Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Persistence of bDMARD therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis after first-line TNF-inhibitor failure: the RECORD study of the Italian Society for Rheumatology

Objective The optimal choice of a second biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (bDMARD) after failure with first line tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) represents a critical therapeutic challenge. This study aims to evaluate the persistence with treatment using second line bDMARDs with different mechanisms of action in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with inadequate response to first line TNFi. Method A retrospective cohort study on administrative healthcare databases was conducted. We analysed the relationship between different bDMARDs and persistence with treatment in RA patients who started second line bDMARD therapy according to two different strategies: cycling (second TNFi) or switching [change in mechanism of action: abatacept (ABA), tocilizumab (TCZ), and rituximab (RTX)] with or without concomitant conventional synthetic (cs) DMARDs. Results The cohort comprised 1434 patients. The mean age was 53.8 years and 1142 (79.6%) were women. Among second line bDMARDs, 969 patients (67.6%) started TNFi, 204 (14.2%) ABA, 145 (10.1%) RTX, and 116 (8.1%) TCZ. A bDMARD was prescribed as monotherapy in 359 patients (25.0%). The switching strategy showed a lower overall discontinuation rate [hazard ratio (HR) 0.72], while switching compared to cycling showed significantly better survival for ABA (HR 0.61) and RTX (HR 0.76), but no significant difference for TCZ (HR 0.82). A lower impact of better drug survival in the switching strategy occurred in patients with concurrent methotrexate. Conclusions Among RA patients failing a first TNFi, switching is associated with marginally better persistence, in particular for ABA and RTX, with only marginal differences in patients on concurrent csDMARDs.
Nominal determination. Typology, context constraints, and historical emergence

1. Preface 2. Introduction (by Abraham, Werner) 3. Part 1. Synchrony - and its implications for diachrony 4. Discourse binding: DP and pronouns in German, Dutch, and English (by Abraham, Werner) 5. Gender, number, and indefinite articles: About the 'typological inconsistency' of Italian (by Stark, Elisabeth) 6. Covert patterns of definiteness/indefiniteness and aspectuality in Old Icelandic, Gothic, and Old High German (by Leiss, Elisabeth) 7. The definite article in Indo-European: Emergence of a new grammatical category? (by Bauer, Brigitte L.M.) 8. 'No' changes: On the history of German indefinite determiners in the scope of negation (by Jager, Agnes) 9. Part 2. Synchrony - ontological and typological characteristics 10. The functional range of bare singular count nouns in English (by Stvan, Laurel Smith) 11. The definite article in non-specific object noun phrases: Comparing French and Italian (by Kupisch, Tanja) 12. Early functions of definite determiners and DPs in German first language acquisition (by Bittner, Dagmar) 13. Part 3. Diachrony - universally unified characteristics? 14. The discourse-functional crystallization of DP from the original demonstrative (by Abraham, Werner) 15. Determinerless noun phrases in Old Romance passives (by Bartra-Kaufman, Anna) 16. On the structure and development of nominal phrases in Norwegian (by Lohndal, Terje) 17. The emergence of DP from a perspective of ontogeny and phylogeny: Correlation between DP, TP and aspect in Old English and first language acquisition (by Osawa, Fuyo) 18. Demonstratives and possessives: From Old English to present-day English (by Wood, Johanna L.) 19. Index
Model reduction and parameter sensitivity analysis of the TNFα-induced NF-κB signal transduction networks

In order to study the impact of inner structure of biological systems and variations of correlative parameters on nuclear transcription fator-κappa B(NF-κB)signal transduction networks,it is vital to make an sensitivity analysis of system parameters and to reduce the mathematical model of NF-κB signal transduction networks,which includes 26 state variables and 64 parameters.Based on the analysis of the mathematical model of the TNFα-Induced NFκB signal transduction networks,the IκB Kinase complex(IKK)was chosen as the step input signal of the system and NF-κB nuclear(NF-κBn)as the measurable output signal.The direct differential method(DDM)was utilized to analyse sensitivity coefficients of the oscillatory signal NF-κBn with respect to 64 parameters.Then,9 parameters,which are less sensitive to the system output signal,were removed form mathematic model of NF-κB signaling system so as to suitably reduce the complexity of the system model.The simulation results show that the output signal NF-κBn of the reduced model has much the same oscillatory characteristic as that of the former model.On the other hand,it also can be found that the rest output signals of both models are similar on the whole.Therefore,the parameters sensitivity analysis and model reduction results can give new insights to analyse biological data,to build mathematical model and to design particular experiments.
“A STUDY TO EXPLORE THE IMPACT OF SMARTPHONE ADDICTION, DECISION MAKING AND SELF ESTEEM ON CAREER CHOICES/ ORIENTATION AMONG SLD’s AND NORMAL ADOLESCENTS OF THEIR AGE.”

