Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Climate Changes and Human Health: A Review of the Effect of Environmental Stressors on Cardiovascular Diseases Across Epidemiology and Biological Mechanisms.

BACKGROUND Climate change is rapidly affecting all the regions of our planet. The most relevant example is global warming, which impacts on the earth's ecosystems, threatening human health. Other effects include extreme variations in temperature and increases in air pollution. These events may negatively impact mortality and morbidity for cardiovascular diseases. METHODS In this review, we discuss the main effects of climate changes on cardiovascular diseases, reporting the epidemiological evidences and the biological mechanisms linking climate change consequences to hypertension, diabetes, ischemic heart diseases, heart failure and stroke. RESULTS Up to now, findings suggest that humans acclimate under different weather conditions, even though extreme temperatures and higher levels of air pollution can influence health-related outcomes. In these cases, climate change adversely affects cardiovascular system and the high-risk subjects for cardiovascular diseases are those more exposed. CONCLUSION Finally, we examine climate change implications on publich health and suggest adaptation strategies to monitor the high-risk population, and reduce the amount of hospital admissions associated to these events. Such interventions may minimize the costs of public health and reduce the mortality for cardiovascular diseases.
Numerical simulation of PBGA lead-free solder joints with consideration of IMC layer under thermal cycling condition

An unified viscoplastic constitutive Anand model was utilized to describe the inelastic deformation behavior for SnAgCu solder alloy in PBGA package and to analyze the stress-strain response in the solder joints under thermal cyclic loading.The results demonstrated that the stresses and strains of corner solder joints were higher than those of inner solder balls.The equivalent plastic strain of the solder alloy near the IMC layer increased dynamically due to the properties of the brittle IMC layer.The strain energy represented in the stress-strain hysteresis loop of the IMC solder joints in high stress concentration region was higher than that of non-IMC solder.The simulation results revealed that the IMC layer significantly affected thermal fatigue reliability of the solder joints.The thermal fatigue lifetime using the Anand model was basically consistent with experimental data.
A simple technique for impression taking of teeth and functionally generated paths

The objective of this case report is to introduce a simple technique for simultaneously taking a closed-mouth impression and functionally generated path (FGP) for a full coverage crown restoration. A monolithic zirconia crown was the restoration of choice. An alginate impression of the abutment tooth was taken to fabricate a custom-made closed-mouth impression tray covering the abutment tooth and the adjacent teeth. The tray had an FGP table and an abutment tray in cameo and intaglio surfaces, respectively. The impression was taken with silicone impression material after adjusting the abutment tray and inscribing the FGP using self-curing acrylic resins. Plaster casts were made from the impression, and a zirconia crown was fabricated. The crown was cemented to the abutment tooth with minimal adjustments. This simple technique resulted in a well-fitting crown that accounted for mandibular movements. Using the custom closed-mouth impression tray incorporating an FGP table simultaneously aids in fabricating an accurately fitting restoration that incorporates harmonious mandibular movements using a single impression capture.
Atmospheric occurrence, transport and deposition of polychlorinated biphenyls and hexachlorobenzene in the Mediterranean and Black seas

Abstract. The Mediterranean and Black seas are unique marine environments subject to important anthropogenic pressures due to direct and indirect loads of atmospheric inputs of organochlorine compounds (OCls) from primary and secondary sources. Here we report the results obtained during two east–west sampling cruises in June 2006 and May 2007 from Barcelona to Istanbul and Alexandria, respectively, where gas-phase and aerosol-phase samples were collected. Both matrices were analyzed for 41 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), including dioxin-like congeners, and hexachlorobenzene (HCB). The values reported in this study for gas-phase HCB and ∑41PCB limit of detection (LOD) to 418.3 pg m−3 and from 81.99 to 931.6 pg m−3 respectively) are in the same range of those reported in former studies, possibly suggesting a limited decline in their atmospheric concentrations during the last decade for the Mediterranean region due to land-based OCl sources. There is a clear influence of the direction of the air mass on the atmospheric concentrations of PCBs, with higher concentrations when the air mass was from southern Europe, and the lowest concentrations for air masses coming from the SW Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean. PCBs and HCB are close to air–water equilibrium for most sampling periods, thus resulting in low atmospheric deposition fluxes at open sea. This is consistent with the oligotrophic character of the Mediterranean Sea with a small influence of the biological pump capturing atmospheric PCBs. Therefore, degradation of gas-phase PCBs by OH radicals is estimated to be the main loss process of atmospheric PCBs during their transport over the Mediterranean Sea. Conversely, atmospheric residence times of HCB are predicted to be very long due to a lack of atmospheric degradation and low depositional fluxes due to concentrations at air–water equilibrium.
Analysis of the Measurements of Anisotropic AC Vortex Resistivity in Tilted Magnetic Fields

