Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy and the Risk of Psychiatric Morbidity in Singleton Sibling Pairs

Abstract Introduction: Maternal smoking during pregnancy has been associated with an increased risk for psychiatric morbidity. We further studied this with Finnish siblings to control for genetic/familial factors. Methods: From the Finnish Medical Birth Register, sibling pairs were selected as the first two children born 1987–1995 to the same mother (n = 150 168 pairs), along with information on maternal smoking (no smoking/smoking). Information on the children’s psychiatric diagnoses related to outpatient care visits (1998–2013) and inpatient care (1987–2013), and the mothers’ psychiatric morbidity (1969–2013) was derived from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register. The first pair analysis compared siblings of mothers who only smoked in the first pregnancy (Quitters, 4.7%) and mothers who smoked in both pregnancies (Smokers, 9.6%); the second analysis included mothers who smoked only in the second pregnancy (Starters, 3.3%) and mothers who did not smoke in either pregnancy (Nonsmokers, 77.5%). Smoking information was missing for 5.0% of pairs. Psychiatric morbidity of the siblings and mother was included in the statistical analyses. Results: The risk of psychiatric diagnoses was significantly lower for the second child of quitters (adjusted OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.72–0.83) compared to the risk among smokers. A higher risk for psychiatric diagnoses was found for the second child of starters (1.39, 1.30–1.49) compared to the risk among nonsmokers. The effect of smoking was more robust for externalizing diagnoses. Conclusions: Maternal smoking was independently associated with a higher risk for psychiatric morbidity in children, even when controlling thoroughly for genetic and familial factors. Implications: Maternal smoking during pregnancy has an independent effect on the risk of psychiatric morbidity in children, even after controlling for non-measurable genetic/familial factors by using a sibling pair design. The effect of maternal smoking was robust for externalizing diagnoses. Maternal smoking during pregnancy had an effect on diagnoses both in outpatient and inpatient care.
Secure Track Verification

We propose a new approach for securely verifying sequences of location claims from mobile nodes. The key idea is to exploit the inherent mobility of the nodes in order to constrain the degree of freedom of an attacker when spoofing consecutive location updates along a claimed track. We show that in the absence of noise, our approach is able to securely verify any 2-D track with a minimum of three verifiers or any 3-D track with four verifiers. Our approach is lightweight in the sense that it considerably relaxes the system requirements compared to previous secure location verification schemes which are all agnostic to mobility. As opposed to previous schemes, our track verification solution is at the same time (i) passive, (ii) does not require any time synchronization among the verifiers, (iii) does not need to keep the location of the verifiers secret, (iv) nor does it require specialized hardware. This makes our solution particularly suitable for large-scale deployments. We have evaluated our solution in a realistic air traffic monitoring scenario using real-world data. Our results show that 25 position claims on a track are sufficient to detect spoofing attacks with a false positive rate of 1.4% and a false negative rate of 1.2%. For tracks with more than 40 claims, the false positive and false negative rates drop to zero.
Using a stakeholder-engaged approach to develop and validate electronic clinical quality measures

Objective To describe the stakeholder-engaged processes used to develop, specify, and validate 2 oral health care electronic clinical quality measures. Materials and Methods A broad range of stakeholders were engaged from conception through testing to develop measures and test feasibility, reliability, and validity following National Quality Forum guidance. We assessed data element feasibility through semistructured interviews with key stakeholders using a National Quality Forum-recommended scorecard. We created test datasets of synthetic patients to test measure implementation feasibility and reliability within and across electronic health record (EHR) systems. We validated implementation with automated reporting of EHR clinical data against manual record reviews, using the kappa statistic. Results A stakeholder workgroup was formed and guided all development and testing processes. All critical data elements passed feasibility testing. Four test datasets, representing 577 synthetic patients, were developed and implemented within EHR vendors' software, demonstrating measure implementation feasibility. Measure reliability and validity were established through implementation at clinical practice sites, with kappa statistic values in the "almost perfect" agreement range of 0.80-0.99 for all but 1 measure component, which demonstrated "substantial" agreement. The 2 validated measures were published in the United States Health Information Knowledgebase. Conclusion The stakeholder-engaged processes used in this study facilitated a successful measure development and testing cycle. Engaging stakeholders early and throughout development and testing promotes early identification of and attention to potential threats to feasibility, reliability, and validity, thereby averting significant resource investments that are unlikely to be fruitful.
Utilization of Information Interpolation using Geotagged Tweets

