Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Monte Carlo simulation of the grand canonical ensemble

A Monte Carlo method of simulation of the grand canonical ensemble based on the concept of maximum number of molecules is applied to the 6 : 12 Lennard-Jones fluid and the results compared with Adams' [1] at T*=1·15 and 1·25. The method generates equally reliable data using a much smaller number of molecules. Fluid states near a phase transition are simulated.
Training Large-Scale News Recommenders with Pretrained Language Models in the Loop

News recommendation calls for deep insights of news articles' underlying semantics. Therefore, pretrained language models (PLMs), like BERT and RoBERTa, may substantially contribute to the recommendation quality. However, it's extremely challenging to have news recommenders trained together with such big models: the learning of news recommenders requires intensive news encoding operations, whose cost is prohibitive if PLMs are used as the news encoder. In this paper, we propose a novel framework, SpeedyFeed, which efficiently trains PLMs-based news recommenders of superior quality. SpeedyFeed is highlighted for its light-weight encoding pipeline, which gives rise to three major advantages. Firstly, it makes the intermediate results fully reusable for the training workflow, which removes most of the repetitive but redundant encoding operations. Secondly, it improves the data efficiency of the training workflow, where non-informative data can be eliminated from encoding. Thirdly, it further saves the cost by leveraging simplified news encoding and compact news representation. SpeedyFeed leads to more than 100x acceleration of the training process, which enables big models to be trained efficiently and effectively over massive user data. The well-trained PLMs-based model significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art news recommenders in comprehensive offline experiments. It is applied to Microsoft News to empower the training of large-scale production models, which demonstrate highly competitive online performances. SpeedyFeed is also a model-agnostic framework, thus being potentially applicable to a wide spectrum of content-based recommender systems. We've made the source code open to the public so as to facilitate research and applications in related areas.
Machine Learning for automatic assessment of the risk related to web tracking

This work aims at understanding today’s tracking ecosystem and using machine learning tools to automatically assess the risk connected to web trackers and assigning to websites a risk indicator score. The web is a highly dynamic ecosystem and each user browses dozens of websites everyday, encountering a large number of trackers. Trackers serve diﬀerent purposes, and while some of them help to improve a user’s experience on a website, others can be more or less malicious, collecting diﬀerent kinds and diﬀerent amounts of data in order to build user proﬁles, and users are often unaware of their presence. Assigning a risk indicator to websites would make users better aware of the whole web ecosystem and would improve the user’s experience as a ﬁrst step toward a better protection of their data. In this thesis, machine learning algorithms are used to classify third party domains into non-tracking and tracking domains, based on features extracted from HTTP requests. Then, a risk indicator score is assigned to ﬁrst party websites depending on the number of trackers contacted and the pervasiveness of these trackers. Trackers that appear on many websites and that collect a high amount of users’ data are considered more dangerous in terms of users’ privacy. The classiﬁcation performs well enough and shows that machine learning algorithms can be considered for the detection of trackers in the web. The estimation of the tracking risk associated to a ﬁrst party website represents a ﬁrst step towards a more detailed labelling that should help users to be more aware of tracking practices and how much they are used on websites they wish to visit. The results of this work, both from the classiﬁcation part and from the risk indicator score assignment, also give a picture of the web itself and of its tracking ecosystem, showing how much trackers are present, even if they often are unnoticed by users in everyday activities.
Health Care Students’ Knowledge of and Attitudes, Beliefs, and Practices Toward the French COVID-19 App: Cross-sectional Questionnaire Study

