Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A critical analysis of collaborative and disruptive digital-driven built environment education

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven the teaching and learning provisions more towards virtual platforms, exposing lack of resilience and technology preparedness. This study aims to provide a critical appraisal of existing pedagogical studies on built environment (e.g., Building Information Modelling or BIM) challenging the opportunism and agency theories in response towards remote education provision provoked by the pandemic. The study consists of critical review of two literature samples, namely how the education sector as a whole has been responding to the pandemic, and the digitalisation-based pedagogy in built environment especially how the pedagogy addresses the pandemic. The review of the second literature sample evaluates longitudinally how BIM-based built environment education had evolved. A conceptual framework incorporating multiple factors from the review of the two literature samples is finally proposed. These factors include educational theories (e.g., Bloom's Taxonomy), curriculum development addressing assessment, student experience, collaborative learning, delivery approaches, and teaching methods. This review-based study not only provides an overview of the digital built environment pedagogical work in higher education, but also contests the opportunism response to remote or blended learning and how the post-pandemic era could embrace the remote delivery-platforms to engender a variety of pedagogical principles, for example, cross-disciplinary team-based information sharing, experiential learning, and projectbased learning. The findings of this study represent a barometer and roadmap for measuring the resilience of higher education and built environment programmes towards pandemic and technological disruptions. © 2021 Proceedings of the 37th Annual ARCOM Conference, ARCOM 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Laser v/s Conventional-Comparison of Shear Bond Strength of Orthodontic Brackets Bonded Using Various Etching Techniques

Background/Objectives: The following study was performed to test and compare the shear bond strength and of the orthodontics brackets bonded to extracted human premolar teeth using various etching procedures and also to determine the brackets / adhesive failure mode. Materials/Methods: The teeth were acid-etched using 37% orthophosphoric acid, laser-etched with Er: YAG (Fotona Lares, wavelength, 2 940 nm) and both acid etching followed by laser etching. Orthodontic brackets were bonded to all the teeth using Transbond XT paste (3M Unitek). Results: Shear bond strength of all teeth of each group was determined by using Universal testing machine. Data obtained were compared by Kruskal Wallis analysis of variance (ANOVA) and chi-square (χ 2 ) test was used to compare the adhesive remnant index (ARI) scores for all the three groups. Conclusions: The study found laser-etched procedure more effective than acid-etched procedure and both acid and laser-etched procedures in the management of orthodontics.
Effect of Probiotics on Blood Pressure : A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Print

Randomized, Controlled Trials Effect of Probiotics on Blood Pressure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Print ISSN: 0194-911X. Online ISSN: 1524-4563 Copyright © 2014 American Heart Association, Inc. All rights reserved. is published by the American Heart Association, 7272 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75231 Hypertension published online July 21, 2014; Hypertension. http://hyper.ahajournals. org/content/early/2014/07/21/HYPERTENSIONAHA.114. 03469 World Wide Web at: The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is located on the
Impact of Export Diversification on Economic Growth in Nigeria

The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of export diversification on economic growth in Nigeria. Annual time series data on GDP per capita, Theil export diversification index, gross fixed capital formation (for domestic investment), exchange rate and openness of the economy were the variables collected for the analysis for the period 1980-2017. Dummy variable for democracy was also constructed to test for the impact of governance on economic growth in Nigeria. To estimate the data, Autoregressive Distributed lag model, applying bounds test was adopted. The empirical results show that export diversification has positive but insignificant impact on economic growth in Nigeria both in the short run and long run. Similarly, domestic investment has positive impact on economic growth both in the short run and long run. However, its impact is significant only in the short run. Exchange rate has negative impact on economic growth in the short run but its impact in the long run is positive, showing instability in the exchange rate movements in Nigeria. Openness of the economy has negative impact on economic growth both in the short run and long run. However, its impact is significant only in the long run. Democracy dummy has positive but insignificant impact on economic growth both in the e short run and long run. Based on the findings,, it is recommended that the earnings from the oil sector should be channeled to the development of non-oil sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing in order to diversify the export base of the economy.
Submitted to the Annals of Applied Probability ADAPTIVE FORCE BIASING ALGORITHMS : NEW CONVERGENCE RESULTS AND TENSOR APPROXIMATIONS OF THE BIAS By

Abstract We analyze and propose variants of the Adaptive Biasing Force method. First, we prove the convergence of a version of the algorithm where the biasing force is estimated using a weighted occupation measure, with an explicit asymptotic variance. Second, we propose a new flavour of the algorithm adapted to high dimensional reaction coordinates, for which the standard approaches suffer from the curse of dimensionality. More precisely, the free energy is approximated by a sum of tensor products of one-dimensional functions. The consistency of the tensor approximation is established. Numerical experiments on 5-dimensional reaction coordinates demonstrate that the method is indeed able to capture correlations between them.
Humoral response, associated symptoms and profile of patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 with taste or smell disorders in the SAPRIS multicohort study.

