Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A resilient and connected network of sites to sustain biodiversity under a changing climate

Significance In response to biodiversity loss, scientists have called for the protection of well-connected systems of protected areas covering 30 to 50% of the planet. However, as climate change drives shifts in species, conservation plans based on current biodiversity patterns will become less effective. We collaboratively develop and map a conservation network for the conterminous United States designed to represent all habitats, while anticipating and facilitating changes in species composition. The network is based on principles of representation, resilience, connectivity, and recognized biodiversity value, with each factor mapped in a way that anticipates climate change. The results are being used to inform land-acquisition and management decisions by The Nature Conservancy, many state and federal agencies, and hundreds of land trusts.
An Introduction to Evidential Sample Size Calculations

The evidential paradigm provides the likelihood ratio as an objective measure of the strength of evidence. It neither uses p values as a measure of evidence nor views inference as a decision making exercise. Most sample size methods are based on the Type I and Type II error probabilities of the Neyman-Pearson (NP) paradigm, regardless of the framework used to determine the evidence in the data. Sample size estimates using the evidential paradigm, illustrated with an example for Gaussian response data, are compared to those obtained using NP methodology. A relation between the error probabilities of the two paradigms is derived. The sample size estimates from the NP framework are found to be too small for the purposes of an evidential analysis.
Revised Swedish guidelines on intravenous iodine contrast medium-induced acute kidney injury 2022: A summary

The Swedish Society of Uroradiology has revised their computed tomography (CT) guidelines regarding iodine contrast media-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI). They are more cautious compared to the European Society of Urogenital Radiology and the American College of Radiology since the actual risk of CI-AKI remains uncertain in patients with moderate to severe kidney damage due to a lack of prospective controlled studies and mainly based on retrospective propensity score-matched studies with low-grade evidence. Another source of uncertainty is the imprecision of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) estimating equations. However, randomized hydration studies indictae an upper limit risk of CI-AKI of about 5% for outpatients with a GFR in the range of 30–44 or 45–59 mL/min/1.73m2 combined with multiple risk factors. Apart from GFR limits, the guideline also includes limits for systemic contrast medium exposure expressed in gram-iodine/GFR ratio.
The Association between Psychological Resilience and Driving Behavior among Older Drivers in Australia

This study compared a sample of Australian drivers aged 77 years and older to participants from an older driver longitudinal cohort study (Ozcandrive) and examined the relationship between resilience and self-reported driving measures within these samples. Using a survey with a subset of questions from Ozcandrive, data were collected from 237 older drivers throughout Australia. The two samples were analyzed for differences in demographics, health, resilience, and self-reported driving behavior. A series of multiple regression models were fit for each driving outcome measure for both samples. The two samples had both similarities and differences, with the largest difference observed for resilience. Strong and consistent associations were found between resilience and driving comfort, abilities, and frequency for the Australian sample. Across samples, resilience remained a significant variable in seven of 10 regression models, more than any other independent variable.
Higher Order Global Differentiability Local Approximations for 2-D Distorted Triangular Elements

The paper presents development of higher order global differentiability local approximations for two dimensional distorted triangular elements. We consider seven node (3 vertex nodes, 3 mid-side nodes and a center node) p-version C 00 hierarchical triangular element. The distorted element geometry in x y space is mapped into ξ η space in a two unit equilateral triangle with seven nodes (master element). For the master triangular element, 2-D C 00 p-version hierarchical local approximation functions are considered in ξ η space. The degrees of freedom and the approximation functions from the mid-side nodes and/or center node are borrowed to derive the derivative degrees of freedom at the corner nodes in ξ η space for various higher order global differentiability approximations in ξ η space. The derivative degrees of freedom at the corner nodes in ξ η space are transformed from the natural coordinate space to the physical coordinate space (x, y) using Jacobians of transformations to obtain the desired higher order global differentiability local approximations in the (x y) coordinate space. A pascal triangle is used to establish a systematic procedure for the selection of degrees of freedom and the corresponding approximation functions from C 00 p-version hierarchical element for global differentiability of any desired order. A quadrature procedure for integrating over triangular domain is also presented. The procedure integrates algebraic polynomials over triangular domains in ξ η space exactly. Numerical studies will be presented in a subsequent companion paper.
Impact of Reversion of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Immunoreactivity Tests on the Estimated Annual Risk of Tuberculosis Infection