Background Many countries worldwide have developed mobile phone apps capable of supporting instantaneous contact tracing to control the COVID-19 pandemic. In France, a few people have downloaded and are using the StopCovid contact tracing app. Students in the health domain are of particular concern in terms of app uptake. Exploring their use and opinions about the app can inform improvements and diffusion of StopCovid among young people. Objective The aim of this study is to investigate health care students’ knowledge of and attitudes, beliefs, and practices (KABP) toward the StopCovid app. Methods A field survey was conducted among 318 students at the health sciences campus of the University of Bordeaux, France, between September 25 and October 16, 2020. A quota sampling method was used, and descriptive statistics and univariate analyses were performed. Results Of the 318 respondents, 77.3% (n=246) had heard about the app, but only 11.3% (n=36) had downloaded it, and 4.7% (n=15) were still using it at the time of the survey. Among the 210 participants who had heard about the app but did not download it, the main reasons for not using the app were a belief that it was not effective given its limited diffusion (n=37, 17.6%), a lack of interest (n=37, 17.6%), and distrust in the data security and fear of being geolocated (n=33, 15.7%). Among the 72 students who had not heard of the app and were given a brief description of its functioning and confidentiality policy, 52.7% (n=38) said they would use it. Participants reported that the main solution for increasing the use of the app would be better communication about it (227/318, 71.4%). Conclusions Even among health students, the contact tracing app was poorly used. The findings suggest that improved communication about its advantages and simplicity of use as well as clarifying false beliefs about it could help improve uptake.
Monolayers of silver nanoparticles obtained by chemical reduction methods

Charge-stabilized silver particle suspensions were prepared by the chemical reduction of silver nitrate using various organic and inorganic reducing agents such as gallic acid, tannin, hydroxylamine hydrochloride, hypophospite, sodium hexametaphosphate, borohydride and trisodium citrate. The control of the size of nanoparticles was achieved by varying the stoichiometric ratio of reagents, resulting in monodisperse nanoparticles with the diameter in the range of 13–17 nm. Surface properties of obtained nanoparticles were determined by electrophoretic measurements over a wide range of ionic strength and pH. Knowing the mobility and size of particles, their effective electrokinetic charge and 2D electrokinetic charge densities were calculated. It was also confirmed by dynamic light scattering measurements that these sols were stable for ionic strength up to 0·03 M, and in the case of tannin, up to 0·1 M. Using these negatively charged suspensions, monolayers of silver particles on poly(allylamine hydrochlori.
Finite Element Simulations of Mechanical Behaviour of Endothelial Cells

Biomechanical models based on the finite element method have already shown their potential in the simulation of the mechanical behaviour of cells. For instance, development of atherosclerosis is accelerated by damage of the endothelium, a monolayer of endothelial cells on the inner surface of arteries. Finite element models enable us to investigate mechanical factors not only at the level of the arterial wall but also at the level of individual cells. To achieve this, several finite element models of endothelial cells with different shapes are presented in this paper. Implementing the recently proposed bendotensegrity concept, these models consider the flexural behaviour of microtubules and incorporate also waviness of intermediate filaments. The suspended and adherent cell models are validated by comparison of their simulated force-deformation curves with experiments from the literature. The flat and dome cell models, mimicking natural cell shapes inside the endothelial layer, are then used to simulate their response in compression and shear which represent typical loads in a vascular wall. The models enable us to analyse the role of individual cytoskeletal components in the mechanical responses, as well as to quantify the nucleus deformation which is hypothesized to be the quantity decisive for mechanotransduction.
Exercise-related blood pressure response is related to autonomic modulation in young adults: A new extension study

BACKGROUND: The delayed blood pressure recovery (BPR) at post-exercise has been in association with a major risk of cardiovascular disease and death. OBJECTIVE: The study focused on evaluating the systolic and diastolic blood pressure recovery (SBPR, DBPR) and the autonomic modulation following treadmill exercise in healthy young adults. Although considerable literature had been published about BPR and HRV, the association between BPR and ultra-short-term HRV has not yet been completely described. METHODS: Fifteen subjects performed exercise with three different intensities on a treadmill, the speed was 6 km/h, 9 km/h, 12 km/h, respectively. SBP and DBP was measured per 30 s in each trial. The synchronous 5-min electrocardiogram (ECG) signals were recorded and HRV30s parameters including SDNN30s, RMSSD30s, SDNN30s/RMSSD30s, SD130s, SD230s and SD130s/SD230s were calculated every 30 s periods in 5 min ECG signals to match the corresponding BPR. RESULTS: The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values and the Bland-Altman plots indicated good consistency and repeatability between HRV30s and HRV5min at three post-exercise trials, with most ICC values > 0.75. Besides, SBPR and DBPR generally decreased and returned to the Rest level in 5 mins. The Spearman correlation coefficients showed strong relationships between BPR and HRV30s sympathetic-vagal balance parameters, i.e., ratio SDNN/RMSSD and ratio SD1/SD2. CONCLUSIONS: These observations represented a new insight into the cardiovascular regulation at post-exercise, which could contribute to physical exercise areas in the future.
Molecular epidemiology of Respiratory Syncytial Virus in children in sub-Saharan Africa.