This study aims to examine the impact of various elements like smart phone addiction, decision making and self- esteem on career choices or orientation among adolescents with specific learning disorders (SLDs) and normal adolescents of their age. Adolescents make complete utilization of smart phones for surfing internet, by being an active member on social media, for academics etc. Situations and circumstances can never be in favor of any individual, ups and downs are always there. How to deal with them is the major concern. This also affects the self- esteem of the individual. Earlier researches have successfully described the impact of these factors on individuals but adolescents. To examine the same with normal adolescents and adolescents with SLD’s, this study has been done. The sample size taken for the study was 100 adolescents, 50 with SLD and 50 normal from private schools and government schools of Delhi. Exploratory research design was followed in order to find out the impact of smartphone addiction, decision make and self- esteem on career choices or orientation among SLDs and normal adolescents of their age. For identifying SLDs, Delhi government has already conducted various tests to find out the SLD among students in schools in order to take necessary measures. Decision making (ages 9- 18), Rosenberg self- esteem scale, Smart phone addiction scale and Career adapt- abilities scale were chosen as tools. T-test and correlation were used for analyzing the data descriptive statistics. A conclusive result has been explained in the study about the effect of these variables on the career choices of different adolescents. Also, various journals and research papers with similar issues were reviewed in this paper. The implications and limitations of the significant findings are also discussed in the paper.
The Interaction of Two Similarly Facing Shock Waves

2 Bloom, M. , Further Comments on "The Effect of Surface Cooling on Laminar Boundary-Layer Stability," Readers' Forum, Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, Vol. 19, No. 5, p. 359, May, 1952. 3 Lees, L. , The Stability of the Laminar Boundary Layer in a Compressible Fluid, NACA Report No. 876,1947. 4 Van Driest, E. R. , Calculation of the Stability of the Laminar Boundary Layer in a Compressible Fluid on a Flat Plate with Heat Transfer, Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, Vol. 19, No. 12, pp. 801-812, 829, December, 1952. 5 Bloom, M. , Calculation of Stability of Constant-Pressure Boundary Layers on Isothermal Surfaces with an Integral-Method Mean-Flow Solution, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, PIBAL No. 179 (revised September 25, 1953). (To appear as a NACA TN, Contract No. NAw-5809.) 6 Chapman, D. R. , and Rubesin, M. W. , Temperature and Velocity Profiles in the Compressible Laminar Boundary Layer with Arbitrary Distribution of Surface Temperature, Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, Vol. 16, No. 9, p. 547, September, 1949. 7 Lin, C. C , On the Stability of the Boundary Layer with Respect to Disturbances of Large Wave Velocity, Readers' Forum, Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, Vol. 19, No. 2, p. 138, February, 1952. 8 Cheng, S. -I. , On the Stability of Laminar Boundary Layer Flow, Quarterly of Applied Mathematics, Vol. XI , No. 3, p. 346, October, 1953.
S2M-Net: Speech Driven Three-party Conversational Motion Synthesis Networks

In this paper we propose a novel conditional generative adversarial network (cGAN) architecture, called S2M-Net, to holistically synthesize realistic three-party conversational animations based on acoustic speech input together with speaker marking (i.e., the speaking time of each interlocutor). Specifically, based on a pre-collected three-party conversational motion dataset, we design and train the S2M-Net for three-party conversational animation synthesis. In the architecture, a generator contains a LSTM encoder to encode a sequence of acoustic speech features to a latent vector that is further fed into a transform unit to transform the latent vector into a gesture kinematics space. Then, the output of this transform unit is fed into a LSTM decoder to generate corresponding three-party conversational gesture kinematics. Meanwhile, a discriminator is implemented to check whether an input sequence of three-party conversational gesture kinematics is real or fake. To evaluate our method, besides quantitative and qualitative evaluations, we also conducted paired comparison user studies to compare it with the state of the art.
Association Between Hemoglobin Levels and Osteoporosis in Chinese Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Study Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy

