Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the origin of some QSO absorption lines

Some QSO absorption-line systems (QSOALSs) may arise when a QSO sight line intersects a Magellanic-type irregular galaxy (i.e., a gas-rich dwarf). Much of the complexity in the line profiles of metals can be naturally explained in this manner. The frequency of occurrence of QSOALSs then requires that much of the mass of modern galaxies once resided in a halo of gas-rich dwarfs (at the epoch of QSOALS formation). 68 references.
On Sums of Nearly Affine Cantor Sets

For a compact set $K\subset \mathbb{R}^1$ and a family $\{C_\lambda\}_{\lambda\in J}$ of dynamically defined Cantor sets sufficiently close to affine with $\text{dim}_H\, K+\text{dim}_H\, C_\lambda>1$ for all $\lambda\in J$, under natural technical conditions we prove that the sum $K+C_\lambda$ has positive Lebesgue measure for almost all values of the parameter $\lambda$. As a corollary, we show that generically the sum of two affine Cantor sets has positive Lebesgue measure provided the sum of their Hausdorff dimensions is greater than one.
Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Place of Death Among Medicaid and Commercially Insured Patients With Cancer in Washington State

PURPOSE The COVID-19 pandemic–related disruptions in health care delivery might have affected end-of-life care in patients with cancer. We examined changes in place of death and hospice support for Medicaid and commercially insured patients during the pandemic. PATIENTS AND METHODS We linked Washington State cancer registry records with claims from Medicaid and two commercial insurers for patients with solid tumor age 18-64 years. The study included 322 Medicaid and 162 commercial patients who died between March 2017 and June 2019 (pre–COVID-19), along with 90 Medicaid and 47 commercial patients who died between March and June 2020 (COVID-19). Place of death was categorized as hospital, hospice (home or nonhospital facility), and home without hospice. Place of death was compared using adjusted multinomial logistic regressions stratified by payer and time period (pre–COVID-19 v COVID-19). The clinical and sociodemographic factors associated with dying at home without hospice were examined, and adjusted marginal effects (ME) are reported. RESULTS In the adjusted pre–COVID-19 analysis, Medicaid patients were more likely than commercially insured patients to die in hospital (48% v 36%; adjusted ME, 11%; P = .02). In the pre–COVID-19/COVID-19 analysis, Medicaid patients' place of death shifted from hospital (48% v 32%; ME, −16%; P < .01) to home without hospice (19.9% v 38.0%; ME, 16.5%; P < .01). However, there were no statistically significant changes pre–COVID-19/COVID-19 for commercial patients. As a result, during COVID-19, Medicaid patients were more likely than commercial patients to die at home without hospice (38% v 22%; ME, 16%; P = .04) as were male versus female patients (ME, 16%; P < .01). CONCLUSION The pandemic might have disproportionately worsened the end-of-life experience for Medicaid enrollees with cancer. Attention should be paid to societal and health system factors that decrease access to care for Medicaid patients.
Highly connected manifolds of positive p -curvature

We study and in some cases classify highly connected manifolds which admit a Riemannian metric with positive $p$-curvature. The $p$-curvature was defined and studied by the second author. It turns out that positivity of $p$-curvature could be preserved under surgeries of codimension at least $p+3$. This gives a key to reduce a geometrical classification problem to a topological one, in terms of relevant bordism groups and index theory. In particular, we classify 3-connected manifolds with positive 2-curvature in terms of the spin and string bordism groups, and by means of $\alpha$-invariant and Witten genus $\phi_W$. Here we use results of Dessai, which provide appropriate generators of the rational string bordism ring in terms of "geometric $\Ca P^2$-bundles", where the Cayley projective plane $\Ca P^2$ is a fiber and the structure group is $F_4$ which is the isometry group of the standard metric on $\Ca P^2$.
Langlands parameters of symmetric unitary matrix models

