Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of state-of-the-art deep learning architectures for detection of freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease

Introduction Freezing of gait (FOG) is one of the most debilitating motor symptoms experienced by patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). FOG detection is possible using acceleration data from wearable sensors, and a convolutional neural network (CNN) is often used to determine the presence of FOG epochs. We compared the performance of a standard CNN for the detection of FOG with two more complex networks, which are well suited for time series data, the MiniRocket and the InceptionTime. Methods We combined acceleration data of people with PD across four studies. The final data set was split into a training (80%) and hold-out test (20%) set. A fifth study was included as an unseen test set. The data were windowed (2 s) and five-fold cross-validation was applied. The CNN, MiniRocket, and InceptionTime models were evaluated using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and its area under the curve (AUC). Multiple sensor configurations were evaluated for the best model. The geometric mean was subsequently calculated to select the optimal threshold. The selected model and threshold were evaluated on the hold-out and unseen test set. Results A total of 70 participants (23.7 h, 9% FOG) were included in this study for training and testing, and in addition, 10 participants provided an unseen test set (2.4 h, 11% FOG). The CNN performed best (AUC = 0.86) in comparison to the InceptionTime (AUC = 0.82) and MiniRocket (AUC = 0.76) models. For the CNN, we found a similar performance for a seven-sensor configuration (lumbar, upper and lower legs and feet; AUC = 0.86), six-sensor configuration (upper and lower legs and feet; AUC = 0.87), and two-sensor configuration (lower legs; AUC = 0.86). The optimal threshold of 0.45 resulted in a sensitivity of 77% and a specificity of 58% for the hold-out set (AUC = 0.72), and a sensitivity of 85% and a specificity of 68% for the unseen test set (AUC = 0.90). Conclusion We confirmed that deep learning can be used to detect FOG in a large, heterogeneous dataset. The CNN model outperformed more complex networks. This model could be employed in future personalized interventions, with the ultimate goal of using automated FOG detection to trigger real-time cues to alleviate FOG in daily life.
Spinodal Decomposition of Filled Polymer Blends: The Role of the Osmotic Effect of Fillers

The reported work addresses the effect of fillers on the thermodynamic stability and miscibility of compressible polymer blends. We calculate the spinodal transition temperature of a filled polymer blend as a function of the interaction energies between the blend species, as well as the blend composition, filler size, and filler volume fraction. The calculation method relies on the developed thermodynamic theory of filled compressible polymer blends. This theory makes it possible to obtain the excess pressure and chemical potential caused by the presence of fillers. As a main result of the reported work, we demonstrate that the presence of neutral (non-adsorbing) fillers can be used to enhance the stability of a polymer blend that shows low critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior. The obtained results highlight the importance of the osmotic effect of fillers on the miscibility of polymer blends. The demonstrated good agreement with the experiment proves that this effect alone can explain the observed filler-induced change in the LCST.
Tailoring Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment through a Sex and Gender Lens

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) occurs more frequently in women than in men, and the studies that have addressed clinical and prognostic differences between the sexes are scarce and have contradictory results and methodological problems. The present work aims to evaluate sex- and gender-related differences in the clinical expression and prognosis of RA as well as on the impact on psychosocial variables, coping behavior, and healthcare use and access. By identifying between sex differences and gender-related outcomes in RA, it may be possible to design tailored therapeutic strategies that consider the differences and unmet needs. Being that sex, together with age, is the most relevant biomarker and health determinant, a so-called personalized medicine approach to RA must include clear guidance on what to do in case of differences.
Cognitive Metascience: A New Approach to the Study of Theories

In light of the recent credibility crisis in psychology, this paper argues for a greater emphasis on theorizing in scientific research. Although reliable experimental evidence, preregistration, methodological rigor, and new computational frameworks for modeling are important, scientific progress also relies on properly functioning theories. However, the current understanding of the role of theorizing in psychology is lacking, which may lead to future crises. Theories should not be viewed as mere speculations or simple inductive generalizations. To address this issue, the author introduces a framework called “cognitive metascience,” which studies the processes and results of evaluating scientific practice. This study should proceed both qualitatively, as in traditional science and technology studies and cognitive science, and quantitatively, by analyzing scientific discourse using language technology. By analyzing theories as cognitive artifacts that support cognitive tasks, this paper aims to shed more light on their nature. This perspective reveals that multiple distinct theories serve entirely different roles, and studying these roles, along with their epistemic vices and virtues, can provide insight into how theorizing should proceed. The author urges a change in research culture to appreciate the variety of distinct theories and to systematically advance scientific progress.
Chronic Kidney Disease Interplay with Comorbidities and Carbohydrate Metabolism: A Review