Along with the spread of social media, it has become possible to extract events occurring in the real world in real time. A benefit of analysis using data with position information is that it can accurately extract an event from a target area to be analyzed. However, because social media data include few data with location information, the amount to analyze is insufficient for almost all areas: we cannot fully extract most events. Therefore, efficient analytical methods must be devised for the accurate extraction of events with position information, even in areas with few data. For this study, we use geotagged tweets along with interpolation to estimate the best time to observe biological seasons when doing sightseeing such as cherry-blossom and autumn leaf viewing in areas and sightseeing spots. Herein, we explain the analysis results obtained using information interpolation and analysis of cherry blossoms in Japan during 2017.
Condition and Phenotype-Dependent Dispersal in a Damselfly, Calopteryx splendens

Individual dispersal decisions may be affected by the internal state of the individual and the external information of its current environment. Here we estimated the influence of dispersal on survival and investigated if individual phenotype (sex and wing length) and environmental condition (conspecific density and sex-ratio) affected dispersal decisions in the banded damselfly, Calopteryx splendens. As suspected from the literature, we showed that the proportion of dispersing individuals was higher in females than in males. We also found negative-density dependent dispersal in both sexes and influence of sex-ratio on dispersal. Individuals moved less when sex-ratio was male biased. These results are consistent with a lek mating system where males aggregate in a place and hold mating territories. Contrary to our expectations, neither dispersal nor survival was affected by wing length. Nevertheless, mean adult survival was about 8% lower in dispersing individuals than in residents. This might reflect a mortality cost due to dispersal.
Assessment of a point-of-care test for paracetamol and salicylate in blood.

BACKGROUND Paracetamol and salicylate are commonly taken in acute overdose. Clinicians have a low threshold for excluding the presence of these two drugs, by ordering laboratory tests in any patient suspected of ingesting an overdose or with an altered mental state. AIM To test the effectiveness of a new point of care test that qualitatively detects paracetamol and salicylate in blood and to examine the potential time saved by its use. DESIGN Prospective multicentre trial. METHODS The new test was compared with laboratory analysis in a routine blood sample taken from patients presenting to emergency departments with suspected overdose. RESULTS The test had sensitivities of 98.5% and 88.5%, and specificities of 74.7% and 92%, for paracetamol and salicylate, respectively, at cut-off levels of 25 mg/l and 100 mg/l, respectively The point of care test results were available 2 h before the laboratory result. DISCUSSION This point-of-care test could be used to rule out an overdose with either of these two drugs, and could thus lead to earlier clinical decisions for suspected overdose patients. Recommendations have been made following this trial that the cut-off value for paracetamol should be reduced from 25 mg/l to 12.5 mg/l in order to increase its usefulness. To prevent the test being misread, we also suggest that each device should be embossed to remind users that the presence of a line indicates there is no drug present.
Modular Transformer-Based Regenerative-Cascaded Multicell Converter for Drives With Multilevel Voltage Operation at Both Input and Output Sides

Cascaded multicell converter (CMC) is proved to be an effective solution for medium voltage drives. Three-phase diode bridge rectifiers are normally used in this converter, which do not have regeneration capability. Pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) rectifier-based power cells enable the drives with regeneration capability. However, due to their two-level voltage operation at the input side, an inductor is required for each cell to filter out the switching frequency components from the input current. In this paper, a new configuration with single-phase PWM rectifier-based power cell is proposed to achieve multilevel voltage operation at both the input and output sides of the converter. Therefore, the devices at the rectifier side are also operated at reduced switching frequency without using any filter inductor for each cell. In the proposed converter, simple modular transformers are used instead of a single large and complex transformer that is used in the conventional CMC. Further, input phase currents of the converter are controlled in the synchronously rotating d–q frame, which requires only two current sensors at the input side instead of individual current sensors for each cell. Experimental validation of the proposed converter configuration is carried out on a 4.5-kVA prototype, and the results are presented.
3D Progressive Damage Analysis of Composites by Combined Finite/Discrete Element Approach

A novel approach, based on the discontinuum concepts of the Discrete Element Method, is presented for fracture and delamination analysis of composites subjected to impact loading. A combined finite/discrete element algorithm is developed for damage analysis of the progressive fracturing and fragmentation behaviour which is observed in composite structures. The algorithm comprises various contact detection and contact interaction schemes to construct an efficient and reliable tool for the modelling of complex post failure phenomena. An anisotropic softening Hoffman failure criterion is adopted for determining the initiation of a crack. The performance of the algorithm is assessed by modelling of a series of engineering applications.
The role of silicon in plant biology: a paradigm shift in research approach.

