Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Objective and Long‐Term Evaluation of the Efficacy and Safety of a 1064‐nm Picosecond Laser With Fractionated Microlens Array for the Treatment of Atrophic Acne Scar in Asians

Fractional 1064‐nm picosecond‐domain laser has recently been utilized for the treatment of atrophic acne scars and showed promising results. However, data on the safety and efficacy of this procedure in dark‐skinned patients are limited. This prospective, self‐controlled study was conducted to objectively evaluate the safety and efficacy of a 1064‐nm picosecond laser coupled with a microlens array (MLA) for the treatment of atrophic acne scars on Asian skin.
Body mass index and peer victimization: A transactional model

Abstract Past research has shown concurrent associations between adolescent's body mass index (BMI) and classroom bullying victimization experiences. The goal of this three‐wave longitudinal study is to examine a transactional model of associations between BMI and bullying victimization among adolescents in India. We investigate concurrent unidirectional and bidirectional relations between BMI and victimization. In a sample of 1238 students from nine schools (Grades 7–9; M‐ageT1 = 13.15, SD = 1.16) in Indore, India, we used self‐ and peer‐reports to measure bullying victimization in the classroom, and objective measurement of students' height and weight to collect data on adolescents' BMI, across three waves in one school year. Structural equational modeling was used to test transactional relations between BMI and bullying victimization. For self‐reported victimization, there was no concurrent or over time association between BMI and victimization for boys or girls in the present study. For peer‐reported victimization, we observed concurrent associations between BMI and victimization for boys and girls and a prospective relation where higher BMI corresponded to less victimization over time for boys. The study yielded mainly concurrent relations between BMI and victimization among adolescents in India. Results from western countries may not generalize to India.
Prevalence and genomic analysis of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli in retail raw meats in Singapore.

OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence and genetic characteristics of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli in retail raw meats from Singapore markets. METHODS A total of 634 raw meat (chicken, pork and beef) samples were collected from markets in Singapore during June 2017-October 2018. The samples were enriched overnight and then incubated on Brilliance™ ESBL Agar. Presumptive ESBL isolates were confirmed using the double-disc synergy test. Confirmed ESBL-producing E. coli were sent for WGS and bioinformatic analysis was performed. RESULTS The prevalence of ESBL-producing E. coli in chicken, pork and beef meats was 51.2% (109/213), 26.9% (58/216) and 7.3% (15/205), respectively. A total of 225 ESBL-producing E. coli were isolated from 184 samples. β-Lactam resistance genes were detected in all isolates. After β-lactam resistance genes, the most common antimicrobial resistance genes detected were aminoglycoside resistance genes (92.4%). One hundred and seventy-two (76.4%), 102 (45.3%) and 52 (23.1%) isolates carried blaCTX-M genes, blaTEM genes and blaSHV genes, respectively. blaCTX-M-55 (57/225, 25.3%) and blaCTX-M-65 (40/225, 17.8%) were the most frequent ESBL genes. Colistin resistance genes (including mcr-1, mcr-3 and mcr-5) were found in 15.6% of all isolates. CONCLUSIONS This study indicates that ESBL-producing E. coli are widely found in retail raw meats, especially chicken, in Singapore. Occurrence of MDR (resistance to at least three classes of antimicrobial) and colistin resistance genes in retail raw meat suggests potential food safety and public health risks.
MetricGAN: Generative Adversarial Networks based Black-box Metric Scores Optimization for Speech Enhancement

Adversarial loss in a conditional generative adversarial network (GAN) is not designed to directly optimize evaluation metrics of a target task, and thus, may not always guide the generator in a GAN to generate data with improved metric scores. To overcome this issue, we propose a novel MetricGAN approach with an aim to optimize the generator with respect to one or multiple evaluation metrics. Moreover, based on MetricGAN, the metric scores of the generated data can also be arbitrarily specified by users. We tested the proposed MetricGAN on a speech enhancement task, which is particularly suitable to verify the proposed approach because there are multiple metrics measuring different aspects of speech signals. Moreover, these metrics are generally complex and could not be fully optimized by Lp or conventional adversarial losses.
Variability of professional soccer players’ perceived match load after successive matches

