Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Selenium and Zinc Intakes of Staple Grains and Their Correlation with Urine Selenium and Zinc in the Tibetan Rural Residents along the Yarlung Zangbo River

Grains account for a large proportion of the diet of rural residents in Tibet. The lack of selenium (Se) and zinc (Zn) threatens the population’s nutrition and health. However, the intakes of selenium and zinc in grains remains unclear. To clarify the nutritional status of selenium and zinc consumed from staple grains of residents along the Yarlung Zangbo River in Tibet, 341 grain samples and 242 urine samples were collected, and 244 food frequency questionnaires were completed along the Yarlung Zangbo River in 2020–2021. The results showed that the selenium concentrations of 88.5% of self-produced tsampa and 80.8% of self-produced flour were lower than the grain selenium threshold (<25 μg·kg−1). The intake of selenium and zinc from staple grains (tsampa, flour, and rice) contributed 15.0% and 43.5% to the recommended nutrient intake (RNI) on average, respectively. A geographical detector model analyzed factors affecting urinary selenium and zinc levels. Selenium and zinc intakes in rice and flour, and dietary diversity score (DDS) were the main factors affecting urinary selenium and zinc (p < 0.01). Their interaction effects on urinary selenium and zinc were greater than those of a single factor. The staple grains of rural residents along the Yarlung Zangbo River were in a state of selenium deficiency. The zinc content of the staple grain purchased was lower than that of the main grain produced by rural residents. Changing the grain consumption pattern and adjusting the proportion of exogenous grains can improve selenium and zinc nutrition in residents.
The Different Roles of Structural and Cognitive Social Capital on Oral Health-Related Quality of Life among Adolescents

This study evaluated the relationship of structural and cognitive dimensions of social capital with oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among adolescents. This was a cross-sectional study nested in a cohort of adolescents from southern Brazil. OHRQoL was evaluated using the short version of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire 11-14 (CPQ11-14). Structural social capital was measured by attendance of religious meetings and social networks from friends and neighbours. Cognitive social capital was evaluated through trust in friends and neighbours, perception of relationships in the neighbourhood, and social support during hard times. Multilevel Poisson regression analysis was performed to estimate the association between social capital dimensions and overall CPQ11-14 scores; higher scores corresponded to worse OHRQoL. The sample comprised 429 adolescents with a mean age of 12 years. Adolescents who attended religious meetings less than once a month or never presented higher overall CPQ11-14 scores. Adolescents who did not trust their friends and neighbours, those who believe that their neighbours did not have good relationships, and those reporting no support during hard times also presented higher overall CPQ11-14 scores. OHRQoL was poorer in individuals who presented lower structural and cognitive social capital, with the greatest impact related to the cognitive dimension.
Explosion de solutions d'équations paraboliques semilinéaires supercritiques

The authors consider blow-up for the equation (1) ut=Δu+up (x∈RN, t>0), where p>1 and N>1. For N>11and (2) p>(N−2(N−1)1/2)/(N−4−2(N−1)1/2)=p1(N) there exist some radial positive solutions that blow up at x=0, t=T<∞. Moreover, (3) limsup(T−t)1/(p−1)u(0,t)=∞ (t→T). Similar problems were investigated in detail in the book by A. A. Samarskiĭ et al. [Peaking modes in problems for quasilinear parabolic equations (Russian), "Nauka'', Moscow, 1987] and in other works where blow-up was established under conditions of the type 1<p<p2(N) with p2<p1. For corresponding solutions the lim sup in (3) is bounded. The authors give some arguments which show the following. The true threshold p that separates solutions with bounded and unbounded limit (3) should have the form p=p1(N).
Aggregation Protocol for Sensor Networks 2

