Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Short and Engaging Adaptive Working-Memory Intervention for Children with Developmental Language Disorder: Effects on Language and Working Memory

Recent research has suggested that working-memory training interventions may benefit children with developmental language disorder (DLD). The current study investigated a short and engaging adaptive working-memory intervention that targeted executive skills and aimed to improve both language comprehension and working-memory abilities in children with DLD. Forty-seven 6- to 10-year-old children with DLD were randomly allocated to an executive working-memory training intervention (n = 24) or an active control group (n = 23). A pre-test/intervention/post-test/9-month-follow-up design was used. Outcome measures included assessments of language (to evaluate far transfer of the training) and working memory (to evaluate near transfer of the training). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlling for pre-intervention performance and age found the group to be a significant predictor of sentence comprehension and of performance on six untrained working-memory measures at post-intervention and 9-month follow-up. Children in the intervention group showed significantly higher language comprehension and working-memory scores at both time points than children in the active control group. The intervention programme showed the potential to improve working memory and language comprehension in children with DLD and demonstrated several advantages: it involved short sessions over a short period, caused little disruption in the school day, and was enjoyed by children.
Assessment of Fungal and Mycotoxin contamination of Maize grains collected from Senatorial Zones of Benue State

Assessment of fungal and mycotoxin contamination of maize grains collected from Senatorial Zones of Benue State was carried out in this study. Maize samples were collected in sterile polythene bags, labelled according to the sample locations and taken to the laboratory for analysis. Isolation and identification of the fungi was carried out using dilution method and standard mycological procedures. Samples were plated on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) supplemented with 60ug ml-1 chloramphenicol as a bacteriostat and incubated at room temperature for mycological identification and biomass. Quantifications of aflatoxin in the maize samples was carried out using Specific ELISA kit. Results showed that there was a high level of fungal contamination found in maize grains in Benue State. Many (40%) of Zone A maize grains had a high level (≥ 3.1 × 107 cfu/g) of fungal contamination, 40% of Zone B maize grains also had (≥ 3.1 × 107 cfu/g) of fungal contamination. While 26.7% of grains purchased from Zone C had (≥ 3.1 × 107 cfu/g) of fungal contamination. It was also observed that none (0%) of Zone A maize grains had aflatoxin level above 6.57ppb, while 10% of Zone B seeds produced aflatoxin levels above 6.57ppb and 25% of maize seeds from Zone C had aflatoxin levels above 6.57ppb. It was also observed that Zone B maize grains had the highest aflatoxin level of 9.50ppb, followed by Zone C with 9.20ppb, while Zone A had the lowest aflatoxin level of 5.10ppb. High aflatoxin levels above the 5.0ppb recommended by Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) as tolerance limit for maize grains were observed in many of the locations studied. Therefore maize grains should be dried properly and stored in less humid environment to avoid fungal growth and aflatoxin production, so as to prevent public health issues among consumers.
Impact of System and Diagnostic Errors on Medical Litigation Outcomes: Machine Learning-Based Prediction Models

No prediction models using use conventional logistic models and machine learning exist for medical litigation outcomes involving medical doctors. Using a logistic model and three machine learning models, such as decision tree, random forest, and light-gradient boosting machine (LightGBM), we evaluated the prediction ability for litigation outcomes among medical litigation in Japan. The prediction model with LightGBM had a good predictive ability, with an area under the curve of 0.894 (95% CI; 0.893–0.895) in all patients’ data. When evaluating the feature importance using the SHApley Additive exPlanation (SHAP) value, the system error was the most significant predictive factor in all clinical settings for medical doctors’ loss in lawsuits. The other predictive factors were diagnostic error in outpatient settings, facility size in inpatients, and procedures or surgery settings. Our prediction model is useful for estimating medical litigation outcomes.
Unprovoked Isolated Pulmonary Embolism and Graves’ Disease in a Patient With Dyspnea: A Case Report

Graves’ disease is a commonly diagnosed disease with a plethora of manifestations that can lead to its diagnosis. One of the rarer presentations of Graves’ disease is hypercoagulability with the development of spontaneous venous thrombosis. In patients presenting with unprovoked pulmonary embolism, we suggest evaluating the patient’s thyroid function tests as a potential underlying cause. To bring this issue to attention, we are presenting a rare case of isolated spontaneous pulmonary embolism development secondarily to underlying Graves’ disease.
Examining effortful control as a moderator in the association of negative parenting and aggression among Hong Kong Chinese preschoolers