Objectives Taste or smell disorders have been reported as strongly associated with COVID-19 diagnosis. We aimed to identify subject characteristics, symptom associations, and humoral response intensity associated with taste or smell disorders. Patients and methods We used data from SAPRIS, a study based on a consortium of five prospective cohorts gathering 279,478 participants in the French general population. In the analysis, we selected participants who were presumably infected by SARS-CoV-2 during the first epidemic wave. Results The analysis included 3,439 patients with a positive ELISA-Spike. Sex (OR = 1.28 [95% CI 1.05-1.58] for women), smoking (OR = 1.54 [95% CI 1.13-2.07]), consumption of more than 2 drinks of alcohol a day (OR = 1.37 [95% CI 1.06-1.76]) were associated with a higher probability of taste or smell disorders. The relationship between age and taste or smell disorders was non-linear. Serological titers were associated with taste or smell disorders: OR = 1.31 [95% CI 1.26-1.36], OR = 1.37 [95% CI 1.33-1.42] and OR = 1.34 [95% CI 1.29-1.39] for ELISA-Spike, ELISA-Nucleocapsid and seroneutralization, respectively. Among participants with taste or smell disorders, 90% reported a wide variety of other symptoms whereas 10% reported no other symptom or only rhinorrhea. Conclusion Among patients with a positive ELISA-Spike test, women, smokers and people drinking more than 2 drinks a day were more likely to develop taste or smell disorders. This symptom was strongly associated with a humoral response. The overwhelming majority of patients with taste or smell disorders experienced a wide variety of symptoms.
Moment-to-moment fluctuations of hemodynamic responses in posterior default mode networks differentially predict level of attentional lapses in adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Background: The neurobiological underpinnings of the characteristically higher intra-individual variability of reaction times (IIVRT) in patients with ADHD are still poorly understood. The aim of the current study was to extend previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies by testing the role of moment-to-moment fluctuations in the attention-eliciting hemodynamic responses of IIVRT in adolescent ADHD. To our knowledge, no prior fMRI study has shown the involvement of posterior default mode network (DMN) in ADHD IIVRT. We expected that moment-to-moment fluctuations in hemodynamic responses in posterior DMN would predict higher IIVRT specifically in ADHD. Methods: Adolescents (12 to 19 years old) with ADHD (n= 55) and healthy controls (n= 55) performed a fMRI go/no-go task. Whole-brain independent component analysis (ICA) segregated mean and variability of hemodynamic responses into functional brain networks -included in stepwise linear regression analyses to test which functional brain networks predicted high IIVRT. Results: The results showed as expected that variability in hemodynamic responses in posterior DMN regions predicted level of IIVRT. In the posterior cingulate cortex this variability predicted higher IIVRT only in ADHD, whereas in precuneus variability in hemodynamic responses predicted lower IIVRT. Further, mean hemodynamic responses in a bilateral superior temporal cortex network predicted higher IIVRT only in ADHD. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that estimating variability in hemodynamic responses is crucial to understand the involvement of the intrinsic default mode in attentional lapses in ADHD. The parcellation into posterior default mode subnetworks showed the differentiating role of default mode in attentional lapses in ADHD.
Neutrophil Extracellular Trap Biomarker Titers and Delayed Cerebral Ischemia in Patients With Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Background: Myeloperoxidase (MPO)-DNA complexes have been associated with arterial and venous thrombosis. Their role in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) is unknown. Here, we sought to explore whether serum MPO-DNA-complexes are present in patients with aSAH, and whether levels of serum MPO-DNA complexes are associated with delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI). Methods: We performed a post-hoc analysis of a prospective, blinded, observational single-center biomarker study that enrolled consecutive patients with spontaneous SAH between July 2018 and September 2020. Serum samples obtained on admission and on hospital day 4 were analyzed for concentrations of MPO-DNA complexes. The primary outcome was the occurrence of DCI defined as new infarction on brain CT-scan. The secondary outcome was clinical vasospasm, a composite of clinical and transcranial doppler parameters. We used Wilcoxon's signed-rank-test to assess for differences between paired measures. Results: Among 100 patients with spontaneous SAH, mean age 59 (SD+13) years, 55% women, 78 patients had an aneurysmal SAH and complete DCI information. Among these, 29 (37%) developed DCI. MPO-DNA complexes were detected in all serum samples. The median MPO-DNA level was 33 ng/ml (IQR, 18-43 ng/ml) on admission, and 22 ng/ml (IQR, 11-31 ng/ml) on day 4 (Mann-Whitney test: p=0.015). In the primary outcome analysis, we found a significant reduction in MPO-DNA levels from admission to day 4 in patients with DCI (paired test, p=0.036) but not in those without DCI (p=0.171). The secondary analysis showed a similar reduction in MPO-DNA levels between admission and day 4 in patients with (p=0.006), but not in those without clinical vasospasm (p=0.473). Conclusions: MPO-DNA-complexes are detectable in peripheral serum samples of patients with aSAH. A pronounced reduction in MPO-DNA levels over the first days after aSAH might herald DCI. The potential of MPO-DNA serum levels to serve as a biomarker of DCI requires further exploration.
Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Screening in Healthcare Workers and Its Correlation with Clinical Presentation in Tertiary Care Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal, from November 2020 to January 2021

