Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Depression and Its Associated Factors among Diabetes Mellitus Patients Attending Selected Hospitals in Southwest Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background Diabetes mellitus and depression are very common diseases worldwide, and the prevalence rates of both conditions are increasing rapidly. Depression among patients with diabetes mellitus results in poor glycemic control through different mechanisms. Besides, the coexistence of a chronic medical illness with depression reduces the probability of recognizing and treating depression. The study is aimed at assessing the prevalence and factors associated with depression among adults with diabetes mellitus. Methods A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among adult diabetes mellitus patients on follow-up in Mizan-Tepi University Teaching Hospital and Tepi General Hospital. A consecutive sampling technique was employed to recruit the study participants, and data were collected through face-to-face interview and medical chart review. Depression was measured using Patient Health Questionnaire-nine (PHQ-9). Binary logistic regression analysis was done and a p value of less than 0.05 was used as a level of significance. Results The prevalence of depression among study participants was 37.0% (95% CI 32.0%-42.0%). The majority (44.7%) of the patients had mild depression, while only 2% had severe depression. Being male (AOR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.15-3.22), urban residence (AOR = 3.02, 95% CI: 1.57-5.78), single marital status (AOR = 7.72, 95% CI: 3.6-16.53), duration of diabetes mellitus 5 years and more (AOR = 2.00, 95% CI: 1.21-3.5), and having sexual dysfunction (AOR = 3.55, 95% CI: 2.13-5.91) were associated with increased odds of depression among diabetes mellitus patients. Conclusions The prevalence of depression among diabetes mellitus was high. Therefore, the patients should be thoroughly screened for this comorbid condition, and the significant factors should be addressed during routine follow-up.
Adjuvant Effects of Health Education of Chinese Medicine for Chronic Diseases: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Objective To evaluate the adjuvant effects of health education of Chinese medicine (HECM) for patients with three types of common noncommunicable diseases (NCD-hypertension, diabetes, and coronary heart disease (CHD)). Methods The protocol of this review was registered in the PROSPERO website (CRD42017058325). Six databases were searched till Sep. 30, 2019. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing HECM plus conventional therapy with conventional therapy were retrieved. Participants were diagnosed as one of the 3 above NCDs. HECM is regarded as lectures and classes about diet therapy, exercise therapy, emotion balance, and other knowledge according to Chinese medicine theory. The control rate of the disease was defined as a primary outcome in this review. Outcomes were synthesized using meta-analyses where reporting was sufficiently homogeneous or alternatively synthesized in a systematic review. Results In total, 12 trials with 1142 patients were included in this review. Since all the trials may have unclear or high risk of bias, only low quality evidence could be found for supporting the adjunctive effect of HECM in treating hypertension, diabetes, and CHD, to reduce the control rate (risk ratio −1.58), the blood pressure level (mean difference −9.38 mmHg), the fasting plasma glucose level (mean difference −1.26 mmol/L), and the symptoms of angina. Conclusion The adjunctive effect of HECM on increasing the control rate of hypertension, improving the symptoms of diabetes and CHD, was only supported by low-quality evidence in this review. More rigorous trials with larger sample sizes and higher quality are warranted to provide a high quality of evidence.
Regional Variations in Vegetation Patterns on Landslides in the Snowy Mountains of Central Japan

Landslides have emerged as one of the most important disturbance agents in mountainous ecosystems. In mountainous regions in Japan, the locations of old landslides often have heterogeneous vegetation that is peculiar to landslide areas. However, little is known about how and why vegetation patterns differ among landslide sites within a region. In this study, I describe the variations in vegetation at different landslide sites within a region and examine the possible causes of the regional diversity of vegetation at these sites. I classified the vegetation on 1703 landslides by interpreting aerial photos of the 1421 km2 study region. Nine types of vegetation were classified. The results show that the heterogeneity of the vegetation increased with the maximum snow depth, and the number of vegetation types on landslide bodies increased with latitude and altitude. Among the 1703 landslides studied herein, 62 included mires (wetlands). Sites with mires were concentrated in areas with heavy snowfall and certain lithologies, such as ultramafic rocks and nonalkaline mafic volcanic rocks. My analysis using Random Forest, a machine-learning algorithm, indicates that maximum snow depth and summer temperatures had the greatest impact on the number of vegetation types and mires on the landslide bodies. The results of this study suggest that snowy conditions have long-term effects on vegetation structure and diversity on old landslide sites.
Curved microdisplay, from optical design to mechanical study: impact on form-factor and light efficiency in visual systems

