Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of incorporating groundwater exchanges in hydrological models

In many catchments, the geographical demarcation does not coincide with the limits of the aquifers, so groundwater may be exchanged beyond their topographic boundaries. By studying groundwater exchanges, the natural resources of a catchment can be better assessed, and the divergences between hydrological models and measurements can be explained. The aim of this work is to reveal the importance of including groundwater exchanges in the hydrological modelling of some catchments, using a water balance model. For this purpose, a simple example is conducted. The so‐called parent model scheme is modified to only allow groundwater exchanges, and it is applied to the headwater of the Segura River Basin District, located in the southeast of Spain. This area is selected because groundwater plays an important role in surface hydrology. The results reveal that groundwater exchanges cannot be neglected in some catchments when assessing water resources because their integration in the hydrological model corrects errors in the water balance. Moreover, this paper proves that water balance models are a useful tool for estimating groundwater exchanges between catchments, which can be contrasted with more complex distributed models or isotopic tracers if there is enough information available. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
INVESTIGATION OF THE POLAR CAP SOFT ELECTRONS FLUXES' INFLUENCE ON THE LATITUDINAL VARIATIONS OF THE IONOSPHERE TOTAL ELECTRON CONTENT AND PEAK F2-LAYER ELECTRON DENSITY

The paper presents the results of the investigation of the polar cap soft electrons fluxes' influence on the latitudinal variations of the ionosphere total electron content (TEC) and peak F2-layer electron density (NmF2). The results of the TEC and NmF2 modeling were compared with the data obtained from the empirical ionospheric model IRI-2007 and Global Ionosphere Maps (GIM) of the TEC. It was shown that to improve an agreement between the model case and observation it is necessary to increase the intensity of the "polar rain" for an order.
GEOGRAPHIC AND HISTORIC VARIATIONS IN GROWTH OF WEAKFISH, CYNOSCIONREGAUS, IN THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC BIGHT

The growth of weakfish, (:Vn""";"1! re/illli." throughout the Middle Atlantic Bight was examined. Six geo­ graphic subdivisions were initially established for growth comparisons. Covariate analysis of the total length­ scale size relationship revealed three distinct regions. Back-calculated lengths at age were compared using analysis of variance and showed significant differences between regions (I' < 0.(01) and between sexes (/' < \UIS). Mean lengths at age of northern weakfish were greaterthan southern l'ish and females were larger than males after age 6. Maximum mean lengths at age were also greaterin the north, 81 em at age 11, and became progressively smaller towards the south, declining to 42 em at age 4 in the southernmost region. The growth variations may result from varying allocations of energy to somatic growth according to environmental and migratory requirements. Growth differences resulting from the availa bility of food items in each habitat are also examined. Mean and maximumlengths at age have changed over the past 50 years, with current growth greater than in 1929 or 1952. A possible relationship exists between fluctuating population sizes and historic growth variations. The current age/size structure of weakfish fisheries in Delaware Bay is discussed. Weakfish, Cynoscion regalis, has been an important fishery resource within the Middle Atlantic Bight since the 19th century (Hildebrand and Schroeder 1928). In 1945, a record41.4 million pounds ofweak­ fish were landed by commercialinterests (Wilk 1981) and, more recently, a recreational fishery has account­ ed for an increasing percentage of the total catch (Wilk 1981). Unfortunately, the abundance of weak­ fish has not always kept pace with the demand. Com­ merciallandings totaled 27.6 million pounds in 1947 but declined thereafter, and by 1967 only 3.1 million pounds were caught. Recent landings have in­ creased, reaching 28.7 million pounds in 1979 (Wilk 1981). Weakfish availability to fisheries also fluctuates seasonally due to the migratory nature ofthe species. In April or May, weakfish migrate into estuaries to spawn (Hildebrand and Schroeder 1928) and are subjected to an inshore fishery. The migratory route is reversed in the falL with the fish moving to warmer offshore waters (Nesbit 1954). During winter months, an offshore fishery for weakfish operates in the Virginia-North Carolina region (Pearson 1932; Jess Hawkins3).
Unveiling Vulnerabilities in Maternal-Child Health amidst COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study on Food Insecurity and Socio-Demographic Disparities in the U.S.

