Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Sequential Dalbavancin With Standard-of-Care Treatment for Staphylococcus aureus Bloodstream Infections

Abstract Background Dalbavancin (DAL) is a long-acting lipoglycopeptide with activity against Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). This study investigates DAL as sequential therapy in S. aureus bloodstream infections (BSIs). Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study from 2014 to 2021 comparing sequential DAL with standard-of-care therapy (SoC) for S. aureus BSI. The primary outcome was 90-day clinical failure (90-day all-cause mortality or 90-day recurrence). Secondary outcomes were incidence of acute kidney injury, creatinine phosphokinase elevations, catheter-related thrombosis, and hospital-acquired infections. Analyses were adjusted using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). Results Overall, 225 patients (45 DAL, 180 SoC) were included. DAL patients had a higher incidence of community-acquired infection and persons who use drugs; SoC patients had more comorbidities and a longer duration of bacteremia. MRSA incidence was similar between the DAL and SoC groups. The median length of stay was 16 days among DAL recipients compared with 24 days among SoC recipients. Central catheter placement was 17.8% compared with 57.2% in the SoC group. Ninety-day clinical failure occurred in 13.3% and 18.3% of participants in the DAL and SOC groups, respectively. In IPTW-adjusted analysis, sequential DAL was not associated with 90-day clinical failure (adjusted odds ratio, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.333–2.32). Conclusions This study provides preliminary evidence that select patients with S. aureus BSI treated with sequential DAL have similar clinical failure rates, with significant reductions in catheter placement and hospital length of stay compared with SoC. Further prospective evaluation is needed.
“Everybody’s doing it”: Exploring the consequences of intergroup contact norms

Newcomers to a country can strongly benefit from having positive intergroup contact with host country residents. Often, however, such contact does not occur. Norms surrounding intergroup contact between newcomers and host country residents were explored over three studies. Correlational relationships among positive perceived contact norms, positive attitudes, and behavioural intentions supporting contact were demonstrated over multiple studies. Further, an experimental manipulation indicating higher (vs. lower and control) contact between host country residents and newcomers predicted behavioural intentions toward future intergroup contact through heightened intergroup contact norms and more positive attitudes toward newcomers. Implications of using norms as a means to impact intergroup relations are discussed.
Acoustic species distribution models (aSDMs): A framework to forecast shifts in calling behaviour under climate change

Species distribution models (SDMs) are a key tool for biogeography and climate change research, although current approaches have some significant drawbacks. The use of species occurrence constrains predictions of correlative models, while there is a general lack of eco‐physiological data to develop mechanistic models. Passive acoustic monitoring is an emerging technique in ecology that may help to overcome these limitations. By remotely tracking animal behaviour across species geographical ranges, researchers can estimate the climatic breadth of species activity and provide a baseline for refined predictive models. However, such integrative approach still remains to be developed. Here, we propose the following: (a) a general and transferable method to build acoustic SDMs, a novel tool combining acoustic and biogeographical information, (b) a detailed comparison with standard correlative and mechanistic models, (c) a step‐by‐step guide to develop aSDMs and (d) a study case to assess their effectiveness and illustrate model outputs, using a year‐round monitoring of calling behaviour of the Iberian tree frog at the thermal extremes of its distribution range. This method aims at forecasting changes in environmental suitability for acoustic communication, a key and climate‐dependent behaviour for a wide variety of animal taxa. aSDMs identified strong associations between calling behaviour and local environmental conditions and showed robust and consistent predictive performance using two alternative models (regression and boundary). Furthermore, these models better captured climatic variation than correlative models as they use observations at higher temporal resolution. These results support aSDMs as efficient tools to model calling behaviour under future climate scenarios. The proposed approach offers a promising basis to explore the capacity of vocal species to deal with climate change, supported by an innovative integration of two disciplines: bioacoustics and biogeography. aSMDs are grounded on ecologically realistic conditions and provide spatially and temporally explicit predictions on calling behaviour, with direct implications in reproduction and survival. This enables to precisely forecast shifts in breeding phenology, geographic distribution or species persistence. Our study demonstrates how acoustic monitoring may represent an increasingly valuable tool for climate change research.
Biochemical Interactions through Microscopic Techniques: Structural and Molecular Characterization

Many researchers and scientists have contributed significantly to provide structural and molecular characterizations of biochemical interactions using microscopic techniques in the recent decade, as these biochemical interactions play a crucial role in the production of diverse biomaterials and the organization of biological systems. The properties, activities, and functionalities of the biomaterials and biological systems need to be identified and modified for different purposes in both the material and life sciences. The present study aimed to review the advantages and disadvantages of three main branches of microscopy techniques (optical microscopy, electron microscopy, and scanning probe microscopy) developed for the characterization of these interactions. First, we explain the basic concepts of microscopy and then the breadth of their applicability to different fields of research. This work could be useful for future research works on biochemical self-assembly, biochemical aggregation and localization, biological functionalities, cell viability, live-cell imaging, material stability, and membrane permeability, among others. This understanding is of high importance in rapid, inexpensive, and accurate analysis of biochemical interactions.
Interpretable LSTM Based on Mixture Attention Mechanism for Multi-Step Residential Load Forecasting

