Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Awareness of primary immunodeficiency diseases at a national pediatric reference center in Peru

ABSTRACT Objective To investigate the level of awareness of primary immunodeficiency diseases among physicians working at Instituto Nacional de Salud del Niño. Methods Cross-sectional study including pediatric residents and pediatricians working at the Instituto Nacional de Salud del Niño during the study period (2017-2019). Physicians working at the immunology unit and surgery departments were excluded. Three aspects of awareness of primary immunodeficiency diseases were investigated: education, general knowledge, and diagnostic suspicion and actions taken in the face of suspicion. Results This sample comprised 83 physicians with a median age of 33 years. Most physicians were women (71.1%) and half were pediatric residents. During their undergraduate studies, 43.1% had taken primary immunodeficiency disease courses, and 39.2% had attended conferences on this topic. During their residency training, 25.9% had taken primary immunodeficiency disease courses, and 60.3% had participated in conferences on this topic. Among pediatricians, 50% had taken primary immunodeficiency disease courses, and 53.1% had attended conferences on this topic. Only 39.8% of physicians reported being familiar with the list of 10 warning signs developed by the Jeffrey Modell Foundation. More than half of physicians considered the lack of access to laboratory tests the major challenge in making diagnosis of primary immunodeficiency diseases. Conclusion This study revealed limited awareness of primary immunodeficiency diseases among physicians working at Instituto Nacional de Salud del Niño. Although most physicians suspected primary immunodeficiency diseases in patients with a history of recurrent infections and frequent use of antibiotics, not all of them were familiar with the list of 10 warning signs proposed by the Jeffrey Modell Foundation, nor were they able to describe ancillary tests requested in suspected cases.
Static Culture Combined with Aeration in Biosynthesis of Bacterial Cellulose

One of the ways to enhance the yield of bacterial cellulose (BC) is by using dynamic aeration and different-type bioreactors because the microbial producers are strict aerobes. But in this case, the BC quality tends to worsen. Here we have combined static culture with aeration in the biosynthesis of BC by symbiotic Medusomyces gisevii Sa-12 for the first time. A new aeration method by feeding the air onto the growth medium surface is proposed herein. The culture was performed in a Binder-400 climate chamber. The study found that the air feed at a rate of 6.3 L/min allows a 25% increase in the BC yield. Moreover, this aeration mode resulted in BC samples of stable quality. The thermogravimetric and X-ray structural characteristics were retained: the crystallinity index in reflection and transmission geometries were 89% and 92%, respectively, and the allomorph Iα content was 94%. Slight decreases in the degree of polymerization (by 12.0% compared to the control―no aeration) and elastic modulus (by 12.6%) are not critical. Thus, the simple aeration by feeding the air onto the culture medium surface has turned out to be an excellent alternative to dynamic aeration. Usually, when the cultivation conditions, including the aeration ones, are changed, characteristics of the resultant BC are altered either, due to the sensitivity of individual microbial strains. In our case, the stable parameters of BC samples under variable aeration conditions are explained by the concomitant factors: the new efficient aeration method and the highly adaptive microbial producer―symbiotic Medusomyces gisevii Sa-12.
Performance optimization of Gaussian apodized fiber Bragg grating filters in WDM systems

Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) with Gaussian apodization profiles and zero de index change are studied extensively and optimized for optical filtering in 40-Gb/s single-channel and WDM systems with channel spacing of 100 and 200 GHz, for a single filter and for a cascade of optical filters. In the single-filter case, the optimized FBG leads practically to the same performance for single-channel and WDM systems, due to its low crosstalk introduction. The optimized filter is nonflat-top, with delay distortion below 7 ps, -3 dB bandwidth between 60 and 90 GHz, and is very robust to a variation of the grating length and the dc effective index change. For a cascade of optical filters and a WDM system with channel spacing of 100 GHz, the FBG must be designed carefully due to a tradeoff between crosstalk and accumulated distortion. This tradeoff leads to 1.2 dB of sensitivity degradation relative to the single-filter case, and the optimized filter approaches the flat-top response with -3 dB bandwidth between 110 and 130 GHz and delay distortion of about 3 ps. For a 200-GHz channel spacing, that tradeoff is lessened and the FBG optimization is mainly ruled by the distortion accumulation.
Grid-Forming Control Suitable for Large Power Transmission System Applications