Background Antibody titer and the life span of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 have been found to be associated with the clinical presentation in individuals. The extent of exposure of healthcare workers and the general public to SARS-CoV-2 needs to be assessed to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, this study is an attempt in assessing the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody in health care workers. Methods This laboratory-based cross-sectional study was performed in Manmohan Memorial Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu from November 2020 to January 2021. A total of 185 HCWs were enrolled in this study. Their serum samples were screened for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, and a structured questionnaire was administered to collect further information. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody screening was performed using lateral flow immunoassay. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results Among 185 HCWs that participated in the study, 41 (22.2%) tested positive for the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody. Of these 41 HCWs, 37 tested positive for IgG only and 4 of them tested positive for both IgM and IgG antibodies. The presence of the previous history of SARS-CoV-2 infection (p < 0.001), the presence of flu-like symptoms within the last 6 months (p < 0.001), and the presence of positive contact history (p=0.002) were statistically significant with the presence of the antibody among HCWs. Conclusion Healthcare workers carry a high burden of SARS-CoV-2 infection and are at risk of acquiring infection from their workplace. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody screening among healthcare workers is highly recommended in multiple healthcare settings as it can help in monitoring transmission dynamics and evaluation of infection control policies.
Up-regulation of proBDNF/p75NTR signaling in antibody-secreting cells drives systemic lupus erythematosus

Inappropriate expansion of antibody-secreting cells (ASCs) is typical of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but the regulatory signaling of pathogenic ASCs is unclear. The present study shows that brain-derived neurotrophic factor precursor (proBDNF) and its high-affinity pan-75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) are highly expressed in CD19+CD27hiCD38hi ASCs in patients with SLE and in CD19+CD44hiCD138+ ASCs in lupus-like mice. The increased proBDNF+ ASCs were positively correlated with clinical symptoms and higher titers of autoantibodies in SLE. Administration of monoclonal antibodies against proBDNF or specific knockout of p75NTR in CD19+ B cells exerted a therapeutic effect on lupus mice by limiting the proportion of ASCs, reducing the production of autoantibodies and attenuating kidney injury. Blocking the biological function of proBDNF or p75NTR also inhibits ASC differentiation and antibody production in vitro. Together, these findings suggest that proBDNF-p75NTR signaling plays a critical pathogenic role in SLE through promoting ASC dysfunction.
RNA polymerase II trapped on a molecular treadmill: Structural basis of persistent transcriptional arrest by a minor groove DNA binder

Significance Hairpin pyrrole-imidazole (Py-Im) polyamides can be programmed to bind a broad repertoire of DNA sequences. Py-Im small molecules can be used to target cancer-specific coding regions and block transcription elongation. This transcription blockage by Py-Im cannot be rescued by transcription elongation factors, such as TFIIS. The mechanism by which Py-Im blocks transcription remains elusive. To understand the structural basis of this strong transcription blockage, we solved five different structures containing an eight-ring hairpin Py-Im bound with either a Pol II elongation complex (EC) or a DNA duplex. These structures revealed that Py-Im can trap Pol II EC in a treadmill-like manner. This knowledge may pave the way for the development of small molecules that inhibit transcriptional addiction in cancer. Elongating RNA polymerase II (Pol II) can be paused or arrested by a variety of obstacles. These obstacles include DNA lesions, DNA-binding proteins, and small molecules. Hairpin pyrrole-imidazole (Py-Im) polyamides bind to the minor groove of DNA in a sequence-specific manner and induce strong transcriptional arrest. Remarkably, this Py-Im–induced Pol II transcriptional arrest is persistent and cannot be rescued by transcription factor TFIIS. In contrast, TFIIS can effectively rescue the transcriptional arrest induced by a nucleosome barrier. The structural basis of Py-Im–induced transcriptional arrest and why TFIIS cannot rescue this arrest remain elusive. Here we determined the X-ray crystal structures of four distinct Pol II elongation complexes (Pol II ECs) in complex with hairpin Py-Im polyamides as well as of the hairpin Py-Im polyamides–dsDNA complex. We observed that the Py-Im oligomer directly interacts with RNA Pol II residues, introduces compression of the downstream DNA duplex, prevents Pol II forward translocation, and induces Pol II backtracking. These results, together with biochemical studies, provide structural insight into the molecular mechanism by which Py-Im blocks transcription. Our structural study reveals why TFIIS fails to promote Pol II bypass of Py-Im–induced transcriptional arrest.
Targeted gene silencing in the nervous system with CRISPR-Cas13

