Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of depressive symptoms and their associated factors among older adults in Yirgalem town, Southern Ethiopia: A community-based cross-sectional study

Background Depression is a serious mental health issue and the largest contributor to disability worldwide. Elderly people with depression are significantly more likely to experience negative outcomes such as poor physical health, strained social relationships, and decreased quality of life. Studies on geriatric depression are limited in developing nations like Ethiopia. Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms and associated factors among older adults in Yirgalem, Southern Ethiopia, in 2022. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 628 older adults in Yirgalem town from May 15 to June 15, 2022. The study subjects were selected using a multi-stage systematic sampling technique. Data were collected using the 15-item Geriatric depression scale through face-to-face interviews. The collected data were edited, cleaned, coded, and entered into Epi data version 4.6 software and analyzed using STATA version 14. Bivariable and multivariate logistic regression analysis was computed to identify factors associated with depression, and statistical significance was declared at a 95% confidence interval with a P-value less than 0.05. Results A total of 620 older adults were included in the study, with a response rate of 97.8%. The prevalence of depressive symptoms among older adults was 51.77% (95% CI: 47.83–55.69). Being a woman (AOR = 2.3, 95% CI: 1.56–3141); being of more advanced age: 70–79 years old (AOR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.20–3.07), 80–89 years old (AOR = 2.15, 95% CI: 1.27–3.65), 90 and older (AOR = 3.77, 95% CI: 1.95–7.79); living alone (AOR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.17–3.41); having a chronic illness (AOR = 3.24, 95% CI: 1.06–4.46); having anxiety (AOR = 3.40; 95% CI: 2.25–5.14); and having poor social support (AOR = 3.56, 95% CI: 2.09–6.04) were statistically associated with depressive symptoms at a P-value of less than 0.05. Conclusion This study found that depression affects more than half of the elderly residents in the study area. More advanced age, being a woman, living alone, having a chronic illness, having anxiety, and having poor social support were all strongly linked to depression. There is a need to integrate counseling and psychiatric services into the community healthcare system.
Epidemiological characteristics of overseas imported COVID-19 cases into China: A scoping literature review

Previous studies investigating the characteristics of imported cases were mostly limited to a certain province/city or a specific sub-group during a certain period with a small sample size, which may not provide an overall picture of the characteristics of imported cases. In this scoping literature review, we comprehensively synthesized the epidemiological characteristics of overseas imported COVID-19 cases into China by retrieving six literature databases, with aims to provide implications for more targeted control, prevention, and medical treatment of this disease. After dropping duplicates and reviewing titles, abstracts, and full-texts, 50 articles were included in the review finally, including 26 (52%) articles in English and 24 (48%) articles in Chinese. According to the type of data sources, the 50 studies were divided into three categories: 13 (26%) articles using data sourced from the Chinese Infectious Diseases Online Reporting System, 15 (30%) articles using data from the websites of national/local health departments, and 22 (44%) articles using hospital admission data. Most of the overseas imported COVID-19 cases were young and middle-aged Chinese students and businessmen returning from the United States, Europe, and some neighboring countries. Airport routine health screening measures could not identify COVID-cases effectively, although scheduled multiple nucleic acid tests were required before boarding. Almost all imported cases were identified during the hotel quarantine period. Although a large proportion of imported cases were asymptomatic or with mild symptoms in the published literature, they may be due to participant selection bias. The exact proportion of asymptomatic cases may need to be further investigated especially through population-based large-scale studies.
Melatonin suppresses sympathetic vasomotor tone through enhancing GABAA receptor activity in the hypothalamus

