Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Press–Schechter primordial black hole mass functions and their observational constraints

We present a modification of the Press–Schechter (PS) formalism to derive general mass functions for primordial black holes (PBHs), considering their formation as being associated with the amplitude of linear energy density fluctuations. To accommodate a wide range of physical relations between the linear and non-linear conditions for collapse, we introduce an additional parameter to the PS mechanism, and that the collapse occurs at either a given cosmic time, or as fluctuations enter the horizon. We study the case where fluctuations obey Gaussian statistics and follow a primordial power spectrum of broken power-law form with a blue spectral index for small scales. We use the observed abundance of supermassive black holes (SMBH) to constrain the extended mass functions taking into account dynamical friction. We further constrain the modified PS by developing a method for converting existing constraints on the PBH mass fraction, derived assuming monochromatic mass distributions for PBHs, into constraints applicable for extended PBH mass functions. We find that when considering well-established monochromatic constraints, there are regions in parameter space where all the dark matter can be made of PBHs. Of special interest is the region for the characteristic mass of the distribution ${\sim}10^2\, \mathrm{M}_\odot$, for a wide range of blue spectral indices in the scenario where PBHs form as they enter the horizon, where the linear threshold for collapse is of the order of the typical overdensities, as this is close to the black hole masses detected by LIGO, which are difficult to explain by stellar collapse.
Novel chloroplast compartments are sites of photosystem II biogenesis and mRNA management during stress in the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Eukaryotic cells are highly compartmentalized. Many processes and metabolic pathways occur within specific organelles such as the nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, mitochondria, and peroxisomes. These compartments themselves are highly compartmentalized. In plants and algae, chloroplasts carry out photosynthesis, the biosynthesis of lipids, pigments, cofactors, amino acids, and function in the assimilation of S, P, and N. However, chloroplast cell biology has lagged behind that of other organelles. Classic models for the spatial organization of these processes are contradictory and based on EM and subcellular fractionation with no use of modern fluorescence microscopy. Here, chloroplast processes are revealed as highly compartmentalized within the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii with the first extensive use of fluorescence in situ hybridization, immunofluorescence staining and confocal microscopy. In Chapter 2, I propose that the processes underlying the biogenesis of thylakoids are compartmentalized in the chloroplast of C. reinhardtii. Chapter 4 describes the discovery of chloroplast stress granules, a compartment that manages mRNAs during oxidative stress. Chapter 3 assigned known targeting mechanisms to specific chloroplast proteins while identifying new examples of localized translation. Because the pyrenoid, a largely unexplored chloroplast compartment in most algae, plays a central role in many of my findings, and little is known about this compartment, I isolated it and characterized its proteome by mass spectrometry. The pyrenoid proteome consisted of proteins with roles in starch metabolism, CO 2 assimilation and nitrite reduction. Taken together, these findings reveal that the Chlamydomonas chloroplast is more highly compartmentalized and complex than has been appreciated and that it can be used as a model system to study fundamental cell biological questions. This work has advanced our understanding of the cell biology of chloroplasts and provides a new conceptual framework for research into chloroplast biogenesis
Semantic Segmentation and Data Fusion of Microsoft Bing 3D Cities and Small UAV-based Photogrammetric Data

With state-of-the-art sensing and photogrammetric techniques, Microsoft Bing Maps team has created over 125 highly detailed 3D cities from 11 different countries that cover hundreds of thousands of square kilometer areas. The 3D city models were created using the photogrammetric technique with high-resolution images that were captured from aircraft-mounted cameras. Such a large 3D city database has caught the attention of the US Army for creating virtual simulation environments to support military operations. However, the 3D city models do not have semantic information such as buildings, vegetation, and ground and cannot allow sophisticated user-level and system-level interaction. At I/ITSEC 2019, the authors presented a fully automated data segmentation and object information extraction framework for creating simulation terrain using UAV-based photogrammetric data. This paper discusses the next steps in extending our designed data segmentation framework for segmenting 3D city data. In this study, the authors first investigated the strengths and limitations of the existing framework when applied to the Bing data. The main differences between UAV-based and aircraft-based photogrammetric data are highlighted. The data quality issues in the aircraft-based photogrammetric data, which can negatively affect the segmentation performance, are identified. Based on the findings, a workflow was designed specifically for segmenting Bing data while considering its characteristics. In addition, since the ultimate goal is to combine the use of both small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) collected data and the Bing data in a virtual simulation environment, data from these two sources needed to be aligned and registered together. To this end, the authors also proposed a data registration workflow that utilized the traditional iterative closest point (ICP) with the extracted semantic information.
The association of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene mutation with unexplained recurrent miscarriage