Residential load forecasting is of great significance to improve the energy efficiency of smart home services. Deep-learning techniques, i.e., long short-term memory (LSTM) neural networks, can considerably improve the performance of prediction models. However, these black-box networks are generally unexplainable, which creates an obstacle for the customer to deeply understand forecasting results and rapidly respond to uncertain circumstances, as practical engineering requires a high standard of prediction reliability. In this paper, an interpretable deep-learning method is proposed to solve the multi-step residential load forecasting problem which is referred to as explainable artificial intelligence (XAI). An encoder–decoder network architecture based on multi-variable LSTM (MV-LSTM) is developed for the multi-step probabilistic-load forecasting. The mixture attention mechanism is introduced in each prediction time step to better capture the different temporal dynamics of multivariate sequence in an interpretable form. By evaluating the contribution of each variable to the forecast, multi-quantile forecasts at multiple future time steps can be generated. The experiments on the real data set show that the proposed method can achieve good prediction performance while providing valuable explanations for the prediction results. The findings help end users gain insights into the forecasting model, bridging the gap between them and advanced deep-learning techniques.
Large-scale Randomness Study of Security Margins for 100+ Cryptographic Functions

: The output of cryptographic functions, be it encryption routines or hash functions, should be statistically indistinguishable from a truly random data for an external observer. The property can be partially tested automatically using batteries of statistical tests. However, it is not easy in practice: multiple incompatible test suites exist, with possibly overlapping and correlated tests, making the statistically robust interpretation of results difficult. Additionally, a significant amount of data processing is required to test every separate cryptographic function. Due to these obstacles, no large-scale systematic analysis of the the round-reduced cryptographic functions w.r. t their input mixing capability, which would provide an insight into the behaviour of the whole classes of functions rather than few selected ones, was yet published. We created a framework to consistently run 414 statistical tests and their variants from the commonly used statistical testing batteries (NIST STS, Dieharder, TestU01, and BoolTest). Using the distributed computational cluster providing required significant processing power, we analyzed the output of 109 round-reduced cryptographic functions (hash, lightweight, and block-based encryption functions) in the multiple configurations, scrutinizing the mixing property of each one. As a result, we established the fraction of a function’s rounds with still detectable bias (a.k.a. security margin) when analyzed by randomness statistical tests.
Synthesis and In vitro Cytotoxic Evaluation of New Quinazolinone-Based Chalcones

Chalcones are a class of compounds with a wide range of biological activities. In addition, derivatives based on the quinazolinone skeleton are currently of interest to research in the screening of compounds with cytotoxic effects. Compounds containing chalcone structures on the basis of quinazolinone can yield new structures with cytotoxic effects. This article presents the synthesis of new quinazolinone-based chalcones 8a-j via a three step-procedure. The first step is the condensation of 5-hydroxyanthranilic acid (5) with acetic anhydride at reflux for 2 h to afford intermediate 6 in 87%. This intermediate was then reacted with 4-aminoacetophenone in acetic acid at reflux for 14 h to give 7 in 77 %. Finally, the reaction of 7 with different aldehydes in ethanol in the presence of NaOH at room temperature for 14 h furnished target compounds 8a-j in 57 - 75%. The structure of synthesized compounds was confirmed using 1H, 13C NMR and MS spectra. The bioassay results showed that several compounds displayed cytotoxic activity against two cell lines including HepG-2 and SKLu-1. Among synthesized compounds, 8c exhibited the strongest cytotoxic activity against SKLu-1 with IC50 value of 20.10 µM.
Super Compact Microstrip UWB BPF with Triple-Notched Bands

A new super compact ultra-wideband (UWB) bandpass filter (BPF) with triple-notched bands is presented in this paper. Firstly, a new square ring quad-mode resonator (SRQMR) is employed to obtain the initial UWB BPF. Then, a triple-mode stepped impedance resonator (SIR) is inserted into the initial UWB BPF to achieve three desired notched bands. The proposed triple-mode SIR is found to have the advantages of introducing triple-notched bands and provide a higher degree of freedom to adjust the resonant frequencies. To validate the design concept, a new super compact UWB BPF with triple-notched bands respectively centered at frequencies of 3.7 GHz, 5.2 GHz and 7.8 GHz is designed and measured. The predicted results are compared with measured data, and good agreement is reported.
Book Language and Its Implications for Children’s Language, Literacy, and Development

