Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Weight loss as a predictor of poor prognosis in patients hospitalized for COVID-19

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between weight loss and markers of poor prognosis in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the state of Pernambuco. Methods: A multicenter, cross-sectional study coupled with prospective analysis variables involving 71 individuals with COVID-19 admitted for hospitalization in 8 public hospitals in Recife, in the State of Pernambuco. Individuals of both sexes, aged ≥ 20 years, hospitalized from June 2020 to June 2021 were included. Sociodemographic, clinical, and nutritional data and prognostic markers were collected. Results: The average age was 54.6±15.6 years, with 54.9% of individuals being male. It was found that 26.8% of the patients were diabetic and 52.1% were hypertensive. The anthropometric profile indicated that 56.3% were overweight and 5.6% were underweight. Positive screening for sarcopenia was observed in 16.9%. The median weight loss was 3.1% (0.0-6.6%), with a loss > 5% evident in 29.6% of the sample. It was found that weight loss was more frequent in men (16 (41.0%) vs. 5 (15.6%); p = 0.020) and that demographic, clinical, and nutritional variables were not associated with body weight loss. There was no statistical association between weight loss and prognostic variables (p NS). Conclusion: Although the study did not demonstrate an association between weight loss and prognostic variables, this should be considered when assessing patients with COVID-19 and should be investigated and treated as an essential health promotion measure.
Social Differentiation in Cameroon English: Evidence from Sociolinguistic Fieldwork

Social Differentiation in Cameroon English investigates the correlation between some extra-linguistic variables (gender, age, level of education, ethnicity, regionality, occupation, and mood) and phonological variables in a New English setting that is sociolinguistically and culturally different from most Western contexts. The investigation reveals that the type of correlation patterns between linguistic and sociolinguistic variables reported in the Western world are lacking in Cameroon because of contextual factors and the fact that English Language Teaching (ELT) goals in Cameroon continue to be based on Inner Circle English norms. It is therefore predicted that if mainstream Cameroon English is promoted and standardized and Cameroonian speakers of English are evaluated in terms of their knowledge of Cameroon Standard English, some of the correlation patterns reported in the Western world can equally be observable in Cameroon.
Match or Mismatch? Differentiation Strategies Preferred by Students and Applied by Teachers

Catering to the needs of students through Differentiated Instruction (DI) has been an approach chosen instead of the one-size-fits-all methodology when each student’s needs are of concern. Although DI aligned classroom instruction gives students much room to discover learning and new ideas, there are many instances and factors to be considered in ensuring efficiency of the implementation. One of the crucial factors is the students’ preferences in learning and teaching strategies. In consideration of this and though mixed method research design, the study aims to discover if the differentiation strategies employed by teachers and preferred by their students match. 288 students and 10 teachers of rural and urban schools in the southern-most state of Malaysia were selected as participants of this study. The outcome of the mixed method approach through questionnaires and interviews will furnish teachers with a thorough and extensive feedback from students which will act as a source for reflection and modification to warrant a more efficacious teaching and learning experience for themselves and their students.
A Comparative Evaluation of the Effects of N95 and Surgical Facemasks on Pregnant Women Performing Moderate-Intensity Exercise: A Prospective Randomized Study