Objective:The aim of this study was to investigate the association of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase(MTHFR)C677T and A1298 C gene mutations with unexplained recurrent miscarriage(u RM). Methods:The gene mutations of MTHFR C677 T and MTHFR A1298 C were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction(PCR)and restriction fragment length polymorphisms(RFLP)assay in 52 u RM patients(u RM group)and 16 fertile women(control group). Results:The frequencies of MTHFR 677C/T(26.9% vs 25.0%,P=1.00)genotype,677T/T(17.3% vs 6.3%,P=0.43)genotype and the T allele(30.8% vs 18.8%,P=0.19)in u RM group were higher than those in control group,but there were no significant difference between the two groups. The frequencies of MTHFR 1298 A/C(23.1% vs 18.8%,P=0.98)genotype,1298 C/C(13.5% vs 12.5%,P=0.73)genotype and the C allele(25.0% vs 15.6%,P=0.27)in u RM group were higher than those in control group,but there were also no significant difference between the two groups. Conclusions:Our results suggest that the mutations of MTHFR C677 T and A1298 C genes might not be associated with unexplained recurrent miscarriage.
Poor Sleep Quality, Depression and Social Support Are Determinants of Serum Phosphate Level among Hemodialysis Patients in Malaysia

Despite optimal control of serum phosphate level being imperative to avoid undesirable health outcomes, hyperphosphataemia is a highly prevalent mineral abnormality among the dialysis population. This study aimed to determine factors associated with hyperphosphatemia among hemodialysis patients in Malaysia. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to ascertain the possible factors that influence serum phosphate levels. A total of 217 hemodialysis patients were recruited. Hyperphosphatemia was prevalent. Only approximately 25% of the patients were aware that optimal control of hyperphosphatemia requires the combined effort of phosphate binder medication therapy, dietary restriction, and dialysis prescription. The presence of diabetes mellitus may affect serum phosphate levels, complicating dietary phosphorus management. Patients who were less depressive portrayed higher serum phosphate levels, implying intentional non-compliance. Better compliance on phosphate binder, longer sleep duration, and higher social support was associated with a lower level of serum phosphate. Despite sleep disturbance being one of the most prevalent and intense symptom burdens identified by hemodialysis patients, relatively few studies have addressed this issue. It is time to formulate sleep therapeutic interventions besides the encouragement of strong social support, hoping which many clinical outcomes including hyperphosphatemia can be better controlled among hemodialysis patients.
Enhanced luminance sensitivity on color and luminance pedestals: Threshold measurements and a model of parvocellular luminance processing

Psychophysical interactions between chromatic and achromatic stimuli may inform our understanding of the cortical processing of signals of parvocellular origin, which carry both luminance and color information. We measured observers’ sensitivity in discriminating the luminance of circular patch stimuli with a range of baseline (“pedestal”) luminance and chromaticity. Pedestal stimuli were defined along vectors in cone-contrast space in a plane spanned by the red-green cone-opponent (L-M) and achromatic (L + M + S) axes. For a range of pedestal directions and intensities within this plane, we measured thresholds for discriminating increments from decrements along the achromatic axis. Low-contrast pedestals lowered luminance thresholds for every pedestal type. Thresholds began to increase with higher pedestal contrasts, forming a “dipper”-shaped function. Dipper functions varied systematically with pedestal chromaticity: Compared to the achromatic case, chromatic pedestals were effective at lower contrast. We suggest that the enhancement of luminance sensitivity caused by both achromatic and chromatic pedestals stems from a single mechanism, which is maximally sensitive to chromatic stimuli. We fit our data with a computational model of such a mechanism, in which luminance is computed from the rectified output of cone-opponent mechanisms similar to parvocellular neurons.
Relationship Between Acuity and Contrast Sensitivity: Differences Due to Eye Disease

Purpose Visual acuity (VA) and contrast sensitivity (CS) characterize different aspects of visual function. Whereas VA is a standard test in routine eye exams and clinical trials, CS is often not included. We investigated the pathology-specific dissociation between VA and CS by quantifying and comparing the relationship between these two measures in common ocular pathologies. Methods VA and CS data were assembled from 1113 subjects, including groups with cataract (n = 450), age-related macular degeneration (AMD; n = 232), glaucoma (n = 100), retinitis pigmentosa (RP; n = 87), and normal ocular health (n = 244). VA and CS were measured by the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study chart and Pelli–Robson chart, respectively. Results Even when VA was relatively normal (<0.3 logMAR), the four ocular pathology groups showed quantitatively different mean CS deficits relative to normal controls, ranging from –0.01 log units for cataract to 0.23 log units for RP. When the entire range of VA was considered, the corresponding deficits in CS were noticeably different across these four groups, being least for cataract and progressively more severe for glaucoma, AMD, and RP. For every 1.0 logMAR loss of VA, the corresponding deficit in CS ranged from 0.22 logCS for cataract to 0.97 logCS for RP. Conclusions The quantitative relationship between VA and CS depends on the ocular pathology. CS appears to provide valuable complementary information to VA in the early detection of eye disease and when evaluating visual impairment.
Recent population expansion of longtail tuna Thunnus tonggol (Bleeker, 1851) inferred from the mitochondrial DNA markers

