Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Digital Lifestyle Program in Outpatient Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Controlled Study

Background: Lifestyle is important in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study’s aim was to investigate whether a healthy-lifestyle-supporting smartphone application could affect treatment outcomes at an endocrinology outpatient clinic. Methods: Consecutively invited patients were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group after age and gender stratification. In addition to standard care, intervention group participants used a smartphone application to access a lifestyle program (SidekickHealth) through which they received personalized recommendations and education about healthy lifestyles. Tests at baseline and every other month for six months included body weight and blood tests for glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and blood lipids, as well as questionnaires about distress related to diabetes, health-related quality of life, depression, and anxiety. Statistics included comparisons both within and between groups. Results: A total of 37 patients (23 women) were included, whereof 30 finished, 15 in each group (19% dropout); the average age was 51.2 ± 10.6 (25-70) years. No significant differences emerged between groups, but within the intervention group, there was a significant decrease in HbA1c from 61 ± 21.4 to 52.7 ± 15.2 mmol/mol, in disease-specific distress from 19.5 ± 16.5 to 11.7 ± 13.4, and in anxiety symptoms from 5.4 ± 4.0 to 4.1 ± 3.8. No significant changes occurred within the control group. The application usage was most frequent during the first months and differed interpersonally. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the SidekickHealth digital lifestyle program could potentially enhance outpatient treatment in T2DM, in terms of both glycemic control and psychological well-being but larger confirmative studies are needed.
Integrated LTE and Millimeter-Wave 5G MIMO Antenna System for 4G/5G Wireless Terminals

This work demonstrates an integrated multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna solution for Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Millimeter-Wave (mm-wave) 5G wireless communication services. The proposed structure is comprised of a two-element LTE MIMO antenna, and a four-element 5G MIMO configuration with rectangular and circular defects in the ground plane. For experimental validation, the proposed structure is fabricated on a Rogers RO4350B substrate with 0.76 mm thickness. The overall substrate dimensions are 75 mm × 110 mm. The proposed structure is capable of operating at 5.29–6.12 GHz (LTE 46 and 47 bands) and 26–29.5 GHz (5G mm-wave) frequency bands. Additionally, the measured peak gain of 5.13 and 9.53 dB is attained respectively for the microwave and mm-wave antennas. Furthermore, the analysis of the MIMO performance metrics demonstrates good characteristics, and excellent field correlation performance across the operating bands. Furthermore, the analysis of the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) and Power Density (PD) at the lower frequency band (5.9 GHz) and PD only at mm-Wave frequency band (28 GHz) verifies that the proposed antenna system satisfies the international human safety standards. Therefore, the proposed integrated MIMO antenna configuration ascertains to be a potential contender for the forthcoming communication applications.
A GPU-accelerated fully 3D OSEM image reconstruction for a high-resolution small animal PET scanner using dual-ended readout detectors

In this work, a GPU-accelerated fully 3D ordered-subset expectation maximization (OSEM) image reconstruction with point spread function (PSF) modeling was developed for a small animal PET scanner with a long axial field of view (FOV). Dual-ended readout detectors that provided high depth of interaction (DOI) resolution were used for the small animal PET scanner to simultaneously achieve uniform high spatial resolution and high sensitivity. First, we developed a novel sinogram generation method, in which the dimension of the sinogram was determined first and then an event was assigned to a few neighboring sinogram elements by using weights that are inversely proportional to the distance from the measured line of response (LOR) to the LOR of the sinogram elements. System geometric symmetry, precomputation of LOR-driven ray-tracing and texture memory were applied to accelerate the GPU-based reconstruction. We developed a spatially variant PSF model where the PSF parameters were obtained by using point source images measured at 18 positions in the FOV and a spatial invariant PSF model where the PSF parameters were obtained by using only one image measured at the center FOV. The performance of the image reconstruction method was evaluated by using simulated phantom data as well as phantom and in-vivo mouse data acquired on the scanner. The results showed that the proposed reconstruction method provided better spatial resolution, a higher contrast recovery coefficient and lower noise than the OSEM reconstruction and was more than 1000 times faster than the CPU-based reconstruction. The spatially variant PSF model did not result in any spatial resolution improvement compared to the spatial invariant PSF model, and thus, the latter that is much easier to implement in image reconstruction and can be used in a small animal PET scanner using detectors with very high DOI resolution. A whole body 18F-FDG mouse image with high resolution and a high contrast to noise ratio was obtained by using the proposed reconstruction method.
Functional correlations between specific leaf area and specific root length along a regional environmental gradient in Inner Mongolia grasslands