Measurements of the high-frequency complex resistivity in superconductors are a tool often used to obtain the vortex parameters, such as the vortex viscosity, the pinning constant, and the depinning frequency. In anisotropic superconductors, the extraction of these quantities from the measurements faces new difficulties due to the tensor nature of the electromagnetic problem. The problem is specifically intricate when the magnetic field is tilted with respect to the crystallographic axes. Partial solutions exist in the free-flux-flow (no pinning) and Campbell (pinning dominated) regimes. In this paper, we develop a full tensor model for the vortex motion complex resistivity, including flux-flow, pinning, and creep. We give explicit expressions for the tensors involved. We obtain that, despite the complexity of the physics, some parameters remain scalar in nature. We show that under specific circumstances the directly measured quantities do not reflect the true vortex parameters, and we give procedures to derive the true vortex parameters from measurements taken with arbitrary field orientations. Finally, we discuss the applicability of the angular scaling properties to the measured and transformed vortex parameters and we exploit these properties as a tool to unveil the existence of directional pinning.
A single-phase integrated bidirectional plug-in hybrid electric vehicle battery charger

Plug-In hybrid electric vehicles could be connected to the electrical grid to be recharged. To ease the charging process, one can use an on-board charger to charge the electric vehicle battery. The on-board charger should have small size and light weight. On the other hand, the charger should draw current at high power factor to maximize power from an outlet. Most of the existing battery chargers are unidirectional which cannot be used in smart grid for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) purpose. In this paper, a new bidirectional isolated soft-switched battery charger is proposed which is appropriate for vehicle to grid technology. This proposed structure shares the same hardware components which are used in motor-inverter for traction mode, therefore there is no additional components used and inverter/charger systems are integrated. Hence, the size of the whole charger/inverter will be decreased. This charger utilizes a phase-shift controlled dual bridge series resonant DC/DC converter which benefits isolation which is vital in terms of safety issues as well as soft-switching operation for its semiconductor switches. The appropriate performance of the proposed charger is investigated by simulation and experimental results.
Bacterial identification of the vaginal microbiota in Ecuadorian pregnant teenagers: an exploratory analysis

