Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gastric Cross-Sectional Area to Predict Gastric Intolerance in Critically Ill Patients: The Sono-ICU Prospective Observational Bicenter Study

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the correlation between gastric cross-sectional area (GCSA) and the occurrence of gastric intolerance in critically ill patients within 24 hours of the measurement. DESIGN: Two-center prospective observational study. SETTING: Two academic ICUs in France between June 2020 and August 2021. PATIENTS: All surgical intubated ICU patients greater than or equal to 18 years old receiving enteral feeding for greater than 12 hours. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Forty-four patients were included, 11 (25%) of whom presented digestive intolerance. Primary outcome was assessment of the association between GCSA and the occurrence of gastric intolerance within 24 hours of the measurement. GCSA value was significantly higher in patients with upper digestive intolerance compared to those without (553 mm2 [interquartile range (IQR), 500–649 mm2] vs 970 mm2 [IQR, 777–1,047]; p < 0.001, respectively). The optimal threshold for predicting upper digestive intolerance was 720 mm2 (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.86; positive predictive value 62.5%; negative predictive value 96.4%; sensibility 0.91; and specificity 0.81). Multivariate analysis (weighted by propensity score), including known risk factors, showed that GCSA above the 720 mm2 threshold was independently associated with the occurrence of upper digestive intolerance (odds ratio, 1.85; 1.37–2.49; p < 0.0002). Measurement quality was “good” (i.e., liver, aorta, superior mesenteric vein, and pancreas were all visualized) in 81% of cases. CONCLUSIONS: Measurement of GCSA by ultrasound would allow prediction of gastric intolerance in critically ill patients. This should be confirmed by a prospective score validation and interventional trials.
A Multidisciplinary Team Approach for Diabetic Foot Ulcer: A Case Study

ABSTRACT A multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach is the most efficient way to treat many chronic and serious diseases. In this case report, providers sought to implement an MDT approach to treat a patient with diabetes and foot ulcers, actively involving the patient’s caregiving family members. Comprehensive evaluation, blood sugar control, and timely referral were established as the primary treatment course. Negative-pressure wound therapy was applied to completely remove necrotic tissue debris and seropurulent discharge from the foot ulcers under the consultation of the MDT team. Local wound management, protection of the periwound skin, and health education for the patient’s wound care nurse specialists were integral to the treatment outcome. After 3 months of treatment, the patient’s right foot wound bed was improved, and further skin-grafting surgery was performed to accelerate the healing process during follow-up treatments.
Examining the effects of an Educational Person-centered Intervention on Compensatory Strategies (EPICS) in older adults living with frailty: A mixed-methods pilot trial

This study aimed to explore effects of a two-session Educational Person-centered Intervention on Compensatory Strategies (EPICS) designed to increase knowledge of strategies, reduce barriers, and improve accomplishment of meaningful leisure activities (MLA) and well-being in older adults living with frailty. Using a double-blind concurrent mixed-methods design, 36 community-dwelling older adults were assigned to the experimental (EPICS) or control (friendly visits) group through a covariate adaptive randomization. Questionnaires were administered prior to the intervention and ± two months post-intervention. Individual semi-structured interviews conducted at the end of the study furthered the authors’ understanding of the effects of the intervention. Quantitative analysis revealed significant increase in knowledge of compensatory strategies and reduction of barriers for the experimental group only. Qualitative analysis (purposive sample, n = 8) showed enhanced well-being and self-activation. Discussions about barriers to accomplishment may be sufficient to trigger self-activation in someolder adults living with frailty to improve participation in MLA and well-being.
Quantitative Assessment of PALB2 and BRIP1 Genes Expression in the Breast Cancer Cell Line under the Influence of Tamoxifen

