Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prospective forecasts of annual dengue hemorrhagic fever incidence in Thailand, 2010–2014

Significance Dengue hemorrhagic fever poses a major problem for public health officials in Thailand. The number and location of cases vary dramatically from year to year, which makes planning prevention and treatment activities before the dengue season difficult. We develop statistical models with biologically motivated covariates to make forecasts for each Thai province every year. The forecasts from our models have less error than those of a baseline model on out-of-sample data. Furthermore, the forecasts from a model based on incidence occurring before the start of the rainy season successfully order provinces by outbreak risk. These early, accurate forecasts of dengue hemorrhagic fever incidence could help public health officials determine where to allocate their resources in the future. Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), a severe manifestation of dengue viral infection that can cause severe bleeding, organ impairment, and even death, affects between 15,000 and 105,000 people each year in Thailand. While all Thai provinces experience at least one DHF case most years, the distribution of cases shifts regionally from year to year. Accurately forecasting where DHF outbreaks occur before the dengue season could help public health officials prioritize public health activities. We develop statistical models that use biologically plausible covariates, observed by April each year, to forecast the cumulative DHF incidence for the remainder of the year. We perform cross-validation during the training phase (2000–2009) to select the covariates for these models. A parsimonious model based on preseason incidence outperforms the 10-y median for 65% of province-level annual forecasts, reduces the mean absolute error by 19%, and successfully forecasts outbreaks (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.84) over the testing period (2010–2014). We find that functions of past incidence contribute most strongly to model performance, whereas the importance of environmental covariates varies regionally. This work illustrates that accurate forecasts of dengue risk are possible in a policy-relevant timeframe.
Telmisartan Prevents Obesity and Increases the Expression of Uncoupling Protein 1 in Diet-Induced Obese Mice

The aim of the present study was to clarify the effect of telmisartan, an angiotensin II receptor blocker, on the development of obesity and related metabolic disorders in diet-induced obese mice. Treatment with telmisartan dissolved in drinking water at a dosage of 5 mg/kg per day for 14 days attenuated the diet-induced weight gain without affecting food intake in diet-induced obese mice compared with controls using nontreated water. Telmisartan treatment decreased the weight of visceral adipose tissue and the triglyceride content in the liver and skeletal muscle. In addition, hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and hypertriglyceridemia in diet-induced obese mice all improved with telmisartan treatment. Furthermore, telmisartan treatment increased adiponectin mRNA in visceral white adipose tissue and was associated with a concomitant change in the serum adiponectin level. In contrast, the treatment reduced the serum level of resistin. Finally, telmisartan treatment increased the mRNA expression of uncoupling protein 1 in brown adipose tissue and was accompanied by an increase in oxygen consumption. In conclusion, telmisartan treatment might prevent the development of obesity and related metabolic disorders by altering the levels of adiponectin, resistin, and uncoupling protein 1 in diet-induced obese mice. Our results indicate that telmisartan can be used as a therapeutic tool for metabolic syndrome, including visceral obesity.
High Performance Three‐Dimensional Chemical Sensor Platform Using Reduced Graphene Oxide Formed on High Aspect‐Ratio Micro‐Pillars

The sensing performance of chemical sensors can be achieved not only by modification or hybridization of sensing materials but also through new design in device geometry. The performance of a chemical sensing device can be enhenced from a simple three‐dimensional (3D) chemiresistor‐based gas sensor platform with an increased surface area by forming networked, self‐assembled reduced graphene oxide (R‐GO) nanosheets on 3D SU8 micro‐pillar arrays. The 3D R‐GO sensor is highly responsive to low concentration of ammonia (NH3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) diluted in dry air at room temperature. Compared to the two‐dimensional planar R‐GO sensor structure, as the result of the increase in sensing area and interaction cross‐section of R‐GO on the same device area, the 3D R‐GO gas sensors show improved sensing performance with faster response (about 2%/s exposure), higher sensitivity, and even a possibly lower limit of detection towards NH3 at room temperature.
Bifurcation in Wind Energy Generation Systems

This letter reveals the possibility of Hopf bifurcation in a grid-connected wind energy generation system which handles an unbalanced loading. The wind energy generation system consists of a typical doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) which allows variable speed operation by using partially rated back-to-back quadruple active and reactive power PWM converters. Many control schemes reported in the literature are designed to solve some specific control problems associated with DFIG and have rarely been tested for general stability. Specifically, bifurcation analysis of the system has not been reported so far. We study the system stability in terms of the magnitude of some unwanted oscillation of the voltage link capacitor under a practical scenario where the system interacts indirectly with unbalanced single-phase constant power loads through the power grid. In this letter, the rotor speed of the DFIG is used as a variation parameter for bifurcation analysis. Bifurcation diagram of the voltage link capacitor indicates a Hopf-like bifurcation of the system in super-synchronous operation. This clearly explains the instability phenomenon of the practical DFIG system when unbalanced single-phase constant power loads are connected to the connecting grid.
MR imaging of iliofemoral peripheral vascular calcifications using proton density‐weighted, in‐phase three‐dimensional stack‐of‐stars gradient echo

