Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Novel Just-In-Time-Online-Training for Nasopharyngeal Swab Specimen Collection During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction: The spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is controlled by timely detection of infected patients using a nasopharyngeal (NP) swab test, followed by isolation and treatment. One challenge encountered with NP swab collection was to train healthcare providers (HCPs) with different training backgrounds and experience for collecting NP swab specimens across Nebraska, including a sizeable rural area. In-person training for NP swab collection skills was challenging due to social distancing. We developed a Just-In-Time-Online Training (JITOT) and delivered it using Facebook Live (TM) to meet our HCPs' training needs. Methods: Online training was held on April 21, 2020, and attended by 453 HCPs. A quasi-experimental study based on a survey and a multiple choice questionnaire (MCQ) was conducted to evaluate its effectiveness in improving the participants' knowledge and attitudes. Results: Group mean knowledge score increased from a pre-test score of 57%-95% in the post-test showing a large effect size (Hedges' g = 0.976877). On a five-point Likert scale, the majority (86.21%) of the survey respondents agreed/strongly agreed that this training increased their overall comfort for nasal swab specimen collection as compared to their pre-training comfort (37.93%) with this procedure. The majority of respondents (96.55%) in the post-training evaluation agreed/strongly agreed that "the delivery method was appropriate. " Conclusion: A JITOT session is helpful to teach, demonstrate, clarify doubts, and improve the knowledge and comfort of the participants. It can be quickly delivered using a free social media platform for broader outreach during public health emergencies.
Calcium-Sensing Receptors Control CYP27B1-Luciferase Expression: Transcriptional and Posttranscriptional Mechanisms

Abstract 25-hydroxyvitamin D 1α-hydroxylase (encoded by CYP27B1), which catalyzes the synthesis of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, is subject to negative or positive modulation by extracellular Ca2+ (Ca2+o) depending on the tissue. However, the Ca2+ sensors and underlying mechanisms are unidentified. We tested whether calcium-sensing receptors (CaSRs) mediate Ca2+o-dependent control of 1α-hydroxylase using HEK-293 cells stably expressing the CaSR (HEK-CaSR cells). In HEK-CaSR cells, but not control HEK-293 cells, cotransfected with reporter genes for CYP27B1-Photinus pyralis (firefly) luciferase and control Renilla luciferase, an increase in Ca2+o from 0.5mM to 3.0mM induced a 2- to 3-fold increase in firefly luciferase activity as well as mRNA and protein levels. Surprisingly, firefly luciferase was specifically suppressed at Ca2+o ≥ 5.0mM, demonstrating biphasic Ca2+o control. Both phases were mediated by CaSRs as revealed by positive and negative modulators. However, Ca2+o induced simple monotonic increases in firefly luciferase and endogenous CYP27B1 mRNA levels, indicating that the inhibitory effect of high Ca2+o was posttranscriptional. Studies with inhibitors and the CaSR C-terminal mutant T888A identified roles for protein kinase C (PKC), phosphorylation of T888, and extracellular regulated protein kinase (ERK)1/2 in high Ca2+o-dependent suppression of firefly luciferase. Blockade of both PKC and ERK1/2 abolished Ca2+o-stimulated firefly luciferase, demonstrating that either PKC or ERK1/2 is sufficient to stimulate the CYP27B1 promoter. A key CCAAT box (−74 bp to −68 bp), which is regulated downstream of PKC and ERK1/2, was required for both basal transcription and Ca2+o-mediated transcriptional upregulation. The CaSR mediates Ca2+o-dependent transcriptional upregulation of 1α-hydroxylase and an additional CaSR-mediated mechanism is identified by which Ca2+o can promote luciferase and possibly 1α-hydroxylase breakdown.
Effectiveness of nutrition interventions and combined nutrition and physical activity interventions in older adults with frailty or prefrailty: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Although nutrition interventions may reverse frailty, it is unclear which interventions are optimal. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify effective nutrition interventions that improve outcomes related to frailty. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and CINAHL (inception to July 2019) for English-language trials of nutrition and combined-approach (nutrition and exercise) interventions (with a control group) involving prefrail or frail adults aged 65 years or more. Outcomes of interest were frailty, mobility, health (body weight, body mass index), physical function (e.g., activities of daily living, muscle strength, appendicular lean mass), use of health care services (e.g., hospital admissions), quality of life, diet quality, mortality, and caregiver and social support. After data extraction, we assessed the risk of bias using the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool for randomized controlled trials, rated the certainty of evidence with the Grading of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) approach, and assessed statistical and methodologic heterogeneity. In addition, we conducted subgroup analyses of studies based on the primary intervention of protein supplementation. Results: We identified 15 studies involving 1825 prefrail or frail older participants: 7 were nutrition trials, 7 were combined-approach trials, and 1 trial had both a nutrition arm and a combined-approach arm. Seven studies had low risk of bias, 2 studies had high risk of bias, and for 6 studies the risk of bias was unclear. Nutrition interventions had small but significant effects on measures of physical function (standardized mean difference [SMD] 0.16, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.02 to 0.29), mobility (SMD 0.15, 95% CI 0.00 to 0.30) and frailty (SMD −0.22, 95% CI −0.44 to −0.01) outcomes. Nutrition interventions combined with physical activity also had small but significant effects on physical function (SMD 0.19, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.32), mobility (SMD 0.25, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.48) and frailty (SMD −0.41, 95% CI −0.68 to −0.14; risk ratio 0.72, 95% CI 0.52 to 1.00) measures. Protein supplementation (5 studies) had small but significant effects on physical function measures (SMD 0.16, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.31) and mobility measures (SMD 0.20, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.39), with moderate certainty of evidence. Interpretation: There is moderate evidence that nutrition (including protein supplementation) and combined interventions are beneficial for prefrail or frail older adults. Trials with clear definitions of frailty and outcomes that reflect frailty identification and diagnosis are needed. PROSPERO registration: CRD42020144819
MicroRNA-133 Targets Phosphodiesterase 1C in Drosophila and Human Oral Cancer Cells to Regulate Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

