Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sustainable aquatic food systems: Multisectoral analysis of determinants of child nutrition in coastal Kenya

Marine foods produced by small-scale fishers can make vital contributions to sustainable, healthy food systems with multisectoral considerations of public health nutrition, gender equity, economics, and marine ecology. This pilot study aimed to map the multidimensional determinants of fish food security and young child nutrition in four coastal communities of Kenya with a view toward designing a large intervention trial. We compared anthropometric and dietary diversity indicators of children under 5 years in fishing vs. non-fishing households. Mixed methods included household surveys, 24-h recalls for dietary intake, and anthropometric measures of children. Child dietary diversity score (CDDS) and height-for-age Z (HAZ) were primary outcomes tested in ordinary least square regression modeling. Stunting was widely prevalent (20.2%), as were morbidities for acute diarrhea (29.0%) and fever (46.5%), with no statistically significant differences in fishing compared to non-fishing households. High proportions of children showed nutrient intake inadequacies for vitamins A, C, and E, iron and zinc; <50% met requirements for all nutrients except protein, which was derived primarily from plant-based foods. Regression modeling showed children living in fishing households were associated with lower CDDS. Maternal education, maternal body mass index (BMI), and household livelihood diversity were positively associated with both CDDS and HAZ, while child morbidities and north coast (of Mombasa) residence showed negative associations. Our findings highlight nutritional vulnerabilities within a coastal food system of Kenya and the need to involve multiple sectors—education, environment, health, finance, communications, and governance and policy—in deriving solutions.
Functional characterization of all missense variants in LEPR, PCSK1, and POMC genes arising from single-nucleotide variants

ABSTRACT Objective Hyperphagia and early-onset, severe obesity are clinical characteristics of rare melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) pathway diseases due to loss-of-function (LOF) variants in genes comprising the MC4R pathway. In vitro functional characterization of 12,879 possible exonic missense variants from single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) of LEPR, POMC, and PCSK1 was performed to determine the impact of these variants on protein function. Methods SNVs of the three genes were transiently transfected into cell lines, and each variant was subsequently classified according to functional impact. We validated three assays by comparing classifications against functional characterization of 29 previously published variants. Results Our results significantly correlated with previously published pathogenic categories (r = 0.623; P = 3.03 × 10–4) of all potential missense variants arising from SNVs. Of all observed variants identified through available databases and a tested cohort of 16,061 patients with obesity, 8.6% of LEPR, 63.2% of PCSK1, and 10.6% of POMC variants exhibited LOF, including variants currently classified as a variant of uncertain significance (VUS). Conclusions The functional data provided here can assist in the reclassification of several VUS in LEPR, PCSK1, and POMC and highlight their impact in MC4R pathway diseases.
Localized picosecond resolution with a near-field microwave/scanning-force microscope

We modify a scanning-force microscope tip/cantilever with a coaxial metal shield for use as an ultra-small field probe, observing 30 ps waveforms on an integrated circuit at a spatial resolution set by the tip radius, the first direct measurements of electric field at these levels of temporal and spatial resolution. This new ability to acquire topography while maintaining constant tip–sample distance for calibrated measurement or excitation of near-zone picosecond time-resolved electric fields is useful not only for probing advanced circuits but also for localized broadband spectroscopy of condensed matter and biological samples.
The military occupational stress response scale: Development, reliability, and validity

Soldiers in the military are exposed to numerous stressors, including some that are of an extreme nature. The main objective of this military psychology research study was to evaluate soldiers' occupational stress. Even though several tools have been developed to measure stress in this population, to date, none have focused on occupational stress. Hence, we developed the Military Occupational Stress Response Scale (MOSRS) to provide a tool to objectively measure soldiers' occupational stress responses. An initial pool of 27 items was assembled from the literature, existing instruments, and interviews with soldiers. Of those 27, 17 were included in the MOSRS. The scale was subsequently completed by soldiers from one military region, and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted using Mplus8.3 and IBM SPSS 28.0 software, respectively. A total of 847 officers and soldiers were selected for scale testing, and 670 subjects were retained after data cleaning and screening according to the set criteria. After performing the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett's test, principal components analysis (PCA) was appropriate. The PCA yielded a three-factor model (physiological, psychological, and behavioral responses) with the items and factors strongly correlated. The confirmatory factor analysis revealed loads ranging from between 0.499 and 0.878 for each item. The Cronbach's α coefficient of the MOSRS was between 0.710 and 0.900, and the Omega reliability was between 0.714 and 0.898, which were all higher than the critical standard value of 0.7, indicating that the scale has good reliability. Analysis of the discrimination validity of each dimension revealed that the scale has good discrimination validity. The MOSRS demonstrated sound psychometric characteristics with acceptable reliability and validity, suggesting that it could be used to assess occupational stress in military personnel.
Infections of Tumor Prostheses: An Updated Review on Risk Factors, Microbiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment Strategies

