Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Zinc Supplementation on the Incidence of Mortality in Preschool Children: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background Previous trials have shown that zinc supplementation can decrease the risk of diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria in children; however, the effects of zinc supplementation on mortality remain unclear. This study aimed at evaluating the benefits and risks of zinc supplementation on both total mortality and cause-specific mortality. Methodology and Principal Findings We searched PubMed, EmBase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to identify randomized controlled trials in preschool children reporting total mortality or cause-specific mortality. Relative risk (RR) was used as a measure of the effect of zinc supplementation on the risk of mortality using a random effect model. Of the 1,520 identified articles, we included 8 trials reporting data on 87,854 children. Overall, zinc supplementation had no effect on total mortality (RR, 0.76; 95% CI: 0.56–1.04; P = 0.084), diarrhea-related mortality (RR, 0.80; 95% CI: 0.53–1.20; P = 0.276), pneumonia-related mortality (RR, 0.52; 95% CI: 0.11–2.39; P = 0.399), malaria-related mortality (RR, 0.90; 95% CI: 0.77–1.06; P = 0.196), or other causes of mortality (RR, 0.98; 95% CI: 0.67–1.44; P = 0.917). Subgroup analysis indicated that zinc supplementation was associated with a reduction in total mortality risk if the participants were boys, aged greater than 12 months, and the duration of the follow-up period was less than 12 months. Conclusions/Significance Zinc supplementation does not have an effect on total mortality, diarrhea-related mortality, pneumonia-related mortality, malaria-related mortality, or other causes of mortality. Subgroup analysis suggested that zinc supplementation can effectively reduce the risk of total mortality if the participants were boys, aged greater than 12 months, and the duration of the follow-up period was less than 12 months.
Natural Transformation in Vibrio parahaemolyticus: a Rapid Method To Create Genetic Deletions

Spreading of vibrios throughout the world correlates with increased global temperatures. As they spread, they find new niches in which to survive, proliferate, and invade. Therefore, genetic manipulation of vibrios is of the utmost importance for studying these species. Here, we have delineated and validated a rapid method to create genetic deletions in Vibrio parahaemolyticus. This study provides insightful methodology for studies with other Vibrio species. ABSTRACT The Gram-negative bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus is an opportunistic human pathogen and the leading cause of seafood-borne acute gastroenteritis worldwide. Recently, this bacterium was implicated as the etiologic agent of a severe shrimp disease with consequent devastating outcomes to shrimp farming. In both cases, acquisition of genetic material via horizontal transfer provided V. parahaemolyticus with new virulence tools to cause disease. Dissecting the molecular mechanisms of V. parahaemolyticus pathogenesis often requires manipulating its genome. Classically, genetic deletions in V. parahaemolyticus are performed using a laborious, lengthy, multistep process. Here, we describe a fast and efficient method to edit this bacterium's genome based on V. parahaemolyticus natural competence. Although this method is similar to one previously described, V. parahaemolyticus requires counterselection for curing of acquired plasmids due to its recalcitrant nature of retaining extrachromosomal DNA. We believe this approach will be of use to the Vibrio community. IMPORTANCE Spreading of vibrios throughout the world correlates with increased global temperatures. As they spread, they find new niches in which to survive, proliferate, and invade. Therefore, genetic manipulation of vibrios is of the utmost importance for studying these species. Here, we have delineated and validated a rapid method to create genetic deletions in Vibrio parahaemolyticus. This study provides insightful methodology for studies with other Vibrio species.
Self-Controlled Jamming Resilient Design Using Physical Layer Secret Keys

Direct-sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) has been recognized as an effective jamming resilient technique. However, the effectiveness of DSSS relies on the use of either pre-shared unique secret keys or a bank of public codes, which can be prohibitively expensive in future large-scale decentralized wireless networks, e.g., the Internet of Things. To tackle this problem, in this work we develop a new framework for self-controlled physical-layer-security-based spreading sequence generation. Specifically, we exploit the shared randomness inherent in wireless channels to generate and refresh secret seeds at each communicating node using shared randomness extraction, entropy pooling and random seed generation. The generated secret seeds are then utilized to perform DSSS. To evaluate the performance, we implement our framework on software defined radio platform and examine the successful transmission probability of the system under various models of broadband jamming along with an special case wherein adversary is assumed to have leaked information on key rate. Both our analysis and real-world measurements confirm that communication systems based on our framework can achieve jamming-resilient communications without requiring pre-shared sequences.
Diagnosis of dementia by medical practitioners: a national study among older adults in Singapore