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) poses a global health challenge, engendering various physiological and metabolic shifts that significantly impact health and escalate the susceptibility to severe illnesses. This comprehensive review delves into the intricate complexities of CKD, scrutinizing its influence on cellular growth homeostasis, hormonal equilibrium, wasting, malnutrition, and its interconnectedness with inflammation, oxidative stress, and cardiovascular diseases. Exploring the genetic, birth-related, and comorbidity factors associated with CKD, alongside considerations of metabolic disturbances, anemia, and malnutrition, the review elucidates how CKD orchestrates cellular growth control. A pivotal focus lies on the nexus between CKD and insulin resistance, where debates persist regarding its chronological relationship with impaired kidney function. The prevalence of insulin abnormalities in CKD is emphasized, contributing to glucose intolerance and raising questions about its role as a precursor or consequence. Moreover, the review sheds light on disruptions in the growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor axis in CKD, underscoring the heightened vulnerability to illness and mortality in cases of severe growth retardation. Wasting, a prevalent concern affecting up to 75% of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients, is analyzed, elucidating the manifestations of cachexia and its impact on appetite, energy expenditure, and protein reserves. Taste disturbances in CKD, affecting sour, umami, and salty tastes, are explored for their implications on food palatability and nutritional status. Independent of age and gender, these taste alterations have the potential to sway dietary choices, further complicating the management of CKD. The intricate interplay between CKD, inflammation, oxidative stress, and cardiovascular diseases is unraveled, emphasizing the profound repercussions on overall health. Additionally, the review extends its analysis to CKD’s broader impact on cognitive function, emotional well-being, taste perception, and endothelial dysfunction. Concluding with an emphasis on dietary interventions as crucial components in CKD management, this comprehensive review navigates the multifaceted dimensions of CKD, providing a nuanced understanding essential for developing targeted therapeutic strategies.
Effect of School Bullying on Students’ Peer Cooperation: A Moderated Mediation Model

Background: Studies show that cooperative environments enhance student performance. However, school bullying can significantly undermine peer cooperation. There is limited research on how school bullying impacts peer cooperation and the mechanisms involved. Methods: Using data from 15-year-old middle school students in four Chinese provinces and cities, as part of the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), this study employs a moderated mediation model. It examines the negative effects of school bullying on peer cooperation, the mediating role of school belonging, and the moderating effects of teacher support and parents’ support. Results: School bullying negatively impacts peer cooperation. School belonging partially mediates this relationship. Teacher support moderates the effect of school bullying on school belonging, which in turn affects peer cooperation. Parents’ support moderates the direct impact of school bullying on peer cooperation. Conclusion: School bullying reduces peer cooperation by diminishing students’ sense of belonging in school. This effect is lessened with increased support from teachers and parents. The findings suggest that while social support is beneficial, it must be balanced and not excessive.
A 10-Year Retrospective Study on Pediatric Visceral Leishmaniasis in a European Endemic Area: Diagnostic and Short-Course Therapeutic Strategies

Background: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a potentially fatal disease, with an increasing occurrence in northern Italy, affecting children and both immunocompetent and immunocompromised adults. Methods: This retrospective study conducted at the St. Orsola University Hospital of Bologna, Italy, evaluates the characteristics of 16 children (with a median age of 14.3 months) who were hospitalized between 2013 and 2022 for VL. Results: Seventy-five percent of patients presented with a triad of fever, cytopenia, and splenomegaly. An abdominal ultrasound examination revealed splenomegaly and hypoechoic spleen abnormalities in 93.8% and 73.3% of cases, respectively. Five VL cases were complicated by secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. Eleven patients were treated with a single 10 mg/kg dose of Liposomal Amphotericin B (L-AmB), while five received two doses (total of 20 mg/kg); one of the former groups experienced a recurrence. The fever generally decreased 48 h after the first L-AmB dose, and hemoglobin levels normalized within a month. The splenomegaly resolved in approximately 4.5 months. Conclusions: Pediatricians should consider VL in children with fever of an unknown origin, anemia, cytopenia, and splenomegaly. In our experience, abdominal ultrasounds and molecular tests on peripheral blood contributed to diagnosis without the need for bone marrow aspiration. The short-course therapy with two 10 mg/kg doses of L-AmB is safe and effective.
Exploring the Impact of Collaborative Behavior on Digital Collaborative Game-based Learning