Background Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a microbial imbalance (i.e., dysbiosis) that can produce serious medical effects in women at childbearing age. Little is known, however, about the incidence of BV or vaginal microbiota dysbiosis in pregnant teenagers in low and middle-income countries such as Ecuador. The scope of this exploratory analysis was to study the relationship between epidemiologic and microbial risk factors. Among the microbiology risk factors this study investigated five Lactobacillus species, two of them know in preview studies as microbiology risk factors for BV development (Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus iners), and the last three known for being associated with a healthy vaginal tract (Lactobacillus crispatus, Lactobacillus gasseri and Lactobacillus jensenii). In addition, fastidious anaerobes known to be microbial risk factors for BV development in pregnant teenagers were searched as well, more exactly, Gardnerella vaginalis, Atopobium vaginae and Mobiluncus mulieris. Methods Ninety-five healthy adolescent pregnant women, visiting a secondary level hospital in Quito, Ecuador, were enrolled into the study in 2015. The enrolled patients were between 10 to 13 weeks of pregnancy. Four epidemiological risk factors were collected in a survey: age, civil status, sexual partners and condom use. Also, vaginal pH was measured as a health risk factor. DNA was extracted from endocervical and exocervical epithelia from all the patients’ samples. PCR analysis was performed in order to characterize the presence of the eight bacterial species known as risk factors for BV development, targeting three anaerobes and five Lactobacillus species. Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed to identify associated factors for the presence of anaerobic species using logistic regression. Results The 95 vaginal microflora samples of these teenagers were analyzed. Two of the bacterial species known to cause BV: A. vaginae (100%) and G. vaginalis (93.7%) were found in high prevalence. Moreover, the most predominant bacterial Lactobacillus species found in the pregnant teenagers’ vaginal tract were L. crispatus (92.6%), L. iners (89.5%) and L. acidophilus (87.4%). In addition, the average vaginal pH measured in the study population was 5.2, and high pH was associated with the presence of the three-anaerobic species (p = 0.001). Finally, L. jensenii’s presence in the study decreased in 72% the occupation of the three anaerobes. Discussion This work identified a high pH as a risk factor for BV anaerobes’ presence in adolescent pregnant women. Moreover, this study identified L. crispatus, L. iners and L. acidophilus to be the most abundant species in our study population. From all fastidious anaerobes analyzed in this study, A. vaginae was present in all pregnant teenagers. To conclude, L. jensenii could be a potential healthy vaginal microbiota candidate in pregnant teenagers and should be further analyzed in future studies.
Response of the Tick Dermacentor variabilis (Acari: Ixodidae) to Hemocoelic Inoculation of Borrelia burgdorferi (Spirochetales)

Abstract When Borrelia burgdorferi B31 low passage strain spirochetes were directly injected into the hemocoel of Dermacentor variabilis (Say) females, the bacteria were cleared from the hemocoel within <24 h. Viable spirochetes were not found in hemolymph, salivary gland, or ovary tissues by subculturing or by IFA. The hemocyte population increased ≈6 times within the first 6 h after inoculation compared with the uninoculated controls. In contrast, the soluble total hemolymph protein content decreased inversely with the increase in hemocytes. Borreliacidal activity was demonstrated with cell-free hemolymph from D. variabilis. In vitro antimicrobial assays using hemolymph from borrelia-challenged and nonchallenged ticks resulted in 72% spirochete reductions compared with only 11.5%, respectively, within 1 h. Additional evidence of induced antimicrobial hemolymph protein activity was demonstrated by SDS-PAGE, which revealed upregulation of a lysozyme-like peptide (≈15 kDa) (22% increase) and the induction of a ≈5.8 kDa peptide in the B. burgdorferi-challenged ticks. In contrast with the nonvector borne Bacillus subtilis, D. variabilis presented a rapid and robust response to challenge with cultured B. burgdorferi spirochetes and lead to their early elimination. The role of the tick immune system, including possible differences between vector and nonvector ticks, in determining the success of invasive bacteria is discussed.
Enabling Asynchronous Machine-Type D2D Communication Using Multiple Waveforms in 5G

In this paper, we explore the idea that 5G will permit the use of multiple waveforms, with each service employing a waveform that is best suited for it. We look at a 5G machine-type communication (MTC) scenario consisting of clustered user equipment employing device-to-device (D2D) communication, such as a smart factory with intercommunicating machinery. The overhead associated with synchronizing a large number of machine-type D2D user equipment (DUE) comes at a cost that may render synchronous communication infeasible or undesirable. Based on this motivation, we consider multiple possible combinations of prominent 5G waveform candidates for cellular users and DUEs, examining the asynchronous performance of all waveforms under consideration and using the performance of synchronous orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) as a baseline for comparison. Specifically, we focus on the coexistence of waveforms in which the ordinary cellular users employ OFDM for synchronous communication, as in LTE, and the machine-type DUEs, operating asynchronously, employ a different waveform. When DUEs employ filter bank multicarrier with offset-QAM, the average achieved rate is marginally greater than the synchronous OFDM baseline case, and approximately 43% greater than the asynchronous OFDM case. This result is encouraging, as the benefits of asynchronous D2D communication could be enjoyed in MTC scenarios without suffering any performance reduction compared to the synchronous OFDM scenario. We then investigate how the relative performance of different waveform choices depends on the scenario by varying key parameters. Notably, for asynchronous communication, increasing the transmit power of DUEs results in diminishing benefits unless the DUEs employ a waveform that mitigates interdevice leakage interference.
Efficient CRISPR-mediated gene targeting and transgene replacement in the beetle Tribolium castaneum

