Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Associations between waist circumference and executive function among Chinese Tibetan adolescents living at high altitude

Background Associations between body composition and execution function (EF) were currently studied in low altitude (LA) areas. However, the research on the correlation between waist circumference (WC) and EF among adolescents living at high altitude (HA) was limited. Objective We sought to explore the association between WC and EF in Chinese Tibetan adolescents aged 13–18 years in HA areas. Methods After excluding invalid data and extreme values, 1,228 participants (583 boys and 645 girls) were eventually included. The areas of Lhasa (average elevation of 3650 m), Nagqu (4500 m), Qamdo (3500 m), and Nyingchi (3100 m) in China were chosen as study sites. Participants completed tasks to measure inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. The predictive association between WC and EF was explored by One-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and linear regression analysis. Results After controlling for concomitant variables, the reaction time (RT) of responding to inhibitory control (difference incongruent and congruent), working memory (1-back, 2-back), and cognitive flexibility (heterogeneous, difference in heterogeneous and homogeneous) stimuli in subjects with WC ≥ 85th percentile was longer than that in those with WC of the 15th percentile or below [by 1.785 ms (95% CI: 0.078, 3.491), 208.734 ms (95% CI: 96.886, 320.582), 106.679 ms (95% CI: 16.485, 196.873), 82.307 ms (95% CI: 19.171, 145.442), and 58.397 ms (95% CI: 0.343,116.452), respectively], (P < 0.05). Conclusion After adjustment for concomitant variables, WC was significantly positively associated with the RT of inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility among Chinese Tibetan adolescents in HA areas.
Development and performance of a clear aligner film loaded with sustained release hydrogen peroxide gel

Introduction: Clear aligner treatment (CAT) has become popular over recent years because it is both comfortable and aesthetically acceptable. However, most of patients undergoing orthodontic treatment request dental bleaching. A safe and controlled bleaching treatment at the same time as the clear aligner treatment can save time and improve patient satisfaction with the outcome of the treatment. Aim: This study was aimed to develop a thermoforming film loaded with hydrogen peroxide as a clear aligner and detect its efficiency on teeth blenching and its influence on shear bonding strength for attachment. Methods: The thermoforming film loaded with sodium alginate-dopamine/Mesoporous silica nanoparticles compound gel was immersed in 6 wt% hydrogen peroxide solution and the hydrogen peroxide was loaded into mesoporous silica nanoparticle channels by capillary action. Then, a thermoforming film loaded with sustained-release hydrogen peroxide gel was made. Six dentition models were prepared with 90 isolated human premolars and divided into the experiment group, the condition control group and the blank control group, respectively. Then, the experiment group wore the clear aligner made by the thermoforming film loaded with hydrogen peroxide for 40 days; the conditional control group wore the clear aligner made by the ordinary thermoforming film for 40 days; and the blank control group wore no clear aligner. The aligners were updated every 10 days and the color of teeth was measured every 10 days. Tooth color should be determined by specific parameters (L, a* and b*). What’s more, in order to determine the influence of the thermoforming film loaded with sustained-release hydrogen peroxide gel on shear bonding strength for attachment. The shear bonding strength of attachment of isolated premolars were measured. Results: Isolated premolars treated by bleaching experiments showed an increase in L value (ΔL = 7.76 ± 0.64) and a decrease in both a* (Δa = −0.82 ± 0.12) and b* (Δb = −3.10 ± 0.21) values. However, the isolated premolars in conditional control group and blank control group exhibited that an decrease in L value (ΔL CCG = −0.91 ± 0.24; ΔL BCG = −0.86 ± 0.15)and a increase in both a* (Δa CCG = 0.19 ± 0.05; Δa BCG = 0.18 ± 0.04) and b* (Δb CCG = 0.43 ± 0.11; Δb BCG = 0.31 ± 0.10) value. While the shear bonding strength for attachment after bleaching was 22.78 ± 2.28 MPa, which had no significant change compared with the shear bonding strength for attachment without bleaching experiment (22.21 ± 2.77 MPa) (p > 0.05). Conclusion: A thermoforming film featuring the sustained release of hydrogen peroxide had a good bleaching effect on isolated teeth and had no significant influence on the shear bonding strength for attachment.
Risk measuring under model uncertainty

The framework of this paper is that of risk measuring under uncertainty, which is when no reference probability measure is given. To every regular convex risk measure on ${\cal C}_b(\Omega)$, we associate a unique equivalence class of probability measures on Borel sets, characterizing the riskless non positive elements of ${\cal C}_b(\Omega)$. We prove that the convex risk measure has a dual representation with a countable set of probability measures absolutely continuous with respect to a certain probability measure in this class. To get these results we study the topological properties of the dual of the Banach space $L^1(c)$ associated to a capacity $c$. As application we obtain that every $G$-expectation $\E$ has a representation with a countable set of probability measures absolutely continuous with respect to a probability measure $P$ such that $P(|f|)=0$ iff $\E(|f|)=0$. We also apply our results to the case of uncertain volatility.
Potential Protective Role of Pregnancy and Breastfeeding in Delaying Onset Symptoms Related to Multiple Sclerosis