Form-factor and light efficiency are important issues Head-Mounted Displays face, since they both restrict their usage. Improving the form-factor means that for a defined visual stimulus, the system is smaller in volume. The light efficiency issue is linked to power consumption and time of use as well as the device’s ability to deliver, within a specific environment, enough luminance for the virtual image to be seen. This trade-off can also be found in imaging systems and Christophe Gaschet previously explored the optical design of onaxis imaging systems using curved sensors and particularly diopters number reduction thanks to Petzval shaped image plane. However, the behavior of an optical system changes dramatically when the design is off-axis. This paper focuses on demonstrating how using a curved microdisplay helps to improve the form-factor of a HMD system optimized using freeform optical design on a practical example. Curvature can also plays a great role in reducing the losses of light, but this imposes more constraints on the shapes to be given to the microdisplay. We discuss the trade-offs between these two advantages given by curved microdisplays. The mechanical feasibility of curved micro-displays will also be discussed, as well as the process to make a curved microdisplay, which is compatible with current mass-production CMOS displays. For OLED technology, the main resistance to curvature is the silicon substrate. The case for GaN technologies shows other mechanical limitations. We can predict the highest reachable curvature values, depending on microdisplay size and technology.
High-efficiency polarization beam splitter based on all-dielectric metasurface

Polarizing beam splitter occupies a very important position in the generation and control of vector beam, the demand for it has been increasing. Metasurfaces provide a highly flexible platform for regulating the propagation of electromagnetic waves. In this paper, a planar polarization beam splitter based on dielectric metasurface at wavelength of 118.8 μm, is demonstrated and simulated. It is mainly achieved by the array composed of silicon cubes of different sizes placed periodically on a silicon dioxide substrate. The three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method was used to numerically simulate the optical characteristics of the polarizing beam splitter. The polarizing beam splitter can transmit vertically incident polarized light into x polarization and y polarization propagating in different directions, and the efficiency is as high as 90%. As an example, to further demonstrate the performance of the polarization beam splitter, we also design a focusing lens based on the hyperboloidal profile theory at λ=118.8 μm. The lens can focus differently polarized light beams into one spot in different directions. With appropriate design, we expect this structure can be applied to many practical applications with high efficiency in transmitting mode in terahertz range, such as vector beam generators, polarizers and so on.
African‐specific improvement of a polygenic hazard score for age at diagnosis of prostate cancer

Polygenic hazard score (PHS) models are associated with age at diagnosis of prostate cancer. Our model developed in Europeans (PHS46) showed reduced performance in men with African genetic ancestry. We used a cross‐validated search to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that might improve performance in this population. Anonymized genotypic data were obtained from the PRACTICAL consortium for 6253 men with African genetic ancestry. Ten iterations of a 10‐fold cross‐validation search were conducted to select SNPs that would be included in the final PHS46+African model. The coefficients of PHS46+African were estimated in a Cox proportional hazards framework using age at diagnosis as the dependent variable and PHS46, and selected SNPs as predictors. The performance of PHS46 and PHS46+African was compared using the same cross‐validated approach. Three SNPs (rs76229939, rs74421890 and rs5013678) were selected for inclusion in PHS46+African. All three SNPs are located on chromosome 8q24. PHS46+African showed substantial improvements in all performance metrics measured, including a 75% increase in the relative hazard of those in the upper 20% compared to the bottom 20% (2.47‐4.34) and a 20% reduction in the relative hazard of those in the bottom 20% compared to the middle 40% (0.65‐0.53). In conclusion, we identified three SNPs that substantially improved the association of PHS46 with age at diagnosis of prostate cancer in men with African genetic ancestry to levels comparable to Europeans.
Eye Movement Evaluation in Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson's Disease Using a Standardized Oculomotor and Neuro-Ophthalmic Disorder Assessment (SONDA)

Evaluating the state of the oculomotor system of a patient is one of the fundamental tests done in neuro-ophthalmology. However, up to date, very few quantitative standardized tests of eye movements' quality exist, limiting this assessment to confrontational tests reliant on subjective interpretation. Furthermore, quantitative tests relying on eye movement properties, such as pursuit gain and saccade dynamics are often insufficient to capture the complexity of the underlying disorders and are often (too) long and tiring. In this study, we present SONDA (Standardized Oculomotor and Neurological Disorder Assessment): this test is based on analyzing eye tracking recorded during a short and intuitive continuous tracking task. We tested patients affected by Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Parkinson's Disease (PD) and find that: (1) the saccadic dynamics of the main sequence alone are not sufficient to separate patients from healthy controls; (2) the combination of spatio-temporal and statistical properties of saccades and saccadic dynamics enables an identification of oculomotor abnormalities in both MS and PD patients. We conclude that SONDA constitutes a powerful screening tool that allows an in-depth evaluation of (deviant) oculomotor behavior in a few minutes of non-invasive testing.
A model-based evaluation of the efficacy of COVID-19 social distancing, testing and hospital triage policies