Background and objective A facemask is often indicated for the control of the spread of airborne pathogens. At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was mass enforcement of mask use across the globe. Pregnant women were not excluded. While several studies have been conducted to evaluate and compare the efficacy of various mask types, data on their effects on pregnant women during exercise are scarce. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the effects of N95 and surgical facemasks on the cardiopulmonary functions of pregnant women during moderate-intensity exercise. Methods A prospective randomized study was conducted among 104 healthy women with advanced singleton pregnancies performing moderate-intensity exercise wearing either surgical or N95 masks during routine antenatal care. Their respiratory rates were counted, and arterial oxygen saturation (SPO2) and radial pulses (heart rates) were recorded with a mobile digital pulse oximeter at baseline and after 30 minutes of exercise. The mean values were calculated. Data analysis was done using Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS, version 25; IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Armonk, NY). An independent t-test was used to compare the mean SPO2 and radial pulse between the two groups. Chi-square was used to examine differences in categorical variables. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Results Their demographic profiles and measured baseline parameters were comparable. Following a 30-minute exercise, the N95 mask group had lower mean SPO2 compared to the surgical mask group (95.5% versus 97.0%; P=0.028, 95%CI; -2.607 to 0.15). Further, the N95 group recorded a higher mean heart rate than the surgical mask group ((97.23 b/m versus 95.02b/m, respectively, mean difference (MD)=2.212, P=0.021, 95%Cl: 1.249-3.672). The mean respiratory rates were also higher among women in the N95 mask group (32.1 c/m versus 29.08 c/m, MD=3.018, 95%CI: 1.392-4.662, P=0.001). Conclusion The study, comparing the relative effects of the surgical and N95 facemask on the cardiorespiratory functions of exercising pregnant women, findings suggest that surgical facemasks may be better tolerated in advanced pregnancy when performing routine antenatal aerobic exercise in comparison with N95 masks.
Ecologies of integrated modeling: configuring policy-relevance in Swedish climate governance

Due to the long timescales and deep uncertainties involved, comprehensive model-building has played a pivotal role in creating shared expectations about future trajectories for addressing climate change processes, mobilizing a network of knowledge-based experts who assist in defining common problems, identifying policy solutions, and assessing the policy outcomes. At the intersection between climate change science and climate governance, where wholly empirical methods are infeasible, numerical simulations have become the central practice for evaluating truth claims, and the key medium for the transport and translation of data, methods, and guiding principles among the actors involved. What makes integrated assessment unique as a comprehensive modeling-effort is that it is explicitly policy-oriented, justified by its policy-relevance. Although recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as invaluable to their review assessments, the role of integrated modeling in implementations of the Paris Agreement, such as in impact assessments of climate legislation on the national level, is far less known. Taking as its starting-point the boundary-work carried out in public administration, this paper examines how foresight knowledge produced with the help of model-based scenario analysis has been made relevant in Swedish climate policymaking, focusing on the processes by which key indicators for political action become institutionalized through the choice and use of model parameters. It concludes by arguing for an expanded understanding of policy-relevance, beyond institutional approaches and toward a process-based point of view, treating relevance as something in-the-making.
ON WAVE TRANSMISSION AT SUBMERGED RUBBLE-MOUND BREAKWATERS WITH LARGE TIDAL RANGE

The present paper provides the results of an experimental and numerical investigation on a submerged rubble-mound breakwater with the aim to study its performance in terms of wave transmission in condition of large tidal range. The experimental investigation has been conducted at the EUMER laboratory of the University of Salento. In the 2D wave flume, a small-scale physical model of a submerged breakwater has been constructed and exposed to different wave conditions and water levels. The experimental observations have been used to calibrate the numerical model CSHORE and to investigate the fraction of the different energy dissipative contributions due to wave breaking, to bottom friction and to porous mound. Additional tests have been numerically conducted to cover a wider range of wave conditions and water levels, allowing to better evaluate the behavior of the submerged rubble-mound breakwater in condition of large tidal range.
Effects of minimum tillage practices and crop residue retention on soil properties and crop yields under a rice-based cropping System

Average cropping intensity is 191% in Bangladesh but cropping patterns are mainly rice-based (BBS, 2012). Depletion of soil organic matter as well as other plant nutrients is one of the most serious threats to the sustainability of agriculture in Bangladesh (Rijpma and Jahiruddin, 2004). Hence, conservation agriculture (CA) practices such as minimal soil disturbance, crop residue retention with suitable crop rotations could be a good option for Bangladesh. However, the effects of CA practices in intensive rice-based rotations on soil properties along with crop yields have not been adequately assessed in Bangladesh. The present study was undertaken to determine the effects of minimum tillage practices and crop residue retention on soil properties and crop yields under a rice-based cropping system.
Physical Processes in a Fore-Reef Shelf Environment.

