Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Working safety and workloads of Chinese delivery riders: the role of work pressure

Using a sample of 9133 food delivery riders from T, a Chinese food delivery platform, this study applies a binary probit model to analyse influences of food delivery riders’ workloads on the incidence of occupational injuries using self-control theory. We have found that food delivery riders’ quantity of weekly orders delivered has an inverted U-shaped correlation with occupational injuries and those who rely heavily on platform income have a lower risk of injuries than those who rely less on platform income. After handling the problems of endogenous and missing variables through an instrumental variable method and robustness test, the conclusion is still robust. Moreover, work pressure is a mediator for workload influence on occupational injuries, but the platform safety training is not a boundary condition, for possible lacking in contents of workload control. Individuals with the experience of occupational injuries are less willing to continue working as food delivery riders.
Comparing logistic regression methods for completely separated and quasi-separated data

An occurrence which is sometimes observed in a model based on dichotomous dependent variables is separation in the data. Separation in the data is when one or more of the independent variables can perfectly predict some binary outcome and it primarily occurs in small samples. There are three di¤erent mutually exclusive and exhaustive classes into which the data from a logistic regression can be classi ed: complete separation, quasicomplete separation and overlap. Separation (either complete or quasi-complete) in the data gives rise to a number of problems since it implies in nite or zero maximum likelihood estimates which are idealistic and does not happen in practice. In this dissertation the theory behind a logistic regression model, the de nition of separation and di¤erent methods to deal with separation are discussed in part I. The methods that will be focussed on are exact logistic regression, Firths method which penalises the likelihood function and hidden logistic regression. In part II of this dissertation the three fore mentioned methods will be compared to one another. This will be done by applying each method to data sets which exhibit either complete or quasi-complete separation for di¤erent sample sizes and di¤erent covariate types. ix © University of Pretoria
Investigating the cost‐effectiveness of three cessation interventions on a national scale using the Economics of Smoking in Pregnancy (ESIP) decision analytical model

Abstract Aim To measure the cost‐effectiveness of adding text message (TMB), exercise (EB) and abstinent‐contingent financial incentive‐based (CFIB) stop smoking interventions to standard smoking cessation support for pregnant women in England. Design Modelling cost‐effectiveness outcomes by separately adding three cessation interventions to standard cessation care offered to pregnant women in England. English National Health Service Stop Smoking Services (NHS SSS) statistics from 2019 to 2020 were used for estimating the base quit rate. Intervention effectiveness and cost data for interventions were taken from trial reports. Cost‐effectiveness was derived using the economics of smoking in pregnancy (ESIP) model from a health service and personal social services perspective. Interventions were compared with each other as well as against standard cessation care. Setting English NHS SSS. Participants/cases A total of 13 799 pregnant women who accessed NHS SSS. Interventions and comparator; comparator: standard stop smoking support comprising behavioural intervention and an offer of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Three additive interventions were TMB, EB and CFIB. Measurements Incremental cost‐effectiveness ratios per quality‐adjusted life‐years gained for both mothers and offspring over their life‐times; return on investment (ROI); and cost‐effectiveness acceptability curves (CEACs). Findings The addition of any of the interventions compared with standard care alone was preferred, but only significant for the addition of CFIB, with the CEAC suggesting an at least 90% chance of being favoured to standard care alone. When compared against each other CFIB appeared to yield the largest returns, but this was not significant. The estimated ROI for CFIB was £2 [95% confidence interval (CI) = £1–3] in health‐care savings for every £1 spent by the NHS on the cessation intervention. Conclusions For a health system which currently provides behavioural support and an offer of nicotine replacement therapy as standard stop smoking support for pregnant women, the greatest economic gains would be provided by operating an abstinent‐contingent financial incentives scheme alongside this.
Immunohistochemical analysis of the thymus in newborn and adult yaks (Bos grunniens).