The inner cascaded structure-based grid-forming control is a typical solution used to impose an AC voltage magnitude across the output filters of the power inverters. Yet, because of the limited inverter’s bandwidth resulting from the low-switching frequencies in transmission systems, the interaction (i.e., coupling) between control loops is highly likely making the understanding of the system behavior complex and its simplification unaffordable and may also lead to instabilities. The novelty of this paper consists in proposing a simple open-loop direct voltage control to reduce the number of the inner control regulators, and thereby guaranteeing a decoupling between the inner and outer control layers as well as increasing the system stability margin. This statement is well supported with a small-signal analysis and progressive order model reduction of the system. The overall concept is validated in a 10-bus grid case while comparing the EMT and Phasor-based simulations. The practical feasibility of the control itself is experimentally proved with different test cases.
Who depends on whom? Uganda’s refugee ‘success story’, corruption and the international community

Abstract The progressive refugee policy of the Ugandan government has been widely applauded as a success story, and Uganda has been depicted as a role model. This article argues how the perceived success created a situation of mutual dependency between the Ugandan government and the international community. While the Ugandan government relied on aid from the international community, the international community had interests in the success story as proof that their policies work (for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), and in response to the European migration crisis (for bilateral donor governments). Nevertheless, in 2018, it emerged that the Ugandan refugee policy suffered from large-scale corruption. The article argues that the mutual dependency provided a fertile breeding ground for corruption, and negatively impacted accountability. Similarly to how the Museveni regime has been able to benefit from an image of success to deflect accountability on governance transgressions in the past, it has now largely managed to evade accountability for corruption in its refugee policy.
Sensitivity of three thyrotropin receptor antibody assays in thyroid-associated orbitopathy

Background Thyrotropin receptor autoantibodies (TSH-RAb) are indispensable biomarkers in the laboratory assessment of thyroid-associated orbitopathy (TAO). Clinical sensitivity of three different assays for TSH-R-Ab determination was evaluated in patients with TAO. Methods 87 consecutive TAO patients were enrolled and their serum samples analyzed in parallel with three assays. An ECLIA competitive binding and a chemiluminescent bridge immunoassay were used to measure total and binding TSH-R-Ab concentration, while their functional activity was determined using a stimulatory TSH-R-Ab (TSAb) cellbased bioassay. Results Compared to the two binding assays (ECLIA p<0.001, bridge p=0.003), the TSAb bioassay was more sensitive pertaining to the positive detection of TSH-R-Ab in TAO patients. No difference (p=0.057) was noted between the ECLIA and bridge assays regarding sensitivity rate. All patients with active and/or moderate-to-severe TAO tested positive in the TSAb bioassay (100% and 100%, respectively), while the positivity rates for bridge and ECLIA binding assays were 89.7% and 82.1% for active TAO, and 90.2% and 86.3% for severe TAO, respectively. Negative predictive values of the bioassay, bridge, and ECLIA assays were 100%, 75%, and 71%, respectively for active TAO, and 100%, 86%, and 71%, respectively for moderate-to-severe TAO. The superiority of the bioassay was most prominent in euthyroid (ET) TAO. Positivity rates of the TSAb bioassay, bridge and ECLIA binding assays were 89.6%, 75%, and 64.6%, respectively for inactive TAO; 86.1%, 69.4%, and 52.8%, respectively for mild TAO; 87.5%, 62.5%, and 12.5%, respectively for euthyroid TAO. The bridge assay correlated better with the ECLIA binding assay (r=0.893, p<0.001), compared to the bioassay (r=0.669, p<0.001). Conclusions In patients with TAO of various activity and severity, the TSAb bioassay demonstrates a superior clinical performance compared to both ECLIA and bridge binding assays.
Mechanism of Zn2+ and Ca2+ Binding to Human S100A1

