Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trichosporon asahii Infective Endocarditis of Prosthetic Valve: A Case Report and Literature Review

Trichosporon spp. endocarditis is a severe and hard-to-treat infection. Immunosuppressed subjects and carriers of prosthetic valves or intracardiac devices are at risk. This article presents the case of an immunocompetent 74-year-old man affected by endocarditis of the prosthetic aortic valve. After Bentall surgery, cultures of the removed valve demonstrated Trichosporon ashaii as the etiological agent. The patient was treated with amphotericin B at first and subsequently with fluconazole. Given the fragility of the patient and the aggressiveness of the pathogen, life-long prophylactic therapy with fluconazole was prescribed. After 5 years follow-up, no drug-related toxicities were reported and the patient never showed any signs of recurrence. The review of the literature illustrates that Trichosporon spp. endocarditis may present even many years after heart surgery, and it is often associated with massive valve vegetations, severe embolic complications, and unfavorable outcome. Due to the absence of international guidelines, there is no unanimous therapeutic approach, but amphotericin B and azoles are usually prescribed. Additionally, a prompt surgical intervention seems to be of paramount importance. When dealing with a life-threatening disease, such as mycotic endocarditis of prosthetic valves, it is essential to consider and treat even rare etiological agents such as Trichosporon spp.
Defensive two-step test in handball players: reliability of a new test for assessing displacement velocity

The main purposes of this study were to determine the absolute and relative reliability of two-step test (TST) with a functional electromechanical dynamometer (FEMD) in the evaluation of body displacement velocity. Sixteen physically active male handball players volunteers (age 21.4 ± 2.1 years) participated in this study. A repeated-measurement design was used to evaluate body displacement velocity with 15% and 30% of body weight overload (BWO). The mean velocity of the three highest repetitions and the peak velocity for the concentric contractions were taken to calculate the body displacement velocity. Reliability was assessed by t-tests of paired samples with the effect size (ES), the coefficient of variation (CV), standard error of measurement (SEM), and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), with 95% confidence intervals. The absolute reliability provided stable repeatability for the 15% BWO protocol for mean velocity and for peak velocity in both protocols, with CV being below 10% in nearly all instances. The relative reliability of different velocity protocols to evaluate mean and peak velocity was acceptable (ICCs between 0.48 and 0.79). TST has acceptable reliability for the evaluation of the body displacement velocity in handball players using a FEMD.
Perturbation effects for the minimal surface equation with multiple variable exponents

We are concerned with the existence of nontrivial weak solutions for a class of generalized minimal surface equations with subcritical growth and Dirichlet boundary condition. In relationship with the values of several variable exponents, we establish two sufficient conditions for the existence of solutions. In the first part of this paper, we prove the existence of a non-negative solution. Next, we are concerned with the existence of infinitely many solutions in a symmetric abstract setting.
Socioeconomic and geographic variation in coverage of health insurance across India

Introduction In India, regular monitoring of health insurance at district levels (the most essential administrative unit) is important for its effective uptake to contain the high out of pocket health expenditures. Given that the last individual data on health insurance coverage at district levels in India was in 2016, we update the evidence using the latest round of the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2019-2021. Methods We use the unit records of households from the latest round (2021) of the nationally representative National Family Health Survey to calculate the weighted percentage (and 95% CI) of households with at least one member covered by any form of health insurance and its types across socio-economic characteristics and geographies of India. Further, we used a random intercept logistic regression to measure the variation in coverage across communities, district and state. Such household level study of coverage is helpful as it represents awareness and outreach for at least one member, which can percolate easily to the entire household with further interventions. Results We found that only 2/5th of households in India had insurance coverage for at least one of its members, with vast geographic variation emphasizing need for aggressive expansion. About 15.5% were covered by national schemes, 47.1% by state health scheme, 13.2% by employer provided health insurance, 3.3% had purchased health insurance privately and 25.6% were covered by other health insurance schemes (not covered above). About 30.5% of the total variation in coverage was attributable to state, 2.7% to districts and 9.5% to clusters. Household size, gender, marital status and education of household head show weak gradient for coverage under “any” insurance. Discussion Despite substantial increase in population eligible for state sponsored health insurance and rise in private health insurance companies, nearly 60% of families do not have a single person covered under any health insurance scheme. Further, the existing coverage is fragmented, with significant rural/urban and geographic variation within districts. It is essential to consider these disparities and adopt rigorous place-based interventions for improving health insurance coverage.
Malaria Risk Perception and Preventive Behaviors Among Elementary School Students, Southwest Ethiopia. Generalized Structural Equation Model