4Hop-by-hop data aggregation is a very important technique for reducing the communication over- 5 head and energy expenditure of sensor nodes during the process of data collection in a sensor 6 network. However, because individual sensor readings are lost in the per-hop aggregation process, 7 compromised nodes in the network may forge false values as the aggregation results of other 8 nodes, tricking the base station into accepting spurious aggregation results. Here a fundamental 9 challenge is how can the base station obtain a good approximation of the fusion result when a 10 fraction of sensor nodes are compromised? 11 To answer this challenge, we propose SDAP, a Secure Hop-by-hop Data Aggregation Protocol 12 for sensor networks. SDAP is a general-purpose secure data aggregation protocol applicable to 13 multiple aggregation functions. The design of SDAP is based on the principles of divide-and- 14 conquer and commit-and-attest. First, SDAP uses a novel probabilistic grouping technique to 15 dynamically partition the nodes in a tree topology into multiple logical groups (subtrees) of similar 16 sizes. A commitment-based hop-by-hop aggregation is performed in each group to generate a 17 group aggregate. The base station then identifies the suspicious groups based on the set of group 18 aggregates. Finally, each group under suspect participates in an attestation process to prove the 19 correctness of its group aggregate. The aggregate by the base station is calculated over all the 20 group aggregates that are either normal or have passed the attestation procedure. Extensive 21 analysis and simulations show that SDAP can achieve the level of efficiency close to an ordinary 22 hop-by-hop aggregation protocol while providing high assurance on the trustworthiness of the 23 aggregation result. Last, prototype implementation on top of TinyOS shows that our scheme is 24 practical on current generation sensor nodes such as Mica2 motes. 25
Immunogenicity of High-Dose Egg-Based, Recombinant, and Cell Culture–Based Influenza Vaccines Compared With Standard-Dose Egg-Based Influenza Vaccine Among Health Care Personnel Aged 18–65 Years in 2019–2020

Abstract Background Emerging data suggest that second-generation influenza vaccines with higher hemagglutinin (HA) antigen content and/or different production methods may induce stronger antibody responses to HA than standard-dose egg-based influenza vaccines in adults. We compared antibody responses to high-dose egg-based inactivated (HD-IIV3), recombinant (RIV4), and cell culture–based (ccIIV4) vs standard-dose egg-based inactivated influenza vaccine (SD-IIV4) among health care personnel (HCP) aged 18–65 years in 2 influenza seasons (2018–2019, 2019–2020). Methods In the second trial season, newly and re-enrolled HCPs who received SD-IIV4 in season 1 were randomized to receive RIV4, ccIIV4, or SD-IIV4 or were enrolled in an off-label, nonrandomized arm to receive HD-IIV3. Prevaccination and 1-month-postvaccination sera were tested by hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay against 4 cell culture propagated vaccine reference viruses. Primary outcomes, adjusted for study site and baseline HI titer, were seroconversion rate (SCR), geometric mean titers (GMTs), mean fold rise (MFR), and GMT ratios that compared vaccine groups to SD-IIV4. Results Among 390 HCP in the per-protocol population, 79 received HD-IIV3, 103 RIV4, 106 ccIIV4, and 102 SD-IIV4. HD-IIV3 recipients had similar postvaccination antibody titers compared with SD-IIV4 recipients, whereas RIV4 recipients had significantly higher 1-month-postvaccination antibody titers against vaccine reference viruses for all outcomes. Conclusions HD-IIV3 did not induce higher antibody responses than SD-IIV4, but, consistent with previous studies, RIV4 was associated with higher postvaccination antibody titers. These findings suggest that recombinant vaccines rather than vaccines with higher egg-based antigen doses may provide improved antibody responses in highly vaccinated populations.
A four-port wideband filtering monopole MIMO array for sub-6 GHz 5G communications

