Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Predictive Value of Epicardial Fat Tissue Volume in the Occurrence and Development of Atrial Fibrillation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most common arrhythmias in clinical practice. Although fat is currently considered to be a risk factor for AF and a pathogenic link between epicardial fat tissue (EFT) and AF has been speculated, there are currently few clinical studies and literature data domestically or abroad. Objective This study conducted a meta-analysis of observational case series studies to verify the relationship between atrial fibrillation and EFT and to strengthen the predictive value of EFT in the occurrence, development, and postablative recurrence of AF. Methods We conducted a systematic search of the literature in electronic databases until December 2021 and supplemented this through manual searches of individual studies, reviewed articles, and reference lists in conference proceedings. This study conducted a meta-analysis to compare the differences between different populations, such as healthy participants and AF patients, healthy subjects and AF subtype cases, and paroxysmal and persistent AF with AF recurrence and without AF recurrence after ablation. Results Following the retrieval of 828 articles, only 22 articles were selected as research results. Accordingly, the meta-analysis results show that the volume of EFT in AF is greater than that in healthy subjects (MD = 39.34 ml, 95% CI = 27.11, 51.58); persistent AF is greater than paroxysmal AF (MD = 14.37 ml, 95% CI = 7.46, 21.27); and recurrence after ablation is greater than without recurrence (MD = 14.37 ml, 95% CI = 7.46, 21.27). Conclusion The results of this study further confirm the connection between EFT and AF and that EFT has a certain predictive value for the occurrence and development of AF.
Production of quantum-degenerate strontium gases

We report on an improved scheme to generate Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) and degenerate Fermi gases of strontium. This scheme allows us to create quantum gases with higher atom number, a shorter time of the experimental cycle, or deeper quantum degeneracy than before. We create a BEC of 84-Sr exceeding 10^7 atoms, which is a 30-fold improvement over previously reported experiments. We increase the atom number of 86-Sr BECs to 2.5x10^4 (a fivefold improvement), and refine the generation of attractively interacting 88-Sr BECs. We present a scheme to generate 84-Sr BECs with a cycle time of 2s, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the shortest cycle time of BEC experiments ever reported. We create deeply-degenerate 87-Sr Fermi gases with T/T_F as low as 0.10(1), where the number of populated nuclear spin states can be set to any value between one and ten. Furthermore, we report on a total of five different double-degenerate Bose-Bose and Bose-Fermi mixtures. These studies prepare an excellent starting point for applications of strontium quantum gases anticipated in the near future.
A joint Chandra and XMM-Newton view of Abell 3158: a massive off-centre cool gas clump as a robust diagnostic of a merger stage

In previous works, the nearby galaxy cluster Abell 3158 was reported to possess a relatively regular, relaxed morphology in the X-ray band. By analysing the Chandra and XMM-Newton archived data of Abell 3158, we have identified a bow-edge-shaped discontinuity in the X-ray surface brightness distribution about 120 h -1 71 kpc west of the X-ray peak. This feature is found to be associated with a massive, off-centre cool gas clump, and actually forms the west boundary of the cool clump. By calculating the thermal gas pressures in the cool clump and in the free-stream region, we determine that the cool gas clump is moving at a subsonic velocity of 700 +140 -340 km s -1 (M = 0.6 +0.1 -0.3 ) towards west on the sky plane. We exclude the possibility that this cool clump was formed by local inhomogeneous radiative cooling in the intracluster medium, because of the effectiveness of the thermal conduction on the time-scale of ∼. 3 Gyr. As no evidence for central active galactic nucleus activity has been found in Abell 3158, and this cool clump bears many similarities to the off-centre cool gas clumps detected in other merging clusters in terms of their mass, size, location and thermal properties (e.g. lower temperature and higher abundance as compared with the environment), we speculate that the cool clump in Abell 3158 was caused by a merger event, and is the remnant of the original central cool-core of the main cluster or the infalling subcluster. This idea is supported not only by the study of the line-of-sight velocity distribution of the cluster member galaxies, but also by the study of the gas entropy-temperature correlation. This example shows that the appearance of such massive, off-centre cool gas clumps can be used to diagnose the dynamical state of a cluster, especially when prominent shocks and cold fronts are absent.
Analytical solution for light propagation in Schwarzschild field having an accuracy of 1 micro-arcsecond