S100A1 is a member of the S100 family of small ubiquitous Ca2+-binding proteins, which participates in the regulation of cell differentiation, motility, and survival. It exists as homo- or heterodimers. S100A1 has also been shown to bind Zn2+, but the molecular mechanisms of this binding are not yet known. In this work, using ESI-MS and ITC, we demonstrate that S100A1 can coordinate 4 zinc ions per monomer, with two high affinity (KD~4 and 770 nm) and two low affinity sites. Using competitive binding experiments between Ca2+ and Zn2+ and QM/MM molecular modeling we conclude that Zn2+ high affinity sites are located in the EF-hand motifs of S100A1. In addition, two lower affinity sites can bind Zn2+ even when the EF-hands are saturated by Ca2+, resulting in a 2Ca2+:S100A1:2Zn2+ conformer. Finally, we show that, in contrast to calcium, an excess of Zn2+ produces a destabilizing effect on S100A1 structure and leads to its aggregation. We also determined a higher affinity to Ca2+ (KD~0.16 and 24 μm) than was previously reported for S100A1, which would allow this protein to function as a Ca2+/Zn2+-sensor both inside and outside cells, participating in diverse signaling pathways under normal and pathological conditions.
Lack of interest? Self and peer assessment as a means to improve students’ engagement

ABSTRACT In their first year of university, students perceive some courses as least related to their degree, and hence, show a lack of motivation in them, dedicating more time to those that they consider as more related to their degree. This leads to a decrease in students’ performance in these courses, even when they have sufficient capacity to do well. Moreover, it is observed that students are not aware of their knowledge level regarding the course content and generally overestimate it. This paper presents a method to increase students’ engagement in parts of the courses that are most difficult. This method was tested in one course, and the results support its effectiveness.
Breaking the psychological contract of travel agency employees during the COVID-19 pandemic: The moderating role of mindfulness

This study investigates the influence of psychological contract breach (PCB) on work-related attitudes and behaviors (i.e., organizational cynicism, workplace incivility and work alienation) and employees’ emotional exhaustion. It also examines the direct association between these attitudes and behaviors and emotional exhaustion as well as investigating how mindfulness moderates these associations. Based on a quantitative approach, data were collected from 437 employees of Egyptian travel agencies. The PLS-SEM analysis revealed that PCB positively affects employees’ emotional exhaustion and job-related attitudes as well as behaviors, which consequently impact their emotional exhaustion. The findings indicated that the effect of organizational cynicism, workplace incivility, and work alienation on emotional exhaustion is weaker with higher levels of mindfulness and greater with lower levels of mindfulness. Besides its theoretical contributions, this paper presents substantial practical insights and managerial implications for managers of travel agencies regarding the outcomes of PCB. Limitations and future research are also given.
Comprehensibility evaluation and redesign of safety/warning pictograms used on pesticide packaging in Central India

Abstract In the central Indian context, there are some pictograms used in almost all the pesticides packages. The objective of this study was to evaluate the existing pictograms used on pesticide packaging in the Indian context and redesign the same in tandem with the ergonomic attributes of the local users. Twelve frequently used pictograms were selected for ergonomic analysis and redesign in tandem with the local context. Two experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 focused on the evaluation of the existing pictograms for comprehensibility and their adherence with different ergonomic principles of familiarity, compatibility and standardization. Experiment 2 focused on the redesigning of these pictograms and further evaluation of the redesigned pictograms similar to that of experiment 1. Experiment 1 indicated that the mean Comprehension level for the existing pictograms was at 52.2% (SD ± 30.8). The mean score of the existing pictograms for Familiarity was at 6.4 (SD ± 1.8), Compatibility at 6.2 (SD ± 1.8) and Standardization at 6.1 (SD ± 1.9). Correlation between the Comprehension level and the ergonomic principles were significant (p < 0.05 for all), r = 0.85 between the Comprehension level and Familiarity, r = 0.84 between the Comprehension level and Compatibility, r = 0.84 between the Comprehension level and Standardization. Experiment 2indicated that the mean Comprehension level of the redesigned pictograms was 82.2% (SD ± 11.9). The mean score of the redesigned pictograms for Familiarity was at 8.0 (SD ± 0.3), Compatibility at 8.2 (SD ± 0.3) and Standardization at 8.2 (SD ± 0.3). Correlation between the Comprehension level and the ergonomic principles were significant (for p < 0.05 for all) and r = 0.62 between the Comprehension level and Familiarity, r = 0.74 between the Comprehension level and Compatibility, r = 0.8 between the Comprehension level and Standardization). Results indicated a significant improvement in the comprehensibility of the redesigned pictograms. The findings of this study might be helpful to the researchers working in the visual ergonomics of pictograms in the agriculture sector.
Modeling Parking Search on a Network by Using Stochastic Shortest Paths with History Dependence

