Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Vitamin D Receptor Genotype on Lipid Profiles and Retinopathy Risk in Type 2 Diabetes Patients: A Pilot Study

Genetic polymorphisms affect lipid profiles and are associated with disease complications. Genetic variants in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene are associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In this study, we investigated the effects of VDR genotypes on the lipid profile and disease complications of T2DM patients in a Jordanian population. Ninety T2DM patients were genotyped for four major functional VDR genetic variants, rs2228570 C > T (FokI), rs7975232 A > C (ApaI), rs731236 T > C (TaqI), and rs1544410 C > T (BsmI), using the polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Lipid profiles and diabetes complications were analyzed and correlated with VDR genotypes. We found that the VDR rs7975232 and rs1544410 alleles were significantly (p = 0.008–0.04) associated with high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels and retinopathy among patients. Carriers of the rs7975232 A/A genotype exhibited higher levels (49.68 ± 15.86 mg/dL) of HDL than patients with the A/C (44.73 ± 13.38 mg/dL) and C/C (37.93 ± 9.22 mg/dL) genotypes. Moreover, carriers of the rs1544410 T/T genotype had higher levels of HDL (54.31 ± 16.45 mg/dL) than patients with the C/T (43.57 ± 13.24 mg/dL) and C/C (43.98 ± 13.17 mg/dL) genotypes. T2DM patients who carry the rs7975232 C/C genotype were at higher risk (odds ratio [OR] = 7.88) of developing retinopathy compared with carriers of the rs7975232 C/A and A/A genotypes. In addition, T2DM patients with the rs1544410 C/C genotype had a higher risk (OR = 4.21) of developing retinopathy than patients with the rs1544410 C/T and T/T genotypes. Therefore, we concluded that the VDR rs7975232 and rs1544410 alleles were associated with HDL levels and retinopathy and can be considered as potential genetic biomarkers for the lipid profile and retinopathy complication among T2DM patients in a Jordanian population of Arabic origin. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm our findings.
Reprogramming—Evolving Path to Functional Surrogate β-Cells

Numerous cell sources are being explored to replenish functional β-cell mass since the proof-of -concept for cell therapy of diabetes was laid down by transplantation of islets. Many of these cell sources have been shown to possess a degree of plasticity permitting differentiation along new lineages into insulin-secreting β-cells. In this review, we explore emerging reprograming pathways that aim to generate bone fide insulin producing cells. We focus on small molecules and key transcriptional regulators that orchestrate phenotypic conversion and maintenance of engineered cells.
On the relativity of rotation

The question whether rotational motion is relative according to the general theory of relativity is discussed. Einstein’s ambivalence concerning this question is pointed out. In the present article I defend Einstein’s way of thinking on this when he presented the theory in 1916. The significance of the phenomenon of perfect inertial dragging in connection with the relativity of rotational motion is discussed. The necessity of introducing an extended model of the Minkowski spacetime, in which a globally empty space is supplied with a cosmic mass shell with radius equal to its own Schwarzschild radius, in order to extend the principle of relativity to accelerated and rotational motion, is made clear.
Biomechanics of Pulmonary Autograft as Living Tissue: A Systematic Review

