Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dietary Patterns and Obesity in Chinese Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Certain dietary patterns are associated with an increased risk of obesity and its comorbidities. However, these associations vary across populations. The prevalence of obesity has been rising amid a drastic nutrition transition in China during the country’s rapid economic growth. This systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to summarize how dietary patterns are associated with obesity in the Chinese population. We searched for articles from 1 January 2000 to 1 February 2022 in PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and Scopus that assessed the relationship between dietary patterns and obesity outcomes. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using a random effects model. From the 2556 articles identified from the search, 23 articles were included in the analysis. We found that the traditional Chinese dietary pattern was associated with a lower risk of overweight/obesity (OR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.57, 0.84, p < 0.001), whereas the Western dietary pattern was associated with a higher OR of overweight/obesity, but not reaching statistical significance (OR = 1.34, 95% CI: 0.98, 1.84, p = 0.07). There were inconsistent results for other dietary patterns, such as meat/animal protein and plant/vegetarian patterns. In conclusion, the traditional Chinese diet characterized by vegetables, rice, and meat was associated with a lower risk of obesity. The heterogeneity in characterizing dietary patterns contributes to the inconsistency of how dietary patterns are associated with obesity in the Chinese population.
Degradation-Suppressed Cocoonase for Investigating the Propeptide-Mediated Activation Mechanism

Cocoonase is folded in the form of a zymogen precursor protein (prococoonase) with the assistance of the propeptide region. To investigate the role of the propeptide sequence on the disulfide-coupled folding of cocoonase and prococoonase, the amino acid residues at the degradation sites during the refolding and auto-processing reactions were determined by mass spectrometric analyses and were mutated to suppress the numerous degradation reactions that occur during the reactions. In addition, the Lys8 residue at the propeptide region was also mutated to estimate whether the entire sequence is absolutely required for the activation of cocoonase. Finally, a degradation-suppressed [K8D,K63G,K131G,K133A]-proCCN protein was prepared and was found to refold readily without significant degradation. The results of an enzyme assay using casein or Bz-Arg-OEt suggested that the mutations had no significant effect on either the enzyme activity or the protein conformation. Thus, we, herein, provide the non-degradative cocoonase protein to investigate the propeptide-mediated protein folding of the molecule. We also examined the catalytic residues using the degradation-suppressed cocoonase. The point mutations at the putative catalytic residues in cocoonase resulted in the loss of catalytic activity without any secondary structural changes, indicating that the mutated residues play a role in the catalytic activity of this enzyme.
Aquifer structure and groundwater ﬂow related to arsenic contaminated groundwater in Sonargaon, Bangladesh

Ganges delta plain has been known as the largest arsenic contaminated groundwater affected area in the world. Mechanism of the arsenic contaminated groundwater formation is explained by microbial reduction-dissolution of Fe-oxyhydroxides, which adsorb As. However, we proposed chemical weathering of As-bearing detrital biotite or chlorite was the mechanism to release As into the groundwater. Also, anthropogenic activity such as excess use of groundwater would promote the As release into the groundwater, although the relationship has not been revealed until present. In this study, actively recharging area in Sonargaon, Bangladesh was targeted to document groundwater aquifer structure, primary host mineral of arsenic, change of the As host in the aquifer sediments, recharging age of the contaminated groundwater, and the relation to anthropogenic activity. Core drilling and test tube well drilling were performed at the area close to the highest arsenic polluted well (1.2mg/L As). In this area, the arsenic contaminated groundwater occurs in the Holocene aquifer divided by the underlying impermeable clay layer at -30 to -40 m depth from the uncontaminated Pleistocene aquifer. While, the impermeable clay layer lacks and the two aquifers directly contacts beneath this site. Recharging age of > 800 mg As contaminated groundwater is after 1990, implying that the lowering hydropressure due to excess use of groundwater of the Pleistocene aquifer promotes vertical inﬁltration of surface water to release arsenic into the Holocene aquifer. Arsenic in the contaminated aquifer is mostly ﬁxed in insoluble phases including silicate and sulﬁde minerals, and the primary host phase is chlorite. While, the arsenic in and adsorbed onto the Fe-oxyhydroxides increases at the depth where the groundwater level changes. The As(III)/As(V) (0.4:0.6) of groundwater at -5m depth is the same as those of the chlorite, indi-cating that the arsenic is released via concordant dissolution of this mineral. The As(III) ratio becomes 0.95 below -10 m depth, and the reduction of groundwater promotes the reduction of arsenic. The release of arsenic is most active between -5 and -10 m depth, where the oxygen penetrates into the uppermost part of the groundwater. Thus, the arsenic contaminated groundwater of the study area was formed via chemical weathering of detrital Fe(II) en-riched and As-bearing chlorite promoted by the recently activated inﬁltration of aerobic groundwater. Reductive condition of the groundwater prompts the reduction of arsenic, however, is not essential as a release of arsenic. Since the chlorite is known as a major mineral in the arsenic contaminated groundwater aquifer sediments, this mechanism can be the generally earliest stage of arsenic contaminated groundwater in the Ganges delta plain.
The potentially dangerous asteroid 2012 DA14