The population genetic diversity and demographic history of the longtail tuna Thunnus tonggol in Malaysian waters was investigated using mitochondrial DNA D-loop and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5). A total of 203 (D-loop) and 208 (ND5) individuals of T. tonggol were sampled from 11 localities around the Malaysian coastal waters. Low genetic differentiation between populations was found, possibly due to the past demographic history, dispersal potential during egg and larval stages, seasonal migration in adults, and lack of geographical barriers. The gene trees, constructed based on the maximum likelihood method, revealed a single panmictic population with unsupported internal clades, indicating an absence of structure among the populations studied. Analysis on population pairwise comparison ФST suggested the absence of limited gene flow among study sites. Taken all together, high haplotype diversity (D-loop = 0.989–1.000; ND5 = 0.848–0.965), coupled with a low level of nucleotide diversity (D-loop = 0.019–0.025; ND5 = 0.0017–0.003), “star-like” haplotype network, and unimodal mismatch distribution, suggests a recent population expansion for populations of T. tonggol in Malaysia. Furthermore, neutrality and goodness of fit tests supported the signature of a relatively recent population expansion during the Pleistocene epoch. To provide additional insight into the phylogeographic pattern of the species within the Indo-Pacific Ocean, we included haplotypes from GenBank and a few samples from Taiwan. Preliminary analyses suggest a more complex genetic demarcation of the species than an explicit Indian Ocean versus Pacific Ocean delineation.
Relationship between diabetic polyneuropathy, serum visfatin, and oxidative stress biomarkers

BACKGROUND Diabetic polyneuropathy is a very common complication of diabetes. Numerous studies are available in terms of pathogenesis. But examination methods with low reliability are still not standardized and generally time consuming. High-sensitive, easy-to-access methods are expected. Biochemical markers are one of the subjects of research. We aimed to discover a potential biomarker that can be used for this purpose in patients with diabetes who have not yet developed symptoms of neuropathy. AIM To determine the place and availability of visfatin and thiol-disulfide homeostasis in this disorder. METHODS A total of 392 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were included in the study. The polyneuropathy clinical signs were evaluated with the Subjective Peripheral Neuropathy Screen Questionnaire and Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument questionnaire and examination. The biochemical parameters, oxidative stress markers, visfatin, and thiol-disulfide homeostasis were analyzed and correlated with each other and clinical signs. RESULTS Subjective Peripheral Neuropathy Screen Questionnaire and Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument questionnaire with examination scores were correlated with each other and diabetes duration (P < 0.005). Neuropathy related symptoms were present in 20.7% of the patients, but neuropathy related findings were observed in 43.9% of the patients. Serum glucose, glycated hemoglobin, and visfatin were positively correlated with each other. Also, these parameters were positively correlated with the total oxidative stress index. Total and native thiol was positively correlated with total antioxidant status and negatively with oxidant status. Inversely thiol-disulfide positively correlated with higher glucose and oxidant status and negatively with total antioxidant status (P < 0.005). There was no correlation between visfatin and thiol-disulphide (P = 0.092, r = 0.086). However, a significant negative correlation was observed between visfatin and total with native thiol (P < 0.005, r = -0.338), (P < 0.005, r = -0.448). CONCLUSION Diagnosis of neuropathy is one of the issues studied in patients with diabetes. Visfatin and thiol-disulfide balance were analyzed for the first time in this study with inspiring results.
Wideband Dual-Polarized VHF Antenna for Space Observation Applications †

This work presents the design for an antenna element that can be used in radio arrays for the monitoring and detecting of radio emissions from cosmic particles’ interactions in the atmosphere. For these applications, the pattern stability over frequency is the primary design goal. The proposed antenna has a high gain over a relative bandwidth of 88%, a beamwidth of 2.13 steradians, a small group delay variation and a very stable radiation pattern across the frequency bandwidth of 110 to 190 MHz. It is dual polarized and has a simple mechanical structure which is easy and inexpensive to manufacture. The measurements show that the ground has insignificant impact on the overall radiation pattern.
Concurrent Infection of Skunk Adenovirus-1, Listeria monocytogenes, and a Regionally Specific Clade of Canine Distemper Virus in One Gray Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) and Concurrent Listeriosis and Canine Distemper in a Second Gray Fox

