Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Synoptic Framework for Forecasting the Urban Rainfall Effect Using Composite and K-Means Cluster Analyses

Observational and numerical modeling studies continue to affirm the existence of the “urban rainfall effect” (URE), or a discernible anomaly in warm season precipitation due to urbanization. However, the literature has been lacking a progression towards the predictability of the URE. Atlanta, Georgia has consistently appeared in the literature because of its well-studied urban rainfall anomalies. Using the Multi-sensor Precipitation Estimates (MPE) dataset and the ERA-Interim reanalysis dataset, an 18-year period (2002–2019) is examined. Three similar but distinct methods are used to define urban rainfall days (URDs), or periods when the precipitation in the urbanized areas of Atlanta are greater than the surrounding rural areas. A combination of compositing, wind rose, and k-means cluster analyses are employed to extract the synoptic framework supportive of the URE in Atlanta, Georgia. The synoptic-scale compositing analysis reveals that there are a consistent set of meteorological ingredients that are needed to produce an URD, including weaker-than-average southwesterly-to-northwesterly flow at 700 hPa, copious amounts of moisture throughout the tropospheric column, and a background low-level convergent flow. Composite atmospheric soundings reveal that there is enhanced moisture throughout the tropospheric column on URDs, leading to marginal instability that favors localized convection across the Atlanta metropolitan area. The study also provides clarity on how often the URE is present (roughly 8% of the time) during warm season days across the Atlanta metropolitan area. Taken together, this synoptic framework will aid in the forecasting of the URE in Atlanta and can be easily applied to other cities.
Patients With Bicuspid Aortic Stenosis Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective We sought to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical adverse events in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) vs. tricuspid aortic valve (TAV) anatomy and the efficacy of balloon-expandable (BE) vs. self-expanding (SE) valves in the BAV population. Comparisons aforementioned will be made stratified into early- and new-generation devices. Differences of prosthetic geometry on CT between patients with BAV and TAV were presented. In addition, BAV morphological presentations in included studies were summarized. Method Observational studies and a randomized controlled trial of patients with BAV undergoing TAVR were included according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline. Results A total of 43 studies were included in the final analysis. In patients undergoing TAVR, type 1 BAV was the most common phenotype and type 2 BAV accounted for the least. Significant higher risks of conversion to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), the need of a second valve, a moderate or severe paravalvular leakage (PVL), device failure, acute kidney injury (AKI), and stroke were observed in patients with BAV than in patients with TAV during hospitalization. BAV had a higher risk of new permanent pacemaker implantation (PPI) both at hospitalization and a 30-day follow-up. Risk of 1-year mortality was significantly lower in patients with BAV than that with TAV [odds ratio (OR) = 0.85, 95% CI 0.75–0.97, p = 0.01]. BE transcatheter heart valves (THVs) had higher risks of annular rupture but a lower risk of the need of a second valve and a new PPI than SE THVs. Moreover, BE THV was less expanded and more elliptical in BAV than in TAV. In general, the rates of clinical adverse events were lower in new-generation THVs than in early-generation THVs in both BAV and TAV. Conclusions Despite higher risks of conversion to SAVR, the need of a second valve, moderate or severe PVL, device failure, AKI, stroke, and new PPI, TAVR seems to be a viable option for selected patients with severe bicuspid aortic stenosis (AS), which demonstrated a potential benefit of 1-year survival, especially among lower surgical risk population using new-generation devices. Larger randomized studies are needed to guide patient selection and verified the durable performance of THVs in the BAV population.
Tropospheric Ozone Alters the Chemical Signal Emitted by an Emblematic Plant of the Mediterranean Region: The True Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.)

