Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional Characterization of a Familial ALS-Associated Missense TBK1 (p-Arg573Gly) Mutation in Patient-Derived Lymphoblasts

The goal of this work was to elucidate the pathogenic mechanism of an ALS-associated missense mutation, p.Arg573Gly (R573G), in the TBK1 gene. In particular, we seek to analyze the influence of this variant on the cellular levels and the function of TBK1 in immortalized cells from an ALS patient. The patient (Code# E7) belonged to a Spanish family with autosomal dominant disease manifesting in the sixth decade as either dementia or ALS. Four control individuals without signs of neurological disease were also included in this study. Our results indicate that the R375G TBK1 mutation did not affect the levels of mRNA nor the total TBK1 content; however, we observed a significant decrease in the levels of TBK1 phosphorylation, which is essential for TBK1 activity, as well as a significant reduction in the phosphorylation of p62 and RIPK1, known substrates for TBK1. Lymphoblasts from the R573G TBK1 mutation carrier patient display pathological TDP-43 homeostasis, showing elevated levels of phosphorylated TDP-43 and accumulation of the protein in the cytosolic compartment. In addition, the functional decrease in TBK1 activity observed in the E7 patient did not alter the autophagy flux, but it seems to be enough to increase ROS levels as well as the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6.
The evolution of the ages and metallicities of massive galaxies since z = 0.7

Abstract We present results on the stellar population properties of massive galaxies at z = 0.7 based on deep, medium-resolution IMACS spectra for a sample of ~ 70 galaxies in the ECDFS with M* > 1010M⊙. The age–mass and stellar metallicity–mass relations for the population as a whole have a similar shape as the local relations over the probed mass range, but offset to ages younger by ~ 4 Gyr and metallicities lower by ~ 0.13 dex. Quiescent galaxies alone have stellar ages and metallicities consistent with passive evolution onto the local quiescent galaxies relations. The evolution in metallicity is driven by star-forming galaxies. However a significant fraction of massive star-forming galaxies have metallicities comparable to those of local quiescent galaxies. If quenched at z < 0.7 they can provide the necessary population to reproduce the scatter in age and metallicity of local quiescent galaxies.
Association of sleep characteristics and night shift work with self-reported diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome: a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study

Objective: To examine the association between sleep characteristics and night shift work and the risk of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in Chinese women and to investigate their relationship with infertility in PCOS. Methods: From March 21, 2021 to April 31, 2021, 3927 Chinese women with or without PCOS were recruited online. All participants completed WeChat-based electronic questionnaires. Sleep characteristics were measured using the Pittsburgh sleep quality index. Results: A total of 2871 women were included in the final analysis. Sleep duration (odds ratio [OR], 0.857; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.763–0.963), sleep midpoint (OR, 1.142; 95% CI, 1.049–1.244), sleep disturbance (OR, 1.320; 95% CI, 0.957–1.146), daytime dysfunction (OR, 1.136; 95% CI, 1.030–1.253), and night shift work (OR, 1.628; 95% CI, 1.264–2.097) were associated with a higher risk of PCOS. After adjusting for confounders, including age, body mass index, smoking status, and coffee and tea drinking status, sleep disturbance (OR, 1.314; 95% CI, 1.111–1.555), daytime dysfunction (OR, 1.143; 95% CI, 1.034–1.264), and night shift work (OR, 1.800; 95% CI, 1.388–2.333) remained associated. In addition, sleep disturbance (OR, 1.887; 95% CI, 1.400–2.542) and subjective sleep quality (OR, 1.299; 95% CI, 1.037–1.627) were associated with infertility in women with PCOS, and sleep disturbance (OR, 1.750; 95% CI, 1.281–2.390) remained significant after adjusting for confounders. Conclusions: Sleep disturbance, daytime dysfunction, and night shift work are significantly associated with PCOS. Screening for sleep disturbances and providing appropriate treatment could be potential strategies for managing PCOS and its long-term complications.
Ultrawideband Compact Magnetoelectric Dipole Antenna/Array With Dual-Polarization