Background:Breast cancer is considered one of the leading causes of mortality in the world. Cancer incidence and consequently, drug consumption can strongly influence gene expressions at the transcriptome level. Therefore, the assessment of the candidate biomarkers’ gene expression can accelerate the diagnosis process and increase the chance of treatment and remission. In this regard, the quantitative assessment of Partner and localizer of BRCA2 (PALB2) and BRCA1 Interacting Helicase 1 (BRIP1) genes expression in the breast cancer cell line under the treatment of Tamoxifen (TAM) was executed in this study. Materials and Methods :MCF7 cells were cultured as TAM-treated and control groups. RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis were performed based on the instructions of provided kits. qPCR Hi-ROX Master Mix kit was applied to the Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (Q-PCR). The outputs of Q-PCR were analyzed by REST statistical software. Results:Outcomes derived from data analysis of BRIP1 gene expression did not show any significant difference between the gene expression of control and TAM-treated groups. The expression of PALB2 was significantly higher in the TAM-treated group compared to the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion:Our findings showed a significant alteration between PALB2 gene expression in the TAM-treated breast cancer cell line and the control cell line. The quantitative assessment of mentioned genes as possible markers could be considered a non-invasive method for breast cancer in the processes of prognostic evaluations, screening, and treatment monitoring.
Impact of Productive Safety Net Program on Rural Household Food Security in Somali Regional State: A Case of Kebri Dehar District, Ethiopia

The study specifically evaluated household food security, factors influencing the decision to participate in productive safety net programs and the impact of production safety net programs on rural household food security, as measured by calorie intake of households. Primary data were collected from 334 households in four barbecue samples in Kebri Dehar district using multistage sampling technique. A binary logit model and a propensity score matching model were used to investigate the factors influencing the decision to participate and their impact on food security, respectively. The age of the household head and the size of the family have a positive effect on the decision to join the household. However, extended contact and distance from the property market had a negative impact on the decision to join. In this study, the nearest neighbor match method (5) was used to estimate the mean treatment effect for those treated. The propensity score matching results also show that the production safety net program has a positive and significant impact on household food security. Households participating in the production safety net program have 214.5 Kcal/Adult/Day more than households not participating. The study concluded that there was a significant difference in household kilocalorie intake between participants and nonparticipants.
Error Bounds for Asymptotic Expansions of Integrals

The purpose of this paper is to give an up-to-date account of the error analysis of asymptotic expansions of integral transforms. Particular attention is paid to two new asymptotic tools that have been developed recently, one based on summability methods, the other based on the use of distributions. After a brief discussion of integrals with exponentially decaying kernels, we first turn to the consideration of integral transforms whose kernels are oscillatory. This includes the Fourier, Hankel and mufti-dimensional Fourier transforms. Next, we consider the class of integral transforms whose kernels are algebraic functions, e.g., Stieltjes, Hilbert and fractional integral transforms. Also, a quite thorough treatment is given to a Mellin-type convolution integral in which both the function and the kernel are algebraically dominated at $t = 0^ + $ and $t = + \infty $. Finally, we construct error bounds for the remainders associated with two uniform asymptotic expansions, one for the coalescence of a stationa.
10 W near-diffraction-limited pulsed power from Al-free phase-locked antiguided arrays

10 W peak-pulsed power emitted in a beam pattern 2/spl times/diffraction limit is obtained from a 40-element, 200 /spl mu/m-aperture Al-free phase-locked antiguided array (/spl lambda/=0.98 /spl mu/m). 60% of the power resides in the central lobe, and the differential quantum efficiency is 54 % for 1 mm-long devices. The devices were fabricated by a two stage self-aligned etch-and-regrowth process. In the first stage, the strained InGaAs double quantum well (DQW) active region and GaAs guide layer were grown by low-pressure MOCVD. High-index GaAs material was then selectively removed to define the element regions, after which the p-InGaP cladding and GaAs contact layers were regrown.
Realization of back-side heterogeneous hybrid III-V/Si DBR lasers for silicon photonics