We present computing methods that allow us to study the behaviour of the dynamically interesting potentially dangerous asteroid 2012 DA14. Using the freely available OrbFit software, we can follow the orbit of the asteroid backward and forward in the future, searching for close approaches to the Earth that might lead to possible impacts. The possible impact orbit for 2026 is computed. We show that it should be possible to recover asteroid 2012 DA14, mainly in 2013 February. It is highly unlikely that asteroid 2012 DA14 will hit any geosynchronous satellites during its close approach on 2013 February 15.
Optimal estimation and discrimination of excess noise in thermal and amplifier channels

We determine a fundamental upper bound on the performance of any adaptive protocol for discrimination or estimation of a channel which has an unknown parameter encoded in the state of its environment. Since our approach relies on the principle of data processing, the bound applies to a variety of discrimination measures, including quantum relative entropy, hypothesis testing relative entropy, R\'enyi relative entropy, fidelity, and quantum Fisher information. We apply the upper bound to thermal (amplifier) channels with a known transmissivity (gain) but unknown excess noise. In these cases, we find that the upper bounds are achievable for several discrimination measures of interest, and the method for doing so is non-adaptive, employing a highly squeezed two-mode vacuum state at the input of each channel use. Estimating the excess noise of a thermal channel is of principal interest for the security of quantum key distribution, in the setting where a fiber-optic cable has a known transmissivity but a tampering eavesdropper alters the excess noise on the channel, so that estimating the excess noise as precisely as possible is desirable. Finally, we outline a practical strategy which can be used to achieve these limits.
Quality of Life in Patients with Diabetic Foot Ulcers: A Cross-sectional Study

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To analyze the associations among and contributions of sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological variables to quality of life (QoL) related to diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs; DFUQoL). METHODS The sample comprised 70 patients with DFUs who answered the following questionnaires: the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Illness Perception Questionnaire-Brief, Diabetic Foot Ulcer-Short Form, Medical Term Recognition test, and a sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire. Pearson and biserial correlation coefficients, hierarchical regressions, and moderation analyses were conducted to study the relationships among variables. RESULTS The results showed that a large DFU, threatening representations about DFU, and more psychological distress were associated with lower DFUQoL. Also, more psychological distress, more threatening DFU representations, and taking antibiotics contributed to worse DFUQoL. Clinically significant levels of psychological distress moderated the relationship between the DFU extent and negative emotions. CONCLUSIONS This study showed that QoL and its domains were associated with psychological distress and that QoL was more influenced by DFU representations than by a larger-sized wound, emphasizing the importance of psychological interventions in the treatment of patients with DFUs.
Possible Evidence for the Stochastic Acceleration of Secondary Antiprotons by Supernova Remnants