Abstract : Wave and current measurements were made across a rough-bottomed fore-reef shelf along the south coast of Grand Cayman Island. Wave heights attenuated 20% and current speeds 30% from the shelf margin (approx 22-meter depth) to a depth of approximately 8 meters, a distance of approx 0.4 km. Strong, rectilinear tidal currents dominated the deep shelf margin, but weak, directionally variable currents were characteristic of the shallow shelf. Attenuation of wave heights and current speeds across the shelf is attributed to frictional effects resulting from strong interactions with the unique boundary conditions of the extremely rough bottom. A dye experiment illustrated that strong on-shelf flow is directed up the deep coral reef grooves at the shelf margin. Wave force-dominated versus current force-dominated portions of the fore-reef shelf were defined from in situ measurements. Variations in organic communities, growth forms, and reef structure are consistent with these zones.
An Insight to Attitudes and Challenges in Oral Presentations Among University Students

Oral presentation skills are often seen as important skills that university students need to possess once graduated. However, face to face oral presentation is still seen as one of the biggest challenges a student face as they often experience nervousness and shyness, give no eye contact, do not address the audience, and many more. With this in view, more research evidence is needed to understand students’ attitude towards oral presentation, oral presentation courses and the difficulties that students’ face when presenting. Hence, this study has two aims. The first is to investigate students’ attitude towards oral presentations skills and oral presentation courses. Secondly, this study aims to find out the difficulty that students face when giving oral presentations. A quantitative analysis was carried out to analyze the data. The data was collected among 145 university students from an oral presentation course in a selected university. The data obtained was analyzed for mean and percentages using the SPSS version 26. This study found that though students are aware on the importance of oral presentation skills, many are still facing challenges when doing it. Results yielded from four aspects which are from the general presentations challenges, linguistic, background knowledge, and psychological challenges. It is hoped that this study will help to contribute to the understanding of oral presentations among university students.
Measurement and evaluation of the coupling degree between National Fitness and National Health in the Yangtze River Economic Belt region of China

Clarifying the integrated development mechanism of the National Fitness Program and National Health Program has positive and practical significance for the efficient implementation of the healthy China strategy. In order to analyze and study the integrated development mechanism of the National Fitness Program and National Health Program, we established a coupling-coordination measurement model. Based on two dimensions of space and time, we first analyzed the coupling degree between National Fitness System and National Health System in the Yangtze River Economic Belt region of China from 2016 to 2020, and studied and analyzed the coupling mechanism between the two. The research results show that the National Fitness Program and National Health Program have a development model of mutual promotion and mutual benefit. The National Fitness Program promotes the National Health Program by improving the fitness environment, increasing fitness participation, and health investment. The National Health Program optimizes environmental construction, health education, and healthy populations, thereby driving national fitness. Overall, there is stable development and balanced promotion in the integration of the National Fitness Program and National Health Program. In addition, the integrated development of the National Fitness Program and National Health Program is positively affected by economic level and regional marketization. The coupling- coordination model adopted in this study has practical value in measuring the coupling degree between the National Fitness System and National Health System. The results of this study also provide an important reference basis for the integrated and coordinated development of the National Fitness Program and National Health Program and the implementation of the Healthy China strategy.
Response Surface Methodology Application for Bacteriophage–Antibiotic Antibiofilm Activity Optimization