In this paper, the simulation, design and fabrication of a back-side coupling (BSC) concept for silicon photonics, which targets heterogeneous hybrid III-V/Si laser integration is presented. Though various demonstrations of a complete SOI integration of passive and active photonic devices have been made, they all feature multi-level planar metal interconnects, and a lack of integrated light sources. This is mainly due to the conflict between the need of planar surfaces for III-V/Si bonding and multiple levels of metallization. The proposed BSC solution to this topographical problem consists in fabricating lasers on the back-side of the Si waveguides using a new process sequence. The devices are based on a hybrid structure composed of an InGaAsP MQW active area and a Si-based DBR cavity. The emitted light wavelength is accordable within a range of 20 nm around 1. 31μm thanks to thermal heaters and the laser output is fiber coupled through a Grating Coupler (GC). From a manufacturing point of view, the BSC approach provides not only the advantages of allowing the use of a thin-BOX SOI instead of a thick one; but it also shifts the laser processing steps and their materials unfriendly to CMOS process to the far back-end areas of fabrication lines. Moreover, aside from solving technological integration issues, the BSC concept offers several new design opportunities for active and passive devices (heat sink, Bragg gratings, grating couplers enhanced with integrated metallic mirrors, tapers…). These building boxes are explored here theoretically and experimentally.
Circus Tents, Convective Thresholds, and the Non‐Linear Climate Response to Tropical SSTs

Using model simulations, we demonstrate that the climate response to localized tropical sea surface temperature (SST) perturbations exhibits numerous non‐linearities. Most pronounced is an asymmetry in the response to positive and negative SST perturbations. Additionally, we identify a “magnitude‐dependence” of the response on the size of the SST perturbation. We then explain how these non‐linearities arise as a robust consequence of convective quasi‐equilibrium and weak (but non‐zero) temperature gradients in the tropical free‐troposphere, which we encapsulate in a “circus tent” model of the tropical atmosphere. These results demonstrate that the climate response to SST perturbations is fundamentally non‐linear, and highlight potential deficiencies in work which has assumed linearity in the response.
Comparisons of nozzle orifice processing methods using synchrotron X-ray micro-tomography

Based on the high flux synchrotron X-ray of the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), high precision 3D digital models of diesel nozzle tips have been established by X-ray micro-tomography technology, which reveal the internal surfaces and structures of orifices. To analyze the machining precision and characteristics of orifice processing methods, an approach is presented based on the parameters of the internal structures of nozzle orifices, including the nozzle diameter, the orifice inner surface waviness, the eccentricity distance and the angle between orifices. Using this approach, two kinds of nozzle orifice processing methods, computerized numerical control drilling and electric discharge machining, have been studied and compared. The results show that this approach enables a simple, direct, and comprehensive contrastive analysis of nozzle orifice processing methods. When processing a single orifice, the electric discharge machining method has obvious advantages. However, when there are multiple orifices, the error levels of the two methods are similar in relation to the symmetry of distribution of the orifices.
Effect of Transverse Acoustic Flow on the Input Impedance of Rapidly Flaring Horns

In slowly flaring horns the wave fronts can be considered approximately plane and the input impedance can be calculated with the transmission line method (short cones in series). In a rapidly flaring horn the kinetic energy of transverse flow adds to the local inertance, resulting in an effective increase in length when it is located in a pressure node. For low frequencies corrections are available. These fail at higher frequencies when cross-dimensions become comparable to the wavelength, causing resonances in the cross-direction. To investigate this, the pipe radiating in outer space is modelled with a finite difference method. The outer boundaries must be fully absorbing as the walls of an anechoic chamber. To achieve this, Berenger’s perfectly matched layer technique is applied. Results are presented for conical horns, they are compared with earlier published investigations on flanges. The input impedance changes when the largest cross-dimension (outer diameter of flange or diameter of the horn end) becomes comparable to half a wavelength. This effect shifts the position of higher modes in the pipe, influencing the conditions for mode locking, important for ease of playing, dynamic range and sound quality.
New results on output-feedback variable structure model-reference adaptive control: design and stability analysis