Introduction: Melatonin (5-methoxy-N-acetyl-tryptamine) is a circadian hormone synthesized and secreted by the pineal gland. In addition to regulating circadian rhythms of many physiological functions, melatonin is involved in regulating autonomic nervous function and blood pressure. Hypothalamus paraventricular nucleus (PVN), receiving melatonin projections from the superchiasmatic nucleus, is a critical brain region to regulate neuroendocrine and cardiovascular function. Here, we determined the synaptic mechanisms involved in the effect of melatonin on the sympathetic outflow and blood pressure. Methods and Results: Microinjection of melatonin into the PVN produced a depressor effect and decreased renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA). While microinjection of luzindole, a non-selective melatonin receptor antagonist, into the PVN did not change melatonin-induced sympathoinhibition, GABAA receptor antagonist bicuculline eliminated melatonin-induced sympathoinhibition. Furthermore, melatonin decreased firing rate of retrogradely labeled PVN neurons which project to the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM), an effect was not altered by luzindole but eliminated by bicuculline. Melatonin significantly increased the amplitude of spontaneous and evoked GABAergic inhibitory synaptic currents, as well as GABA-induced currents. Conclusion: These data suggest that melatonin in the PVN suppresses sympathetic vasomotor tone through enhancing GABAA receptor activity. This study provides novel information for understanding the cellular mechanisms involved in the effect of melatonin on regulating blood pressure and sympathetic output.
Predictability alters multisensory responses by modulating unisensory inputs

The multisensory (deep) layers of the superior colliculus (SC) play an important role in detecting, localizing, and guiding orientation responses to salient events in the environment. Essential to this role is the ability of SC neurons to enhance their responses to events detected by more than one sensory modality and to become desensitized (‘attenuated’ or ‘habituated’) or sensitized (‘potentiated’) to events that are predictable via modulatory dynamics. To identify the nature of these modulatory dynamics, we examined how the repetition of different sensory stimuli affected the unisensory and multisensory responses of neurons in the cat SC. Neurons were presented with 2HZ stimulus trains of three identical visual, auditory, or combined visual–auditory stimuli, followed by a fourth stimulus that was either the same or different (‘switch’). Modulatory dynamics proved to be sensory-specific: they did not transfer when the stimulus switched to another modality. However, they did transfer when switching from the visual–auditory stimulus train to either of its modality-specific component stimuli and vice versa. These observations suggest that predictions, in the form of modulatory dynamics induced by stimulus repetition, are independently sourced from and applied to the modality-specific inputs to the multisensory neuron. This falsifies several plausible mechanisms for these modulatory dynamics: they neither produce general changes in the neuron’s transform, nor are they dependent on the neuron’s output.
Surgical selection and regional lymph node dissection for stage I second primary lung cancer patients following surgery for stage I first primary lung cancer

Introduction Studies investigating surgery for second primary non-small cell lung cancer (SP) patients are rare. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of surgical methods and regional lymph node (LN) dissection on lung cancer-specific mortality (LCSM) in stage I SP patients following surgery for stage I first primary non-small cell lung cancer (FP). Methods Data on patients diagnosed with stage I SP after surgery for stage I FP were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Cumulative incidence function (CIF) curves, a competing risk model and propensity score matching (PSM) were adopted to compare the LCSM among different subgroups (including surgery and regional LN dissection). Results A total of 238 stage I SP patients were extracted from the SEER database. Overall, the 5-year LCSM rate was 29.8% (CI: 23.1%-36.5%) for the whole cohort. Both before and after PSM, lobectomy had a similar LCSM incidence as sublobectomy, and ≥4 regional LN dissections had a significantly lower LCSM incidence than 1~3 regional LN dissections.In addition, patients who underwent 1~3 regional LN dissections had a comparable incidence of LCSM to those without LN dissections. Discussion Stage I SP patients tended to gain more survival benefits when surgeons dissect ≥4 regional LNs. Allowing for the comparable LCSM incidence of sublobectomy to lobectomy, sublobectomy may be a reasonable choice for thoracic surgeons when performing surgery for these patients.
Association between salivary microbiota and renal function in renal transplant patients during the perioperative period