Design of ultrawideband (UWB) dual-polarized antenna with compact size is presented in this communication, which is composed of a triple-layer magnetoelectric (ME) dipole, a pair of cross-placed <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Gamma $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-shaped feeding structure, and a box-shaped reflector. Three layers of the ME dipole cover low (around 1.5 GHz), middle (3.5 GHz), and high (4.5 GHz) bands, respectively, leading to an ultrawide operating band from 1 to 5 GHz. The total size of the design is 75 (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.75\lambda _{0}) \,\, \times75$ </tex-math></inline-formula> (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.75\lambda _{0}) \,\,\times55$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.55\lambda _{0}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>). An array that consists of eight such antenna elements is designed, fabricated, and measured. Results show that the voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) is less than two over the whole operating band for all ports. For the radiation characteristics, boresight gain ranging from 5.3 to 8.8 dBi is achieved for each antenna element, and when it comes to the array, a peak gain of 17.23 dBi occurs at 4 GHz when all the antenna elements are excited with identical amplitude and phase. Beam scanning is also realized in the whole operating band through phase disposing, and the scanning range is up to ±45° from 1 to 2 GHz and ±30° from 2 to 5 GHz.
A Mechanism for Atmospheric Regime Behavior

Abstract Adopting the viewpoint that atmospheric flow regimes can be associated with steady states, this work investigates the hypothesis that regime transitions in deterministic atmosphere models are related to the existence of heteroclinic connections between these steady states. A low-order barotropic model with topography is studied, in which topographic and barotropic instabilities are the mechanisms dominating the dynamics. By parameter tuning, the Hopf bifurcation corresponding to barotropic instability can be made to coincide with one of the saddle-node bifurcations that are due to the topography in the model. This coincidence is called a fold-Hopf bifurcation. Among the dynamical structures related to such a bifurcation are heteroclinic connections and homoclinic orbits, connected to the equilibria. A heteroclinic cycle back and forth between the equilibria, existing in the truncated normal form of the fold-Hopf bifuraction, will be perturbed in the full model, leaving orbits homoclinic to one of.
Construction of Fusion Protein with Carbohydrate-Binding Module and Leaf-Branch Compost Cutinase to Enhance the Degradation Efficiency of Polyethylene Terephthalate

Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is a manufactured plastic broadly available, whereas improper disposal of PET waste has become a serious burden on the environment. Leaf-branch compost cutinase (LCC) is one of the most powerful and promising PET hydrolases, and its mutant LCCICCG shows high catalytic activity and excellent thermal stability. However, low binding affinity with PET has been found to dramatically limit its further industrial application. Herein, TrCBM and CfCBM were rationally selected from the CAZy database to construct fusion proteins with LCCICCG, and mechanistic studies revealed that these two domains could bind with PET favorably via polar amino acids. The optimal temperatures of LCCICCG-TrCBM and CfCBM-LCCICCG were measured to be 70 and 80 °C, respectively. Moreover, these two fusion proteins exhibited favorable thermal stability, maintaining 53.1% and 48.8% of initial activity after the incubation at 90 °C for 300 min. Compared with LCCICCG, the binding affinity of LCCICCG-TrCBM and CfCBM-LCCICCG for PET has been improved by 1.4- and 1.3-fold, respectively, and meanwhile their degradation efficiency on PET films was enhanced by 3.7% and 24.2%. Overall, this study demonstrated that the strategy of constructing fusion proteins is practical and prospective to facilitate the enzymatic PET degradation ability.
Evaluation of x86 and ARM architectures using compute-intensive workloads

