volatilities between the two azeotropic constituents. Because these attributes can be easily identified in an entrainer from the equivolatility curve diagram of the ternary mixture azeotropic component #1 — azeotropic component #2 — entrainer, we can easily compare entrainers by examining the corresponding equivolatility curve diagrams. Finally, we demonstrate the validity and limits of this method with examples.
Impact of TiO2 Reduction and Cu Doping on Bacteria Inactivation under Artificial Solar Light Irradiation

Preparation of TiO2 using the hydrothermal treatment in NH4OH solution and subsequent thermal heating at 500–700 °C in Ar was performed in order to introduce some titania surface defects. The highest amount of oxygen vacancies and Ti3+ surface defects were observed for a sample heat-treated at 500 °C. The presence of these surface defects enhanced photocatalytic properties of titania towards the deactivation of two bacteria species, E. coli and S. epidermidis, under artificial solar lamp irradiation. Further modification of TiO2 was targeted towards the doping of Cu species. Cu doping was realized through the impregnation of the titania surface by Cu species supplied from various copper salts in an aqueous solution and the subsequent heating at 500 °C in Ar. The following precursors were used as a source of Cu: CuSO4, CuNO3 or Cu(CH3COO)2. Cu doping was performed for raw TiO2 after a hydrothermal process with and without NH4OH addition. The obtained results indicate that Cu species were deposited on the titania surface defects in the case of reduced TiO2, but on the TiO2 without NH4OH modification, Cu species were attached through the titania adsorbed hydroxyl groups. Cu doping on TiO2 increased the absorption of light in the visible range. Rapid inactivation of E. coli within 30 min was obtained for the ammonia-reduced TiO2 heated at 500 °C and TiO2 doped with Cu from CuSO4 solution. Photocatalytic deactivation of S. epidermidis was greatly enhanced through Cu doping on TiO2. Impregnation of TiO2 with CuSO4 was the most effective for inactivation of both E. coli and S. epidermidis.
Stroke Risk and Antithrombotic Treatment During Follow-up of Patients With Ischemic Stroke and Cortical Superficial Siderosis

Background and Objectives In patients with ischemic stroke (IS) or transient ischemic attack (TIA) and cortical superficial siderosis (cSS), there are few data regarding the risk of future cerebrovascular events and also about the benefits and safety of antithrombotic drugs for secondary prevention. We investigated the associations of cSS and stroke risk in patients with recent IS or TIA. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the Microbleeds International Collaborative Network (MICON) database. We selected patients with IS or TIA from cohorts who had MRI-assessed cSS, available data on antithrombotic treatments, recurrent cerebrovascular events (intracranial hemorrhage [ICrH], IS, or any stroke [ICrH or IS]), and mortality. We calculated incidence rates (IRs) and performed univariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses. Results Of 12,669 patients (mean age 70.4 ± 12.3 years, 57.3% men), cSS was detected in 273 (2.2%) patients. During a mean follow-up of 24 ± 17 months, IS was more frequent than ICrH in both cSS (IR 57.1 vs 14.6 per 1,000 patient-years) and non-cSS (33.7 vs 6.3 per 1,000 patient-years) groups. Compared with the non-cSS group, cSS was associated with any stroke on multivariable analysis {IR 83 vs 42 per 1,000 patient-years, adjusted hazard ratio [HR] for cSS 1.62 (95% CI: 1.14–2.28; p = 0.006)}. This association was not significant in subgroups of patients treated with antiplatelet drugs (n = 6,554) or with anticoagulants (n = 4,044). Patients with cSS who were treated with both antiplatelet drugs and anticoagulants (n = 1,569) had a higher incidence of ICrH (IR 107.5 vs 4.9 per 1,000 patient-years, adjusted HR 13.26; 95% CI: 2.90–60.63; p = 0.001) and of any stroke (IR 198.8 vs 34.7 per 1,000 patient-years, adjusted HR 5.03; 95% CI: 2.03–12.44; p < 0.001) compared with the non-cSS group. Discussion Patients with IS or TIA with cSS are at increased risk of stroke (ICrH or IS) during follow-up; the risk of IS exceeds that of ICrH for patients receiving antiplatelet or anticoagulant treatment alone, but the risk of ICrH exceeds that of IS in patients receiving both treatments. The findings suggest that either antiplatelet or anticoagulant treatment alone should not be avoided in patients with cSS, but combined antithrombotic therapy might be hazardous. Our findings need to be confirmed by randomized clinical trials.
HiT-LIDIA: A Framework for Rice Leaf Disease Classification using Ensemble and Hierarchical Transfer Learning

