Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Myelination dictates axonal viscoelasticity

During development, dramatic changes in myelination, growth of neural networks and changes in grey‐to‐white matter ratio build up the astonishingly plastic brain of a child. The progressive increase in myelination insulates the nervous system, which, in turn, modifies the mechanical microenvironment of the brain spatiotemporally. A growing body of evidence demonstrates the role of mechanical forces in growth, differentiation, maturation and electrical properties of neurons. However, due to limitations in imaging resolution, the exact relationship between myelination, axonal organization and the mechanical properties of nerves at the cellular level is still unknown. Here, we propose a novel approach to study the direct relationship between axonal viscoelasticity with changing fibre anisotropy and myelination during development. With the use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) with in situ fluorescent imaging of the primary neuron‐oligodendrocyte co‐cultures, we found that as axons are progressively myelinated in vitro, their stiffness increases. Direct quantification of myelin along axons using immunofluorescence also demonstrated a positive correlation between increased myelination over time and increased axonal stiffness (p = .001). Notably, AFM measurements along a single axon showed that the Young's modulus measured across myelinated regions were significantly higher than those of adjacent unmyelinated segments at all time points (p < .0001). Force‐relaxation analysis also demonstrated that myelin sheath dominates the regulation of viscoelasticity of axons temporally. Collectively, our findings indicate a direct link between myelination, axonal orientation and viscoelasticity, providing important insights about the mechanical environment in the paediatric brain, with direct implications for our understanding of developmental brain disorders and paediatric brain injury.
Navier–Stokes relaxation to sinh–Poisson states at finite Reynolds numbers

A mathematical framework is proposed in which it seems possible to justify the computationally‐observed relaxation of a two‐dimensional Navier–Stokes fluid to a ‘‘most probable,’’ or maximum entropy, state. The relaxation occurs at large but finite Reynolds numbers, and involves substantial decay of higher‐order ideal invariants such as enstrophy. A two‐fluid formulation, involving interpenetrating positive and negative vorticity fluxes (continuous and square integrable) is developed, and is shown to be intimately related to the passive scalar decay problem. Increasing interpenetration of the two fluids corresponds to the decay of vorticity flux due to viscosity. It is demonstrated numerically that, in two dimensions, passive scalars decay rapidly, relative to mean‐square vorticity (enstrophy). This observation provides a basis for assigning initial data to the two‐fluid field variables.
Development of extreme ultraviolet mask pattern inspection technology using projection electron beam optics

Abstract. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography with a 13.5 nm exposure wavelength is a leading candidate for the next-generation lithography because of its excellent resolution for 16 nm half pitch (hp) node devices and beyond. High sensitivity EUV mask pattern defect detection is one of the major issues to realize device fabrication with EUV lithography. First, to estimate targeted pattern defect detection size, a simulation for defect printability was carried out. In order to achieve the required inspection sensitivity applicable for 1X nm node, a projection electron microscopy (PEM) system was employed, which enabled us to do inspection in higher resolution and with higher speed in comparison to those of the conventional deep ultraviolet and electron beam inspection systems. By incorporating high electron energy and low optical aberration into the PEM, we designed a system for 16 nm hp node defect inspection. To guarantee the quality of the 16 nm node EUV mask, corresponding sized programmed defect masks were designed, and a PEM system defect detection was evaluated by using the current system for 2X nm generation.
Examining the Efficacy of a Brief Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain (Brief CBT-CP) Group Delivered via VA Video Connect (VVC) Among Older Adult Veterans

ABSTRACT Objectives To evaluate the effectiveness of a Brief CBT-CP Group delivered via VA Video Connect (VVC) among different age groups of Veterans with chronic noncancer pain being seen in primary care. A secondary aim was to evaluate participant characteristics of patients who completed vs. did not complete the group. Methods Single-arm treatment study in which outcomes were evaluated by comparing self-reported symptom levels pre- and post-treatment. Dependent variables included generalized anxiety, quality of life, disability, physical health, and pain outcomes. Results Following a 2 × 3 mixed-model ANCOVA, a main effect of time was found for all outcome variables, demonstrating significant improvements in disability rating, physical health, quality of life, generalized anxiety, and pain outcomes from pre- to post-treatment. There were no significant main effects for age group for any outcome variable, suggesting that patients of all ages reported improvements. Conclusions Accommodations and adaptations to telehealth treatment for older adults are proposed and discussed. Clinical Implications The Brief CBT-CP Group via VVC is an effective and accessible treatment for older adults with chronic noncancer pain who are being managed in the primary care setting. Certain Veterans are less likely to complete the Brief CBT-CP Group via VVC.
A step forward toward solving the main mysteries in the history of plague?