Numerical integration of the differential equations of light propagation in the Schwarzschild metric shows that in some extreme situations relevant for practical observations (e.g. for Gaia) the well-known standard post-Newtonian formula for the boundary problem has an error up to 16 \muas. The aim of this note is to identify the reason for this error and to derive an extended formula accurate at the level of 1 \muas as needed e.g. for Gaia. The analytical parametrized post-post-Newtonian solution for light propagation derived by \citet{report1} gives the solution for the boundary problem with all analytical terms of order $\OO4$ taken into account. Giving an analytical upper estimates of each term we investigate which post-post-Newtonian terms may play a role for an observer in the solar system at the level of 1 \muas. We conclude that only one post-post-Newtonian term remains important for this numerical accuracy and derive a simplified analytical solution for the boundary problem for light propagation containing all the terms that are indeed relevant at the level of 1 \muas. The derived analytical solution has been verified using the results of a high-accuracy numerical integration of differential equations of light propagation and found to be correct at the level well below 1 \muas for arbitrary observer situated within the solar system.
SQUID Metamaterials: Tuneability and Multistability

An overview of several dynamic properties of SQUID metamaterials is given in the presence of both constant and alternating magnetic field. The total current as a function of the driving frequency exhibits hysteretic effects which are favored by low levels of disorder. Multistability in the current states leads to multiple magnetic responses with different value of magnetic permeability. SQUID metamaterials exhibit wide-band tuneability which is periodic with the applied constant magnetic field; the numerical calculations reproduce fairly well recent experimental results. Current work also reveals the possibility for wave transmission through nonlinear bands, which is briefly discussed.
GRAIN ALIGNMENT IN STARLESS CORES

We present near-IR polarimetry data of background stars shining through a selection of starless cores taken in the K band, probing visual extinctions up to A V ∼ 48 ? > . We find that P K / τ K ? > continues to decline with increasing AV with a power law slope of roughly −0.5. Examination of published submillimeter (submm) polarimetry of starless cores suggests that by A V ≳ 20 ? > the slope for P versus τ becomes ∼−1, indicating no grain alignment at greater optical depths. Combining these two data sets, we find good evidence that, in the absence of a central illuminating source, the dust grains in dense molecular cloud cores with no internal radiation source cease to become aligned with the local magnetic field at optical depths greater than A V ∼ 20 ? > . A simple model relating the alignment efficiency to the optical depth into the cloud reproduces the observations well.
Prevalence of anemia and associated factors among Under-five children attended at Bule Hora general hospital, West Guji zone, Oromia region, Southern Ethiopia

