Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plasma Endocannabinoid Levels in Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder and Healthy Controls

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a highly prevalent psychiatric disorder and presents a complex therapeutic challenge due to limited treatment modalities. Recent focus has converged on the endocannabinoid system (ECS) as a prospective modulator of psychopathological processes in BPD. To address this hypothesis, we analysed plasma endocannabinoid concentrations, specifically anandamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), in a cohort of 49 female BPD patients and 32 matched healthy controls (HC). Additionally, we examined the effect of the FAAH polymorphism rs324420 and correlates with psychopathology. The results indicate heightened AEA levels and, by trend, augmented 2-AG levels within the patient group, as compared to the HC group. Significant between group differences in AEA levels were evident in the CC genotype (FAAH_rs324420) but not in A-allele carriers while the commonly observed difference in AEA levels between A-allele carriers as compared to the CC genotype was not evident in patients. An effect of genotype was found with higher ratings of depression (Beck’s depression inventory, BDI-II) in the CC genotype compared to A-allele carriers (FAAH_rs32442), particularly in the patients. Significant alterations in AEA (and by trend in 2-AG) in patients with BPD may relate to compensatory ECS activity. The finding that the effect is most pronounced in CC homozygotes, might point towards a countermeasure to balance physiologically lower baseline AEA levels. The findings warrant further research to develop potentially beneficial psychopharmacological therapies.
The Implications of the Pandemic with Covid-19 in the Glycemic Control of People with Type 2 Diabetes

Introduction The COVID-19 lockdown influenced the glycemic control and other metabolic parameters in people with type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus. Objective To study the effects of COVID-19 lockdown on glycemic control in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Material and Methods Our study group included 120 Romanian people with T2DM from both urban and rural areas. We employed a structured questionnaire with multiple-choice to collect data about DM management during lockdown, the interaction with their diabetologist, the access to treatment, and what other factors influenced their DM management during the lockdown. Results We did not observe an increase of numbers of hyper or hypoglycemia during the restriction period in people with T2DM. The number of glycemic imbalances was higher in people treated with insulin than those with oral antidiabetics (OAD) (p=0.003, X2=8.91). Regarding the causes of imbalances, we did not obtain a significant difference during the restriction period, neither between patients following treatment with insulin nor with OAD. On the contrary, we observed that only 26.7% of people with T2DM managed to maintain their weight or lost weight vs 73.3% patients who gained several extra kg (p<0.001, X2=52.26). Conclusion The findings of this study have demonstrated that in people with T2DM, the COVID-19 lockdown determines better glycemic control among patients treated with OAD compared to those treated with insulin therapy. Anxiety, stress, and emotions were the main reasons that led to the increase in glycemic values of these patients. Also, most patients have gained weight either due to lack of physical activity or due to stress.
Enhanced Periodic Group Sparsity via Adaptive Period Estimation and Parameter Optimization for Rolling Bearing Fault Diagnosis

Fault pulses of rolling bearings (RBs) are vulnerable to interference from noise and random shocks, which makes it exceedingly challenging to diagnose fault characteristics. To effectively diagnose the faults of the RBs, an enhanced periodic group sparsity (EPGS) method is developed based on the periodic overlapping group shrinkage (POGS) algorithm. Specifically, the proposed EPGS consists of three steps. First, according to the characteristic that the fault pulses of the RBs are periodic, an adaptive fault period estimation (AdaFPE) strategy is proposed, using which the period of the fault pulses (PFP) can be accurately predicted. Second, the proposed AdaFPE is embedded into the iterative process of the POGS for achieving a dynamic update of the PFP, and then the EPGS method is constructed. Finally, a regularization parameter selection (RPS) method is proposed, using which suitable regularization parameters (RPs) can be matched according to the noise level of fault signal, which, in turn, improves the generalization of the EPGS to different fault signals. The proposed EPGS is validated using simulated and experimental signals. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the EPGS can extract the fault characteristics of the RBs from noisy vibration signals, which possesses superior estimation precision and diagnostic performance than the existing state-of-the-art methods and has a certain value for engineering application.
Differences and relationship in functional movement screen (FMS™) scores and physical fitness in males and female semi-professional soccer players