The variable structure model-reference adaptive control(VS-MRAC) redesign and stability analysis, presented previously by the authors (1993) for the case of plants with relative degree n*/spl les/2, is generalized to the case of arbitrary n*/spl ges/1. This paper presents a complete stability analysis in the general case. The redesign is based on the explicit consideration of input disturbances which may include the disturbance originated by the uncertainty of the plant high-frequency gain. This leads to a considerably simpler and less restrictive stability analysis as well as to a systematic controller design for external disturbance rejection. The overall error system is globally exponentially stable with respect to a small residual set. Robustness to unmodeled dynamics is also discussed.
The impact of debt diversification on the performance of SMEs in Vietnam

Abstract This article aims at evaluating the impact of debt diversification on the performance of SMEs in Vietnam. The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the operation results of SMEs which are looking for solutions to be able to maintain sustainable production and business activities as soon as the pandemic is under control. One of the most sought-after urgent working solutions today that SMEs are resorting to is funding from loans in various forms to avoid short-term liquidity risks. Using estimation from panel data, empirical results show that multiple lenders measured by the number of debt sources and the dispersion of debt has a negative impact on the performance of SMEs. The results imply that increase of agency costs resulting from inferior monitoring may decrease the performance of firms. Our findings contribute to the sparse literature on debt diversification of SMEs in a developing country like Vietnam.
Early total care to early appropriate care - What every anesthesiologist must know!

Orthopedic trauma is one of the commonest injuries necessitating surgical intervention in a trauma patient. The management protocols in such severely injured orthopedic patients have evolved from conservative treatment to 'early total care' (ETC) to 'damage control orthopedics' (DCO) and recently to 'early appropriate care' (EAC)/'safe definitive surgery' (SDS). 'DCO' involves emergent, basic minimum life- or limb-saving surgery with continued resuscitation and definitive fixation of fractures being done later, once the patient has been resuscitated and stabilized. An insight into the immunological processes at a molecular level evoked in a poly-traumatized patient led to the evolution of the 'two-hit theory;' 'first hit' being the injury itself while the 'second hit' caused by the surgical trauma. As the 'two-hit theory' gained popularity, it led to a delay of definitive surgery for 2–5 days following trauma, since a higher complication rate was observed following definitive surgery within the first 5 days of the injury. This is a review article on the historical perspectives of DCO, immunological mechanisms involved, and various injuries requiring damage control approach or EAC/ETC and their anesthetic management.
A prospective observational single center study evaluating emergence agitation in the early postoperative period in adult patients undergoing elective craniotomies under general anesthesia

Background and Aims: Emergence agitation is a significant clinical issue during recovery from general anesthesia. Patients after intracranial operations are even more vulnerable to the stress resulting from emergence agitation. Due to the limited data available in neurosurgical patients, we evaluated the incidence, risk factors, and complications of emergence agitation. Material and Methods: 317 consenting eligible patients undergoing elective craniotomies were recruited. The preoperative Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)) and pain score were recorded. Bispectral Index (BIS) guided balanced general anesthesia was administered and reversed. Immediate postoperatively, the GCS and the pain score were noted. The patients were observed for 24 hours following extubation. The levels of agitation and sedation were evaluated by the Riker's Agitation-Sedation Scale. Emergence Agitation was defined as Riker's Agitation score of 5 to 7. Results: In our subset of the patient population, the incidence was 5.4%, mildly agitated in the first 24 hours and none required sedative medication as therapy. The sole risk factor identified was prolonged surgery beyond 4 hours. None of the patients in the agitated group had any complications. Conclusion: Early objective assessment of risk factors in the preoperative period with objective validated tests and shorter duration of surgery maybe the way forward in patients at high risk for emergence agitation, to reduce the incidence and mitigate the undesirable consequences.
Spatial competition on rural bank efficiency: Evidence from Indonesia