Phage–antibiotic combination-based protocols are presently under heightened investigation. This paradigm extends to engagements with bacterial biofilms, necessitating novel computational approaches to comprehensively characterize and optimize the outcomes achievable via these combinations. This study aimed to explore the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) in optimizing the antibiofilm activity of bacteriophage–antibiotic combinations. We employ a combination of antibiotics (gentamicin, meropenem, amikacin, ceftazidime, fosfomycin, imipenem, and colistin) alongside the bacteriophage vB_AbaP_AGC01 to combat Acinetobacter baumannii biofilm. Based on the conducted biofilm challenge assays analyzed using the RSM, the optimal points of antibiofilm activity efficacy were effectively selected by applying this methodology, enabling the quantifiable mathematical representations. Subsequent optimization showed the synergistic potential of the anti-biofilm that arises when antibiotics are judiciously combined with the AGC01 bacteriophage, reducing biofilm biomass by up to 80% depending on the antibiotic used. The data suggest that the phage–imipenem combination demonstrates the highest efficacy, with an 88.74% reduction. Notably, the lower concentrations characterized by a high maximum reduction in biofilm biomass were observed in the phage–amikacin combination at cA = 0.00195 and cP = 0.38 as the option that required minimum resources. It is worth noting that only gentamicin antagonism between the phage and the antibiotic was detected.
Deep Hough Voting for 3D Object Detection in Point Clouds

Current 3D object detection methods are heavily influenced by 2D detectors. In order to leverage architectures in 2D detectors, they often convert 3D point clouds to regular grids (i.e., to voxel grids or to bird's eye view images), or rely on detection in 2D images to propose 3D boxes. Few works have attempted to directly detect objects in point clouds. In this work, we return to first principles to construct a 3D detection pipeline for point cloud data and as generic as possible. However, due to the sparse nature of the data -- samples from 2D manifolds in 3D space -- we face a major challenge when directly predicting bounding box parameters from scene points: a 3D object centroid can be far from any surface point thus hard to regress accurately in one step. To address the challenge, we propose VoteNet, an end-to-end 3D object detection network based on a synergy of deep point set networks and Hough voting. Our model achieves state-of-the-art 3D detection on two large datasets of real 3D scans, ScanNet and SUN RGB-D with a simple design, compact model size and high efficiency. Remarkably, VoteNet outperforms previous methods by using purely geometric information without relying on color images.
β-Aminoisobutyric Acid Relates to Favorable Glucose Metabolism through Adiponectin in Adults with Obesity Independent of Prediabetes

β-Aminoisobutyric acid (BAIBA) is secreted by skeletal muscle and promotes insulin sensitivity, fat oxidation, and anti-inflammation. While BAIBA is purportedly lower in individuals with obesity, no work has examined if prediabetes (PD) differentially impacts BAIBA concentrations in people with obesity. Methods. Adults were classified as normal glucose tolerant (NGT; n = 22 (20F); 48.0 ± 2.4 yrs; 36.9 ± 1.2 kg/m2) or PD (n = 23 (18F); 54.2 ± 1.6 yrs; 38.4 ± 1.2 kg/m2) based on ADA criteria. A 180-minute 75 g OGTT was used to estimate fasting (HOMA-IR (liver)) and postprandial (Matsuda index (muscle)) insulin sensitivity as well as β-cell function (disposition index (DI), glucose-stimulated insulin secretion adjusted for insulin sensitivity). Body composition and fasting measures of BAIBA, fat oxidation (indirect calorimetry), and adipokines were determined. Results. NGT and PD had similar BAIBA concentrations (1.4 ± 0.1 vs. 1.2 ± 0.1 μM, P = 0.23) and fat oxidation (P = 0.31), despite NGT having lower fasting (92.2 ± 1.2 vs. 104.1 ± 3.2 mg/dL, P = 0.002) and tAUC180min glucose (P < 0.001) compared to PD. Moreover, NGT had higher postprandial insulin sensitivity (P = 0.01) and higher total phase DIliver (P = 0.003) and DImuscle (P = 0.001). Increased BAIBA was associated with adiponectin (r = 0.37, P = 0.02), adiponectin/leptin ratio (r = 0.39, P = 0.01), and lower glucose and insulin at 180 minutes (r = −0.31, P = 0.03 and r = −0.39, P = 0.03, respectively). Adiponectin also correlated with lower glucose at 180 minutes (r = −0.45, P = 0.005), and mediation analysis showed that BAIBA was no longer a significant predictor of glucose at 180 minutes after controlling for adiponectin (P = 0.08). Conclusion. While BAIBA did not differ between NGT and PD, higher BAIBA is related to favorable glucose metabolism, possibly through an adiponectin-related mechanism. Additional work is required to understand how exercise and/or diet impact BAIBA in relation to type 2 diabetes risk.
Assessing the ecological significance of linkage and connectivity for avian populations in urban areas