Summary 1. Among above- and below-ground traits, specific leaf area (SLA, cm 2 g � 1 ) and specific root length (SRL, m g � 1 ) are the two key traits reflecting species resource acquisition strategies. However, patterns of variation in SLA and SRL have rarely been examined simultaneously across evolutionary history and environmental gradients, and the SLA–SRL relationship is still controversial on several grounds. 2. We examined the inter- and intraspecific variations in SLA and SRL of different root branching orders and the SLA–SRL relationship across 55 species and 21 plant communities of four vegetation types along a 2000-km transect in the Inner Mongolia grassland. 3. With increasing root branching order, the interspecific variation in SRL increased, but the intraspecific variation in SRL decreased considerably, and the form of SLA–SRL relationship shifted from positive to negative. This indicates that acquisition of soil resources (e.g. water and nutrients) is a fundamental strategy for plant investment to root length. When inter- and intraspecific variations in SLA and SRLs were partitioned into alpha (within-community) and beta (among-community) components, the alpha component exhibited substantially greater inter- and intraspecific variations than the beta component. 4. Across the transect, the evolutionarily late diverged species in phylogenetic tree evolved towards low SLA and SRL-1 (SRL for first-order roots) and tended to distribute in resourcepoor conditions along the environmental gradient. The early diverged species, in contrast, had high SLA and SRL-1 and mostly distributed in resource-rich conditions. 5. Our findings suggest that patterns of inter- and intraspecific variations in SLA and SRL of different root branching orders and the form of SLA–SRL relationship could be well explained by within- and among-community filtering processes and species divergence time. Coordination and trade-offs between leaves and roots do not mutually exclude but operate simultaneously at different scales and among different root branching orders in arid and semi-arid grasslands.
Effect of liner offset and inclination on cement retention strength of metal‐in‐metal acetabular constructs: A biomechanical study

Cementing metallic liners into well‐fixed acetabular shells facilitates utilizing dual‐mobility cups in revision total hip arthroplasty without shell replacement. The current biomechanical study investigated the effect of increasing cemented liner (a) inclination; and (b) offset on the cement retention strength measured as the lever‐out moment at cement failure. Eighteen metallic liner prototypes were cemented into cluster‐hole acetabular shells at variable inclinations (0°, 10°, and 20°) and offsets (0 and 10 mm) relative to the enclosing acetabular shell (6 groups; n = 3 constructs per group). The constructs were connected to a material testing frame, and lever‐out failure moments were tested through an established protocol. Failure occurred at the liner‐cement interface (18/18). There was no correlation between liner inclination and the lever‐out failure moment (r = −0.327, P = .185). Liner offset demonstrated a strong negative correlation to mean lever‐out failure moments (r = −0.788, P < .001). There was no significant difference between mean lever‐out failure moments at variable liner inclinations, regardless of offset (P = .358). Greater liner offset was associated with diminished mean lever‐out failure moments (P < .001). Compared with neutral (0° inclination, 0 mm offset), the maximum inclination and offset group had the lowest mean lever‐out failure moment (P = .011). Cemented metal‐in‐metal constructs are significantly affected by the liner positioning. While a correlation between liner inclination and cement retention strength could not be asserted, cement retention strength is significantly diminished by increased liner offset.
The Role of Calpains in Skeletal Muscle Remodeling with Exercise and Inactivity-induced Atrophy

