Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring the Relationship Between Substance Use and Allostatic Load in a Treatment/Research Cohort and in a US Probability Sample (NHANES 2009–2016)

Allostatic load, an operationalization for cumulative strain on physiology from adaptation (allostasis) to stress over a lifetime, can manifest as damage to cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and metabolic systems. The concept of allostatic load may be particularly useful in research on substance-use disorders (SUDs) because SUD researchers have sought to better understand the relationship between chronic stressors and drug use. Theoretical models hold that SUDs can be conceptualized as a spiral toward a state of persistent allostasis (i.e., allostasis so persistent as to represent homeostasis at a new, unhealthy set point). Regardless of the extent to which those models are accurate, increased allostatic load could be a mechanism by which frequent drug administration increases risk for adverse outcomes. We conducted two secondary analyses to evaluate allostatic load in the context of drug use, including alcohol use, in a locally recruited sample with a high proportion of illicit substance use (N = 752) and in a nationally representative sample from the NHANES 2009–2016. We hypothesized that after controlling for age and other potential confounds, people with longer histories of drug use would have higher allostatic-load scores. Multiple regression was used to predict allostatic load from participants' drug-use histories while controlling for known confounds. In the locally recruited sample, we found that longer lifetime use of cocaine or opioids was related to increased allostatic load. In NHANES 2009–2016, we found few or no such associations. Lengthy histories of problematic non-medical substance use may facilitate more rapid increases in allostatic load than aging alone, and, together with findings from previous investigations, this finding suggests increased risk for chronic disease.
Angiocrine Regulation of Epithelial Barrier Integrity in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Inflammatory bowel disease describes chronic inflammatory disorders. The incidence of the disease is rising. A major step in disease development is the breakdown of the epithelial cell barrier. Numerous blood vessels are directly located underneath this barrier. Diseased tissues are heavily vascularized and blood vessels significantly contribute to disease progression. The gut-vascular barrier (GVB) is an additional barrier controlling the entry of substances into the portal circulation and to the liver after passing the first epithelial barrier. The presence of the GVB rises the question, whether the vascular and endothelial barriers may communicate bi-directionally in the regulation of selective barrier permeability. Communication from epithelial to endothelial cells is well-accepted. In contrast, little is known on the respective backwards communication. Only recently, perfusion-independent angiocrine functions of endothelial cells were recognized in a way that endothelial cells release specific soluble factors that may directly act on the epithelial barrier. This review discusses the putative involvement of angiocrine inter-barrier communication in the pathogenesis of IBD.
Functional Classification of Super-Large Families of Enzymes Based on Substrate Binding Pocket Residues for Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering Applications

Large enzyme families such as the groups of zinc-dependent alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs), long chain alcohol oxidases (AOxs) or amine dehydrogenases (AmDHs) with, sometimes, more than one million sequences in the non-redundant protein database and hundreds of experimentally characterized enzymes are excellent cases for protein engineering efforts aimed at refining and modifying substrate specificity. Yet, the backside of this wealth of information is that it becomes technically difficult to rationally select optimal sequence targets as well as sequence positions for mutagenesis studies. In all three cases, we approach the problem by starting with a group of experimentally well studied family members (including those with available 3D structures) and creating a structure-guided multiple sequence alignment and a modified phylogenetic tree (aka binding site tree) based just on a selection of potential substrate binding residue positions derived from experimental information (not from the full-length sequence alignment). Hereupon, the remaining, mostly uncharacterized enzyme sequences can be mapped; as a trend, sequence grouping in the tree branches follows substrate specificity. We show that this information can be used in the target selection for protein engineering work to narrow down to single suitable sequences and just a few relevant candidate positions for directed evolution towards activity for desired organic compound substrates. We also demonstrate how to find the closest thermophile example in the dataset if the engineering is aimed at achieving most robust enzymes.
The Relationship Between SNS Usage and Disordered Eating Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) are common tools with which modern people share their lives and establish social relationships. However, some studies have found SNSs to be associated with eating disorders, although other have identified no connection between the two. To explore the interaction between SNSs and eating disorder behaviors, this study aimed to comprehensively synthesize previous studies using meta-analysis methods. Based on selection criteria, there were 87 effect sizes from 22 studies. After analysis using a three-level random-effects meta-analysis model, a positive correlation between the use of SNSs and irregular eating behaviors was found, r = 0.09 (95% CI: 0.06, 0.11; p < 0.001). In addition, by analyzing potential moderators, body mass index (r = −0.032; 95% CI: −0.058, −0.006; p = 0.019), survey methods, and sample sources was discovered could alter the relationship between SNSs and disordered eating behaviors. Specifically, there was a significantly larger association between SNSs results obtained by paper and pencil surveys and disordered eating behaviors (r = 0.114; 95% CI: 0.081, 0.147; p < 0.001) than that between SNSs results obtained by online surveys and disordered eating behaviors (r = −0.055; 95% CI: −0.102, −0.007; p < 0.01). University students showed a larger correlation between SNSs and disordered eating behavior than other samples (r = 0.089; 95% CI: 0.049, 0.129; p < 0.001). Overall, this meta-analysis confirms that the excessive use of SNSs is associated with an increased risks of disordered eating behaviors. It is hoped that this study can provide a reference for the management and intervention of dietary behaviors related to social networks in the future.
Tunable microwave transmission in a periodically corrugated waveguide