ABSTRACT Research Findings: This study examined whether physical coercion and psychological control by mothers and fathers can influence preschoolers’ use of physical and relational aggression, and whether the relations are moderated by children’s effortful control in a Hong Kong Chinese sample. Data were collected from a sample of 168 children (88 girls; M = 60.97 months, SD = 5.51 months) and their parents twice, six months apart. At Time 1, mothers and fathers reported on their spouse’s, as well as their own use of physical coercion and psychological control, and a puzzle box task was administered to assess child effortful control. At Time 2, mothers, fathers, and teachers completed questionnaires to assess child physical and relational aggression. Results show that mothers’ physical coercion was associated with child physical and relational aggression. In contrast, fathers’ physical coercion was significantly related to child physical aggression but its relation with child relational aggression was not statistically significant, and both these two associations were moderated by effortful control. Practice or Policy: These results suggest that general intervention efforts are needed to prevent aggression among children of physically coercive parents, and particularly among children with low effortful control and physically coercive fathers.
The Antimicrobial Effects of Bacterial Cellulose Produced by Komagataeibacter intermedius in Promoting Wound Healing in Diabetic Mice

As a conventional medical dressing, medical gauze does not adequately protect complex and hard-to-heal diabetic wounds and is likely to permit bacterial entry and infections. Therefore, it is necessary to develop novel dressings to promote wound healing in diabetic patients. Komagataeibacter intermedius was used to produce unmodified bacterial cellulose, which is rarely applied directly to diabetic wounds. The produced cellulose was evaluated for wound recovery rate, level of inflammation, epidermal histopathology, and antimicrobial activities in treated wounds. Diabetic mices’ wounds treated with bacterial cellulose healed 1.63 times faster than those treated with gauze; the values for the skin indicators in bacterial cellulose treated wounds were more significant than those treated with gauze. Bacterial cellulose was more effective than gauze in promoting tissue proliferation with more complete epidermal layers and the formation of compact collagen in the histological examination. Moreover, wounds treated with bacterial cellulose alone had less water and glucose content than those treated with gauze; this led to an increase of 6.82 times in antimicrobial protection, lower levels of TNF-α and IL-6 (39.6% and 83.2%), and higher levels of IL-10 (2.07 times) than in mice wounds treated with gauze. The results show that bacterial cellulose produced using K. intermedius beneficially affects diabetic wound healing and creates a hygienic microenvironment by preventing inflammation. We suggest that bacterial cellulose can replace medical gauze as a wound dressing for diabetic patients.
Dynamic Simulation of Land Use/Cover Change and Assessment of Forest Ecosystem Carbon Storage under Climate Change Scenarios in Guangdong Province, China

Exploring the spatial distribution of land use/cover change (LUCC) and ecosystem carbon storage under future climate change scenarios can provide the scientific basis for optimizing land resource redistribution and formulating policies for sustainable socioeconomic development. We proposed a framework that integrates the patch-generating land use simulation (PLUS) model and integrated valuation of ecosystem services and tradeoffs (InVEST) model to assess the spatiotemporal dynamic changes in LUCC and ecosystem carbon storage in Guangdong based on shared socioeconomic pathways and representative concentration pathways (SSP-RCP) scenarios provided by the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6). The future simulation results showed that the distribution patterns of LUCC were similar under SSP126 and SSP245 scenarios, but the artificial surface expanded more rapidly, and the increase in forest land slowed down under the SPP245 scenario. Conversely, under the SSP585 scenario, the sharply expanded artificial surface resulted in a continuous decrease in forest land. Under the three scenarios, population, elevation, temperature, and distance to water were the highest contributing driving factors for the growth of cultivated land, forest land, grassland, and artificial surface, respectively. By 2060, the carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems increased from 240.89 Tg in 2020 to 247.16 Tg and 243.54 Tg under SSP126 and SSP245 scenarios, respectively, of which forest ecosystem carbon storage increased by 17.65 Tg and 15.34 Tg, respectively; while it decreased to 226.54 Tg under the SSP585 scenario, and the decreased carbon storage due to forest destruction accounted for 81.05% of the total decreased carbon storage. Overall, an important recommendation from this study is that ecosystem carbon storage can be increased by controlling population and economic growth, and balancing urban expansion and ecological conservation, as well as increasing forest land area.
The Response of Adding Nanocarbon to the Combustion Characteristic of Crude Coconut Oil (CCO) Droplets

One of the strong candidates for biodiesel is Crude Coconut Oil (CCO) but its high viscosity cannot be applied directly without treatment. Therefore, nanocarbon is added to reduce the viscosity of CCO. Nanocarbon is a natural material with semiconductor properties, a good heat conductor, and can attract other molecules. By adding nanocarbon, it is expected to reduce the viscosity of CCO. This study aimed to determine the combustion characteristics of droplets on CCO by adding nanocarbon by 1% and 5%. The method used was a true experiment with droplets, which dripped on the thermocouple with activation energy from the heater. The results showed that CCO burned 0.933s with a droplet diameter of 4.307mm, droplet diameter of 5.472 mm. By adding 5% nanocarbon to CCO, the CCO burned faster, more reactive, and the ignition was shorter than the pure CCO and 1% CCO.
Evaluation on Durian var. Musang King Pollination Compatibility Regarding High Fruit Set