Among air pollutants, tropospheric ozone (O3) is one of the most stressful for organisms due to its strong oxidative potential. For instance, high ozone concentration ([O3]) has the potential to affect (i) the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by plants and (ii) the lifetime of these VOCs in the atmosphere, and consequently disturb crucial signals in the interactions between plants and other organisms. However, despite the determinant role of VOCs emitted by flowers for pollinator attraction, a very limited number of studies have investigated the impact of O3 on floral VOCs. In this study, we investigated the effect of high [O3] episodes on the VOCs emitted by a flowering Mediterranean plant: the true lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill., Lamiaceae). To do so, in controlled conditions, we exposed (i) the entire plant to high but realistic [O3] (200 ppb for 5 h) and (ii) only the VOCs emitted by lavender to increasing [O3] (0, 40, 80, 120, and 200 ppb). We sampled VOCs of lavender in both conditions and analyzed them by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry in order to qualify and quantify the flowering lavender’s emissions and the reaction of VOCs with O3 in the atmosphere. Our results showed that exposure to high [O3] during a short period (5 h) did not affect the emission of VOCs by flowering lavender. Incidentally, we also showed that the chemical signal varied in quantities and proportions over the day. Moreover, we showed that after their emission by the plant, composition of the VOCs changed quantitatively and qualitatively in an atmosphere containing [O3] naturally observed nowadays. Quantities of several of the major terpenes emitted by lavender decreased drastically during O3 exposure, whereas concentrations of some VOCs increased, such as carbonyls and carboxylic acids, which are probably reaction products of terpenes with O3. Exposure to high [O3] thus directly affected the proportions of VOCs in the atmosphere. Because pollinators generally use a blend of VOCs in particular proportions as a signal to localize flowers, the numerous pollinators of lavender may experience difficulty in recognizing specific floral odors during frequent and moderate [O3] episodes in the Mediterranean region.
Exploring Potential Links Between Co-occurring Coastal Terrestrial and Marine Heatwaves in Australia

Despite numerous studies examining terrestrial or marine heatwaves independently, little work has investigated potential associations between these two types of extreme events. Examination of a limited number of past events suggests that certain co-occurring terrestrial and marine heatwaves have common drivers. Co-occurring events may also interact via local land-sea interactions, thereby altering the likelihood of these events. This study explores possible links between adjacent coastal marine and terrestrial heatwaves around Australia using observation and reanalysis data. We find a significant increase in the number of terrestrial heatwave days in the presence of an adjacent co-occurring marine heatwave along the coastal belt of Australia. In most regions, this increase persists at least 150 km inland. This suggests that processes operating beyond the narrow coastal belt are important in most regions. We also show that synoptic conditions driving a terrestrial heatwave in three locations around Australia are conducive for warming the ocean, which would increase the likelihood of a marine heatwave occurring. However, ocean state must also be conducive to reach MHW conditions. Our findings suggest that co-occurring terrestrial and marine heatwaves co-occur more frequently than chance would dictate, and that large scale synoptics may be conducive to both coastal terrestrial and marine heatwaves.
Evaluating the Quality of Semantic Segmented 3D Point Clouds

Recently, 3D point clouds have become a quasi-standard for digitization. Point cloud processing remains a challenge due to the complex and unstructured nature of point clouds. Currently, most automatic point cloud segmentation methods are data-based and gain knowledge from manually segmented ground truth (GT) point clouds. The creation of GT point clouds by capturing data with an optical sensor and then performing a manual or semi-automatic segmentation is a less studied research field. Usually, GT point clouds are semantically segmented only once and considered to be free of semantic errors. In this work, it is shown that this assumption has no overall validity if the reality is to be represented by a semantic point cloud. Our quality model has been developed to describe and evaluate semantic GT point clouds and their manual creation processes. It is applied on our dataset and publicly available point cloud datasets. Furthermore, we believe that this quality model contributes to the objective evaluation and comparability of data-based segmentation algorithms.
Knowledge of Antimicrobial Resistance and Associated Factors Among Health Professionals at the University of Gondar Specialized Hospital: Institution-Based Cross-Sectional Study

Background Antimicrobial resistance is one of the many health challenges worldwide, particularly in resource-limited countries like Ethiopia. Increasing knowledge of health professionals can reduce the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance. In this study, we determined the antimicrobial resistance knowledge and examined the associated factors among the University of Gondar Hospital health professionals. Methods An institution-based cross-sectional survey was carried out. The samples were randomly recruited. Statistical analysis was performed by using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20 after entering the data using Epidemiological information (Epi-Info). To identify associated factors, the authors executed binary logistic regression and multivariate analysis wherein the statistical significance was decided at p < 0.05. Results Four hundred and twelve health professionals with ages ranging from 20-60 years and mean age of 29.9 years took part in the study. Fifty-three-point-four percent of participants were males. The majority of the total respondents (84.7%, 95% CI: 80.08–88.30) had good knowledge of antimicrobial resistance. It was found that being male (AOR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.10, 3.52), a work experience of 6–10 years (AOR = 2.45, 95% CI: 1.28, 4.68), having 30–38working hours per week (AOR = 3.93, 95% CI: 1.38, 5.11), and antibiotic intake (AOR = 3.71, 95% CI: 1.75, 7.87) were significant factors of antimicrobial resistance knowledge. Conclusion In the current study, about 84.5% of health professionals had good knowledge of antimicrobial resistance. Reducing working hours per week and increasing the experience of workers are recommended to increase the knowledge on AMR.
Great “Space Weather Events” in March 1653 and September 1672 Were Not Supported With Simultaneous/Clustering Auroral Observations During the Maunder Minimum