Background In 2020, more than three billion of the world’s population were the risk of being infected with malaria and four out of five deaths were from the African population. However, information is scarce on the association between risk perceptions and malaria prevention behaviors in resource-limited countries, particularly Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess malaria risk perceptions and preventive behaviors. Methods A cross-sectional study design was conducted among 401 elementary school students in Jimma zone, Oromia, Ethiopia, from April 2 to June 8, 2020. Data were collected through interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire. The data were entered into Epi-data 4.6 and analyzed using STATA version 14.2. The descriptive statistics were presented using frequency and percentages. A Cronbach’s α coefficient of 0.7 or higher was used to assess the reliability of each domain. The Generalized Structural Equation Model (GSEM) was employed to examine the relationships and prediction of explanatory variables with risk perception and preventive behaviors of malaria. The model with a lower information criterion was taken as a better-fitting model. Finally, the statistically significant model effects were declared at a P-value of less than 0.05 at a confidence interval of 95%. Results This study showed that having knowledge about malaria had an indirect positive effect on malaria preventive behavior (β = 1.29, 95% CI 0.11 to 2.47), and had a positive total effect on the preventive behavior (β = 2.99, 95% CI 0.08 to 2.67). Besides, an increased knowledge level had a direct positive effect on malaria risk perceptions (β = 0.08, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.14), and malaria risk perception had a direct positive effect on malaria preventive behavior (β = 1.21, 95% CI 0.10 to 2.31). Conclusion and Recommendation This study demonstrated that having knowledge about malaria had a direct and indirect association with malaria preventive behavior. An increased level of knowledge had a direct positive effect on malaria risk perceptions. Moreover, malaria risk perception had a direct positive effect on malaria preventive behavior. Therefore, malaria prevention-targeted interventions, behavior change, and knowledge enhancing communication should be enhanced or scaled up to contribute to prompt treatment and progress toward the elimination of malaria.
Boundary harmonic coordinates and the localised bounded $L^2$ curvature theorem

In this paper, we prove two results. First, we show the existence of boundary harmonic coordinates on Riemannian $3$-manifolds with boundary that satisfy only low regularity integral bounds on the Ricci curvature and the second fundamental form of the boundary, and a volume radius estimate. This result follows by extending the known theory of Cheeger-Gromov convergence for manifolds to include manifolds with boundary in a low regularity setting. Second, we prove a localised version of the bounded $L^2$ curvature theorem of Klainerman-Rodnianski-Szeftel. The localisation is achieved by using the above existence of boundary harmonic coordinates together with the author's extension procedure for the constraint equations.
Maturity-Associated Polygenic Profiles of under 12–16-Compared to under 17–23-Year-Old Male English Academy Football Players

The purpose of this study was to examine polygenic profiles previously associated with maturity timing in male academy football players across different age phases. Thus, 159 male football players from four English academies (U12–16, n = 86, aged 13.58 ± 1.58 years; U17–23, n = 73, aged 18.07 ± 1.69 years) and 240 male European controls were examined. Polygenic profiles comprised 39 single nucleotide polymorphisms and were analysed using unweighted and weighted total genotype scores (TGSs; TWGSs). There were significant differences in polygenic profiles between groups, whereby U17–23 players had more genetic variants associated with later maturity compared to U12–16 players (TGS, p = 0.010; TWGS, p = 0.024) and controls (TGS, p = 0.038; TWGS, p = 0.020). More specifically, U17–23 players had over two-times the odds of possessing >36 later-maturing alleles than <30 compared to U12–16 players (odds ratio (OR) = 2.84) and controls (OR = 2.08). These results suggest there was a greater proportion of relatively later-maturing players as maturation plateaus towards adulthood, which may be explained by the ‘underdog hypothesis’. This study provides the first known molecular evidence that supports the notion that a maturity selection bias exists within male academy football.
On the metrology of interparticle contacts in sand from x-ray tomography images