Introduction: The choice of valve substitute for aortic valve surgery is tailored to the patient with specific indications and contraindications to consider. The use of an autologous pulmonary artery (PA) with a simultaneous homograft in the pulmonary position is called a Ross procedure. It permits somatic growth and the avoidance of lifelong anticoagulation. Concerns remain on the functionality of a pulmonary autograft in the aortic position when exposed to systemic pressure. Methods: A literature review was performed incorporating the following databases: Pub Med (1996 to present), Ovid Medline (1958 to present), and Ovid Embase (1982 to present), which was run on 1 January 2022 with the following targeted words: biomechanics of pulmonary autograft, biomechanics of Ross operation, aortic valve replacement and pulmonary autograph, aortic valve replacement and Ross procedure. To address the issues with heterogeneity, studies involving the pediatric cohort were also analyzed separately. The outcomes measured were early- and late-graft failure alongside mortality. Results: a total of 8468 patients were included based on 40 studies (7796 in pediatric cohort and young adult series and 672 in pediatric series). There was considerable experience accumulated by various institutions around the world. Late rates of biomechanical failure and mortality were low and comparable to the general population. The biomechanical properties of the PA were superior to other valve substitutes. Mathematical and finite element analysis studies have shown the potential stress-shielding effects of the PA root. Conclusion: The Ross procedure has excellent durability and longevity in clinical and biomechanical studies. The use of external reinforcements such as semi-resorbable scaffolds may further extend their longevity.
Stackelberg Game-Based Deployment Design and Radio Resource Allocation in Coordinated UAVs-Assisted Vehicular Communication Networks

This paper studies optimum deployment design and radio resource allocation in a coordinated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs)-assisted vehicular communication network. The scarcity of radio resources and the lack of appropriate communication paths have been challenging in the existing vehicular networks. Although employing UAVs with well-designed deployments can support vehicular communications by providing line-of-sight (LoS) links, however, limited energy and spectrum scarcity issues motivate us to apply non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) with successive-interference-cancellation (SIC) as a solution to enhance radio resource efficiency for downlink infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) links. Meanwhile, due to the high complexity of the overall optimization problem that jointly handles deployment design and resource allocation for the studied UAVs-assisted vehicular network, we propose a low-complexity hierarchical suboptimal solution method. First, to efficiently find the optimum deployment of UAVs, we propose Stackelberg game with competitive nature as a game theory-based method, where UAVs are divided into leaders and followers groups that compete with each other to obtain the optimal position. Subsequently, we perform a low-complexity dynamic method in which radio resources are allocated in a sub-channel assignment algorithm and in a power allocation problem, respectively. Finally, the closed-form expressions of the optimal power allocation are derived using the KKT optimality conditions. Simulation results demonstrate improved performance for deployment design using the Stackelberg game. It is shown that NOMA improves the achievable sum rate compared to conventional orthogonal multiple access (OMA). Also, fast convergence of the proposed resource allocation and deployment design is obtained.
Estimating distances to elliptical galaxies with a mass-luminosity relation

We argue that the physical reason for the success of the Fundamental Plane and the D-n-sigma relation as distance estimators for elliptical galaxies is the existence of a relation between luminosity and mass with small intrinsic scatter. Therefore a better understanding of the luminosity and mass variables, and of the mass-luminosity relation, is needed to improve distance estimation for elliptical galaxies. We propose a distance indicator in the form of a mass-luminosity relation and use it to derive modifications to the Fundamental Plane and to the D-n-sigma relation. Note that distances estimated with these modified Fundamental Plane and D-n-sigma relations may, in practice, turn out to be less precise than those estimated with the standard relations when the added terms have large observational errors.
Laser drilling of stainless steel foil with reduced sidelobe ablation using a spatially filtered Bessel–Gauss beam

Laser processing of a non-transparent material using a Bessel–Gauss beam is accompanied by serious ablation by the sidelobes. To suppress sidelobe ablation, the electric field of a Bessel–Gauss beam generated with a femtosecond laser and an axicon lens was modified by spatially filtering the input Gaussian beam using an annular filter. When the annular filter was applied, the intensity of the first sidelobe peak decreased from 15% of the unfiltered beam to 3.2% and 5.4%, depending on the depth of focus. Laser drilling of 100 μm-thick stainless steel foil using the spatially filtered Bessel–Gauss beam showed significant improvements in the hole quality as compared to the conventional Bessel-Gauss beam. The normalized sidelobe diameter (=sidelobe diameter ÷ hole diameter) was reduced from 2.1–2.5 to 1.5–1.7. The maximum depth of sidelobe ablation was reduced by up to 72.5%. It was also shown that nearly burr-free laser drilling is possible by properly selecting process conditions with the spatially filtered Bessel–Gauss beam.
Differences in mGluR5 Availability Depending on the Level of Social Avoidance in Drug-Naïve Young Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

