Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Virus transmission via honey bee prey and potential impact on cocoon-building in labyrinth spiders (Agelena labyrinthica)

Interspecies transmission of RNA viruses is a major concern for human and animal health. However, host-range, transmission routes and especially the possible impact of these viruses on alternative hosts are often poorly understood. Here, we investigated the role of the labyrinth spider, Agelena labyrinthica, as a potential alternative host of viruses commonly known from western honey bees, Apis mellifera. Field-collected spiders were screened for Acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV), Black queen cell virus, Chronic bee paralysis virus, Deformed wing virus type A and B (DWV-B), Israeli acute paralysis virus, Lake Sinai virus and Sacbrood virus. In a laboratory experiment, labyrinth spiders were fed with ABPV and DWV-B infected honey bees or virus free control food. Our results show that natural infections of A. labyrinthica with these viruses are common in the field, as 62.5% of the samples were positive for at least one virus, supporting their wide host range. For DWV-B, the laboratory data indicate that foodborne transmission occurs and that high virus titres may reduce cocoon building, which would be the first report of clinical symptoms of DWV in Araneae. Since cocoons are tokens of fitness, virus transmission from honey bees might affect spider populations, which would constitute a concern for nature conservation.
Effects of a Definition and a Varying Number of Examples and Nonexamples on Concept Attainment.

Fourth grade children read experimental lessons, each of which presented one of the following: (1) a concept definition and placebo material; (2) a rational set of examples and nonexamples of the concept and placebo material; (3) the definition, a rational set, and placebo material; or (4) the definition and three different rational sets. Control children read the placebo material only. Each experimental group performed significantly better than the controls; and children reading a lesson with a definition and three rational sets performed significantly better than those who received only a definition. The use of rational sets of concept instances and of a concept definition is validated as a powerful controllable variable in instructional material. (Author) iffiklg "N'i. :\`';'14 474:4*WT*44:;4 '44,4ve41,1r,
Effect of magnesium on vascular calcification in chronic kidney disease patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Purpose To evaluate the effects of magnesium (Mg) supplementation on vascular calcification (VC) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Medline, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP, and WanFang databases were searched from build to July 2022. Randomized controlled trials (RCT) and non-RCT related to whether Mg supplementation inhibits VC in patients with CKD were included. The literature was screened according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, and quality evaluation and data collection were performed. Meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.4 software. Results 8 RCTs and 1 non-RCT studies with a total of 496 patients were eventually included. Compared to control groups, Mg supplementation increased serum Mg levels (SMD = 1.26, 95% CI: −0.70 to 1.82, p < 0.001), but it was not statistically significant in alleviating the degree of VC, increasing T50, and reducing serum phosphorus (P) levels in patients with CKD (all p > 0.05). Oral Mg reduced left (WMD=−0.06, 95% CI. −0.11 to −0.01, p = 0.03) and right (WMD=−0.07, 95% CI: −0.13 to −0.01, p = 0.02) carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT). Additionally, calcium (Ca) (SMD=−0.43, 95% CI: −0.74 to −0.11, p = 0.008) and parathyroid hormone (PTH) (SMD=−0.43, 95% CI: −0.75 to −0.11, p = 0.008) levels were reduced by increasing dialysate Mg concentration. Conclusions Mg supplementation increased serum Mg levels and reduced Ca, PTH, and cIMT, but it did not reduce VC scores in patients with CKD. This still requires further studies with larger samples to evaluate the effect of Mg supplementation on VC.
Transcriptome profiles and chromatin states in mouse androgenetic haploid embryonic stem cells

Haploid embryonic stem cells (haESCs) are derived from the inner cell mass of the haploid blastocyst, containing only one set of chromosomes. Extensive and accurate chromatin remodelling occurs during haESC derivation, but the intrinsic transcriptome profiles and chromatin structure of haESCs have not been fully explored. We profiled the transcriptomes, nucleosome positioning, and key histone modifications of four mouse haESC lines, and compared these profiles with those of other closely‐related stem cell lines, MII oocytes, round spermatids, sperm, and mouse embryonic fibroblasts. haESCs had transcriptome profiles closer to those of naïve pluripotent stem cells. Consistent with the one X chromosome in haESCs, Xist was repressed, indicating no X chromosome inactivation. haESCs and ESCs shared a similar global chromatin structure. However, a nucleosome depletion region was identified in 2056 promoters in ESCs, which was absent in haESCs. Furthermore, three characteristic spatial relationships were formed between transcription factor motifs and nucleosomes in both haESCs and ESCs, specifically in the linker region, on the nucleosome central surface, and nucleosome borders. Furthermore, the chromatin state of 4259 enhancers was off in haESCs but active in ESCs. Functional annotation of these enhancers revealed enrichment in regulation of the cell cycle, a predominantly reported mechanism of haESC self‐diploidization. Notably, the transcriptome profiles and chromatin structure of haESCs were highly preserved during passaging but different from those of differentiated cell types.
Predictive adaptive control of plants with online structural changes based on multiple models