Simple Summary Tumor prostheses are associated with a high infection risk. The main pathogens involved in these infections include Staphylococcus spp. , followed by Streptococcus spp. These pathogens usually form a biofilm that covers the implants, which is a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances containing sessile microbial cells connected to one another. Prompt diagnosis is challenging due to the highly varying clinical symptoms and the lack of specific preoperative and intraoperative diagnostic tests. However, the development of molecular biology techniques such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods and next-generation sequencing (NGS) over the past decade has improved the diagnostic accuracy for periprosthetic infections. Despite their high sensitivity, these methods have a high rate of false positive results. Surgical management with one- or two-stage revision surgery is mandatory for eradication of these infections. This study consolidates the current knowledge regarding the risk factors, microbiology, diagnosis, and treatment of infections of tumor prostheses. Abstract Several causes contribute to the high infection rate in tumor prostheses, including extensive tissue dissection and patients’ immunosuppression due to the neoplastic disease. Most of these infections develop within the first 2 years following surgery with 70% of them occurring during the first year, while they are often associated with a low pathogen burden. The pathogenesis of infections in tumor prostheses is linked to bacteria developing in biofilms. Approximately half of them are caused by Staphylococcus spp. , followed by Streptococcus spp. , Enterococcus spp. , and Enterobacteriaceae spp. , while multiple pathogens may be isolated in up to 25% of the cases, with coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS) and Enterococccus spp. being the most frequent pair. Although early detection and timely management are essential for complete resolution of these challenging infections, prompt diagnosis is problematic due to the highly varying clinical symptoms and the lack of specific preoperative and intraoperative diagnostic tests. Surgical management with one- or two-stage revision surgery is the mainstay for successful eradication of these infections. The recent advances in laboratory diagnostics and the development of biofilm-resistant prostheses over the past years have been areas of great interest, as research is now focused on prevention strategies. The aim of this study is to review and consolidate the current knowledge regarding the epidemiology, risk factors, microbiology, and diagnosis of infections of tumor prostheses, and to review the current concepts for their treatment and outcomes.
A class of distribution-free tests for the two-sample slippage problem

A class of distribution-free tests for the two-sample slippage problem, when the random variables take only nonnegative values, is proposed. These tests are consistent and unbiased against the general slippage alternative. Recurrence relations for generating small sample significance points are given. The tests have been compared with the Savage test, the Wilcoxon test and the appropriate locally most powerful rank test by considering Pitman asymptotic relative efficiencies for several alternative hypotheses. Some of these tests exhibit considerable robustness in terms of efficiency for the various alternative hypotheses which are considered.
Potential health risk assessment and distribution of fluoride in groundwater of Munger, Bihar India: a case study

Abstract High fluoride intake via groundwater is a very serious problem for human health, especially in children. The present study focused on the health risk in children between 5–15 years due to higher consumption of fluoride in water used for potable purposes. A total of 195 samples of groundwater were analyzed for water parameters like pH, EC, TDS, fluoride, etc. On the basis of the primary data on the quality of drinking water, non-carcinogenic health risks of excessive fluoride intake in children were evaluated. Findings showed that the concentration of fluoride in Munger lies from 0.029 to 12 (mg/l) and 13.8% of total samples contain fluoride exceeding the allowable limit (1.5 mg/l). Hazard quotient value through ingestion of drinking water with high-level fluoride content varies from 0.625 to 8.571 whereas via dermal exposure hazard, quotient value lies in between 0.001 to 0.012. Therefore, the total hazard quotient obtained in Munger varied from 0.626 to 8.58. This indicates that children in Munger are highly vulnerable to non-carcinogenic health risks via prolonged fluoride intake mainly through the drinking water pathway. The outcome of the sensitivity analysis revealed that the concentration of fluoride is the most influential parameter in non-carcinogenic health risk.
Theanine, a Tea-Leaf-Specific Amino Acid, Alleviates Stress through Modulation of Npas4 Expression in Group-Housed Older Mice

Group rearing is a common housing condition, but group-housed older mice show increased adrenal hypertrophy, a marker of stress. However, the ingestion of theanine, an amino acid unique to tea leaves, suppressed stress. We aimed to elucidate the mechanism of theanine’s stress-reducing effects using group-reared older mice. The expression of repressor element 1 silencing transcription factor (REST), which represses excitability-related genes, was increased in the hippocampus of group-reared older mice, whereas the expression of neuronal PAS domain protein 4 (Npas4), which is involved in the regulation of excitation and inhibition in the brain, was lower in the hippocampus of older group-reared mice than in same-aged two-to-a-house mice. That is, the expression patterns of REST and Npas4 were found to be just inversely correlated. On the other hand, the expression levels of the glucocorticoid receptor and DNA methyltransferase, which suppress Npas4 transcription, were higher in the older group-housed mice. In mice fed theanine, the stress response was reduced and Npas4 expression tended to be increased. These results suggest that Npas4 expression was suppressed by the increased expression of REST and Npas4 downregulators in the group-fed older mice, but that theanine avoids the decrease in Npas4 expression by suppressing the expression of Npas4 transcriptional repressors.
Reliability Modeling and Optimization Using Fuzzy Logic and Chaos Theory

