Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
“She Has the Japanese Style”: Parenting by Japanese Immigrant Women in Korea from the Perspective of Their Children

This study looks into the parenting beliefs and behavior of female Japanese immigrants, who have stayed in Korea for more than 20 years, and attempts to explore factors for their distinct parenting style compared to their Korean counterparts. In Korea and Japan, a mother’s parenting is seen as crucial, while paternal responsibility is considered minimal. There are few studies that look into parenting patterns of Japanese immigrant women in Korea, especially from the perspective of their children. The study is based on in-depth interviews and participant observation in 2014 with 21 young Japanese-Korean adults recruited through snowball sampling. In raising children, the priorities of mothers were not academic but instead focused on children’s autonomy, wholesome personality, religiosity, various life experiences, maintaining health, and non-intervention. The mothers’ own cultural background and strong Japanese identity, limited interaction with Korean mothers or exclusive interaction with Japanese mothers, the role of the father figure as only a breadwinner, and mothers’ strong devotion to church activities tend to influence their parenting. An exploration of the mechanisms behind the differences in their styles of parenting is important before judging their parenting to be improper or maladjusted. Understanding parenting styles of families from diverse backgrounds helps to understand what society will look like in the near future.
Effect of Different Parameters of In Vitro Static Tensile Strain on Human Periodontal Ligament Cells Simulating the Tension Side of Orthodontic Tooth Movement

This study aimed to investigate the effects of different magnitudes and durations of static tensile strain on human periodontal ligament cells (hPDLCs), focusing on osteogenesis, mechanosensing and inflammation. Static tensile strain magnitudes of 0%, 3%, 6%, 10%, 15% and 20% were applied to hPDLCs for 1, 2 and 3 days. Cell viability was confirmed via live/dead cell staining. Reference genes were tested by reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and assessed. The expressions of TNFRSF11B, ALPL, RUNX2, BGLAP, SP7, FOS, IL6, PTGS2, TNF, IL1B, IL8, IL10 and PGE2 were analyzed by RT-qPCR and/or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). ALPL and RUNX2 both peaked after 1 day, reaching their maximum at 3%, whereas BGLAP peaked after 3 days with its maximum at 10%. SP7 peaked after 1 day at 6%, 10% and 15%. FOS peaked after 3 days with its maximum at 3%, 6% and 15%. The expressions of IL6 and PTGS2 both peaked after 1 day, with their minimum at 10%. PGE2 peaked after 1 day (maximum at 20%). The ELISA of IL6 peaked after 3 days, with the minimum at 10%. In summary, the lower magnitudes promoted osteogenesis and caused less inflammation, while the higher magnitudes inhibited osteogenesis and enhanced inflammation. Among all magnitudes, 10% generally caused a lower level of inflammation with a higher level of osteogenesis.
Collaboration Mechanism in the Horizontal Logistics Collaboration

As the result of the more and more ambitious production and marketing strategies,such as Just-In-Time and increasing customization of products, the current vertical logistics collaboration approaches based on single supply chain seems insufficient to achieve further improvements in transportation efficiency. The horizontal logistics collaboration (HLC), which has been proved an effective approach to efficiency improvement, has attracted both academics and practitioners. One of the main barriers to the implementation of HLCs is the lack of feasible collaboration mechanism, in particular the gain sharing mechanism. We identify two organizational forms of HLCs: the centralized and decentralized ones. For centralized HLCs, we propose a collaboration model that is a collaboration conducting process integrating decision-aiding tools to guide the implementation of the collaboration. We also develop a generally applicable game-theoretic sharing mechanism for different categories of centralized HLCs modeled as super-additive and non-super-additive cooperative games. This sharing mechanism takes into account the collaborators' contribution, the coalition stability, and the bargaining power to propose a credible sharing scheme for collaborators. The approach is illustrated by numerical example taken from logistics cases. For the implementation of the decentralized HLCs, we propose an open collaborative logistics framework, and design the system protocols as the collaboration mechanism that specifies the combinatorial-auction-based request allocation and payment determination to foster the collaborations.
Gender variations in HIV related stigma among Indian adults

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a global public health problem. Social stigma and discrimination around HIV can be a strong deterrent to seeking healthcare and deny people living with HIV (PLHIV) a life of dignity. Further, gender has a role in determining utilization of available healthcare service. Although research has been conducted on gender differences in experience of stigma among PLHIV, there remains a gap with respect to cross gender study of the determinants of HIV related stigma in the context of India which has the third highest burden of HIV globally. This serves as the motivation of the current study.Methods: The study uses unit level data on adult men and women from the NFHS-4 (2015-16) survey. Logistic regression has been used for analysis of data.Results: Higher percentage of adult women than men nurture HIV related stigma at all India level. Multivariate analysis reveals that for both genders, stigma falls significantly with higher educational attainment but increases with higher economic class. Differences in drivers of stigma across men and women remain with respect to religion, age, employment and marital status.Conclusions: Awareness raising and stigma reducing interventions designed in view of gender specific requirements are called for to curb social discrimination against PLHIV and ensure better quality of life for them.
IMPACT OF JOB SATISFACTION DIMENSIONS ON JOB PERFORMANCE IN A SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISE IN IBADAN, SOUTH WESTERN, NIGERIA.

