Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Giant Cell Arteritis: Does Perivascular Inflammation on Biopsy Lead to Clinical Disease?

Background and Objective: Transmural inflammation of the temporal artery on biopsy is considered strongly suggestive of giant cell arteritis (GCA). Occasionally other inflammation patterns are seen. It is controversial whether these findings predict GCA-like disease. Our objective was to describe the clinicopathologic features in a cohort of patients with temporal artery biopsies to examine outcomes of patients with non-transmural inflammation. Methods: We examined through retrospective chart review the clinical course from 2010-2020 of patients with temporal artery biopsies from 2010-2012. Biopsy results were divided into 3 groups: GCA transmural inflammation, non-GCA perivascular inflammation and negative. Non-GCA perivascular inflammation included small vessel, vasa vasorum and adventitial inflammation. Endpoints included constitutional and craniofacial symptoms, CRP and ESR levels, ASCVD, large vessel complications, and length of steroid treatment. Results: 95 patients were included. Transmural patients had more visual loss compared with perivascular patients (55.5% vs 15.7%, p=0.004). Transmural patients had more jaw claudication or headache/jaw claudication compared with perivascular patients (44.5% vs 12.6%, p=0.01). Weight loss was more common in transmural patients compared with perivascular (27.8% vs 3.1%, p=0.02). Night sweats, PMR symptoms, and temporal artery tenderness were similar between groups. CRP was higher in transmural patients though not significantly. ESR levels were similar between groups. Transmural patients had a longer steroid duration with a median of 24 months vs 1.5 for perivascular, p=0.001. Conclusion: Patients with non-transmural inflammation on temporal artery biopsies had improved outcomes when compared with transmural patients. This raises the question of whether steroids should be continued after a biopsy returns with perivascular inflammation.
Analysis of Factors Associated with Work Stress on Teachers of the Asuhan Kasih Special School and the State Special School of Pembina Kupang

Abstract. Job stress is a form of a person's response both physically and mentally to a change in his environment that is felt to be disturbing and causes him to be threatened or uncomfortable. The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors associated with work stress on teachers of the Asuhan Kasih Special School and the Pembina Kupang State Special School. The sampling technique used is simple random sampling with a sample of 47 subjects. The analysis in this study uses the Chi-Square test and Fisher Probability Exact Test as an alternative test. The results showed that there was a relationship between tenure (pvalue = 0.007), personality type (p-value = 0.002), and workload (p-value = 0.003) with work stress and there was no relationship between gender (p-value = 1000) and age (p-value). = 1000). = 0.379) with work stress on teachers of the Asuhan Kasih Special School and the Pembina State Special School of Kupang. Schools should conduct training in accordance with the responsibilities of each teacher and divide the number of students handled according to applicable regulations.
Measuring the Success of Recommender Systems: A PLS-SEM Approach

Recommender systems, which suggest relevant products to internet users, have become an integral part of our daily lives. The factors responsible for their success from the different stakeholder perspectives, however, have never been thoroughly investigated. This study proposes a novel model for measuring the success of recommender systems that consolidates different success factors. The model is a modified version of the DeLone and McLean Information Systems Success Model with trust as an additional latent variable. The model was evaluated in an empirical study with PLS-SEM. The proposed model exhibits a high predictive power and all structural paths were significant. The integration of trust is an important contribution as the path between information quality and trust yielded the highest path coefficient. The proposed model can be used by recommendation system providers to explain and predict the successful use of the systems and to improve business processes.
Opioid sparing analgesia: Continuous intraoperative infusion of dexmedetomidine versus lidocaine for intracranial surgeries in children: A double-blind randomized clinical trial