Durian or Durio zibethinus of variety Musang King is growing in popularity and with high international demands. With the ever-increasing demands for fruits, growers are exploring ways to maximize production by looking at the feasibility of planting single or mono varieties in a planting area. Previous investigations revealed that many durian varieties are self-incompatible, and the condition varies from one variety to another. Against this background, the present study evaluated Musang King’s compatibility status in fruit sets. The study was conducted in Raub, Pahang, from 2017 through 2018 with five different pollination treatments. Crossing Musang King with D24 showed the highest fruit set rate of 16.28% at harvest and suggested this variety is self-incompatible. Observations on the flowering process revealed that Musang King possessed herkogamy condition, which posed a morphological barrier to self-pollination. The study proposes that Musang King is best planted in a multi-variety planting system instead of mono-variety to achieve a higher rate of fruit sets.
Applications of arti ﬁ cial intelligence and machine learning in heart failure

Machine learning (ML) is a sub-ﬁ eld of arti ﬁ cial intelligence that uses computer algorithms to extract patterns from raw data, acquire knowledge without human input, and apply this knowledge for various tasks. Traditional statistical methods that classify or regress data have limited capacity to handle large datasets that have a low signal-to-noise ratio. In contrast to traditional models, ML relies on fewer assumptions, can handle larger and more complex datasets, and does not require predictors or interactions to be pre-speci ﬁ ed, allowing for novel relationships to be detected. In this review, we discuss the rationale for the use and applications of ML in heart failure, including disease classi ﬁ cation, early diagnosis, early detection of decompensation, risk strati ﬁ cation, optimal titration of medical therapy, effective patient selection for devices, and clinical trial recruitment. We discuss how ML can be used to expedite implementation and close healthcare gaps in learning healthcare systems. We review
Comparative Mitogenomics of True Frogs (Ranidae, Anura), and Its Implications for the Phylogeny and Evolutionary History of Rana

Simple Summary The true frogs of the genus Rana are a complex and diverse group. Many new species have been discovered with the help of molecular markers and morphological traits. However, the evolutionary history in Rana were not well understood. In this study, we sequenced and annotated the complete mitochondrial genome of R. longicrus and R. zhenhaiensis. In 13 protein codon genes, the COI was the most conserved, and ATP8 had a fast rate of evolution. The Ka/Ks ratio analysis among Rana indicated the protein-coding genes were suffering purify selection. There were three kinds of gene arrangement patterns found. This study provides mitochondrial genetic information, improving our understanding of mitogenomic structure and evolution, and recognizes the phylogenetic relationship and taxonomy among Rana. Abstract The true frogs of the genus Rana are a complex and diverse group, containing approximately 60 species with wide distribution across Eurasia and the Americas. Recently, many new species have been discovered with the help of molecular markers and morphological traits. However, the evolutionary history in Rana was not well understood and might be limited by the absence of mitogenome information. In this study, we sequenced and annotated the complete mitochondrial genome of R. longicrus and R. zhenhaiensis, containing 22 tRNAs, 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNAs, and a non-coding region, with 17,502 bp and 18,006 bp in length, respectively. In 13 protein codon genes, the COI was the most conserved, and ATP8 had a fast rate of evolution. The Ka/Ks ratio analysis among Rana indicated the protein-coding genes were suffering purify selection. There were three kinds of gene arrangement patterns found. The mitochondrial gene arrangement was not related to species diversification, and several independent shifts happened in evolutionary history. Climate fluctuation and environmental change may have played an essential role in species diversification in Rana. This study provides mitochondrial genetic information, improving our understanding of mitogenomic structure and evolution, and recognizes the phylogenetic relationship and taxonomy among Rana.
New particle formation in coastal New Zealand with a focus on open-ocean air masses