Introduction Renal transplantation is an effective treatment for the end stage renal disease (ESRD). However, how salivary microbiota changes during perioperative period of renal transplant recipients (RTRs) has not been elucidated. Methods Five healthy controls and 11 RTRs who had good recovery were enrolled. Saliva samples were collected before surgery and at 1, 3, 7, and 14 days after surgery. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed. Results There was no significant difference in the composition of salivary microbiota between ESRD patients and healthy controls. The salivary microbiota of RTRs showed higher operational taxonomic units (OTUs) amount and greater alpha and beta diversity than those of ESRD patients and healthy controls, but gradually stabilized over time. At the phylum level, the relative abundance of Actinobacteria, Tenericutes and Spirochaetes was about ten times different from ESRD patients or healthy controls for RTRs overall in time. The relative abundance of Bacteroidetes, Fusobacteria, Patescibacteria, Leptotrichiaceae and Streptococcaceae was correlated with serum creatinine (Scr) after renal transplantation. Discussion In short, salivary microbiota community altered in the perioperative period of renal transplantation and certain species of salivary microbiota had the potential to be a biomarker of postoperative recovery.
Relationship between edema and intracranial pressure following intracerebral hemorrhage in rat

Elevated intracranial pressure (ICP) is a potentially fatal consequence of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). As the mass of the hematoma and regional edema builds, ICP rises and becomes increasingly variable acutely after stroke. High ICP may worsen cellular injury and edema by impairing local tissue perfusion, fueling a cycle that may ultimately cause fatality through ischemia and brain herniation. Time spent above an ICP of 20 mmHg often predicts a greater risk of death and disability following ICH. Compensatory mechanisms combat rising ICP. Classically, these include cerebrospinal fluid volume loss and cerebrovascular autoregulation, such as a reduction in the volume of venous blood. Additional mechanisms such as brain tissue compliance and skull volume compensation may also contribute. Compensatory compliance mechanisms are limited, and they vary by age and many other factors. Animal models of ICH are widely used to assess these variables and to gauge putative therapeutics. Most often those studies rely upon simple measures of edema, which may not accurately predict ICP data. Thus, we analyzed our past studies characterizing ICP, edema, and tissue compliance responses to striatal ICH in rat, including the collagenase (C-ICH) and whole blood models (WB-ICH). We found that both ICH models raised ICP, with greater effects in the C-ICH model, which may thus better reflect clinical findings of concern. Importantly, measures of edema, such as in the damaged hemisphere, on their own are not predictive of average or peak ICP response within either model, unless assessing across a very wide range of injury severities, or when including non-stroke animals. We caution against using edema data as a surrogate measure of mass effect and ICP following ICH.
Optimality Conditions for a Dynamic Traffic Assignment Model

We consider a dynamic traffic assignment model formulated as a nonlinear and noneonvex mathematical program. Necessary optimality conditions require equalization of certain marginal costs for all the paths that are being used, and these optimality conditions are shown to be a generalization of the optimality conditions of a conventional static traffic assignment problem. We also examine the behavior of the dynamic model under static demand conditions and show that in this case our model is a generalized version of a standard static model. Our model suggests a promising refinement of the objective function for the static case.
PARROT

Internet of Things (IoT) applications typically collect and analyse personal data that is categorised as sensitive or special category of personal data. These data are subject to a higher degree of protection under data privacy laws. Regardless of legal requirements to support privacy practices, such as in Privacy by Design (PbD) schemes, these practices are not yet commonly followed by software developers. The difficulty of developing privacy-preserving applications emphasises the importance of exploring the problems developers face to embed privacy techniques, suggesting the need for a supporting tool. An interactive IoT application design tool - PARROT (PrivAcy by design tool foR inteRnet Of Things) - is presented. This tool helps developers to design privacy-aware IoT applications, taking account of privacy compliance during the design process and providing real-time feedback on potential privacy violations. A user study with 18 developers was conducted, comprising a semi-structured interview and a design exercise to understand how developers typically handle privacy within the design process. Collaboration with a privacy lawyer was used to review designs produced by developers to uncover privacy limitations that could be addressed by developing a software tool. Based on the findings, a proof-of-concept prototype of PARROT was implemented and evaluated in two controlled lab studies. The outcome of the study indicates that IoT applications designed with PARROT addressed privacy concerns better and managed to reduce several of the limitations identified. From a privacy compliance perspective, PARROT helps developers to address compliance requirements throughout the design and testing process. This is achieved by incorporating privacy specific design features into the IoT application from the beginning rather than retrospectively. (Demo Video).
3 FeverPhone: Accessible Core-Body Temperature Sensing for Fever Monitoring Using Commodity Smartphones