ABSTRACT Background The usage of opioid sparing analgesia in different surgeries leads to varied results. The aim of this study is to compare between the effects of continuous intraoperative infusion of dexmedetomidine versus lidocaine as opioid sparing analgesia in children undergoing intracranial surgeries. Methods It is a double-blind randomized clinical study in which, 64 children were randomly allocated into 2 equal groups; 32 children for each group. The first one was dexmedetomidine group which received continuous intraoperative dexmedetomidine iv infusion [1ug/kg dexmedetomidine over 15 minutes as a loading dose and 0.5ug/kg/h for maintenance]. The second one was lidocaine group which received continuous intraoperative lidocaine iv infusion [1.5mg/kg lidocaine over 15 minutes as a loading dose and 1.5mg/kg/h for maintenance]. The continuous intraoperative iv infusion of each tested drug was stopped 10 minutes before the end the surgical procedure. Results Intraoperative total fentanyl consumption was significantly reduced in dexmdetomidine compared to lidocaine group ([19.33±11.15 vs 43.10±21.15] ug, 95% CI, -45.8 to -1.7). Children in dexmedetomidine group were significantly more sedated compared to lidocaine group. The time to reach Wong–Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale (WBFPS) scores 4 or more was around 4 hours in dexmedetomidine and around 1hour in lidocaine group. The time to first call of naluphine with dexmedetomidine was significantly prolonged compared to lidocaine ([235.03±5.02 vs 55.87±6.28] min, 95% CI, 176.3-182) with significantly reduced total postoperative naluphine consumption in dexmedetomidine compared to lidocaine ([4.22±1.46 vs 7.96±2.8] mg, 95% CI,-4.9 to -2.6) . The duration of PACU stay was significantly prolonged in lidocaine compared to dexmedetomidine ([99.75±14.36 vs 114.28±10.56] min, 95% CI,-20.8 to -8.2). Conclusion Continuous Intraoperative intravenous infusion of dexmedetomidine was superior to lidocaine in opioid sparing analgesia during intracranial surgeries in children.
Unraveling Gap Selection Process During Discretionary Lane Changing by Vehicle Class

This paper studies and compares the gap selection process of multiple vehicle classes (passenger cars, delivery vans, and trucks) within their discretionary lane changing activities. Given a trajectory or a sequence of gap selection decisions, we aim to predict whether a vehicle will change or keep a lane. For this purpose, we use a large trajectory dataset, collected for the Netherlands, consisting of 3,647 trajectories of passenger car drivers, 1,080 trajectories of delivery van drivers, and 2,226 trajectories of truck drivers. We apply gated recurrent unit neural networks to separately model their gap selection processes. These three models can not only handle class imbalance but also capture long-term interdependencies. The models can predict gap selection of three vehicle classes with geometric mean accuracies of 84% or higher. To obtain insights into their gap selection processes, we apply a gradient-based technique to analyze what neural networks have learned. Our results suggest that there exist significant differences between vehicle classes in terms of the importance of historical information and features. Trucks seem to value a relatively long period, recent 6 seconds, of driving experience to select gaps compared to passenger cars and delivery vans. In addition, the perception of road topology seems to be a significant factor for delivery vans and trucks, contrary to passenger cars which highly value their kinematic features and interactions with surrounding vehicles, to select gaps. These insights offer a novel contribution towards better understanding and modeling of the driving behavior of multiple vehicle classes.
The Analysis of Trade Liberalization and Nutrition Intake for Improving Food Security across Districts in Indonesia

The debate on the effect of trade liberalization on food security poses solid arguments, both in favor as well as against the issue. This study aims to analyze the linkages between trade liberalization (measured using food import tariff exposure) and food security (measured using nutrition intake) in the case of Indonesia. The national food import tariff is decomposed into district-level import tariff exposure and is analyzed based on sectoral tariffs such as agriculture tariffs and food manufacture import tariffs. The analysis employs panel data of 496 Indonesian districts and postulates an association between trade and food security by using fixed-effect regression. By analyzing the effects of tariff exposure towards food consumption in all districts and grouping the districts into 5 (five) islands, we can contribute to the literature on trade liberalization and food security. First, it is found that import tariff exposure is negatively impacting nutrition intake and each sector has a different effect on each nutrition intake. Furthermore, the impact of manufacturing tariffs on calorie and protein intake is slightly higher than that of agriculture tariffs. Second, it is shown that both sectoral import tariffs’ effects vary across islands in Indonesia. Furthermore, the research is expected to contribute to and become a reference for the government in regulating tariffs and other trade liberalization schemes to support households to be food secure.
A Comprehensive Report on Machine Learning-based Early Detection of Alzheimer's Disease using Multi-modal Neuroimaging Data

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative brain disorder with no cure. An early identification helps patients with AD sustain a normal living. We have outlined machine learning (ML) methodologies with different schemes of feature extraction to synergize complementary and correlated characteristics of data acquired from multiple modalities of neuroimaging. A variety of feature selection, scaling, and fusion methodologies along with confronted challenges are elaborated for designing an ML-based AD diagnosis system. Additionally, thematic analysis has been provided to compare the ML workflow for possible diagnostic solutions. This comprehensive report adds value to the further advancement of computer-aided early diagnosis system based on multi-modal neuroimaging data from patients with AD.
The Impact of Neglecting Climate Change and Variability on ERCOT’s Forecasts of Electricity Demand in Texas