Objective: Early infancy is a critical time of development when stresses, nutritional deficiencies, and other challenges have lifelong consequences. Social distancing regulations due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to abrupt changes in work status, childcare accessibility, and food availability. Design: This cross-sectional study assessed responses regarding experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, including food insecurity (validated two-question screener), WIC use, and changes in childcare accessibility and work status. Data were assessed using logistic regressions while controlling for sociodemographic factors. Setting: National U.S. online survey in July-August 2020. Participants: U.S. mothers (n=1861) with infants less than or equal to 12 months old. Results: We detected a 34% increase in perceived food insecurity during July-August 2020 compared to that before the pandemic. Hispanic mothers had 74% higher odds of becoming food insecure than non-Hispanic White mothers. Mothers with infants <9 weeks old had a 7% increase in WIC utilization, although no overall increase in WIC usage was detected. Most mothers (71%) reported moderate or extreme impacts from the pandemic, with higher odds associated with childcare interruptions, working from home, and identifying as Hispanic or non-Hispanic Black. Conclusions: Our findings reveal specific sociodemographic groups of mothers with infants who were especially vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. These insights hold significant value for tailoring supportive programs, equipping these groups for potential socioeconomic upheavals, and aiding their transition into the post-pandemic world.
Hepatitis E in Kathmandu Valley: Insights from a Representative Longitudinal Serosurvey

Hepatitis-E virus (HEV), an etiologic agent of acute inflammatory liver disease, is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in South Asia. HEV is considered endemic in Nepal; but data on population-level infection transmission is sparse. We conducted a representative longitudinal serologic study between February 2019 and April 2021 in urban and peri-urban areas of central Nepal to characterize community-level HEV transmission. Individuals were followed up to four times, during which capillary blood samples were collected on dried blood spots and tested for anti-HEV immunoglobulin-G antibodies. Analyzing 2513 dried blood samples from 923 participants aged 0-25 years, we found a seroprevalence of 4.8% and a seroincidence rate of 10.9 per 1000 person-years. Notably, young adults, including women of childbearing age, faced the highest incidence of infection. Geospatial analysis identified potential HEV clusters in Kavre and Kathmandu districts, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions. Water source played a crucial role in HEV transmission, with individuals consuming surface water facing the highest risk of seroconversion. Our findings underscore the endemic nature of HEV in Nepal, emphasizing the importance of safe water practices and potential vaccination strategies for high-risk groups.
Cost-Effectiveness of Screening for Asymptomatic Carotid Artery Stenosis Based on Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk Thresholds

Background: Carotid artery stenosis (50-99% extracranial internal carotid artery narrowing) is a risk factor for ischemic stroke. However, no population-based studies have directly assessed the benefits and harms of screening for asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis (ACAS), and the CREST-2 trial is currently evaluating the efficacy of revascularization vs. intensive medical management for ACAS patients. Given this gap, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) currently recommends against screening for ACAS in the general population. Because ACAS prevalence and ischemic stroke risk vary by clinical risk factors, we sought to quantify the cost-effectiveness of screening for ACAS by cardiovascular disease risk-based sub-groups. Methods: We developed a microsimulation model of ACAS and stroke to project the lifetime costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) associated with ACAS screening, stratified by individuals' 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk. We used individual-level data to estimate probabilities and severity of ACAS based on individual characteristics (e.g., age, sex, smoking status, blood pressure, and cholesterol). Annual stroke risks were functions of these characteristics and the degree of ACAS. In the model, individuals testing positive with Duplex ultrasound (>70% stenosis) and a confirmatory diagnostic test undergo revascularization, which reduces the risk of stroke but also introduces risk of complications. Diagnostic performance parameters, revascularization benefits and risks, and costs were estimated from published sources. Cost-effectiveness was assessed using a $100,000/QALY willingness-to-pay threshold. Results: Compared to no screening, the incremental value of a one-time screening for adults aged 50-80 varied by ASCVD risk. Screening adults with 10-year ASCVD risk >30% and >25% resulted in incremental cost-effectiveness ratios of $29,500/QALY and $73,600/QALY, respectively. Screening strategies for adults with ASCVD risk thresholds lower than 25% were not cost-effective at the $100,000/QALY threshold. Results were sensitive to variation in the risks and benefits associated with revascularization. Conclusions: Although the USPSTF recommends against screening for ACAS in the general population, a one-time screen may be cost-effective for adults aged 50+ with ASCVD risk >25%. Depending on updated findings from CREST-2, ACAS screening may still be cost-effective for higher ASCVD risk thresholds, even with lower efficacy or higher risks of revascularization than our base-case estimates.
Comparative analysis of cheiloscopy, pulpal tissue and fingerprint for gender identification