The main physical phenomenon caused by periodicity is Bragg reflection. It results in the opening of the forbidden gap in the spectrum of the periodic structure. The Bragg reflection occurs both in the case of unbounded periodic medium as well as in a case of a bounded periodic structure like a periodic waveguide. However, in the waveguide geometry dispersions become more complex due to their folding and crossing. As a result, besides Bragg reflections there arise non-Bragg reflections in the periodic waveguide. The spectrum of a planar waveguide acquires qualitatively new, and very promising from practical point of view, features if the periodicity is introduced into the waveguide by the lateral modulation. In the latter case the transmission properties become controllable due to opportunity to change the lateral modulation profile. For example, gaps can be tuned by means of shifting of periodic boundaries [1-3].
Systematic Review of Intrapartum Fetal Heart Rate Spectral Analysis and an Application in the Detection of Fetal Acidemia

It is fundamental to diagnose fetal acidemia as early as possible, allowing adequate obstetrical interventions to prevent brain damage or perinatal death. The visual analysis of cardiotocography traces has been complemented by computerized methods in order to overcome some of its limitations in the screening of fetal hypoxia/acidemia. Spectral analysis has been proposed by several studies exploring fetal heart rate recordings while referring to a great variety of frequency bands for integrating the power spectrum. In this paper, the main goal was to systematically review the spectral bands reported in intrapartum fetal heart rate studies and to evaluate their performance in detecting fetal acidemia/hypoxia. A total of 176 articles were reviewed, from MEDLINE, and 26 were included for the extraction of frequency bands and other relevant methodological information. An open-access fetal heart rate database was used, with recordings of the last half an hour of labor of 246 fetuses. Four different umbilical artery pH cutoffs were considered for fetuses' classification into acidemic or non-acidemic: 7.05, 7.10, 7.15, and 7.20. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was used to quantify the frequency bands' ability to distinguish acidemic fetuses. Bands referring to low frequencies, mainly associated with neural sympathetic activity, were the best at detecting acidemic fetuses, with the more severe definition (pH ≤ 7.05) attaining the highest values for the AUROC. This study shows that the power spectrum analysis of the fetal heart rate is a simple and powerful tool that may become an adjunctive method to CTG, helping healthcare professionals to accurately identify fetuses at risk of intrapartum hypoxia and to implement timely obstetrical interventions to reduce the incidence of related adverse perinatal outcomes.
Experience and Management of Fear in Men's World Cup Alpine Ski Racing

Alpine ski racers, specifically in the discipline of downhill, may experience fear competing in such a high-risk environment. The purpose of this study was to explore Canadian national team men's experience and management of fear in World Cup alpine ski racing. This study uses an interpretive phenomenological analysis, conducted with five male members of the Canadian national ski team. Three themes emerged: contextual influences, preparation and process, and risk vs. reward. The findings indicate one's experience and management of fear may be influenced by contextual factors (e.g., weather, course profile) and confidence, and that confidence is influenced by the same situational factors that influence fear as well as athlete preparation. There currently exists a discrepancy between the athletes' approaches to training and racing, making it difficult to master fear management strategies. As a result of the discrepancy created between training and racing, there are several implications for how the national team environment and training is structured, and we present recommendations for how these findings can be applied to training.
Size-Fractionated Biogenic Silica Standing Stocks and Carbon Biomass in the Western Tropical North Pacific: Evidence for the Ecological Importance of Pico-Sized Plankton in Oligotrophic Gyres