One free-ranging Gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) underwent autopsy following neurologic disease, with findings including morbilliviral inclusions and associated lesions in numerous tissues, adenoviral intranuclear inclusions in bronchial epithelial cells, and septic pleuropneumonia, hepatitis, splenitis, and meningoencephalitis. Molecular diagnostics on fresh lung identified a strain within a distinct clade of canine distemper that is currently unique to wildlife in New England, as well as the emerging multi-host viral pathogen skunk adenovirus-1. Bacterial culture of fresh liver resulted in a pure growth of Listeria monocytogenes, with whole genome sequencing indicating that the isolate had a vast array of antimicrobial resistance and virulence-associated genes. One year later, a second fox was euthanized for inappropriate behavior in a residential area, and diagnostic workup revealed canine distemper and septic L. monocytogenes, with the former closely related to the distemper virus found in the previous fox and the latter divergent from the L. monocytogenes from the previous fox.
Clinical outcomes and quality of life in patients with acute and subacute type B aortic dissection after thoracic endovascular aortic repair

Objective Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) is considered the mini-invasive treatment of choice for patients with Stanford type B aortic dissection (TBAD). This study aimed to investigate the clinical outcomes and quality of life (QoL) in patients with acute and subacute TBAD after TEVAR. Methods From January 2014 until July 2016, 22 acute patients (Group A) and 18 subacute patients received TEVAR (Group B), and 13 patients were managed non-operatively (Group C). The Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 was used to assess QoL preoperatively and after TEVAR. Operative techniques and complications were retrospectively analyzed. Results The role emotion, vitality, and mental health domains scored well preoperatively. Except for role emotion, vitality, and mental health, the remaining domains significantly improved after TEVAR. There was no significant difference in QoL metrics between Groups A and B. In Group C, bodily pain and social functioning domains were improved, and role emotion was decreased, with no improvement in the remaining domains. The 3-year survival rates were 95.5%, 100%, and 85.7% for Groups A, B, and C, respectively. Conclusions TEVAR may be safe and effective in patients with acute and subacute TBAD with similar and favorable clinical and QoL metrics.
The extensive geographical range of several species of Teloschistaceae: evidence from Russia

Abstract The current view of the geographical ranges of lichens is often distorted by overly narrow or overly broad applications of names and by insufficient survey of most regions of the world. Here we present several cases where species of Teloschistaceae formerly thought to be limited to rather small territories in the western or eastern parts of Eurasia are in fact widespread in northern Eurasia. We support our findings with ITS nrDNA data in several new trees showing relationships in the genera Athallia, Calogaya, Caloplaca, Flavoplaca and Gyalolechia. The widespread species have little in common, except that most of them reproduce both sexually and asexually, and we discuss the possible influence of the combined reproduction on geographical range. Calogaya bryochrysion, Calogaya saxicola, Gyalolechia epiphyta and Gyalolechia ussuriensis are new combinations. Calogaya alaskensis is a younger synonym for C. bryochrysion. The generally arctic-alpine Calogaya bryochrysion also occurs on the bark of solitary trees in dry parts of the Altai Mountains. The Australian Flavoplaca cranfieldii is a younger synonym of F. flavocitrina. Gyalolechia epiphyta has been described numerous times, from different regions and substrata, as Caloplaca juniperi, C. laricina, C. tarani, Gyalolechia arizonica and G. juniperina. The name Gyalolechia xanthostigmoidea has recently been used for G. epiphyta, but it represents a distinct taxon. Gyalolechia ussuriensis is closely related to and morphologically indistinguishable from G. persimilis, but they have a different ecology and distribution and we regard them as distinct species. Caloplaca juniperina Tomin is lectotypified.
Efficacy of deep learning methods for predicting under-five mortality in 34 low-income and middle-income countries

Objectives To explore the efficacy of machine learning (ML) techniques in predicting under-five mortality (U5M) in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) and to identify significant predictors of U5M. Design This is a cross-sectional, proof-of-concept study. Settings and participants We analysed data from the Demographic and Health Survey. The data were drawn from 34 LMICs, comprising a total of n=1 520 018 children drawn from 956 995 unique households. Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome measure was U5M; secondary outcome was comparing the efficacy of deep learning algorithms: deep neural network (DNN); convolution neural network (CNN); hybrid CNN-DNN with logistic regression (LR) for the prediction of child’s survival. Results We found that duration of breast feeding, number of antenatal visits, household wealth index, postnatal care and the level of maternal education are some of the most important predictors of U5M. We found that deep learning techniques are superior to LR for the classification of child survival: LR sensitivity=0.47, specificity=0.53; DNN sensitivity=0.69, specificity=0.83; CNN sensitivity=0.68, specificity=0.83; CNN-DNN sensitivity=0.71, specificity=0.83. Conclusion Our findings provide an understanding of determinants of U5M in LMICs. It also demonstrates that deep learning models are more efficacious than traditional analytical approach.