Purpose: To explore the relationship between hemoglobin levels and osteoporosis and the risk factors for osteoporosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Patients and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 495 T2DM adults. Medical data were collected from electronic medical records. Results: T2DM patients with osteoporosis had significant lower hemoglobin levels (P < 0.001). Spearman correlation analysis and logistic regression analysis showed that age, female, body mass index (BMI), smoking, drinking and hemoglobin levels were significantly associated with osteoporosis in T2DM patients (all P < 0.05). After adjustment for BMI, diabetic duration, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), smoking and drinking, a significant association between hemoglobin levels and osteoporosis was observed in T2DM males aged 50 years and older (odds ratio [OR] = 0.978, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.958–0.998, P = 0.030). Compared to Q3 groups with normal hemoglobin levels, Q1 groups with anemia had an odd of osteoporosis increased 2.9-fold in T2DM men after adjustment for age, BMI, diabetic duration, eGFR, smoking and drinking (P = 0.032). Conclusion: Hemoglobin levels were associated with the presence of osteoporosis in T2DM men, especially in those aged 50 years and older. A retrospective study to BMD and a higher percentage of osteoporosis in T2DM the study performed in men above 50 years of age and postmenopausal women. Our study included a broader age range of patients aged 30–95 years with T2DM, performed age-stratified analyses. We that this study is the to evaluate the by age-stratified analyses in and in of different than
On positive entire solutions to a class of equations with a singular coefficient and critical exponent

We prove some results about existence, uniqueness and qualitative behavior of positive solutions to equations of the type $$ -\Delta u=a(x/|x|){u\over |x|^2}+f(x,u)\qquad\;\;\hbox{in }\;\mathbf{R}^n\setminus\{0\}\;,\tag 0.1 $$ depending on the behavior of the function $a$ of the angular variable $x/|x|$. Our main results concern the critical nonlinearity $f(s)=s^{(n+2)/(n-2)}$. The proofs are based on variational arguments and the moving plane method.
Raster Intervals: An Approximation Technique for Polygon Intersection Joins

Many data science applications, most notably Geographic Information Systems, require the computation of spatial joins between large object collections. The objective is to find pairs of objects that intersect, i.e., share at least one common point. The intersection test is very expensive especially for polygonal objects. Therefore, the objects are typically approximated by their minimum bounding rectangles (MBRs) and the join is performed in two steps. In the filter step, all pairs of objects whose MBRs intersect are identified as candidates; in the refinement step, each of the candidate pairs is verified for intersection. The refinement step has been shown notoriously expensive, especially for polygon-polygon joins, constituting the bottleneck of the entire process. We propose a novel approximation technique for polygons, which (i) rasterizes them using a fine grid, (ii) models groups of nearby cells that intersect a polygon as an interval, and (iii) encodes each interval by a bitstring that captures the overlap of each cell in it with the polygon. We also propose an efficient intermediate filter, which is applied on the object approximations before the refinement step, to avoid it for numerous object pairs. Via experimentation with real data, we show that the end-to-end spatial join cost can be reduced by up to one order of magnitude with the help of our filter and by at least three times compared to using alternative intermediate filters.
Performance of Site-specific and Real-time N Management Strategies in Irrigated Rice

Field experiments were conducted during kharif and rabi seasons of 2001 and 2002 with the objective of evaluating the performance of different fertilizer N management strategies including site-specific and real-time N management, on dry matter production, N uptake, yield, yield components and N use efficiency in rice. Among the different N fertilization strategies tried, both site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) with fixed N split approach i.e., 115 ± 20 kg ha−1 in kharif and 140 ± 20 kg N ha−1 in rabi as well as real-time N management viz., leaf colour chart (LCC) with critical value 4 based N management (N applied at LCC=4) (35 kg N ha−1 in kharif and 30 kg N ha−1 in rabi when the LCC value fell below 4) registered higher dry matter production, N uptake, N use efficiency and grain yield than the other treatments. The results suggest that as a simple tool, the adoption of real-time N management viz., the LCC=4 based N management is a profitable proposition of N fertilization strategy for rice.
Chemical abundances in the universe : connecting first stars to planets : proceedings of the 265th symposium of the International Astronomical Union held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 10-14, 2009