Abstract A key metric in tuberculosis epidemiology is the annual risk of infection (ARI), which is usually derived from tuberculin skin test (TST) and interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) prevalence surveys carried out in children. Derivation of the ARI assumes that immunoreactivity is persistent over time; however, reversion of immunoreactivity has long been documented. We used a deterministic, compartmental model of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection to explore the impact of reversion on ARI estimation using age-specific reversion probabilities for the TST and IGRA. Using empirical data on TST reversion (22.2%/year for persons aged ≤19 years), the true ARI was 2–5 times higher than that estimated from immunoreactivity studies in children aged 8–12 years. Applying empirical reversion probabilities for the IGRA (9.9%/year for youths aged 12–18 years) showed a 1.5- to 2-fold underestimation. ARIs are increasingly underestimated in older populations, due to the cumulative impact of reversion on population reactivity over time. Declines in annual risk did not largely affect the results. Ignoring reversion leads to a stark underestimation of the true ARI in populations and our interpretation of Mtb transmission intensity. In future surveys, researchers should adjust for the reversion probability and its cumulative effect with increasing age to obtain a more accurate reflection of the burden and dynamics of Mtb infection.
Nitric oxide is associated with fracture risk in Japanese women

Although nitric oxide (NO) is a known factor that regulates the bone physiology, few and discordant results have been obtained in human studies evaluating the effect of nitrates on bone health. We investigated for the relationship between serum NOx level and incident osteoporotic fracture rate prospectively in a cohort consisting of Japanese women. A total of 871 subjects (67.5 ± 10.8 y/o) were analyzed. During the observation period (8.8 ± 7.2 yrs), incident osteoporotic fractures occurred in 267 participants (209 vertebral fractures, 57 long-bone fractures, and 1 both types). Hazard ratio, by the Cox proportional hazards model, of serum NOx for incident fracture was 0.64 (95% confidence interval 0.53–0.78, p < 0.001) after adjustment for baseline age (1.13, 1.06–1.21, p < 0.001), lumbar bone mineral density (L-BMD; 0.85, 0.78–0.92, p < 0.001), presence of prevalent fracture (3.27, 2.49–4.32, p < 0.001), and treatment of osteoporosis (0.70, 0.53–0.92, p = 0.010). The relationships between serum level of NOx and bone-related parameters were examined by multiple regression analysis; body mass index (p < 0.001) and L-BMD (p = 0.011) were significantly associated with serum NOx level. These results suggest that the low circulating NOx is one of the independent predictors for osteoporotic fracture occurrence in postmenopausal women.
Local strain in tunneling transistors based on graphene nanoribbons

A band-to-band tunneling field-effect transistor (FET) can achieve a subthreshold slope steeper than 60 mV/dec at room temperature, but the on-current is low due to existence of the tunneling barrier. Graphene has a monolayer-thin body which is amenable to strain. By using self-consistent quantum transport simulations, we show that with local strain applied at the tunneling junction between the source and the channel in a graphene nanoribbon tunneling FET, the on-current can be significantly improved by over a factor of 10 with the same off-current, no matter at the ballistic limit or in the presence of inelastic phonon scattering.
Optimal use of antithrombotic agents in ischemic stroke with atrial fibrillation and large artery atherosclerosis

Background: Optimal antithrombotic regimens to prevent recurrent stroke in patients with ischemic stroke due to atrial fibrillation (AF) and atherosclerotic large-vessel stenosis remain unknown. Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of multiple antithrombotic therapies on outcomes at 1 year after ischemic stroke due to two or more causes. Methods: We identified 862 patients with ischemic stroke due to AF and large artery atherosclerosis from the linked data. These patients were categorized into three groups according to antithrombotic therapies at discharge: (1) antiplatelets, (2) oral anticoagulants (OAC), and (3) antiplatelets plus OAC. The study outcomes were recurrent ischemic stroke, composite outcomes for cardiovascular events, and major bleeding after 1 year. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) was used to balance the three groups using propensity scores. Results: Among 862 patients, 169 (19.6%) were treated with antiplatelets, 405 (47.0%) were treated with OAC, and 288 (33.4%) were treated with antiplatelets and OAC. After applying IPTW, only OAC had a significant beneficial effect on the 1-year composite outcome (hazard ratio (HR): 0.37, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.23–0.60, p < 0.001) and death (HR: 0.35, 95% CI: (0.19–0.63), p < 0.001). The combination of antiplatelet agents and OAC group had an increased risk of major bleeding complications (HR: 5.27, 95% CI: (1.31–21.16), p = 0.019). However, there was no significant difference in 1-year recurrent stroke events among the three groups. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that OAC monotherapy was associated with lower risks of composite outcome and death in patients at 1 year after ischemic stroke due to AF and atherosclerotic stenosis. In addition, the combination of an antiplatelet and OAC had a high risk of major bleeding.
SalivaDB—a comprehensive database for salivary biomarkers in humans