Gene-editing techniques are revolutionizing the way we conduct genetics in many organisms. The CRISPR/Cas nuclease has emerged as a highly versatile, efficient and affordable tool for targeting chosen sites in the genome. Beyond its applications in established model organisms, CRISPR technology provides a platform for genetic intervention in a wide range of species, limited only by our ability to deliver it to cells and to select mutations efficiently. Here, we test the CRISPR technology in an emerging insect model and pest, the beetle Tribolium castaneum. We use simple assays to test CRISPR/Cas activity, we demonstrate efficient expression of guide RNAs and Cas9 from Tribolium U6 and hsp68 promoters and we test the efficiency of knockout and knock-in approaches in Tribolium. We find that 55-80% of injected individuals carry mutations (indels) generated by non-homologous end joining, including mosaic bi-allelic knockouts; 71-100% carry such mutations in their germ line and transmit them to the next generation. We show that CRISPR-mediated gene knockout of the Tribolium E-cadherin gene causes defects in dorsal closure, which is consistent with RNAi-induced phenotypes. Homology-directed knock-in of marker transgenes was observed in 14% of injected individuals and transmitted to the next generation by 6% of injected individuals. Previous work in Tribolium mapped a large number of transgene insertions associated with developmental phenotypes and enhancer traps. We present an efficient method for re-purposing these insertions, via CRISPR-mediated replacement of these transgenes by new constructs. Summary: CRISPR-based technology can mediate efficient gene targeting and transgene replacement in the beetle Tribolium, which is emerging as a powerful insect model organism.
Tornado Forecasting: a Review

Present-day operational tornado forecasting can be thought of in two parts: anticipation of tornadic potential in the storm environment, and recognition of tornadic storms once they develop. The former is a forecasting issue, while the latter is associated with warnings (or so-called nowcasting). This paper focuses on the forecasting aspect of tornadoes1, by dealing primarily with the relationship between the tornadic storm and its environment. We begin with a short history of tornado forecasting and related research in Section 2, while Section 3 provides an overview of current tornado forecasting procedures within the Severe Local Storms (SELS) Unit at the National Severe Storms Forecast Center (NSSFC). Section 4 gives a short summary of 35 years of SELS tornado and severe thunderstorm forecast verification, while Section 5 describes our current understanding of the connection between tornadoes and their environment. We conclude in Section 6 with our thoughts about the future of tornado forecasting.
Fabrication of iron oxide nanocolloids using metallosurfactant-based microemulsions: antioxidant activity, cellular, and genotoxicity toward Vitis vinifera

The present work aims at the fabrication of iron oxide nanocolloids using biocompatible microemulsion and their cytotoxic, genotoxic effect on Vitis vinifera plant has been evaluated. The three iron-based metallosurfactant complexes were synthesized. Nanosuspensions (Ns) were prepared using microemulsion technique and for the purpose, the microemulsion was prepared using oleic acid, butanol, tween 80 and as synthesized iron metallosurfactant. In this technique, no additional capping agent and/or reducing agent was added. Tween 80 which is a biocompatible surfactant acted as a reducing agent as well as stabilizing for the iron oxide Ns. Characterization of Ns’s was done using TEM, FESEM, EDX, XRD, AFM, and zeta potential. Mixed type of iron oxide nanoparticles i.e. magnetite (Fe3O4), and maghemite (Fe2O3) with a size range of 1–16 nm was found to be present in the nanosuspensions prepared from all the three precursors. The antioxidant activity of the Fe Ns was also confirmed using DPPH assay, with order of activity FeDDA > FeCTAC > FeHEXA. The cellular toxicity of Ns was evaluated by observing the morphological changes on V. vinifera plant (petiole) using a light microscope. Further, the interactions of iron oxide Ns with V. vinifera’s DNA (plant-DNA) was assessed using circular dichroism (CD) and gel electrophoresis. For the case of FeCTAC Ns, a decrease in the intensity of bands was observed indicating fragmentation or adduct formation resulting in DNA damage. In the case of FeDDA, a modest decrease in the intensity of bands was observed. However, for FeHEXA Ns, complete neutralization of bands was confirmed implying maximum damage to the plant DNA. CD, gel electrophoresis and antioxidant activity confirmed that FeHEXA Ns were most toxic and FeDDA Ns were safest among the three as-fabricated nanosuspensions.
Riding the reflected wave-IGBT drive technology demands new motor and cable considerations

