Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of Lilly Connected Care Program (LCCP) App-Based Diabetes Education for Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Treated With Insulin: Retrospective Real-World Study

Background Diabetes poses heavy economic and social burdens worldwide. Mobile apps show great potential for diabetes self-management education. However, there is limited evidence for the effectiveness of providing general diabetes education through mobile apps. Objective The aim of this study was to clarify the effectiveness of Lilly Connected Care Program (LCCP) app-based diabetes education for glycemic control. Methods This retrospective cohort study included patients with diabetes recruited to the LCCP platform from September 1, 2018, to May 31, 2019. Each patient was followed for 12 weeks. According to the number of diabetes education courses they had completed, the patients were divided into the following three groups: group A (0-4 courses), group B (5-29 courses), and group C (≥30 courses). The main outcomes were the change in blood glucose at the 12th week compared with baseline and the differences in blood glucose at the 12th week among the three groups. The associations of the number of diabetes education courses completed with the average blood glucose and frequency of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) at the 12th week were assessed by multivariate linear regression analyses controlling for other confounding covariates. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were used to assess factors influencing patients’ engagement in the diabetes education courses. Results A total of 5011 participants were enrolled. Their mean fasting blood glucose (FBG) and postprandial blood glucose (PBG) were significantly lower at the 12th week than at baseline (FBG, 7.46 [standard deviation (SD) 1.95] vs 7.79 [SD 2.18] mmol/L, P<. 001; PBG, 8.94 [SD 2.74] vs 9.53 [SD 2.81] mmol/L, P<. 001). The groups that completed more diabetes education courses had lower FBG (group B, β=−0.14, 95% CI −0.26 to −0.03; group C, β=−0.29, 95% CI −0.41 to −0.16; P for trend <.001) and PBG (group B, β=−0.29, 95% CI −0.46 to −0.11; group C, β=−0.47, 95% CI −0.66 to −0.28; P for trend <.001) and a higher frequency of SMBG at the 12th week (group B, β=1.17, 95% CI 0.81-1.53; group C, β=4.21, 95% CI 3.81-4.62; P for trend <.001) when compared with the findings in group A. Age and education were related to patients’ engagement in the diabetes education courses. Middle-aged patients (35-59 years old) and elderly patients (≥60 years old) completed more diabetes education courses (middle-aged group, β=2.22, P=.01; elderly group, β=2.42, P=.02) than young patients (18-34 years old). Conclusions LCCP app-based diabetes education is effective for glycemic control and SMBG behavior improvement in patients with type 2 diabetes receiving insulin therapy. Young patients’ engagement in the education courses was relatively low. We need to conduct in-depth interviews with users to further improve the curriculum.
Maximizing Communication Quality with Bandwidth Guarantees in Wireless Mesh Networks

--Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) helps remote areas to gain access to Internet. There might be number of paths to gain access to Internet. Finding a path with maximum bandwidth is the problem to be addressed. Many solutions towards this came into existence. Recently Hou et al. presented a new path weight approach to capture in order to obtain path bandwidth information. In wireless networks the solution is not easier when compared to its wired counterpart. They used consistency property with respect to path weight to know the best that maximizes bandwidth consistently. In this paper we implement this strategy in WMN. We built a prototype, a simulator, application which demonstrates the proof of concept. The empirical results revealed that our approach is effective and outperforms existing path metrics.
The B Subunit of PirABvp Toxin Secreted from Vibrio parahaemolyticus Causing AHPND Is an Amino Sugar Specific Lectin

Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp) is the etiological agent of the acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) in Penaeus vannamei shrimp. Vp possesses a 63–70 kb conjugative plasmid that encodes the binary toxin PirAvp/PirBvp. The 250 kDa PirABvp complex was purified by affinity chromatography with galactose-sepharose 4B and on a stroma from glutaraldehyde-fixed rat erythrocytes column, as a heterotetramer of PirAvp and PirBvp subunits. In addition, recombinant pirB (rPirBvp) and pirA (rPirAvp) were obtained. The homogeneity of the purified protein was determined by SDS-PAGE analysis, and the yield of protein was 488 ng/100 μg of total protein of extracellular products. The PirABvp complex and the rPirBvp showed hemagglutinating activity toward rat erythrocytes. The rPirAvp showed no hemagglutinating capacity toward the animal red cells tested. Among different mono and disaccharides tested, only GalNH2 and GlcNH2 were able to inhibit hemagglutination of the PirABvp complex and the rPirBvp. Glycoproteins showed inhibitory specificity, and fetuin was the glycoprotein that showed the highest inhibition. Other glycoproteins, such as mucin, and glycosaminoglycans, such as heparin, also inhibited the activity. Desialylation of erythrocytes enhanced the hemagglutinating activity. This confirms that Gal or Gal (β1,4) GlcNAc are the main ligands for PirABvp. The agglutinating activity of the PirABvp complex and the rPirBvp is not dependent on cations, because addition of Mg2+ or Ca2+ showed no effect on the protein capacity. Our results strongly suggest that the PirBvp subunit is a lectin, which is part of the PirA/PirBvp complex, and it seems to participate in bacterial pathogenicity.
Lipid Deposition and Metabolism in Local and Modern Pig Breeds: A Review