In the mechanics of granular materials, interparticle contacts play a major role. These have been historically difficult to study experimentally, but the advent of x-ray microtomography allows the identification of all the thousands of individual particles needed for representative mechanical testing. This paper studies the metrology of detecting interparticle contacts and measuring their orientation from such images. Using synthetic images of spheres and high-resolution tomographies of two very different granular materials (spherical and very angular) as ground truths, we find that these measurements are far from trivial. For example, if a physically correct threshold is used to separate particles from pores there is a systematic over-detection of contacts. We propose a method of improvement that is effective for non-angular particles. When contact orientations are measured from the pixels that make up the contact area, standard watershed approaches make significant systematic errors. We confirm and build upon previous results showing the improvement in orientation measurement using a refined notion of particle separation. Building on this solid basis, future work should focus on a link between contact topology and measurement error, as well as evaluating the use of local surface normals for orientation measurement.
INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIPS OF AUTONOMY IN DECISION-MAKING, EMPOWERMENT, AND SCHOOL LEADERSHIP WITH SOCIO-PROFESSIONAL VARIABLES: A STUDY ABOUT PUBLIC SCHOOL LEADERS IN PAKISTANThis paper investigates the school leaders’ autonomy in decision-maki

This paper investigates the school leaders’ autonomy in decision-making, empowerment, and school leadership. Furthermore, it finds out their relationships with socio-professional variables i.e. gender, age, academic qualification, teaching experience, and leadership experience. Using quantitative method, data was gathered through questionnaires. The sample consisted of 252 school leaders belonging to five different cities in Pakistan, The school leaders reported the highest mean value in empowerment (4.04), followed by school leadership (3.67) and autonomy in decisionmaking (3.63). When it came to correlational analysis; gender, academic qualification, and leadership experience did not have a statistically significant relationship with autonomy in decision-making, empowerment, or school leadership. Age and teaching experience turned out to be the most influential as they had a statistically significant correlation with autonomy in decision-making and empowerment. These findings were a little surprising as both age and teaching experience had a statistically significant correlation with autonomy in decisionmaking and empowerment, but leadership experience did not. The study suggests that school leaders in Pakistan should be provided with more autonomy in decision-making and empowerment so that they can play a better and more effective role in school development
PENERAPAN MULTIMEDIA INTERAKTIF UNTUK MENINGKATKAN PEMAHAMAN KONSEP MENGINSTAL WINDOWS 10 SISWA SMKN 1 LOBALAIN