This research paper examined the impact of job satisfaction dimensions on job performance of Small and Medium Enterprises‟ employees in Ibadan metropolis, south western Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was adopted to collect data from one hundred and five (105) respondents from three different sectors through structured questionnaire. Both Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and Multiple Regressions Analysis were used to analysis the data with the aid of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20. The result showed that job satisfaction dimensions have significant effect on job performance. It was also found that job satisfaction dimensions jointly predict job performance, which accounted for 33% variance of job performance. The study concluded that SMEs operators should use these job satisfaction dimensions as policy instruments for retention and as strategies which have the tendency to reduce employee turnover and enhance job performance.
Renal Dysfunction Is Associated with Middle Cerebral Artery Pulsatility Index and Total Burden of Cerebral Small Vessel Disease

Background and Purpose: Renal dysfunction is known to affect vasculature and lead to systemic arterial stiffness. It also independently increases the risk of cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) and stroke. We aimed to examine the effect of renal dysfunction on cerebral hemodynamics and the burden of cSVD. Methods: Of the 412 patients admitted to Seoul National University Hospital, between May 2015 and 2019, with lacunar infarction and no major intracranial arterial stenosis observed on magnetic resonance angiography, we included 283 patients who had undergone a transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound after 72 h of stroke onset. The patients were divided into renal dysfunction (estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR] <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 at admission) and control (eGFR ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m2) groups. We investigated the correlations between renal function, the pulsatility index (PI), and the total MRI burden of cSVD. Furthermore, multivariate analysis was performed to assess the association between renal dysfunction and the PI of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) measured through TCD ultrasound. Results: Among the total patients, 74 (26.1%) had renal dysfunction (eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 at admission). Patients with renal dysfunction were significantly older, showed higher pulse pressure, and had a higher prevalence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and coronary artery disease. Renal dysfunction was significantly associated with higher distal cerebrovascular flow resistance (median PI 1.12, interquartile range [IQR]: 0.85–1.57 vs. controls 0.84, IQR: 0.54–1.22; p < 0.001). Also, patients with renal dysfunction had a significantly higher total MRI burden of cSVD (median cSVD score 2, IQR: 1–3 vs. controls median score 1, IQR: 0–2; p < 0.001). There was an inverse proportional relationship between the PI and eGFR. Finally, multivariate analysis showed renal dysfunction (adjusted odds ratio: 4.516, 95% confidence interval: 1.051–20.292) and older age (adjusted odds ratio: 1.076, 95% confidence interval: 1.038–1.114) as independent predictors of a high PI. Conclusions: Renal dysfunction is independently associated with a high PI of MCA. Renal dysfunction leads to systemic arterial stiffness including stiffness in cerebral arteries, thus increasing the burden of cSVD. Therefore, noninvasive screening for high PI by TCD in kidney failure patients might be helpful.
Biomarker Metabolites Discriminate between Physiological States of Field, Cave and White-nose Syndrome Diseased Bats

Analysis of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions using electronic-nose (e-nose) devices has shown promise for early detection of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in bats. Tricolored bats, Perimyotis subflavus, from three separate sampling groups defined by environmental conditions, levels of physical activity, and WNS-disease status were captured temporarily for collection of VOC emissions to determine relationships between these combinations of factors and physiological states, Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd)-infection status, and metabolic conditions. Physiologically active (non-torpid) healthy individuals were captured outside of caves in Arkansas and Louisiana. In addition, healthy and WNS-diseased torpid bats were sampled within caves in Arkansas. Whole-body VOC emissions from bats were collected using portable air-collection and sampling-chamber devices in tandem. Electronic aroma-detection data using three-dimensional Principal Component Analysis provided strong evidence that the three groups of bats had significantly different e-nose aroma signatures, indicative of different VOC profiles. This was confirmed by differences in peak numbers, peak areas, and tentative chemical identities indicated by chromatograms from dual-column GC-analyses. The numbers and quantities of VOCs present in whole-body emissions from physiologically active healthy field bats were significantly greater than those of torpid healthy and diseased cave bats. Specific VOCs were identified as chemical biomarkers of healthy and diseased states, environmental conditions (outside and inside of caves), and levels of physiological activity. These results suggest that GC/E-nose dual-technologies based on VOC-detection and analyses of physiological states, provide noninvasive alternative means for early assessments of Pd-infection, WNS-disease status, and other physiological states.
Focus on the Mechanisms and Functions of Pyroptosis, Inflammasomes, and Inflammatory Caspases in Infectious Diseases