ABSTRACT This study analyses the differential perceived match load accumulated by professional soccer players depending on their: (a) participation in several consecutive official matches within the same week (Pre_Cup, Cup, and Post_Cup), and (b) total match participation time (i.e. 90 min, 70–90 min and < 70 min). Participants were 21 Spanish Second Division professional soccer players (M age = 27.1, SD = 3.3 years; M body height = 182.1, SD = 3.9 cm; M body mass = 75.8, SD = 5.14 kg). There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in dRPE-ML among Pre_Cup, Cup and Post_Cup matches or in dRPE-ML between teams that took part in two or three official matches within the same week or three official matches in 2–4 consecutive weeks. The results suggest that participating in several matches in the same week does not increase accumulated perceived exertion for professional soccer players.
Mental health problems among healthcare workers involved with the COVID-19 outbreak

Objective: The mental health problems and perceived needs of healthcare workers involved with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) may vary due to individual and contextual characteristics. The objective of this study was to evaluate healthcare workers’ mental health problems during the common COVID-19 exposure scenario in Mexico, comparing those on the frontline with other healthcare workers according to gender and profession, determining the main risk factors for the most frequent mental health problems. Methods: A cross-sectional online study was conducted with a non-probabilistic sample of 5,938 Mexican healthcare workers who completed brief screening measures of mental health problems and ad hoc questions about sociodemographic professional characteristics, conditions related to increased risk of COVID-19 infection, life stressors during the COVID-19 emergency, and perceived need to cope with COVID-19. Results: The identified mental health problems were insomnia, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), all of which were more frequent in frontline healthcare workers (52.1, 37.7, and 37.5%, respectively) and women (47.1, 33.0 %, and 16.3%, respectively). A lack of rest time was the main risk factor for insomnia (OR = 3.1, 95%CI 2.6-3.7, p ≤ 0.0001). Mourning the death of friends or loved ones due to COVID-19 was the main risk factor for depression (OR = 2.2, 95%CI 1.8-2.7, p ≤ 0.0001), and personal COVID-19 status was the main risk factor for PTSD (OR = 2.2, 95%CI 1.7-2.9, p ≤ 0.0001). Conclusion: The most frequent mental health problems during the common exposure scenario for COVID-19 in Mexico included the short-term psychological consequences of intense adversity. A comprehensive strategy for preventing mental health problems should focus on individuals with cumulative vulnerability and specific risk factors.
Effects of Composted Hazelnut Husk On Growth of Tomato Plants

In this study, the use of composted hazelnut husk (CHH) as an alternative substrate for a horticultural crop, tomato (cv. Ancon), was evaluated. Before use, the CHH was separated into three different fraction sizes, 0-2 mm, 2-4 m m and 4-6.35 mm. These fractions were then mixed with soil samples, based on increasing ratios (0%, 2%, 4% and 8%, v/v) and different media were prepared. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design with three media, four mixture ratios with four replicates under greenhouse conditions. After a growing period of three months, plant growth and some fruit quality properties were measured. Plants were grown more successfully in 0-2 mm and 2-4 mm CHH fraction sizes and 8% mixture ratio. The effect on fruit quality of CHH fractions showed differences, however; 4% and 8% ratios of 0-2 mm CHH fraction size mixed with soil were found to be more effective on fruit quality properties. According to these results, CHH can be used for tomato growing, especially with 4% and 8% ratios of 0-2 mm and 2-4 mm CHH fraction sizes mixed with soil. For tomato plants, research of different combinations of CHH media is recommended to attain better results.
Engineering soluble artificial epidermal growth factor receptor mimics capable of spontaneous in vitro dimerization