Abstract This communication presents the significance of a four-port 2×2 multiple input multiple output antenna operating in mid-band frequency for 5G handheld device application. A microstrip-fed reference truncated decagonal monopole antenna operating at 3.9 GHz and a modified split-ring resonator (SRR)-based low-pass filter that excites at a cut-off frequency of 6.5 GHz are designed. On introducing a stub line in the SRR structure, the proposed filter shows a good out-of-band rejection beyond 6.5 GHz. By integrating the filter into the reference monopole, a wideband filtering monopole with improved stopband performance is obtained. A four-port MIMO array is constructed by orthogonally positioning the antenna with a center-to-center separation of 0. 25λ0. To improve isolation, a pair of inverted L-stubs of varying lengths is introduced. The closed loop formed by the interconnection of stubs enhances isolation within the frequency range of 3–3.5 GHz. The fabricated prototype fosters an impedance bandwidth of 66.67%, isolation >18.5 dB, an average suppression of 15 dB, an average peak gain >3.7 dB, envelope correlation coefficient < 0.015, Actual Diversity Gain (ADG) > 9.9 dB, Effective Diversity Gain (EDG) > 8.8 dB, and efficiency >88%. The proposed design is suitable for 5G sub-6 GHz applications such as n48, n77, n78, n79 bands, WiMAX, and LTE bands 42, 43, 46, 47, 48.
Specific Activation of T Cells by an ACE2-Based CAR-Like Receptor upon Recognition of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which is still a health issue worldwide mostly due to a high rate of contagiousness conferred by the high-affinity binding between cell viral receptors, Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) and SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein. Therapies have been developed that rely on the use of antibodies or the induction of their production (vaccination), but despite vaccination being still largely protective, the efficacy of antibody-based therapies wanes with the advent of new viral variants. Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) therapy has shown promise for tumors and has also been proposed for COVID-19 treatment, but as recognition of CARs still relies on antibody-derived sequences, they will still be hampered by the high evasion capacity of the virus. In this manuscript, we show the results from CAR-like constructs with a recognition domain based on the ACE2 viral receptor, whose ability to bind the virus will not wane, as Spike/ACE2 interaction is pivotal for viral entry. Moreover, we have developed a CAR construct based on an affinity-optimized ACE2 and showed that both wild-type and affinity-optimized ACE2 CARs drive activation of a T cell line in response to SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein expressed on a pulmonary cell line. Our work sets the stage for the development of CAR-like constructs against infectious agents that would not be affected by viral escape mutations and could be developed as soon as the receptor is identified.
A Momentum-Conserving Weakly Compressible Navier–Stokes Solver for Simulation of Violent Two-Phase Flows with High Density Ratio

A consistent and conservative formulation for mass and momentum transport is proposed in the context of simulating incompressible two-phase flows by using weakly compressible method. Combined with the evolving pressure projection method to prevent oscillation of the solution induced by the acoustic wave, this solver aims at a robust and accurate computation of violent two-phase flows with a high density ratio, while taking advantage of fully explicit time integration of the weakly compressible Navier–Stokes equations. Coupled with the volume of fluid method for capturing interfaces, the mass and momentum fluxes are evaluated in a consistent manner using the finite volume method. In addition, a special implementation of the pressure projection is devised to avoid velocity-pressure decoupling on a collocated grid. The solver's accuracy and stability are demonstrated through various two-phase flow simulations, including dam break and liquid jet atomization scenarios, emphasizing its momentum-conserving properties.
Laparoscopic anatomical segmentectomy: A paradigm shift towards minimally invasive liver surgery in Nepal: A cohort study

Introduction: Laparoscopic liver resection is taking stride in slowly replacing open surgeries for various hepatic pathologies in many developed countries. However, due to high cost and lack of expertise, there are only a handful of centres in the low-medium income countries who perform advanced laparoscopic liver resections regularly. In this study, a prospective analysis was carried out to assess and report the outcomes of laparoscopic anatomical segmentectomy (LAS) from a single centre in Nepal. Methods: The clinical data of all patients who underwent LAS between 1 October 2021 to 30 September 2022 were prospectively recorded. Demographics, pathological diagnoses, types of resections performed, perioperative parameters, postoperative length of stay, postoperative complications data and IWATE score were collected and analyzed. All operations were performed using the extrahepatic Glissonean technique with the use of indocyanine green dye as an adjunct during the intraoperative period. Results: In the study period, a total of 16 LAS were performed in our centre for various indications. The mean age of the patients in the series was 41.6 years, and seven of 16 patients were male. The majority of the cases were segment 2/3 resection indicated for various pathologies and segment 4b/5 indicated for carcinoma gallbladder. The median hospital stay was 6 days and only two cases developed major complication. There were no mortalities in our series. Conclusions: Taking into account the results produced from a single centre in a low-medium income country, laparoscopic anatomical segmentectomy is technically feasible with an acceptable safety profile.
Prenatal Exposure to Metabolism-Disrupting Chemicals, Cord Blood Transcriptome Perturbations, and Birth Weight in a Belgian Birth Cohort