The antiproton-to-proton ratio in the cosmic-ray spectrum is a sensitive probe of new physics. Using recent measurements of the cosmic-ray antiproton and proton fluxes in the energy range of 1-1000 GeV, we study the contribution to the $\bar{p}/p$ ratio from secondary antiprotons that are produced and subsequently accelerated within individual supernova remnants. We consider several well-motivated models for cosmic-ray propagation in the interstellar medium and marginalize our results over the uncertainties related to the antiproton production cross section and the time-, charge-, and energy-dependent effects of solar modulation. We find that the increase in the $\bar{p}/p$ ratio observed at rigidities above $\sim$ 100 GV cannot be accounted for within the context of conventional cosmic-ray propagation models, but is consistent with scenarios in which cosmic-ray antiprotons are produced and subsequently accelerated by shocks within a given supernova remnant. In light of this, the acceleration of secondary cosmic rays in supernova remnants is predicted to substantially contribute to the cosmic-ray positron spectrum, accounting for a significant fraction of the observed positron excess.
Quantifying the Impact of Biopics on Wikipedia Articles

Wikipedia is known for its extensive and comprehensive knowledge of multifarious topics. These topics are maintained as articles along with a history of versions of these articles, these versions are also known as revisions. Revisions are the results of edits made by various users. Here, the authors analyze biographical Wikipedia articles, mainly biographies that have a movie based on them re- leased after the year 2010. The authors look at the impact of the movie release on its corresponding biography article on Wikipedia by looking at various metrics of each revision in a Wikipedia article and analyze how the revisions closer to the movie’s release date compare with the rest of the revisions. The results show that quality and content in Wikipedia articles increases significantly during the release time frame of corresponding biopics. The authors believe their work will stimulate more research in the direction of understanding Wikipedia’s relationship with its allied portals.
The Impact of COVID-19 on the Quality of Life and Happiness of Care Home Residents in Croatia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Care/nursing homes globally have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and have disproportionately experienced a high rate of mortality which led to the introduction of strict isolation policies. However, while there are studies on the mortality, epidemiology, staffing challenges, and mismanagement in long-term care homes as a result of COVID-19, there appears to be a paucity of information regarding the Quality of Life (QoL), happiness, and associated well-being of the elderly residents of these homes. Therefore, we examined if COVID-19 affected the happiness level, QoL, and financial condition of long-term care home residents in Croatia. To achieve this, a survey of 308 participants in eight long term care homes was conducted. Descriptive analysis was performed to describe the mean of all responses and the Bayesian Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation (INLA) was used to provide a detailed quantitative analysis of the results. We found that the QoL and happiness of residents remained relatively stable during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the income level, financial outlook, marital status, and vaccination positivity influenced the QoL and happiness of care home residents to a considerable degree. We recommend that policy makers pay attention to these underlying factors.
The macroeconomic and distributional effects of progressive wealth taxes ∗ Preliminary – please do not cite or circulate

The recent rise in wealth inequality has triggered a debate on whether policy measures could and should be taken against it. One widely discussed policy, proposed by Thomas Piketty in his book “Capital in the 20th Century”, is a progressive tax schedule on wealth. In this paper we evaluate the macroeconomic and distributional consequences of this policy. We ﬁnd that progressive wealth taxes produce substantial revenue, on the order of that currently raised by the corporate income tax. They also lead to a large reduction in top wealth shares. A comparison of steady states suggests that progressive wealth taxes improve average welfare despite their negative effect on capital accumulation and wages. The interaction with other taxes and differential changes in saving incentives across the wealth distribution are key for this result. In particular, general equilibrium effects imply not only reduced top wealth, but also increased asset accumulation by the bottom 80% of the wealth distribution. The latter is key for higher steady state welfare, but also implies welfare losses along the transition to the new steady state. As a consequence, progressive welfare taxes look less attractive if positive welfare weight is placed on current generations. Finally, substantial reductions in wealth concentration can also be achieved with more progressive income taxes, which avoid the administrative difﬁculties associated with wealth taxes. J.E. L. Codes: E32, J31, J41
In Vitro Antimicrobial Activity of Piper betle Leaf Extract and Some Topical Agents against Methicillin-Resistant and Methicillin-Susceptible Staphylococcus Strains from Canine Pyoderma