It follows from work of Anagnostopoulos-Bowick-Schwarz that the partition function of the symmetric unitary matrix model can be described via a certain pair of points in the big cell of the Sato Grassmannian. We use their work to attach a connection on the formal punctured disc - hence a local geometric Langlands parameter - to the matrix model which governs the theory. We determine the Levelt-Turrittin normal form explicitly in terms of the coefficients of the potential and relate the classical limit with the spectral curve of the matrix model. In contrast to D-modules attached by Schwarz and Dijkgraaf-Hollands-Sulkowski to the Hermitian matrix model, in the unitary case the connection turns out to be reducible. We embed our discussion into a more general analysis of D-modules attached to quivers in the Sato Grassmannian, we clarify some inaccuracies in the literature concerning Virasoro constraints of unitary matrix models, and we extend the classification of solutions to the string equation of the unitary matrix model to much more general quivers.
Quantum walks induced by Dirichlet random walks on infinite trees

We consider the Grover walk on infinite trees from the viewpoint of spectral analysis. From the previous work, infinite regular trees provide localization. In this paper, we give the complete characterization of the eigenspace of this Grover walk, which involves localization of its behavior and recovers the previous work. Our result suggests that the Grover walk on infinite trees may be regarded as a limit of the quantum walk induced by the isotropic random walk with the Dirichlet boundary condition at the n-th depth rather than one with the Neumann boundary condition.
Levodopa responsiveness and white matter alterations in Parkinson's disease: A DTI‐based study and brain network analysis: A cross‐sectional study

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) present various responsiveness to levodopa, but the cause of such differences in levodopa responsiveness is unclear. Previous studies related the damage of brain white matter (WM) to levodopa responsiveness in PD patients, but no study investigated the relationship between the structural brain network change in PD patients and their levodopa responsiveness.
T1 relaxation of bound and pore water in cortical bone

MRI measures of bound and/or pore water concentration in cortical bone offer potential diagnostics of bone fracture risk. The transverse relaxation characteristics of both bound and pore water are relatively well understood and have been used to design clinical MRI pulse sequences to image each water pool quantitatively. However, these methods are also sensitive to longitudinal relaxation characteristics, which have been less well studied. Here, spectroscopic relaxometry measurements of 31 human cortical bone specimens provided a more detailed picture of T1 of both bound and pore water. The results included mean, standard deviation, and range of T1 spectra from both bound and pore water, as well as novel presentations of the 2D T1−T2 distribution of pore water. Importantly, for each sample the pore water T1 spectrum was found to span more than one order of magnitude and varied substantially across the 31 sample studies. Because many existing methods assume pore water T1 to be mono‐exponential and constant across individuals, the results were used to compute the potential effect neglecting this intra‐ and intersample T1 variation on accurate MRI measurement of both bound and pore water concentrations. The greatest effect was found for adiabatic inversion recovery (AIR) based measurements of bound water concentration, which showed an average of 8.8% and as much as 37% error when using a common mono‐exponential assumption of pore water T1 . Despite these errors, the simulated AIR measurements were still moderately well correlated with the bound water concentrations derived from the spectroscopic data.
Identification of the niche and mobilization mechanism for tissue-protective multipotential bone marrow ILC progenitors

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) play crucial roles in maintenance and defense of peripheral tissues but would undergo natural and inflammation-induced attrition over time. A potential solution to counteract the peripheral ILC attrition would be regulated mobilization of bone marrow (BM) ILC progenitors. The major multipotential ILC progenitors (ILCPs) are divided into two subsets in distinct niches of the BM. Sinusoid ILCPs emigrate from the BM to circulate the peripheral blood. In contrast, parenchyma ILCPs are more likely in cell cycling and less likely to emigrate BM. The mobilization of BM ILCPs is internally and externally controlled by the coordinated expression of the BM retention receptors (Itg-α4 and CXCR4) and the emigration receptors sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptors. The expression of the BM retention and emigration receptors is developmentally regulated in the steady state and by the inflammasome-derived IL-18. Upon infusion, sinusoid ILCPs can effectively restore peripheral ILC insufficiency and tissue integrity during inflammatory responses.
Aural myiasis in Ancient Rome: Celsus and the ear maggots