We present a stochastic compartmental network model of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 exploring the effects of policy choices in three domains: social distancing, hospital triaging, and testing. We distinguished between high-risk and low-risk members of the population, and modeled differences in social interactions due to context, risk level, infection status, and testing status. The model incorporates many of the currently important characteristics of the disease, including overcapacity in the healthcare system and uncertainties surrounding the proportion and transmission potential of asymptomatic cases. We compared current policy guidelines from public health agencies with alternative options, and investigated the effects of policy decisions on the overall proportion of COVID-19-related deaths. Our results support current policies to contain the outbreak but also suggest possible refinements, including emphasizing the need to reduce public, random contacts more than private contacts, and testing low-risk symptomatic individuals before high-risk symptomatic individuals. Our model furthermore points to interactions among the three policy domains; the efficacy of a particular policy choice depends on other implemented policies. Finally, our results provide an explanation for why societies like Germany, with lower average rates of social contact, are more successful at containing the outbreak than highly social societies such as Italy, despite the implementation of similar policy measures.
Mapping suitability for Buruli ulcer at fine spatial scales across Africa: A modelling study

Background Buruli ulcer (BU) is a disabling and stigmatising neglected tropical disease (NTD). Its distribution and burden are unknown because of underdiagnosis and underreporting. It is caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, an environmental pathogen whose environmental niche and transmission routes are not fully understood. Active BU case searches can limit morbidity by identifying cases and linking them to treatment, but these are mostly restricted to well-known endemic areas. A better understanding of environmental suitability for environmental reservoirs of M. ulcerans and BU disease would advance understanding of the ecology and burden of BU, and could inform targeted surveillance. Methodology/Principal Findings We used previously compiled point-level datasets of BU and M. ulcerans occurrence, evidence for BU occurrence within national and sub-national areas, and diverse environmental datasets. We fitted relationships between BU and M. ulcerans occurrence and environmental predictors by applying regression and machine learning based algorithms, combined in an ensemble model to characterise the optimal ecological niche for the disease and bacterium across Africa at a resolution of 5km x 5km. Climate and atmospheric variables were the strongest predictors of both distributions, while indicators of human disturbance including damming and deforestation, drove local variation in suitability. We identified patchy foci of suitability throughout West and Central Africa, including areas with no previous evidence of the disease. Predicted suitability for M. ulcerans was wider but overlapping with that of BU. The estimated population living in areas predicted suitable for the bacterium and disease was 29.1 million. Conclusions/Significance These maps could be used to inform burden estimations and case searches which would generate a more complete understanding of the spatial distribution of BU in Africa, and may guide control programmes to identify cases beyond the well-known endemic areas.
Rates of Alexithymia and Its Association With Smartphone Addiction Among a Sample of University Students in Egypt

Introduction Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties in describing feelings. Many studies have shown that there is a relation between alexithymia and different types of addictions. Nowadays, smartphone addiction is proposed to be a global problem. The current study focuses on the rates of alexithymia and its association with smartphone addiction in an Egyptian university. Materials and Methods This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted in Ain Shams University. A sample of 200 university students was surveyed using Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) and Smartphone Addiction Scale–Short Version (SAS-SV). Results The results showed that 44 students (22%) had alexithymia. It was also found that around one third of the sample (N=65, 32.5%) met the criteria of smartphone addiction. There was a strong association between alexithymia and smartphone addiction (OR=4.33, 95% CI 2.15–8.74, p= < 0.001). Conclusion This study supports existing literature indicating the strong association between alexithymia and smartphone addiction.
Unlike Many Disease Resistances, Rx1-Mediated Immunity to Potato Virus X Is Not Compromised at Elevated Temperatures