As urbanisation continues to fragment and degrade habitats there is a need to ensure that cities are managed to sustain ecosystem function and high biodiversity. Ecological theories suggest that areas with higher levels of functional connectivity sustain a more diverse avian population. By identifying the key habitat features that dictate the distribution and abundance of avian populations it is possible to inform planning policy to maximise biodiversity. Bird species presence and abundance across an urban gradient in Birmingham (UK) was surveyed at 70 sites over three sampling periods (between 2009 and 2010), in combination with a tree survey and digital analysis of land use. Functional connectivity was shown to increase the abundance of bird species and to ameliorate the impacts of urban development. Bird species were found to vary with their associations with vegetation structure and a proxy for invertebrate productivity. There was clear evidence for increasing native tree species in the urban matrix to support more bird species. Ringing data collected between 2008 and 2011 were used to examine bird movements through the city and the influence of habitat factors such as connectivity and built space in the matrix. Bird movements between ringing sites demonstrated the permeability of the city and the importance of connectivity in the landscape. This work showed that the composition of the matrix influences bird occupancy and turnover of sites. The novel findings presented in this thesis on the influence of the urban landscape on urban avian ecology should make an important contribution to urban conservation methods.
Lung ultrasound supports clinical evaluation of feeding competence development in preterm neonates

Introduction The achievement of alimentary competencies is a milestone in the development of preterm neonates. Ten percent of neonates <37 weeks of gestational age and 25% of those VLBW experience swallowing disorders, with an increased risk of problems in the early phase of life (failure to thrive, growth retardation, inhalation, and consequent risk of pulmonary infection) and later in life due to delayed development of oromotor skills. The main diagnostic tools for swallowing disorders are endoscopic (fiber-optic endoscopic examination of swallowing, FEES) or radiographic (videofluoroscopic swallowing study, VFSS) exams. Given the invasiveness of these methods and the bias due to rheologic differences between bolus and contrast medium, FEES and VFSS are poorly reproducible. Moreover, neither of the technique is capable of detecting post-meal inhalations, especially microinhalations or those consequent to a whole meal rather than to a single swallowing. Lung ultrasound (LUS) is a widespread, repeatable, safe, fast point-of-care tool and we reported previous encouraging results in detecting silent and overt inhalation related to the meal in children with dysphagia/gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) risk factors. Methods We report a pilot study, that investigated LUS approach (performing imaging before and after meals) to assess feeding competence development in a cohort of n. 19 newborns <32 weeks of age. Results Meal monitoring by LUS did not show any significant difference in scoring before/after eating. The achievement of full enteral feeding correlates with GA at birth (p < 0.001) but not with LUS scoring. The introduction of the first meal by bottle correlates both with gestational age (p < 0.001) and ultrasound scores (p = 0.004). LUS score at 7 days of life resulted predictive for length of invasive/non-invasive respiratory support (p = 0.002) and length of oxygen supply (p = 0.001), while LUS score at 48 h of life did not (p n.s.). Discussion Our study suggests that the development of oral feeding skills is not strictly dependent on gestational age. Moreover, our research suggests the predominant role of LUS in predicting the time of readiness to oral feeding, as the LUS score can be a marker of respiratory and lung wellness, and consequently a predictor of neonate stability during deglutitory apnea.