Background: Anemia adversely affects the children mental, physical and social development, particularly in Africa. In the early stages of life, it leads to severe negative consequences on the cognitive as well as growth and development children. Objective: This study is aimed to assess the prevalence of anemia and its associated factors among under five children attending at Bule Hora General Hospital, Guji Zone, Southern Ethiopia, from October to November, 2020. Method: A hospital based quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted at Bule Hora General Hospital, Southern Ethiopia. Convenient sampling technique was used to include 375 under-five children enrolled in the study. The pretested structure questionnaire was used to collect socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of study individuals after taking appropriate written informed consent. Then venous blood sample was collected from each child and analyzed for hemoglobin determination using Cell-DYN 1800 machine. Binary logistic regression models were used to identify associated factors of anemia. P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Result: The overall prevalence of anemia among under-five children was 13.2 % (50) at [95% CI=5.2-21.2%] of them anemic children, 11.1% (1) were had mild, 33.3% (3) moderate 55.6% (5) is severe anemia. In this study anemia was significantly associated with history of intestinal protozoa infection [AOR=2.13, 95% CI=1.35-9.270], malaria infection [AOR=5.42, 95% CI=0.307-11.034] and soil-transmitted helminths infection [AOR=6.09, 95% CI=2.047-27.54]. Conclusion: Anemia among under-five children in this study was found to be mild public health problem. It could be managed through preventing malaria infection, intestinal protozoa and soil-transmitted helminthic infection. Feeding related factors: nutrition knowledge, food insecurity, dietary diversity practices, animal product (no eating meat), meal frequency, breastfeeding practice, and introduction complementary Health care and diseases characteristics: Acute blood loss, blood transfusion reaction, surgical procedure, recent history of accident, history of intestinal protozoan infections, history of malaria infection, epistaxis, history soil-transmitted helminthic infection and history chronic diseases.
A review on thermal performance and heat transfer augmentation in solar air heater

ABSTRACT Development in solar air collectors have increased because of the renewable and non-polluting sources of energy. The present study focused on artificial roughness, vortex generators, thermal storage units, etc., which are employed to improve the performance of Solar Air Heaters (SAHs). Thermal efficiency of Double Pass Solar Air Heater (DPSAH) improved from 10% to 15% as compared to the Single Pass Solar Air Heater (SPSAH) and improves further using an integrated absorber with a heat storage unit. About 12% and 15% improvement in thermal and thermo-hydraulic efficiency was achieved using a rough absorber. Integrated absorbers with Composite Phase Change Materials (CPCMs) based heat storage is one of the new signs of progress to optimize the thermal efficiency of SAHs.
Features of the histostructure of the gastric mucosa in patients with atrophic gastritis combined with thyroid pathology

Background. The search for factors that influence the progression of structural remodeling of the gastric mucosa and carcinogenesis remains a promising area of gastroenterology. The purpose of the study: to study the microstructure of the gastric mucosa in patients with chronic atrophic gastritis depending on the pre­sence of structural changes in the thyroid gland. Materials and methods. A study of histostructural changes of the gastric mucosa was carried out in 121 patients with atrophic gastritis, taking into account nodular and diffuse changes in the parenchyma of the thyroid gland. The degree and stage of gastritis were assessed according to the OLGA system. We studied the allergic component, the severity of atrophic changes in the gastric mucosa, the presence and severity of sclerotic changes in the stroma, and epithelial hyperplasia. Ultrasound examination of the thyroid gland was performed on an ultrasound scanner Toshiba Xario (Japan). Results. The distribution of patients according to the frequency of detection of atrophy in different loci of the stomach showed that intestinal metaplasia in the body of the stomach was observed 1.9 times more often in patients with nodular changes than in those with diffuse changes (χ2 = 5.33; p < 0.05) and 2.8 times — than in people without structural changes of the thyroid gland (χ2 = 8.12; p < 0.01). Similarly, atrophy in the angle of the stomach was most often detected in patients with nodular changes in the thyroid gland — in 65.0 % of cases, which is 25.7 % more often compared to those with diffuse changes (p > 0.05) and 38.3 % more often compared to people without structural changes of the thyroid gland (χ2 = 6.27; p < 0.05). According to the results of the correlation analysis, a connection was found between the pre­sence of nodular changes in the thyroid gland and the degree of atrophy of the mucous membrane of the body of the stomach (r = 0.49; p = 0.011) and the angle of the stomach (r = 0.52; p = 0.037), the presence of intestinal metaplasia in the mucous membrane of the antral part of the stomach (r = 0.54; p = 0.013) and the angle of the stomach (r = 0.41; p = 0.028). Conclusions. The progression of structural changes in the gastric mucosa occurs most often in patients with nodular changes in the thyroid gland. For early diagnosis of precancerous conditions and changes in the mucous membrane of the stomach in patients with structural changes of the thyroid gland, it is advisable to conduct a thorough endoscopic examination of the stomach using modern highly informative technologies.
Does Ultrasound Guidance Improve the Effectiveness of Neurotoxin Injections in Patients with Cervical Dystonia? (A Prospective, Partially-Blinded, Clinical Study)