Non-coding microRNAs (miRNAs) have been proposed to play diverse roles in cancer biology, including epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) crucial for cancer progression. Previous comparative studies revealed distinct expression profiles of miRNAs relevant to tumorigenesis and progression of oral cancer. With putative targets of these miRNAs mostly validated in vitro, it remains unclear whether similar miRNA-target relationships exist in vivo. In this study, we employed a hybrid approach, utilizing both Drosophila melanogaster and human oral cancer cells, to validate projected miRNA-target relationships relevant to EMT. Notably, overexpression of dme-miR-133 resulted in significant tissue growth in Drosophila larval wing discs. The RT-PCR analysis successfully validated a subset of its putative targets, including Pde1c. Subsequent experiments performed in oral cancer cells confirmed conserved targeting of human PDE1C by hsa-miR-133. Furthermore, the elevated level of miR-133 and its targeting of PDE1C was positively correlated with enhanced migrative ability of oral cancer cells treated with LPS, along with the molecular signature of a facilitated EMT process induced by LPS and TGF-β. The analysis on the RNAseq data also revealed a negative correlation between the expression level of hsa-miR-133 and the survival of oral cancer patients. Taken together, our mammal-to-Drosophila-to-mammal approach successfully validates targeting of PDE1C by miR-133 both in vivo and in vitro, underlying the promoted EMT phenotypes and potentially influencing the prognosis of oral cancer patients. This hybrid approach will further aid to widen our scope in investigation of intractable human malignancies, including oral cancer.
SWAT 76 evaluation: randomised evaluation of sending pre-notification cards to trial participants before a face-to-face primary outcome measurement to increase attendance

Background: Retention is considered the second highest trial methods priority in the UK after recruitment. Methods: This Study Within A Trial (SWAT) evaluated whether sending a pre-notification card around one month before a face-to-face primary outcome measurement visit compared to not sending the card increased trial retention. The SWAT was a two-arm, parallel randomised (1:1 allocation ratio), stratified by centre, study. It was embedded within the ActWELL host trial, which evaluated whether women receiving lifestyle change counselling from volunteer coaches improved outcomes including weight and physical activity. The SWAT primary outcome was the difference in the proportion of participants attending the host trial primary outcome measurement visit. The secondary outcome was the direct cost of sending cards. Host trial participants and research staff at the primary outcome visit were blind to the SWAT. Analysis was intention-to-treat. Certainty of evidence was assessed using GRADE. Results: 558 host trial participants took part in the SWAT and were included in the analysis. Of the 274 women sent a card, 231 attended the primary outcome visit (84.3%) compared to 230/284 (81.0%) for those not receiving a card. Sending a pre-notification card may result in a slight increase in attendance at a face-to-face primary outcome measurement visit at 1-year: risk difference = 3.3% (95% confidence interval = -3.0% to 9.6%). This is GRADE low certainty evidence. A recording error meant it was unclear whether 17 participants allocated to the card were actually sent one but a sensitivity analysis did not change the overall result or conclusion. The direct cost of producing and sending the cards was £192 GBP (€213 EUR; $260 USD), or £21.33 (€23.55; $28.77 per additional retained participant. Discussion: Trialists could consider using pre-notification as they may gain a slight increase in retention to face-to-face trial measurement visits but further evaluations are needed.
Cloud based IoT Smart Healthcare System for Remote Patient Monitoring