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages the electric power across most of Texas. They make short-term assessments of electricity demand based on historical weather over the last decade or two, thereby ignoring the effects of climate change and the possibility of weather variability outside of the recent historical range. In this paper, we develop an empirical methodology to predict the impact of weather on energy demand. We use that with a large ensemble of climate model runs to construct a probability distribution of power demand on the ERCOT grid for summer and winter 2021. We find that the ERCOT grid is running with no safety margin, particularly during summer. We estimate a 5% chance that maximum power demand would be within 4.3 and 7.9 GW of ERCOT’s estimate of best-case available resources during summer and winter 2021, respectively, and a 20% chance it would be within 7.1 and 17 GW. With such small margins, the unexpected reductions in available power can lead to shortages on the grid. This problem is partially hidden by the fact that ERCOTs seasonal assessments, based entirely on historical weather, are too low. Prior to the 2021 winter blackout, ERCOT forecasted an extreme peak load of 67 GW. In reality, we estimate hourly peak demand was 82 GW, 22% above ERCOT’s most extreme forecast and about equal to the best-case available power. Given the high stakes, ERCOT should develop probabilistic estimates using modern scientific tools to predict the range of power demand more accurately.
Determination of Salmonella spp. presence and antibiotic resistance in egg and egg products

susceptibility of Salmonella spp. isolates to various antibiotics and MIC values was perfor - med by VITEK 2 compact system using VITEK 2 AST-GN38 cards. Results: Salmonella spp. were found in two of 100 (2%) eggs (organic egg contents) and one of 100 (1%) egg products (pasteurized liquid egg). A total of 11 isolates were confirmed by PCR techniques as Salmonella spp. with the presence of oriC gene. The highest resistance was against amikacin, enroflo - xacin, gentamicin, tobramycin, cephalexin (100%), followed by nitrofurantoin (81.8%), tetracycline (63.6%), ampicillin (54.5%), piperacillin (54.5%), cefpo - doxime (54.5%), and imipenem (9.09%). However, there was no resistance to amoxicillin, marbofloxacin and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. The results showed that 11/11 (100%) of Salmonella spp. from three sample showed multi-drug resistance against three or more antibiotic agents. Conclusion: It is recommended to implement good hygiene practices, good production practices and pasteurization techniques to minimize the risk of Salmonellosis due to the consumption of eggs and egg products.
A retrospective on hydrological catchment modelling based on half a century with the HBV model

Abstract. Hydrological catchment models are important tools that are commonly used as the basis for water resource management planning. In the 1960s and 1970s, the development of several relatively simple models to simulate catchment runoff started, and a number of so-called conceptual (or bucket-type) models were suggested. In these models, the complex and heterogeneous hydrological processes in a catchment are represented by a limited number of storage elements and the fluxes between them. While computer limitations were a major motivation for such relatively simple models in the early days, some of these models are still used frequently despite the vast increase in computational opportunities. The HBV (Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning) model, which was first applied about 50 years ago in Sweden, is a typical example of a conceptual catchment model and has gained large popularity since its inception. During several model intercomparisons, the HBV model performed well despite (or because of) its relatively simple model structure. Here, the history of model development, from thoughtful considerations of different model structures to modelling studies using hundreds of catchments and cloud computing facilities, is described. Furthermore, the wide range of model applications is discussed. The aim is to provide an understanding of the background of model development and a basis for addressing the balance between model complexity and data availability that will also face hydrologists in the coming decades.
Neutral and Selective Processes Shape MHC Diversity in Roe Deer in Slovenia