Background Previous research has shown that metabotropic glutamate receptor-5 (mGluR5) signaling is significantly involved in social avoidance. We investigated the relationship between levels of social avoidance and mGluR5 availability in drug-naïve young patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Methods Twenty non-smoking patients and eighteen matched non-smoking healthy controls underwent [11C]ABP688 positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging scans. The binding potential (BPND) of [11C]ABP688 was obtained using the simplified reference tissue model. Patients’ level of social avoidance was assessed using the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SADS). For [11C]ABP688 BPND, the region-of-interest (ROI)-based between-group comparisons and correlations with SADS scores were investigated. The frontal cortices were chosen as a priori ROIs based on previous PET investigations in MDD, and on literature underscoring the importance of the frontal cortex in social avoidance. Results Independent samples t-tests revealed no significant differences in [11C]ABP688 BPND in the frontal cortices between the MDD patient group as a whole and healthy controls. One-way analysis of variance with post-hoc tests revealed significantly lower BPND in the bilateral superior frontal cortex (SFC) and left middle frontal cortex (MFC) in MDD patients with low levels of social avoidance (L-SADS) than in healthy controls. The L-SADS patients also had significantly lower BPND in the medial part of the right SFC than both MDD patients with high levels of social avoidance (H-SADS) and healthy controls. The L-SADS patients also showed significantly lower BPND in the orbital parts of the SFC, MFC, and inferior frontal cortex than H-SADS patients. No significant group differences were found between H-SADS patients and healthy controls. The ROI-based correlation analysis revealed significant positive correlations between social avoidance levels and frontal [11C]ABP688 BPND in the entire patients. Conclusion Our exploratory study shows significant differences in frontal mGluR5 availability depending on the level of social avoidance in drug-naïve non-smoking MDD patients, suggesting that social avoidance should be considered as one of the clinical factors involved in mGluR5 signaling changes in depression.
Panel Cointegration Analysis with Xtpedroni

In this article, I introduce the new command xtpedroni, which implements the Pedroni (1999, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 61: 653–670; 2004, Econometric Theory 20: 597–625) panel cointegration test and the Pedroni (2001, Review of Economics and Statistics 83: 727–731) group-mean panel-dynamic ordinary least-squares estimator. For nonstationary heterogeneous panels that are long (large T) and wide (large N), xtpedroni tests for cointegration among one or more regressors by using seven test statistics under the null of no cointegration, and it also estimates the cointegrating equation for each individual as well as the group mean of the panel. The test can include common time dummies and unbalanced panels.
Permutation Complexity in Dynamical Systems: Ordinal Patterns, Permutation Entropy and All That

The study of permutation complexity can be envisioned as a new kind of symbolic dynamics whose basic blocks are ordinal patterns, that is, permutations defined by the order relations among points in the orbits of dynamical systems. Since its inception in 2002 the concept of permutation entropy has sparked a new branch of research in particular regarding the time series analysis of dynamical systems that capitalizes on the order structure of the state space. Indeed, on one hand ordinal patterns and periodic points are closely related, yet ordinal patterns are amenable to numerical methods, while periodicity is not. Another interesting feature is that since it can be shown that random (unconstrained) dynamics has no forbidden patterns with probability one, their existence can be used as a fingerprint to identify any deterministic origin of orbit generation. This book is primarily addressed to researchers working in the field of nonlinear dynamics and complex systems, yet will also be suitable for graduate students interested in these subjects. The presentation is a compromise between mathematical rigor and pedagogical approach. Accordingly, some of the more mathematical background needed for more in depth understanding has been shifted into the appendices.
Shading Reduces Water Deficits in Strawberry (Fragaria X Ananassa) Plants during Vegetative Growth

