Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A tendency to worse course of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children with obesity: MultiOrgan Inflammatory Syndromes COVID-19 related study

Background A new disease entity called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a rare consequence of COVID-19 infection. The pathophysiology and risk factors of MIS-C are still unclear, and the clinical manifestation ranges from milder forms to cases needing intensive care unit treatment. Based on available data, obesity is linked to pro-inflammatory stimulation. Moreover, several studies showed that obesity could play a role in COVID-19 severity and its comorbidities among the adult and children’s populations. This study aimed to investigate the influence of overweightedness/obesity in childhood for the course of MIS-C in Poland. Methods This study presented data from the national MultiOrgan Inflammatory Syndromes COVID-19 Related Study (MOIS-CoR) collected between 4 March 2020 and 20 February 2021. Of the 371 patients that met the Polish MIS-C criteria, 306 were included for further analysis. Results Children who are obese (OB with body mass index (BMI) ≥95th percentile) and overweight (OV with BMI ≥85th percentile but <95th percentile) (28 and 49 patients, respectively) represented 25.1% (n=77) of all recruited patients. Complete recovery at the time of discharge presented in 93% of normal body weight (NW) participants and 90% of OV children (p>0.05). Among OB children, 76% recovered fully, which differed from the NW group (p=0.01). Calculated odds ratio (OR) of incomplete recovery for OB children was 4.2. Irrespective of body weight, there were no differences (p>0.05) in the length of hospitalization and the duration of symptoms (for OB, 13 and 16.5 days; for OV and NW, 10 and 14 days, respectively), as well as in the frequency of cardiovascular abnormalities, necessity of oxygen therapy (OB, 26.9%; OV, 23.9%; and NW, 20.7%), and intravenous immunoglobulin and glucocorticosteroid (GCS) treatment. Conclusion The higher risk of incomplete recovery and observed tendency toward a worsening course of MIS-C in patients with obesity suggest the need for further studies to confirm and understand our findings.
Engineering of lysin by fusion of antimicrobial peptide (cecropin A) enhances its antibacterial properties against multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii

Most clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii, a nosocomial pathogen, are multidrug-resistant (MDR), fueling the search for alternative therapies. Bacteriophage-derived endolysins have potent antibacterial activities and are considered as alternatives to antibiotics against A. baumannii infection. Gram-negative bacteria possess outer lipid membrane that prevents direct contact between the endolysins and the cell wall. We hypothesized that the fusion of antimicrobial peptide (AMP) with endolysin could help to reduce bacterial endolysin resistance and increase antimicrobial activity by membrane permeability action. Accordingly, we fused cecropin A, a commonly used AMP, with the N-terminus of AbEndolysin, which enhances the bactericidal activity of the chimeric endolysin. The bactericidal activity of cecropin A-fused AbEndolysin increased by at least 2–8 fold for various MDR A. baumannii clinical isolates. The in vitro bactericidal activity results also showed higher bacterial lysis by the chimeric endolysin than that by the parental lysin. The engineered AbEndolysin (eAbEndolysin) showed synergistic effects with the beta-lactam antibiotics cefotaxime, ceftazidime, and aztreonam, and an additive effect with meropenem and imipenem. eAbEndolysin had no cytotoxic effect on A549 cell line and rescued mice (40% survival rate) from systemic A. baumannii infection. Together, these findings suggest the potential of lysin therapy and may prompt its use as an alternative to antibiotics.
University and challenge of citizenship education. Professors’ conceptions in training

Society and, therefore, the university, as a public space, face the challenge of training a critical citizenry capable of confronting existing problems. The work we present here highlights the role played by university professors in this issue. By means of a multiple case study we delve into the conceptions of nine university teachers in training on their conceptions of citizenship, citizenship education and university. The approach to their conceptions allows us to establish a framework of interpretation that reflects different levels of progression in their conceptions, from simple to complex. The least elaborated conceptions correspond to a vision of citizenship of a legal nature, without explicit proposals on how to educate for citizenship and under a conception of a university whose purpose is to transmit contents. Those corresponding to more complex levels refer to a perception of citizenship of a democratic and transformative nature, where the key to educating citizenship is the introduction of controversial issues, under a conception of a university that is critical and connected to social reality. Between both extremes there are intermediate levels, as well as obstacles and facilitators that favor or impede the development of more complex conceptions. Their analysis is key to incorporating appropriate training strategies. The improvement of continuous teacher training in this area will have a direct impact on students’ citizenship skills.
Toxicity evaluation induced by single and 28-days repeated exposure of withametelin and daturaolone in Sprague Dawley rats