Stenseth et al. (1) claim that local environmental factors in Western and Central Europe, including the characteristics of rodent and ectoparasite communities and a range of climatic and morphological factors, do not support the view that this area hosted long-term plague reservoirs. From a historical point of view, this claim appears reasonable and contributes to the debate about plague persistence in Europe vs continuous reintroduction (2). However, Stenseth et al. fail to recognize other, broader implications of their results. First, there is the mystery of the disappearance of the plague from Europe. Scholars have highlighted various factors which might have played a role, alone or in combination. These include environmental factors (variations in the population of vectors of the disease, perhaps associated with climate change, or mutual adaptation between humans and pathogens), epidemiological factors (the exceptional severity of the last great plagues of the seventeenth century, possibly reflecting pathogen mutation, led the infection to extinguish itself) as well as institutional factors (improvements in public health and in hygiene) (3, 4). As a result, from the turn of the 18th century, plague circulation in Western and Central Europe was very limited compared to the broader Mediterranean area and Asia. Some episodes, such as the 1720 to 1722 plague in Marseille and that of 1820 to 1822 in Mallorca, were due to reinfection from the outside through naval trade. While locally serious, they remained territorially circumscribed. Stenseth et al.’s findings do not provide a direct solution to the mystery. However, they do point at conditions that might have made it relatively easy for Europe to get rid of plague and in this sense, they make a substantial contribution toward finding, one day, the solution. Stenseth et al.’s findings are also relevant to another plague mystery: How was Yersinia pestis able to cause the greatest mortality crises ever reported in European history (Table 1)? An infection that requires different kinds of vectors (rats, fleas) to spread does not reconcile very well with the quick diffusion across Europe of the Black Death and other major plagues (5, 6). In the past, attempts at squaring the circle introduced in epidemiological models ad hoc hypotheses about the prevalence and typology of rodents. They assumed that past plagues must have spread exactly as observed in modern outbreaks, for example, in India—which is not the case (6, 7).
Borrelia burgdorferi Outer Surface Protein C Is Not the Sole Determinant of Dissemination in Mammals

Lyme disease in the United States is most often caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto. After a tick bite, the patient may develop erythema migrans at that site. ABSTRACT Lyme disease in the United States is most often caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto. After a tick bite, the patient may develop erythema migrans at that site. If hematogenous dissemination occurs, the patient may then develop neurologic manifestations, carditis, or arthritis. Host-pathogen interactions include factors that contribute to hematogenous dissemination to other body sites. Outer surface protein C (OspC), a surface-exposed lipoprotein of B. burgdorferi, is essential during the early stages of mammalian infection. There is a high degree of genetic variation at the ospC locus, and certain ospC types are more frequently associated with hematogenous dissemination in patients, suggesting that OspC may be a major contributing factor to the clinical outcome of B. burgdorferi infection. In order to evaluate the role of OspC in B. burgdorferi dissemination, ospC was exchanged between B. burgdorferi isolates with different capacities to disseminate in laboratory mice, and these strains were then tested for their ability to disseminate in mice. The results indicated that the ability of B. burgdorferi to disseminate in mammalian hosts does not depend on OspC alone. The complete genome sequences of two closely related strains of B. burgdorferi with differing dissemination phenotypes were determined, but a specific genetic locus that could explain the differences in the phenotypes could not be definitively identified. The animal studies performed clearly demonstrated that OspC is not the sole determinant of dissemination. Future studies of the type described here with additional borrelial strains will hopefully clarify the genetic elements associated with hematogenous dissemination.
Factors associated with vaccine coverage improvements in Senegal between 2005 and 2019: a quantitative retrospective analysis

Objective Senegal has demonstrated catalytic improvements in national coverage rates for early childhood vaccination, despite lower development assistance for childhood vaccines in Senegal compared with other low-income and lower-middle income countries. Understanding factors associated with historical changes in childhood vaccine coverage in Senegal, as well as heterogeneities across its 14 regions, can highlight effective practices that might be adapted to improve vaccine coverage elsewhere. Design Childhood vaccination coverage rates, demographic information and health system characteristics were identified from Senegal’s Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Senegal national reports for years 2005–2019. Multivariate logistic and linear regression analyses were performed to determine statistical associations of demographic and health system characteristics with respect to childhood vaccination coverage rates. Setting The 14 administrative regions of Senegal were chosen for analysis. Participants DHS women’s survey respondents with living children aged 12–23 months for survey years 2005–2019. Outcome measures Immunisation with the third dose of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine (DTP3), widely used as a proxy for estimating immunisation coverage levels and the retention of children in the vaccine programme. Results Factors associated with childhood vaccination coverage include urban residence (β=0.61, p=0.0157), female literacy (β=1.11, p=0.0007), skilled prenatal care (β=1.80, p<0.0001) and self-reported ease of access to care when sick, considering travel distance to a healthcare facility (β=−0.70, p=0.0009) and concerns over travelling alone (β=−1.08, p<0.0001). Higher coverage with less variability over time was reported in urban areas near the capital and the coast (p=0.076), with increased coverage in recent years in more rural and landlocked areas. Conclusions Childhood vaccination was more likely among children whose mothers had higher literacy, received skilled prenatal care and had perceived ease of access to care when sick. Overall, vaccination coverage is high in Senegal and disparities in coverage between regions have decreased significantly in recent years.
Medical Student Attitudes to Patient Involvement in Healthcare.