Biogenic silica (bSi) standing stocks and carbon (C) biomass of small plankton are rarely studied together in previous analyses, especially in oligotrophic gyres. Within the oligotrophic western tropical North Pacific, based on size-fractionated bSi and biovolume-derived C analyses in three size fractions (i.e., 0.2–2; 2–20; >20 μm), we observed that picophytoplankton (<2 μm) contributed a measurable and significant proportion of both bSi standing stocks and C biomass. The estimated contributions of pico-sized fraction to total bSi standing stocks and living C biomass averaged 66 and 49%, respectively, indicating the ecological importance of small plankton in the Si and C cycles in oligotrophic areas. In contrast, the average contributions of large diatoms (i.e., cells >2 μm) to total bSi standing stocks and living C biomass were 9 and 16%, respectively, suggesting that the role of diatoms in marine Si and C cycles may have been overestimated in previous analyses. Due to the overwhelming predominance of picocyanobacteria in the oligotrophic western tropical North Pacific, their contributions to total bSi stocks and C biomass were quantitatively important and accounted for more of the bSi and C associated with living cells than did diatoms. In addition, water temperature and light intensity were likely the key determinants of the variations in size-fractionated bSi standing stocks and living C biomass, but not nutrient availability. Collectively, these findings encourage a reconsideration of the previously underestimated role of small plankton in understanding the Si and C cycles in the ocean, and may provide insights into the interpretations of disproportionate budgets of Si and C in oligotrophic oceans.
Laminar Burning Velocities of Fuels for Advanced Combustion Engines (FACE) Gasoline and Gasoline Surrogates with and without Ethanol Blending Associated with Octane Rating

ABSTRACT Laminar burning velocities of fuels for advanced combustion engines (FACE) C gasoline and of several blends of surrogate toluene reference fuels (TRFs) (n-heptane, iso-octane, and toluene mixtures) of the same research octane number are presented. Effects of ethanol addition on laminar flame speed of FACE-C and its surrogate are addressed. Measurements were conducted using a constant volume spherical combustion vessel in the constant pressure, stable flame regime at an initial temperature of 358 K and initial pressures up to 0.6 MPa with the equivalence ratios ranging from 0.8 to 1.6. Comparable values in the laminar burning velocities were measured for the FACE-C gasoline and the proposed surrogate fuel (17.60% n-heptane + 77.40% iso-octane + 5% toluene) over the range of experimental conditions. Sensitivity of flame propagation to total stretch rate effects and thermo-diffusive instability was quantified by determining Markstein length. Two percentages of an oxygenated fuel of ethanol as an additive, namely, 60 vol% and 85 vol% were investigated. The addition of ethanol to FACE-C and its surrogate TRF-1 (17.60% n-heptane + 77.40% iso-octane + 5% toluene) resulted in a relatively similar increase in the laminar burning velocities. The high-pressure measured values of Markstein length for the studied fuels blended with ethanol showed minimal influence of ethanol addition on the flame’s response to stretch rate and thermo-diffusive instability.
Regulation of filopodia dynamics is critical for proper synapse formation