Background Soccer is the world’s most popular sport for both men and women. Tests of athletic and functional performance are commonly used to assess physical ability and set performance goals. The Functional Movement Screen (FMS™) is a widely used seven-test battery developed by practitioners to provide interpretable measure of movement quality. The main objective of the present study was twofold, to analyze the relationship between FMS™ results from male and female soccer players and to compare their physical performance in different tests. Methods A total of twenty-eight semi-professional soccer players: fourteen male (age: 21.29 ± 1.64 years; weight: 70.66 ± 5.29 kg; height: 171.86 ± 5.35 cm; BMI: 20.90 ± 2.22 kg/m2) and fourteen females (age: 20.64 ± 1.98 years; weight: 63.44 ± 5.83 kg; height: 166.21 ± 12.18 cm; BMI: 23.02 ± 2.50 kg/m2) were recruited for this study. A paired sample t-test was used for determining differences as a repeated measures analysis. All the participants conducted the following tests: The Functional Movement Test (FMS™), 10-m linear sprint, 5-0-5 COD Test and Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test—Level 1 (YYIRT Level 1). Results A t-test with data from 505 COD (change of direction) test showed significant differences between groups, p = 0.001, d = 1.11, revealing faster times in male soccer players (2.50 ± 0.19) in respect with female soccer players (2.70 ± 0.17). Crucially, a t-test with data from FMS did not reveal significant differences between groups. Multiple regression for V02max revealed significant effects (r = 0.55, r2 = 0.30, adjusted r2 = 0.24, F = 5.21, p = 0.04 and standard error = 2.20). On the other hand, multiple regression for 10-m sprint showed significant effects (r = 0.58, r2 = 0.33, adjusted r2 = 0.28, F = 5.98, p = 0.03). The impact of these factors on the correlation between FMS™ scores and physical performance measures can vary among individuals. Discussion/Conclusion This study demonstrates the necessity of utilizing and applying multiple field-based tests to evaluate the movement and capabilities of physical performance in sports. Crucially, consider individual variations and factors such as training background, fitness level, and sport-specific demands when interpreting the relationship between the FMS™ and physical performance in both sexes.
Solifluction meets vegetation: the role of biogeomorphic feedbacks for turf‐banked solifluction lobe development

Vegetation is an important factor influencing solifluction processes, while at the same time, solifluction processes and landforms influence species composition, fine‐scale distribution and corresponding ecosystem functioning. However, how feedbacks between plants and solifluction processes influence the development of turf‐banked solifluction lobes (TBLs) and their geomorphic and vegetation patterns is still poorly understood. We addressed this knowledge gap in a detailed biogeomorphic investigation in the Turtmann glacier foreland (Switzerland). Methods employed include geomorphic and vegetation mapping, terrain assessment with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and temperature logging. Results were subsequently integrated with knowledge from previous geomorphic and ecologic studies into a conceptual model. Our results show that geomorphic and vegetation patterns at TBLs are closely linked through the lobe elements tread, risers and ridge. A conceptual four‐stage biogeomorphic model of TBL development with ecosystem engineering by the dwarf shrub Dryas octopetala as the dominant process can explain these interlinked patterns. Based on this model, we demonstrate that TBLs are biogeomorphic structures and follow a cyclic development, during which the role of their components for engineer and non‐engineer species changes. Our study presents the first biogeomorphic model of TBL development and highlights the applicability and necessity of biogeomorphic approaches and research in periglacial environments. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Anomia: Deciphering Functional Neuroanatomy in Primary Progressive Aphasia Variants

Naming decline is one of the most common symptoms of primary progressive aphasia (PPA). Most studies on anomia in PPA are performed without taking into account PPA variants, especially for action naming. Only limited data are available for the neuroanatomical basis of anomia considering differences in the pathogenesis of PPAs. The aim of our study is to investigate the associations between anomia severity for both noun and verb naming and gray matter (GM) atrophy, as well as accompanying functional connectivity (FC) changes in three PPA variants. A total of 17 patients with non-fluent (nfvPPA), 11 with semantic (svPPA), and 9 with logopenic (lvPPA) PPA variants were included in the study and underwent cognitive/naming assessments and brain MRIs. Voxel-based morphometry was performed to evaluate GM volume. A resting-state functional MRI was applied to investigate FC changes in the identified GM areas. The study shows that different brain regions are involved in naming decline in each PPA variant with a predominantly temporal lobe involvement in svPPA, parietal lobe involvement in lvPPA, and frontal lobe involvement in nfvPPA. Separate data for object and action naming in PPA variants are provided. The obtained results mainly correspond to the current understanding of language processing and indicate that the evaluation of language impairments is preferable for each PPA variant separately. A further analysis of larger cohorts of patients is necessary to confirm these preliminary results.
A Low-Latency FPGA Accelerator for YOLOv3-Tiny With Flexible Layerwise Mapping and Dataflow