INTRODUCTION: Covid-19 has exposed the necessitate for the rapid acceptance of increasingly pioneering digital health technologies, especially remote health monitoring. The digital revolution in Healthcare is dynamic ease of use of inexpensive concern solutions, enhancing patient care, reducing complications, improving effectiveness, and authorizing healthcare decision-makers with intelligence insight at the point of care. OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of this work is to depict the need to recognize wearable sensors as a prerequisite for supporting paradigms in monitoring patients in real-time and enabling access information from the cloud. METHODS: Internet of Things (IoT) is the association of substantial objects where information and communication tools connect various embedded devices to the internet for gathering and switching over data. The combinations of embedded devices with cloud servers recommend extensive pertinence of IoT to several areas of human life. This paper has proposed a method through cloud-based IoT healthcare sensors to formulate patient monitoring remotely. In combination with the implementation of various inbuilt capabilities, internet-enabled heterogeneous wearable sensors can be used for the collection of biomedical data to transmit patient data directly to cloud severe systems to monitor health remotely. RESULTS: Smart healthcare monitoring includes channels of communication, embedded internal and external sensors, IoT server, and cloud storage. The health parameters activities are done at various levels of refining named application layer, management layer, network layer and layer of device. Different data sensors have been collected by wireless media from nodes. It is saved as an unstructured dataset in the cloud. For security with username and password, a patient database is created. Authorized individuals have access to the cloud in order to monitor cloud sensor data in data log, analogue log, digital input and digital output. CONCLUSION: Patient physical parameters like heart beat respiration,high temperature and stress are calculated via sensors and can be progressed by WIFI unit in the cloud. From this healthcare practitioner will analyze medical to have effective medication. For face-to-face consultation between doctors and patients, the video feature can be added in the future work. © 2021 G.Jaya Lakshmi et al.,.
Collapsing a Reﬂective Tower: Staging under User-Modiﬁed Semantics

In a reﬂective programming language such as Black, user programs are interpreted by an inﬁnite tower of meta-circular interpreters. Each level of the tower can be accessed and modiﬁed, so the semantics of the language changes dynamically during execution. In this project, we show that, using staging, it is possible to compile a user program under modiﬁed, possibly also compiled, semantics – a question raised in previous work (Asai 2014). How? All functions are polymorphic as to whether they generate code or run. Generated code, when compiled, is also polymorphic in this way so that there’s no difference between built-in and compiled functions. Compiling a function in a tower of interpreters effectively collapses the tower.
Twentieth century global glacier mass change: an ensemble-based model reconstruction

Abstract. Negative glacier mass balances in most of Earth's glacierized regions contribute roughly one-quarter to currently observed rates of sea-level rise and have likely contributed an even larger fraction during the 20th century. The distant past and future of glaciers' mass balances, and hence their contribution to sea-level rise, can only be estimated using numerical models. Since, independent of complexity, models always rely on some form of parameterizations and a choice of boundary conditions, a need for optimization arises. In this work, a model for computing monthly mass balances of glaciers on the global scale was forced with nine different data sets of near-surface air temperature and precipitation anomalies, as well as with their mean and median, leading to a total of 11 different forcing data sets. The goal is to better constrain the glaciers' 20th century sea-level budget contribution and its uncertainty. Therefore, five global parameters of the model's mass balance equations were varied systematically, within physically plausible ranges, for each forcing data set. We then identified optimal parameter combinations by cross-validating the model results against in situ annual specific mass balance observations, using three criteria: model bias, temporal correlation, and the ratio between the observed and modeled temporal standard deviation of specific mass balances. These criteria were chosen in order not to trade lower error estimates by means of the root mean squared error (RMSE) for an unrealistic interannual variability. We find that the disagreement between the different optimized model setups (i.e., ensemble members) is often larger than the uncertainties obtained via the leave-one-glacier-out cross-validation, particularly in times and places where few or no validation data are available, such as the first half of the 20th century. We show that the reason for this is that in regions where mass balance observations are abundant, the meteorological data are also better constrained, such that the cross-validation procedure only partly captures the uncertainty of the glacier model. For this reason, ensemble spread is introduced as an additional estimate of reconstruction uncertainty, increasing the total uncertainty compared to the model uncertainty merely obtained by the cross-validation. Our ensemble mean estimate indicates a sea-level contribution by global glaciers (outside of the ice sheets; including the Greenland periphery but excluding the Antarctic periphery) for 1901–2018 of 69.2 ± 24.3 mm sea-level equivalent (SLE), or 0.59 ± 0.21 mm SLE yr−1. While our estimates lie within the uncertainty range of most of the previously published global estimates, they agree less with those derived from GRACE data, which only cover the years 2002–2018.
Comparing the Effects of Network Latency versus Local Latency on Competitive First Person Shooter Game Players