The onset of literacy marks a significant change in children’s development. Written language is more complex than everyday conversation, and even books targeted at preschoolers contain more varied words and more complex syntax than child-directed speech does. We review the nature and content of children’s book language, focusing on recent large-scale corpus analyses that systematically compared written and spoken language. We argue that exposure to book language provides opportunities for learning words and syntactic constructions that are only rarely encountered in speech and that, in turn, this rich experience drives further developments in language and literacy. Moreover, we speculate that the range, variety, depth, and sophistication of book language provide key input that promotes children’s social and emotional development. Becoming literate changes things, and researchers need to better understand how and why reading experience shapes people’s minds and becomes associated with a range of skills and abilities across the life span.
Clinical Effect of Minimally Invasive Percutaneous Pedicle Screw Internal Fixation Combined with Injured Vertebrae Bone Grafting in the Treatment of Thoracolumbar Fractures in Orthopedic Surgery

Objective To observe the clinical effect of minimally invasive percutaneous pedicle screw internal fixation combined with injured vertebrae bone grafting in the treatment of thoracolumbar fractures in orthopedic surgery. Methods A total of 132 patients with thoracolumbar fractures admitted to the hospital were enrolled between January 2020 and April 2021. Both groups underwent minimally invasive percutaneous pedicle screw internal fixation. According to the presence or absence of intraoperative injured vertebrae bone grafting, they were divided into the grafting group (73 cases) and the injured vertebrae ungrafted group (59 cases). The perioperative indexes, pain at 2 weeks after surgery, surgical stress, recovery of an injured vertebra, self-care ability, quality of life, and postoperative complications were compared between the two groups. Result There was no significant difference in intraoperative blood loss, operation time, or hospitalization time between the grafting group and the nongrafting group (P > 0.05). 2 weeks after surgery, scores of the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) in the grafting group were lower than those in the nongrafting group (P < 0.05). At 3d after surgery, levels of serum cortisol (COR), epinephrine (E), and norepinephrine (NE) in both groups were higher than those before surgery, which were lower in the grafting group than in the nongrafting group (P < 0.05). At 3 months after surgery, the anterior edge height of the injured vertebra in both groups was increased, which was higher in the grafting group than in the nongrafting group (P < 0.05). At 3 months after surgery, the Cobb angle of sagittal kyphosis in both groups was decreased, which was lower in the grafting group than that in the nongrafting group (P < 0.05). At 3 months after surgery, the scores of activity of daily living (ADL) and the MOS item-short form health survey (SF-36) in both groups were higher than those before surgery, which were higher in the grafting group than in the nongrafting group (P < 0.05). The difference in the incidence rate of injured vertebrae collapse, internal fixation breakage, or kyphosis between the grafting group and the nongrafting group was not statistically significant (1.37% vs 6.78%) (P > 0.05). Conclusion Minimally invasive percutaneous pedicle screw internal fixation combined with injured vertebrae bone grafting in orthopedic surgery can improve postoperative pain and surgical stress in patients with thoracolumbar fractures, which is conducive to the recovery of injured vertebrae and improvement in the quality of life.
Narrowing the age‐based digital divide: Developing digital capability through social activities

Healthcare information technologies (HIT) have shown great potential for improving the effectiveness and quality of healthcare services. However, the inequal ability of older adults to use HIT may limit their exploitation of these benefits. To narrow the age‐based “digital divide”, this research further develops the concept of digital capability and emphasises the link between older adults and their social context. Based on a qualitative inductive study of 33 participants, who included Chinese patients and their family members, we generate a novel theoretical model for understanding the process by which social activities may shape older adults' digital capabilities. Based on the model, we suggest two strategies that might encourage older adults to engage with HIT. This research contributes to the information systems (IS) literature by strengthening digital capability as a conceptual lens to investigate individuals' engagement with information communication technologies (ICTs). It also extends research on the social context for ICT use by revealing how social processes at multiple levels influence digital capability development. Finally, this study offers practical implications for governments and private sectors to encourage and promote ICT use by older adults.
Transit Trip Itinerary Inference with GTFS and Smartphone Data

Many emerging technologies have been developed to supplement and contribute to conventional household travel surveys for transport-related data collection. A great deal of research has concentrated on the inference of information from global positioning system (GPS) data and data collected from mobile phones; methods for inferring transit itinerary have not received much attention. Automatic detection of transit itineraries from smartphone travel surveys could be used by planning agencies to predict transit demand and help in analysis of transit planning scenarios. This paper describes a proposed approach to infer transit itinerary smartphone travel survey and general transit feed specification data from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Transit trips from the 2013 household travel survey were recreated and recorded with the DataMobile smartphone travel survey from May to July 2016. Transit itineraries were then validated—that is, collected data were associated with transit routes for all parts of the trips. The proposed transit itinerary inference algorithm was then applied to these validated data. The approach relied on the notion of transit route ambiguity—that is, because transit routes can overlap, any attempt to associate GPS data with routes when routes do overlap will result in ambiguity in identifying which routes were actually used. The proportion of transit trips with associated transit routes that were ambiguous was calculated under different assumptions, rules, and eventually a simple algorithm. Findings indicate that, by using this approach, 94.2% of transit trip distance can be assigned to either one transit route or walking, and thus there is reduced ambiguity. This resulted in 87% correct prediction of transit routes.
3D-Printed Microneedles for Point-of-Care Biosensing Applications