Fuzzy sets membership functions integrated with logistic map as the chaos generator were used to create reliability bifurcations diagrams of the system with redundancy of the components. This paper shows that increasing in the number of redundant components results in a postponement of the moment of the first bifurcation which is considered as most contributing to the loss of the reliability. The increasing of redundancy also provides the shrinkage of the oscillation orbit of the level of the system’s membership to reliable state. The paper includes the problem statement of redundancy optimization under conditions of chaotic behavior of influencing parameters and genetic algorithm of this problem solving. The paper shows the possibility of chaos-tolerant systems design with the required level of reliability.
Two-Dimensional Seismic Refraction Tomography

Summary An iterative tomographic inversion scheme is presented for determination of 2-D velocity structure from seismic refraction first-arrival traveltimes. the method is suited to refraction profiles where source/receiver spacings are denser than for conventional profiles. the inversion method is based on an iterative solution of the linearized problem, and allows for determination of continuous velocity variations as welt as geometry of subhorizontal interfaces. In each iteration, two-point ray tracing is performed using a shooting method to construct the linear system. the velocity field is defined using triangular cells within which the velocity gradient is constant, allowing analytic calculation of ray paths. Two different inversion techniques are considered, based on distinct linearized formulations of the forward problem. Inversion using a linearized traveltime-velocity Jacobian produced better results than a slowness formulation more akin to common series expansion-techniques. Resolution examples reveal horizontal smearing due to ray geometry, drop-off in resolution with depth, as well as the effect of source-receiver geometry and velocity structure on resolution. Inversion examples indicate that a global norm produces solutions closer to the true model than solutions calculated using a smallest perturbation approach, when a good starting model is available. Streak effects caused by inhomogeneous ray coverage and the removal of these effects are demonstrated.
Evaluation of the use of digital technologies to improve case management of uncomplicated malaria by community pharmacists in Nigeria

Background: Malaria remains a tropical disease of public health concern. Treating malaria infection without parasitological diagnosis and follow-up yields poor outcomes.Objectives: This study assessed knowledge, attitudes, use of Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests (mRDTs), and evaluated impact of a mobile health intervention on case management by community pharmacists.Materials and Methods: The mixed - method study enrolled 112 community pharmacists in Kwara State Nigeria, randomized into control and intervention groups (n = 56 each). Same validated questionnaires were used to obtain baseline and post-intervention data. Only intervention group received educational YouTube videos, mRDT kits and twice-weekly short message service follow-up for six months. Pre- and post- intervention scores were measured and compared in both groups using Mann-Whitney U and t-tests at p <0.05. Results: Baseline knowledge was moderate in both control (5.56 ± 1.41) and intervention (5.70 ± 0.81) groups; significantly improved to high level (8.90 ± 3.20) post-intervention in intervention group (t = 13.07, p = 0.04*) unlike control group (t = 11.25, p = 0.06). Attitude of intervention cohort improved significantly from ‘borderline’ (around 2.5) pre-intervention to ‘positive’ (above 2.5) post- intervention (Z = 3.379, p = 0.001*), unlike control group which remained negative (below 2.5) pre- and post-intervention, (Z = 0.159, p = 0.874). Among controls, mRDT use remained low pre- and post-intervention (6.41 ± 1.21 and 6.65 ± 1.02) (t = 1.1784, p = 0.255); intervention cohort moved from low to moderate (6.58 ± 1.13 to 11.04 ± 1.18) (t = 15.407, p < 0.05*). Conclusion: Both primary (mRDT use) and secondary (knowledge and attitude) outcomes were significantly improved by mHealth intervention. It is recommended that community pharmacists be trained and incentivized to deploy mRDT and digital technologies in routine management of malaria.
The Benefits of a Magnetic Mirror in a Traveling Wave Tube: Computational Experiments’ Results

A comparative traveling wave tube (TWT) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation based on a corrugated electrodynamic retarding structure with and without a magnetic mirror (MM) has been performed. As a result, it has been found that there is a significant benefit of a MM for TWT. It manifests itself in the increase in microwave generation power, power level stabilization, and a decrease in the duration of the power rise time to the average level. In this case, the use of a MM does not lead to a change in microwave radiation spectral characteristics.
Autoimmune inner ear disease in a young patient – an unsolvable challenge?