OBJECTIVES This study investigated the molecular epidemiology of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) among febrile children with acute respiratory tract infection in Ghana, Gabon, Tanzania and Burkina Faso between 2014-2017 as well as the evolution and diversification of RSV strains from other sub-Saharan countries. METHODS Pharyngeal swabs were collected at four study sites (Agogo, Ghana: n=490; Lambaréné, Gabon: n=182; Mbeya, Tanzania: n=293; Nouna, Burkina Faso: n=115) and analysed for RSV and other respiratory viruses using rtPCR. For RSV positive samples, sequence analysis of the second hypervariable region of the G-gene was performed. A dataset of RSV strains from sub-Saharan Africa (2011-2017) currently available in GenBank was compiled. Phylogenetic analysis was conducted to identify the diversity of circulating RSV genotypes. RESULTS In total, 46 samples tested RSV positive (Ghana n=31 (6.3%), Gabon n=4 (2.2%), Tanzania n=9 (3.1%), Burkina Faso n=2 (1.7%)). The most common RSV co-infection was with rhinovirus. All RSV-A strains clustered with genotype ON1 strains with a 72-nucleotide duplication and all RSV-B strains belonged to genotype BAIX. Phylogenetic analysis of amino acid sequences from sub-Saharan Africa revealed the diversification into 11 different ON1 and 22 different BAIX lineages and differentiation of ON1 and BAIX strains into potential new sub-genotypes, provisionally named ON1-NGR, BAIX-KEN1, BAIX-KEN2 and BAIX-KEN3. CONCLUSION The study contributes to an improved understanding of the molecular epidemiology of RSV infection in sub-Saharan Africa. It provides the first phylogenetic data for RSV from Tanzania, Gabon and Burkina Faso and combines it with RSV strains from all other sub-Saharan countries currently available in GenBank.
Magnitude and outcomes of complex perineal injury – A retrospective analysis of five years’ data from a Level 1 trauma centre

Complex perineal injuries pose a major diagnostic and therapeutic challenge to trauma surgeons. A retrospective review of the hospital records of 29 patients with complex perineal injury following blunt trauma was done. Demographic profile, management and outcomes were collected. Quality of life analysis was conducted for patients with complex perineal injuries who were discharged. The most predominant mode of injury was a road crash: being a pedestrian run over by a heavy motor vehicle. Pelvic fracture was seen in 20, anorectal involvement in 22 and urogenital injuries in 14. Urgent surgical debridement was done in all patients, faecal diversion in 27 and urinary diversion in 14. There were nine deaths, three from haemorrhage, and the remainder from sepsis and multi-organ dysfunction. Complex perineal injury remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in trauma patients. There is a need to ensure adequate rehabilitation services for such patients.
Stroke mimics: incidence, aetiology, clinical features and treatment

Abstract Mimics account for almost half of hospital admissions for suspected stroke. Stroke mimics may present as a functional (conversion) disorder or may be part of the symptomatology of a neurological or medical disorder. While many underlying conditions can be recognized rapidly by careful assessment, a significant proportion of patients unfortunately still receive thrombolysis and admission to a high-intensity stroke unit with inherent risks and unnecessary costs. Accurate diagnosis is important as recurrent presentations may be common in many disorders. A non-contrast CT is not sufficient to make a diagnosis of acute stroke as the test may be normal very early following an acute stroke. Multi-modal CT or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be helpful to confirm an acute ischaemic stroke and are necessary if stroke mimics are suspected. Treatment in neurological and medical mimics results in prompt resolution of the symptoms. Treatment of functional disorders can be challenging and is often incomplete and requires early psychiatric intervention.
Best Achievements in Clinical Medicine in Diabetes and Dyslipidemia in 2020