Collaborative behaviors are crucial for effective game-based collaborative learning. Understanding learners' collaborative behaviors can further enhance their achievement. This study investigates the impact of critical collaborative interactions on learning outcomes in an online color education game. It explores the relationship between collaborative behaviors and learning achievement. Seventy-six university and graduate students participated in pairs for collaborative game learning. Collaborative play significantly improved learning effectiveness in colored light concepts. The study confirmed a positive correlation between communication behaviors with coordination behaviors, and learning achievement. Cluster analysis identified three team clusters: Cluster I had high communication, coordination, efficiency, and achievement; Cluster II had high communication and coordination but lacked efficiency and achievement; and Cluster III exhibited low communication, coordination, and achievement but high efficiency. Educators can use these clusters to tailor teaching strategies accordingly.
Evaluation of visual performance and eye movements in patients with blue light-filtering intraocular lenses versus ultraviolet light-filtering intraocular lenses

Background Eye movement plays an important role in visual perception and provides essential visual information for everyday tasks. Our previous study indicated that the visual performance and eye movement pattern were impaired in age-related cataract patients and could be improved after cataract surgery, but the impact of different intraocular lens (IOL) types was obscure. Previous studies found that blue light might affect the eye movement pattern and cognitive function. In this study, we explored the visual performance and eye movement pattern in post-cataract surgery patients implanted with blue light-filtering IOLs or ultraviolet (UV) light-filtering IOLs to further understand the impact of different types of IOLs on and daily visual performance and eye movement pattern and to help ophthalmologists and patients make the personalized option of IOL types in future. Methods Patients after both-eye cataract surgeries were included in this study. Eye movement behaviors were automatically recorded by an eye tracker while performing three performance-based everyday tasks (non-social object search, face recognition, and reading). Visual performance and eye movement parameters were compared between participants with blue light-filtering IOLs and UV light-filtering IOLs. The correlation between visual performance and eye movement parameters was explored to determine which eye movement parameters had a significant influence on visual performance outcomes. Results A total of 30 patients (16 with blue light-filtering IOLs and 14 with UV light-filtering IOLs) were included. In this study, we found that the eye movement pattern was slightly different with these two IOLs: during non-social object visual search task, time to first fixation and fixation counts before first fixation were notably increased in yellow-tinted blue light-filtering IOL patients. During reading task, a higher total fixation count was also found in blue light-filtering IOL patients. However, the visual performance of these two IOLs was close, except for a quicker search of the target object with clear UV light-filtering IOLs. Conclusion Both blue light-filtering and UV light-filtering IOLs were able to successfully restore visual function and yield satisfactory outcomes after cataract surgery. Although subtle, yellow-tinted IOLs did have a slight but significant impact on visual performance and the eye movement pattern of elderly patients when handling everyday tasks.
The Inflow, Throughput and Outflow of COVID-19 Patients in Dutch Hospitals: Experiences from Experts and Middle Managers

At the beginning of 2020, the large and unforeseen inflow of COVID-19 patients had a deep impact on the healthcare operations of Dutch hospitals. From a patient flow logistics perspective, each hospital handled the situation largely in its own particular and improvised way. Nevertheless, some hospitals appeared to be more effective in their dealing with this sudden demand for extra care than others. This prompted a study into the factors which hindered and facilitated effective operations during this period. We provide an overview of actions and measures for organizing and managing the inflow, throughput and outflow of COVID-19 patients within Dutch hospitals from various types of departments in a large number of hospitals in The Netherlands, based on interviews with nine experts and twelve hospital managers. Ten actions or measures have been identified, which have been divided into the following three dimensions: Streamlining of the underlying in- and external processes, reducing unnecessary or undesirable inflow of patients and increasing or making more adequate use of the available (human) capacity. The main lessons learned are the importance of integral tuning in the care process, giving up habits and self-interest, good information provision and the middle manager as a linking pin.
Performance Evaluation of Improved Mobility Aware FSR Routing Protocol in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks

Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANET) is one among the trending technology which is highly efficient and provides reliable external vehicle data transmission. Due to its special functionalities such as frequent changing topology, and high-speed communication the performance of the network is affected with the increase of energy consumption, delay and routing overhead. Several routing protocols are involved in VANETs communication such as Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV), Ad hoc On Demand Multipath Distance Vector (AOMDV), Zone based routing and hybrid routing but still proposing effective routing protocols for VANETs is in the open research area. For that purpose, in this paper Improved Mobility Aware FSR Routing Protocol (IMFSR-PEV) is proposed which is the combination of Improved Fisheye State Routing (IFSR) and effective mobility prediction. Through IFSR protocol, the Global State Routing (GSR) is implemented which helps to provide effective decision making during the process of communication where link failure and high energy dissipation gets controlled. Through effective mobility prediction the network traffic is analyzed and it helps to control and monitor the high-speed vehicles which results in the reduction of delay and routing overhead at each instant of data transmission. The implementation of the proposed IMFSR-PEV is performed in NS2 and the parameters which are considered for the process of comparative analysis are packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay, energy efficiency, and routing overhead and as well it is compared with the earlier research like AOMDV-ID and MAODV-ETX. From the outcome analysis it is proven that our proposed IMFSR-PEV achieves high packet delivery ratio and energy efficiency likewise lower end to end delay and routing overhead when compared with the earlier approaches.
Streamflow Forecasting of Teesta River for a Hilly Sub-Tropical Humid Zone ANN ANFIS Based Models