Objectives: Dementia is inevitably associated with an ageing population which has tremendous public health, social and economic implications. Yet the extant evidence suggests that the diagnosis of dementia in general is neither timely nor accurate. The aim of this present study was to establish the prevalence of dementia as diagnosed by medical practitioners in Singapore and its associated factors. Method: The analysis is based on a national epidemiological study of older adults in Singapore which had established the prevalence of dementia using the 10/66 protocol. It was a community based survey, and face-to-face interviews were conducted with 2565 respondents (a response rate of 66%) and 2421 informants. Results: In all, 3% of the respondents were diagnosed by a medical practitioner to have dementia of which 11.5% were diagnosed by general practitioners. Only 30.3% were prescribed medications specifically for dementia. Those with comorbid depression were more likely to be diagnosed to have dementia. Conclusion: The apparent low rate of diagnosis by medical practitioners is in line with studies done in the West. There is a need to elucidate the reasons underlying this under-diagnosis in order to better address this gap.
Does sleep bruxism affect masticatory muscles volume and occlusal force distribution in young subjects? A preliminary study

Abstract Objective To compare the differences in masticatory muscle volume and occlusal force distribution between patients with sleep bruxism (SB) and healthy individuals. Methods The study was performed on 14 SB patients and 12 controls aged between 20 and 27 years. Magnetic resonance images from a previous clinical trial were used for volumetric measurements of masticatory muscles. Distribution of bite forces was recorded using T-Scan® II. T-tests were used for data comparison. Results The mean age of the subjects was 23 ± 1.85 years. The mean muscle volumes of patients with SB and healthy subjects were 177.3 and 185.9 cm3, respectively. The mean occlusal force areas were 72.4 pixels and 89.8 pixels for patients with SB and healthy subjects, respectively. There was no significant difference in measurements between groups (p > 0.05). Conclusion There was no significant difference in the distribution of masticatory muscles and occlusal force between young patients with SB and healthy subjects.
An Examination of Students ’ Motivation in Engineering Service Courses

To increase the number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates, educators need to identify ways to increase student persistence from entry until graduation. The objectives of this study are to determine (1) if motivation affects learning outcomes in engineering service courses and (2) whether students’ level of motivation tracks with specific engineering disciplines. Students enrolled in a sophomorelevel engineering service course were surveyed to examine their motivation in engineering service courses and to assess the relationship between their motivation and their achievement and desire to persist in the engineering discipline. The survey measures for self-efficacy, task value, and achievement goals in engineering were created and evaluated during an initial pilot study. Initial results showed internal consistency among the items in each measure. Keywords—student motivation; self-efficacy; task value; achievement goal; academic achievement; intentions to persist; engineering service course
Maternal-fetal acute responses to two moderate-intensity exercise types: a randomized clinical trial

Objective: This study aims to compare maternal and fetal responses during two physical exercise types. Design: A randomized clinical trial compared 120 pregnant women, gestational age of 35-37 weeks, 56 exercising on a stationary bicycle (Group A) and 64 on a treadmill (Group B). Methods: Participants were monitored for three 20-minute phases: resting, exercise and recovery. Fetal heart rate (FHR) and maternal heart rate (MHR) were monitored. Glucose and lactate levels were evaluated at rest and during exercise. Results: After the beginning of exercise, maximum lactate (L) levels were reached at 20 minutes and never exceeded 4 mmol/l. FHR decreased by 22 bpm during exercise in relation to resting values, irrespective of the exercise type (p 0.05), increasing at 20’ to 32% and 40.6%, respectively, (p>0.05). The FHR decrease during exercise was accompanied by a simultaneous increase in its variability (p<0.001), nevertheless a rapid return to resting values was observed shortly after exercise end. Glucose decreased in both groups irrespective of the exercise type (85 mg/dl at rest; 79 mg/dl during exercise and 81 mg/dl during recovery; p<0.001). There were no hypoglycemia cases. Conclusions: FHR variability increase and the rapid return to resting values after exercise suggests that the FHR fall and the presence of bradycardia during exercise is the fetal physiologic response to blood flow redistribution, with maintenance of fetal well-being. Key-words: Exercise; fetal heart rate; glucose; maternal heart rate; pregnancy Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, www.clinicaltrials. gov, NCT01383889.
Pain as a risk factor for common mental disorders. Results from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study-2: a longitudinal, population-based study