Competitive gamers, and especially esports gamers, want lower latency to improve their chances of winning. There are two main sources of latency in competitive computer games: local system latency and network latency. While researchers have studied the effects of both, a direct comparison has not been done, especially for competitive gamers and low-end latencies. This paper assesses the effects of local latency and network latency on experienced {\em Counter-strike: Global Offensive} players comparing data from two user studies. Analysis of the results shows that local latency has about a 2x higher impact on player performance (accuracy and score) and Quality of Experience (QoE) than does the same amount of network latency.
Natural Language Access: When Reasoning Makes Sense

Natural language is one of the more appealing ways by which people can interact with computers, but up to now its application has been severely constrained. We argue that to use natural language effectively, we must have both a deep understanding of the subject domain and a general-purpose reasoning capability. We illustrate the issues with SAP-QUEST, a proof-of-concept system for natural language question answering over a set of data sources for business enterprise applications, but the argument can be applied more generally to dialogue-style interfaces over a variety of subject domains.
Lean six sigma implementation, a systematic literature review

Organizations must be able to meet customer needs in today’s complex market situation and business environment, the needs and essentials for their satisfaction such as high product quality, competitive costs and faster delivery. Organization need to apply a comprehensive concept and method on managing this requirement. This systematic review intends to identify how Lean Six sigma implementation in many industries. Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a method that has been widely used in research in various fields and continues to grow, to get the most common solution it is necessary to review the method. This research is to observe concept and method still relevant to be use and effectively improved the business performance and customer satisfaction. For the identity of the LSS Papers, a total of 50 research papers were reviewed which met the criteria, Research object, country of research and year of publication and Result of research. The result show that LSS is still being used and successfuly help the organization to improve their competitiveness, improve quality, reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction, increase productivity, and increase employee morale.
Only text? only image? or both? Predicting sentiment of internet memes

Nowadays, the spread of Internet memes on online social media platforms such as Insta-gram, Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter is very fast. Analyzing the sentiment of memes can provide various useful insights. Meme sentiment classiﬁcation is a new area of research that is not explored yet. Recently SemEval provides a dataset for meme sentiment classi-ﬁcation. As this dataset is highly imbalanced, we extend this dataset by annotating new instances and use a sampling strategy to build a meme sentiment classiﬁer. We propose a multi-modal framework for meme sentiment classiﬁcation by utilizing textual and visual features of the meme. We found that for meme sentiment classiﬁcation, only textual or only visual features are not sufﬁcient. Our proposed framework utilizes textual as well as visual features together. We propose to use the attention mechanism to improve meme classiﬁcation performance. Our proposed framework achieves macro F1 and accuracy of 34.23% and 50.02%, respectively. It increases the accuracy by 6.77% and 7.86% compared to only textual and visual features, respectively.
Teacher-Centered Approach Prevalence in Algerian Secondary-School EFL Classes: The Case of English Teachers and Learners in Mostaganem District

Before implementing the Competency-Based Approach (CBA) in 2003, the Algerian educational system was based on traditional teaching methods that focused mainly on acquiring the knowledge about language delivered by the teacher and the amount of information the learner could accumulate to pass the exams. Although CBA has shifted the teacher’s role from a knowledge transmitter to a facilitator and the learner from a passive recipient to an active participant, the teacher-centered paradigm still prevails among secondary-school teachers. To shed light on that prevalence, the researcher attempts to explore the perceptions secondary-school teachers hold about Teacher-Centred Approach (TCA) and the reasons behind its widespread use. Therefore, the present study investigates the causes of TCA prevalence in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes using a mixed-methods approach. To reach that aim, the researcher put forward the following hypothesis. Although teachers know the various teaching approaches, they have to adopt the teacher-centered method because of several constraints. To collect the necessary data to identify those constraints, thirty English teachers from some secondary schools in the district of Mostaganem received a questionnaire. The research results confirmed the hypothesis stated above. They revealed that teachers are well-informed about the viability of various teaching approaches and methods; however, they keep adopting the teacher-centered approach. Such behavior is due to multiple constraints such as classrooms crowdedness, the traditional physical classroom environment, the baccalaureate (BAC) exam requirements, and the time restrictions due to the lengthy English programs.