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a clinically validated target for a multitude of human cancers. The receptor is activated upon ligand binding through a critical dimerization step. Dimerization can be replicated in vitro by locally concentrating the receptor kinase domains on the surface of lipid‐based vesicles. In this study we investigated the use of coiled coils to induce spontaneous receptor kinase domain dimerization in vitro to form non‐membrane‐bound artificial receptor mimics in solution. Two engineered forms of EGFR kinase domain fused to coiled coil complementary peptides were designed to self‐associate upon mixing. Two fusion protein species (P3‐EGFR and P4‐EGFR) independently showed the same activity and polymerization profile known to exist with EGFR kinase domains. Upon mixing the two species, coiled coil heterodimers were formed that induced EGFR association to form dimers of the kinase domains. This was accompanied by 11.5‐fold increase in the phosphorylation rate indicative of kinase domain activation equivalent to the levels achieved using vesicle localization and mimicking in vivo ligand‐induced activation. This study presents a soluble tyrosine kinase receptor mimic capable of spontaneous in vitro activation that can facilitate functional and drug discovery studies for this clinically important receptor class.
Sedentary Behaviour in Hospitalised Older People: A Scoping Review

Background: Sedentary behaviour (SB) can delay hospitalised older adults’ recovery from acute illness and injuries. Currently, there is no synthesis of evidence on SB among hospitalised older people. This scoping review aimed to identify and map existing literature on key aspects of SB among hospitalised older adults, including the prevalence, measurement and intervention strategies for SB and sedentary behaviour bouts (SBBs) as well as healthcare professionals, patients and carers’ perspectives on interventions. Methods and analysis: Several electronic databases were searched between January 2001 and September 2020. The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) framework was used to conduct this scoping review. Results: Out of 1824 articles, 21 were included comprising 16 observational studies, 3 randomised controlled trials, 1 comparative study, and 1 phase-1 dose-response study. The sample size ranged from 13 to 393, with all 1435 participants community-dwelling before hospitalisation. Only two studies focused on measuring SB and SBBs as a primary outcome, with others (n = 19) reporting SB and SBB as a sub-set of physical activity (PA). Older adults spent an average of 86.5%/day (20.8 h) sedentary. Most studies (n = 15 out of 21) measured SB and SBB using objective tools. Conclusion: Hospitalised older people spent most of their waking hours sedentary. Studies explicitly focused on SB and SBB are lacking, and the perspectives of patients, carers and healthcare professionals are not clarified. Future hospital-based studies should focus on interventions to reduce SB and SBB, and the perspectives of healthcare professionals, patients and carers’ taken into account.
Socioeconomic and psychological correlates of postpartum depression at 6 months in Dhaka, Bangladesh

To current study aimed to estimate the point prevalence and identify correlates of postpartum depression (PPD) in a sample of mothers in Dhaka. A total of 235 participants from low‐ and middle‐SES neighbourhoods in Dhaka completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and other assessments of socioeconomic and psychological factors at 24 weeks postpartum. Regression models were fit to explore potential correlates of PPD. The estimated prevalence of high PPD risk in the current sample is 24.3%. In multivariable linear regression models, recent life events, perceived stress and household resources (e.g., access to cooking gas, telephone, furniture, electricity, television, etc.) were significantly associated with PPD. The association of social support with PPD when controlling for other variables was sensitive to the choice of social support measure, highlighting an important methodological issue. The point prevalence of PPD among poor, urban mothers in Bangladesh ranges from 12.3 to 28.5%, with psychological risk factors and household resources as strong correlates.
Effect of interstitial hydrogen on structural and electronic properties of BaTiO3

Abstract We investigate the geometry and electronic structure of an interstitial H atom in the BaTiO3 crystal considering both cubic and tetragonal crystallographic lattices. A quantum-chemical method based on the Hartree-Fock formalism is used throughout the study. Interstitial H is found to bind to one of the O atoms, forming the so-called OH group. At equilibrium, the O-H distances are found to be 0.89 and 0.91 Å for cubic and tetragonal lattices respectively. The performed automated geometry optimization procedure of the defective region shows considerable outward movements of atoms closest to the impurity. The role of the H impurity in ferroelectric polarization in the BaTiO3 crystal is analysed using the results obtained in connection with the available experimental data on ferroelectric perovskites.
Fine-scale genetic structure of the overwintering Chilo suppressalis in the typical bivoltine areas of northern China