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of ultrasound guidance (US) in the treatment of cervical dystonia (CD) with botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT-A) injections in comparison to anatomical landmarks (AL). To date, US is routinely used in many centers, but others deny its usefulness. Materials and Methods: Thirty-five patients (12 males, 23 females) with a clinical diagnosis of CD were included in the study. Intramuscular administration of BoNT-A was performed using either US guidance, or with AL, in two separate therapeutic sessions. The efficacy of BoNT-A administration was assessed with the Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale (TWSTRS), Tsui modified scale, Craniocervical Dystonia Questionnaire (CDQ-24) and Clinical Global Impression—Improvement scale (CGI-I). Additionally, patients at therapeutic sessions were digitally recorded and evaluated by two blinded and independent raters. Results: A significant decrease in total TWSTRS, severity subscale TWSTRS, Tsui score, and CDQ-24 was found in both the AL and US group; however, in the TWSTRS disability and pain subscales, a significant decrease was found only in the US group. Moreover, US guided treatment also resulted in a greater decrease in TWSTRS, Tsui score and CDQ-24 compared to anatomical landmarks use only. Conclusions: US guidance might be helpful in improving the results of BoNT-A injections in cervical dystonia, reducing associated pain and disability; however, more studies are needed to evaluate its clinical efficacy.
Assessment of feasibility and safety of cyanoacrylate glue versus absorbable tacks for inguinal hernia mesh fixation. A prospective comparative study

Introduction Mesh fixation is one of the most important steps in laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair. Tacks are often used and provide reliable fixation but they increase the risk of bleeding and chronic pain. To decrease chronic pain, absorbable tacks have been more recently developed. Another method is fixation via glue, which is the most minimally invasive approach, but it may theoretically lead to higher rates of fixation failure. Aim To analyse the intraoperative mesh fixation success rate and postoperative outcomes between cyanoacrylate and absorbable tacks in laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP) inguinal hernia repair. Material and methods Adult patients who underwent TAPP hernia repair were included prospectively. Patients were split into two groups: the study group (LB) in which the mesh was fixed with cyanoacrylate glue and the control group (AT) in which absorbable tacks were used. Main outcomes were fixation success rate, early postoperative pain, chronic pain, patient reported outcomes and recurrence rate. Results The mesh fixation success rate when using LB was 96.70% (n = 88), while in the AT group, the mesh fixation success rate was 100% (n = 120). Patients in the AT group had significantly higher pain scores than patient in the LB group (p < 0.001, 95% CI). There was no significant difference in chronic pain, patient reported outcomes or recurrences between the two groups. Conclusions Cyanoacrylate glue is a safe option for mesh fixation in transabdominal preperitoneal laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair with improved early postoperative pain and similar chronic pain, patient reported outcomes and recurrence when compared to absorbable tack fixation.
Luescher's finite volume test for two-baryon systems with attractive interactions

For the attractive interaction, the L¥"uscher's finite volume formula gives the phase shift at negative squared moment $k^2<0$ for the ground state in the finite volume, which corresponds to the analytic continuation of the phase shift at $k^2<0$ in the infinite volume. Using this fact, we reexamine behaviors of phase shifts at $k^2 <0$ obtained directly from plateaux of effective energy shifts in previous lattice studies for two nucleon systems on various volumes. We have found that data, based on which existences of the bound states are claimed, show singular behaviors of the phase shift at $k^2<0$, which seem incompatible with smooth behaviors predicted by the effective range expansion. This, together with the fake plateau problem for the determination of the energy shift, brings a serious doubt on existences of the $NN$ bound states claimed in previous lattice studies at heavier pion masses.
Rotational signature of the Milky Way stellar halo