ABSTRACT The strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa Duch.) is a commercially important crop with high water requirements, making strategies that mitigate the influence of water deficits on plant growth necessary. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of shading on the vegetative growth of strawberry cv. Sweet Ann under a water deficit. The treatments consisted of the combination of two levels of shading (light intensity reduced by 47% vs. non-shaded plants) and two levels of water availability (water deficit vs. well-watered plants). The water deficit reduced the leaf water potential from −1.52 to −2.21 MPa, and diminished stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate (from 9.13 to 2.5 µmol m−2 s−1), maximum quantum efficiency of PSII photochemistry (from 0.79 to 0.67), and biomass accumulation, but increased the electrolyte leakage. The shading allowed the water-deficient plants to maintain water potential (−1.58 MPa) and photosystem II efficiency (0.79) and to increase water use efficiency (from 14.80 to 86.90 µmol CO2/mmol H2O), net photosynthetic rate (from 2.40 to 9.40 µmol m−2 s−1) and biomass of leaves, crowns, and roots, as compared to the non-shaded plants without a water limitation. These results suggest, for the first time in strawberry, that a reduction in incident light intensity attenuates the effects of stomatic and non-stomatic limitations caused by a water deficit during vegetative growth in strawberry.
Compensation-dependence of magnetic and electrical properties in Ga1−xMnxP

We demonstrate the control of the hole concentration in Ga1−xMnxP over a wide range by introducing compensating vacancies. The resulting evolution of the Curie temperature from 51 to 7.5 K is remarkably similar to that observed in Ga1−xMnxAs despite the dramatically different character of hole transport between the two material systems. The highly localized nature of holes in Ga1−xMnxP is reflected in the accompanying increase in resistivity by many orders of magnitude. Based on variable-temperature resistivity data we present a general picture for hole conduction in which variable-range hopping is the dominant transport mechanism in the presence of compensation.
Perceptions, Knowledge and Attitudes among Young Adults about Prevention of HPV Infection and Immunization

Introduction: Human papilloma virus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections and is widely known as the main causative agent for cervical cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions, knowledge and attitudes of young Greek adults concerning prevention of HPV infection and HPV immunization. Material and Methods: This constitutes a cross-sectional online survey. A convenience sample of young Greek adults (n = 883) residing in Greece, aged 17 to more than 35 years was surveyed from December 2020 to March 2021. Two validated questionnaires were used to collect data. Results: Participants demonstrated moderate knowledge about HPV infection and vaccination, with a mean knowledge score of 53.26 (SD ± 20.65) and 38.92 (SD ± 17.58), respectively. Cronbach’s alpha value was 0.77 and 0.80. Female participants were better informed than males. Approximately 52.3% of respondents had been vaccinated and 65.5% were willing to get vaccinated in the future. Vaccination rate was significantly associated with gender (OR = 11.99; 99% CI = 6.59–21.84), knowledge about the HPV vaccine (OR = 1.04; 99% CI = 1.03–1.04) and age (OR = 0.07; 99% CI = 0.03–0.15). Reasons for vaccine refusal were insufficient information (36.8%) and fear of side effects (19%). Correlates of positive vaccination intention were knowledge about HPV (OR = 1.02; 99% CI = 1.01–1.02). Conclusions: The findings suggest that the Greek government’s continuing HPV promotion efforts and education on the risks of HPV infection among young people are likely to increase vaccination acceptance among this group.
FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF STRAIN-SOFTENING CLAY