Simple Summary Pyoderma is one of the most common diseases in dogs. The primary pathogen isolated from canine pyoderma is Staphylococcus pseudintermedius, followed by Staphylococcus schleiferi subsp. coagulans. With the emergence of a multidrug-resistant strain, namely, methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRS), topical antimicrobial therapy is encouraged. In this study, the in vitro antimicrobial activity of crude Piper betle leaf extract and some topical antimicrobials against clinical S. pseudintermedius and S. schleiferi subsp. coagulans, including their MRS strains, were evaluated. It was found that betel leaf extract demonstrated good antimicrobial activity with a higher proficiency than azelaic acid and benzoyl peroxide. Accordingly, betel leaf extract could provide a novel antimicrobial treatment, which may help reduce the need for systemic antibiotics, for canine pyoderma. Abstract As multidrug-resistant methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRS) is becoming more prevalent in canine pyoderma, the discovery of new therapeutic options is required. This study aimed to test the antimicrobial activity of crude Piper betle leaf extract and some topical antimicrobial agents against canine Staphylococcus clinical strains by determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). The results showed that the mean MICs of chlorhexidine, miconazole, crude P. betle leaf extract, azelaic acid, and benzoyl peroxide against Staphylococcus strains were 1.41, 1.62, 252.78, 963.49, and 1342.70 mg/L, respectively. Therefore, betel leaf extract demonstrated a superior efficacy to azelaic acid and benzoyl peroxide. Furthermore, the ratio of MBC/MIC of betel leaf extract was 1.75, indicating its bactericidal action. When applied to methicillin-resistant S. pseudintermedius (MRSP) and methicillin-susceptible S. pseudintermedius (MSSP), betel leaf extract was equally efficient towards both groups. S. pseudintermedius strains were more susceptible to betel leaf extract than S. schleiferi subsp. coagulans. In gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis, eugenol and hydroxychavicol appeared to be the major components of betel leaf extract. Given its efficacy, dogs with pyoderma could benefit from the use of betel leaf extract as a topical antimicrobial alternative.
Characteristics of Households’ Vulnerability to Extreme Heat: An Analytical Cross-Sectional Study from India

High ambient temperature is a key public health problem, as it is linked to high heat-related morbidity and mortality. We intended to recognize the characteristics connected to heat vulnerability and the coping practices among Indian urbanites of Angul and Kolkata. In 2020, a cross-sectional design was applied to 500 households (HHs) each in Angul and Kolkata. Information was gathered on various characteristics including sociodemographics, household, exposure, sensitivity, and coping practices regarding heat and summer heat illness history, and these characteristics led to the computation of a heat vulnerability index (HVI). Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used with HVI as the outcome variable to identify the determinants of high vulnerability to heat. The results show that some common and some different factors are responsible for determining the heat vulnerability of a household across different cities. For Angul, the factors that influence vulnerability are a greater number of rooms in houses, the use of cooling methods such as air conditioning, having comorbid conditions, the gender of the household head, and distance from nearby a primary health centre (PHC). For Kolkata, the factors are unemployment, income, the number of rooms, sleeping patterns, avoidance of nonvegetarian food, sources of water, comorbidities, and distance from a PHC. The study shows that every city has a different set of variables that influences vulnerability, and each factor should be considered in design plans to mitigate vulnerability to extreme heat.
Escape from a zero-current state in a one-dimensional array of Josephson junctions

A long one-dimensional array of small Josephson junctions exhibits Coulomb blockade of Cooper pair tunneling. This zero-current state exists up to a switching voltage, V s w , where there is a sudden onset of current. In this paper we present histograms showing how V s w changes with temperature for a long array and calculations of the corresponding escape rates. Our analysis of the problem is based on the existence of a voltage-dependent energy barrier and we do not make any assumptions about its shape. The data divide into two temperature regimes, the higher of which can be explained with the Kramers thermal escape model. At low temperatures the escape becomes independent of temperature.
Orientation of the intra-unit-cell magnetic moment in the high-
Tc
 superconductor 
HgBa2CuO4+δ