Cas13 nucleases are a class of programmable RNA-targeting CRISPR effector proteins that are capable of silencing target gene expression in mammalian cells. Here, we demonstrate that RfxCas13d, a Cas13 ortholog with favorable characteristics to other family members, can be delivered to the mouse spinal cord and brain to silence neurodegeneration-associated genes. Intrathecally delivering an adeno-associated virus vector encoding an RfxCas13d variant programmed to target superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), a protein whose mutation can cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, reduced SOD1 mRNA and protein in the spinal cord by >50% and improved outcomes in a mouse model of the disorder. We further show that intrastriatally delivering an RfxCas13d variant programmed to target huntingtin (HTT), a protein whose mutation is causative for Huntington’s disease, led to a ~50% reduction in HTT protein in the mouse brain. Our results establish RfxCas13d as a versatile platform for knocking down gene expression in the nervous system.
Real-world treatment and fracture incidence in postmenopausal women with severe osteoporosis at high risk of fracture: a retrospective claims data analysis

Background: Osteoporosis (OP) and its associated fractures have a significant impact on patients’ quality of life and are impacting their morbidity and mortality. For OP patients at high risk of fracture, guidelines recommend a pharmacological OP treatment. The aim of this study was to describe the real-world medication treatment of postmenopausal women with severe OP at high risk of fracture, their risk to experience a new fracture after having at least one previous fracture, and to assess the associated healthcare resource use (HCRU). Methods: This retrospective cohort study was based on anonymized German claims data (AOK PLUS). All included OP patients were female, ≥55 years old, and had a vertebral and/or femoral fracture. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis in 2018 and a longitudinal analysis, starting with an incident vertebral/femoral fracture (after or simultaneously with the first observed OP diagnosis). In both analyses, patient characteristics, rate of new incident fractures, OP treatment patterns, and HCRU associated with the treatment of patients were investigated. Results: In the cross-sectional setting, 12,180 patients with a mean age of 83.59 years were observed. Of these patients, 14.30% sustained at least one new incident fracture and 34.54% received a pharmaceutical OP treatment during 2018. In this year, 58.50% of the patients had at least one OP-related outpatient visit, and 26.35% had a fracture-related visit. In 160 patients (1.31%), at least one OP-related hospitalization was documented, and in 1,293 patients (10.62%) a fracture-related hospitalization in 2018. In the longitudinal setting, 10,323 patients with a mean age of 83.22 years were included. Of these, 18.96% experienced at least one new incident fracture within the first 12 months after the index fracture, and in total 30.85% in the entire follow-up period (mean 2.03 years). During the 12-month baseline period, 22.12% of the patients received an OP treatment. Three months after the index fracture, the proportion of treated patients remained at 22.30%. During the total follow-up time, 35.54% were prescribed with an OP treatment. Conclusion: We observed a considerable proportion of untreated patients and a high rate of subsequent fractures. The awareness for a proper risk assessment and the appropriate use of available treatments should be increased.
Tracking changes between preprint posting and journal publication during a pandemic

Amid the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, preprints in the biomedical sciences are being posted and accessed at unprecedented rates, drawing widespread attention from the general public, press, and policymakers for the first time. This phenomenon has sharpened long-standing questions about the reliability of information shared prior to journal peer review. Does the information shared in preprints typically withstand the scrutiny of peer review, or are conclusions likely to change in the version of record? We assessed preprints from bioRxiv and medRxiv that had been posted and subsequently published in a journal through April 30, 2020, representing the initial phase of the pandemic response. We utilised a combination of automatic and manual annotations to quantify how an article changed between the preprinted and published version. We found that the total number of figure panels and tables changed little between preprint and published articles. Moreover, the conclusions of 7.2% of non-COVID-19–related and 17.2% of COVID-19–related abstracts undergo a discrete change by the time of publication, but the majority of these changes do not qualitatively change the conclusions of the paper.