Microneedles (MNs) are an emerging technology for user-friendly and minimally invasive injection, offering less pain and lower tissue damage in comparison to conventional needles. With their ability to extract body fluids, MNs are among the convenient candidates for developing biosensing setups, where target molecules/biomarkers are detected by the biosensor using the sample collected with the MNs. Herein, we discuss the 3D printing of microneedle arrays (MNAs) toward enabling point-of-care (POC) biosensing applications.
Urinary Sodium Excretion Enhances the Effect of Alcohol on Blood Pressure

Alcohol consumption is linked to urinary sodium excretion and both of these traits are linked to hypertension and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The interplay between alcohol consumption and sodium on hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is not well-described. Here, we used genetically predicted alcohol consumption and explored the relationships between alcohol consumption, urinary sodium, hypertension, and CVDs. Methods: We performed a comparative analysis among 295,189 participants from the prospective cohort of the UK Biobank (baseline data collected between 2006 and 2010). We created a genetic risk score (GRS) using 105 published genetic variants in Europeans that were associated with alcohol consumption. We explored the relationships between GRS, alcohol consumption, urinary sodium, blood pressure traits, and incident CVD. We used linear and logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards (PH) models and Mendelian randomization in our analysis. Results: The median follow-up time for composite CVD and stroke were 6.1 years and 7.1 years respectively. Our analyses showed that high alcohol consumption is linked to low urinary sodium excretion. Our results showed that high alcohol GRS was associated with high blood pressure and higher risk of stroke and supported an interaction effect between alcohol GRS and urinary sodium on stage 2 hypertension (Pinteraction = 0.03) and CVD (Pinteraction = 0.03), i.e., in the presence of high urinary sodium excretion, the effect of alcohol GRS on blood pressure may be enhanced. Conclusions: Our results show that urinary sodium excretion may offset the risk posed by genetic risk of alcohol consumption.
Signature and Prediction of Perigastric Lymph Node Metastasis in Patients with Gastric Cancer and Total Gastrectomy: Is Total Gastrectomy Always Necessary?

Simple Summary The signature and prediction of perigastric lymph node metastasis (pLNM) is clinically important, but evidence is still lacking. Here, we aimed to identify an informative signature for the prediction of pLNMs in gastric cancer patients after total gastrectomy, and reassess the current indications for proximal gastrectomy and pylorus-preserving gastrectomy (PPG). We found that proximal gastrectomy may be expanded to patients with stage T1–T2 GC and/or tumor diameter < 4 cm in the upper-third stomach, while PPG may be expanded to include T1–T2/N0 and/or tumors < 4 cm in the middle-third stomach. Furthermore, we developed a new predictive factor, the shortest distance from the pylorus ring to the distal edge of the tumor, which showed good predictive performance for pLNMs. Abstract Background: A growing number of studies suggest that the current indications for partial gastrectomy, including proximal gastrectomy and pylorus-preserving gastrectomy (PPG), may be expanded, but evidence is still lacking. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 300 patients with gastric cancer (GC) who underwent total gastrectomy. We analyzed the incidence of pLNMs in relation to tumor location, tumor size and T stage. We further identified predictive factors for perigastric lymph node metastasis (pLNM) in stations 1, 2, 3, 4sa, 4sb, 4d, 5, and 6. Results: No patients with upper-third T1–T2 stage GC had pLNMs in stations 4sa, 4sb, 4d, 5, or 6, but 3.8% of patients with stage T3 had 4d pLNM. No patients with upper-third GC < 4 cm in diameter had pLNMs in 2, 4sa, 4d, 5, or 6, and 2.3% of patients had pLNMs in 4sb. For middle-third GCs, 2.9% of patients with T1 stage had pLNMs in 4sa and 5, but no patients with T2 stage or tumors < 4 cm had pLNMs in 2, 4sa, or 5. The shortest distance from pylorus ring to distal edge of tumor (sDPD) was a new predictive factor for pLNMs in 2, 4d, 5, and 6. Conclusions: Proximal gastrectomy may be expanded to patients with stage T1–T2 GC and/or tumor diameter < 4 cm in the upper-third stomach, whereas PPG may be expanded to include T1–T2/N0 and/or tumors < 4 cm in the middle-third stomach. A new predictive factor, sDPD, showed good predictive performance for pLNMs, especially in stations 4d, 5, and 6.