Simple Summary Intensive selective breeding and genetic improvement of relatively few pig breeds led to the abandonment of many low productive local pig breeds. However, local pig breeds are more highly adapted to their specific environmental conditions and feeding resources, and therefore present a valuable genetic resource. They are able to deposit more fat and have a distinct lipogenic capacity, along with a better fatty acid composition than modern breeds. Physiological, biochemical and genetic mechanisms responsible for the differences between fatty and lean breeds are still not fully clarified. The present paper highlights important associations to better understand the underlying mechanisms of lipid deposition in subcutaneous and intramuscular fat between fatty and lean breeds. Abstract Modern pig breeds, which have been genetically improved to achieve fast growth and a lean meat deposition, differ from local pig breeds with respect to fat deposition, fat specific metabolic characteristics and various other properties. The present review aimed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the differences between fatty local and modern lean pig breeds in adipose tissue deposition and lipid metabolism, taking into consideration morphological, cellular, biochemical, transcriptomic and proteomic perspectives. Compared to modern breeds, local pig breeds accumulate larger amounts of fat, which generally contains more monounsaturated and saturated fatty acids; they exhibit a higher adipocyte size and higher activity of lipogenic enzymes. Studies using transcriptomic and proteomic approaches highlighted several processes like immune response, fatty-acid turn-over, oxidoreductase activity, mitochondrial function, etc. which differ between local and modern pig breeds.
The Influence of Mentorship: A Study on How Academic Advising can Facilitate a Positive College Student Experience

At American colleges and universities, academic advising has been traditionally utilized as a tool to aid students in course registration and making sure they are on track towards graduation. However, as the student population continues to diversify, their needs and concerns need continual adaptation to be met as well. Students need an outlet to not only discuss their academic progress, but also to converse about how to tie in their interests and passions, extracurricular involvement, social life, and career and future aspirations with their academics. This opportunity for positive mentorship can go hand in hand with academic advising. Through this qualitative mixed methods study, surveys and interviews were conducted with 98 participants amongst different academic majors (Education, Business, and Criminology) and class years, to gauge an overall perspective of how this notion of holistic advising can be incorporated into the current academic advising experience. The findings and implications suggest that utilizing academic advising in this holistic manner can aid in the facilitation of a positive college student experience. Recommendations include shifting the mentality of what academic advising can entail, students meeting more frequently with their academic advisor, for faculty advisors to attend a mandatory academic advising orientation (with supplemental materials provided), as well as better communication to students about the power of mentorship through academic advising. THE INFLUENCE OF MENTORSHIP LeBel 3
Investigating Capital Mobility and Saving- Investment Relationship: Case Study of MENA Countries

This paper determines the degree of capital mobility and savinginvestment association by using the FeldsteinHorioka (1980) approach among Middle East and North African (MENA) countries during 1990-2011. According to the FeldsteinHorioka hypothesis, in a country with high degree of capital mobility there should be no relationship between domestic saving and domestic investment and inversely, in a country with low degree of capital mobility there is a high correlation between domestic saving and domestic investment. Using panel data and employing Random effect Model to estimate the model, the obtained results show that capital is highly mobile in these countries.
Mobile and Android Cloud Computing: A Survey

Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) is the combination of cloudcomputing, mobile computing and wireless networks to bring rich computational resources to mobile users, network operators, as well as cloud computing providers. The ultimate goal of MCC is to enable execution of richmobile applications on a plethora of mobile devices, with a rich user experience. Android platform occupies a predominant proportion of mobile market but lacks an approach that can provide accurate, efficient and agile security assessment for android applications present in the application market. In this paper, we provide an extensive survey of the recent research work, while highlighting the issues with the help of a taxonomy. This will help general readers have an overview of MCC including definition, architecture, and applications. We conclude the paper with critical analysis of the challenges and our proposed solution with future work.
PGT‐A preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidies and embryo selection in routine ART cycles: Time to step back?