Background: The most important step in identifying an unknown person is determining one’s gender and as a dentist, the oral tissues are potential sources of information in this aspect. A study was carried out to assess and evaluate the accuracy of cheiloscopy, pulp tissue, and fingerprints in determining gender. Material and Methods: A study comprising of 160 individuals (80 males and 80 females) was conducted. After obtaining informed written consent and recording their bio-data; lip prints, and fingerprints were recorded. The patients’ extracted tooth was collected, their pulp extirpated, for assessment of the Barr body. Results: We found that every lip pattern was unique and hence can be used to identify an unknown individual. The occurrence of the Barr body was determined, and all female samples were found to be positive for the existence of the Barr body. In fingerprint patterns, a significant difference was noted between both sexes with ulnar loops and whorl patterns only. A highly significant difference was observed in the fingerprint ridge density between genders. Conclusions: We conclude that the Barr body in pulpal tissue can be considered as the best possible technique for gender determination within the dental tissues. Lip prints did not show any differences in genders and had no role to play in gender determination. Fingerprint ridge density can also be used to determine gender.
Overview of DrugProt task at BioCreative VII: data and methods for large-scale text mining and knowledge graph generation of heterogenous chemical–protein relations

Abstract It is getting increasingly challenging to efficiently exploit drug-related information described in the growing amount of scientific literature. Indeed, for drug–gene/protein interactions, the challenge is even bigger, considering the scattered information sources and types of interactions. However, their systematic, large-scale exploitation is key for developing tools, impacting knowledge fields as diverse as drug design or metabolic pathway research. Previous efforts in the extraction of drug–gene/protein interactions from the literature did not address these scalability and granularity issues. To tackle them, we have organized the DrugProt track at BioCreative VII. In the context of the track, we have released the DrugProt Gold Standard corpus, a collection of 5000 PubMed abstracts, manually annotated with granular drug–gene/protein interactions. We have proposed a novel large-scale track to evaluate the capacity of natural language processing systems to scale to the range of millions of documents, and generate with their predictions a silver standard knowledge graph of 53 993 602 nodes and 19 367 406 edges. Its use exceeds the shared task and points toward pharmacological and biological applications such as drug discovery or continuous database curation. Finally, we have created a persistent evaluation scenario on CodaLab to continuously evaluate new relation extraction systems that may arise. Thirty teams from four continents, which involved 110 people, sent 107 submission runs for the Main DrugProt track, and nine teams submitted 21 runs for the Large Scale DrugProt track. Most participants implemented deep learning approaches based on pretrained transformer-like language models (LMs) such as BERT or BioBERT, reaching precision and recall values as high as 0.9167 and 0.9542 for some relation types. Finally, some initial explorations of the applicability of the knowledge graph have shown its potential to explore the chemical–protein relations described in the literature, or chemical compound–enzyme interactions. Database URL: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4955410
Role of immunohistochemistry in diagnosing round-cell tumours affecting the oral and maxillofacial regions

Background: One of the most challenging spectra of lesions in the oral and maxillofacial region (OMFR) are round-cell tumours (RCTs). They show a considerable degree of overlap in microscopy and immunophenotypes. The main aim of this study is to analyse the spectrum of RCTs encountered in the oral and maxillofacial regions. We emphasise the role of immunohistochemistry (IHC) which in conjunction with histological, clinical, and imaging findings is necessary for their correct characterisation. The secondary objectives are to discuss differential diagnosis, workflow, and diagnostic algorithm for round-cell lesions affecting the OMFR. Methods: Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections of RCTs were retrieved from the archives of the Department of Oral Pathology (January 2018 to March 2020). These cases were analysed by three pathologists independently by evaluating haematoxylin and eosin-stained sections, and immunohistochemical markers employed to characterise these lesions. Results: Under the spectrum of RCTs, 11 cases (0.53%) were diagnosed with a predominance of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (55%) followed by Ewing sarcoma (18%). The remaining were Langerhans cell histiocytosis (9%), neuroendocrine carcinoma (9%), and sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma (9%). Except for one case, in all cases, the final diagnosis was established with the use of adjunctive IHC. Conclusion: RCTs can pose a diagnostic challenge for inexperienced oral pathologists. Thorough knowledge of the differentials of RCT occurring in oral and maxillofacial is helpful. An algorithm-based diagnostic approach incorporating the clinical, imaging, and histomorphological findings and immunohistochemical evaluation can help in minimizing diagnostic confusion and errors.
Assessing the impacts of genetic defects on starch metabolism in Arabidopsis plants using the carbon homeostasis model

Starch serves as an important carbon storage mechanism for many plant species, facilitating their adaptation to the cyclic variations in the light environment, including day–night cycles as well as seasonal changes in photoperiod. By dynamically adjusting starch accumulation and degradation rates, plants maintain carbon homeostasis, enabling continuous growth under fluctuating environmental conditions. To understand dynamic nature of starch metabolism at the molecular level, it is necessary to integrate empirical knowledge from genetic defects in specific regulatory pathways into the dynamical system of starch metabolism. To achieve this, we evaluated the impact of genetic defects in the circadian clock, sugar sensing and starch degradation pathways using the carbon homeostasis model that encompasses the interplay between these pathways. Through the collection of starch metabolism data from 10 Arabidopsis mutants, we effectively fitted the experimental data to the model. The system-level assessment revealed that genetic defects in both circadian clock components and sugar sensing pathway hindered the appropriate adjustment of the starch degradation rate, particularly under long-day conditions. These findings not only confirmed the previous empirical findings but also provide the novel insights into the role of each gene within the gene regulatory network on the emergence of carbon homeostasis.
A method to improve the spatial features of NDVI data series