Smartphones contain thermistors that ordinarily monitor the temperature of the device’s internal components; however, these sensors are also sensitive to warm entities in contact with the device, presenting opportunities for measuring human body temperature and detecting fevers. We present FeverPhone — a smartphone app that estimates a person’s core body temperature by having the user place the capacitive touchscreen of the phone against their forehead. During the assessment, the phone logs the temperature sensed by a thermistor and the raw capacitance sensed by the touchscreen to capture features describing the rate of heat transfer from the body to the device. These features are then used in a machine learning model to infer the user’s core body temperature. We validate FeverPhone through both a lab simulation with a skin-like controllable heat source and a clinical study with real patients. We found that FeverPhone’s temperature estimates are comparable to commercial off-the-shelf peripheral and tympanic thermometers. In a clinical study with 37 participants, FeverPhone readings achieved a mean absolute error of 0.229 °C, a limit of agreement of ± 0.731 °C, and a Pearson’s correlation coefficient of 0.763. Using these results for fever classification results in a sensitivity of 0.813 and a specificity of 0.904.
Wind Barriers: A Reevaluation of Height, Spacing, and Porosity

ABSTRACT Wind barriers are an important method to control soil erosion by wind. A review of the literature revealed that the equation currently in use to predict length of protection is not precise and does not satisfy known boundary conditions. Various data sets were studied and an alternative equation was formulated that both matches the published data and correctly fits the boundary conditions. This equation also included the variable of barrier porosity. The new equation was verified to fit published measurements with an R^ of 0.97 and was highly significnt (a = 0.001). A check was also made with data for a snow fence that were independent of the data used for calibration. For this data set, the R^ was 0.703, which was significant (a = 0.001). It was concluded that the new equation was an improvement over the equation currently in use.
Surface Radiative Fluxes in Sub-Sahel Africa.

Abstract This paper reports results of observations of radiative fluxes measured in sub-Sahel Africa during a 2-yr period (1992–94). Shortwave radiation in the solar spectrum (0.2–4.0 μm), photosynthetically active radiation (0.4–0.7 μm), and longwave radiation (4.0–50.0 μm) were observed. In this study, the annual variability and the effects of dust on these fluxes (in particular, on the ratio of photosynthetically active radiation to the total shortwave radiation) were characterized. This ratio, known as the conversion factor, is important in modeling net primary productivity and the total CO2 budget. In the past, this ratio was assumed to be constant. The authors’ observations indicate that the daily average conversion factor has a strong annual cycle with a minimum of 0.41 in the middle of the dry season and a maximum of 0.55 in the first half of the rainy season, which is consistent with theoretical computations. The 2-yr mean is 0.49, only about 2% less than the nominal value of 0.50. The 2-yr mean .
Vortex-induced vibration of a slender single-span cylinder

The goal of this paper is to study the vortex-induced vibration of slender cylindrical structures. For this purpose, a 2D model that calculates the coupled cross-flow and in-line vibrations of a flexible single span beam is developed. A wake oscillator known to match well with free vibration experiments on rigid elastically mounted cylinders is employed for the description of the vortex forces acting on the pipe. The frequency of the oscillating beam is determined from the Fourier spectrum of the analysed time series and is presented, together with the maximum oscillating amplitudes over a range of flow velocities. The model is compared with measurements from experiments and good agreement is found.
Resonant beam response in the PSR accumulator ring