ii LIST OF TABLES. vi LIST OF FIGURES . vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. xi DEDICATION. xii CO-AUTHORSHIP STATEMENT. xiii 1. CHAPTER I: Overview and Summary. 1 1.1. Wiring of the Brain. 1 1.2. Dendritic Filopodia. 2 1.2. 1. Structure and Function of Dendritic Filopodia . 2 1.2. 2. Filopodia Development: the Actin Cytoskeleton and Actin-Binding Proteins. 4 1.2. 3. The Rho family of GTPases . 5 1.2. 4. Signaling Pathways Connecting Cdc42 to the Actin Cytoskeleton. 9 1.2. 5. A Role for Acylated Proteins in Filopodia Formation. 11 1.2. 6. Palmitoylated Proteins and their Role in Filopodia Formation. 14 1.3. A Role for Filopodia in Synaptogenesis. 15 1.3. 1. Axo-Dendritic Contact Formation. 15 1.3. 2. Synaptogenesis at Filopodial Contact Sites. 15 1.4. Molecules that Regulate Synaptogenesis . 17 1.4. 1. Trans-Synaptic Signaling: Neuroligins and Neurexins . 18 1.4. 2. Scaffolding molecules . 19 1.4. 3. The Role of Shank1B in Synaptogenesis . 20 1.5. A Role for Filopodia in Dendritic Spine Formation . 21 1.5. 1. Structure and Function of Dendritic Spines . 21 1.5. 2. Spine abnormalities and brain disorders. 23 1.5. 3. Spinogenesis: Different Views on the Origin of Dendritic Spines . 24 1.5. 4. The Filopodia Hypothesis. 25 1.5. 5. Reconciling the Different Models . 27 1.6. Research Hypothesis and Objectives. 28 1.7. References . 31 2. CHAPTER II: Regulation of dendritic branching and filopodia formation by specific acylated protein motifs. 46 2.
Effective Dissolution of Biomass in Ionic Liquids by Irradiation of Non-Thermal Atmospheric Pressure Plasma

Biomass was dissolved in ionic liquids under non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma irradiation. On plasma irradiation, the amount of dissolved biomass in the ionic liquids increased from 15 to 29 mg for bagasse and from 26 to 36 mg for Japanese cedar. The high solubility was attributed to the deconstruction of the lignin network by active chemical species generated by the plasma. Selective extraction of cellulose from biomass was observed under plasma irradiation.
HIGH PURITY MESOPOROUS Γ-AL2O3 FROM KANO KAOLIN IN THE PRESENCE OF POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL 6000 (PEG-6000) SURFACTANT

Mesoporous γ-Al 2 O 3 with large surface area and narrow pore size was synthesized from acid-leachates of calcined kaolin in the presence of polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG-6000) surfactant at room temperature. The synthesized alumina was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Nitrogen adsorption-desorption, Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and thermogravimetric-Derivative thermal analysis (TG-DTA). High-purity mesoporous γ-Al 2 O 3 with large surface area of 365.1 m 2 /g, narrow pore size distribution centred at 5.3 nm and pore volume of 0.46 cm 3 /g was obtained at 500 o C. When the calcination temperature has increased to 700 o C, the surface area decreased to 272.9 m 2 /g. Crystallite size calculated using Scherer’s equation revealed the average size of 4.33 and 4.12 nm for alumina calcined at 500 and 700 o C, respectively. The excellent pore structural properties (high surface area and large pore volume) of the synthesized mesoporous γ-alumina in the present study will allow for higher loading of active catalytic phases, as such it can be used as catalyst support.
Preliminary Investigation on Phytoplankton Dynamics and Primary Production Models in an Oligotrophic Lake from Remote Sensing Measurements

The aim of this study is to test a series of methods relying on hyperspectral measurements to characterize phytoplankton in clear lake waters. The phytoplankton temporal evolutions were analyzed exploiting remote sensed indices and metrics linked to the amount of light reaching the target (EPAR), the chlorophyll-a concentration ([Chl-a]OC4) and the fluorescence emission proxy. The latter one evaluated by an adapted version of the Fluorescence Line Height algorithm (FFLH). A peculiar trend was observed around the solar noon during the clear sky days. It is characterized by a drop of the FFLH metric and the [Chl-a]OC4 index. In addition to remote sensed parameters, water samples were also collected and analyzed to characterize the water body and to evaluate the in-situ fluorescence (FF) and absorbed light (FA). The relations between the remote sensed quantities and the in-situ values were employed to develop and test several phytoplankton primary production (PP) models. Promising results were achieved replacing the FA by the EPAR or FFLH in the equation evaluating a PP proxy (R2 > 0.65). This study represents a preliminary outcome supporting the PP monitoring in inland waters by means of remote sensing-based indices and fluorescence metrics.
Aligned Disentangling GAN: A Leap towards End-to-end Unsupervised Nuclei Segmentation