Abstract. Even though oceans cover the majority of the Earth, most aerosol measurements are from continental sites. We measured aerosol particle number size distribution at Baring Head, in coastal New Zealand, over a total period of 10 months to study aerosol properties and new particle formation, with a special focus on aerosol formation in open-ocean air masses. Particle concentrations were higher in land-influenced air compared to clean marine air in all size classes, from sub-10 nm to cloud condensation nuclei sizes. When classifying the particle number size distributions with traditional methods designed for continental sites, new particle formation was observed at the station throughout the year with an average event frequency of 23 %. While most of these traditional event days had some land influence, we also observed particle growth starting from nucleation mode in 16 % of the data in clean marine air, and at least part of this growth was connected to nucleation in the marine boundary layer. Sub-10 nm particles accounted for 29 % of the total aerosol number concentration of particles larger than 1 nm in marine air during the spring. This shows that nucleation in marine air is frequent enough to influence the total particle concentration. Particle formation in land-influenced air was more intense and had on average higher growth rates than what was found for marine air. Particle formation and primary emissions increased particle number concentrations as a function of time spent over land during the first 1–2 d. After this, nucleation seems to start getting suppressed by the pre-existing particle population, but accumulation mode particle concentration keeps increasing, likely due to primary particle emissions. Further work showed that traditional NPF events were favoured by sunny conditions with low relative humidity and wind speeds. In marine air, formation of sub-10 nm particles was favoured by low temperatures, relative humidity, and wind speeds and could happen even during the night. Our future work will study the mechanisms responsible for particle formation at Baring Head with a focus on different chemical precursor species. This study sheds light on both new particle formation in open-ocean air masses coming from the Southern Ocean and local aerosol properties in New Zealand.
Tryptophan Levels as a Marker of Auxins and Nitric Oxide Signaling

The aromatic amino acid tryptophan is the main precursor for indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), which involves various parallel routes in plants, with indole-3-acetaldoxime (IAOx) being one of the most common intermediates. Auxin signaling is well known to interact with free radical nitric oxide (NO) to perform a more complex effect, including the regulation of root organogenesis and nitrogen nutrition. To fathom the link between IAA and NO, we use a metabolomic approach to analyze the contents of low-molecular-mass molecules in cultured cells of Arabidopsis thaliana after the application of S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO), an NO donor or IAOx. We separated the crude extracts of the plant cells through ion-exchange columns, and subsequent fractions were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), thus identifying 26 compounds. A principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on N-metabolism-related compounds, as classified by the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). The differences observed between controls and treatments are mainly explained by the differences in Trp contents, which are much higher in controls. Thus, the Trp is a shared response in both auxin- and NO-mediated signaling, evidencing some common signaling mechanism to both GSNO and IAOx. The differences in the low-molecular-mass-identified compounds between GSNO- and IAOx-treated cells are mainly explained by their concentrations in benzenepropanoic acid, which is highly associated with IAA levels, and salicylic acid, which is related to glutathione. These results show that the contents in Trp can be a marker for the study of auxin and NO signaling.
Ultrasonography of Parasitic Diseases in Domestic Animals: A Systematic Review

Simple Summary The aim of this literature review was to summarize the current knowledge on the application of ultrasonography in diagnosis, staging and monitoring of helminthic diseases in domestic animals. We selected and analyzed 122 papers about the application of ultrasonography in parasitic disease in ruminants, equids, swine, and companion animals. Helminths can be recognized in ultrasound images by their morphology, size, and location. In some cases, the parasites are not directly seen by ultrasound, but the lesions caused by them can be easily visualized. Ultrasound imaging is taking on an increasingly important role in veterinary parasitology. Abstract The aim of this review was to summarize the current knowledge on the application of ultrasonography in diagnosis, staging and monitoring of helminthic diseases in domestic animals. Only peer reviewed papers written in English language were included in this systematic review. All papers concerning unicellular parasites, wild animals, non-domestic experimental animals, or ex vivo or in vitro applications of ultrasonography were excluded from the review. A total of 122 papers met the inclusion criteria. Among them 47% concerned nematodes, 37% cestodes, and 16% trematodes with the genus Dirofilaria, Echinococcus, and Fasciola the most represented, respectively. Helminths can be recognized in ultrasound images by their morphology, size, and location. In some cases, the parasite stages are not directly seen by ultrasound, but the lesions caused by them can be easily visualized. Ultrasound imaging is taking on an increasingly important role in the diagnosis, staging, monitoring, and control of parasitic diseases in veterinary medicine. However, it cannot replace the clinical approach and the diagnostic tests commonly used in veterinary parasitology.
Performance of radiant cooling ceiling combined with personalized ventilation in an office room: identification of thermal conditions

SUMMARY The paper compares thermal environment conditions created by four HVAC systems: mixing ventilation, chilled ceiling combined with mixing ventilation, chilled ceiling with mixing ventilation and personalized ventilation, and chilled ceiling combined with personalized ventilation only. Measurements were performed in a test room arranged as an office with 2 workstations and 2 seating occupants resembled by thermal manikins. Heat gain of 66-72 W/m 2 was simulated in the room (occupants, computers, lighting, solar gain). The air temperature in the chamber was maintained at 26°C and 28°C. Personalized ventilation supplied air at non-isothermal condition with temperature of 25°C. Results showed that the compared methods generated almost the same thermal environment in the occupied zone. However at the workstations the personalized ventilation combined with chilled ceiling provided more cooling and decreased the radiant temperature asymmetry created by the simulated warm window surface. Chilled ceiling combined with PV alone may be applied successfully in practice.