In the 1990s, the tech giants, Intel and ARM, were oriented towards very different goals. Intel's x86 concentrated on peak performance for PCs and servers, while ARM focused on increasing energy efficiency mainly for mobile devices and wearables. But today, after three decades, with a massive ad-vancement in technology, there is a need to work towards similar goals. Intel has started manufacturing processors for handheld devices, and ARM has begun delving into servers. Since both x86 and ARM-based processors are now competitors, it is essential to compare their performance for a variety of applications. Multiple studies have been conducted in the past using actual hardware measurements, to compare the performance of different ISAs. In this work, a comparative study is done using the gem5 simulator with MinorCPU, an in-order CPU model. Different memory models are also used to observe how memory technology affects performance. The Sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm has been used to carry out the comparative study. Clocks-per-Instruction (CPI), instruction mix, Ll and L2 cache miss rate, DRAM bandwidth, and average power are the parameters used for the comparison.
The firms’ debt reversibility trend: An application to a large sample of industrial SMEs

Abstract The corporate debt reversibility analysis can be carried out not only from the owner/manager’s active intervention perspective but also from the perspective of a mechanical reversion, independent of owner/managers’ deliberations. Our study aims to discover how and which theoretical perspective underlying reversibility has the most significant impact on the capital structure of Portuguese industrial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The present paper proposes a new approach linking the measures commonly used to determine the target leverage level to the specific assumptions of theories addressing debt dynamics. Our results show that the perspective with the stronger impact on capital structure materialises in the dynamic trade-off theory assumptions. However, owners/managers also strongly consider the industry references to which firms belong. The perspective of mechanical debt reversion also contributes, at its level, to the firms’ debt permanent reversibility in the sense of possible long-term stationarity.
Diffraction grating characterization using multiple-wavelength excitation of surface plasmon polaritons

In this work we have used the optical excitation of surface plasmon polaritons to characterize the profile of a diffraction grating with a large groove-depth-to-pitch ratio at wavelengths spanning the visible spectrum. This provides us with confirmation of the accuracy of the modelling theory used to predict the optical response of a deep grating. In addition it draws attention to a particular wavelength regime which proves sensitive to the higher harmonics of the grating profile.
Prehabilitation in Cardiovascular Surgery: The Effect of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (Randomized Clinical Trial)

Objective: We aimed to determine the effects of prehabilitation with neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) on muscle status and exercise capacity in patients before cardiac surgery. Methods: Preoperative elective cardiac surgery patients were randomly assigned to the NMES group or control group. Intervention in the NMES group was 7–10 sessions, whereas the control group carried out breathing exercises and an educational program. The outcome measures included a six-minute walk test (6MWT) and a muscle status assessment (knee extensor strength (KES), knee flexor strength (KFS), and handgrip strength (HS)) after the course of prehabilitation. Results: A total of 122 patients (NMES, n = 62; control, n = 60) completed the study. During the NMES course, no complications occurred. After the course prehabilitation KES, KFS, and 6MWT distance were significantly increased (all p < 0.001) in the NMES group compared to the control. There was no significant difference in HS before surgery. Conclusions: A short-term NMES course before cardiac surgery is feasible, safe, and effective to improve preoperative functional capacity (six-minute walk distance) and the strength of stimulated muscles.
Recent Advances in Supercritical CO2 Extraction of Pigments, Lipids and Bioactive Compounds from Microalgae