The rice stem borer (RSB), Chilo suppressalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), is an important agricultural pest that has caused serious economic losses in the major rice-producing areas of China. To effectively control this pest, we investigated the genetic diversity, genetic differentiation and genetic structure of 16 overwintering populations in the typical bivoltine areas of northern China based on 12 nuclear microsatellite loci. Moderate levels of genetic diversity and genetic differentiation among the studied populations were detected. Neighbour-joining dendrograms, Bayesian clustering and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) consistently divided these populations into three genetic clades: western, eastern and northern/central. Isolation by distance (IBD) and spatial autocorrelation analyses demonstrated no correlation between genetic distance and geographic distance. Bottleneck analysis illustrated that RSB populations had not undergone severe bottleneck effects in these regions. Accordingly, our results provide new insights into the genetic relationships of overwintering RSB populations and thus contribute to developing effective management strategies for this pest.
A New Dynamic Chamber Technique for Measuring Ammonia Emissions from Land-Spread Manure and Fertilizers

Abstract A new micrometeorological method for measuring ammonia emission and/or deposition has been developed. The method is based on the stirred dynamic chamber technique in combination with passive diffusion samplers. Measurements are made close to the treated surface where (i) the driving force, represented by the NH3 concentration difference between the soil and the air, and (ii) the atmospheric resistance are being estimated. The method was shown to be cost-effective and easy to maintain. The equipment gave results of good replicability when tested in field measurements. The relative standard deviation for duplicate determinations of concentration in the chamber was approximately 4%, and the corresponding figure for the average equilibrium concentration obtained in different chambers placed in the same field was approximately 18%. This uncertainty was probably due to the fact that the surface areas on which the chambers were placed were not representative of the whole areas.
Microwave synthesis of graphene sheets supporting metal nanocrystals in aqueous and organic media

We have developed a facile and scalable chemical reduction method assisted by microwave irradiation for the synthesis of chemically converted graphene sheets and metal nanoparticles dispersed on the graphene sheets. The method allows rapid chemical reduction of exfoliated graphite oxide (GO) using a variety of reducing agents in either aqueous or organic media. It also allows the simultaneous reduction of GO and a variety of metal salts thus resulting in the dispersion of metallic and bimetallic nanoparticles supported on the large surface area of the thermally stable 2D graphene sheets.
High Prevalence of Pulmonary Sequelae at 3 Months after Hospital Discharge in Mechanically Ventilated Survivors of COVID-19

Gopal Taori, Hannah Thompson, Hayden White, Hergen Buscher, Ian Seppelt, Ifrah Khan, Janelle Young, Jayshree Lavana, Jeremy Cohen, Jessica Lugsdin, Jill Garlick, Jim Buttery, John Botha, John Santamaria, Jonathan Barrett, Kasha Singh, Kevin Laupland, Khaled El-Khawas, Kristine Estensen, Kush Deshpande, Kyle White, Leigh Fitzpatrick, Lewis Campbell, Mahesh Ramanan, Manoj Saxena, Marie Draper, Marion Kainer, Mark Kol, Mark Page, Mark Plummer, Martin Sterba, Matthew Anstey, Matthew Brain, Matthew Maiden, Myrene Kilminster, Naomi Hammond, Neeraj Bhadange, Nicole Humphreys, Paras Jain, Paul Azzi, Paul Secombe, Paula Lister, Peter Chan, Peter McCanny, Phillip Britton, Pierre Janin, Rashmi Runiyar, Ravi Krishnamurthy, Ravikiran Sonawane, Ravindranath Tiruvoipati, Rebecca Jessup, Richard Totaro, Rinaldo Bellomo, Ritesh Sanghavi, Samantha Bates, Sandra Peake, Shailesh Bihari, Shane George, Sharon Waterson, Simon Erickson, Steve Webb, Subhash Arora, Subodh Ganu, Thomas Rozen, Toni McKenna, Umesh Kadam, Vineet Nayyar, Wei Han Choy, and Wisam Albassam.
Barriers to Making House Calls by Primary Care Physicians and Solutions: A Literature Review.