Simple Summary Disease prevention and appropriate wildlife management are among the major challenges in wildlife conservation. In the present study, we made a first assessment of the variability of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes in roe deer in Slovenia and evaluated local population adaptation by comparing MHC variability with neutral microsatellites. We discovered three new MHC DRB exon 2 alleles in addition to seven previously described in the literature. Moreover, we found evidence of historical positive selection, as selection analysis indicated that approx. 10% of the encoded amino acids were subjected to episodic positive selection. This study provides the basis for further research on immunogenetic variation in roe deer and highlights opportunities to incorporate genetic data into science-based population management. Abstract Disease control and containment in free-ranging populations is one of the greatest challenges in wildlife management. Despite the importance of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes for immune response, an assessment of the diversity and occurrence of these genes is still rare in European roe deer, the most abundant and widespread large mammal in Europe. Therefore, we examined immunogenetic variation in roe deer in Slovenia to identify species adaptation by comparing the genetic diversity of the MHC genes with the data on neutral microsatellites. We found ten MHC DRB alleles, three of which are novel. Evidence for historical positive selection on the MHC was found using the maximum likelihood codon method. Patterns of MHC allelic distribution were not congruent with neutral population genetic findings. The lack of population genetic differentiation in MHC genes compared to existing structure in neutral markers suggests that MHC polymorphism was influenced primarily by balancing selection and, to a lesser extent, by neutral processes such as genetic drift, with no clear evidence of local adaptation. Selection analyses indicated that approx. 10% of amino acids encoded under episodic positive selection. This study represents one of the first steps towards establishing an immunogenetic map of roe deer populations across Europe, aiming to better support science-based management of this important game species.
Effectiveness of Human Mobility Change in Reducing the Spread of COVID-19: Ecological Study of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Non-pharmacological interventions including mobility restriction have been developed to curb transmission of SARS-CoV-2. We provided precise estimates of disease burden and examined the impact of mobility restriction on reducing the COVID-19 effective reproduction number in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This study involved secondary analysis of open-access COVID-19 data obtained from different sources between 2 March and 26 December 2020. The dependent and main independent variables of interest were the effective reproduction number and anonymized mobility indices, respectively. Multiple linear regression was used to investigate the relationship between the community mobility change and the effective reproduction number for COVID-19. By 26 December 2020, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Saudi Arabia reached 360,690, with a cumulative incidence rate of 105.41/10,000 population. Al Jouf, Northern Border, and Jazan regions were ≥2.5 times (OR = 2.93; 95% CI: 1.29–6.64), (OR = 2.50; 95% CI: 1.08–5.81), and (OR = 2.51; 95% CI: 1.09–5.79) more likely to have a higher case fatality rate than Riyadh, the capital. Mobility changes in public and residential areas were significant predictors of the COVID-19 effective reproduction number. This study demonstrated that community mobility restrictions effectively control transmission of the COVID-19 virus.
Epidemiology, Pathogenesis, and Diagnosis of Cardiac Sarcoidosis

Cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) is a widely underdiagnosed yet clinically significant form of granulomatous myocarditis associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Clinical presentation ranges from silent cardiac involvement detected on imaging to cardiomyopathy or sudden cardiac death. Diagnosis of CS remains challenging due to the lack of sensitivity and specificity of any single diagnostic method, underscoring the importance of elevated clinical suspicion and the use of multimodality imaging to guide diagnosis and treatment. In this review, we discuss the epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical features, and diagnosis of this clinically evading and enigmatic disease.
Sodium or Not Sodium: Should Its Presence Affect the Accuracy of Pose Prediction in Docking GPCR Antagonists?

The function of the allosteric sodium ion in stabilizing the inactive form of GPCRs has been extensively described in the past decades. Its presence has been reported to be essential for the binding of antagonist molecules in the orthosteric site of these very important therapeutical targets. Among the GPCR–antagonist crystal structures available, in most cases, the sodium ion could not be experimentally resolved, obliging computational scientists using GPCRs as targets for virtual screening to ask: “Should the sodium ion affect the accuracy of pose prediction in docking GPCR antagonists? ” In the present study, we examined the performance of three orthogonal docking programs in the self-docking of GPCR antagonists to try to answer this question. The results of the present work highlight that if the sodium ion is resolved in the crystal structure used as the target, it should also be taken into account during the docking calculations. If the crystallographic studies were not able to resolve the sodium ion then no advantage would be obtained if this is manually inserted in the virtual target. The outcomes of the present analysis are useful for researchers exploiting molecular docking-based virtual screening to efficiently identify novel GPCR antagonists.
Characterising englacial R-channels using artificial moulins

Abstract The englacial and subglacial drainage systems exert key controls on glacier dynamics. However, due to their inaccessibility, they are still only poorly understood and more detailed observations are important, particularly to validate and tune physical models describing their dynamics. By creating artificial glacier moulins – boreholes connected to the subglacial drainage system and supplied with water from surface streams – we present a novel method to monitor the evolution of an englacial hydrological system with high temporal resolution. Here, we use artificial moulins as representations for vertical, pressurised, englacial R-channels. From tracer and pressure measurements, we derive time series of the hydraulic gradient, discharge, flow speed and channel cross-sectional area. Using these, we compute the Darcy–Weisbach friction factor, obtaining values which increase from 0.1 to 13 within five days of channel evolution. Furthermore, we simulate the growth of the cross-sectional area using different temperature gradients. The comparison to our measurements largely supports the common assumption that the temperature follows the pressure melting point. The deviations from this behaviour are analysed using various heat transfer parameterisations to assess their applicability. Finally, we discuss how artificial moulins could be combined with glacier-wide tracer experiments to constrain parameters of subglacial drainage more precisely.