We measure the rotation of the Milky Way stellar halo on two samples of Blue Horizontal Branch (BHB) field halo stars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) with four different methods. The two samples comprise 1582 and 2563 stars respectively and reach out to ~50 kpc in galactocentric distance. Two of the methods to measure rotation rely exclusively on line-of-sight velocities, namely the popular double power-law model and a direct estimate of the de-projected l.o. s. velocity. The other two techniques use the full 3D motions: the radial velocity based rotation estimator of Sch\"onrich, Binney & Asplund (2012) and a simple 3D azimuthal velocity mean. In this context we a) critique the popular model and b) assess the reliability of the estimators. All four methods agree on a weakly prograde or non-rotating halo. Further, we observe no duality in the rotation of sub-samples with different metallicities or at different radii. We trace the rotation gradient across metallicity measured by Deason et al. (2011) on a similar sample of BHB stars back to the inclusion of regions in the apparent magnitude-surface gravity plane known to be contaminated. In the spectroscopically selected sample of Xue et al. (2011), we flag ~500 hot metal-poor stars for their peculiar kinematics w.r. t. to both their cooler metal-poor counter-parts and to the metal-rich stars in the same sample. They show a seemingly retrograde behaviour in line-of-sight velocities, which is not confirmed by the 3D estimators. Their anomalous vertical motion hints at either a pipeline problem or a stream-like component rather than a smooth retrograde population.
Letter of Intent: The Precision IceCube Next Generation Upgrade (PINGU)

The Precision IceCube Next Generation Upgrade (PINGU) is a proposed low-energy in-fill array of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Leveraging technology proven with IceCube, PINGU will feature the world's largest effective volume for neutrinos at an energy threshold of a few GeV, improving the sensitivity to several aspects of neutrino oscillation physics at modest cost. With its unprecedented statistical sample of low-energy atmospheric neutrinos, PINGU will have highly competitive sensitivity to $\nu_{\mu}$ disappearance, the $\theta_{23}$ octant, and maximal mixing, will make the world's best $\nu_{\tau}$ appearance measurement, allowing a unique probe of the unitarity of the PMNS mixing matrix, and will be able to distinguish the neutrino mass ordering at $3\sigma$ significance with less than 4 years of data. PINGU can also extend the indirect search for solar WIMP dark matter complimentary to the on-going and planned direct dark matter experiments. At the lower end of the energy range, PINGU may use neutrino tomography to directly probe the composition of the Earth's core. With its increased module density, PINGU will improve IceCube's sensitivity to galactic supernova neutrino bursts and enable it to extract the neutrino energy spectral shape.
A new rapid and sensitive method for detecting chicken infectious anemia virus

Since the chicken infectious anemia virus (CIAV) was discovered in 1979, which has been reported as an economically significant and immunosuppressive poultry disease in the world. A novel clinical detection method for the prevention and control of CIAV in the poultry sector is urgently needed. Here, we established a real-time recombinase-aided amplification assay (RAA) for CIAV on-site with a rapid, highly sensitive, strongly specific, low-cost, and simple operational molecular diagnosis detection method. The primers and probe were developed using the CIAV VP2 gene sequence, which has a 117-bp specific band. This assay, which could be carried out at 41°C and completed in 30 min without cross-reactivity with other viruses, had the lowest detection limit of 10 copies of CIAV DNA molecules per reaction. Furthermore, the kappa value of this assay was 0.947, the sensitivity was 93.33%, and the specificity was 100% when compared to the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay (real-time qPCR). These results indicate that using a real-time RAA assay to detect CIAV on-site could be beneficial. In the future, the real-time RAA test may be a regular assay for the prevention and control of CIAV, as well as help the reduction of economic losses in the poultry business.