Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Empirical Study on the Factors Influencing the Growth of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

This paper studied the factors influencing the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Principal component analysis and panel quantile regression were used to analyze the panel data of 287 SMEs listed on SME board from 2015 to 2019. The empirical results show that R&D investment has a significant negative impact on the growth of SMEs. Ownership concentration has a significant positive impact on the growth of SMEs. In terms of financing structure, endogenous financing has a significant positive impact on enterprise growth, while equity financing and debt financing have a negative impact on enterprise growth. It is found that at different quantile levels, the effects of various factors on enterprise growth are significantly different. The conclusion of this study has certain reference value for SMEs in different growth stages to take corresponding measures to promote their own development.
Wideband Absorption at Low Microwave Frequencies Assisted by Magnetic Squeezing in Metamaterials

In this paper, the magnetic squeezing effect in metamaterials is explored and applied to achieve wideband absorption in low-frequency microwave bands. To this end, a metamaterial absorber (MA) is proposed, which consists of a square lattice of a split ring resonator (SRR) placed on top of a magnetic absorbing material (MAM) layer backed by a conducting ground. In the positive resonance region of SRRs, a strong magnetic squeezing effect occurs and more concentrated magnetic field lines are confined within SRRs. This results in significant magnetic field enhancement within the MAM layer, which provides a prerequisite for high-efficiency absorption enhancement at low frequencies. To verify this method, we fabricated a prototype using a 3.0 mm thick silicone MAM sheet. Both the simulation and experiment results show that with the assistance of magnetic squeezing in the SRR array, the absorption at lower frequencies is significantly enhanced and is above 90% in 1.25–2.31 GHz under normal incidence. Furthermore, the MA exhibits satisfactory stability for different polarization states and incident angles due to the square lattice of the SRR array. This design method may find potential applications in fields such as electromagnetic compatibility, wireless communication, and others.
The Leadership Characteristics Model of Primary Public Health Administrators in Chachoengsao Province, Thailand

The objectives of this research were aimed to study the leadership characteristics model of primary public health administrators in Chachoengsao Province, Thailand. The data of this qualitative research were collected by an in-depth interview. The instrument used in this research was semi-structured interview form designed by the researcher. Derived from purposive sampling, the key informants were comprised of 30 primary public health administrators or directors of the subdistrict health-promoting hospitals. The data were analysed by content analysis approach and interpreted in accordance with the research objectives. The findings revealed that the main leadership characteristics of primary public health administrators consisted of (a) the administrational integration, (b) the time management, (c) love for work, (d) the holistic health model, (e) the human resource management and (f) the ethics. These results were presented as a leadership characteristics model of primary public health administrators in Chachoengsao Province, Thailand, or the HEALTH model. For problems and obstacles, it was found that the problem of the mental condition of the caregivers of the in-bed patients had increased. The personal development following the central government’s policy was not in accordance with the genuine work need. The ineffective disease control obviously appeared because of the frequent immigration of alien labourers. Moreover, some Thai people in this area had bias to open the country. By this, they ignored to develop themselves. For suggestion and application, it was found that the staff responsible for the in-bed patients had increasingly encountered with a mental condition. The primary public health administrators should find solutions under participation of all related sectors in order to be ready and go forward to the perfect ageing society. As a result, the caregivers of the elderly were effective.
Visual Hand Recognition in Hand Laterality and Self-Other Discrimination Tasks: Relationships to Autistic Traits and Positive Body Image

In a study concerning visual body part recognition, a “self-advantage” effect, whereby self-related body stimuli are processed faster and more accurately than other-related body stimuli, was revealed, and the emergence of this effect is assumed to be tightly linked to implicit motor simulation, which is activated when performing a hand laterality judgment task in which hand ownership is not explicitly required. Here, we ran two visual hand recognition tasks, namely, a hand laterality judgment task and a self-other discrimination task, to investigate (i) whether the self-advantage emerged even if implicit motor imagery was assumed to be working less efficiently and (ii) how individual traits [such as autistic traits and the extent of positive self-body image, as assessed via the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2), respectively] modulate performance in these hand recognition tasks. Participants were presented with hand images in two orientations [i.e., upright (egocentric) and upside-down (allocentric)] and asked to judge whether it was a left or right hand (an implicit hand laterality judgment task). They were also asked to determine whether it was their own, or another person’s hand (an explicit self-other discrimination task). Data collected from men and women were analyzed separately. The self-advantage effect in the hand laterality judgment task was not revealed, suggesting that only two orientation conditions are not enough to trigger this motor simulation. Furthermore, the men’s group showed a significant positive correlation between AQ scores and reaction times (RTs) in the laterality judgment task, while the women’s group showed a significant negative correlation between AQ scores and differences in RTs and a significant positive correlation between BAS-2 scores and dprime in the self-other discrimination task. These results suggest that men and women differentially adopt specific strategies and/or execution processes for implicit and explicit hand recognition tasks.
Molecular Diagnosis of Panel-Based Next-Generation Sequencing Approach and Clinical Symptoms in Patients With Glycogen Storage Disease: A Single Center Retrospective Study