Prenatal exposure to metabolism-disrupting chemicals (MDCs) has been linked to birth weight, but the molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated gene expressions and biological pathways underlying the associations between MDCs and birth weight, using microarray transcriptomics, in a Belgian birth cohort. Whole cord blood measurements of dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p’-DDE), polychlorinated biphenyls 153 (PCB-153), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), and transcriptome profiling were conducted in 192 mother–child pairs. A workflow including a transcriptome-wide association study, pathway enrichment analysis with a meet-in-the-middle approach, and mediation analysis was performed to characterize the biological pathways and intermediate gene expressions of the MDC–birth weight relationship. Among 26,170 transcriptomic features, we successfully annotated five overlapping metabolism-related gene expressions associated with both an MDC and birth weight, comprising BCAT2, IVD, SLC25a16, HAS3, and MBOAT2. We found 11 overlapping pathways, and they are mostly related to genetic information processing. We found no evidence of any significant mediating effect. In conclusion, this exploratory study provides insights into transcriptome perturbations that may be involved in MDC-induced altered birth weight.
A TECHNIQUE TO MEASURE CIRRUS CLOUD EFFECTIVE PARTICLE SIZE USING A HIGH SPECTRAL RESOLUTION LIDAR

High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) measurements of cirrus cloud extinction and multiple scattering are used to determine cloud effective particle size. Multiple scattering is significant in clouds because as the transmitted laser pulse travels through the cloud, half of the single scattered energy from the cloud particles is contained within the forward diffraction peak. This scattered energy propagates along with the transmitted beam and contributes to the lidar signal. The width of the diffraction peak can be determined from HSRL multiple scattering measurements, and since the diffraction peak width is proportional to the particle cross-sectional area, particle size information can be obtained. The multiple scattering contribution to the lidar signal depends on the transmitter divergence, receiver field-of-view, cloud extinction profile, effective particle size, and the scattering phase function in the backward direction. The HSRL transmitter divergence and receiver field-of-view are determined experimentally from system calibrations, and the extinction profile is provided from HSRL measurements. The effective particle size and backscatter phase function information are unknown parameters and in order to determine the effective particle size, backscatter phase function information must be provided. If the backscatter particles are molecules then the backscatter phase function information can be provided from Rayleigh scattering theory. Using the HSRL it is possible to only measure photons that have backscattered from molecules. An approximate analytic model is used to calculate the multiple scatter contribution using the HSRL-measured extinction profile for several effective particle sizes. The model results
The Impact of YouTube on Loneliness and Mental Health

There are positives and negatives of using YouTube in terms of loneliness and mental health. YouTube’s streaming content is an amazing resource, however, there may be bias or errors in its recommendation algorithms. Parasocial relationships can also complicate the impact of YouTube use. Intervention may be necessary when problematic and risky content is associated with unhealthy behaviors and negative impacts on mental health. Children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable. Although YouTube might assist in connecting with peers, there are privacy, safety, and quality issues to consider. This paper is an integrative review of the positive and negative impacts of YouTube with the aim to inform the design and development of a technology-based intervention to improve mental health. The impact of YouTube use on loneliness and mental health was explored by synthesizing a purposive selection (n = 32) of the empirical and theoretical literature. Next, we explored human–computer interaction issues and proposed a concept whereby an independent-of-YouTube algorithmic recommendation system steers users toward verified positive mental health content or promotions.
Visualization in pattern generalization: Potential and Challenges

This study tries to understand how pre-service teachers, for basic education, solve problems involving the generalization of visual patterns, identifying: the strategies used; the difficulties presented; the role of visualization in their reasoning; the factors that influence their generalizations. We followed a qualitative methodology. The participants were 80 pre-service teachers. During the classes of a Didactics of Mathematics unit course, they solved a sequence of tasks involving growing visual patterns. Results showed that students were able to use different strategies, but also that some dimensions of the tasks can have impact in their reasoning, provoking, sometimes, a shift on the strategies used and the emergence of difficulties of different kind.
Utilization of Circulating Tumor Cells in the Management of Solid Tumors