Rice is one of the global most critical harvests, and a great many people eat it as a staple eating routine. Different rice plant diseases harm, spread, and drastically reduce crop yields. In extreme situations, they may result in no grain harvest at all, posing a severe threat to food security. In this paper, to amplify the recognition ability for rice leaf disease (RLD) classification, we proposed hierarchical transfer learning (HTL) methods incorporating ensemble models containing two-step. In the first step, an ensemble combining MobileNet and DenseNet was addressed to tackle the diseased leaf problem. Consequently, DenseNet and XceptionNet were fused to identify three RLDs. Here, we compare our models with state-of-the-art deep learning models such as ResNet, DenseNet, InceptionNet, Xception, MobileNet, and EfficientNet. Our framework at top-notch with 89 % and 91 % for accuracy. In future works, RLD segmentation is suggested to pinpoint the illness and quantify the afflicted region.
Phylogenomic inference and demographic model selection suggest peripatric separation of the cryptic steppe ant species Plagiolepis pyrenaica stat. rev.

The ant Plagiolepis taurica Santschi, 1920 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) is a typical species of the Eurasian steppes, a large grassland dominated biome that stretches continuously from Central Asia to Eastern Europe and is represented by disjunct outposts also in Central and Western Europe. The extent of this biome has been influenced by the Pleistocene climate, and steppes expanded recurrently during cold stages and contracted in warm stages. Consequently, stenotopic steppe species such as P. taurica repeatedly went through periods of demographic expansion and severe isolation. Here, we explore the impact of these dynamics on the genetic diversification within P. taurica. Delimitation of P. taurica from other Plagiolepis species has been unclear since its initial description, which raised questions on both its classification and its spatiotemporal diversification early on. We re‐evaluate species limits and explore underlying mechanisms driving speciation by using an integrative approach based on genomic and morphometric data. We found large intraspecific divergence within P. taurica and resolved geographically coherent western and eastern genetic groups, which likewise differed morphologically. A morphometric survey of type material showed that Plagiolepis from the western group were more similar to P. barbara pyrenaica Emery, 1921 than to P. taurica; we thus lift the former from synonymy and establish it as separate species, P. pyrenaica stat. rev. Explicit evolutionary model testing based on genomic data supported a peripatric speciation for the species pair, probably as a consequence of steppe contraction and isolation during the mid‐Pleistocene. We speculate that this scenario could be exemplary for many stenotopic steppe species, given the emphasized dynamics of Eurasian steppes.
Influence of Surface Sensible Heat Flux on Incipient Marine Cyclogenesis

Abstract Incipient marine cyclogenesis is investigated as an instability process of a mean baroclinic state with a vertically nonuniform static stability under the influence of a self-induced surface sensible heat flux in the context of a quasigeostrophic model framework. The analytic solution of such a model is first presented. The surface sensible heat flux induces strongly unstable short waves in the meso-α range and an e-folding time of the order of one day under supposedly relevant parameter conditions. Those modes have a shallow vertical structure near the surface with a pronounced westward tilt with height. The latter facilitates a release of enough potential energy from the basic state to overcompensate the destruction of potential energy by the surface heat exchange itself. The diabatic destabilization by surface sensible heat flux is therefore an alternative mechanism for initiating small marine cyclones without upper-level forcing. A potential vorticity interpretation of this instability proces.
On information gain by quantum measurements of continuous observables

A generalization of Shannon’s amount of information into quantum measurements of continuous observables is introduced. A necessary and sufficient condition for measuring processes to have a non‐negative amount of information is obtained. This resolves Groenewold’s conjecture completely including the case of measurements of continuous observables. As an application the approximate position measuring process considered by von Neumann and later by Davies is shown to have a non‐negative amount of information.