Eukaryotic cells can initiate several distinct self-destruction mechanisms to display essential roles for the homeostasis maintenance, development, and survival of an organism. Pyroptosis, a key response mode in innate immunity, also referred to as caspase-1-dependent proinflammatory programmed necrotic cell death activated by human caspase-1/4/5, or mouse caspase-1/11, plays indispensable roles in response to cytoplasmic insults and immune defense against infectious diseases. These inflammatory caspases are employed by the host to eliminate pathogen infections such as bacteria, viruses, protozoans, and fungi. Gasdermin D requires to be cleaved and activated by these inflammatory caspases to trigger the pyroptosis process. Physiological rupture of cells results in the release of proinflammatory cytokines, the alarmins IL-1β and IL-18, symbolizing the inflammatory potential of pyroptosis. Moreover, long noncoding RNAs play direct or indirect roles in the upstream of the pyroptosis trigger pathway. Here, we review in detail recently acquired insights into the central roles of inflammatory caspases, inflammasomes, and pyroptosis, as well as the crosstalk between pyroptosis and long noncoding RNAs in mediating infection immunity and pathogen clearance.
Recently Discovered Secondary Metabolites from Streptomyces Species

The Streptomyces genus has been a rich source of bioactive natural products, medicinal chemicals, and novel drug leads for three-quarters of a century. Yet studies suggest that the genus is capable of making some 150,000 more bioactive compounds than all Streptomyces secondary metabolites reported to date. Researchers around the world continue to explore this enormous potential using a range of strategies including modification of culture conditions, bioinformatics and genome mining, heterologous expression, and other approaches to cryptic biosynthetic gene cluster activation. Our survey of the recent literature, with a particular focus on the year 2020, brings together more than 70 novel secondary metabolites from Streptomyces species, which are discussed in this review. This diverse array includes cyclic and linear peptides, peptide derivatives, polyketides, terpenoids, polyaromatics, macrocycles, and furans, the isolation, chemical structures, and bioactivity of which are appraised. The discovery of these many different compounds demonstrates the continued potential of Streptomyces as a source of new and interesting natural products and contributes further important pieces to the mostly unfinished puzzle of Earth’s myriad microbes and their multifaceted chemical output.
FibroDB: Expression Analysis of Protein-Coding and Long Non-Coding RNA Genes in Fibrosis

Most long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are expressed at lower levels than protein-coding genes and their expression is often restricted to specific cell types, certain time points during development, and various stress and disease conditions, respectively. To revisit this long-held concept, we focused on fibroblasts, a common cell type in various organs and tissues. Using fibroblasts and changes in their expression profiles during fibrosis as a model system, we show that the overall expression level of lncRNA genes is significantly lower than that of protein-coding genes. Furthermore, we identified lncRNA genes whose expression is upregulated during fibrosis. Using dermal fibroblasts as a model, we performed loss-of-function experiments and show that the knockdown of the lncRNAs LINC00622 and LINC01711 result in gene expression changes associated with cellular and inflammatory responses, respectively. Since there are no lncRNA databases focused on fibroblasts and fibrosis, we built a web application, FibroDB, to further promote functional and mechanistic studies of fibrotic lncRNAs.
COVID-19 AND MATERNAL MENTAL HEALTH

The world is facing unprecedented times. The global pandemic announced in 2019 is having a significant impact on many aspects of people’s lives. Amongst other things, the pandemic is revealing the consequences of decades of cuts in public health investments. Health systems around the world are struggling to face surges in demand. Pregnant women and the mental health of new mothers is being undermined by numerous COVID-related changes in antenatal and postnatal care. For instance, perinatal care is reduced or provided only virtually, to comply with social distancing measures. This means fewer opportunities for health professionals to identify foetal distress and prenatal or postnatal maternal distress. Considering that maternal well-being is one of the main determinants of children’s well-being, the present article highlights the importance of improving health and support services for pregnant women and new mothers. Future generations are at risk of developing mental health problems because of the current pandemic; this can be prevented, but only if urgent action is taken.
Attribution of the Extreme Drought in the Horn of Africa during Short-Rains of 2016 and Long-Rains of 2017