Preface Session 1. Primordial nucleosynthesis and the first stars in the Universe Session 2. First stars in the Galaxy Session 3. Chemical abundances in the high red-shift Universe Session 4. Chemical abundance constraints on mass assembly and star formation in local galaxies and the Milky Way Session 5. Extrasolar planets: the chemical abundance connection Session 6. Abundance surveys and projects in the era of future large telescopes Author index.
Optimization of In Situ Indentation Protocol to Map the Mechanical Properties of Articular Cartilage

Tissue engineering aims at developing complex composite scaffolds for articular cartilage repair. These scaffolds must exhibit a mechanical behavior similar to the whole osteochondral unit. In situ spherical indentation allows us to map the mechanical behavior of articular cartilage, avoiding removal of the underlying bone tissue. Little is known about the impact of grid spacing, indenter diameter, and induced deformation on the cartilage response to indentation. We investigated the impact of grid spacing (range: a to 3a, where a is the radius of the contact area between cartilage and indenter), indenter diameter (range: 1 to 8 mm), and deformation induced by indentation (constant indentation depth versus constant nominal deformation) on cartilage response. The bias induced by indentations performed in adjacent grid points was minimized with a 3a grid spacing. The cartilage response was indenter-dependent for diameters ranging between 1 and 6 mm with a nominal deformation of 15%. No significant differences were found using 6 mm and 8 mm indenters. Six mm and 8 mm indenters were used to map human articular cartilage with a grid spacing equal to 3a. Instantaneous elastic modulus E0 was calculated for constant indentation depth and constant nominal deformation. E0 value distribution did not change significantly by switching the two indenters, while dispersion decreased by 5–6% when a constant nominal deformation was applied. Such an approach was able to discriminate changes in tissue response due to doubling the indentation rate. The proposed procedure seems to reduce data dispersion and properly determine cartilage mechanical properties to be compared with those of complex composite scaffolds.
Effects of the Revised Reimbursement Guideline for Anti-Osteoporosis Medication in South Korea

Background The Korean National Health Insurance (NHI) reimbursement guideline was revised in May 2015 with the aim of preventing secondary osteoporotic fractures. Here we compared the: (1) rate of bone mineral density (BMD) measurements; (2) prescription rate of anti-osteoporosis medication within 3 months after hip fracture surgery (HFS); (3) incidence of a second hip fracture; and (4) first-year mortality rate after HFS. Methods This before-after study used the revised reimbursement system as a reference period. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 515 patients who underwent HFS at a tertiary referral hospital between January 2014 and December 2016. The period 1 group underwent HFS in 2014, while the period 2 group underwent HFS in 2016. Results Despite the fact that there was no significant intergroup difference in BMD measurement rate, the period 2 group had a higher prescription rate for anti-osteoporosis drugs within 3 months of HFS. However, the incidence of a second hip fracture did not differ between groups. The first-year mortality rate was higher in the period 1 versus period 2 group. Conclusions Revision of the NHI guideline in May 2015 was associated with an increased prescription rate of anti-osteoporosis medication in osteoporotic hip fracture patients.
Role of PARP-1 in Human Cytomegalovirus Infection and Functional Partners Encoded by This Virus