Embryo aneuploidies may be responsible for implantation failures, miscarriages and affects IVF outcomes. A variety of technologies have been implemented to individuate euploid embryos in IVF treatments, which is named preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidies (PGT‐A). According to this strategy, a better embryo selection should increase IVF results. In reality, several issues remain unaddressed including the sampling strategy, involving the test outcomes, and the frequent occurrence of embryo mosaicism, affecting the criteria for selection of supposed viable embryos and possibly posing an ethical dilemma. Safety issues are in place, including perinatal and postnatal consequences of embryo sampling and the epigenetic weaknesses from a prolonged in vitro culture, necessary for trophectoderm biopsy. On the other side, chromosome number mistakes are progressively recognized as physiologic events in the early pre‐implantation embryo with many corrective mechanisms in place and their destiny in the post‐implantation development is unclear. Accordingly, the increasing precision of the diagnostic tools should be used to investigate the effect of such interventions within rigorous research programs in the sake of improved clinical outcomes. Meantime the diagnosis of embryo aneuploidies in IVF cycles should be considered as a research tool and systematic implementation in clinical practice may appear unjustified.
Factors influencing infant sex ratio in howler monkeys (Alouatta spp.): A literature review and analysis.

OBJECTIVE Frequency-dependent selection is expected to maintain infant sex ratios around parity over evolutionary time. However, over ecological time periods, infant sex ratios vary, and it has been proposed that this variation may reflect adaptive processes. In primates, there are consistent patterns of variation in infant sex ratios, although their adaptive significance remains contentious. In addition to design issues, contrasting results could have derived across primates from variation in the fitness benefits accrued through sons or daughters associated with the specific social, ecological, and demographic context of populations. Thus, different sex allocation tactics could occur within species over time and space. METHODS We reviewed the literature to describe variation in infant sex ratio in howler monkeys (genus Alouatta) and to examine whether such a variation could be associated with adaptive sex allocation. We found 26 studies that provided data for this review. These studies yielded 96 infant sex reports, corresponding to 1,477 sexed infants. RESULTS Infant sex ratio across howler monkey species tends to parity, but females produce more sons under high group densities and more daughters when rainfall increases. DISCUSSION Based on these results, as well as on information on howler monkey dispersal patterns, demography, and within-group genetic relatedness, we speculate that, depending on population growth stage, sex allocation is explained by (a) local resource enhancement, that is, more cooperative philopatric daughters are produced when populations are growing; and (b) local resource competition, that is, more dispersing sons are produced when populations are saturated. Thus, there is evidence suggestive of adaptive variation in infant sex ratios in howler monkeys.
FLS2 is a CDK-like kinase that directly binds IFT70 and is required for proper ciliary disassembly in Chlamydomonas

Intraflagellar transport (IFT) is required for ciliary assembly and maintenance. While disruption of IFT may trigger ciliary disassembly, we show here that IFT mediated transport of a CDK-like kinase ensures proper ciliary disassembly. Mutations in flagellar shortening 2 (FLS2), encoding a CDK-like kinase, lead to retardation of cilia resorption and delay of cell cycle progression. Stimulation for ciliary disassembly induces gradual dephosphorylation of FLS2 accompanied with gradual inactivation. Loss of FLS2 or its kinase activity induces early onset of kinesin13 phosphorylation in cilia. FLS2 is predominantly localized in the cell body, however, it is transported to cilia upon induction of ciliary disassembly. FLS2 directly interacts with IFT70 and loss of this interaction inhibits its ciliary transport, leading to dysregulation of kinesin13 phosphorylation and retardation of ciliary disassembly. Thus, this work demonstrates that IFT plays active roles in controlling proper ciliary disassembly by transporting a protein kinase to cilia to regulate a microtubule depolymerizer. Author Summary Cilia or eukaryotic flagella are cellular surface protrusions that function in cell motility as well as sensing. They are dynamic structures that undergo assembly and disassembly. Cilia are resorbed during cell cycle progression. Dysregulation of cilia resorption may cause delay of cell cycle progression, which underlies aberrant cell differentiation and even cancer. Ciliary resorption requires depolmerization of axonemal microtubules that is mediated by kinesin13. Using the unicellular green alga, Chlamydomonas, we have identified a CDK-like kinase FLS2 that when mutated retards cilia resorption, leading to delay of cell cycle progression. FLS2, a cell body protein, is transported to cilia via intraflagellar transport upon induction of cilia resorption. FLS2 directly interacts with IFT70 and loss of this interaction inhibits transport of FLS2 to cilia and fails to regulate proper phosphorylation of kinesin13 in cilia.
A Survey on Filtering Technique for Denoising Images in Digital Image Processing

Image processing is defined as an image denoising process. In image denoising techniques, image filtering algorithms are applied on images to remove the different types of noise that are either present in the image during capturing or injected into the image during transmission. The certain image denoising filters are based on the median filters. At present there are a variety of methods to remove noise from digital images, such as Gaussian filtering, Wiener filtering etc. Due to certain assumptions made about the frequency content of the image, many of these algorithms remove fine details from images in addition to the noise.
A Self-Powered Flexible Thermoelectric Sensor and Its Application on the Basis of the Hollow PEDOT:PSS Fiber