Abstract A multi-step methodology is presented to improve the spatial features of low resolution NDVI data series by the use of single-date multispectral higher resolution scenes. The first step consists in the application of the Sequential Maximum Angle Convex Cone (SMACC) algorithm to spectrally decompose the high spatial resolution scene. The abundance images obtained are then used to identify spatially variable NDVI endmembers, which are recombined with the abundance images to produce synthetic NDVI imagery with improved spatial features. A test performed using three Landsat TM and MODIS NDVI images taken over Tuscany (Central Italy) in 2000 supports the potential of the methodology and indicates some limits which are critically discussed. Keywords: NDVI, SMACC, endmembers, synthetic imagery.
Automated surgical planning in spring-assisted sagittal craniosynostosis correction using finite element analysis and machine learning

Sagittal synostosis is a condition caused by the fused sagittal suture and results in a narrowed skull in infants. Spring-assisted cranioplasty is a correction technique used to expand skulls with sagittal craniosynostosis by placing compressed springs on the skull before six months of age. Proposed methods for surgical planning in spring-assisted sagittal craniosynostosis correction provide information only about the skull anatomy or require iterative finite element simulations. Therefore, the selection of surgical parameters such as spring dimensions and osteotomy sizes may remain unclear and spring-assisted cranioplasty may yield sub-optimal surgical results. The aim of this study is to develop the architectural structure of an automated tool to predict post-operative surgical outcomes in sagittal craniosynostosis correction with spring-assisted cranioplasty using machine learning and finite element analyses. Six different machine learning algorithms were tested using a finite element model which simulated a combination of various mechanical and geometric properties of the calvarium, osteotomy sizes, spring characteristics, and spring implantation positions. Also, a statistical shape model representing an average sagittal craniosynostosis calvarium in 5-month-old patients was used to assess the machine learning algorithms. XGBoost algorithm predicted post-operative cephalic index in spring-assisted sagittal craniosynostosis correction with high accuracy. Finite element simulations confirmed the prediction of the XGBoost algorithm. The presented architectural structure can be used to develop a tool to predict the post-operative cephalic index in spring-assisted cranioplasty in patients with sagittal craniosynostosis can be used to automate surgical planning and improve post-operative surgical outcomes in spring-assisted cranioplasty.
The handheld fan for chronic breathlessness: Clinicians’ experiences and views of implementation in clinical practice

Introduction The handheld fan (‘fan’) is useful for chronic breathlessness management, however little is known about clinicians’ implementation of the fan in clinical practice. Aim To explore clinicians’ experiences and views of fan implementation. Methods A qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews. Participants were purposively sampled from clinicians who had completed an on-line fan implementation survey and were willing to participate. A topic guide was developed using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF). Data were analysed using an inductive approach informed by the TDF. Findings Twelve clinicians participated (doctors n = 4; nurses n = 4; allied health professionals n = 4) from respiratory and palliative care. Analysis generated three major themes: i) Clinician knowledge and skills in fan implementation, ii) environmental constraints on fan use and iii) clinician beliefs about the consequences of fan use. Implementation by clinicians was positively influenced by having a scientific rationale for fan use presented (mechanism of action). Clinicians believed that the fan relieved breathlessness and did not carry a significant infection risk. Opportunity for fan use varied across healthcare settings; key environmental influences were COVID-19 restrictions, lack of access to resources and funding to provide fans, particularly in acute and respiratory services. Clinicians commonly encountered scepticism among patients and colleagues who felt the fan was an implausible intervention for breathlessness. Conclusion Implementation of the fan is motivated by clinician beliefs about patient-benefit, a scientific rationale to counter clinician and patient scepticism, and access to fans in clinic. Funding to allow patients to be supplied with and taught how to use a fan would support uptake. Research is needed to address concerns about infection risk.
Coal seam gas and its impacts on destination image assessment: an investigation into wine tourism in the Hunter valley, NSW

This project investigates the impact that media coverage of Coal Seam Gas (CSG) exploration in the NSW Hunter Valley is having on tourist perception of the wine tourism industry. We argue that the inclusion of social values methodologies (specifically Personal Construct Theory based repertory grids) in destination image assessment may provide a structured approach for measuring tourist sense of place. In this paper we report on the rationales behind the study, as well as outlining the ways in which repertory grid methodologies are being used to measure the impact of coal seam gas on tourist's sense of place.