Safe preclinical dose determination is predictive of human toxicity and can have a profound impact on the overall progress of the compound in early drug discovery process. In this respect, current study sought to investigate for the first time the acute and subacute oral toxicity of two pharmacologically active natural compounds i.e., withametelin and daturaolone in Sprague Dawley rats following OECD guideline 420 and 407, respectively. As per acute toxicity studies, withametelin and daturaolone were characterized as Globally Harmonized System (GHS) category 4 and 5 compounds, respectively. Sub-acute daily dose of withametelin was 5, 2.5, and 1.25 mg/kg but, for daturaolone, it was 10, 5, and 2.5 mg/kg. High dose (5 and 2.5 mg/kg) withametelin groups showed dose dependent changes in the general, hematological, biochemical and histopathological parameters in both sexes, the most prominent being hyperthyroidism while no toxicity was observed at lower doses (1.25 and 0.75 mg/kg), No Observable Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) being 1.25 mg/kg. Daturaolone was comparatively safer and showed dose dependent significant changes in hepatic enzyme (Alanine Transaminase), bilirubin, creatinine, and glucose levels while histological changes in testes were also observed. Lower doses (5, 2.5, and 1.25 mg/kg) of daturaolone showed no significant toxic effects and 5 mg/kg was declared as its NOAEL. Depending upon our findings, starting effective oral dose levels of 1.25 mg/kg/day for withametelin and 5 mg/kg/day for daturaolone are proposed for repeated dose (up to 28 days) preclinical pharmacological evaluation models. Long term studies with more behavioral, biochemical, histopathological and hormonal parameters are proposed to strengthen the findings.
Genome-wide identification of foxtail millet’s TRX family and a functional analysis of SiNRX1 in response to drought and salt stresses in transgenic Arabidopsis

Thioredoxins (TRXs) are small-molecule proteins with redox activity that play very important roles in the growth, development, and stress resistance of plants. Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) gradually became a model crop for stress resistance research because of its advantages such as its resistance to sterility and its small genome. To date, the thioredoxin (TRX) family has been identified in Arabidopsis thaliana, rice and wheat. However, studies of the TRX family in foxtail millet have not been reported, and the biological function of this family remains unclear. In this study, 35 SiTRX genes were identified in the whole genome of foxtail millet through bioinformatic analysis. According to phylogenetic analysis, 35 SiTRXs can be divided into 13 types. The chromosome distribution, gene structure, cis-elements and conserved protein motifs of 35 SiTRXs were characterized. Three nucleoredoxin (NRX) members were further identified by a structural analysis of TRX family members. The expression patterns of foxtail millet’s SiNRX members under abiotic stresses showed that they have different stress-response patterns. In addition, subcellular localization revealed that SiNRXs were localized to the nucleus, cytoplasm and membrane. Further studies demonstrated that the overexpression of SiNRX1 enhanced Arabidopsis’ tolerance to drought and salt stresses, resulting in a higher survival rate and better growth performance. Moreover, the expression levels of several known stress-related genes were generally higher in overexpressed lines than in the wild-type. Thus, this study provides a general picture of the TRX family in foxtail millet and lay a foundation for further research on the mechanism of the action of TRX proteins on abiotic stresses.
Association between blood pressure and circadian timing of physical activity of Japanese workers