Abstract We report on a 21-year-old male patient, suffering from bilateral acute hearing loss and vertigo. The article presents the clinical course of autoimmune inner ear disease, including diagnostic approaches and challenges, as well as therapeutic strategies and clinical follow-up. Response to corticosteroids often decreases during the course of the disease, requiring a more targeted treatment, such as the use of biological agents to block cytokines like interleukin 1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα). In our case, hearing thresholds improved considerably under immune-modulating therapy, while vestibular function remained reduced. In case of autoimmune inner ear disease, therapies targeting IL-1 and TNFα for consecutive reduction of cytokine activity represent an effective remedy for the measurable restoration of sensory function.
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics. By Joseph Pedlosky. Springer, 1979. 624 pp. DM 79.50.

Sketch the velocity as a function of r. Solve for and plot the pressure field that balances this velocity (a) without Coriolis effects (Ω=0) (b) with Coriolis effects ( 0 Ω ≠ ) Discuss the momentum balance in the radial direction, showing how it depends on the Rossby number, which here can be defined as Ro = U0/2Ωa . You will need to write the momentum equation in polar coordinates (or see Batchelor’s text or others), dropping the time-varying terms (∂/∂t.) and frictional terms. Consider both cyclonic and anticyclonic vortices (U0 postive and negative, respectively). Describe how the correspondence between ‘cyclonic’ and low pressure; ‘anticyclonic’ and high pressure depends on Ro. Let u be radial velocity and v azimuthal velocity; radial momentum (r direction, v velocity) balance is
The Maximal Smoothing Principle in Density Estimation

Abstract We propose a widely applicable method for choosing the smoothing parameters for nonparametric density estimators. It has come to be realized in recent years (e.g., see Hall and Marron 1987; Scott and Terrell 1987) that cross-validation methods for finding reasonable smoothing parameters from raw data are of very limited practical value. Their sampling variability is simply too large. The alternative discussed here, the maximal smoothing principle, suggests that we consider using the most smoothing that is consistent with the estimated scale of our data. This greatly generalizes and exploits a phenomenon noted in Terrell and Scott (1985), that measures of scale tend to place upper bounds on the smoothing parameters that minimize asymptotic mean integrated squared error of density estimates such as histograms and frequency polygons. The method avoids the extreme sampling variability of cross-validation by using ordinary scale estimators such as the standard deviation and interquartile range, which .
Harnessing coupler-induced localized backscattering for enhanced fast and slow light performances in a traveling wave microresonator

We present an analytical study on the effects of coupler-induced localized backscattering (CILB) on the nature of superluminal and subliminal propagations in a traveling wave microresonator (TWMR). It is found that in the weak CILB regime, the flexibility to control the light propagation velocity is improved, and fast and slow light with high output power can be generated for a TWMR with a small net optical gain.
Prevalence of HIV-1 Natural Polymorphisms and Integrase-Resistance-Associated Mutations in African Children

Integrase inhibitors (INIs) are a potent option for HIV treatment. Limited data exist on INI resistance in West Africa, particularly in children living with HIV/AIDS. We determined the prevalence of integrase gene polymorphisms and the frequency of naturally occurring amino acid (aa) substitutions at positions associated with INI resistance. Dried blood spot (DBS) samples were obtained from one hundred and seven (107) HIV-1-infected children aged less than 15 years old in two West African countries, Benin and Mali. All children were naïve to INI treatment, 56 were naïve to anti-retroviral therapy (ART), and 51 had received ART. Genetic sequencing of HIV integrase was successful in 75 samples. The aa changes at integrase positions associated with INI resistance were examined according to the Stanford HIV Genotypic Resistance database. The median ages were 2.6 and 10 years for ART-naïve and -treated children, respectively. The most common subtypes observed were CRF02_AG (74.7%) followed by CRF06_cpx (20%). No major INI-resistance mutations at positions 66, 92, 121, 143, 147, 148, 155, and 263 were detected. The most prevalent INI accessory resistance mutations were: L74I/M (14/75, 18.6%) followed by E157Q (8/75, 10.6%), G163E/N/T/Q (5/75, 6.6%), Q95A/H/P (2/75, 2.6%), and T97A (4/75, 5.3%). Other substitutions observed were M50I/L/P, H51E/P/S/Q, I72V, T112V, V201I, and T206S. Polymorphisms at positions which may influence the genetic barrier and/or drive the selection of specific INI-resistance pathways were detected. However, no transmitted drug resistance (TDR) to INI was detected among samples of INI-naïve patients. These findings support the use of this treatment class for children with HIV-1, particularly in West Africa.
Nikolas Gisborne, The event structure of perception verbs . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Pp. x + 317.

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