The objective of this paper is to present a new algorithm to improve the adaptation rate of a predictive adaptive controller. For that sake, the possible plant dynamic outcomes are covered by a bank of models. Each model is used to re‐initialize the adaptive controller every time there is a large change in dynamics. The contribution of the paper consists in the development of a procedure that includes additional models in the bank when found suitable according to defined criteria. The algorithm is demonstrated in a benchmark problem consisting of the position control of two masses coupled by a spring of varying stiffness. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Detection and parameter estimation of manoeuvring targets with passive bistatic radar

In this study, the problem of detection and parameter estimation of manoeuvring targets in passive radar is addressed. Classical processing scheme used in passive radars works well under certain conditions. If the conditions are not met, such as in the case of detection of highly manoeuvring targets, performance degradation can be expected. In this study, an extended processing is proposed, which makes it possible to detect manoeuvring targets without the loss of the signal-to-noise ratio. Moreover, an estimate of the bistatic acceleration is available, which can greatly facilitate tracking of manoeuvring targets. The proposed methods are tested using real-life data recorded with an FM-based passive radar.
Causal mediation analysis using high‐dimensional image mediator bounded in irregular domain with an application to breast cancer

Mammography is the primary breast cancer screening strategy. Recent methods have been developed using the mammogram image to improve breast cancer risk prediction. However, it is unclear on the extent to which the effect of risk factors on breast cancer risk is mediated through tissue features summarized in mammogram images and the extent to which it is through other pathways. While mediation analysis has been conducted using mammographic density (a summary measure within the image), the mammogram image is not necessarily well described by a single summary measure and, in addition, such a measure provides no spatial information about the relationship between the exposure risk factor and the risk of breast cancer. Thus, to better understand the role of the mammogram images that provide spatial information about the state of the breast tissue that is causally predictive of the future occurrence of breast cancer, we propose a novel method of causal mediation analysis using mammogram image mediator while accommodating the irregular shape of the breast. We apply the proposed method to data from the Joanne Knight Breast Health Cohort and leverage new insights on the decomposition of the total association between risk factor and breast cancer risk that was mediated by the texture of the underlying breast tissue summarized in the mammogram image.
Associations of greenspace use and proximity with self-reported physical and mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Research has shown that the COVID-19 pandemic affected individual’s mental and physical health. The aim of this study was to estimate associations between greenspace use and proximity with perceived mental and physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic. We surveyed metropolitan Philadelphia residents, October 20–December 1, 2020, about walking time to the nearest greenspace from their home, frequency of greenspace use in the past 30 days, change in frequency of greenspace use during the COVID-19 pandemic, and perceived physical and mental health outcomes. We ran unadjusted and adjusted log-binomial regression models to derive Risk Ratio (RR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) estimates of associations of loneliness, physical and mental health outcomes with: (1) self-reported walking time to nearest greenspace; (2) reported greenspace use frequency; and (3) changes in greenspace use frequency. Of 485 survey participants, 244 (51.4%) reported feeling lonelier, 147 (31.37%) reported higher perceived stress, 261 (54.9%) reported worsened mental health, and 137 (28.7%) reported worsened physical health during vs. before the start of pandemic-restrictions in mid-March of 2020. After adjustment for gender, age, and change in financial status, RR estimates suggested modest protective associations between visiting greenspaces more frequently during vs. before the pandemic and worsened mental (RR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.70–1.00), and physical health (RR 0.77, 95% CI: 0.56–1.10), and loneliness (RR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.75–1.1) and perceived stress (RR 0.83, 95% CI: 0.61–1.13). Shorter walking distances to the nearest greenspace were associated with reduced risk of reporting worsened physical health and higher perceived stress; however, living shorter walking distances from greenspace were not associated with protection against worsened mental health or loneliness. These results suggest that active greenspace use may provide mental and physical health protection, particularly during a stressful public health crisis.
Approximations to the Distribution Function of the Anderson—Darling Test Statistic

Abstract A theoretical approximation to the upper tail area of the Anderson-Darling test statistic is derived by applying a result of Zolotarev (1961) to the characteristic function. This approximation is particularly good in the upper tail. An empirical distribution is given that is accurate over the complete domain of the distribution.
Assessment of a Text Message–Based Smoking Cessation Intervention for Adult Smokers in China

Key Points Question What are the effects of a behavior change theory–based smoking cessation intervention using personalized text messages? Findings In this randomized clinical trial of 722 current smokers in China, participants who received the behavior change theory–based smoking cessation intervention using personalized text messages had a 6-month quit rate that was twice that of participants who received an intervention using nonpersonalized text messages. Meaning These findings provide new evidence supporting the utility of mobile health methods for smoking cessation.
Progress of metabolomics in atopic dermatitis: a systematic review