The solar activity has been significantly weakened during the Maunder Minimum (MM: 1645–1715), whereas it has been somewhat controversial to reconstruct the actual solar-activity magnitude and the space weather activity in this interval. Here, the East Asian records provide unique references for the low-latitude aurorae in the MM, particularly with the (quasi-)simultaneous candidate auroral accounts in March 1653 and September 1672. These cases have formed unique cases for the intense space weather events and solar-terrestrial interactions in the MM. In particular, the former has been regarded as “virtually incontrovertible evidence” for an intense geomagnetic storm in the Maunder Minimum, despite significant suppression of the solar activity therein. Thus, this record has attracted scientific interpretations on the physical mechanism. However, our philological analyses have traced these source records further back to their original sources and have detected chronological problems in the Japanese source documents. For the 1653 March event, we have identified that the Japanese record retrospectively referred to a hearsay report between 31 December 1652 and 28 January 1653, instead of one on 2 March 1653. Our modification has been verified in two additional contemporary records. In addition, we have further analysed the candidate auroral report of 21 September 1672, which has been subjected to the doubts on the chronological errors. Herein, we have consulted contemporary records and reinforced the revised date of 7 September 1635. Our philological study has cast serious caveats on the reliability of the (quasi-)simultaneous East Asian records for candidate aurorae during the Maunder Minimum, emphasised the importance of philological studies on the auroral records, and highlighted that further discussions are required on the solar–terrestrial environment in the grand solar minima.
A Standardized Extract of Lentinula edodes Cultured Mycelium Inhibits Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infectivity Mechanisms

The priority pathogen list of the World Health Organization classified Pseudomonas aeruginosa as the second top critical pathogen. Hence, the development of novel antibacterial strategies to tackle this bacterium is highly necessary. Herein we explore the potential antibacterial effect of a standardized extract of cultured mycelium of Lentinula edodes (AHCC®) on P. aeruginosa. AHCC® was found to inhibit the growth rate and biofilm formation of strain PAO1. No change in swarming was observed, but AHCC® hampered swimming and twitching motility. In accordance, a decreased expression of metabolism, growth, and biofilm formation genes was shown. AHCC® also diminished the levels of exotoxin A and bacteria inside IEC18 cells and the secretion of IL-6, IL-10 and TNF by infected macrophages. This effect was related to a reduced phosphorylation of MAPKs and to bacteria internalization. Taken together, our data suggest that AHCC® has a potential role to prevent P. aeruginosa infections and may lead to the development of new therapies.
One Ferroptosis-Related Gene-Pair Signature Serves as an Original Prognostic Biomarker in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Lung adenocarcinoma is the most common histological subtype of lung cancer which causes the largest number of deaths worldwide. Exploring reliable prognostic biomarkers based on biological behaviors and molecular mechanisms is essential for predicting prognosis and individualized treatment strategies. Ferroptosis is a recently discovered type of regulated cell death. We downloaded ferroptosis-related genes from the literature and collected transcriptome profiles of lung adenocarcinoma from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) to construct ferroptosis-related gene-pair matrixes. Then, we performed the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression to build our prognostic ferroptosis-related gene-pair index (FRGPI) in TCGA training matrix. Our study validated FRGPI through ROC curves, Kaplan–Meier methods, and Cox hazard analyses in TCGA and GEO cohorts. The optimal cut-off 0.081 stratified patients into low- and high-FRGPI groups. Also, the low-FRGPI group had a significantly better prognosis than the high-FRGPI group. For further study, we analyzed differentially expressed ferroptosis-related genes between high- and low-FRGPI groups. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) enrichment maps indicated that “cell cycle,” “DNA replication,” “proteasome,” and “the p53 signaling pathway” were significantly enriched in the high-FRGPI group. The high-FRGPI group also presented higher infiltration of M1 macrophages. Meanwhile, there were few differences in adaptive immune responses between high- and low-FRGPI groups. In conclusion, FRGPI was an independent prognostic biomarker which might be beneficial for guiding individualized tumor therapy.
A Cooperative Shared Control Scheme Based on Intention Recognition for Flexible Assembly Manufacturing