High blood pressure (BP) is reported to be accounted for more than 10 million deaths, and the high prevalence of hypertension is a global issue. Exercise is known to reduce BP and the optimal exercise prescription has been discussed. Furthermore, since the circadian clock plays an important role in BP regulation and its related physiological functions, the time-of-day difference in the effect of exercise on BP is suggested. However, when people should regularly exercise for the prevention of hypertension remains unclear. In this cross-sectional research, we analyzed the association of habitual exercise and BP depending on their performed timing, time length, and frequency for three levels of intensity from an analysis of questionnaire answered by Japanese male workers (N = 2,343, mean age ± SE = 49.2 ± 0.2 years old, date: June 2021). From the subjects who responded, subjects with irregularly high or low BP, no regular physical activity or under the treatment of hypertension were excluded from the analysis. From the comparison of SBP and DBP between those who performed physical activity at each time period, vigorous or moderate physical activity in the evening (18:00–21:00) showed significantly lower average BP. On the other hand, those who walked in early morning (03:00–06:00) showed higher DBP. These time-specific differences were confirmed from multiple regression analysis, eliminating the confounding factors such as age and BMI. When participants were divided into groups according to their BP, compared to normal BP groups, higher BP groups exercised less in the evening. Our findings suggest that when to exercise is important, and that exercising in the evening (18:00–21:00) may be better to achieve the hypotensive effect of exercise.
Ultrasound response to tofacitinib in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: Data from a multicenter 24 weeks prospective study

Background Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) should aim at full remission. Ultrasonography (US) might have an added value to clinical examination in assessing disease activity of RA. In this study we evaluated the ultrasound response, next to clinical and laboratory response, in RA patients treated with tofacitinib (TOF). Methods In this observational multicenter study, patients received TOF 5 mg twice daily, with or without the contemporary use of methotrexate or other conventional DMARD, for 24 weeks. All patients underwent clinical, laboratory and US examinations of 40 sites among joints and tendons. Sonographers were blinded to clinical and laboratory parameters. Data were assessed at baseline, week 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24. For each patient we used two US joint scores (Gray Scale –GS–and power Doppler –PD– score), a 0–3 semi-quantitative scale for each joint and the EULAR-OMERACT US scoring system (combined GS and PD graded from 0 to 3). Besides, we calculated a tenosynovitis scores (GS and PD) according to the OMERACT score. Results Fifty-two RA patients completed the 6 months period study: mean disease duration 9.97 ± 8.75 years, baseline DAS28-CRP 4.9 ± 1.2, HAQ 1.4 ± 0.7, C-reactive protein (CRP 2.25 ± 3.11 mg/dl). Baseline joint (GS, PD and combined-US) and tendon US scores (GS and PD) were 23.5 ± 18.4, 22.7 ± 19.3, 25.7 ± 20.6, 10.5 ± 11.4 and 11.0 ± 12.0, respectively. US joint and tendon scores significantly reduced as early as T1 (week 2) examination as well as at week 4, 12 and 24, as compared to baseline values (p < 0.001 for all comparisons). Improvement of joint US scores (GS, PD and US-combined) correlated at T4 examination, with the reduction of serum CRP levels (rho 0.418, p = 0.036, rho 0.495, p = 0.004 and rho 0.454, p = 0.009, respectively). We did not find any correlation between the variations of DAS28-CRP and any US scores at any visits. Conclusion These results provide evidence that TOF treatment leads to early (2 weeks) and persistent reduction of US signs of inflammation both at tendon and joint level comparable to clinical improvement.
Magnetic resonance imaging of endolymphatic hydrops in Ménière's disease: A comparison of the diagnostic value of multiple scoring methods