Background The number of house calls made by physicians has been declining over the years, while the number of people requiring house calls, especially the elderly, is growing. Aim To consolidate the literature regarding the barriers faced by primary care physicians in making house calls. Design of the study Literature review. Method Studies were sourced from PubMed and Embase. Results 7 studies were selected to be in the literature review. Barriers to making house calls by primary care physicians include inadequate remuneration, lack of time and training, unconducive home environment, concerns with professional liability and safety, and perceived low value-added in the patient's quality of care. Conclusion While primary care physicians do recognize the value of house calls in patient care, the perceived limited standard of care that can be achieved in the home setting, busy clinic practice (large patient loads), coupled with inadequate remuneration make house calls unrealistic for many doctors. These barriers must be addressed to ensure accessibility to primary health care services for the immobile, frail, and sick is not being compromised. One of the solutions may be to expose medical students and residents to house calls early through mentorship.
Pultruded GFRP Reinforcing Bars Using Nanomodified Vinyl Ester

Glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforcing bars have relatively low shear strength, which limits their possible use in civil infrastructure applications with high shear demand, such as concrete reinforcing dowels. We suggest that the horizontal shear strength of GFRP bars can be significantly improved by nanomodification of the vinyl ester resin prior to pultrusion. The optimal content of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) well dispersed into the vinyl ester resin was determined using viscosity measurements and scanning electron micrographs. Longitudinal tension and short beam shear tests were conducted to determine the horizontal shear strength of the nanomodified GFRP reinforcing bars. While the tensile strength of the GFRP reinforcing bars was improved by 20%, the horizontal shear strength of the bars was improved by 111% compared with the shear strength of neat GFRP bars pultruded using the same settings. Of special interest is the absence of the typical broom failure observed in GFRP when MWCNTs were used. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements and fiber volume fraction confirmed the quality of the new pultruded GFRP bars. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) measurements demonstrated the formation of carboxyl stretching in nanomodified GFRP bars, indicating the formation of a new chemical bond. The new pultrusion process using nanomodified vinyl ester enables expanding the use of GFRP reinforcing bars in civil infrastructure applications.
ISBNet: Instance-aware Selective Branching Network

Recent years have witnessed growing interests in designing efficient neural networks and neural architecture search (NAS). Although remarkable efficiency and accuracy have been achieved, existing expert designed and NAS models neglect the fact that input instances are of varying complexity and thus different amounts of computation are required. Inference with a fixed model that processes all instances through the same transformations would incur computational resources unnecessarily. Customizing the model capacity in an instance-aware manner is required to alleviate such a problem. In this paper, we propose a novel Instance-aware Selective Branching Network-ISBNet to support efficient instance-level inference by selectively bypassing transformation branches of insignificant importance weight. These weights are dynamically determined by a lightweight hypernetwork SelectionNet and recalibrated by gumbel-softmax for sparse branch selection. Extensive experiments show that ISBNet achieves extremely efficient inference in terms of parameter size and FLOPs comparing to existing networks. For example, ISBNet takes only 8.70% parameters and 31.01% FLOPs of the efficient network MobileNetV2 with comparable accuracy on CIFAR-10.
Cytokines and Their Genetic Polymorphisms Related to Periodontal Disease

Periodontal disease (PD) is a chronic inflammatory disease caused by the accumulation of bacterial plaque biofilm on the teeth and the host immune responses. PD pathogenesis is complex and includes genetic, environmental, and autoimmune factors. Numerous studies have suggested that the connection of genetic and environmental factors induces the disease process leading to a response by both T cells and B cells and the increased synthesis of pro-inflammatory mediators such as cytokines. Many studies have shown that pro-inflammatory cytokines play a significant role in the pathogenesis of PD. The studies have also indicated that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in cytokine genes may be associated with risk and severity of PD. In this narrative review, we discuss the role of selected cytokines and their gene polymorphisms in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease.