Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The perceived challenge of everyday technologies in Sweden, the United States and England: Exploring differential item functioning in the everyday technology use questionnaire

Abstract Background: The changing technological environment is reflected in regular updates made to the everyday technology (ET) use questionnaire (ETUQ). Newly added ETs may not present comparable challenges across countries and diagnoses. Aims: To identify whether country context, or dementia diagnosis, impact ETs’ challenge level. Material and methods: 315 older adults from three countries were included; Sweden (n = 73), United States (n = 114), England (n = 128), and had a confirmed diagnosis of mild dementia (n = 99) or no known cognitive impairment (n = 216). Differential Items Functioning (DIF) analysis was performed on 88 ETs included in the ETUQ by country and diagnosis. The impact of DIF was evaluated in a Differential Test Functioning (DTF) analysis. Results: Nine items (10.2%) in the ETUQ showed statistically significant DIF between countries; five of which were public space ETs and none of which were information and communication technologies (ICTs). Three ICT items, and no others, showed significant DIF by diagnosis. The items’ DIF was shown to have no impact upon person measures of ability to use ET in the DTF. Conclusions and significance: The utility of the ETUQ in occupational therapy practice and research internationally is highlighted through the stability of the challenge hierarchy and lack of impact on person measures.
Interaction of the Brain-Selective Sulfotransferase SULT4A1 with Other Cytosolic Sulfotransferases: Effects on Protein Expression and Function

Sulfotransferase (SULT) 4A1 is a brain-selective sulfotransferase-like protein that has recently been shown to be essential for normal neuronal development in mice. In the present study, SULT4A1 was found to colocalize with SULT1A1/3 in human brain neurons. Using immunoprecipitation, SULT4A1 was shown to interact with both SULT1A1 and SULT1A3 when expressed in human cells. Mutation of the conserved dimerization motif located in the C terminus of the sulfotransferases prevented this interaction. Both ectopically expressed and endogenous SULT4A1 decreased SULT1A1/3 protein levels in neuronal cells, and this was also prevented by mutation of the dimerization motif. During differentiation of neuronal SH-SY5Y cells, there was a loss in SULT1A1/3 protein but an increase in SULT4A1 protein. This resulted in an increase in the toxicity of dopamine, a substrate for SULT1A3. Inhibition of SULT4A1 using small interference RNA abrogated the loss in SULT1A1/3 and reversed dopamine toxicity. These results show a reciprocal relationship between SULT4A1 and the other sulfotransferases, suggesting that it may act as a chaperone to control the expression of SULT1A1/3 in neuronal cells. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The catalytically inactive sulfotransferase (SULT) 4A1 may regulate the function of other SULTs by interacting with them via a conserved dimerization motif. In neuron-like cells, SULT4A1 is able to modulate dopamine toxicity by interacting with SULT1A3, potentially decreasing the metabolism of dopamine.
Effect of Cynara scolymus and its derivatives on broilers: an updated review

Abstract Medicinal plants and their derivatives are human-friendly, nutritional supplements, and their use in the poultry industry is increasing today. Cynara scolymus is a very high-quality antioxidant medicine plant that has recently attracted the attention of poultry and nutrition researchers to supplement their rations and reduce feed costs. In the present study, the effect of powder and extract of C. scolymus on broilers has reviewed. This review shows that the impact of C. scolymus on production performance, carcass characteristics, liver enzymes activity, and meat characteristics of broiler chickens are not significant. However, the negative impact of this compound on these properties has not reported. Moreover, cholesterol levels reduced by the dietary C. scolymus supplementation. The impact of C. scolymus powder and extract on chickens’ broiler immunity was not significant in the cited literature, but dietary C. scolymus powder increases Newcastle antibody titers and lowers blood pressure. Dietary C. scolymus under heat stress increased anti-sheep red blood cell titers. No substantial studies have conducted on the effect of C. scolymus on broilers. Therefore, it is not possible to determine a single dosage for the use of C. scolymus powder or extract in broiler diets to the improvement of the broiler characteristics. More researches are needed to determining the appropriate dosage to achieve maximum performance.
AACVD Synthesis and Characterization of Iron and Copper Oxides Modified ZnO Structured Films

Non-modified (ZnO) and modified (Fe2O3@ZnO and CuO@ZnO) structured films are deposited via aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition. The surface modification of ZnO with iron or copper oxides is achieved in a second aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition step and the characterization of morphology, structure, and surface of these new structured films is discussed. X-ray photoelectron spectrometry and X-ray diffraction corroborate the formation of ZnO, Fe2O3, and CuO and the electron microscopy images show the morphological and crystalline characteristics of these structured films. Static water contact angle measurements for these structured films indicate hydrophobic behavior with the modified structures showing higher contact angles compared to the non-modified films. Overall, results show that the modification of ZnO with iron or copper oxides enhances the hydrophobic behavior of the surface, increasing the contact angle of the water drops at the non-modified ZnO structures from 122° to 135° and 145° for Fe2O3@ZnO and CuO@ZnO, respectively. This is attributed to the different surface properties of the films including the morphology and chemical composition.
Pediatric Pulmonology