Observed beam profile broadening at high intensity in the proton storage ring (PSR) at Los Alamos National Laboratory motivates this analysis of resonant beam response using a particle core model. Previous numerical PIC code simulations gave good agreement with the measured beam profiles, and analysis of those simulations suggested that the profile broadening at high beam intensities is related to the half integer resonance at Q/sub y/ = 2 (the bare tune was Q/sub y/ = 2.14). The physics of half integer resonances has been studied analytically using the envelope equations. We now carry out particle core model calculations for the PSR lattice under the same conditions as the previous PIC calculations. We show that the resonant behavior of the envelope equations is consistent with the previous PIC and experimental findings and with the theoretical envelope equations analysis for half integer resonances. These results provide further support for the half integer resonance at Qy = 2 as the cause of the beam broadening.
Monitoring Variation in a Multivariate Process When the Dimension is Large Relative to the Sample Size

A control procedure is presented for monitoring changes in variation for a multivariate normal process in a Phase II operation where the subgroup size, m, is less than p, the number of variates. The methodology is based on a form of Wilk' statistic, which can be expressed as a function of the ratio of the determinants of two separate estimates of the covariance matrix. One estimate is based on the historical data set from Phase I and the other is based on an augmented data set including new data obtained in Phase II. The proposed statistic is shown to be distributed as the product of independent beta distributions that can be approximated using either a chi-square or F-distribution. An ARL study of the statistic is presented for a range of conditions for the population covariance matrix. Cases are considered where a p-variate process is being monitored using a sample of m observations per subgroup and m < p. Data from an industrial multivariate process is used to illustrate the proposed technique.
Non‐linear momentum diffusion of heliospheric cosmic rays

Besides parallel and perpendicular spatial diffusion, momentum diffusion can be seen as the third important process of cosmic ray transport. In this paper, the recently derived weakly non-linear theory is applied for a simple quasi-magnetostatic composite model to determine the momentum diffusion coefficient. It is demonstrated that non-linear effects are essential and cannot be neglected. Therefore, the weakly non-linear transport theory has to be preferred over the traditional quasi-linear approach. Within this improved theory, we find for the rigidity dependence of the momentum diffusion coefficient A ∼ R 1,4 for relativistic and A ∼ R 0.4 for non-relativistic cosmic rays.
Loteprednol-Loaded Nanoformulations for Corneal Delivery by Quality-by-Design Concepts: Optimization, Characterization, and Anti-inflammatory Activity

Loteprednol etabonate (LE) is a topical corticosteroid that uses inflammatory conditions of the eye. It has a low ocular bioavailability and side effects such as corneal disorder, eye discharge, and ocular discomfort. Therefore, it was decided to select the delivery systems, which are solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN), nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC), and nanoemulsion (NE). Design of experiments (DoE) of SLN, NLC, and NE formulations were formulated by using the quality by design (QbD) approach. Precirol® ATO 5 and oleic acid were used as solid and liquid lipids, respectively, in SLN, NLC, and NE formulations. Physiochemical characterization was performed on the formulations. The optimized formulations’ inflammatory effects have been appraised on human corneal epithelial cells employing the ELISA test. Physicochemical characterization studies and inflammatory effects were appraised. The sizes of optimized formulations of SLN, NLC, and NE were 86.19 nm, 82.38 nm, and 126.35 nm, respectively, with minimum polydispersity. The release behavior of the formulations is composed of both diffusion and erosion. ELISA test results proved that the formulations significantly reduced IL-1 and IL-6 levels ( p < 0.05). D-optimal mixture experimental design allowed us to develop the most precise formulations of SLN, NLC, and NE. Furthermore, the optimized formulations could be promising candidates for treating an inflammation-based corneal disease of the eye. Graphical Abstract