Kurangnya pengetahuan siswa terhadap langkah-langkah menginstal sistem operasi saat kegiatan praktikum menuntut guru harus mengoptimalkan berbagai media untuk dapat meningkatkan pemahaman siswa. Penerapan multimedia interaktif untuk meningkatkan pemahaman konsep dalam menginstal windows 10 merupakan salah satu langkah dalam membantu siswa saat melaksanakan kegiatan praktikum di laboratorium komputer. Penelitian ini dimaksudkan untuk meningkatkan pemahaman konsep menginstal windows 10 bagi siswa berbasis video interaktif. Tujuan dari penelitian ini untuk mengetahui bagaimana proses penerapan multimedia interaktif bagi siswa untuk melihat tanggapan siswa dan hasil belajar siswa setelah penggunaan multimedia interaktif pada kegiatan praktikum di jurusan TKJ. Penelitian ini termasuk ke dalam jenis penelitian ex-post facto (Kerlinger, 1993). Dalam penelitian ini diperlukan instrumen penelitian yang meliputi penerapan multimedia interaktif berkaitan dengan tingkat kepuasan dan hasil belajar siswa, kemudian data yang diperoleh diolah dengan analisis inferensial. Teknik pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan cara kuesioner dan tes. Dalam penelitian ini variabel bebas (X) adalah penerapan multimedia interaktif dalam praktikum menginstal windows 10. Untuk variabel terikat (Y) dalam penelitian ini yaitu hasil belajar siswa setelah penerapan multimedia interaktif. Hasil pengisian angket penerapan multimedia interaktif diperoleh 82% siswa pada tingkat sangat setuju. Kemudian hasil tes online setelah penerapan multimedia interaktif diperoleh rata-rata sebesar 92,96 %. Berarti semua siswa dikatakan puas dan memahami tahapan dalam menginstal windows 10 setelah penerapan multimedia interaktif untuk meningkatkan pemahaman konsep menginstal windows 10.
Serum DKK-1 level in ankylosing spondylitis: insights from meta-analysis and Mendelian randomization

Objective The purpose of this study was to precisely evaluate the serum Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) level in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) relative to that in normal controls and to test the causal relationship between DKK-1 and the risk of AS. Methods Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, WANFANG DATA, VIP, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were comprehensively searched until July 2022 for pertinent studies. The pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated by the fixed or random-effect model. In Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis on the causal relationship between serum DKK-1 level and AS risk, the inverse variance weighting method (IVW), MR-Egger regression, weighted median method, and weighted pattern method were applied. Sensitivity analyses, including the horizontal pleiotropy test, heterogeneity test, and leave-one-out test, were also performed. Results The meta-analysis of 40 studies containing 2,371 AS patients and 1,633 healthy controls showed that there was no significant difference in DKK-1 serum level between AS patients and normal controls (pooled SMD=0.207, 95% CI =−0.418-0.832, P=0.516). The subgroup analysis of the CRP ≤ 10 mg/L group showed that AS patients had higher serum DKK-1 concentration than the healthy controls (SMD=2.267, 95% CI = 0.102-4.432, P=0.040). Similarly, MR analysis also demonstrated no significant association between DKK-1 serum level and AS (IVW OR=0.999, 95% CI = 0.989-1.008, P=0.800). All sensitivity analyses revealed consistent results. Conclusions There was no significant change in serum DKK-1 concentration between AS patients and healthy controls. In addition, no causal relationship exists between serum DKK-1 levels and AS risk.
Equivalent reliability polynomials modeling EAS and their geometries

Abstract In this paper we shall introduce two equivalent techniques in order to evaluate reliability analysis of electrical aircrafts systems (EAS): (i) graph theory technique, and (ii) simplifying diffeomorphism technique. Geometric modeling of reliability models is based on algebraic hypersurfaces, whose intrinsic properties are able to select those models which are relevant for applications. The basic idea is to cover the reliability hypersurfaces by exponentially decay curves. Most of the calculations made in this paper have used Maple and Matlab software.
Lagrangian transport simulations using the extreme convection parameterization: an assessment for the ECMWF reanalyses