Supercritical CO2 extraction is a green method that combines economic and environmental benefits. Microalgae, on the other hand, is a biomass in abundance, capable of providing a vast variety of valuable compounds, finding applications in the food industry, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and biofuels. An extensive study on the existing literature concerning supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of microalgae has been carried out focusing on carotenoids, chlorophylls, lipids and fatty acids recovery, as well as the bioactivity of the extracts. Moreover, kinetic models used to describe SFE process and experimental design are included. Finally, biomass pretreatment processes applied prior to SFE are mentioned, and other extraction methods used as benchmarks are also presented.
The Fully Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience between Self-Efficacy and Mental Health: Evidence from the Study of College Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Student populations are susceptible to the COVID-19 pandemic and may easy develop mental health problems related to their immaturity of psychological development and fluctuation of mood. However, little has been known about the effects of the pandemic on college students and the associated influencing factors. This study aimed to explore the role of psychological resilience as a mediator between general self-efficacy and mental health. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 480 Chinese college students from 12 universities in Hunan province of China. The participants responded anonymously to the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), the Chinese version of the Resilience Scale for College Students (RSCS), and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Hierarchical linear regression and structural equation modeling were used in this study. The average of GSES and RSCS scores of college students were 25.00 ± 4.68 and 137.97 ± 15.50, which were at a medium level. The average score for the GHQ-12 was 1.59 ± 1.59, and 22.03% of the college students scored ≥ 3 on the GHQ-12, indicating that they were at risk of developing mental disorders. According to the analyses of mediation effect, psychological resilience played a fully mediating role in the relationship between general self-efficacy and mental health. In conclusion, Chinese college students were at high risk of developing mental disorders during the COVID-19 period. General self-efficacy was positively associated with psychological resilience, and psychological resilience played a fully mediating role in the relationship between general self-efficacy and mental health. Future studies and interventions should aim to promote psychological resilience and general self-efficacy.
Copolymerization of Carbon Dioxide with 1,2-Butylene Oxide and Terpolymerization with Various Epoxides for Tailorable Properties

The copolymerization of carbon dioxide (CO2) with epoxides demonstrates promise as a new synthetic method for low-carbon polymer materials, such as aliphatic polycarbonate materials. In this study, a binary Schiff base cobalt system was successfully used to catalyze the copolymerization of 1,2-butylene oxide (BO) and CO2 and its terpolymerization with other epoxides such as propylene oxide (PO) and cyclohexene oxide (CHO). 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), diffusion-ordered spectroscopy (DOSY), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) confirmed the successful synthesis of the alternating terpolymer. In addition, the effects of the polymerization reaction conditions and copolymerization monomer composition on the polymer structure and properties were examined systematically. By regulating the epoxide feed ratio, polycarbonates with an adjustable glass transition temperature (Tg) (11.2–67.8 °C) and hydrophilicity (water contact angle: 85.2–95.2°) were prepared. Thus, this ternary polymerization method provides an effective method of modulating the surface hydrophobicity of CO2-based polymers and their biodegradation properties.
Duality and other properties of multiplicative seasonal autoregressive-moving average models

Model duality is defined between four models referred to as the primal, the dual, the autoregressive adjoint and the moving average adjoint. A duality theorem which generalizes the results of Box & Pierce (1970) and Pierce (1970) is presented. Applications of this duality theorem to autoregressive-moving average models and multiplicative seasonal autoregressive-moving average models are discussed. These applications include: (i) a convenient method for calculating the covariance matrix of the estimated parameters; (ii) convenient formulae for the variances of the residual autocorrelations; (iii) the distribution of the inverse partial autocorrelations. Finally, a useful approximation to the covariance determinant of multiplicative seasonal models is derived.
A Steganalysis Based on OC-SVM and Two Clustering Methods

In this paper, a novel and efficient steganalysis based on improved K-means clustering using One-Class Support Vector Machine (OC-SVM) was proposed to blindly determine the existence of hidden messages in an image. The performance of sample clustering is concerned in the OC-SVM with multi-sphere. In previous work, the K-means was mainly used to create such multi-sphere by clustering. But the traditional K-means depends on initial clustering centers and ended local minimum value. So, to improve the clustering performance of K-means, the SA is employed into the scheme, which can create more reasonable multi-sphere by finding global optimum solutions in the clustering process. Simulation results with the chosen feature set and well-known steganographic techniques indicated that our approach was able to afford reasonable accuracy to distinguish between covers and stego images.
STOCHASTIC ACCELERATION OF SUPRATHERMAL PARTICLES UNDER PRESSURE BALANCE CONDITIONS