The impact of pregnancy and breastfeeding on the development and outcomes of Multiple sclerosis (MS) has been debated for decades. Since several factors can influence the evolution of the disease, the protective role of multiparity and breastfeeding remains uncertain, as well the role of hormone replacement therapy in the perimenopausal period. We report two cases of relatively late-onset MS in two parous women, who developed their first neurological symptoms after six and nine pregnancies, respectively. Both women breastfed each of their children for 3 to 12 months. One of them underwent surgical menopause and received hormone replacement therapy for 7 years before MS onset. We performed a systematic literature review to highlight the characteristics shared by women who develop the disease in similar conditions, after unique hormonal imbalances, and to collect promising evidence on this controversial issue. Several studies suggest that the beneficial effects of pregnancy and breastfeeding on MS onset and disability accumulation may only be realized when several pregnancies occur. However, these data on pregnancy and breastfeeding and their long-term benefits on MS outcomes suffer from the possibility of reverse causality, as women with milder impairment might choose to become pregnant more readily than those with a higher level of disability. Thus, the hypothesis that multiparity might have a protective role on MS outcomes needs to be tested in larger prospective cohort studies of neo-diagnosed women, evaluating both clinical and radiological features at presentation.
Inference for a RPW‐Type Clinical Trial with Repeated Monitoring for the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis

The present paper describes a controlled clinical trial to investigate the effect of Pulsed Electro‐Magnetic Field for the treatment of sequentially entering patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis. According to the study design, repeated monitorings of the patients are carried out to assess their clinical status. The allocation of the entering patients to either a therapy group or a placebo group is done using a newly designed adaptive allocation rule termed as randomized longitudinal play‐the‐winner rule. A discussion of some inference procedures is followed by the analysis of a real data, which shows a clear preference of the therapy over the placebo. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
THE EFFECT OF ESSENTIALISM ON TAXONOMY—TWO THOUSAND YEARS OF STASIS (I) *

A CONVENIENT year to designate as the beginning of the scientific revolution is 1543. In that year Nicholas Copernicus published De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium and Andreas Vesalius published De Humani Corporis Fabrica. In a little more than a hundred years classical physics reached its fruition in Newton's Principia. At first biology promised a similar development with the work of Leewenhoek, Schwammerdam, and Malpighi, but no theoretical achievements even vaguely comparable to those in physics were forthcoming. It wasn't until the nineteenth century with the work of Darwin and Lamarck on evolution, of Mendel on genetics, of Pasteur on micro-organisms, and of Schleiden and others on cell theory that biology came of age. In taxonomy the scientific revolution has been even slower in making itself felt. Although John Ray and Carolus Linnaeus made some advances in the methodology of taxonomy and in organising their taxa, they made no significant contributions to taxonomic theory as devised by Aristotle. As biology lagged behind physics in divesting itself of scholastic influence, taxonomy lagged far behind the other biological sciences. In fact, contrary to popular opinion, the process is still far from complete. And taxonomy only now is reaching a stage of maturity comparable to that of physics 300 years ago or to that of other biological sciences of fifty or a hundred years ago. Why is this? Karl R. Popper's answer is that ' the development of thought since Aristotle could, I think, be summed up by saying that every discipline as long as it used the Aristotelian method of definition has remained arrested in a state of empty verbiage and barren scholasticism, and that the degree to which the various sciences have been able to make any progress depended on the degree to which they have been able to get
Nutritional Considerations in Celiac Disease and Non-Celiac Gluten/Wheat Sensitivity

A gluten-free diet (GFD) is the only available treatment for celiac disease (CeD), and it may also improve symptoms in non-celiac gluten/wheat sensitivity (NCGWS). In CeD, gluten triggers an immune reaction leading to enteropathy, malabsorption, and symptoms; in NCGWS, the mechanism leading to symptoms is unknown, and neither wheat nor gluten triggers enteropathy or malabsorption. A strict GFD is, therefore, necessary for CeD, but a gluten-restricted diet (GRD) may suffice to achieve symptom control for NCGWS. Regardless of this distinction, the risk of malnutrition and macro- and micronutrient deficiencies is increased by the adoption of a GFD or GRD. Thus, patients with CeD or NCGWS should undergo nutritional assessment and subsequent monitoring, based on evidence-based tools, under the care of a multidisciplinary team involving physicians and dietitians, for the long-term management of their nutrition. This review gives an overview of available nutrition assessment tools and considerations for the nutritional management of CeD and NCGWS populations.
Developing Safety Performance Functions and Crash Modification Factors for Urban Roundabouts in Heterogeneous Non-Lane-Based Traffic Conditions