Objectives To compare three methods of scoring endolymphatic hydrops in patients with Ménière's disease in order to assess the correlation between endolymphatic hydrops and auditory characteristics. Methods A retrospective study of 97 patients with unilateral definite Ménière's disease (DMD) who underwent contrast-enhanced three-dimensional fluid attenuated inversion recovery (3D FLAIR) MRI. Each patient was scored by the Inner Ear Structural Assignment Method (IESAM), the Saccule to utricle area ratio (SURI), and the Four Stage Vestibular Hydrops Grading (FSVH), according to their corresponding axial images. Cohen's Kappa and intra-class correlation coefficient were used for consistency testing, combined with binary logistic regression analysis, to compare the sensitivity and specificity of the three methods. The degree of hydrops in different stages of MD was compared. The correlation between endolymphatic hydrops in the inner ear sub-units and hearing thresholds was further analyzed. Results The intra- and inter-reader reliability for the scoring of endolymphatic hydrops were excellent. The IESAM had a high diagnostic value for identifying definite Meniere's disease (sensitivity: 86.6%, specificity: 97.9%). The hearing thresholds were correlated with the degree of endolymphatic hydrops. Stages 3 and 4 were more significant for the severity of hydrops than stage 1. Within the subgroups of the Meniere's disease patients, compared with the non-hydrops group and the pure vestibular hydrops (V group), the cochlear combined vestibular hydrops group (CV group) had significantly higher auditory thresholds. The amplitude ratio of electrocochleogram was significantly higher in the affected ear than in the healthy ear. Conclusion The IESAM is a more sensitive and specific diagnostic scoring method for the diagnosis of DMD. Diagnostic imaging may improve the detection of inner ear hydrops which is correlated with severity of hearing loss. A comprehensive evaluation of the inner ear sub-unit structures maybe necessary.
SDR Beyond Radio: An Out-of-Tree GNURadio Library for Simulation and Deployment of Multi-Cell / Multi-User Optical Wireless Communications

Research in the ﬁeld of optical wireless communications (OWC) has led to signiﬁcant ad-vances in high speed point-to-point communication links, but there is much work to be done in the area of multi-cell/multi-user OWC systems. In order to make experimental research in this area more approachable, we have developed an SDR framework for OWC systems and provided an open-source out-of-tree (OOT) software library, namely gr-owc , that allows for quick development and testing of novel OWC techniques. In this paper, we describe our recent improvements to gr-owc , including the addition of new OWC channel characteristics, modules for DC-Biased Optical OFDM/OFDMA, and resource allocation capabilities for custom hardware that applies multi-color channels and enables research in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) or wavelength division multiple access (WDMA) systems. Furthermore, the hardware deployment process is detailed to enable a workﬂow that spans from simulated system analysis to experimental evaluation.
Does the Academic Performance of the Francophone Education Subsystem Exceed that of the Anglophone Education Subsystem at Primary Level? Evidence from Cameroon

- This paper aims to implement the differences in academic performance between students in the francophone and anglophone education subsystems at primary level in Cameroon. Using data from the Programme d’Analyse des Systèmes Educatifs de la Confemen organised in 2014, the study employs a two-stage modelling approach. Firstly, the estimation of educational production functions by OLS shows that student characteristics and school context are important determinants of students achievement in the anglophone and francophone subsystems. Second, the Oaxaca-Blinder (1973) decomposition method showed that at the end of the primary school year, students in the francophone education subsystem perform better than those in the anglophone subsystem. The share of explained factors contributes to increase this differential to more than 100% in both mathematics and language, therefore, it does not matter how much the unexplained share is given, it does not suggest the existence of discrimination in school performance towards the anglophone subsystem. Abstract- This paper aims to implement the differences in academic performance between students in the francophone and anglophone education subsystems at primary level in Cameroon. Using data from the Programme d’Analyse des Systèmes Educatifs de la Confemen organised in 2014, the study employs a two-stage modelling approach. Firstly, the estimation of educational production functions by OLS shows that student characteristics and school context are important determinants of students achievement in the anglophone and francophone subsystems. Second, the Oaxaca-Blinder (1973) decomposition method showed that at the end of the primary school year, students in the francophone education subsystem perform better than those in the anglophone subsystem. The share of explained factors contributes to increase this differential to more than 100% in both mathematics and language, therefore, it does not matter how much the unexplained share is given, it does not suggest the existence of discrimination in school performance towards the anglophone subsystem. This calls for policy makers to consider their role in reducing the various sources of inequality among students of all kinds, particularly that focused on the linguistic-educational subsystem.
Intersection Searching Amid Tetrahedra in 4-Space and Efficient Continuous Collision Detection

We develop data structures for intersection detection queries in four dimensions that involve segments, triangles and tetrahedra. Specifically, we study two main problems: (i) Preprocess a set of n tetrahedra in R 4 into a data structure for answering segment-intersection queries amid the given tetrahedra (referred to as segment-tetrahedron intersection queries ), and (ii) Preprocess a set of n triangles in R 4 into a data structure that supports triangle-intersection queries amid the input triangles (referred to as triangle-triangle intersection queries ). As far as we can tell, these problems have not been previously studied. For problem (i), we first present a “standard” solution which, for any prespecified value n ≤ s ≤ n 6 of a so-called storage parameter s , yields a data structure with O ∗ ( s ) storage and expected preprocessing, which answers an intersection query in O ∗ ( n/s 1 / 6 ) time (here and in what follows, the O ∗ ( · ) notation hides subpolynomial factors). For problem (ii), using similar arguments, we present a solution that has the same asymptotic performance bounds. We then improve the solution for problem (i), and present a more intricate data structure that uses O ∗ ( n 2 ) storage and expected preprocessing, and answers a segment-tetrahedron intersection query in O ∗ ( n 1 / 2 ) time. Using the parametric search technique of Agarwal and Matoušek [3], we can obtain data structures with similar performance bounds for the ray-shooting problem amid tetrahedra in R 4 . Unfortunately, so far we do not know how to obtain a similar improvement for problem (ii). Our algorithms are based on a primal-dual technique for range searching with semi-algebraic sets, based on recent advances in this area [2, 11]. As this is a result of independent interest, we spell out the details of this technique.
A preliminary investigation into the role of Sipa1l in bipolar tail neurons of Ciona robusta

: Bipolar tail neurons (BTNs) in Ciona robusta offer a unique chance to assess regulatory networks that give rise to cell behaviors during development. Like most cells within the embryo of Ciona robusta, BTNs develop following highly stereotyped yet dynamic programs. Neurogenin, a transcription factor, was found to be necessary and sufficient for BTN specification, and SIPA1l was observed to be downstream of Neurogenin activation. The present study sought to elucidate the role of SIPA1l in BTN development, and hypothesized that it was required for collective cell migration of BTNs. The gene encoding SIPA1l, Sipa1l, was reconstructed prior to analyzing its domains and its relatedness to the human orthologs Sipa1l1, Sipa1l2, and Sipa1l3. It was found that this gene in Ciona closely resembles its human counterparts in both the domains present in the protein it encodes, as well as, its amino acid sequence alignment. Sipa1l was then targeted using CRISPR/Cas9 in an attempted knock out condition wherein mixed results were obtained that are limited in interpretation. The fluorescent protein used to assess BTN development only labeled anterior BTNs and thus collective cell migration could not be assessed. Moreover, it was observed that Sipa1l did not affect anterior BTN migration or morphology but did appear to affect axonal outgrowth in select embryos. In all, the results of this investigation provide insights into the role of Sipa1l in BTN development and serve as a preliminary study that will prove useful to future researchers seeking to understand BTN development.
The zxy System for OpenASR21 Challenge

— This report describes the systems of ‘zxy’ (abbreviated from ‘zui xing yun’ which means ‘the most fortunate’ in mandarin) team in the IARPA Open Automatic Speech Recognition Challenge (OpenASR21). We participated in all fifteen languages in the constrained training condition, and seven languages in the unconstrained training condition. To increase the amount of training data in constrained condition, we adopted text-to-speech (TTS) techniques as an important data augmentation method which was shown to be very effective for low-resource languages. For the unconstrained condition, we trained several end-to-end (E2E) ASR models which had different encoder designs. During the evaluation stage, we focused more on case-sensitive scoring (CSS) tasks for particular languages. Based on the official ranking results at that time, we also submitted several results in constrained-plus condition based on confidence in our TTS based systems, though we did not use any pretrained models. Finally, our submitted system yielded good results on several tasks, including: swahili-constrained-css, tagalog-constrained-css and tagalog-constrained-plus.