Abstract Calpains are cysteine proteases expressed in skeletal muscle fibers and other cells. Although calpain was first reported to act as a kinase activating factor in skeletal muscle, the consensus is now that calpains play a canonical role in protein turnover. However, recent evidence reveals new and exciting roles for calpains in skeletal muscle. This review will discuss the functions of calpains in skeletal muscle remodeling in response to both exercise and inactivity-induced muscle atrophy. Calpains participate in protein turnover and muscle remodeling by selectively cleaving target proteins and creating fragmented proteins that can be further degraded by other proteolytic systems. Nonetheless, an often overlooked function of calpains is that calpain-mediated cleavage of proteins can result in fragmented proteins that are biologically active and have the potential to actively influence cell signaling. In this manner, calpains function beyond their roles in protein turnover and influence downstream signaling effects. This review will highlight both the canonical and noncanonical roles that calpains play in skeletal muscle remodeling including sarcomere transformation, membrane repair, triad junction formation, regulation of excitation-contraction coupling, protein turnover, cell signaling, and mitochondrial function. We conclude with a discussion of key unanswered questions regarding the roles that calpains play in skeletal muscle.
Relationship of Loss of Membrane Functionality and Hard‐to‐Cook Defect in Aged Beans

Microsomal membranes were prepared from fresh beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and from samples kept 9 mo at various temperatures and humitidies. Increasing storage severity produced progressively hard-to-cook (HTC) beans as well as higher solids loss and lower water-holding capacity during soaking. Membrane phase transition temperature (PTT), calcuated from spin label electron paramagnetic resonance data, also increased and showed a highly significant (r = 0.997) correlation with cooked hardness. Fatty acid analysis of membrane lipids demonstrated higher PTT values were due to a significant increase in proportion of saturated fatty acids. These data reflect membrane deterioration during aging that could explain solids loss and water-holding capacity changes. Changes in the membrane may be the primary event in initiation of the HTC defect.
Plasma metabolites associated with biomarker evidence of neurodegeneration in cognitively normal older adults

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that currently has no cure. Identifying biochemical changes associated with neurodegeneration prior to symptom onset, will provide insight into the biological mechanisms associated with neurodegenerative processes, that may also aid in identifying potential drug targets. The current study therefore investigated associations between plasma neurofilament light chain (NF‐L), a marker of neurodegeneration, with plasma metabolites that are products of various cellular processes. Plasma NF‐L, measured by ultrasensitive Single molecule array (Simoa) technology (Quanterix) and plasma metabolites, measured by mass‐spectrometry (AbsoluteIDQ® p400HR kit, BIOCRATES), were assessed in the Kerr Anglican Retirement Village Initiative in Ageing Health (KARVIAH) cohort comprising 100 cognitively normal older adults. Metabolites belonging to biogenic amine (creatinine, symmetric dimethylarginine, asymmetric dimethylarginine; ADMA, kynurenine, trans‐4‐hydroxyproline), amino acid (citrulline, proline, arginine, asparagine, phenylalanine, threonine) and acylcarnitine classes were observed to have positive correlations with plasma NF‐L, suggesting a link between neurodegeneration and biological pathways associated with neurotransmitter regulation, nitric oxide homoeostasis, inflammation and mitochondrial function. Additionally, after stratifying participants based on low/high brain amyloid‐β load (Aβ ±) assessed by positron emission tomography, while creatinine, SDMA and citrulline correlated with NF‐L in both Aβ‐ and Aβ+ groups, ADMA, proline, arginine, asparagine, phenylalanine and acylcarnitine species correlated with NF‐L only in the Aβ+ group after adjusting for confounding variables, suggesting that the association of these metabolites with neurodegeneration may be relevant to AD‐related neuropathology. Metabolites identified to be associated with plasma NF‐L may have the potential to serve as prognostic markers for neurodegenerative diseases, however, further studies are required to validate the current findings in an independent cohort, both cross‐sectionally and longitudinally.
Trail pheromone modulates subjective reward evaluation in Argentine ants