A substantial amount of urban traffic is related to drivers searching for parking. This study developed an online stochastic shortest path model to represent the parking search process in which drivers must choose whether to park at an available space or continue searching for a space closer to their destination. Existing online shortest path algorithms had been formulated for the full-reset or no-reset assumptions on revisiting links. As described in this paper, neither assumption was fully suitable for the parking search process. Accordingly, this paper proposes an asymptotic reset model that generalizes the full-reset and no-reset cases and uses the concept of reset rate to characterize the temporal dependence of parking probabilities on earlier observations. In this model, drivers try to minimize their expected travel cost, which includes the driving cost and the cost of walking from a parking spot to the actual destination conditioned on the parking availability on m most recently traversed links. The problem was formulated as a Markov decision process and was demonstrated with a network representing the neighborhood of the University of Wyoming campus in Laramie. The case study successfully shows the extra time used by drivers to cruise for an acceptable parking space and illustrates the impact of m on the computation effort required to compute an optimal policy.
Single event upset rates on 1 Mbit and 256 Kbit memories: CRUX experiment on APEX

This paper presents the results from the CRUX experiment on the Air Force APEX satellite. The experiment monitors single event upsets on screened commercial 256 Kbit and 1 Mbit SRAMs. It is shown that trapped protons dominate the single event upset rates, as evidenced by correlation with measured proton flux peaks and with flux contours calculated with the AP8 model. Pitfalls of using generic ground test data are made clearly evident.
Numerical Assessment of a Sustainable Blast Protection Wall

Terrorist attacks have increased in the past few years in different countries. Explosions are problem that has significant impact on human life, as well as the social and economic situations. Engineers have designed targeted structures to mitigate blast effects. However, design blast-resistant systems is pricey and not suitable choice in most cases. Therefore, install blast barriers to protect occupants and instructed can reduce casualties and losses. Most current studies have investigated the performance of multi-layer composite blast barriers composed of advanced materials, which is not only costly, but require skilled labour to construct. The present study conducts numerical analysis of eco-friendly composite blast protection wall to mitigate blast. The wall structure consists of two face-sheet of adobe brick and core layer of crushed recycled aggregate. The analysis framework includes three different blast wall models using ABAQUS®. The explosive charge of 1-kilogram TNT is placed at different standoff distances from 0.25 to 4.0 meter in front of the wall. The authors conclude sustainable materials to design blast barriers could be effective in reducing the intensity of explosions in certain blast scenarios. The thickness of the core layer and standoff distance have the main contribution to identify the blast response of the blast wall. For instance, the calculated out-of-plane displacement results showed when 1- kg TNT place at 0.5-m from the wall, and thickness of the core increases from 30-cm to 60-cm, the displacement decreases by 38.74%. While the acceleration decreases by 75% for the same range of increase of thickness of the core layer. The present study calls researchers to investigate the performance of low-cost, and environment-friendly materials to attenuate abnormal loads wether are man-made or natural hazards.
Dramatic shift in the epidemiology of peptic ulcer in Japan: the impact of Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy

Abstract Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy was included with insurance coverage from 1999 onwards in Japan, with the incidence of peptic ulcer expected to decrease as a consequence. This study investigated the temporal dynamics of peptic ulcer in Japan and identified underlying contributory factors using mathematical models. We investigated the seroprevalence of H. pylori and analysed a snapshot of peptic ulcer cases. Ten statistical models that incorporated important events – H. pylori infection, the cohort effect, eradication therapy and the natural trend for reduction – were fitted to the case data. The hazard of infection with H. pylori was extracted from published estimates. Models were compared using the Akaike information criterion (AIC), and factor contributions were quantified using the coefficient of determination. The best-fit model indicated that 88.1% of the observed snapshot of cases (AIC = 289.2) included the effects of (i) H. pylori infection, (ii) the cohort effect and (iii) eradication therapy, as explanatory variables, the contributions of which were 80.8%, 4.0% and 3.2%, respectively. Among inpatients, a simpler model with (i) H. pylori infection only was favoured (AIC = 107.7). The time-dependent epidemiological dynamics of peptic ulcers were captured and H. pylori infection and eradication therapy explained ⩾84% of the dramatic decline in peptic ulcer occurrence.
Safety of Five Tuina Manipulations in Rats with Deep Vein Thrombosis

Objective To study the effects of five tuina manipulations in rats with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and to explore how to safely perform tuina in the treatment of thrombotic diseases. Methods Seventy-two male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into the model, pointing manipulation, plucking manipulation, kneading manipulation, pushing manipulation, and pulling manipulation groups (n = 12). DVT model was established by incomplete ligation. The tuina intervention was started on the next day after modeling and applied once a day 10 times by the manipulation simulators. On the 3rd and 10th days after intervention, respectively, the effects of tuina on thrombosis were evaluated based on thrombus elasticity, blood coagulation, fibrinolytic function and blood rheology with the ultrasound elastography, four coagulation tests, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and hemorheology tests. Results In the pointing manipulation group, the strain rate ratio, 6-ketoprostaglandin F1α (6-Keto-PGF1α), and high shear rate were decreased, and the thromboxane B2 (TXB2) content was increased (P < 0.05). In the plucking manipulation group, the D-dimer and 6-Keto-PGF1α contents were increased, prothrombin time (PT) was shortened, and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) was activated, and the high shear rate and plasma viscosity were decreased (P < 0.05). In the kneading manipulation group, APTT was shortened, and 6-Keto-PGF1α, high shear rate, and plasma viscosity were decreased (P < 0.05). In the pushing manipulation group, the strain rate ratio, low shear rate, and high shear rate were all decreased (P < 0.05). In the pulling manipulation group, both the strain rate ratio and the low shear rate were decreased (P < 0.05). The 6-Keto-PGF1α changes on the 3rd and 10th days after intervention were opposite in the pushing manipulation group and the pulling manipulation group (P < 0.05). Conclusion The pointing, pushing, and pulling manipulations seem to be safe in the early period of thrombosis, but the risk is likely to be elevated as the treatment course of intervention increases. The plucking and kneading manipulations potentially have certain risks in the treatment of DVT in rats.
GNSS Imaging of Strain Rate Changes and Vertical Crustal Motions over the Tibetan Plateau

In this paper, we perform a comprehensive analysis of contemporary three-dimensional crustal deformations over the Tibetan Plateau. Considering that the coverage of continuous GNSS sites in the Tibetan Plateau is sparse, a newly designed method that mainly contains Spatial Structure Function (SSF) construction and Median Spatial Filtering (MSF) is adopted to conduct GNSS imaging of point-wise velocities, which can well reveal the spatial pattern of vertical crustal motions. The result illustrates that the Himalayan belt bordering Nepal appears significant uplift at the rates of ~3.5 mm/yr, while the low-altitude regions of Nepal and Bhutan near the Tibetan Plateau are undergoing subsidence. The result suggests that the subduction of the Indian plate is the driving force of the uplift and subsidence in the Himalayan belt and its adjacent regions. Similarly, the thrusting of the Tarim Basin is the main factor of the slight uplift and subsidence in the Tianshan Mountains and Tarim Basin, respectively. In addition, we estimate the strain rate changes over the Tibetan Plateau using high-resolution GNSS horizontal velocities. The result indicates that the Himalayan belt and southeastern Tibetan Plateau have accumulated a large amount of strain rate due to the Indian-Eurasian plate collision and blockage of the South China block, respectively.