Background Silicon (Si) is known to have numerous beneficial effects on plants, alleviating diverse forms of abiotic and biotic stress. Research on this topic has accelerated in recent years and revealed multiple effects of Si in a range of plant species. Available information regarding the impact of Si on plant defence, growth and development is fragmented, discipline-specific, and usually focused on downstream, distal phenomena rather than underlying effects. Accordingly, there is a growing need for studies that address fundamental metabolic and regulatory processes, thereby allowing greater unification and focus of current research across disciplines. Scope and Conclusions Silicon is often regarded as a plant nutritional 'non-entity'. A suite of factors associated with Si have been recently identified, relating to plant chemistry, physiology, gene regulation and interactions with other organisms. Research to date has typically focused on the impact of Si application upon plant stress responses. However, the fundamental, underlying mechanisms that account for the manifold effects of Si in plant biology remain undefined. Here, the known effects of Si in higher plants relating to alleviation of both abiotic and biotic stress are briefly reviewed and the potential importance of Si in plant primary metabolism is discussed, highlighting the need for a unifying research framework targeting common underlying mechanisms. The traditional approach of discipline-specific work on single stressors in individual plant species is currently inadequate. Thus, a holistic and comparative approach is proposed to assess the mode of action of Si between plant trait types (e.g. C3, C4 and CAM; Si accumulators and non-accumulators) and between biotic and abiotic stressors (pathogens, herbivores, drought, salt), considering potential pathways (i.e. primary metabolic processes) highlighted by recent empirical evidence. Utilizing genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic approaches in such comparative studies will pave the way for unification of the field and a deeper understanding of the role of Si in plants.
Performance evaluation of DOA based beamforming in W-CDMA system

In wireless communications, a smart antenna system utilizes an antenna array to acquire the spatial signatures of the transmitted signals and uses the difference of the spatial signatures or the direction of arrival (DOA) of signals to correctly obtain the desired signal. This can reduce co-channel interference, mitigate the fading phenomenon caused by the multipath transmission, increase the system capacity and improve the communication quality. The purpose of this paper is to study the performance of the smart antenna DOA based beamforming algorithm applied to a wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA) system. The simulation results show that a W-CDMA system with smart antenna, compared with that with an omnidirectional antenna, can have a lower bit error rate at the specific signal to noise ratio (SNR), allow more users to access the system at the specific bit error rate and increase the system capacity.
Action computation for compositional software-defined networking

Software-defined networking (SDN) envisions the support of multiple applications collaboratively operating on the same traffic. Policies of applications are therefore required to being composed into a rule list that represents the union of application intents. In this context, ensuring the correctness and efficiency of composition for match fields as well as the associated actions is the fundamental requirement. Prior work however focuses only on the composition of match fields and assumes simple concatenation for action composition. We show in this paper that simple concatenation can result in incorrect behavior (for parallel composition) and inefficiency (for sequential composition) for actions composition. To address this issue, we formalized the action composition problem and prove a feasibility condition on the composition of rule actions. We then propose a graph-based approach that facilitates fast composition of action lists without action redundancy. Our proposed approach has been integrated into the CoVisor code base and the evaluation results show its fitness for purpose.
Who Used My Smart Object? A Flexible Approach for the Recognition of Users

This paper deals with the authentication of the user of a connected object. We propose a flexible and nonintrusive method based on the use of two categories of everyday connected objects (i.e., smart watch and remote control). Data were collected during participants’ interactions with a smart TV. The discrete cosine transform algorithm was used to extract the most informative features. Based on these features, four classification algorithms (deep neural network, support vector machine, Naïve Bayes classifier, and C45) were applied to the data in order to detect the user’s identity. The classification was performed based on the recognition of four types of human activities (sitting, standing, walking, and lying down) through building four databases. Following this, a second classification was made for each data set activity type in order to identify the users. The results show that it is possible to discriminate between users according to their activities. The accuracy of recognition reached 91% for some participants within a certain activity configuration.
Melatonin and its relationship to plant hormones