The acceleration of suprathermal charged particles in the heliosphere under pressure balance conditions including for the first time the radial spatial particle diffusion and convection in the solar wind is investigated. The physical conditions are derived for which the stationary phase space distribution of suprathermal particles approaches the power-law distribution f∝p−5, which is often seen in spacecraft observations. For separable source distributions in momentum and position we analytically solve the stationary particle transport equation for a radially constant solar wind speed V0 and a momentum-independent radial spatial diffusion coefficient. The resulting stationary solution at any position within the finite heliosphere is the superposition of an infinite sum of power laws in momentum below and above the (assumed mono-momentum) injection momentum pI. The smallest spatial eigenvalue determines the flattest power law, to which the full stationary solution approaches at large and small enough momenta. Only for the case of a reflecting inner and a free-escape outer spatial boundary, does one small eigenvalue exist, yielding the power-law distribution f∝p−5 at sufficiently large momentum values. The other three spatial boundary conditions imply steeper momentum spectra. Momentum spectra and radial profiles of suprathermal particles are calculated by adopting a uniform outer ring spatial source distribution.
Elevation of Pulmonary Artery Pressure in Newborns from High-Altitude Pregnancies Complicated by Preeclampsia

We hypothesized that fetal exposure to the oxidative stress induced by the combined challenge of preeclampsia (PE) and high altitude would induce a significant impairment in the development of pulmonary circulation. We conducted a prospective study in La Paz (Bolivia, mean altitude 3625 m) in which newborns from singleton pregnancies with and without PE were compared (PE group n = 69, control n = 70). We conducted an echocardiographic study in these infants at the median age of two days. The percentage of cesarean deliveries and small for gestational age (SGA) infants was significantly higher in the PE group. Heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation did not vary significantly between groups. Estimated pulmonary arterial pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance were 30% higher in newborns exposed to PE and high altitude compared with those exposed only to high altitude. We also detected signs of right ventricular hypertrophy in infants subjected to both exposures. In conclusion, this study provides evidence that the combination of PE and pregnancy at high altitude induces subclinical alterations in the pulmonary circulation of the newborn. Follow-up of this cohort may provide us with valuable information on the potential increased susceptibility to developing pulmonary hypertension or other pulmonary and cardiovascular disorders.
Efficacy of Hydroxychloroquine in Pre-exposure Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Prophylaxis among High-Risk HealthCare Workers: A Multicenter Study

Background: Prophylaxis could be an established strategy to potentially prevent and control infectious diseases and should be considered in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The present study aimed to assess the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as a prophylaxis treatment strategy in the reduction of the risk of COVID-19 among health professionals. Materials and Methods: The health professionals were randomly assigned (1:1) to the control group without receiving any hydroxychloroquine as prophylaxis and the hydroxychloroquine group receiving a weekly hydroxychloroquine dose of 400 mg up to 12 weeks. Results: A total of 146 health professionals were randomly enrolled in this study between August 11 and November 11 in 2020. Among the screened health professionals, 21 (14.6%) were infected with COVID-19 during the 12 weeks, and 14 (66.6%) out of the 21 health professionals were in the control group. Most participants with COVID-19 had mild symptoms (62%). In addition, 9.5% (n = 2) of the participants suffered from moderate disease and 28.5% were diagnosed with severe symptoms. In the hydroxychloroquine group, 5 (7.1%) and 2 (2.8%) participants were reported with mild and moderate symptoms of COVID-19, respectively, and 2 participants had moderate, 8 (10.9%) participants had mild symptoms, and 6 (8.2%) participants had severe symptoms in the control group, within 3 months. Severe symptoms of COVID-19 were not observed in the hydroxychloroquine group. Conclusion: This study addressed the effect and benefit of hydroxychloroquine administration for the prevention of COVID-19 among health professionals. The improved perception of prophylaxis might highlight its important role in future COVID-19 outbreaks to prevent hospital transmission, which is a major route of spread.