The presence of vascular calcifications helps to determine percutaneous access for interventional vascular procedures and has prognostic value for future cardiovascular events. Unlike CT, standard MRI techniques are insensitive to vascular calcifications. In this prospective study, we tested a proton density‐weighted, in‐phase (PDIP) three‐dimensional (3D) stack‐of‐stars gradient‐echo pulse sequence with approximately 1 mm3 isotropic spatial resolution at 1.5 Tesla (T) and 3T to detect iliofemoral peripheral vascular calcifications and correlated MR‐determined lesion volumes with CT angiography (CTA).
Expanding the repertoire of deadenylases

ABSTRACT Deadenylases belong to an expanding family of exoribonucleases involved mainly in mRNA stability and turnover, with the exception of PARN which has additional roles in the biogenesis of several important non-coding RNAs, including miRNAs and piRNAs. Recently, PARN in C. elegans and its homolog PNLDC1 in B. mori were reported as the elusive trimmers mediating piRNA biogenesis. In addition, characterization of mammalian PNLDC1 in comparison to PARN, showed that is specifically expressed in embryonic stem and germ cells, as well as during early embryo development. Moreover, its expression is correlated with epigenetic events mediated by the de novo DNMT3b methyltransferase and knockdown in stem cells upregulates important genes that regulate multipotency. The recent data suggest that at least some new deadenylases may have expanded roles in cell metabolism as regulators of gene expression, through mRNA deadenylation, ncRNAs biogenesis and ncRNA-mediated mRNA targeting, linking essential mechanisms that regulate epigenetic control and transition events during differentiation. The possible roles of mammalian PNLDC1 along those dynamic networks are discussed in the light of new extremely important findings.
Five Feet High and Rising: Cities and Flooding in the 21st Century

Urban flooding is an increasingly important issue. Disaster statistics appear to show flood events are becoming more frequent, with medium-scale events increasing fastest. The impact of flooding is driven by a combination of natural and human-induced factors. As recent flood events in Pakistan, Brazil, Sri Lanka and Australia show, floods can occur in widespread locations and can sometimes overwhelm even the best prepared countries and cities. There are known and tested measures for urban flood risk management, typically classified as structural or engineered measures, and non-structural, management techniques. A combination of measures to form an integrated management approach is most likely to be successful in reducing flood risk. In the short term and for developing countries in particular, the factors affecting exposure and vulnerability are increasing at the fastest rate as urbanization puts more people and more assets at risk. In the longer term, however, climate scenarios are likely to be one of the most important drivers of future changes in flood risk. Due to the large uncertainties in projections of climate change, adaptation to the changing risk needs to be flexible to a wide range of future scenarios and to be able to cope with potentially large changes in sea level, rainfall intensity and snowmelt. Climate uncertainty and budgetary, institutional and practical constraints are likely to lead to a combining of structural and non-structural measures for urban flood risk management, and arguably, to a move away from what is sometimes an over-reliance on hard-engineered defenses and toward more adaptable and incremental non-structural solutions.
Theory of Mind and Executive Functions are Dissociated in Multiple Sclerosis

Objectives To investigate the relationship of executive functions (EF) and theory of mind (ToM) in multiple sclerosis (MS), clarifing whether ToM impairment in MS is related to EF dysfunction or whether they represent dissociable processes which can be independently impaired in MS. Methods We enrolled 60 consecutive MS patients and 60 healthy controls (HC) matched on age, gender, and education level. All participants underwent ToM testing using the Eyes Test and the Videos Test and neuropsychological testing tapping different EF subdomains. A correlation analysis and a hierarchical cluster analysis were used to determine the similarity between explained variance between EF measures and ToM tests. Results MS patients had lower scores on both tasks of ToM compared to HC, i.e., Eyes Test (21.1 ± 5.0 vs. 29.5 ± 3.8, p < .001; Cohen's d: 1.9) and Videos Test (19.6 ± 2.4 vs. 22.9 ± 1.8, p < .001; Cohen's d: 1.6). They also performed significantly worse on different measures of EF. ToM performance was not significantly correlated with EF tests. The hierarchical cluster analysis showed that ToM measures in MS were clustered separately from the EF measures, revealing three executive clusters (Attention/working memory cluster; Inhibitory control/shifting ability cluster; Verbal Initiative/Abstract reasoning cluster) and one ToM cluster. Conclusion This study suggests a dissociation of EF and ToM in MS, meaning that the MS-related neurobehavioral symptoms may be associated with a significant impairment in ToM independent of the level of EF performance. Ultimately, this discrimination of ToM deficits in MS may help to identify the appropriate cognitive and behavioral interventions.
Blood Manganese as an Exposure Biomarker: State of the Evidence