Abstract. Atmospheric convection plays a key role in tracer transport from the planetary boundary layer to the free troposphere. Lagrangian transport simulations driven by meteorological fields from global models or reanalysis products, such as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts' (ECMWF's) ERA5 and ERA-Interim reanalysis, typically lack proper explicit representations of convective updrafts and downdrafts because of the limited spatiotemporal resolution of the meteorology. Lagrangian transport simulations for the troposphere can be improved by applying parameterizations to better represent the effects of unresolved convective transport in the global meteorological reanalyses. Here, we implemented and assessed the effects of the extreme convection parameterization (ECP) in the Massive-Parallel Trajectory Calculations (MPTRAC) model. The ECP is conceptually simple. It requires the convective available potential energy (CAPE) and the height of the equilibrium level (EL) as input parameters. Assuming that unresolved convective events yield well-mixed vertical columns of air, the ECP randomly redistributes the air parcels vertically between the surface and the EL if CAPE is present. We analyzed statistics of explicitly resolved and parameterized convective updrafts and found that the frequencies of strong updrafts due to the ECP, i.e., 20 K potential temperature increase over 6 h or more, increase by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude for ERA5 and 3 to 5 orders of magnitude for ERA-Interim compared to the explicitly resolved updrafts. To assess the effects of the ECP on tropospheric tracer transport, we conducted transport simulations for the artificial tracer e90, which is released globally near the surface and which has a constant e-folding lifetime of 90 d throughout the atmosphere. The e90 simulations were conducted for the year 2017 with both ERA5 and ERA-Interim. Next to sensitivity tests on the choice of the CAPE threshold, an important tuning parameter of the ECP, we suggest a modification of the ECP method, i.e., to take into account the convective inhibition (CIN) indicating the presence of warm, stable layers that prevent convective updrafts in the real atmosphere. While ERA5 has higher spatiotemporal resolution and explicitly resolves more convective updrafts than ERA-Interim, we found there is still a need for both reanalyses to apply a convection parameterization such as the ECP to better represent tracer transport from the planetary boundary layer into the free troposphere on the global scale.
Traumatic Experiences of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Ghana

Background: Trauma faced by women infected with HIV and AIDS poses great challenge to the coordinated fight against HIV and AIDS. Traumatising events impacting people living with HIV and AIDS, most notably women, impede diagnosis, prevention and treatment efforts.Methods: The study set out to investigate the lifethreatening experiences of thirty-eight women living with HIV and AIDS in the Lower Manya Krobo District of the Eastern Region, Ghana. The study used focus-groups as method of data collection. The data was analysed through theme identification and grouping, along with selection of relevant quotes.Results: The study revealed five major lifethreatening experiences of the women: disclosure, mental ill-health, isolation, stigmatisation and financial challenges. The study concluded that women living with HIV and AIDS suffer enormous psychological burden of the pandemic in addition to physical challenges. However, it is the social burden of the pandemic that contributes significantly tothe eventual death of the victims rather than the disease itself.Conclusion: Consequently, HIV and AIDS education campaign should be intensified using a variety of media, targeting those social issues identified in this research as part of the efforts to fight the disease.
Alteration and clinical potential in gut microbiota in patients with cerebral small vessel disease

Background Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is a cluster of microvascular disorders with unclear pathological mechanisms. The microbiota-gut-brain axis is an essential regulatory mechanism between gut microbes and their host. Therefore, the compositional and functional gut microbiota alterations lead to cerebrovascular disease pathogenesis. The current study aims to determine the alteration and clinical value of the gut microbiota in CSVD patients. Methods Sixty-four CSVD patients and 18 matched healthy controls (HCs) were included in our study. All the participants underwent neuropsychological tests, and the multi-modal magnetic resonance imaging depicted the changes in brain structure and function. Plasma samples were collected, and the fecal samples were analyzed with 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results Based on the alpha diversity analysis, the CSVD group had significantly decreased Shannon and enhanced Simpson compared to the HC group. At the genus level, there was a significant increase in the relative abundances of Parasutterella, Anaeroglobus, Megasphaera, Akkermansia, Collinsella, and Veillonella in the CSVD group. Moreover, these genera with significant differences in CSVD patients revealed significant correlations with cognitive assessments, plasma levels of the blood-brain barrier-/inflammation-related indexes, and structural/functional magnetic resonance imaging changes. Functional prediction demonstrated that lipoic acid metabolism was significantly higher in CSVD patients than HCs. Additionally, a composite biomarker depending on six gut microbiota at the genus level displayed an area under the curve of 0.834 to distinguish CSVD patients from HCs using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm. Conclusion The evident changes in gut microbiota composition in CSVD patients were correlated with clinical features and pathological changes of CSVD. Combining these gut microbiota using the LASSO algorithm helped identify CSVD accurately.