Background Plant melatonin appears to be a multi-regulatory molecule, similar to those observed in animals, with many specific functions in plant physiology. In recent years, the number of studies on melatonin in plants has increased significantly. One of the most studied actions of melatonin in plants is its effect on biotic and abiotic stress, such as that produced by drought, extreme temperatures, salinity, chemical pollution and UV radiation, among others. Scope This review looks at studies in which some aspects of the relationship between melatonin and the plant hormones auxin, cytokinin, gibberellins, abscisic acid, ethylene, jasmonic acid and salicylic acid are presented. The effects that some melatonin treatments have on endogenous plant hormone levels, their related genes (biosynthesis, catabolism, receptors and transcription factors) and the physiological actions induced by melatonin, mainly in stress conditions, are discussed. Conclusions Melatonin is an important modulator of gene expression related to plant hormones, e.g. in auxin carrier proteins, as well as in metabolism of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), gibberellins, cytokinins, abscisic acid and ethylene. Most of the studies performed have dealt with the auxin-like activity of melatonin which, in a similar way to IAA, is able to induce growth in shoots and roots and stimulate root generation, giving rise to new lateral and adventitious roots. Melatonin is also able to delay senescence, protecting photosynthetic systems and related sub-cellular structures and processes. Also, its role in fruit ripening and post-harvest processes as a gene regulator of ethylene-related factors is relevant. Another decisive aspect is its role in the pathogen-plant interaction. Melatonin appears to act as a key molecule in the plant immune response, together with other well-known molecules such as nitric oxide and hormones, such as jasmonic acid and salicylic acid. In this sense, the discovery of elevated levels of melatonin in endophytic organisms associated with plants has thrown light on a possible novel form of communication between beneficial endophytes and host plants via melatonin.
Mindfulness training increases momentary positive emotions and reward experience in adults vulnerable to depression: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE To examine whether mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) increases momentary positive emotions and the ability to make use of natural rewards in daily life. METHOD Adults with a life-time history of depression and current residual depressive symptoms (mean age = 43.9 years, SD = 9.6; 75% female; all Caucasian) were randomized to MBCT (n = 64) or waitlist control (CONTROL; n = 66) in a parallel, open-label, randomized controlled trial. The Experience Sampling Method was used to measure momentary positive emotions as well as appraisal of pleasant activities in daily life during 6 days before and after the intervention. Residual depressive symptoms were measured using the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (Hamilton, 1960). RESULTS MBCT compared to CONTROL was associated with significant increases in appraisals of positive emotion (b* = .39) and activity pleasantness (b* = .22) as well as enhanced ability to boost momentary positive emotions by engaging in pleasant activities (b* = .08; all ps < .005). Associations remained significant when corrected for reductions in depressive symptoms or for reductions in negative emotion, rumination, and worry. In the MBCT condition, increases in positive emotion variables were associated with reduction of residual depressive symptoms (all ps < .05). CONCLUSIONS MBCT is associated with increased experience of momentary positive emotions as well as greater appreciation of, and enhanced responsiveness to, pleasant daily-life activities. These changes were unlikely to be pure epiphenomena of decreased depression and, given the role of positive emotions in resilience against depression, may contribute to the protective effects of MBCT against depressive relapse.
Should Human Immunodeficiency Virus Specialty Clinics Treat Patients With Hypertension or Refer to Primary Care? An Analysis of Treatment Outcomes

Abstract Background. Care for people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) increasingly focuses on comorbidities, including hypertension. Evidence indicates that antiretroviral therapy and opportunistic infections are best managed by providers experienced in HIV medicine, but it is unclear how to structure comorbidity care. Approaches include providing comorbidity care in HIV clinics (“consolidated care”) or combining HIV care with comorbidity management in primary care clinics (“shared care”). We compared blood pressure (BP) control in HIV clinics practicing consolidated care versus shared care. Methods. We created a national cohort of Veterans with HIV and hypertension receiving care in HIV clinics in Veterans Administration facilities and merged these data with a survey asking HIV providers how they delivered hypertension care (5794 Veterans in 73 clinics). We defined BP control as BP ≤140/90 mmHg on the most recent measure. We compared patients’ likelihood of experiencing BP control in clinics offering consolidated versus shared care, adjusting for patient and clinic characteristics. Results. Forty-two of 73 clinics (57.5%) practiced consolidated care for hypertension. These clinics were larger and more likely to use multidisciplinary teams. The unadjusted frequency of BP control was 65.6% in consolidated care clinics vs 59.4% in shared care clinics (P < .01). The likelihood of BP control remained higher for patients in consolidated care clinics after adjusting for patient and clinic characteristics (odds ratio, 1.32; 95% confidence interval, 1.04–1.68). Conclusions. Patients were more likely to experience BP control in clinics reporting consolidated care compared with clinics reporting shared care. For shared-care clinics, improving care coordination between HIV and primary care clinics may improve outcomes.