The stream flow forecasting of Teesta River which flows in a hilly sub-tropical humid zone of north India using artificial neural network (ANN) and adaptive-neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is the focus of this study. This study relied on four years of daily precipitation, humidity, temperature, and discharge data from the Teesta River in Sikkim. The network is forecasted using a variety of ANN algorithms. In addition, an ANFIS-based model was created for this purpose. For this research, all ANN and ANFIS modelling is performed in the MATLAB environment. In forecasting the Teesta River discharge, the ANFIS model has a correlation value of 87%, whereas the ANN model using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm has a correlation value of 83%.
Mental Health of Adolescents before and during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Objective − The objective of the research was to examine the mental health of Croatian high-school students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic with regard to gender, age, school, residence, family structure, and parents’ education.Materials and Methods − Total of 211 15-year-old first grade high-school students completed the YP-CORE questionnaire in the 2020, just before the lock-down enforced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, now being 17-year-olds, 3rd-grade high-school students filled out the YP-CORE questionnaire once again during the COVID-19 pandemic. Socio-demographic data were collected from the participants’ health charts.Results − The median YP-CORE score significantly increased from 7 in 2020 to 11 in 2022. A significant increase in psychological distress was determined, from 11% of adolescents in the pre-pandemic period to 23% of adolescents in the pandemic period. Significantly higher rates were reported by girls in both periods. Students from the School of Applied Arts and Design reported psychological distress significantly more often than students from the Electrical Engineering and Traffic School and the Grammar School before and during the pandemic. Family structure was significantly associated with YP-CORE scores only in the pre-pandemic period.Conclusion − The study showed that the COVID-19 pandemic had negative impact on mental health of Croatian adolescents, with certain sociodemographic risk factors being associated with poorer mental health outcomes.
Morelet's Crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii) in the Macal River watershed, Maya Mountains, Belize

Results are presented of an investigation into the status of Morelet's Crocodile in the Macal River watershed, a little known upland tributary system in Belize. During spotlight surveys in February 2001 and September 2002, numerous individuals were observed representing a wide range of size classes. Sequence analyses of mtDNA from captured animals show that crocodiles in the area represent a genetically pure strain of C. moreletii. No evidence of hybridisation with the American Crocodile (C. acutus) was detected, as observed in animals from other sampled localities (northern lowlands). Due to their relative isolation, crocodiles in the Macal watershed may thus function as a regionally important population source for C. moreletii should introgression with C. acutus spread over time. Differences between C. moreletii in the Macal and northern lowlands were apparent also in aspects of ecology. 1VIORELET'S Crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii) is one of two species of crocodilian found in Belize (Lee, 1996; Stafford & Meyer, 2000). It occurs primarily in freshwater habitats, especially in the northern part of the country, a flat limestone shelf dominated by extensive lagoons, alluvial swamps, and flooded sinkholes. The remaining species, C. acutus, is restricted to offshore islands and coastal areas of the mainland (Platt & Thorbjamarson, 2000a). Commercial harvesting for its high quality leather had depleted populations of C. moreletii throughout its entire range, and by the late 1960s the species is believed to have been nearly exterminated in Belize (Neill, 1971; Frost, 1974). Following legal protection afforded in 1981, however, its numbers have since recovered significantly. Surveys undertaken recently of C. moreletii in Belize have focused mostly on the northern lowlands (e.g. Abercrombie et al., 1980, 1982; Platt, 1996; Rainwater et al., 1998; Platt & Thorbjarnarson, 2000a), where at some localities the species appears to be common. At Gold Button Lagoon in the Orange Walk District, Platt (1996) counted 159 individuals representing an encounter rate of 22.08 crocodiles per km of the shoreline. More recent observations have confirmed the presence of C. moreletii at various localities in southern Belize east of the central mountain divide (Platt et al., 1999). Crocodiles are also known to inhabit some of the larger rivers and streams that drain the western slopes of this little known mountain range (Maya Mountains), particularly the Macal and its larger tributary, the Raspaculo Branch, but with only a small number of records available the occurrence and distribution of populations in the area remain inadequately assessed. In this paper we review the status of C. moreletii in the Macal watershed based on recent surveys and other data collected periodically over the last ten years. Much of this system is threatened with flooding should plans to construct a hydro-electric storage dam at Chalillo, a locality on the Macal some 12 km downstream from its Number 85 Herpetological Bulletin [2003] 15