Drive manufacturer migration to insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) output devices demands a more careful selection of motors and load cables. IGBT drives have faster output voltage risetimes which have increased the dielectric voltage stress placed on the motor. Semiconductor risetime now has a greater influence on motor transient voltages, emphasizing the need to understand the reflected wave phenomenon and its system effects on both motors and cables. Issues and solutions relative to motor selection, cable selection, and installation are outlined and discussed. Potential problems and solutions not commonly known even among experienced drive users are presented.
Bayesian response‐adaptive designs for basket trials

We develop a general class of response‐adaptive Bayesian designs using hierarchical models, and provide open source software to implement them. Our work is motivated by recent master protocols in oncology, where several treatments are investigated simultaneously in one or multiple disease types, and treatment efficacy is expected to vary across biomarker‐defined subpopulations. Adaptive trials such as I‐SPY‐2 (Barker et al., 2009) and BATTLE (Zhou et al., 2008) are special cases within our framework. We discuss the application of our adaptive scheme to two distinct research goals. The first is to identify a biomarker subpopulation for which a therapy shows evidence of treatment efficacy, and to exclude other subpopulations for which such evidence does not exist. This leads to a subpopulation‐finding design. The second is to identify, within biomarker‐defined subpopulations, a set of cancer types for which an experimental therapy is superior to the standard‐of‐care. This goal leads to a subpopulation‐stratified design. Using simulations constructed to faithfully represent ongoing cancer sequencing projects, we quantify the potential gains of our proposed designs relative to conventional non‐adaptive designs.
Smoking, Family History of Cancer, and Diabetes Mellitus Are Associated With the Age of Onset of Pancreatic Cancer in Japanese Patients

Objectives The aim of this study was to examine the association of risk factors including diabetes mellitus (DM) with the age of onset in Japanese pancreatic cancer (PC) patients. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 688 PC patients diagnosed at our institute. We analyzed the association between the age of onset of PC and the following variables: sex, smoking, alcohol, DM, and a family history of cancer especially PC. Results The mean age of PC diagnosis was 67.6 years. The onset of PC occurred earlier in current smokers (63.6 years old, P < 0.001) compared with past smokers (69.5 years old) and never smokers (68.6 years old). Patients with long-standing DM (>2 years) were older (70.5 years, P < 0.001) when diagnosed with PC than patients with new-onset DM (within 2 years) (66.9 years old) and patients without DM (66.7 years old). In the multivariate analysis, current smokers and a family history of cancer other than PC were associated with earlier onset. Conversely, long-standing DM was associated with later onset. Conclusions In Japanese PC patients, current smokers and a family history of cancer other than PC were associated with a younger age of onset. Conversely, long-standing DM was associated with a later onset.
A Novel Framework for Assessing Facial Attractiveness Based on Facial Proportions

In this paper, we present a novel framework for automatically assessing facial attractiveness that considers four ratio feature sets as objective elements of facial attractiveness. In our framework, these feature sets are combined with three regression-based predictors to estimate a facial beauty score. To enhance the system’s performance to make it comparable with human scoring, we apply a score fusion technique. Experimental results show that the attractiveness score obtained by the proposed framework better correlates with human assessments than the scores from other predictors. The framework’s modularity allows any features or predictors to be integrated into the facial attractiveness measure. Our proposed framework can be applied to many beauty-related fields, such as the plastic surgery, cosmetics, and entertainment industries.