Despite evidence of adverse health effects resulting from exposure to manganese (Mn), biomarkers of exposure are poorly understood. To enhance understanding, mean blood Mn (MnB) and mean air Mn (MnA) were extracted from 63 exposure groups in 24 published papers, and the relationship was modeled using segmented regression. On a log/log scale, a positive association between MnA and MnB was observed among studies reporting MnA concentrations above about 10 μg/m3, although interpretation is limited by largely cross-sectional data, study design variability, and differences in exposure monitoring methods. Based on the results of the segmented regression, we hypothesize that below the concentration of about 10 μg/m3, Mn in the body is dominated by dietary Mn, and additional inhaled Mn only causes negligible changes in Mn levels unless the inhaled amount is substantial. However, stronger study designs are required to account for temporal characteristics of the MnA to MnB relationships that reflect the underlying physiology and toxicokinetics of Mn uptake and distribution. Thus, we present an inception cohort study design we have conducted among apprentice welders, and the analytical strengths this study design offers. To determine if blood could be a useful biomarker for Mn to be utilized by industrial hygienists in general industry requires additional time-specific analyses, which our inception cohort study design will allow.
Curating the infosphere: Luciano Floridi's Philosophy of Information as the foundation for library and information science

The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the proposal that Luciano Floridi’s philosphy of information (PI) may be an appropriate conceptual foundation for the discipline of library and information science (LIS). ,A selective literature review and analysis are carried out. ,It is concluded that LIS is in need of a new conceptual framework, and that PI is appropriate for this purpose. ,Floridi proposed a close relationship between PI and LIS more than a decade ago. Although various authors have addressed the aspects of this relationship since then, this is the first proposal from an LIS perspective that PI be adopted as a basis for LIS.
Deep Learning in Pharmacogenomics: From Gene Regulation to Patient Stratification

This Perspective provides examples of current and future applications of deep learning in pharmacogenomics, including: identification of novel regulatory variants located in noncoding domains of the genome and their function as applied to pharmacoepigenomics; patient stratification from medical records; and the mechanistic prediction of drug response, targets and their interactions. Deep learning encapsulates a family of machine learning algorithms that has transformed many important subfields of artificial intelligence over the last decade, and has demonstrated breakthrough performance improvements on a wide range of tasks in biomedicine. We anticipate that in the future, deep learning will be widely used to predict personalized drug response and optimize medication selection and dosing, using knowledge extracted from large and complex molecular, epidemiological, clinical and demographic datasets.
Historical Perspectives of the Causation of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Less-known forces are involved in the etiology of lung cancer and have relevant implications for providers in ameliorating care. The purpose of this article is to discuss theories of causation of lung cancer using historical analyses of the evolution of the disease and incorporating related explanations integrating the relationships of science, nursing, medicine, and society. Literature from 160 years was searched and Thagard’s model of causation networks was used to exhibit how nursing and medicine were significant influences in lung cancer causation theory. Disease causation interfaces with sociological norms of behavior to form habits and rates of health behavior. Historically, nursing was detrimentally manipulated by the tobacco industry, engaging in harmful smoking behaviors, thus negatively affecting patient care. Understanding the underlying history behind lung cancer causation may empower nurses to play an active role in a patient’s health.
Liouville forms in a neighborhood of an isotropic embedding

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Blind Extraction Using Fractional Lower-Order Statistics

In traditional method to blindly extract interesting source signals sequentially, the second-order or higher-order statistics of signals are often utilized. However, for impulsive sources, both of the second-order and higher-order statistics may degenerate. Therefore, it is necessary to exploit new method for the blind extraction of impulsive sources. Based on the best compression-reconstruction principle, a novel model is proposed in this work, together with the corresponding algorithm. The proposed method can be used for blind extraction of sources which are distributed from alpha stable process. Simulations are given to illustrate availability and robustness of our algorithm.
Self and other body perception in anorexia nervosa: The role of posterior DMN nodes