This study aims to develop safety performance functions (SPFs) and crash modification factors (CMFs) for the safety assessment of roundabouts as a whole and their components, especially at entry, exit, and circulating lanes. This study uses historical crash data collected over five years (2015–2019) from 21 roundabouts (78 approaches) situated in some of the major cities in India. SPF and CMF models were developed using negative binomial and cross-sectional approaches. Results show that the percentage of motorized two-wheelers, average daily traffic, central island diameter, entry angle, weaving width, departure width, number of lanes at approach, exit angle, exit width, posted speed limit, weaving length, circulating roadway width, road surface condition, number of circulatory lanes, central island height, and number of legs contribute to the crash occurrence in the roundabout vicinity. In addition to this, circulating roadway width, average daily traffic, and posted speed limit are the most influencing risk factors across the entire roundabout vicinity. Furthermore, an interesting fact is that, given the asymmetrical impact of geometric and traffic factors, the overall crash rate varies across roundabout segments. The findings of this study may be useful for updating the current design guidelines for roundabouts, considering the safety perceptive. Besides, the proposed SPF and CMF tools could be used to investigate the likelihood of crashes at roundabouts. Moreover, this model would help safety experts to implement adequate safety treatment in the vicinity of roundabouts under heterogenous non-lane-based traffic conditions.
Adaptive MPC for Burst Incident Management in Water Distribution Networks

This article investigates an adaptive control strategy which takes advantage of remotely actuated pumps and valves to improve the performance of water distribution networks (WDN) during burst incidents. The proposed strategy relies on a model predictive control to switch between problem formulations corresponding to normal operating conditions and burst conditions. The optimal control problems are formulated as nonconvex nonlinear programs, where the action of fixed-speed pumps and control valves (nonreturn and bidirectional) is modeled exactly and burst remedial interventions are represented using time-dependent connectivity matrices. We propose an efficient solution method based on reformulations and approximations of the nonconvex objectives and constraints and apply the proposed strategy to the adaptive control of an operational WDN during a burst incident. The numerical experiments show that the computed burst control settings allow to partially or completely restore customer supply following the detection of a burst while maintaining minimum water levels in the network tanks and without increasing the cost of pumping operations. The results suggest that the proposed adaptive control strategy can be implemented alone, to mitigate the impact of bursts incidents in WDNs at minimum cost, or to complement traditional remedial interventions.
Formal Verification of Hierarchical Ptolemy II Synchronous-Reactive Models with Bounded Model Checking

Ptolemy II is an open-source modeling and simulation tool for concurrent, real-time and embedded systems, particularly those involving hierarchical heterogeneity. Synchronous- reactive (SR) model of computation which has been implemented in Ptolemy II is commonly used to design safety-critical systems with complicated control logic. Formally verifying the correctness of hierarchical SR models is of great importance and also challenging due to the formalization of a series of specific features including, e.g., instantaneous communication between actors across the level of hierarchy, the combination of SR’s fixed-point semantic with hierarchical structure, and multiple clocks proceeding at different rates in multiclock SR models. In this paper, we tackle such challenges and propose a bounded model checking (BMC) approach to typical actors commonly used in hierarchical SR models. In addition, we implement the proposed BMC approach to hierarchical SR models in a prototype tool called Ptolemy-Z3, which has been integrated into the Ptolemy II environment. Experimental results show that Ptolemy-Z3 outperforms significantly Ptolemy-NuSMV (a verification tool provided by the Ptolemy II environment) in the verification capability of hierarchical SR models.
Impact of analyses on the dynamical balance of global and limited‐area atmospheric models

Dynamical imbalances can induce spurious variability which can be diagnosed from the physical tendencies observed in the first moments of short‐term forecasts using as initial conditions analyses obtained from an assimilation system using this model. In this article this approach is taken to investigate differences in the balance obtained from 3D‐ and 4D‐Var analyses, using the forecast–assimilation system of the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC). The results indicate that the model is then in good balance globally but the 4D‐Var analyses slightly upset the balance in the Tropics, thereby altering the characteristics of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). As the assimilation is driven by a particular model, the resulting analyses keep an imprint of the dynamics of that model and use of this analysis with another model may not be as well in balance due to the differences between the two models. To study this point, ERA‐Interim 4D‐Var reanalyses were used as initial conditions first at a lower horizontal and vertical resolution, and then at a resolution closer to that of the Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) model. The higher‐resolution reanalyses led to a better balance than that with a lower‐resolution version of the ERA‐Interim reanalyses. The coarser analyses create significant imbalances in the Canadian global model which persist for more than 5 days. In particular, it was noted that convection is nearly absent early on as if at a lower resolution, the ERA‐interim analyses did not inject sufficient humidity to trigger convection. It was also noted that reducing the vertical resolution is more damaging than using a coarser horizontal resolution.
Effects of Eimeria acervulina infection on the luminal and mucosal microbiota of the duodenum and jejunum in broiler chickens