The Horn of Africa (HOA) is one of the most drought-prone regions in the world with many arid and semiarid areas, and even some extremely arid areas. Primarily affected by the marine continental climate systems, this zone is really sensitive to global warming. Drought is the main type of natural disaster affecting this region, which triggers famine, civil conflict, and even deterioration of food security. The present study examined changes in droughts in the HOA during 1979–2019 based on Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). Results show that frequency, duration, and intensity of droughts exhibited an increasing trend over the past decades. Moreover, in October to December (called locate “short rains”) 2016 and March to May (called locate “long rains”) 2017, the HOA experienced the most severe drought. Based on Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) fitting, the 2016/2017 SPEI index corresponds to a drought that occurs every 250 years in the observational records. However, considering the precipitation in short rains of 2016 (long rains of 2017) was only 27.1% (11.8%) less than normal, it is hard to explain the formation of this extreme drought only from precipitation anomalies. Further statistical result shows that the evaporation in 2016/2017 corresponds to a 1-in-131 years event in the observed records. The abnormally high temperature (1.02 °C higher than normal) as well as the greatest potential evaporation since 1979 are the more important causes for the formation of drought. Thus, the extreme drought in 2016/2017, probably caused by the combined effect of dry condition and high temperature simultaneously, and the latter, played a leading role. In other words, droughts can be exacerbated by the co-occurrence of extreme high temperature. With continuous warming caused by anthropogenic activities in the next decades, the Horn of Africa may be a hotspot of the compound droughts and, therefore, it is especially important to considering the combined impacts from less precipitation and high temperature when predicting the future drought trend and making adaptation measures.
Worryingly high prevalence of resistance-associated mutations to macrolides and fluoroquinolones in Mycoplasma genitalium among men who have sex with men with recurrent sexually transmitted infections

Background Men who have sex with men (MSM) using pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) recurrently infected with STIs are playing a pivotal role in contemporary Sexually transmitted infections (STI) epidemics. Our aim was to assess whether these individuals had more Mycoplasma genitalium (M. genitalium) infections and more resistance to macrolides and fluoroquinolones of M. genitalium compared to those who were not recurrently infected with STIs. Methods The study was performed on 179 Belgian MSM PrEP users that were followed up for 18 months. STIs including M. genitalium were detected quarterly. Detection of resistance-associated mutations (RAMs) to macrolides and fluoroquinolones was performed via Sanger sequencing of the 23S rRNA gene and parC gene (conferring mutations at position 83/87 in ParC). Differences in M. genitalium positivity rate and presence of RAMs between both groups were assessed using mixed-effects logistic regression. Results A total of 91 new M. genitalium infections were detected among 70 participants. MSM experiencing recurrent STIs have significantly more M. genitalium infections compared to those without (11.7% vs. 4.7% OR: 2.69). Importantly, the prevalence of RAMs to macrolides (95.2% vs. 77.4%) and fluoroquinolones (35.7% vs. 12.9%) was much higher among individuals with recurrent STIs. The difference was only statistically significant for macrolides (OR 5.83, p = .036). Conclusions MSM recurrently infected with STIs play a central role in the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in M. genitalium. The use of macrolides and fluoroquinolones should preferably be minimized in this population in order to avoid further emergence of multi-resistant M. genitalium.
Plate Waste Forecasting Using the Monte Carlo Method for Effective Decision Making in Latvian Schools

Food waste is a global problem, which becomes apparent at various stages of the food supply chain. The present research study focuses on the optimization of food consumption in schools and effective food management through data-driven decision making within the trends: zero food waste and digital transformation. The paper presents a plate waste forecasting system based on mathematical modeling and simulation using the Monte Carlo method, which showed an RMSE equal to ±3% and a MAPE of 10.15%. The solution based on the simulator provides a possibility to better understand the relationship between the parameters investigated through data visualization and apply this knowledge to train managers to make decisions that are more effective. The developed system has multi-disciplinary application: forecasting, education and decision making targeted to reduce food waste and improve public health and food management in schools.
Time cannot heal all wounds: Wealth trajectories of divorcees and the married

Abstract Objective To explore disparities in wealth trajectories between divorcees and continuously married individuals including moderation effects of remarriage and gender. Background Amid concerns of long‐term economic consequences of divorce, research illustrated that ever‐divorced individuals hold less wealth than the married preretirement. However, it remains unclear whether this is a direct result of immediate, lasting divorce‐related wealth penalties or whether divorce also leads to long‐term wealth accumulation disparities. Method Using personal‐level, longitudinal wealth data from the Socio‐Economic Panel Study, I applied propensity score and exact matching with random‐effects growth models to compare wealth trajectories of divorcees and the married. The matching allowed (1) married controls to be assigned a theoretical divorce date for ease of comparability to the treatment group (i.e., divorcees) and (2) the account of a wide range of baseline differences. Results Wealth differences between ever‐divorce and continuously married individuals stem from lasting disadvantage—particularly for housing wealth—generated immediately around divorce rather than a scarring of divorcees' wealth accumulation. Remarriage but particularly gender is relevant moderators. Whereas remarriage moderates net wealth trajectories through housing wealth, gender moderates trajectories through financial wealth. Conclusion Divorce importantly contributes to wealth stratification. Mitigation of divorce‐related wealth penalties for both men and women needs to focus on immediate, but lasting costs of divorce particularly regarding homeownership.