Objective Patient involvement is used to describe the inclusion of patients as active participants in healthcare. This may pertain to patient involvement in medical (treatment) decision-making or patient involvement in healthcare research. Little is known about the attitudes of incoming medical students towards such patient involvement in healthcare. The aim of this study was, therefore, to investigate incoming year 1 medical students' attitudes and opinions regarding patient involvement in healthcare and research. Methods We partnered with four year 2 MBChB (medicine) students when formulating the design of the study survey to ensure we communicated effectively with incoming students. Approval for this study was obtained from the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences (MVLS) Ethics Committee for Non-clinical Research Involving Human Participants [No: 200210131] and the informed consent of all participants obtained.All incoming year 1 MBChB (medical) students (n = 333) were invited to take part in an online survey before formal teaching commenced.The survey included questions with Likert scales and three short vignette scenarios.The scenarios were designed with the aim of probing student attitudes towards patient involvement linked to existing legal precedent.Results 15% of invited students responded to the survey. The data indicate that participants were broadly familiar with, and supportive of, current legal precent relating to patient involvement in their own treatment. There was least support for patient involvement in conducting (22.4%), contributing to (34.7%) or communicating research (30.6%), although there was unanimous support for patients' lived experiences of innovative treatment shaping future practice (100%). Conclusion Incoming members of the medical profession demonstrate awareness of the need to actively include patients in healthcare decision-making pertaining to treatment.Participants notably demonstrate agreement that patients be involved in broader management decision-making. There is, conversely, a lack of awareness of how patient involvement in research practices may be of utility and value.Further empirical studies are required to examine attitudes to patient involvement in healthcare.
Augmented designs to assess principal strata direct effects

Summary. Many studies involving causal questions are often concerned with understanding the causal pathways by which a treatment affects an outcome. Thus, the concept of ‘direct’versus‘indirect’ effects comes into play. We tackle the problem of disentangling direct and indirect effects by investigating new augmented experimental designs, where the treatment is randomized, and the mediating variable is not forced, but only randomly encouraged. There are two key features of our framework: we adopt a principal stratification approach, and we mainly focus on principal strata effects, avoiding involving a priori counterfactual outcomes. Using non‐parametric identification strategies, we provide a set of assumptions, which allow us to identify partially the causal estimands of interest: the principal strata direct effects. Some examples are shown to illustrate our design and causal estimands of interest. Large sample bounds for the principal strata average direct effects are provided, and a simple hypothetical example is used to show how our augmented design can be implemented and how the bounds can be calculated. Finally our augmented design is compared and contrasted with a standard randomized design.
An efficient data integration scheme for synthesizing information from multiple secondary datasets for the parameter inference of the main analysis

Many observational studies and clinical trials collect various secondary outcomes that may be highly correlated with the primary endpoint. These secondary outcomes are often analyzed in secondary analyses separately from the main data analysis. However, these secondary outcomes can be used to improve the estimation precision in the main analysis. We propose a method called multiple information borrowing (MinBo) that borrows information from secondary data (containing secondary outcomes and covariates) to improve the efficiency of the main analysis. The proposed method is robust against model misspecification of the secondary data. Both theoretical and case studies demonstrate that MinBo outperforms existing methods in terms of efficiency gain. We apply MinBo to data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study to assess risk factors for hypertension.
Glacial abrupt climate change as a multi-scale phenomenon resulting from monostable excitable dynamics