Abstract Objective Although today there is extensive scientific literature on aural myiasis, a historical study of the subject has yet to appear. This short article reports the first description of aural myiasis in the Western medical literature. Methods Methods involved: (1) scholarship review of ear diseases within Ancient Greek and Roman medical texts (L'Année philologique); (2) linguistic analysis for text identification through the Library of Latin Texts, the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae and the Loeb Classical Library; and (3) translation of the Latin texts that described cases of aural myiasis with commentary. Results To our knowledge, the earliest case of aural myiasis in Latin medical literature is reported by the Roman encyclopaedist Celsus (first century CE). In his De Medicina, he describes cases of Wohlfahrtia magnifica maggot infestation of the ear and how to treat affected patients. Conclusion Despite present advances in otology, we believe that much insight can still be gained from this ancient example of medical history in ear diseases. A more comparative analysis of the subject is to be considered in the future, which will provide more data from different cultures and times.
HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men, transgender women and cisgender male sex workers in sub‐Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

Developing effective targets, policies and services for key populations requires estimations of population sizes and HIV prevalence across countries and regions. We estimated the relative and absolute HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender women and men, and male and transgender sex workers (MSW and TGSW) in sub‐Saharan African countries using peer‐reviewed literature.
Emplacement of the Franklin large igneous province and initiation of the Sturtian Snowball Earth

During the Cryogenian (720 to 635 Ma ago) Snowball Earth glaciations, ice extended to sea level near the equator. The cause of this catastrophic failure of Earth’s thermostat has been unclear, but previous geochronology has suggested a rough coincidence of glacial onset with one of the largest magmatic episodes in the geological record, the Franklin large igneous province. U-Pb geochronology on zircon and baddeleyite from sills associated with the paleo-equatorial Franklin large igneous province in Arctic Canada record rapid emplacement between 719.86 ± 0.21 and 718.61 ± 0.30 Ma ago, 0.9 to 1.6 Ma before the onset of widespread glaciation. Geologic observations and (U-Th)/He dates on Franklin sills are compatible with major post–Franklin exhumation, possibly due to development of mafic volcanic highlands on windward equatorial Laurentia and increased global weatherability. After a transient magmatic CO2 flux, long-term carbon sequestration associated with increased weatherability could have nudged Earth over the threshold for runaway ice-albedo feedback.
Orbifold slope rational-connectedness

The notion of 'slope rational connectedness' is introduced in the context of smooth orbifold pairs. The main result parallels the characterization of the rational connectedness of projective manifolds in terms of either the non-existence of holomorphic covariant tensors, or of absence of fibrations onto manifolds with pseudo-effective canonical bundle, or of existence of movable classes for which the minimal slope of the tangent bundle is positive. We then use this result to construct the `rational quotient map' in orbifold category.
The General Self-Efficacy Scale in a population planned for bariatric surgery in Sweden: a psychometric evaluation study

Objectives This study psychometrically evaluated General Self-Efficacy (GSE) Scale in patients planned for bariatric surgery in Sweden. Design A cross-sectional psychometric study. The psychometric evaluation was guided by the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement Instruments checklist for health-related reported-patient outcomes. Setting Three bariatric centres in Sweden. Participants Adult patients≥18 years old scheduled for primary bariatric surgery (with sleeve gastrectomy or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass). Primary and secondary measures Psychometric properties of the GSE. Results In total, 704 patients were included in the analysis. Mean values for GSE items were 2.9–3.4 and the mean GSE sum score was 31.4 (SD 4.7). There were no floor or ceiling effects. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.89. Men reported a higher mean GSE than did women, that is, 31.2 (SD 4.8) for women versus 32.1 (SD 4.3) for men, p=0.03. Correlation coefficients were weak or negligible: GSE and mental component summary score of 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36)/RAND 36, r=0.18 (p<0.00); GSE and physical component summary score of SF-36/RAND 36, r=0.07 (p=0.138); GSE and obesity-related problem scale r=−0.15 (p=0.001) and GSE and level of education, r=0.04 (p=0.35). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a one-factor construct with a satisfactory goodness of fit, that is, Comparative Fit Index=0.927, root mean square error of approximation=0.092 and standardised root mean square residual=0.045. The factor GSE explained almost half or over half of the variance of each item (0.45–0.75, p-values<0.001). Conclusions The GSE scale is a valid and reliable scale that can be used to assess general self-efficacy in patients undergoing bariatric surgery.
Gaussian fluctuations for the directed polymer partition function for $d\geq 3$ and in the whole $L^2$-region