INTRODUCTION The thymus is the site of development and maturation of functional T lymphocytes and is critically important to the immune system. The purpose of this study was to examine the expression of markers of T lymphocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, B lymphocytes and plasmocytes in the yak thymus. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty healthy male yaks were divided into newborn (2-4 weeks old, n = 10) and adult (3-4 years old, n = 10) group. qRT-PCR was used to evaluate the mRNA expression level of the main markers of the studied cell types. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the distribution of CD3+ T lymphocytes, CD68+ macrophages, SIRPα+ dendritic cells, CD79α+ B lymphocytes, IgA and IgG+ plasmocytes. RESULTS Within the same age group, the mRNA expression of CD3ε was highest (P < 0.05), followed by that of CD68, SIRPα, CD79α, IgG and IgA. Furthermore, CD3ε, CD68, and SIRPα mRNA expression levels were higher in newborn yaks than in the adult ones (P < 0.05), whereas those of CD79α, IgA, and IgG were higher in adults (P < 0.05). Immunohistochemical results showed localization of CD3+ T lymphocytes in the thymic cortex and medulla. CD68+ macrophages, SIRPα+ dendritic cells, CD79α+ B lymphocytes, IgA+ and IgG+ plasmocytes were mainly observed in the cortico-medullary region and medulla. In the same age group, the frequency of CD3+ T lymphocytes was higher than that of CD68+ macrophages and SIRPα+ dendritic cells (P < 0.05), followed by those of CD79α+ B lymphocytes and IgA+ and IgG+ plasmocytes. No significant difference was observed between B lymphocyte and plasmocyte frequencies in the yak thymus in both age groups (P > 0.05). The frequency of CD3+, CD68+ and SIRPα+ cells decreased from newborns to adults (P < 0.05). However, the frequencies of CD79α+, IgA+ and IgG+ cells increased from newborn to adult yaks (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The thymus of newborn yaks is well-developed, with higher numbers of T lymphocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells than those in the adult thymus. However, higher frequencies of plasmocytes and B lymphocytes were detected in the adult thymus, suggesting that adults may better resist infections through humoralimmunity as this organ undergoes involution. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the number of IgA and IgG plasmocytes, which differs from what is observed in rodents and humans. This difference might be related to the fact that yaks live in low-oxygen plateaus.
Putting Emotions in the Health Belief Model: The Role of Hope and Anticipated Guilt on the Chinese’s Intentions to Get COVID-19 Vaccination

ABSTRACT When promoting COVID-19 vaccination, the media and public figures often mention hope to return to normalcy and sometimes try to elicit guilt by asking people to get vaccinated to protect themselves and others. Situated within the health belief model, the present research aimed to investigate whether hope and anticipated guilt were related to vaccine uptake intent. It postulated that hope and anticipated guilt mediated the relationships between risk perceptions/perceived benefits and vaccine uptake intent. The data were collected via an online survey of 460 Chinese participants in March 2021 and were analyzed using Hayes’ PROCESS MACRO. The results revealed that perceived susceptibility and perceived benefits, but not perceived severity, predicted the Chinese’s vaccine uptake intent. Furthermore, hope positively predicted vaccine uptake intent and partially mediated the relationship between perceived benefits and vaccination intent and between perceived severity and vaccination intent. Anticipated guilt was a significant, but weak predictor of vaccination intent. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Effects of the Glycine Transporter-1 Inhibitor Iclepertin (BI 425809) on Sensory Processing, Neural Network Function, and Cognition in Animal Models Related to Schizophrenia

N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor hypofunction leading to neural network dysfunction is thought to play an important role in the pathophysiology of cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS). Increasing extracellular concentrations of the NMDA receptor co-agonist glycine through inhibition of glycine transporter-1 (GlyT1) has the potential to treat CIAS by improving cortical network function through enhanced glutamatergic signaling. Indeed, the novel GlyT1 inhibitor iclepertin (BI 425809) improved cognition in a recent clinical study in patients with schizophrenia. The present study tested the ability of iclepertin to reverse deficits in auditory sensory processing and cortical network function induced by the uncompetetive NMDA receptor antagonist, MK-801, using electroencephalography (EEG) to measure auditory event-related potentials (AERPs) and 40 Hz auditory steady-state response (ASSR). In addition, improvements in memory performance with iclepertin were evaluated using the T-maze spontaneous alternation test in MK-801–treated mice and the social recognition test in naïve rats. Iclepertin reversed MK-801–induced deficits in the AERP readouts N1 amplitude and N1 gating, as well as reversing deficits in 40 Hz ASSR power and intertrial coherence. Additionally, iclepertin significantly attenuated an MK-801–induced increase in basal gamma power. Furthermore, iclepertin reversed MK-801–induced working memory deficits in mice and improved social recognition memory performance in rats. Overall, this study demonstrates that inhibition of GlyT1 is sufficient to attenuate MK-801–induced deficits in translatable EEG parameters relevant to schizophrenia. Moreover, iclepertin showed memory-enhancing effects in rodent cognition tasks, further demonstrating the potential for GlyT1 inhibition to treat CIAS. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Despite the significant patient burden caused by cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia, there are currently no approved pharmacotherapies. In this preclinical study, the novel glycine transporter inhibitor iclepertin (BI 425809) reversed sensory processing deficits and neural network dysfunction evoked by inhibition of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors and enhanced working memory performance and social recognition in rodents. These findings support previous clinical evidence for the procognitive effects of iclepertin.
Histone Acetylation Regulator Gcn5 Mediates Drug Resistance and Virulence of Candida glabrata