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are tumor cells shed from the primary tumor into circulation, with clusters of CTCs responsible for cancer metastases. CTC detection and isolation from the bloodstream are based on properties distinguishing CTCs from normal blood cells. Current CTC detection techniques can be divided into two main categories: label dependent, which depends upon antibodies that selectively bind cell surface antigens present on CTCs, or label-independent detection, which is detection based on the size, deformability, and biophysical properties of CTCs. CTCs may play significant roles in cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment navigation, including prognostication and precision medicine, and surveillance. In cancer screening, capturing and evaluating CTCs from peripheral blood could be a strategy to detect cancer at its earliest stage. Cancer diagnosis using liquid biopsy could also have tremendous benefits. Full utilization of CTCs in the clinical management of malignancies may be feasible in the near future; however, several challenges still exist. CTC assays currently lack adequate sensitivity, especially in early-stage solid malignancies, due to low numbers of detectable CTCs. As assays improve and more trials evaluate the clinical utility of CTC detection in guiding therapies, we anticipate increased use in cancer management.
Pituitary Tumorigenesis—Implications for Management

Pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs), the third most common intracranial tumor, are mostly benign. However, some of them may display a more aggressive behavior, invading into the surrounding structures. While they may rarely metastasize, they may resist different treatment modalities. Several major advances in molecular biology in the past few years led to the discovery of the possible mechanisms involved in pituitary tumorigenesis with a possible therapeutic implication. The mutations in the different proteins involved in the Gsa/protein kinase A/c AMP signaling pathway are well-known and are responsible for many PitNETS, such as somatotropinomas and, in the context of syndromes, as the McCune–Albright syndrome, Carney complex, familiar isolated pituitary adenoma (FIPA), and X-linked acrogigantism (XLAG). The other pathways involved are the MAPK/ERK, PI3K/Akt, Wnt, and the most recently studied HIPPO pathways. Moreover, the mutations in several other tumor suppressor genes, such as menin and CDKN1B, are responsible for the MEN1 and MEN4 syndromes and succinate dehydrogenase (SDHx) in the context of the 3PAs syndrome. Furthermore, the pituitary stem cells and miRNAs hold an essential role in pituitary tumorigenesis and may represent new molecular targets for their diagnosis and treatment. This review aims to summarize the different cell signaling pathways and genes involved in pituitary tumorigenesis in an attempt to clarify their implications for diagnosis and management.
Improving Non-Negative Positive-Unlabeled Learning for News Headline Classification

With the development of Internet technology, network platforms have gradually become a tool for people to obtain hot news. How to filter out the current hot news from a large number of news collections and push them to users has important application value. In supervised learning scenarios, each piece of news needs to be labeled manually, which takes a lot of time and effort. From the perspective of semi-supervised learning, on the basis of the non-negative Positive-Unlabeled (nnPU) learning, this paper proposes a novel algorithm, called ‘Enhanced nnPU with Focal Loss’ (FLPU), for news headline classification, which uses the Focal Loss to replace the way the classical nnPU calculates the empirical risk of positive and negative samples. Then, by introducing the Virtual Adversarial Training (VAT) of the Adversarial training for large neural LangUage Models (ALUM) into FLPU, another (and better) algorithm, called ‘FLPU+ALUM’, is proposed for the same purpose, aiming to label only a small number of positive samples. The superiority of both algorithms to the state-of-the-art PU algorithms considered is demonstrated by means of experiments, conducted on two datasets for performance comparison. Moreover, through another set of experiments, it is shown that, if enriched by the proposed algorithms, the RoBERTa-wwm-ext model can achieve better classification performance than the state-of-the-art binary classification models included in the comparison. In addition, a ‘Ratio Batch’ method is elaborated and proposed as more stable for use in scenarios involving only a small number of labeled positive samples, which is also experimentally demonstrated.