Abstract Saliva as a non-invasive diagnostic fluid has immense potential as a tool for early diagnosis and prognosis of patients. The information about salivary biomarkers is broadly scattered across various resources and research papers. It is important to bring together all the information on salivary biomarkers to a single platform. This will accelerate research and development in non-invasive diagnosis and prognosis of complex diseases. We collected widespread information on five types of salivary biomarkers—proteins, metabolites, microbes, micro-ribonucleic acid (miRNA) and genes found in humans. This information was collected from different resources that include PubMed, the Human Metabolome Database and SalivaTecDB. Our database SalivaDB contains a total of 15 821 entries for 201 different diseases and 48 disease categories. These entries can be classified into five categories based on the type of biomolecules; 6067, 3987, 2909, 2272 and 586 entries belong to proteins, metabolites, microbes, miRNAs and genes, respectively. The information maintained in this database includes analysis methods, associated diseases, biomarker type, regulation status, exosomal origin, fold change and sequence. The entries are linked to relevant biological databases to provide users with comprehensive information. We developed a web-based interface that provides a wide range of options like browse, keyword search and advanced search. In addition, a similarity search module has been integrated which allows users to perform a similarity search using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool and Smith–Waterman algorithm against biomarker sequences in SalivaDB. We created a web-based database—SalivaDB, which provides information about salivary biomarkers found in humans. A wide range of web-based facilities have been integrated to provide services to the scientific community. https://webs.iiitd. edu.in/raghava/salivadb/
Sound generated by instability wave/shock-cell interaction in supersonic jets

Broadband shock-associated noise is an important component of the overall noise generated by modern airplanes. In this study, sound generated by the weakly nonlinear interaction between linear instability waves and the shock-cell structure in supersonic jets is investigated numerically in order to gain insight into the broadband shock-noise problem. The model formulation decomposes the overall flow into a mean flow, linear instability waves, the shock-cell structure and shock-noise. The mean flow is obtained by solving RANSequations with a k-ε model. Locally parallel stability equations are solved for the shock structure, and linear parabolized stability equations are solved for the instability waves. Then, source terms representing the instability wave/shock-cell interaction are assembled and the inhomogeneous linearized Euler equations are solved for the shock-noise.Three cases are considered, a cold under-expanded Mj = 1.22 jet, a hot under-expanded Mj = 1.22 jet, and a cold over-expanded Mj = 1.36 jet. Shock-noise computations are used to identify and understand significant trends in peak sound amplitudes and radiation angles. The peak sound radiation angles are explained well with the Mach wave model of Tam & Tanna J. Sound Vib. Vol. 81, 1982, p. 337). The observed reduction of peak sound amplitudes with frequency correlates well with the corresponding reduction of instability wave growth with frequency. However, in order to account for variation of sound amplitude for different azimuthal modes, the radial structure of the instability waves must be considered in additionto streamwise growth. The effect of heating on the Mj = 1.22 jet is shown to enhance the sound radiated due to the axisymmetric instability waves while the other modesare relatively unaffected. Solutions to a Lilley–Goldstein equation show that soundgenerated by ‘thermodynamic’ source terms is small relative to sound from ‘momentum’ sources though heating does increase the relative importance of the thermodynamic source. Furthermore, heating preferentially amplifies sound associated with the axisymmetric modes owing to constructive interference between sound from the momentumand thermodynamic sources. However, higher modes show destructive interference between these two sources and are relatively unaffected by heating.
Application of Principal Component Analysis to CHAMP Radio Occultation Data for Quality Control and a Diagnostic Study

Abstract A principal component analysis (PCA) method is applied to Challenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP) level-2 radio occultation (RO) observations and the corresponding global analyses from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) in March 2004. The PCA is performed on a square symmetric vertical correlation matrix of observed or modeled RO profiles. By decomposing the matrix into pairs of loadings (EOFs) and associated principal components (PCs), outliers are identified and important modes that explain most variances of the vertical variability of the atmosphere as represented by the GPS RO data and the NCEP analyses are extracted and compared. Specifically, a quality control of RO data based on Hotelling’s T 2 index is applied first, which removes 255 RO profiles from 4884 total profiles (about 5%) and smoothes the distributions of PC modes, making the remaining GPS RO dataset much more meaningful. The leading PC mode for global refractivity explains 60% of the total variance and i.
Visibility of anatomical landmarks in the region of the mandibular third molar, a comparison between a low-dose and default protocol of CBCT