Atopic dermatitis (AD), a chronic inflammatory skin disorder characterized by recurrent eczema and intense pruritus, is a major skin‐related burden worldwide. The diagnosis and treatment of AD is often challenging due to the high heterogeneity of AD, and its exact etiology is unknown. Metabolomics offers the opportunity to follow continuous physiological and pathological changes in individuals, which allows accurate diagnosis and management as well as providing deep insights into the etiopathogenesis of AD. Several metabolomic studies of AD have been published over the past few years. The aim of this review is to summarize these findings and help researchers to understand the rapid development of metabolomics for AD.
Multi-color photometry in wide field of the Galactic globular cluster NGC 3201

Aims. This paper aims at further studying one of the nearby Galactic globular clusters (GCs), NGC 3201. It is known to experience notable irregular variability of reddening across its face. By relying on our previous studies and findings and by developing them, we focus on the brighter sequences of the color-magnitude diagram (CMD) and on the cluster's characteristics. Methods. We carried out and analyzed new multi-color photometry of NGC 3201 in UBVI reaching below the turnoff point in all passbands in a fairly large cluster field, about $14\arcmin \times 14 \arcmin$. To achieve more reliable results and conclusions, we reduced the negative impact of the irregularly varying reddening and contamination by field stars. Results. With this aim we first estimated mean reddening in different zones of the studied cluster field and then took its variations into account, by reducing them to the same level. We estimated metallicity of NGC 3201 using a new metallicity indicator related to U -based CMDs, recently proposed by us. We find [Fe/H]$_{ZW} = -1.54 \pm 0.12$ dex, which falls between extreme estimates of the cluster's metallicity obtained using different methods or indicators. Also, the location of the RGB bump on the branch corresponds to [Fe/H]$_{ZW} = -1.46 \pm 0.15$ dex. We isolate 73 probable blue straggler (BS) candidates, the largest population found in NGC 3201 so far. They are more centrally concentrated than the lower red giants at the 99.2% level. Their position in the two-color diagram assumes that presumably none of them belongs to BSa of collisional origin. The luminosity function (LF) of the RGB and its features in the low part of the branch are examined and discussed. We also resolve some of the contradictory results of previous publications.
Spectral Energy Budget in Wall Turbulence

The spectral energy equations are developed for mechanical and thermal wall turbulence; that is, turbulence which obeys similarity relations (not dependent on viscosity) in which the only characteristic length is the distance to the wall. The terms which appear are given physical interpretations relating them to inhomogeneities of intensity and scale. Some tentative conclusions are put forward regarding the spectral energy budget of a more general similar (homogenizable) turbulence.
Comparative study of the optical pumping efficiency in solid-state lasers

The optical pump efficiency of a solid-state laser has been calculated, in an unified manner, for the active materials ruby, Nd:YAG, Nd:glass, alexandrite, and Nd:Cr:GSGG under typical operating conditions. This unified presentation allows for a critical comparison and points toward possible future improvements.
Self‐distortion of a whistler pulse in a plasma

Following the technique used by Akhmanov et al. to solve the nonlinear wave equation, we have investigated the propagation of temporally and spatially gaussian whistler pulses in a plasma. In the linear case the temporal width of the pulse is enhanced (due to dispersion) at a distance R ˜ τ2v3g/(∂2ω/∂k2) whereas its size is enhanced (due to diffraction) over a length Rd ∼ 2kr20/(1 + ϵ+/ϵzz); τ, r0, k, vg, ϵ+, and ϵzz are the initial time width, size, wave vector, group velocity, and the components of the dielectric tensor of the plasma. In the case of a high-power whistler, the ponderomotive nonlinearity causes self-focusing (for all values of ω/ωc) of the whistler and results in severe distortion of the pulse shape.
Vitamin B5 and succinyl-CoA improve ineffective erythropoiesis in SF3B1 mutated myelodysplasia

Patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and ring sideroblasts (MDS-RS) present with symptomatic anemia due to ineffective erythropoiesis that impedes their quality of life and increases morbidity. More than 80% of patients with MDS-RS harbor splicing factor 3B subunit 1 (SF3B1) mutations, the founder aberration driving MDS-RS disease. Here, we report how mis-splicing of coenzyme A synthase (COASY), induced by mutations in SF3B1, affects heme biosynthesis and erythropoiesis. Our data revealed that COASY was up-regulated during normal erythroid differentiation, and its silencing prevented the formation of erythroid colonies, impeded erythroid differentiation, and precluded heme accumulation. In patients with MDS-RS, loss of protein due to COASY mis-splicing led to depletion of both CoA and succinyl-CoA. Supplementation with COASY substrate (vitamin B5) rescued CoA and succinyl-CoA concentrations in SF3B1mut cells and mended erythropoiesis differentiation defects in MDS-RS primary patient cells. Our findings reveal a key role of the COASY pathway in erythroid maturation and identify upstream and downstream metabolites of COASY as a potential treatment for anemia in patients with MDS-RS. Description Vitamin B5 and succinyl-CoA compensate aberrant COASY splicing in SF3B1mut myelodysplasia, rescuing heme depletion and ineffective erythropoiesis. Averting anemia Some forms of myelodysplastic syndrome can reduce red blood cell production in patients, leading to anemia and concomitant morbidity. Mian et al. found that a mutation in a splicing factor, already known to be causative for myelodysplasia, led to a downstream mis-splicing event in coenzyme A synthetase, which in turn impeded heme synthesis and red blood cell differentiation. Treatment with vitamin B5, a substrate for the mis-spliced enzyme, rescued erythropoiesis in ex vivo hematopoietic cells isolated from patients with the mutation in question. This result suggests that vitamin B5 supplementation may be a feasible strategy to circumvent anemia in this patient population. —CAC
Orbital dynamics in a stochastic atmosphere

An algorithm is developed to analyze the orbital dynamics of a near-Earth satellite subjected to the random perturbations of a stochastic atmosphere. The orbital equations include the perturbation caused by an oblate geopotential and a drag model where the atmospheric density varies exponentially with height and temporally with the solar-activity and semiannual cycles. A random process representative of short-term density fluctuations modulates this deterministic density function. The solution begins with the analytical averaging of both the gravity and the drag perturbations, following the principle of the Method of Averaging. The drag averages are expanded in a series of newly defined functions called the "two-dimensional hyperbolic Bessel functions/' Their nice analytical properties greatly simplify the next part of the solution where the equations of motion are further transformed into a "stochastic Taylor expansion. '' Unlike the standard linear approach used in the treatment of stochastic systems, this technique preserves the full nonlinearity of the equations of deterministic motion and, therefore, avoids the usual restriction to small excursions from an initial or reference state. The analytical nature of the drag averages provides insight into the orbital effects of random density fluctuations and results in an efficient algorithm that prescribes the evolution of the mean and variance of the orbital state. Based on this algorithm, a computer program has been developed to generate confidence intervals that bound, in a probabilistic sense, the trajectory of a satellite. Typical numerical results assuming a 300-km-high near-circular orbit are illustrated. Although orbital error analysis is the main application of the paper, its analytical results can also be used in the development of an orbit determination and density estimation algorithm.
A Genetic Programming-based Framework for Semi-automated Multi-agent Systems Engineering

With the rise of new technologies, such as Edge computing, Internet of Things, Smart Cities, and Smart Grids, there is a growing need for multi-agent systems (MAS) approaches. Designing multi-agent systems is challenging, and doing this in an automated way is even more so. To address this, we propose a new framework, Evolved Gossip Contracts (EGC). It builds on Gossip Contracts (GC), a decentralised cooperation protocol that is used as the communication mechanism to facilitate self-organisation in a cooperative MAS. GC has several methods that are implemented uniquely, depending on the goal the MAS aims to achieve. The EGC framework uses evolutionary computing to search for the best implementation of these methods. To evaluate EGC, it was used to solve a classical NP-hard optimisation problem, the Bin Packing Problem (BPP). The experimental results show that EGC successfully discovered a decentralised strategy to solve the BPP, which is better than two classical heuristics on test cases similar to those on which it was trained; the improvement is statistically significant. EGC is the first framework that leverages evolutionary computing to semi-automate the discovery of a communication protocol for a MAS that has been shown to be effective at solving an NP-hard problem.
Guest Column

The end is near. More precisely, the end of my time as a (non-emeritus) professor is near. Thus I'm particularly grateful to Lane for inviting me to share some thoughts here, because there are a few things that I want to get off my chest. The Computational Complexity Column provides the perfect podium for this.
Momentum and heat transport in the turbulent intermediate wake of a circular cylinder

Hot-wire anemometry has been used in the intermediate wake (x/d= 10 to 40) of a slightly heated circular cylinder in order to quantify the contribution from the coherent motion to various conventionally averaged quantities, in particular the average momentum and heat fluxes. The overall contribution to the lateral heat flux is always greater than that to the Reynolds shear stress, indicating that the turbulent Kármán vortex street transports heat more effectively than momentum. The difference in these contributions is reflected in the topologies of the velocity and temperature fields. There is significant streamwise evolution of these topologies throughout the intermediate wake. At x/d = 10, the net heat transport associated with the vortical motion occurs in the downstream region of each vortex. At other downstream stations, the net heat transport is equally distributed between the upstream and downstream regions of individual vortices.