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical utility of panel-based next-generation sequencing (NGS) in the diagnostic approach of glycogen storage disease (GSD). Methods: We performed a retrospective review of the 32 cases with suspected GSDs between April 2013 and November 2019 through panel-based NGS, clinical and biochemical data and long-term complications. Results: Of the 32 clinical cases, we identified 41 different variants, including 24 missense (58.5%), one synonymous (2.4%), three nonsense (8%), one splice (2.4%), four frameshift (9.8%), one deletion (2.4%), four insertions (9.8%), two deletion-insertion (4.9%) and one duplication(2.4%), of which 13(31.7%) were previously unreported in the literature. In addition, patients with different types of GSDs showed important differences in biochemical parameters (i.e., CK, rGGT, TG, and UA). Conclusions: The panel-based NGS played an important diagnostic role in the suspicious GSDs patients, especially in the mild phenotype and ruled out detectable pathologic conditions. Besides, differences between our GSDs patients reflect biochemical heterogeneity.
Sex-Determining Region Y Chromosome-Related High-Mobility-Group Box 10 in Cancer: A Potential Therapeutic Target

Sex-determining region Y-related high mobility group-box 10 (SOX10), a member of the SOX family, has recently been highlighted as an essential transcriptional factor involved in developmental biology. Recently, the functionality of SOX 10 has been increasingly revealed by researchers worldwide. It has been reported that SOX10 significantly regulates the proliferation, migration, and apoptosis of tumors and is closely associated with the progression of cancer. In this review, we first introduce the basic background of the SOX family and SOX10 and then discuss the pathophysiological roles of SOX10 in cancer. Besides, we enumerate the application of SOX10 in the pathological diagnosis and therapeutic potential of cancer. Eventually, we summarize the potential directions and perspectives of SOX10 in neoplastic theranostics. The information compiled herein may assist in additional studies and increase the potential of SOX10 as a therapeutic target for cancer.
How ICU Patient Severity Affects Communicative Interactions Between Healthcare Professionals: A Study Utilizing Wearable Sociometric Badges

Numerous factors affecting the interactions between healthcare professionals in the workplace demand a comprehensive understanding if the quality of patient healthcare is to be improved. Our previous cross-sectional analysis showed that patient severity scores [i.e., Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II] in the 24 h following admission positively correlated with the length of the face-to-face interactions among ICU healthcare professionals. The present study aims to address how the relationships between patient severity and interaction lengths can change over a period of time during both admission and treatment in the ICU. We retrospectively analyzed data prospectively collected between 19 February to 17 March 2016 from an open ICU in a University Hospital in Japan. We used wearable sensors to collect a spatiotemporal distribution dataset documenting the face-to-face interactions between ICU healthcare professionals, which involved 76 ICU staff members, each of whom worked for 160 h, on average, during the 4-week period of data collection. We studied the longitudinal relationships among these interactions, which occurred at the patient bedside, vis-à-vis the severity of the patient's condition [i.e., the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score] assessed every 24 h. On Day 1, during which a total of 117 patients stayed in the ICU, we found statistically significant positive associations between the interaction lengths and their SOFA scores, as shown by the Spearman's correlation coefficient value (R) of 0.447 (p < 0.01). During the course of our observation from Day 1 to Day 10, the number of patients (N) who stayed in the ICU gradually decreased (N = 117, Day1; N = 10, Day 10), as they either were discharged or died. The statistically significant positive associations of the interaction lengths with the SOFA scores disappeared from Days 2 to 6, but re-emerged on Day 7 (R = 0.620, p < 0.05) and Day 8 (R = 0.625, p < 0.05), then disappearing again on Days 9 and 10. Whereas all 6 SOFA sub-scores correlated well with the interaction lengths on Day 1, only a few of the sub-scores (coagulation, cardiovascular, and central nervous system scores) did so; specifically, those on Days 7 and 8. The results suggest that patient severity may play an important role in affecting the interactions between ICU healthcare professionals in a time-related manner on ICU Day 1 and on Days 7/8.
Repurposing of Anthocyanin Biosynthesis for Plant Transformation and Genome Editing

CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology has been very effective in editing genes in many plant species including rice. Here we further improve the current CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology in both efficiency and time needed for isolation of transgene-free and target gene-edited plants. We coupled the CRISPR/Cas9 cassette with a unit that activates anthocyanin biosynthesis, providing a visible marker for detecting the presence of transgenes. The anthocyanin-marker assisted CRISPR (AAC) technology enables us to identify transgenic events even at calli stage, to select transformants with elevated Cas9 expression, and to identify transgene-free plants in the field. We used the AAC technology to edit LAZY1 and G1 and successfully generated many transgene-free and target gene-edited plants at T1 generation. The AAC technology greatly reduced the labor, time, and costs needed for editing target genes in rice.
Who Is Willing to Engage in Social Gatherings During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Lockdown? A Curvilinear Relationship Between Age and Heuristic Processing

Background The Chinese government implemented a lockdown to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic during the Chinese Lunar New Year when people have the tradition to visit families and friends. Previous research suggested that heuristic processing increased risky behavioral willingness (e.g., desire to have social gatherings despite the pandemic) and that people’s tendency to use heuristic processing varied across different adulthood stages. This study thus investigated the relationships among age, heuristic processing of COVID-19-related information, and the willingness to have social gatherings during the lockdown. Methods A sample of 1,651 participants was recruited from an online crowdsourcing platform between January 31 and February 04 in 2020, with a mean age of 30.69, 47.9% being women. Participants completed an online questionnaire about heuristic processing of COVID-19-related information, willingness to engage in social gatherings during the lockdown, age, and other demographic information. Results Age was found to have a U-shaped curvilinear relationship with heuristic processing, and heuristic processing was positively correlated with the willingness to have social gatherings. Further analyses showed that heuristic processing curvilinearly mediated the relationship between age and the willingness to have social gatherings. Conclusion Compared with young adults, emerging and older adults are more likely to engage in heuristic processing, which in turn, increases the willingness to have social gatherings. Heuristic processing serves as an underlying mechanism to explain the relationship between age and risky behavioral willingness.
The α5 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Subunit Differentially Modulates α4β2* and α3β4* Receptors

Nicotine, the principal reinforcing compound in tobacco, acts in the brain by activating neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). This review summarizes our current knowledge regarding how the α5 accessory nAChR subunit, encoded by the CHRNA5 gene, differentially modulates α4β2* and α3β4* receptors at the cellular level. Genome-wide association studies have linked a gene cluster in chromosomal region 15q25 to increased susceptibility to nicotine addiction, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and peripheral arterial disease. Interestingly, this gene cluster contains a non-synonymous single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the human CHRNA5 gene, causing an aspartic acid (D) to asparagine (N) substitution at amino acid position 398 in the α5 nAChR subunit. Although other SNPs have been associated with tobacco smoking behavior, efforts have focused predominantly on the D398 and N398 variants in the α5 subunit. In recent years, significant progress has been made toward understanding the role that the α5 nAChR subunit—and the role of the D398 and N398 variants—plays on nAChR function at the cellular level. These insights stem primarily from a wide range of experimental models, including receptors expressed heterologously in Xenopus oocytes, various cell lines, and neurons derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), as well as endogenous receptors in genetically engineered mice and—more recently—rats. Despite providing a wealth of available data, however, these studies have yielded conflicting results, and our understanding of the modulatory role that the α5 subunit plays remains incomplete. Here, we review these reports and the various techniques used for expression and analysis in order to examine how the α5 subunit modulates key functions in α4β2* and α3β4* receptors, including receptor trafficking, sensitivity, efficacy, and desensitization. In addition, we highlight the strikingly different role that the α5 subunit plays in Ca2+ signaling between α4β2* and α3β4* receptors, and we discuss whether the N398 α5 subunit variant can partially replace the D398 variant.
Training Specificity of Inspiratory Muscle Training Methods: A Randomized Trial