Over the last two decades, our understanding of diabetes and treatment strategies have evolved tremendously, from scientific, mechanistic, and human perspectives. The categories of anti-diabetic medications expanded from a few to numerous, enabling clinicians to personalize diabetes care and treatment. Thanks to rapid growth in the field of science and medical engineering, newer treatment options are coming to the market with various advantages and disadvantages to be aware of. Therefore, clinicians should rapidly adopt new trends based on guidelines and data from many clinical trials in the field of diabetes. In the treatment of dyslipidemia, trends and guidelines are changing every year, and novel therapies are being developed. In this review, we would like to summarize the major achievements in clinical medicine in 2020 in the field of diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia.
Biofabricating Multifunctional Soft Matter with Enzymes and Stimuli‐Responsive Materials

Methods that allow soft matter to be fabricated with controlled structure and function would be beneficial for applications ranging from flexible electronics to regenerative medicine. Here, the assembly of a multifunctional gelatin matrix is demonstrated by triggering its self‐assembly and then enzymatically assembling biological functionality. Triggered self‐assembly relies on electrodeposition of the pH‐responsive hydrogelator, 9‐fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl‐phenylalanine (Fmoc‐Phe), in response to electrical inputs that generate a localized pH‐gradient. Warm solutions of Fmoc‐Phe and gelatin are co‐deposited and, after cooling to room temperature, a physical gelatin network forms. Enzymatic assembly employs the cofactor‐independent enzyme microbial transglutaminase (mTG) to perform two functions: crosslink the gelatin matrix to generate a thermally stable chemical gel and conjugate proteins to the matrix. To conjugate globular proteins to gelatin these proteins are engineered to have short lysine‐rich or glutamine‐rich fusion tags to provide accessible residues for mTG‐catalysis. Viable bacteria can be co‐deposited and entrapped within the crosslinked gelatin matrix and can proliferate upon subsequent incubation. These results demonstrate the potential for enlisting biological materials and mechanisms to biofabricate multifunctional soft matter.
Relationship between Proton NMR Relaxation Time and Viscosity of Saccharide Solutions

Proton relaxation was measured in 1H-NMR for saccharide solutions. The proton relaxation curve for saccharide solutions was almost mono-exponential and spin-lattice (T1) and spin-spin relaxation (T2) times were determined from the curve. T1 and T2 were described well by the second order function of solute molality with the correlation coefficient over 0.994. The B-coefficients for T1 and T2 correlated well with the B-coefficient of viscosity and also with the number of equatorial OH groups of saccharide molecules, suggesting that the saccharide solution structure was reflected in these parameters in spite of the effect of proton exchange between water and solute.
Preliminary investigation of the diagnostic value of shear wave elastography in evaluating the testicular spermatogenic function in patients with azoospermia

To assess the diagnostic value of shear wave elastography (SWE) for evaluating the histological spermatogenic function of azoospermic males, 91 patients with azoospermia who underwent standardised greyscale ultrasound and SWE examinations followed by testicular biopsy were retrospectively recruited. Spermatogenic function was classified by biopsy as normal testicular spermatogenesis (n = 61), hypospermatogenesis (n = 18), spermatogenesis arrest (n = 6) and Sertoli cell‐only syndrome (n = 6). Significant differences in testicular size and SWE values were observed between these 4 groups (p < .01). The mean SWE value had good discrimination power (AUC = 0.79) with a cut‐off value of 1.55 KPa, a sensitivity of 0.58, specificity of 0.85, positive predictive value (PPV) of 0.36 and negative predictive value (NPV) of 0.93. Testicular volume had an AUC of 0.75. With a cut‐off value of 8.41 ml, the testicular volume had a sensitivity of 0.58, specificity of 0.92, PPV of 0.54 and NPV of 0.93. The mean SWE value and testicular volume efficiently discriminated patients with normal spermatogenesis and hypospermatogenesis from patients with Sertoli cell‐only syndrome and spermatogenesis arrest.
Protective effects of Re-yan-ning mixture on Streptococcus pneumonia in rats based on network pharmacology