Abstract This study empirically examines bank spatial competition within the rural banking setting of Indonesia. The specific focus is on bank cost efficiency. It presents a new competition measure based on two spatial variables: physical distances and Thiessen polygon market boundaries. This study uses panel data from a large sample of more than 1,000 rural banks using quarterly financial data of rural banks in Indonesia from Q1–2014 to Q4–2018. Parametric or stochastic frontier analysis of Model EN is used to handle the endogeneity in bank cost efficiency measurement. The results show that bank efficiency is higher for shorter distances between banks and larger boundaries. Overall, the results support the competition-efficiency hypothesis. It also helps the idea that banks have mark-up pricing (higher market power) and may choose to reduce their effort to maximize profit.
Institutional quality’s influence on financial inclusion’ impact on bank stability

Abstract Using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), this study examines the influence of institutional quality on the impact of financial inclusion on the stability of 157 banks in 8 ASEAN countries from 2010 to 2020. The results show that financial inclusion negatively hurts bank stability, and this effect will be improved if it is implemented in an environment of good institutional quality. This is verified again in terms of institutional quality aspects. Corruption control, political stability, government efficiency, and the rule of law have positive effects, while regulatory quality has negative effects. The results are consistent across all three measures of bank stability, Zscore, standardized Zscore, and non-performing loans (NPL). With the above results, the study recommends that national governments take steps to improve institutional quality to increase the stability of banks in promoting financial inclusion.
Preliminary exploration on the ectomycorrhizal status of a wild edible Gomphus species from Southwest China

A wild edible Gomphus species was discovered at local wild mushroom markets from May to November in Southwest China, where it was eaten for hundreds of years. However, litter information on the taxonomy is available. Whether Gomphus is a saprotrophic, parasitic, or ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungus is unclear. In the present study, field investigation, fungi isolation, optimum medium, morphological description, molecular analyses, and preliminary exploration on mycorrhizal synthesis were carried out. The morphological and molecular analyses showed that the same species between Gomphus matijun and Gomphus sp. (zituoluo) might be the related species of Gomphus purpuraceus. Moreover, the root dry weight and first-lateral root number of inoculated seedlings were significantly enhanced by evaluating Pinus massoniana seedlings inoculated with G. matijun. Meanwhile, the levels of nine phytohormones, including five new phytohormones, in the roots of inoculated seedlings were upregulated. This study explored the mycorrhizal synthesis of the wild edible Gomphus species from Southwest China with P. massoniana Lamb. We concluded that G. matijun might be an ECM fungus. The mycorrhizal synthesis of G. matijun under pure culture conditions provided the basis for the next inoculation under controlled soil conditions, making the conservation and cultivation of G. matijun feasible in the future.
Markov systems and transfer operators associated with cofinite Fuchsian groups

In this paper we study a generalization of Mayer's result on the Selberg zeta function of $PSL(2, {\Bbb Z})$. Let $\Gamma$ be a cofinite Fuchsian group. We construct a Markov system ${\cal T}_{\Gamma}$ by modifying the Bowen–Series construction of a Markov map $T_{\Gamma}$ associated with $\Gamma$. The Markov system enables us to define transfer operators $L(s)$ for ${\cal T}_{\Gamma}$ so that they determine a meromorphic function taking values with nuclear operators on a nice function space. We show that the Selberg zeta function $Z(s)$ of $\Gamma$ has a determinant representation $Z(s)=\Det(I-L(s))F(s)$, where $\Det(I-L(s))$ is the Fredholm determinant of $L(s)$ and $F(s)$ is a meromorphic function depending only on a finite number of hyperbolic conjugacy classes of $\Gamma$. Combining such a representation and the investigation of the spectral properties of $L(s)$, we can also obtain some analytic information of $Z(s)$.