Specificity in the plant immune system is mediated by Resistance (R) proteins. Most R genes encode intracellular NLR-type immune receptors and these pathogen sensors require helper NLRs to activate immune signaling upon pathogen perception. Resistance conferred by many R genes is temperature sensitive and compromised above 28°C. Many Solanaceae R genes, including the potato NLR Rx1 conferring resistance to Potato Virus X (PVX), have been reported to be temperature labile. Rx1 activity, like many Solanaceae NLRs, depends on helper-NLRs called NRC’s. In this study, we investigated Rx1 resistance at elevated temperatures in potato and in Nicotiana benthamiana plants stably expressing Rx1 upon rub-inoculation with GFP-expressing PVX particles. In parallel, we used susceptible plants as a control to assess infectiousness of PVX at a range of different temperatures. Surprisingly, we found that Rx1 confers virus resistance in N. benthamiana up to 32°C, a temperature at which the PVX::GFP lost infectiousness. Furthermore, at 34°C, an Rx1-mediated hypersensitive response could still be triggered in N. benthamiana upon PVX Coat-Protein overexpression. As the Rx1-immune signaling pathway is not temperature compromised, this implies that at least one N. benthamiana helper NRC and its downstream signaling components are temperature tolerant. This finding suggests that the temperature sensitivity for Solanaceous resistances is likely attributable to the sensor NLR and not to its downstream signaling components.
A Literature Review of Gene Function Prediction by Modeling Gene Ontology

Annotating the functional properties of gene products, i.e., RNAs and proteins, is a fundamental task in biology. The Gene Ontology database (GO) was developed to systematically describe the functional properties of gene products across species, and to facilitate the computational prediction of gene function. As GO is routinely updated, it serves as the gold standard and main knowledge source in functional genomics. Many gene function prediction methods making use of GO have been proposed. But no literature review has summarized these methods and the possibilities for future efforts from the perspective of GO. To bridge this gap, we review the existing methods with an emphasis on recent solutions. First, we introduce the conventions of GO and the widely adopted evaluation metrics for gene function prediction. Next, we summarize current methods of gene function prediction that apply GO in different ways, such as using hierarchical or flat inter-relationships between GO terms, compressing massive GO terms and quantifying semantic similarities. Although many efforts have improved performance by harnessing GO, we conclude that there remain many largely overlooked but important topics for future research.
Coupled Evolution of Preferential Paths for Force and Damage in the Pre-failure Regime in Disordered and Heterogeneous, Quasi-Brittle Granular Materials

A disordered and heterogeneous, quasi-brittle granular material can withstand certain levels of internal damage before global failure. This robustness depends not just on the bond strengths but also on the topology and redundancy of the bonded contact network, through which forces and damage propagate. Despite extensive studies on quasi-brittle failure, there still lacks a unified framework that can quantitatively characterize and model the interdependent evolution of damage and force transmission. Here we develop a framework to do so. It is data-driven, multiscale and relies solely on the contact strengths and topology of the contact network for material properties. The discrete element method (DEM) was used to directly simulate quasi-brittle materials like concrete under uniaxial tension. Concrete was modeled as a random heterogeneous 2-phase and 3-phase material composed of aggregate particles, cement matrix and interfacial transitional zones with experimental-based meso-structure from X-ray micro-CT-images of real concrete. We uncover evidence of an optimized force transmission, characterized by two novel transmission patterns that predict and explain the coupled evolution of force and damage pathways from the microstructural to the macroscopic level. The first comprises the shortest possible percolating paths that can transmit the global force transmission capacity. These paths reliably predict tensile force chains. The second pattern is the flow bottleneck, a path in the optimized route that is prone to congestion and is where the macrocrack emerges. The cooperative evolution of preferential pathways for damage and force casts light on why sites of highest concentrations of stress and damage in the nascent stages of pre-failure regime do not provide a reliable indicator of the ultimate location of the macrocrack.
Deriving a New Crustal Model of Northern Adria: The Northern Adria Crust (NAC) Model

We presented a new 3D model of the geophysical properties of the crust (namely depth of the Moho and VP, VS, density, Young’s modulus, and shear modulus) of the northern tip of the Adria microplate that we called NAC (Northern Adria Crust). The horizontal dimensions of the physical properties variations are optimized at 5 × 5 km and the vertical dimension at 1 km. NAC has been built by critically choosing and integrating all available information about the depth of the main interfaces and the physical properties of the crust. We started from a VP dataset, and we converted it in VS and density by using empirical relations, tuned through the comparison with the available data from local tomographic inversion, and taking into account the lithologies of the area. Uncertainties and reliability of the model are quantified, taking into account the data quality and the interpolation procedure. NAC has two versions, different in the structure of the Moho interface: the first considers one continuous surface for the whole area, while the second implies three separate surfaces for the Adria microplate, Eurasia, and the Pannonian fragment. The differences between the two models are minimal, but the available data better sustain the solution of the fragmented crust. For its characteristics of multiparametric information and resolution, NAC can be precious for any purpose and use where a detailed knowledge of the crustal structure of this area is required. Moreover, it is easy to improve NAC, including new information on the crustal structures, when they will be available.