ABSTRACT The Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, is native to South America but has become one of the most invasive species in the world. These ants heavily rely on trail pheromones for foraging, and previous studies have focused on such signals to develop a strategy for chemical control. Here, we studied the effects of pre-exposure to the trail pheromone on sugar acceptance and olfactory learning in Argentine ants. We used the synthetic trail pheromone component (Z)-9-hexadecenal, which triggers the same attraction and trail-following behavior as the natural trail pheromone. We found that pre-exposure to (Z)-9-hexadecenal increases the acceptance of sucrose solutions of different concentrations, thus changing the ants’ subjective evaluation of a food reward. However, although ants learned to associate an odor with a sucrose reward, pheromone pre-exposure affected neither the learning nor the mid-term memory of the odor-reward association. Taking into account the importance of the Argentine ant as a pest and invasive organism, our results highlight the importance of pheromonal cues in resource evaluation, a fact that could be useful in control strategies implemented for this species. Summary: Argentine ants associate a floral odor with food reward during foraging. Pre-exposure to trail pheromone enhances the ants’ subjective evaluation of reward, but does not modify appetitive learning and memory.
GREEN AUTOFLUORESCENCE OF DINOFLAGELLATE CYSTS CAN BE USED INSTEAD OF PRIMULINE STAINING FOR CYST VISUALIZATION AND ENUMERATION IN SEDIMENTS 1

Primuline staining is widely used to visualize and enumerate dinoflagellate cysts in marine sediments. In staining cysts of Gymnodinium catenatum H. W. Graham, Scrippsiella trochoidea (F. Stein) A. R. Loebl. , and cysts from estuarine sediments, we found their green fluorescence after primuline treatment to be seemingly no different from the green autofluorescence (GAF) inherent in vegetative cells and cysts of dinoflagellates fixed in formaldehyde. Although primuline subsequently proved to enhance green fluorescence of both species quantitatively, we nonetheless recommend taking advantage of dinoflagellates' GAF to detect and count their cysts in sediments. Doing so will reduce the time, chemical consumption, and possible loss of cells involved in the primuline‐staining procedure.
Recent progress of bacterial FtsZ inhibitors with a focus on peptides

In recent years, the rise of antibiotic resistance has become a primary health problem. With the emergence of bacterial resistance, the need to explore and develop novel antibacterial drugs has become increasingly urgent. Filamentous temperature‐sensitive mutant Z (FtsZ), a crucial cell division protein of bacteria, has become a vital antibacterial target. FtsZ is a filamentous GTPase; it is highly conserved in bacteria and shares less than 20% sequence identity with the eukaryotic cytoskeleton protein tubulin, indicating that FtsZ‐targeting antibacterial agents may have a low cytotoxicity toward eukaryotes. FtsZ can form a dynamic Z‐ring in the center of the cell resulting in cell division. Furthermore, disturbance in the assembly of FtsZ may affect cellular dynamics and bacterial cell survival, making it a fascinating target for drug development. This review focuses on the recent discovery of FtsZ inhibitors, including peptides, natural products, and other synthetic small molecules, as well as their mechanism of action, which could facilitate the discovery of novel FtsZ‐targeting clinical drugs in the future.
Ultrastructure and Radiolabelling of Leaf Cuticles from Ivy (Hedera helixL.) Plantsin vitroand duringex vitroAcclimatization

Abstract Cuticle ultrastructure and radiolabelling of isolated cuticles after incorporation of [ 14 C] acetate in foliar discs were investigated with ivy plants grown in vitro then ex vitro . Results show an increase in thickness, mass and wax content, between young and expanded leaves, for both in vitro and ex vitro cuticles. The cuticle of in vitro unexpanded leaves was very thin and only constituted a lamellate zone. The ultrastructure of in vitro young and expanded leaf cuticles showed characteristics similar to in situ cuticles. The thickness of the lamellate zone remained fairly constant and represented 33% of the cuticle thickness in young leaves, but only 11.4% in expanded leaves. The number of lamellar units decreased from 14 to nine between these two growth stages. The main difference between young leaves developed in vitro or ex vitro was a thinner lamellate zone for ex vitro cuticles. However, these latter cuticles had an intermediary zone between the lamellate and reticulate zones. The cuticle thickness of expanded leaves was greater for in vitro cuticles suggesting a temporary decrease in cuticle biosynthesis after transfer of the plant from in vitro to ex vitro. Results from cuticle radiolabelling show higher radioactivity incorporation in cuticles isolated from leaves developed ex vitro compared to in vitro . This radiolabelling was particularly marked for ex vitro young leaf cuticles and depended on the duration of the ex vitro growth period revealing a progressive activation of cuticle biosynthesis in response to new environmental conditions.
Quelques Aspects Fractals des Fragmentations Aléatoires∗