Strain-softening stress-strain behavior and the resulting progressive type failure are of importance in many geotechnical problems. Available analyses are limited in scope or are empirical in nature as mathematical formulations become difficult. Stress-strain-strength models presented in the literature are reviewed, and it is noted whether the models can accommodate strain-softening behavior. An approach based on the theory of plasticity is suggested and applied by means of the finite element method, to determine the undrained load-deformation curve and bearing capacity for a circular foundation on saturated clay. The accuracy of the analysis in the plastic range is evaluated, and the results from computations with and without plastic strain-softening are compared. A dramatic increase in deformations and reduction in bearing capacity was found for only relatively modest amounts of strain-softening. The numerical analysis is used to evaluate deformation and bearing capacity data obtained from a circular test fill in the field.
Effective dual‐layer fabrication solution for the lateral axial failure of the electrode in lithium‐ion batteries

Lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) necessitate well‐balanced performance characteristics, high energy/power density, and cyclability. In order to optimize them, several types of active materials are mixed in the electrode. In this study, LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 (NCM333) with long cycle life and LiNi0.8Co0. 1Mn0.1O2 (NCM811) with high energy density are controlled as a dual layer or a mixture to improve the electrochemical performance of the electrode. We discovered that during cycling, the active materials in the surface layer facing the electrolyte have less polarization. The state of charge is greater than the average value of the whole electrode. In this regard, the electrode's dual‐layer coating, which consists of a top layer of NCM333 and a bottom layer of NCM811, is the optimal structure among the various NCM811 and NCM333 combinations used in electrodes. As the charging current increases, this lateral failure mode accelerates.
An improved Gurson-type model for hardenable ductile metals

The aim of this paper is to improve the modelling of strain hardening within the framework of the famous Gurson model for porous ductile metals. Indeed, although the original derivation of this model, for an ideal-plastic matrix, was based on a micromechanical analysis of some representative volume element, namely a hollow rigid-plastic sphere loaded axisymmetrically, the extension to the case of a hardenable matrix was of purely phenomenological and macroscopic nature, and this entailed a number of drawbacks. The phenomenological model was incompatible with the classical, exact solution to the problem of a hollow rigid-hardenable sphere loaded hydrostatically; also, the prediction that for any loading path corresponding to a fixed triaxiality, the curve representing porosity as a function of equivalent strain depended only on the initial porosity and the triaxiality but not on the hardening exponent, was incorrect. A new model solving these difficulties, based on an approximate analysis of a hollow rigid-hardenable sphere subjected to some axisymmetric loading, is proposed. Two types of hardening are considered: isotropic, as in Gurson's original model, and kinematic, as in Mear and Hutchinson's variant of Gurson's model. Comparisons with some finite element simulations evidence the improvements brought.
The greatness of the characteristics fiber pseudo stem outer layer of Musa acuminata origin lombok Indonesia as reinforcing polyester composite

Musa acuminata stem is an agricultural waste that has good economic potential. For this reason, efforts are needed to increase the saba banana tree not only as waste, but also to increase its function into natural fiber raw materials for polyester matrix composite reinforcement. The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of Musa acuminata stem fibre (MASF) from North Lombok Regency, Indonesia Country as a reinforcement for polyester matrix composites. In this study, the fiber (specimen), taken from pseudo stem Musa acuminata, which consists of three layers: outer, middle and inner stem. The ratting process is done mechanically using a fiber extraction machine. To remove impurities in the fiber, alkaline treatment was carried out, by soaking for 24 hours in a 5 % NaOH solution. To determine the characteristics, a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) test was carried out for MASF morphology analysis, chemical compound content testing, heat resistance testing, and fiber tensile strength testing. The results showed that the MASF of the outer layer pseudo-stem has a strong character. Fiber morphology is different, between the outer, middle and inner layers pseudo-stems. The cellulose content (73.12 %) was higher than the fiber of Fimbristylis globulosa, hemp, jute, rice straw, wheat straw, seaweed, sorghum straw, coir, and alpha grass. Less resistant to heat degradation because mass loss occurs at a constant rate up to 245 °C. The highest MASF, in the outer pseudo-stem layer it is 40–50 cm from the base stem. Its characteristics are better than other natural fibers so that its potential can be further developed as a reinforcement for polymer matrix composites