We consider the discrete directed polymer model with i.i. d. environment and we study the fluctuations of the tail $n^{(d-2)/4}(W_\infty - W_n)$ of the normalized partition function. It was proven by Comets and Liu, that for sufficiently high temperature, the fluctuations converge in distribution towards the product of the limiting partition function and an independent Gaussian random variable. We extend the result to the whole $L^2$-region, which is predicted to be the maximal high-temperature region where the Gaussian fluctuations should occur under the considered scaling. To do so, we manage to avoid the heavy 4th-moment computation and instead rely on the local limit theorem for polymers and homogenization.
Common upper frequent hypercyclicity

Considering a family of upper frequently hypercyclic operators we care about the existence of vectors which are upper frequently hypercyclic for any operator of this family. We establish sufficient conditions for a family of operators to have these vectors called common upper frequently hypercyclic vectors. Using this result, we then give a construction of such vectors. Finally we derive some applications to families of weighted shifts.
A computational method for predicting the aggregation propensity of IgG1 and IgG4(P) mAbs in common storage buffers

ABSTRACT The propensity for some monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to aggregate at physiological and manufacturing pH values can prevent their use as therapeutic molecules or delay time to market. Consequently, developability assessments are essential to select optimum candidates, or inform on mitigation strategies to avoid potential late-stage failures. These studies are typically performed in a range of buffer solutions because factors such as pH can dramatically alter the aggregation propensity of the test mAbs (up to 100-fold in extreme cases). A computational method capable of robustly predicting the aggregation propensity at the pH values of common storage buffers would have substantial value. Here, we describe a mAb aggregation prediction tool (MAPT) that builds on our previously published isotype-dependent, charge-based model of aggregation. We show that the addition of a homology model-derived hydrophobicity descriptor to our electrostatic aggregation model enabled the generation of a robust mAb developability indicator. To contextualize our aggregation scoring system, we analyzed 97 clinical-stage therapeutic mAbs. To further validate our approach, we focused on six mAbs (infliximab, tocilizumab, rituximab, CNTO607, MEDI1912 and MEDI1912_STT) which have been reported to cover a large range of aggregation propensities. The different aggregation propensities of the case study molecules at neutral and slightly acidic pH were correctly predicted, verifying the utility of our computational method.
Spatial relationship of localized sources of persistent atrial fibrillation identified by a unipolar‐based automated algorithm to complex fractionated atrial electrocardiograms and atrial low voltage areas

Spatial characteristics of localized sources of persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) identified by unipolar‐based panoramic mapping software (CARTOFINDER) remain unclear. We evaluated spatial characteristics of bi‐atrial AF localized sources in relation to complex fractionated atrial electrocardiograms (CFAEs) and atrial low voltage area (LVAs) (≤0.35 mV during AF).
Association between Conflict and Cholera in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Cholera outbreaks contribute substantially to illness and death in low- and middle-income countries. Cholera outbreaks are associated with several social and environmental risk factors, and extreme conditions can act as catalysts. A social extreme known to be associated with infectious disease outbreaks is conflict, causing disruption to services, loss of income, and displacement. To determine the extent of this association, we used the self-controlled case-series method and found that conflict increased the risk for cholera in Nigeria by 3.6 times and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by 2.6 times. We also found that 19.7% of cholera outbreaks in Nigeria and 12.3% of outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were attributable to conflict. Our results highlight the value of providing rapid and sufficient assistance during conflict-associated cholera outbreaks and working toward conflict resolution and addressing preexisting vulnerabilities, such as poverty and access to healthcare.
Immune repertoire sequencing reveals an abnormal adaptive immune system in COVID‐19 survivors