∗Ce travail a été réalisé dans le cadre du projet de l’ANR SPINADA †Laboratoire de Probabilités, Université Paris VI, 175 rue du Chevaleret, 75013 Paris, France, courriel : julien.berestycki@upmc.fr ‡Laboratoire de Probabilités, Université Paris VI, 175 rue du Chevaleret, 75013 Paris, France, courriel : jean.bertoin@upmc.fr §CEREMADE, Université Paris-Dauphine, Place du Maréchal De Lattre De Tassigny, 75775 Paris Cedex 16 France, courriel : haas@ceremade.dauphine. fr ¶CNRS & Equipe de Probabilités, Statistiques et Modélisation, Université Paris-Sud Bâtiment 425, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France, courriel : Gregory.Miermont@math.u-psud.fr
An edge re‐encryption‐based access control mechanism in NDN

Content privacy is one of the key issues in named data networking. Implementing content access control by encrypting the content key with the user's public key is the major method currently. However, this method brings extra retrieving delay because the user needs to obtain the encrypted key from the producer after requesting data packet. Focusing on this problem, this paper proposes an edge re‐encryption‐based access control (ERE‐AC), in which the content is encrypted using a symmetric key, and the content key will be encrypted twice by the producer and edge router. Using edge re‐encryption, only the authorized user can decrypt the re‐encrypted content key with its own private key and thus obtaining the plaintext of content. This mechanism makes the encrypted content and content key stored in the network that are available for all users. It achieves two advantages, one is that the user does not need to fetch content key from the producer and can shorten the retrieving time; another is that no replica redundancy exists in the network. The simulation results of ndnSIM show that compared with encryption and probability‐based access control model, ERE‐AC can effectively shorten the content retrieving delay while slightly increasing the hit rate.
Analisis Spasial Data Jaringan Internet Service Provider Di Kecamatan Sungai Pinang Kota Samarinda Berbasis Mobile

Banyak faktor yang dapat mempengaruhi kualitas jaringan bagi penyedia Internet Service Provider (ISP),turunnya nilai throughput dan menaikkan nilai delay , banyaknya ISP, besarnya delay jaringan, banyaknya bangunan/pemukiman tempat mengakses layanan internet dapat menyebabkan adanya paket data yang hilang (packet loss ) pada saat pentransmisian. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis spasial jaringan internet dan penyedia Internet Service Provider (ISP) dengan data spasial; Titik lokasi pengukuran, Waktu pengukuran, Besar nilai paket data, dan Operator seluler (ISP) dengan sampel objek pada Kecamatan Sungai Pinang, Kota Samarinda Kalimantan Timur. Metode penelitian menggunakan Analisis Spasial Exploratory dan analisis Spasial Confirmatory. Metode pengumpulan data dengan studi lapangan pengukuran langsung dan studi literatur dengan mengacu standard TIPHON (Telecommunications and Internet Protocol Harmonization Over Networks). Hasil analisis data pengukuran bahwa besarnya nilai jitter, delay, throughput pada provider yang ada di objek penelitian masih sangat tinggi. Indeks pengukuran berdasarkan standar dari TIPHON terhadap parameter-parameter QoS, bahwa kualitas pelayanan jaringan internet berbasis seluler di Kecamatan Sungai Pinang Kota Samarinda dalam kategori jelek, sedang dan sangat bagus.
COMPARISON OF SPECTRAL MEASURE AND LISTENING TESTS RESULTS

Summary The paper compares objective and subjective evaluation of synthetic speech quality. The RMS log spectral measure is used as an objective measure, and listening tests results are used as a subjective measure of synthetic speech quality. Four different methods of harmonic synthesis were used for evaluation: harmonic model with autoregressive or cepstral parametrization combined with simple concatenation of pitch-synchronous frames or overlap-and-adding the pairs of the same pitch-synchronous frames
Structural fingerprinting of a cubic iron-oxide nanocrystal mixture: A case study

Two novel strategies for the structurally identification of a nanocrystal from either a single high resolution (HR) transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image or a single precession electron diffractogram (PED) are proposed and their advantages discussed in comparison to structural fingerprinting from powder X-ray diffraction pattern. Simulations for cubic maghemite and magnetite nanocrystals are used as case study examples.