Abstract Objective Optimization of radiographic examinations is essential for radiation protection. The objective of the study was to investigate the clinical applicability of a low-dose CBCT protocol as compared to the default for pre-surgical evaluation of mandibular third molars. Material & Methods Forty-eight patients (62 teeth) referred for pre-surgical mandibular third molar investigation were recruited after justification for CBCT. Two CBCT scans of each site were made using a default protocol and a low-dose protocol (Veraviewepocs 3D F40, J Morita Corp, Kyoto, Japan). The low-dose protocol had the same tube potential (90 kV) and exposure time (9.4 s) as the default, but with reduced tube current, from 5 mA to 2 mA. Four observers evaluated the visibility of five relevant anatomical variables. Image quality was ranked on a 3-point scale as diagnostically acceptable, doubtful, or unacceptable. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test compared differences between the two protocols. The significance level was set at p ≤ . 05. Results No significant differences were found between the two protocols for any observer regarding the visibility of the relationship and proximity between the roots and the mandibular canal; root morphology; and possible root resorption of the second molar. The periodontal ligament differed significantly in visibility between the two protocols (p ≤ .05). Conclusions This study indicates that a low-dose CBCT protocol with a 60% reduction of the tube current provides, in most cases, acceptable image quality for pre-surgical assessment of mandibular third molars. Optimization of CBCT protocols should be a priority according to recommended guidelines.
Defaunation and species introductions alter long-term functional trait diversity in insular reptiles

Significance Reptiles serve a host of ecological functions, but how functional diversity has changed through time remains unclear. Here, functional diversity in Caribbean reptiles is quantified using functional entities (FEs): groupings of species with similar traits that are expected to provide similar ecosystem services. Quaternary extinctions erode the number of FEs most severely on small islands, which lose up to 67% of their native FEs. While species introductions restore functional richness on small islands, lost FEs are not being replaced by species introductions, which are shifting Caribbean biotas into novel functional trait space and leaving native FEs vulnerable to further loss. This study highlights the importance of investigating functional diversity in reptile faunas, which remain understudied relative to other vertebrate taxa.
Systematic review and meta-analysis of reflexology for people with multiple sclerosis: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Research on reflexology therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS) is limited, and the evaluation is mixed. Our aim is to confirm the efficacy of reflexology therapy for MS. Methods: The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines were followed. The search strategy was conducted in PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and the Science Citation Index. The quality of the included trials was assessed by the Cochrane Handbook. The main results were summarized and analyzed in RevMan 5.4. Results: A total of 11 studies were included in the final analysis. There were significant differences [mean difference (MD) –0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) –1.37 to –0.43, heterogeneity I2 = 0%] between the Precision Reflexology and Sham Reflexology groups in visual analogue scale pain. There was a significant difference (MD –1.00, 95% CI –1.42 to –0.58, heterogeneity I2 = 93%) between the Precision Reflexology and Sham Reflexology groups on the fatigue severity scale. There was no difference between the Precision Reflexology and Sham Reflexology groups in physical function (MD 6.88, 95% CI –3.36 to 17.13, heterogeneity I2 = 31%), role disorder due to physical problems (MD 10.20, 95% CI –4.91 to 25.30, heterogeneity I2 = 0%), physical pain (MD 7.68, 95% CI –0.09 to 15.45, heterogeneity I2 = 0%), role disorder due to emotional problems (MD 3.41, 95% CI –11.55 to 18.37, heterogeneity I2 = 0%), energy (MD 3.27, 95% CI –4.32 to 10.87, heterogeneity I2 = 0%), emotional well-being (MD 1.79, 95% CI –4.76 to 8.34, heterogeneity I2 = 0%), social function (MD 5.72, 95% CI –3.48 to 14.91, heterogeneity I2 = 0%), or general health (MD 2.63, 95% CI –4.36 to 9.62, heterogeneity I2 = 0%). Conclusions: Reflexology therapy can be used as an effective intervention for the pain and fatigue of MS patients while improving the quality of life.
lambda-OAT: lambda-Geometry Obstacle-Avoiding Tree Construction With O(nlog n) Complexity

Obstacle-avoiding rectilinear Steiner minimal tree (OARSMT) construction is an essential part of routing. Recently, IC routing and related researches have been extended from Manhattan architecture (lambda2-geometry) to Y-/X-architecture (lambda3-lambda4-geometry) to improve the chip performance. This paper presents an O(n log n) heuristic, lambda-OAT, for obstacle-avoiding Steiner minimal tree construction in the lambda-geometry plane (lambda-OASMT). In this paper, based on obstacle-avoiding constrained Delaunay triangulation, a full connected tree is constructed and then embedded into lambda-OASMT by zonal combination. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work addressing the lambda-OASMT problem. Compared with most recent works on OARSMT problem, lambda-OAT obtains up to 30-Kx speedup with quality solution. We have tested randomly generated cases with up to 10 K terminals and 10-K rectilinear obstacles within 4 seconds on a Sun V880 workstation (755-MHz CPU and 4-GB memory). The high efficiency and accuracy of lambda-OAT make it extremely practical and useful in the routing phase.