Polarized-neutron diffraction experiments (PND) have revealed that the pseudogap state of the cuprates exhibits unusual intra-unit-cell (IUC) magnetism. At a qualitative level, the data indicate a moment direction that is neither perpendicular nor parallel to the CuO2 layers, yet an accurate measurement of a structurally simple compound has been lacking. Here we report PND results with unprecedented accuracy for the IUC magnetic order in the simple-tetragonal single-CuO$_2$-layer compound HgBa2CuO$_{4+{\delta}}$. At the transition temperature, we find evidence for magnetic critical scattering. Deep in the ordered state, we determine the moment direction to be 70{\deg} $\pm$ 10{\deg} away from the normal to the CuO$_2$ layers, which rules out both purely planar loop currents and high-symmetry Dirac multipoles, the two most prominent theoretical proposals for the microscopic origin of the IUC magnetism. However, the data are consistent with Dirac multipoles of lower symmetry or, alternatively, with a particular configuration of loop currents that flow on the faces of the CuO$_6$ octahedra.
Does Temporal and Spatial Diet Alteration Lead to Successful Adaptation of a Top Predator

: Predator–prey interactions may be linked to different temporal or spatial patterns, includ ‐ ing dynamics in prey populations. Therefore, understanding the adaptive capacity and how top predators respond to shifts in prey abundance and availability is crucial for their conservation. In this study, we investigated the diet pattern of the endangered Eastern Imperial Eagle facing long ‐ term and large ‐ scale changes. We studied the abundance variation of its profitable prey, sousliks, and how it reflected on eagle population trajectories in a regional and temporal context. We found a significant diet alteration expressed in large decrease of brown hare ( β 2 = − 0.83), poultry ( β 2 = − 0.81), gulls ( β 2 = − 0.71), and water birds ( β 2 = − 0.57), and an obvious increase of northern white ‐ breasted hedgehog ( β 2 = 0.61) and doves ( β 2 = 0.60). Raptors and owls raised their participation ( β 2 = 0.44), but white stork and different reptiles supplied more biomass. Abundance of European sous ‐ lik decreased through the studied periods (adjusted R 2 = 0.25, p < 0.001) which accounted for the lower proportion of this prey in the eagle’s diet. Nevertheless, the eagle population successfully adapted and significantly increased ( β 2 = 0.97) in most of the distribution area. The trophic strategy used by this top predator related to opportunistic foraging represents an ecological advantage that allows the species to adapt to different habitats and guarantees its future. The observed prolonged diet alteration could result in a significant negative attitude among different groups such as hunters, pigeon fanciers, and poultry keepers towards eagles. Therefore, enhanced communication with key stakeholders is needed. Conservation efforts should be focused also on the preservation of the spe ‐ cies’ main foraging habitats and the restoration of damaged ones so as to maintain the good condi ‐ tions of both primary food source and subsequent prey.
A New Optimization Model for the Restoration of the Deteriorated Hyperspectral Images

Hyperspectral imaging technology has great role in performing computer vision tasks efficiently. However the acquired hyperspectral images (HSIs) are contaminated by different types of noises and other unwanted signals. This paper proposes a new tensor svd based low rank decomposition together with spatial spectral total variation (SSTV) regularization for removing the noise artefacts in HSIs. The proposed optimization model uses tensor decomposition to express the correlation among the different frequency bands. The sparse noise is detected using a 𝑙 1 norm, and in addition, a Frobenius norm is added to remove heavy Gaussian noise from the images. A SSTV norm is added to preserve the piecewise smoothness structure in the spatial and spectral domains. An efficient solution for the optimization problem is developed based on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). From the experiments conducted on noisy HSIs, it can be observed that our method achieves better results compared to the already existing ones.