Accumulating evidence suggests that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) impairs the adaptive immune system during acute infection. Still, it remains largely unclear whether the frequency and functions of T and B cells return to normal after the recovery of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19). Here, we analyzed immune repertoires and SARS‐CoV‐2‐specific neutralization antibodies in a prospective cohort of 40 COVID‐19 survivors with a 6‐month follow‐up after hospital discharge. Immune repertoire sequencing revealed abnormal T‐ and B‐cell expression and function with large T cell receptor/B cell receptor clones, decreased diversity, abnormal class‐switch recombination, and somatic hypermutation. A decreased number of B cells but an increased proportion of CD19+CD138+ B cells were found in COVID‐19 survivors. The proportion of CD4+ T cells, especially circulating follicular helper T (cTfh) cells, was increased, whereas the frequency of CD3+CD4− T cells was decreased. SARS‐CoV‐2‐specific neutralization IgG and IgM antibodies were identified in all survivors, especially those recorded with severe COVID‐19 who showed a higher inhibition rate of neutralization antibodies. All severe cases complained of more than one COVID‐19 sequelae after 6 months of recovery. Overall, our findings indicate that SARS‐CoV‐2‐specific antibodies remain detectable even after 6 months of recovery. Because of their abnormal adaptive immune system with a low number of CD3+CD4− T cells and high susceptibility to infections, COVID‐19 patients might need more time and medical care to fully recover from immune abnormalities and tissue damage.
Neuronal HLH‐30/TFEB modulates peripheral mitochondrial fragmentation to improve thermoresistance in Caenorhabditis elegans

Transcription factor EB (TFEB) is a conserved master transcriptional activator of autophagy and lysosomal genes that modulates organismal lifespan regulation and stress resistance. As neurons can coordinate organism‐wide processes, we investigated the role of neuronal TFEB in stress resistance and longevity. To this end, the Caenorhabditis elegans TFEB ortholog, hlh‐30, was rescued panneuronally in hlh‐30 loss of function mutants. While important in the long lifespan of daf‐2 animals, neuronal HLH‐30/TFEB was not sufficient to restore normal lifespan in short‐lived hlh‐30 mutants. However, neuronal HLH‐30/TFEB rescue mediated robust improvements in the heat stress resistance of wildtype but not daf‐2 animals. Notably, these mechanisms can be uncoupled, as neuronal HLH‐30/TFEB requires DAF‐16/FOXO to regulate longevity but not thermoresistance. Through further transcriptomics profiling and functional analysis, we discovered that neuronal HLH‐30/TFEB modulates neurotransmission through the hitherto uncharacterized protein W06A11.1 by inducing peripheral mitochondrial fragmentation and organismal heat stress resistance in a non‐cell autonomous manner. Taken together, this study uncovers a novel mechanism of heat stress protection mediated by neuronal HLH‐30/TFEB.
Hybrid Algorithms for Minimization Problems over the Solutions of Generalized Mixed Equilibrium and Variational Inclusion Problems

We introduce a new general hybrid iterative algorithm for finding a common element of the set of solution of fixed point for a nonexpansive mapping, the set of solution of generalized mixed equilibrium problem, and the set of solution of the variational inclusion for a β-inverse-strongly monotone mapping in a real Hilbert space. We prove that the sequence converges strongly to a common element of the above three sets under some mild conditions. Our results improve and extend the corresponding results of Marino and Xu (2006), Yao and Liou (2010), Tan and Chang (2011), and other authors.