Abstract Pain might be an important risk factor for common mental disorders. Insight into the longitudinal association between pain and common mental disorders in the general adult population could help improve prevention and treatment strategies. Data were used from the first 2 waves of the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study-2, a psychiatric epidemiological cohort study among the Dutch general population aged 18 to 64 years at baseline (N = 5303). Persons without a mental disorder 12 months before baseline were selected as the at-risk group (n = 4974 for any mood disorder; n = 4979 for any anxiety disorder; and n = 5073 for any substance use disorder). Pain severity and interference due to pain in the past month were measured at baseline using the Short Form Health Survey. DSM-IV mental disorders were assessed at both waves using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview version 3.0. Moderate to very severe pain was associated with a higher risk of mood (odds ratio [OR] = 2.10, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.33-3.29) or anxiety disorders (OR = 2.12, 95% CI = 1.27-3.55). Moderate to very severe interference due to pain was also associated with a higher risk of mood (OR = 2.14, 95% CI = 1.30-3.54) or anxiety disorders (OR = 1.92, 95% CI = 1.05-3.52). Pain was not significantly associated with substance use disorders. No interaction effects were found between pain severity or interference due to pain and a previous history of mental disorders. Moderate to severe pain and interference due to pain are strong risk factors for first-incident or recurrent mood and anxiety disorders, independent of other mental disorders. Pain management programs could therefore possibly also serve as a preventative program for mental disorders.
An Improved Suite of Object Oriented Software Measures

In the pursuit of ever increasing productivity, the need to be able to measure specific aspects of software is generally agreed upon. As object oriented programming languages are becoming more and more widely used, metrics are required that are specifically designed for object oriented software. In recent years there has been an explosion of new, object oriented software metrics proposed in the literature. Unfortunately, many or most of the proposed metrics have not been sufficiently validated to measure what they claim to measure. An analysis of some of these metrics shows that they do not always satisfy basic properties of measurement theory. In this paper ten new metrics are proposed and analyzed using measurement theory
Simultaneous Sensing Matrix and Sparsifying Dictionary Optimization for Block-sparse Compressive Sensing

In this paper, we propose a new method to optimize the sensing matrix and the overcomplete dictionary simultaneously in a block-sparse system. This method mainly includes two parts: the optimization of the sensing matrix for a given dictionary and the optimization of the overcomplete dictionary with a block structure for a predefined sensing matrix. Simulation results show that our novel method can significantly improve the dictionary recovery ability and lower the representation error compared with other dictionary learning methods in block-sparse systems.
Anticipating Critical Transitions

All Change Research on early warning signals for critical transitions in complex systems such as ecosystems, climate, and global finance systems recently has been gathering pace. At the same time, studies on complex networks are starting to reveal which architecture may cause systems to be vulnerable to systemic collapse. Scheffer et al. (p. 344) review how previously isolated lines of work can be connected, conclude that many critical transitions (such as escape from the poverty trap) can have positive outcomes, and highlight how the new approaches to sensing fragility can help to detect both risks and opportunities for desired change. Tipping points in complex systems may imply risks of unwanted collapse, but also opportunities for positive change. Our capacity to navigate such risks and opportunities can be boosted by combining emerging insights from two unconnected fields of research. One line of work is revealing fundamental architectural features that may cause ecological networks, financial markets, and other complex systems to have tipping points. Another field of research is uncovering generic empirical indicators of the proximity to such critical thresholds. Although sudden shifts in complex systems will inevitably continue to surprise us, work at the crossroads of these emerging fields offers new approaches for anticipating critical transitions.
DPFEE: A High Performance Scalable Pre-Processor for Network Security Systems

Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) and Anti-Denial-of-Service (DoS) employ Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) which provides visibility to the content of payload to detect network attacks. All DPI engines assume a pre-processing step that extracts the various protocol-specific fields. However, application layer (L7) field extraction is computationally expensive. We propose a novel Deep Packet Field Extraction Engine (DPFEE) for application layer field extraction to hardware. DPFEE is a content-aware, grammar-based, Layer 7 programmable field extraction engine for text-based protocols. Our prototype DPFEE implementation for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and HTTP protocol on a single FPGA, achieves a bandwidth of 408.5 Gbps and this can be scaled beyond 500 Gbps. Single DPFEE exhibits a speedup of 24X-89X against widely used preprocessors. Even against 12 multi-instances of a preprocessor, single DPFEE demonstrated a speedup of 4.7-7.4X. Single DPFEE achieved 3.14X higher bandwidth, 1020X lower latency, and 106X lower power consumption, when compared with 200 parallel streams of GPU accelerated preprocessor.
Dynamic signature verification with template protection using helper data

A biometric template protection system for dynamic signature verification is presented. The approach uses auxiliary (helper) data that allows the matching with secure templates but do not provide information to a potential attacker. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated using the MCYT signature database comprising 330 users, with 25 genuine signatures and 25 skilled forgeries per user. The results show similar performance compared to the baseline unprotected system. However, the security of the proposed system against attacks to the template database is significantly higher.
Symptom Frequencies and Intensities in Hospitalized Patients With Advanced Cancer Having Depressive Disorder