Human–robot collaboration (HRC) has been widely utilized in industrial manufacturing and requires a human to cooperate with a robot at the same workspace. However, as HRC focuses on workspace sharing along with independent work, it is not a real collaboration between a human and a robot and, thus, cannot guarantee a smooth cooperation and synchronous operation. To this end, a cooperative shared control scheme based on intention recognition is proposed in this study by sharing workspace and time. In the proposed method, a classification algorithm based on three-dimensional (3D) point cloud is utilized to recognize the human operation intention. Then, the robot can select a suitable tool to match the human's operation. A robot motion control algorithm is developed to detect the obstacles in the HRC process. A cooperative control strategy is introduced to achieve synchronous operation. A simple assembly task is also performed to demonstrate the proposed scheme's effectiveness. The proposed HRC method with shared control can be extended to more complicated and delicate flexible tasks in assembly manufacturing.
Surfactant Administration Through Laryngeal or Supraglottic Airways (SALSA): A Viable Method for Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries

Administration of liquid surfactant through an endotracheal tube for the treatment of respiratory distress syndrome has been the standard of care for decades. A skilled health care provider is needed to perform this procedure. In lower-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), healthcare resources are often limited, leading to increased mortality of premature infants, many of whom would benefit from surfactant administration. Therefore, having a simplified procedure for delivery of surfactant without the need for advanced skills could be life-saving, potentially diminish gaps in care, and help ensure more equitable global neonatal survival rates. Modifications to the standard approach of surfactant administration have been put into practice and these include: INtubation-SURfactant-Extubation (INSURE), thin catheter surfactant administration (TCA), aerosolized surfactant, and surfactant administration through laryngeal or supraglottic airways (SALSA). Although there is a need for larger studies to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of these newer methods, these methods are being embraced by the global community and being implemented in various settings throughout the world. Because the SALSA technique does not require laryngoscopy, a provider skilled in laryngoscopy is not required for the procedure. Therefore, because of the ease of use and safety profile, the SALSA technique should be strongly considered as a viable method of delivering surfactant in LMICs.
Detecting Rare Species With Passive Sampling Tools: Optimizing the Duration and Frequency of Sampling for Benthic Taxa

The choice of the duration and frequency of sampling to detect relevant patterns in field experiments or for environmental monitoring is always challenging since time and material resources are limited. In practice, duration and frequency of sampling are often chosen based on logistical constraints, experience, or practices described in published works but are rarely justified and almost never optimized before initiating sampling. Settlement plates are commonly used as a passive sampling tool to study recruitment patterns of fouling organisms (including non-indigenous species) and their deployment is amenable to experimentation with respect to manipulating duration and frequency of sampling. This study aimed to determine the optimal sampling strategy to detect rare species (e.g., a non-indigenous species early in the invasion process when its population size is still small). To do so, we deployed a series of settlement plates of various durations (1–32 days) and sampling frequencies (daily to biweekly) during the seasonal onset of recruitment, when larval supply was low, a situation that mimics the low propagule pressure of the early stages of the invasion process. We demonstrated that a combination of longer sampling duration and higher sampling frequency was the best strategy to maximize taxonomic richness. However, we found that an intermediate sampling duration of 1–2 weeks was optimal for detecting most species. These results can guide species-specific and assemblage-level sampling strategies using settlement plates. Additionally, this study can serve as a practical template for optimizing sampling of other taxonomic groups that were not examined in the present study as well as for the use of other methods.
Running Together: How Sports Partners Keep You Running

We examined how recreational runners benefit from running with others to maintain a consistent training regimen over time. We used data from the ABS project (“Always Keep Active”). Our sample consisted of more than 800 individuals who had registered to participate in the 2019 edition of the 7K or 15K Seven Hills Run (Nijmegen, The Netherlands) for the first time. Taking advantage of this three-wave, individual-level panel data, we found that increases over time in the number of co-runners (of any ability level) are related to increases in the number of weekly running sessions. The probability of turning up at the Seven Hills Run was positively related to the number of equally or less competent co-runners, and to the number with whom respondents also discussed important matters on a frequent basis. Our recreational athletes differed in the extent to which they expressed social motivations to run. However, among these athletes, the positive impact of sports partners on sport outcomes did not depend on the importance of social motives. Our study demonstrates that social networks play an important role in maintaining a consistent training habit and in reaching set goals (i.e., participating in a race).