Abstract Objectives: Body image distortion is a core symptom of anorexia nervosa (AN), which involves alterations in self- (and other’s) evaluative processes arising during body perception. At a neural level, self-related information is thought to rely on areas of the so-called default mode network (DMN), which, additionally, shows prominent synchronised activity at rest. Methods: Twenty female patients with AN and 20 matched healthy controls were scanned using magnetic resonance imaging when: (a) viewing video clips of their own body and another's body; (b) at rest. Between-group differences within the DMN during task performance were evaluated and further explored for task-related and resting-state-related functional connectivity alterations. Results: AN patients showed a hyperactivation of the dorsal posterior cingulate cortex during their own-body processing but a response failure to another’s body processing at the precuneus and ventral PCC. Increased task-related connectivity was found between dPCC–dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and precuneus–mid-temporal cortex. Further, AN patients showed decreased resting-state connectivity between the dPCC and the angular gyrus. Conclusions: The PCC and the precuneus are suggested as key components of a network supporting self–other-evaluative processes implicated in body distortion, while the existence of DMN alterations at rest might reflect a sustained, task-independent breakdown within this network in AN.
Toll-Like Receptor Responses to Peste des petits ruminants Virus in Goats and Water Buffalo

Ovine rinderpest or goat plague is an economically important and contagious viral disease of sheep and goats, caused by the Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV). Differences in susceptibility to goat plague among different breeds and water buffalo exist. The host innate immune system discriminates between pathogen associated molecular patterns and self antigens through surveillance receptors known as Toll like receptors (TLR). We investigated the role of TLR and cytokines in differential susceptibility of goat breeds and water buffalo to PPRV. We examined the replication of PPRV in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of Indian domestic goats and water buffalo and demonstrated that the levels of TLR3 and TLR7 and downstream signalling molecules correlation with susceptibility vs resistance. Naturally susceptible goat breeds, Barbari and Tellichery, had dampened innate immune responses to PPRV and increased viral loads with lower basal expression levels of TLR 3/7. Upon stimulation of PBMC with synthetic TLR3 and TLR7 agonists or PPRV, the levels of proinflammatory cytokines were found to be significantly higher while immunosuppressive interleukin (IL) 10 levels were lower in PPRV resistant Kanni and Salem Black breeds and water buffalo at transcriptional level, correlating with reduced viralloads in infected PBMC. Water buffalo produced higher levels of interferon (IFN) α in comparison with goats at transcriptional and translational levels. Pre-treatment of Vero cells with human IFNα resulted in reduction of PPRV replication, confirming the role of IFNα in limiting PPRV replication. Treatment with IRS66, a TLR7 antagonist, resulted in the reduction of IFNα levels, with increased PPRV replication confirming the role of TLR7. Single nucleotide polymorphism analysis of TLR7 of these goat breeds did not show any marked nucleotide differences that might account for susceptibility vs resistance to PPRV. Analyzing other host genetic factors might provide further insights on susceptibility to PPRV and genetic polymorphisms in the host.
Identification of Pedestrian and Bicyclist through Range Micro Doppler Signatures

SUMMARY Identiﬁcation of urban road targets using radar systems is usually heavily dependent on the aspect angle between the target velocity and line of sight of the radar. To improve the performance of the classi-ﬁcation result when the target is in a cross range position relative to the radar, a method based on range micro Doppler signature is proposed in this paper. Joint time-frequency analysis is applied in every range cell to extract the time Doppler signature. The spectrograms from all of the target range cells are combined to form the range micro Doppler signature to allow further identiﬁcation. Experiments were conducted to investigate the performance of the proposed method, and the results proved the e ﬀ ective-ness of the method presented. key words: urban
Concordance of blood- and tumor-based detection of RAS mutations to guide anti-EGFR therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer

Abstract Background Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is a potential source for tumor genome analysis. We explored the concordance between the mutational status of RAS in tumor tissue and ctDNA in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients to establish eligibility for anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy. Patients and methods A prospective-retrospective cohort study was carried out. Tumor tissue from 146 mCRC patients was tested for RAS status with standard of care (SoC) PCR techniques, and Digital PCR (BEAMing) was used both in plasma and tumor tissue. Results ctDNA BEAMing RAS testing showed 89.7% agreement with SoC (Kappa index 0.80; 95% CI 0.71 − 0.90) and BEAMing in tissue showed 90.9% agreement with SoC (Kappa index 0.83; 95% CI 0.74 − 0.92). Fifteen cases (10.3%) showed discordant tissue-plasma results. ctDNA analysis identified nine cases of low frequency RAS mutations that were not detected in tissue, possibly due to technical sensitivity or heterogeneity. In six cases, RAS mutations were not detected in plasma, potentially explained by low tumor burden or ctDNA shedding. Prediction of treatment benefit in patients receiving anti-EGFR plus irinotecan in second- or third-line was equivalent if tested with SoC PCR and ctDNA. Forty-eight percent of the patients showed mutant allele fractions in plasma below 1%. Conclusions Plasma RAS determination showed high overall agreement and captured a mCRC population responsive to anti-EGFR therapy with the same predictive level as SoC tissue testing. The feasibility and practicality of ctDNA analysis may translate into an alternative tool for anti-EGFR treatment selection.