Aim: To explore the frequencies and intensities of depressive symptoms associated with hospitalized patients with advanced cancer. Methods: A total of 196 hospitalized patients with advanced cancer were surveyed with the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). The χ2 test and Wilcoxon rank-sum test were used to compare the frequency and intensity of symptoms between patients with and without depressive disorders. Spearman rank correlation was used to test the correlation between depression and symptoms. Results: Of the 196 enrolled patients, 115 (59%) were males. The median age of the patients was 58 (19-80) years. Seventy-six (39%) patients were diagnosed with depression (SDS ≥ 53). Patients with depressive disorders exhibited pain, drowsiness, and nausea along with a higher frequency and intensity of poor self-perception, appetite loss, anxiety, dyspnea, and fatigue. Depressive symptoms were positively correlated with the symptoms. Conclusion: Depressive disorders are very common and severe in hospitalized patients with advanced cancer. Identifying the frequencies and intensities of the symptoms enables early intervention to improve patients’ quality of life.
Forgiveness as a Mediator of the Intergenerational Transmission of Violence

Bowen Family Systems Theory and Social Learning Theory served as a framework for examining the potential role of offspring maternal forgiveness in the intergenerational transmission (IGT) of violence. Using 285 emerging adults, we tested the hypotheses that higher accounts of witnessed interpersonal violence perpetrated by either parent would relate to increased reports of dating violence, and that offspring’s capacity to forgive mothers for current transgressions would mediate this relationship. Witnessing interpersonal violence perpetrated by either parent significantly related to offspring dating violence perpetration and victimization. In addition, witnessing violence perpetrated by either parent significantly related to offspring dating violence perpetration, via offspring’s capacity to forgive. Contrary to expectation, offspring’s capacity to forgive mothers did not mediate the link between father-perpetrated violence and dating violence victimization; however, it did serve as mediator in the association between mother-perpetrated violence and offspring dating violence victimization. Overall, the findings suggest that witnessing violence perpetrated by either parent explains a portion of the variance in offspring dating violence indirectly through offspring’s capacity to forgive mothers for current transgressions. The present study contributes to previous research on the IGT of violence by identifying forgiveness as a mechanism in which intimate partner violence is transmitted generationally. Implications and future directions are discussed for researchers and clinicians.
Hyperleptinemia Exacerbates High‐Fat Diet‐Mediated Atrial Fibrosis and Fibrillation

Obesity including metabolic syndrome is an independent risk factor of atrial fibrillation (AF). Although hyperleptinemia is usually a characteristic of obese subjects, the relationship with atrial fibrosis and AF is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that high‐fat diet (HFD)‐induced hyperleptinemia exacerbates atrial fibrosis and AF.
Hydrodynamic and scale-up studies of spouted beds

The scaling relationships proposed by Glicksman (1984) for fluidized bed scale-up have been modified to provide a full set of scaling parameters for spouted bed scale-up. A force balance for particles in the annulus region leads to addition of two non-dimensional parameters, the internal friction angle (<p) and the loose packed voidage (s0) to the original Glicksman scaling relationships. Experimental verification of the full set of modified scaling parameters was conducted, first in a series of small spouted beds, then in larger columns up to 0.914 m in diameter, and finally in a pair of high temperature (500 °C) beds. Both viscous and inertial forces were important for the conditions investigated so that no simplifications could be made to the full set of scaling parameters. It is -demonstrated that the full set of modified scaling parameters is valid for spouted beds when all dimensionless parameters are matched between the prototype and model beds. A fibre optic probe was used to measure voidage profiles in spouted beds of diameter 0.152 m. The voidage in most of the annulus was found to be somewhat higher than the loose-packed voidage and increased with increasing spouting gas flow rate, contrary to usual assumptions. The voidage decreased with height in the core of the fountain for low spouting gas flow rates, but first increased with height and then decreased towards the top of the fountain at higher gas flow rates. Radial profiles of local voidage were roughly parabolic in the lower portion of the spout and blunt in the upper portion. The same fiber optic probe was also used to measure spout diameters based on significantly higher counts of output electric pulses in the spout region than in the annulus. The flat wall of semi-cylindrical spouted bed columns was found to cause considerable distortion of spout shapes which became approximately semi-elliptical. The often-used McNab (1972) equation was found to underestimate the spout diameters in a full-column, with an average deviation of 35.5%. A second fibre optic probe system was used to measure profiles of vertical particle velocities in the spout and fountain regions. In addition, a fibre optic image probe was employed to measure particle velocity profiles in the annulus. In the spout, radial profiles