Introduction Inspiratory muscle training (IMT) protocols are typically performed using pressure threshold loading with inspirations initiated from residual volume (RV). We aimed to compare effects of three different IMT protocols on maximal inspiratory pressures (PImax) and maximal inspiratory flow (V̇Imax) at three different lung volumes. We hypothesized that threshold loading performed from functional residual capacity (FRC) or tapered flow resistive loading (initiated from RV) would improve inspiratory muscle function over a larger range of lung volumes in comparison with the standard protocol. Methods 48 healthy volunteers (42% male, age: 48 ± 9 years, PImax: 110 ± 28%pred, [mean ± SD]) were randomly assigned to perform three daily IMT sessions of pressure threshold loading (either initiated from RV or from FRC) or tapered flow resistive loading (initiated from RV) for 4 weeks. Sessions consisted of 30 breaths against the highest tolerable load. Before and after the training period, PImax was measured at RV, FRC, and midway between FRC and total lung capacity (1/2 IC). V̇Imax was measured at the same lung volumes against a range of external threshold loads. Results While PImax increased significantly at RV and at FRC in the group performing the standard training protocol (pressure threshold loading from RV), it increased significantly at all lung volumes in the two other training groups (all p < 0.05). No significant changes in V̇Imax were observed in the group performing the standard protocol. Increases of V̇Imax were significantly larger at all lung volumes after tapered flow resistive loading, and at higher lung volumes (i.e., FRC and 1/2 IC) after pressure threshold loading from FRC in comparison with the standard protocol (all p < 0.05). Conclusion Only training with tapered flow resistive loading and pressure threshold loading from functional residual capacity resulted in consistent improvements in respiratory muscle function at higher lung volumes, whereas improvements after the standard protocol (pressure threshold loading from residual volume) were restricted to gains in PImax at lower lung volumes. Further research is warranted to investigate whether these results can be confirmed in larger samples of both healthy subjects and patients.
Fetal Membrane Epigenetics

The characteristics of fetal membrane cells and their phenotypic adaptations to support pregnancy or promote parturition are defined by global patterns of gene expression controlled by chromatin structure. Heritable epigenetic chromatin modifications that include DNA methylation and covalent histone modifications establish chromatin regions permissive or exclusive of regulatory interactions defining the cell-specific scope and potential of gene activity. Non-coding RNAs acting at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels complement the system by robustly stabilizing gene expression patterns and contributing to ordered phenotype transitions. Here we review currently available information about epigenetic gene regulation in the amnion and the chorion laeve. In addition, we provide an overview of epigenetic phenomena in the decidua, which is the maternal tissue fused to the chorion membrane forming the anatomical and functional unit called choriodecidua. The relationship of gene expression with DNA (CpG) methylation, histone acetylation and methylation, micro RNAs, long non-coding RNAs and chromatin accessibility is discussed in the context of normal pregnancy, parturition and pregnancy complications. Data generated using clinical samples and cell culture models strongly suggests that epigenetic events are associated with the phenotypic transitions of fetal membrane cells during the establishment, maintenance and termination of pregnancy potentially driving and consolidating the changes as pregnancy progresses. Disease conditions and environmental factors may produce epigenetic footprints that indicate exposures and mediate adverse pregnancy outcomes. Although knowledge is expanding rapidly, fetal membrane epigenetics is still in an early stage of development necessitating further research to realize its remarkable basic and translational potential.
Validation of Susceptibility Loci for Vitiligo Identified by GWAS in the Chinese Han Population

Forty-nine susceptible loci have been reported to be significantly associated with vitiligo by genome-wide association studies (GWASs) in European-derived whites. To date, some of these reported susceptibility loci have not yet been validated in the Chinese Han population. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the 16 reported susceptible loci in European-derived whites were associated with vitiligo in the Chinese Han population. Imputation was performed using our previous GWAS dataset by IMPUTE v2.2. 2. The 16 imputed top single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with suggestive signals, together with the reported SNPs, were genotyped in a total of 2581 patients and 2579 controls by the Sequenom MassARRAY system. PLINK 2.0 software was used to perform association analysis. The dbSNP database, HaploReg, and eQTL data were adopted to annotate the biological function of the SNPs. Finally, four SNPs from three loci were significantly associated with vitiligo, including rs3747517 (P = 1.29 × 10–3, OR = 0.87) in 2q24.2, rs4807000 (P = 7.78 × 10–24, OR = 0.66) and rs6510827 (P = 3.65 × 10–5, OR = 1.19) in 19p13.3, and rs4822024 (P = 6.37 × 10–10, OR = 0.67) in 22q13.2. According to the dbSNP database, rs3747517 is a missense variant of IFIH1, rs4807000 and rs6510827 are located in TICAM1, and rs4822024 is located 6 kb upstream of TEF. Further bioinformatics analysis by HaploReg and eQTL found that rs4807000, rs6510827, and rs4822024 are involved in regulating gene expression. Our study revealed the strong association of 2q24.2 (rs3747517), 19p13.3 (rs4807000, rs6510827), and 22q13.2 (rs4822024) with the risk of vitiligo in the Chinese Han population, which implicates common factors for vitiligo across different ethnicities, and helps expand the understanding of the genetic basis of this disease.