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a ubiquitous pathogen that threats the majority of the world’s population. Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1) and protein poly (ADP-ribosyl)ation (PARylation) regulates manifold cellular functions. The role of PARP-1 and protein PARylation in HCMV infection is still unknown. In the present study, we found that the pharmacological and genetic inhibition of PARP-1 attenuated HCMV replication, and PARG inhibition favors HCMV replication. PARP-1 and its enzymatic activity were required for efficient HCMV replication. HCMV infection triggered the activation of PARP-1 and induced the translocation of PARP-1 from nucleus to cytoplasm. PARG was upregulated in HCMV-infected cells and this upregulation was independent of viral DNA replication. Moreover, we found that HCMV UL76, a true late protein of HCMV, inhibited the overactivation of PARP-1 through direct binding to the BRCT domain of PARP-1. In addition, UL76 also physically interacted with poly (ADP-ribose) (PAR) polymers through the RG/RGG motifs of UL76 which mediates its recruitment to DNA damage sites. Finally, PARP-1 inhibition or depletion potentiated HCMV-triggered induction of type I interferons. Our results uncovered the critical role of PARP-1 and PARP-1-mediated protein PARylation in HCMV replication.
Soil microbiomes drive aboveground plant–pathogen–insect interactions

Plants interact with a large diversity of microbes and insects, both below and above ground. While studies have shown that belowground microbes affect the performance of plants and aboveground organisms, we lack insights into how belowground microbial communities may shape interactions between aboveground pathogens and insects. We investigated how soil microbiomes and aboveground organisms affect plant growth and development, and whether differences in soil microbiomes influence interactions between aboveground organisms. We conducted a growth-chamber experiment with oak seedlings Quercus robur growing in three soils with similar abiotic soil properties but with distinct natural soil microbiomes. Seedlings were subjected to single or dual attack by powdery mildew Erysiphe alphitoides and aphids Tuberculatus annulatus , either in the presence or absence of prior attack by a free-feeding caterpillar Phalera bucephala . Soil microbiomes were associated with differences in seedling height, and seedlings with multiple aboveground organisms had more but smaller leaves than healthy seedlings. The soil microbiome affected the severity of powdery mildew infection, and mediated the impact of co-occurring aboveground organisms on aphid population size. Our study highlights that plant performance is affected by natural soil microbiomes as well as aboveground organisms, and that natural soil microbiomes can affect interactions between pathogens and insects. These findings are important to understand species interactions in natural systems, as well as for practical applications, such as manipulation of soil microbiomes to manage agricultural pests and diseases.
Deuterated molecules in regions of high-mass star formation

We present the results of our studies of deuterated molecules (DCN, DNC, DCO$^+$, N$_2$D$^+$ and NH$_2$D) in regions of high-mass star formation, which include a survey of such regions with the 20-m Onsala radio telescope and mapping of several objects in various lines with the 30-m IRAM and 100-m MPIfR radio telescopes. The deuteration degree reaches $\sim$10$^{-2}$ in these objects. We discuss its dependencies on the gas temperature and velocity dispersion, as well as spatial distributions of deuterated molecules. We show that the H$^{13}$CN/HN$^{13}$C intensity ratio may be a good indicator of the gas kinetic temperature and estimate densities of the investigated objects.
Association between Smartphone Addiction and Suicide

Objective: This study aimed to explore the associations between smartphone overdependence (smartphone addiction) and suicidal ideation and attempts among Korean adolescents to acknowledge the risk of smartphone overuse. Methods: Data were obtained from the results of the 2020 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey. Smartphone addiction was categorized into three groups: adolescents who scored less than 23 were categorized as the general user group and formed the reference, those with scores of 23–30 were categorized as the potential-risk user group, and those with scores higher than 31 were categorized under the high-risk user group. Suicidal ideation and suicide attempt were identified as dependent variables in the present study. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between SA and suicidal ideation and suicide attempt status among Korean adolescents. Results: This study included 41,173 general users of smartphones, 12,142 potential-risk users, and 1633 high-risk users from among 54,948 adolescents who were middle- and high-school students. Adolescents with potentially risky smartphone use showed a higher likelihood of suicidal ideation (OR: 1.50, CI: 1.42–1.60). Similarly, adolescents with high-risk smartphone use showed a significant risk of suicidal ideation (OR: 2.49, CI: 2.21–2.81) and suicide attempt (OR: 1.87, CI: 1.48–2.37) compared to the adolescents who were general users. Conclusion: Our study results encourage parents and social workers to acknowledge that adolescents’ smartphone addiction leads to a higher risk to their mental health, wherein they may engage in suicidal ideation and even resort to a suicide attempt.