As an important and successful human pathogen, Candida glabrata is known for its swift adaptation and rapid acquisition of resistance to the most commonly used antifungal agents, resulting in therapeutic failure in clinical settings. Here, we describe that the histone acetyltransferase Gcn5 is a key factor in adapting to antifungal pressure and developing resistance in C. glabrata. ABSTRACT Candida glabrata is poised to adapt to drug pressure rapidly and acquire antifungal resistance leading to therapeutic failure. Given the limited antifungal armamentarium, there is an unmet need to explore new targets or therapeutic strategies for antifungal treatment. The lysine acetyltransferase Gcn5 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of C. albicans. Yet how Gcn5 functions and impacts antifungal resistance in C. glabrata is unknown. Disrupting GCN5 rendered C. glabrata cells more sensitive to various stressors, partially reverted resistance in drug-resistant mutants, and attenuated the emergence of resistance compared to wild-type cells. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis revealed transcriptomic changes involving multiple biological processes and different transcriptional responses to antifungal drugs in gcn5Δ cells compared to wild-type cells. GCN5 deletion also resulted in reduced intracellular survival within THP-1 macrophages. In summary, Gcn5 plays a critical role in modulating the virulence of C. glabrata and regulating its response to antifungal pressure and host defense. IMPORTANCE As an important and successful human pathogen, Candida glabrata is known for its swift adaptation and rapid acquisition of resistance to the most commonly used antifungal agents, resulting in therapeutic failure in clinical settings. Here, we describe that the histone acetyltransferase Gcn5 is a key factor in adapting to antifungal pressure and developing resistance in C. glabrata. The results provide new insights into epigenetic control over the drug response in C. glabrata and may be useful for drug target discovery and the development of new therapeutic strategies to combat fungal infections.
Local equivalence, surface-code states, and matroids

Recently, Ji et al. disproved the local-unitary-local Clifford (LU-LC) conjecture and showed that the local unitary (LU) and local Clifford (LC) equivalence classes of the stabilizer states are not always the same. Despite the fact that this settles the LU-LC conjecture, a sufficient condition for stabilizer states that violate the LU-LC conjecture is not known. In this paper, we investigate further the properties of stabilizer states with respect to local equivalence. Our first result shows that there exist infinitely many stabilizer states that violate the LU-LC conjecture. In particular, we show that for all numbers of qubits n{>=}28, there exist distance-two stabilizer states which are counterexamples to the LU-LC conjecture. We prove that, for all odd n{>=}195, there exist stabilizer states with distance greater than two that are LU equivalent but not LC equivalent. Two important classes of stabilizer states that are of great interest in quantum computation are the cluster states and stabilizer states of the surface codes. We show that, under some minimal restrictions, both these classes of states preclude any counterexamples. In this context, we also show that the associated surface codes do not have any encoded non-Clifford transversal gates. We characterize the Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) surface-code statesmore » in terms of a class of minor closed binary matroids. In addition to making a connection to an important open problem in binary matroid theory, this characterization does in some cases provide an efficient test for CSS states that are not counterexamples. « less
Causal inference with observational data in addiction research

Abstract Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard for making causal inferences, but RCTs are often not feasible in addiction research for ethical and logistic reasons. Observational data from real‐world settings have been increasingly used to guide clinical decisions and public health policies. This paper introduces the potential outcomes framework for causal inference and summarizes well‐established causal analysis methods for observational data, including matching, inverse probability treatment weighting, the instrumental variable method and interrupted time‐series analysis with controls. It provides examples in addiction research and guidance and analysis codes for conducting these analyses with example data sets.
Social Disparities in the Management of Trigger Finger: An Analysis of 31 411 Cases

Background: Cost and compliance are 2 factors that can significantly affect the outcomes of non-operative and operative treatment of trigger finger (TF) and both may be influenced by social factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate socioeconomic disparities in the surgical treatment for TF. Methods: Adult patients (≥18 years old) were identified using International Classification of Diseases 9 and 10 Clinical Modification diagnostic codes for TF and Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) procedural codes (CPT: 26055) in the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System database. Each diagnosis was linked to procedure data to determine which patients went on to have TF release. A multivariable logistic regression was performed to assess the likelihood of receiving surgery. The variables included in the analysis were age, sex, race, social deprivation index (SDI), Charlson Comorbidity Index, and primary insurance type. A P-value < . 05 was considered significant. Results: Of the 31 411 TF patients analyzed, 8941 (28.5%) underwent surgery. Logistic regression analysis showed higher odds of receiving surgery in females (odds ratio [OR]: 1.108) and those with workers compensation (OR: 1.7). Hispanic (OR: 0.541), Asian (OR: 0.419), African American (OR: 0.455), and Other race (OR: 0.45) had decreased odds of surgery. Medicaid (OR: 0.773), Medicare (OR: 0.841), and self-pay (OR: 0.515) reimbursement methods had reduced odds of receiving surgery. Higher social deprivation was associated with decreased odds of surgery (OR: 0.988). Conclusions: There are disparities in demographic characteristics among those who receive TF release for trigger finger related to race, primary insurance, and social deprivation.
Effect of moxa smoke on sperm parameters and oxidative stress in rats with asthenozoospermia