Object detection models have demonstrated outstanding performance in terms of accuracy. However, mapping convolutional neural network-based object-detection models to memory and computing-constrained devices is still challenging, which commonly leads to accuracy degradation and long latency. To address the problem, this work presents a design methodology to map the YOLOv3-tiny model onto a small FPGA board, in this case the Nexys A7-100T, which only has 0.5 MB on-chip SRAM and 240 DSPs. First, we design four identical MAC arrays to maximize the throughput by utilizing both DSPs and LUTs. Second, to exploit the MACs fully, we propose a dynamic data reuse scheme that handles inter-layer and intra-layer executions effectively under a small on-chip SRAM footprint. To this end, the proposed accelerator achieves an inference speed of 76.75 frames per second and throughput of 95.08 GOPs at 100MHz and consumes power of 2.203W. Specifically, it achieves a hardware utilization rate of 82.53%, thus significantly outperforming current YOLOv3-tiny accelerators.
Nutritional status of the student nurses of a tertiary health-care center – A mixed-method study

Context: Nursing students are the future role model of health; so critical evaluation of their nutritional status is imperative for effective functioning of health sector. Aims: The aim is to assess the nutritional status of nursing students using basal metabolic index and exploring the causes of malnutrition along with uncovering the causes behind these causes of malnutrition. Setting and Design: Nutritional status of student's nurses was assessed by mixed-method study design in tertiary care center of Mumbai, India. Materials and Methods: The method is to use the census method for sampling 280 nursing students of a tertiary care center interviewed using a semistructured interview schedule. Focus group discussions were held with student nurses, which were selected through purposive sampling technique to interpret the instigator causes behind causes of malnutrition. Statistical Analysis: Descriptive statistics was applied on qualitative data. Conceptual model framed on themes and subthemes based upon the codes from qualitative data. Results: Students having BMI less than 18 and more than 24.9 were 189 and 11, respectively, out of 280 students. About 64.20% had acidity and 11.07% performed regular exercises evolving major themes: challenges, stress, attitude, knowledge, social barriers, and motivators. Conclusion: About 67.5% of nursing students had BMI less than 18. Inappropriate dietary pattern, frequent ailments, and improper personal habits ensued their malnourished status. Lack of proper knowledge on balanced diet, work place stress, and challenges such as financial constrain, peer pressure, and health ailments along with improper perception of body image of the student nurses are major triggering factors behind the causes of malnutrition.
Exploring Sound Emission of the Lizard Pristidactylus valeriae

Simple Summary Lizards are considered voiceless animals, except for geckos. Nevertheless, increasing evidence shows that different non-gecko lizards emit oral sounds. For example, Pristidactylus lizards are known as ‘grunters’ since individuals emit oral sounds when they are under predation risk. We analyzed the characteristics of the sounds emitted by P. valeriae when individuals were threatened or captured by a predator. Lizards hissed in both conditions, although hisses were longer when animals were threatened than when captured. The hissing was accompanied by aggressive postures, such as bite attempts. Considering that in Leiosauridae, the family to which Pristidactylus belong, oral sound production is present in four out of five genera, this display could be an ancestral character for the group. Abstract Lizards, except geckos, are generally considered voiceless organisms, although some species emit oral sounds. For most of these “vocal lizards”, however, there is almost no information on the characteristics of the sounds, precluding exploration of the functionality and evolution of the sounds. Pristidactylus are known as “grunter lizards” since individuals emit oral sounds under predation risk. We explored the characteristics of the sounds emitted by P. valeriae, recording 17 adults and 1 juvenile when they were threatened and captured by a predator. Only adults emitted sounds with open mouths and displayed aggressive postures, e.g., biting attempts. These sounds correspond to hisses, which lack amplitude or frequency modulation. The lizards emitted longer hisses when threatened than when captured by the predator, which may provide honest information on individuals’ ability to escape. In addition, males may experience higher distress during threats since their hisses had higher aggregate entropy than those of the females. Finally, hissing has been documented in four of the five Leiosauridae genera, the family to which Pristidactylus belongs, suggesting that sound emission is ancestral to the family.
Lead Contamination in Driver's Blood and Its Effects on Erythrocytes, Leukocytes, and Platelets as A Biomarker

Lead as a component of air pollution has broad toxic effects and can be detrimental to humans, such as causing abnormalities in kidney function, digestive tract, nervous system, and hematopoietic disorders. Many people carry out their activities on the highway, one of which is an Angkot driver. Drivers who work on the road daily get direct exposure to air pollution, especially from lead (Pb). Therefore they are very vulnerable to the negative effects of lead (Pb). This study aimed to measure blood lead levels as a biomarker of lead contamination in a driving group in Palembang City. The subjects were drivers who had been working for more than 20 years (average 28 years) and the average age was 58 years. Testing blood lead levels using the APHA method and examining erythrocytes leukocytes and platelets using the impedance method and correlation test using the Spearman test. Based on the results of this study, there is a relationship between blood lead levels and erythrocyte (significance: 0.0019) and leukocyte (significance: 0.002) values, but there is no relationship between blood lead levels and platelet values (significance: 0.4), while blood lead levels in drivers are still within the threshold limit (average: 14.9804 µg/L).
Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Dietary Interventions and Microbiome in Phenylketonuria

Inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs) comprise a diverse group of monogenic disorders caused by enzyme deficiencies that result either in a toxic accumulation of metabolic intermediates or a shortage of essential end-products. Certain IEMs, like phenylketonuria (PKU), necessitate stringent dietary intervention that could lead to microbiome dysbiosis, thereby exacerbating the clinical phenotype. The objective of this systematic review was to examine the impact of PKU therapies on the intestinal microbiota. This research was conducted following the PRISMA Statement, with data from PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science. A total of 18 articles meeting the inclusion criteria were published from 2011 to 2022. Significant reductions in several taxonomic groups in individuals with PKU when compared to the control group were detected in a quantitative analysis conducted across seven studies. The meta-analysis synthesis indicates a contrast in biodiversity between PKU subjects and the control population. Additionally, the meta-regression results, derived from the Bacillota/Bacteroidota ratio data, suggest a potential influence of diet in adult PKU populations (p = 0.004). It is worth noting that the limited number of studies calls for further research and analysis in this area. Our findings indicate the necessity of enhancing understanding of microbiota variability in reaction to treatments among PKU subjects to design tailored therapeutic and nutritional interventions to prevent complications resulting from microbiota disruption.
Bipolar Current-Fed DC–DC Converter With Automatic Voltage Balance and Full Range ZVS for Bipolar DC System

The bipolar dc microgrid is attracting attention for its high efficiency and reliability, but the bipolar dc bus is susceptible to unbalanced power. This article proposes a bipolar current-fed dc–dc converter with automatic voltage balance under phase-shift plus pulsewidth control. Combined with the current-fed dual active bridge converter and voltage balancer, the circuit structure is streamlined and fewer devices are required. The proper magnetizing inductance allows the converter to achieve automatic bipolar voltage balancing even under extreme load imbalance, and achieve full-range zero-voltage switching (ZVS) over a wide voltage range. In addition, the coupled inductor is utilized to further reduce the number of magnetic components. Finally, based on the accurate ZVS analysis considering parasitic capacitance, the parameters of the converter are designed, and an experimental prototype is constructed to verify the feasibility of the proposed scheme.
Disrupting colorblind teacher education in computer science

ABSTRACT As new efforts seek to expand computer science education across the globe, there has been a widespread effort to prepare school teachers for teaching computer science to culturally and racially diverse students. This effort to center diversity and equity is notable as computer science courses are typically homogenous in terms of race and gender, making the need to center diversity in teacher education spaces. This paper reports on an ethnographic study in the United States that describes how teachers dialogue around issues of race and computer science education in a residential week-long professional development workshop. Drawing from the dialogue of a geographically, racially, and culturally diverse group of teachers, this article describes how teachers evade, deflect, center, and reflect on racially explicit discourse around teaching computer science. Grounded in vignettes from two teacher classrooms, this research study considers how culturally responsive computing and critical race theory can illuminate the ways in which teachers discuss race and culture in computer science professional learning environments. The study’s findings demonstrate features of long-term professional preparation that can surface colorblind ideologies and help teachers move toward a culturally responsive pedagogy to teaching computer science. Abbreviations: CS - computer science ; PD - professional development ; CRT - critical race theory
Anthropometric profile of the top-class male handball players participating in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

PURPOSE The purpose of the study was to try to determine the factors that differentiate the height, weight, BMI and age of high-level handball players participating in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. METHODS The study included handball players participating in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The study material consisted of data on athletes' body height, body weight, age and BMI. The collected study material was analyzed about the position of the game, quarter and semester of the birth, continental location of the country and geographical region. In parametric distribution, Student's t-test and ANOVA were used. In non-parametric variables, the Mann-Whitney U-test and the Kruskal-Wallis test were used. RESULTS The highest average heights, weights and BMIs were found in players playing in the pivot position, while the lowest were found in wing players. Interactions were shown within the body weight and BMI of the athletes. Players from Europe have the highest weight and BMI in the second semester of birth, while other players' highest results were in the first semester. CONCLUSIONS The factors that most strongly differentiate body height, body weight, and BMI are playing positions. Factors that differentiate height and weight are the continental location and region of the country represented.