Paleoclimate proxies reveal abrupt transitions of the North Atlantic climate during past glacial intervals known as Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events. A central feature of DO events is a sudden warming of about 10°C in Greenland marking the beginning relatively mild phases termed interstadials. These exhibit gradual cooling over several hundred to a few thousand years until a final abrupt decline brings the temperatures back to cold stadial levels. As of now, the exact mechanism behind this millennial-scale variability remains inconclusive. Here, we propose an excitable model to explain Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles, where interstadials occur as noise-induced state space excursions. Our model comprises the mutual multi-scale interactions between four dynamical variables representing Arctic atmospheric temperatures, Nordic Seas’ temperatures and sea ice cover, and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The model’s atmosphere-ocean heat flux is moderated by the sea ice, which in turn is subject to large perturbations dynamically generated by fast evolving intermittent noise. If supercritical, perturbations trigger interstadial-like state space excursions during which all four model variables undergo qualitative changes that consistently resemble the signature of interstadials in corresponding proxy records. As a physical intermittent process generating the noise we propose convective events in the ocean or atmospheric blocking events. Our model accurately reproduces the DO cycle shape, return times and the dependence of the interstadial and stadial durations on the background conditions. In contrast to the prevailing understanding that DO variability is based on bistability in the underlying dynamics, we show that multi-scale, monostable excitable dynamics provides a promising alternative to explain millennial-scale climate variability associated with DO events.
On small non-uniform hypergraphs without property B

For a given hypergraph H = (V, E) consider the sum q(H) of 2^{−|e|} over e ∈ E. Consider the class of hypergraphs whose smallest edge is of size n and for which every 2-colouring has a monochromatic edge. Let q(n) be the smallest value of q(H) in this class. We provide a survey of the known bounds on q(n) and make some minor refinements.
Enhancing Older Adults’ Gesture Typing Experience Using the T9 Keyboard on Small Touchscreen Devices

Older adults increasingly adopt small-screen devices, but limited motor dexterity hinders their ability to type effectively. While a 9-key (T9) keyboard allocates larger space to each key, it is shared by multiple consecutive letters. Consequently, users must interrupt their gestures when typing consecutive letters, leading to inefficiencies and poor user experience. Thus, we proposed a novel keyboard that leverages the currently unused key 1 to duplicate letters from the previous key, allowing the entry of consecutive letters without interruptions. A user study with 12 older adults showed that it significantly outperformed the T9 with wiggle gesture in typing speed, KSPC, insertion errors, and deletes per word while achieving comparable performance as the conventional T9. Repeating the typing tasks with 12 young adults found that the advantages of the novel T9 were consistent or enhanced. We also provide error analysis and design considerations for improving gesture typing on T9 for older adults.
End-to-End Deep Visual Control for Mastering Needle-Picking Skills With World Models and Behavior Cloning

—Needle picking is a challenging surgical task in robot-assisted surgery due to the characteristics of small slender shapes of needles, needles’ variations in shapes and sizes, and demands for millimeter-level control. Prior works, heavily relying on the prior of needles (e.g., geometric models), are hard to scale to unseen needles’ variations. In addition, visual tracking errors can not be minimized online using their approaches. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end deep visual learning framework for needle-picking tasks where both visual and control components can be learned jointly online. Our proposed framework integrates a state-of-the-art reinforcement learning framework, Dreamer, with behavior cloning (BC). Besides, two novel techniques, i.e., Virtual Clutch and Dynamic Spotlight Adaptation (DSA), are introduced to our end-to-end visual controller for needle-picking tasks. We conducted extensive experiments in simulation to evaluate the performance, robustness, variation adaptation, and effectiveness of individual components of our method. Our approach, trained by 8k demonstration timesteps and 140k online policy timesteps, can achieve a remarkable success rate of 80 % , a new state-of-the-art with end-to-end vision-based surgical robot learning for delicate operations tasks. Furthermore, our method effectively demonstrated its superiority in generalization to unseen dynamic scenarios with needle variations and image disturbance, highlighting its robustness and versatility. Codes and videos are available at https://sites.google. com/view/dreamerbc.
Exchange Rate Pass-Through and Data Frequency: Firm-Level Evidence from Bangladesh

The vast literature on exchange rate fluctuations estimates the exchange rate pass-through (ERPT). Most ERPT studies consider annually aggregated data for developed or large developing countries for estimating ERPT. These estimates vary widely depending on the type of country, data coverage, and frequency. However, the ERPT estimation using firm-level high-frequency export data of a small developing country is rare. In this paper, I estimate the pricing to market and the exchange rate pass-through at a monthly, quarterly, and annual level of data frequency to deal with aggregation bias. Furthermore, I investigate how delivery time-based factors such as frequent shipments and faster transport affect a firm`s pricing-to-market behavior. Using transaction-level export data of Bangladesh from 2005 to 2013 and the Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimation method, I find very small pricing to the markets to the exchange rates in the exporter's price. As pass-through shows how the exporters respond to macro shocks, for Bangladesh, this low export price response to the exchange rate changes indicates that currency devaluation might not have a significant effect on the exporter. The minimal price response and high pass-through contrast with the literature on incomplete pass-through at the annual level. By considering the characteristics of the firms, products, and destinations, I investigate the heterogeneity of the pass-through. The findings remain consistent with several robustness checks.