Asthenozoospermia is a leading cause of male infertility, characterized by reduced sperm motility. In this study, we determined sperm motility and the activities of antioxidant enzymes and oxidation products in the testis of rats with ornidazole (ORN)‐induced asthenozoospermia and further examined and compared the differential effects of moxa smoke (MS) and cigarette smoke (CS) on sperm motility and oxidative stress (OS) of asthenozoospermic rats. The smoke intervention was initiated 11 days after intragastric administration of ORN, followed by the examination of testis index, sperm parameters, OS‐related gene levels, and testicular histopathology. Sperm motility and antioxidant enzyme activities, as well as oxidation products significantly decreased in ORN‐induced rats compared with MS‐treated rats (p < .05–.001). MS treatment restored the reduced sperm motility and activities of glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and catalase, but increased the malondialdehyde and nitric oxide synthetase levels in ORN‐induced rats (p < .05–.001). Also, the histopathological changes in the testis of ORN‐induced rats were improved by MS treatment. The study highlighted that MS was an effective factor in moxibustion therapy, which notably improved the sperm motility of asthenozoospermic rats by inhibiting OS in the reproductive system.
Extracts of wild Egyptian plants from the desert inhibit the growth of Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum in vitro

Wild medicinal plants have been traditionally used as antimicrobial agents. Here, we evaluated the in vitro activity of extracts from wild Egyptian desert plants against Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum. From 12 plant extracts tested, the methanolic extracts from Artemisia judaica, Cleome droserifolia, Trichodesma africanum, and Vachellia tortilis demonstrated potent activity against the growth of T. gondii, with half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) of 2.1, 12.5, 21.8, and 24.5 µg/ml, respectively. C. droserifolia, an ethanolic extract of P. undulata, T. africanum, A. judaica, and V. tortilis demonstrated potent efficacy against N. caninum, with mean IC50s of 1.0, 3.0, 3.1, 8.6, and 17.2 µg/ml, respectively. Our data suggest these extracts could provide an alternative treatment for T. gondii and N. caninum infections.
Applications of the graphs to the Generalized Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process

We consider the generalized Ornstein- Uhlenbeck equation $\partial_t X=-m X_t+\eta$. In this paper We construct the L\'evy noise $\eta$. The generalized Ornstein- Uhlenbeck process $X_t$ will be represented by a special types of graphs called rooted trees with two types of leaves.
An implementation of feasible path constraints generation for reproducible testing

Non-determinism features make the testing o f a concurrent program not repeatable. Specification-based reproducible testing is a promising technique that may give the tester more control over the environment of concurrent testing. With a given test case, the crucial part of the test scenario which contributes to achieving the control on the execution path are input events and path constraints in terms of synchronization events. The problem considered in this thesis is to generate a significant set of path constraints automatically from the design specification in terms of design abstract under the assumption that monitors are the key mechanism to handle the synchronization events. In addition, as a considerable feature, formal methods have been applied in the implementation tool to construct the path constraints.
Combinatorial Yamabe flow on hyperbolic surfaces with boundary

This paper studies the combinatorial Yamabe flow on hyperbolic surfaces with boundary. It is proved by applying a variational principle that the length of boundary components is uniquely determined by the combinatorial conformal factor. The combinatorial Yamabe flow is a gradient flow of a concave function. The long time behavior of the flow and the geometric meaning is investigated.
Synthesis of Core-Shell HZSM-5@SBA-15 Composite and Its Performance in the Conversion of Methanol to Aromatics

A core-shell HZSM-5@SBA-15 composite was prepared by the acidic sol-gel coating method using Pluronic P123 as the template. Its structure, properties, and catalytic performance in the conversion of methanol to aromatics (MTA) were compared with HZSM-5@SiO2. The silica shells of these two samples can both reduce the acid sites of HZSM-5, and consequently can decrease the formation of coke on the catalyst. However, in the ordered mesoporous SBA-15 shell the aromatics and the coke precursors could diffuse more effectively than in the amorphous SiO2 shell; therefore, in the MTA reaction catalyzed by HZSM-5@SBA-15 composite a higher BTX selectivity and a longer catalyst cycle length were observed. The cycle length of HZSM-5@SBA-15 was by 50 h longer than that of HZSM-5@SiO2, and under this situation the selectivity of BTX still reached 56%.