The thermoelectric (TE) fiber, based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), which possesses good flexibility, a low cost, good environmental stability and non-toxicity, has attracted more attention due to its promising applications in energy harvesting. This study presents a self-powered flexible sensor based on the TE properties of the hollow PEDOT:PSS fiber. The hollow structure of the fiber was synthesized using traditional wet spinning. The sensor was applied to an application for finger touch, and showed both long-term stability and good reliability towards external force. The sensor had a high scalability and was simple to develop. When figures touched the sensors, a temperature difference of 6 °C was formed between the figure and the outside environment. The summit output voltages of the sensors with 1 to 5 legs gradually increased from 90.8 μV to 404 μV. The time needed for the output voltage to reach 90% of its peak value is only 2.7 s. Five sensors of legs ranging from 1 to 5 were used to assemble the selector. This study may provide a new proposal to produce a self-powered, long-term and stable skin sensor, which is suitable for wearable devices in personal electronic fields.
Analysis of Fractured Sections in Shale Gas Wells Based on PCA - Logistic Regression Model

In order to optimize the layout and economic exploitation of horizontal fracturing wells and completion in shale gas reservoirs, we propose a model for evaluating shale gas fractured sections based on an improved principle component analysis (PCA) algorithm with logistic regression. The 229 gas production sections in 22 fractured shale gas wells in the main block of the Fuling Shale Development Demonstration Zone were selected, and PCA is used for dimensionalite reduction. According to the PCA results, 6 key parameters are chosen to determine the productivity of fractured wells. Taking the probability distribution of high production after fracturing as the research objective, a logistic regression discriminant model was constructed using the dichotomy method. The prediction results show that the model has 82.1% accuracy and is reliable. The model can be used to classify and gas wells to be fractured, and it provides guiding significance for reasonable optimization of well sections in the area selected for fracturing.
Aedes aegypti lachesin protein binds to the domain III of envelop protein of Dengue virus‐2 and inhibits viral replication

Dengue virus (DENV) comprises of four serotypes (DENV‐1 to ‐4) and is medically one of the most important arboviruses (arthropod‐borne virus). DENV infection is a major human health burden and is transmitted between humans by the insect vector, Aedes aegypti. Ae. aegypti ingests DENV while feeding on infected humans, which traverses through its gut, haemolymph and salivary glands of the mosquito before being injected into a healthy human. During this process of transmission, DENV must interact with many proteins of the insect vector, which are important for its successful transmission. Our study focused on the identification and characterisation of interacting protein partners in Ae. aegypti to DENV. Since domain III (DIII) of envelope protein (E) is exposed on the virion surface and is involved in virus entry into various cells, we performed phage display library screening against domain III of the envelope protein (EDIII) of DENV‐2. A peptide sequence showing similarity to lachesin protein was found interacting with EDIII. The lachesin protein was cloned, heterologously expressed, purified and used for in vitro interaction studies. Lachesin protein interacted with EDIII and also with DENV. Further, lachesin protein was localised in neuronal cells of different organs of Ae. aegypti by confocal microscopy. Blocking of lachesin protein in Ae. aegypti with anti‐lachesin antibody resulted in a significant reduction in DENV replication.
The timing and quality of antenatal care received by women attending a primary care centre in Iquitos, Peru: A facility exit survey

Background Maternal mortality is high in Loreto, Peru, but can be reduced by high quality antenatal care. Indicators for the quality of antenatal care received include the timing (with respect to gestational age) and number of antenatal appointments attended, the delivery of antenatal services and health information, and women’s perceptions about their care. This study investigated these indicators amongst women receiving antenatal care in predominantly the San Juan Bautista district of Iquitos, Loreto. This was to identify areas for improvement through comparison with antenatal guidelines published by the Ministry of Health, Peru, and the World Health Organization. Methods A total of 134 women were recruited at the Centro de Salud, San Juan—a primary care centre in Iquitos. Information about the delivery of antenatal services and the number of and gestational ages at appointments attended was collected from 121/134 women’s hand-held antenatal cards. The delivery of health information and women’s perceptions about their antenatal care were investigated through questionnaires (133/134 completed). Descriptive statistics, such as frequencies and valid percentages, were determined. Results Hand-held antenatal cards revealed that 52.9% of participants began their antenatal care in the first trimester. Compared to national guidelines, 42.1% attended appointments at recommended gestational ages and no women received all recommended antenatal services. Most women received information about identifying complications in pregnancy and health and lifestyle topics. Over 85% of women reported satisfaction with their antenatal care. Conclusions Timely antenatal attendance and delivery of services should be encouraged to meet national and global standards. Although all services were not delivered in a combined manner according to national guidelines, individual services were mostly delivered to a high standard and therefore a high proportion of women were satisfied with their antenatal care.