Abstract Context Re-yan-ning mixture (RYNM) is a new national drug approved by China's State Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of colds, simple pneumonia and acute bronchitis. Objective To determine the mechanism of action of RYNM in the treatment of bacterial pneumonia. Materials and methods Using the network pharmacology approach, the multiple components, component candidate targets and multiple therapeutic targets of RYNM were screened and functionally enriched. Also, we established a rat Streptococcus pneumonia model to verify the results of network pharmacology enrichment analysis. Forty male SPF Sprague Dawley rats were divided into four groups of 10 rats: control (normal saline), model (normal saline), levofloxacin-intervened and RYNM-intervened groups. IL-10, NOS2, COX-1, IL-6, TNF-α and NF-κB in serum and BALF were detected by ELISA. Western blot detected IL-17, IL-6, TNF-α, COX-2 and Bcl-2. Results The network pharmacology approach successfully identified 48 bioactive components in RYNM, and 65 potential targets and 138 signal pathways involved in the treatment of Streptococcus pneumonia with RYNM. The in vivo experiments indicated that model group has visible inflammation and lesions while RYNM and levofloxacin groups have not. The RYNM exhibited its therapeutic effects on Streptococcus pneumonia mainly via the regulation of cell proliferation and survival through the IL-6/IL-10/IL-17, Bax/Bcl-2, COX-1/COX-2, NF-κB and TNF-α signalling pathways. Discussion and conclusions The present study demonstrated the protective effects of RYNM on Streptococcus pneumonia, providing a potential mechanism for the treatment of bacterial pneumonia with RYNM.
Study of Mn dissolution from LiMn{sub 2}O{sub 4} spinel electrodes using rotating ring-disk collection experiments

The goal of this research was to measure Mn dissolution from a thin porous spinel LiMn{sub 2}O{sub 4} electrode by rotating ring-disk collection experiments. The amount of Mn dissolution from the spinel LiMn{sub 2}O{sub 4} electrode under various conditions was detected by potential step chronoamperometry. The concentration of dissolved Mn was found to increase with increasing cycle numbers and elevated temperature. The dissolved Mn was not dependent on disk rotation speed, which indicated that the Mn dissolution from the disk was under reaction control. The in situ monitoring of Mn dissolution from the spinel was carried out under various conditions. The ring currents exhibited maxima corresponding to the end-of-charge (EOC) and end-of-discharge (EOD), with the largest peak at EOC. The results suggest that the dissolution of Mn from spinel LiMn{sub 2}O{sub 4} occurs during charge/discharge cycling, especially in a charged state (at >4.1 V) and in a discharged state (at <3.1 V). The largest peak at EOC demonstrated that Mn dissolution took place mainly at the top of charge. At elevated temperatures, the ring cathodic currents were larger due to the increase of Mn dissolution rate.
Human ORC/MCM density is low in active genes and correlates with replication time but does not delimit initiation zones

Eukaryotic DNA replication initiates during S phase from origins that have been licensed in the preceding G1 phase. Here, we compare ChIP-seq profiles of the licensing factors Orc2, Orc3, Mcm3, and Mcm7 with gene expression, replication timing, and fork directionality profiles obtained by RNA-seq, Repli-seq, and OK-seq. Both, the origin recognition complex (ORC) and the minichromosome maintenance complex (MCM) are significantly and homogeneously depleted from transcribed genes, enriched at gene promoters, and more abundant in early- than in late-replicating domains. Surprisingly, after controlling these variables, no difference in ORC/MCM density is detected between initiation zones, termination zones, unidirectionally replicating regions, and randomly replicating regions. Therefore, ORC/MCM density correlates with replication timing but does not solely regulate the probability of replication initiation. Interestingly, H4K20me3, a histone modification proposed to facilitate late origin licensing, was enriched in late-replicating initiation zones and gene deserts of stochastic replication fork direction. We discuss potential mechanisms specifying when and where replication initiates in human cells.