We consider unsupervised cell nuclei segmentation in this paper. Exploiting the recently-proposed unpaired image-to-image translation between cell nuclei images and randomly synthetic masks, existing approaches, e.g . Cycle-GAN, have achieved encouraging results. However, these methods usually take a two-stage pipeline and fail to learn end-to-end in cell nuclei images. More seriously, they could lead to the lossy transformation problem, i.e., the content inconsistency between the original images and the corresponding segmentation output. To address these limitations, we propose a novel end-to-end unsupervised framework called Aligned Disentangling Generative Adversarial Network (AD-GAN). Distinctively, AD-GAN introduces representation disentanglement to separate content representation (the underling spatial structure) from style representation (the rendering of the structure). With this framework, spatial structure can be preserved explicitly, enabling a signiﬁcant reduction of macro-level lossy transformation. We also propose a novel training algorithm able to align the disentangled content in the latent space to reduce micro-level lossy transformation. Evaluations on real-world 2D and 3D datasets show that AD-GAN substantially outperforms the other comparison methods and the professional software both quantitatively and qualitatively. Speciﬁcally, the proposed AD-GAN leads to signiﬁcant improvement over the current best unsupervised methods by an average 17 . 8% relatively (w.r.
Comparative analysis of power production of pure, coculture, and mixed culture in a microbial fuel cell

ABSTRACT In the present work, a comparative analysis of the power production of pure culture, coculture, and mixed culture in a dual-chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC) was performed. Bacillus thuringiensis DRR-1 and Paracoccus homiensis DRR-3 produced 180 mV and 300 mV, respectively, as pure cultures. However, when the two bacteria are inoculated in an equal proportion in the same MFC, they gave 300 mV and 0.010 mA. The cyclic voltammograms (CVs) obtained for both the pure culture and coculture supported the I–V graphs and confirmed the electrochemical activity of the microbes. The combination of the five bacterial strains in a single MFC yielded a significant amount of voltage (500 mV).
Supplementary Materials: Robust Asymmetric Learning in POMDPs

t Time Discrete time step Z Discrete time step used in integration. Indexes other values. st State Full state, compact S = R State space of the MDP. Sufficient to fully define state of the environment. state, omniscient state ot Observation Partial observation RA×B×. O = Observed value in POMDP, emitted conditional on state. State is generally not identifiable from observation. Conditionally dependent only on state. at Action A = R Interaction made with the environment at time t. rt Reward R Value received at time t indicating performance. Maximising sum of rewards is the objective. bt Belief state B qπ Trajectory distribution Q : Π → (A×B ×O ×S × R) Process of sampling trajectories using the policy π. If the process is fully observed O = ∅. τ0:t Trajectory Rollouts × R) (A × B × O × S Sequence of tuples containing state, next state, observation, action and reward.
Modelling of gas diffusion limitations in Ni/YSZ electrode material in CO2 and co-electrolysis

electrolysis DTU Orbit (08/12/2018) Modelling of gas diffusion limitations in Ni/YSZ electrode material in CO2 and co-electrolysis Carbon formation during CO2 and co-electrolysis (combined electrolysis of H2O and CO2)has been observed in recent studies, under operating conditions where carbon formation,based on the bulk gas composition, should be thermodynamically unfavorable. The carboncan principally be formed by the Boudouard reaction (2CO à CO2 + C(s)) or the COreduction reaction (CO+H2 à H2O + C(s)), and will disintegrate the cell structure as itgrows. It is therefore of great importance to be able to predict when the carbon is formed,and subsequently take actions to prevent formation.The literature offers suggestions that the carbon formation is caused by diffusionlimitations within the Ni/YSZ electrode, but this has not been verified. To do so, thediffusion has been modelled with the dusty gas model and the effect of the electrodetortuosity , porosity , temperature T, electrode thickness dc, and current density i, hasbeen investigated. It is shown that diffusion limitations on reactant transport may lead tovery significant increases in equilibrium temperatures for the two carbon forming reactions.For given electrode properties (e, t and dc) increasing current density leads to increasingequilibrium temperatures. The model can be used to calculate limitations on operatingconditions (T, i) that ensure no carbon formation.