The intestinal disease coccidiosis, caused by Eimeria parasites, impacts nutrient absorption in broiler chickens, leading to weight gain depression and major losses in the poultry industry. To develop alternatives to antibiotics for treating infected chickens, the gut microbiota has been researched because of its association with health factors such as nutrient exchange, immune system modulation, digestive system physiology, and pathogen exclusion. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of Eimeria acervulina infection on the luminal and mucosal microbiota of both the duodenum (DuoL and DuoM) and jejunum (JejL and JejM) at multiple time points (days 3, 5, 7, 10, and 14) post-infection. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was utilized to characterize the microbiota and analyze differences in alpha and beta diversity between infected (IF) and control (C) birds at each time point. Alpha diversity differed between IF and C birds in DuoM and JejM microbiota. Combined with beta diversity results, DuoM microbiota appeared to be affected by infection in the longer-term, while JejM microbiota were affected in the shorter-term. Relative abundances of bacterial taxa known for short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production, such as Lachnospiraceae, Subdoligranulum, and Peptostreptococcaceae, tended to be lower in IF birds for all four microbiota. Moreover, predicted functional abundances showed MetaCyc pathways related to SCFA production, especially butyrate, may be influenced by these differences in bacterial relative abundance. Our findings expand understanding of how Eimeria infection affects luminal and mucosal microbiota in the duodenum and jejunum, and further research on metagenomic function may provide insights on the degree of influence duodenal and jejunal bacteria have on chicken health.
Sea-Ice Classification Using Conditional Generative Adversarial Networks

In this letter, we develop a conditional generative adversarial network (cGAN) semantic segmentation model to detect and classify sea-ice in scenes captured onboard of a ship. Two datasets are utilized to train the cGAN model. The images in the first dataset capture four classes: sea-ice, open water, sky, and vessel. The images in the second dataset capture first year sea-ice, new sea-ice, and grey sea-ice in addition to the open water, sky, and vessel classes. Data augmentation operations are applied to both datasets to change the camera mounting angle and location and enhance the datasets' size. Results illustrate that the cGAN model outperforms the visual geometry group (VGG-16), fully convolutional network, and pyramid scene parsing network models in both datasets. Results also show that the cGAN model provides remarkable performance with rainy weather images, in which the performance of the other models degrades due to the raindrop.
Inhibitors of the Oncogenic PA2G4-MYCN Protein-Protein Interface

Simple Summary Neuroblastoma is the commonest solid tumour of early childhood. Most children presenting with advanced disease have a poor survival rate, despite intensive chemotherapy treatment. One third of advanced NB tumours have MYCN oncogene amplification and overexpression, which predicts poor patient prognosis. However, the development of inhibitors directly targeting MYCN family proteins has proven challenging due to the absence of MYCN structural information. We have identified a protein called PA2G4, which is a cofactor for MYCN in promoting cancer cell growth. We have developed a compound WS6 and its analogous, which inhibits PA2G4 and MYCN protein levels and reduces tumour cell growth. The purpose of this study is to characterise and evaluate our novel WS6 analogous as inhibitors of MYCN and PA2G4 oncogenic functions in neuroblastoma. Abstract MYCN is a major oncogenic driver for neuroblastoma tumorigenesis, yet there are no direct MYCN inhibitors. We have previously identified PA2G4 as a direct protein-binding partner of MYCN and drive neuroblastoma tumorigenesis. A small molecule known to bind PA2G4, WS6, significantly decreased tumorigenicity in TH-MYCN neuroblastoma mice, along with the inhibition of PA2G4 and MYCN interactions. Here, we identified a number of novel WS6 analogues, with 80% structural similarity, and used surface plasmon resonance assays to determine their binding affinity. Analogues #5333 and #5338 showed direct binding towards human recombinant PA2G4. Importantly, #5333 and #5338 demonstrated a 70-fold lower toxicity for normal human myofibroblasts compared to WS6. Structure-activity relationship analysis showed that a 2,3 dimethylphenol was the most suitable substituent at the R1 position. Replacing the trifluoromethyl group on the phenyl ring at the R2 position, with a bromine or hydrogen atom, increased the difference between efficacy against neuroblastoma cells and normal myofibroblast toxicity. The WS6 analogues inhibited neuroblastoma cell phenotype in vitro, in part through effects on apoptosis, while their anti-cancer effects required both PA2G4 and MYCN expression. Collectively, chemical inhibition of PA2G4-MYCN binding by WS6 analogues represents a first-in-class drug discovery which may have implications for other MYCN-driven cancers.