Funding information Evelyn Trust (UK), Grant/Award Number: 16/28 Abstract Background: Pressure rise time (PRT), also known as slope time to the peak inflating pressure can be set on some modern neonatal ventilators. On other ventilators, PRT is determined by the set circuit flow. Changing slope time can affect mean airway pressure (MAP), oxygenation, and carbon dioxide elimination. Our aim was to investigate the effect of PRT on ventilator parameters and gas exchange during volume‐guaranteed ventilation. Methods: In a crossover study, 12 infants weighing greater than 2 kg were ventilated using a Dräger Babylog VN500 ventilator with synchronized intermittent positive pressure ventilation with volume guarantee (SIPPV‐VG) and pressure support ventilation with volume guarantee (PSV‐VG). During both modes PRTs between 0.08 and 0.40 seconds were used in 15‐minute epochs. Data from the ventilator and patient monitors were downloaded with 1‐ and 100‐Hz sampling rate and analyzed using the Python computer language. Results: During PSV‐VG, longer PRTs were associated with longer inspiratory time (P < .0001) and with lower peak inflating pressure (PIP; P = .003), but the MAP was similar. During SIPPV‐VG the PIP was not significantly different; however, MAP was lower with longer PRT (P = .001). With a short PRT (0.08 seconds), the PIP was higher during PSV‐VG than during SIPPV‐VG (19.8 vs 16.5 mbar; P = .042). There were no significant differences in tidal volume delivery, respiratory rate, minute volume, oxygen saturations, or end‐tidal CO2 with different PRTs in either mode. Conclusions: During SIPPV‐VG or PSV‐VG, using short or long PRTs affects some ventilation parameters but does not significantly change oxygenation or carbon dioxide elimination.
D2-40 Immunoreactivity of Lymphatic Vessels Endothelium and Representation of Lymphatic Vessels in the Liver of Human Fetuses of Different Gestational Age

Summary In the reference literature, there are a few studies on the development of the lymphatic system in the liver, especially human. This study aims to establish the presence, time of appearance, distribution and representation of expression D2-40 molecule – a marker of lymph vessels endothelial cells during the fetal period of the human liver development. The livers obtained from 20 human fetuses (10 male and 12 female), aged 12-37 gestational weeks, constituted our study material. Paraffin sections, 4 µm thick, were stained with hematoxylin and eosin for histological analysis, and with LSAB2/HRP method for immunohistochemistry using the D2-40 monoclonal antibody to mark lymphatic endothelial cells. The presence of lymphatic vessels was determined by morphometry, calculating their numerical and volume density. The study showed that expression of D2-40 molecule was absent in the liver lymphatic vessels in the first trimester of development, while in the second trimester intensive D2-40 immunoreactivity was observed in the lymph vessels of the liver capsule, and low D2-40 immunopositivity of the lymph vessels in large portal spaces. In the third trimester, intensive D2-40 immunoreactivity was observed in the lymph vessels of the liver capsule and in the endothelium of numerous lymphatic vessels of various shape and size, located in the smaller and larger portal areas. Volume and numerical density of lymphatic vessels in the portal areas of the liver during fetal development increased from the second to the third trimester of pregnancy, which was proportional to the increase in volume density of the hepatic portal spaces. Based on the obtained results, a conclusion may be drawn that the lymph vessels in the liver can be identified in the first half of the second trimester, and their number was growing proportionally by the end of pregnancy.
Local Wireless Sensor Networks Positioning Reliability Under Sensor Failure

Local Positioning Systems are collecting high research interest over the last few years. Its accurate application in high-demanded difficult scenarios has revealed its stability and robustness for autonomous navigation. In this paper, we develop a new sensor deployment methodology to guarantee the system availability in case of a sensor failure of a five-node Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) localization method. We solve the ambiguity of two possible solutions in the four-sensor TDOA problem in each combination of four nodes of the system by maximizing the distance between the two possible solutions in every target possible location. In addition, we perform a Genetic Algorithm Optimization in order to find an optimized node location with a trade-off between the system behavior under failure and its normal operating condition by means of the Cramer Rao Lower Bound derivation in each possible target location. Results show that the optimization considering sensor failure enhances the average values of the convergence region size and the location accuracy by 31% and 22%, respectively, in case of some malfunction sensors regarding to the non-failure optimization, only suffering a reduction in accuracy of less than 5% under normal operating conditions.
Impact of initial flexor synergy pattern scores on improving upper extremity function in stroke patients treated with adjunct robotic rehabilitation: A randomized clinical trial

ABSTRACT Background: Robot-assisted rehabilitation is an appealing strategy for patients after stroke, as it generates repetitive movements in a consistent, precise, and automated manner. Objective: To identify patients who will benefit most from robotic rehabilitation for upper extremity (UE) hemiparesis. Methods:We used data from our previous randomized clinical trial comparing 6 weeks of robotic therapy (ReoGeo system) plus standard therapy (n=30) with self-guided therapy plus standard therapy (n=26) for sub-acute phase rehabilitation in adults with mild to moderate UE hemiparesis. The outcome measures were three Fugl-Meyer (FMA) motor scores: total UE score, proximal UE score, and UE flexor synergy score. Based on pre-therapy UE flexor synergy scores, participants were categorized into mild (10–12 points), moderate (6–9 points), and severe (0–5 points) impairment classes. Results: In the robotic group, all outcome measures improved after therapy in patients with moderate or severe impairment. In the self-guided therapy, most outcomes did not improve, regardless of the impairment class. When changes from pre- to post-therapy were compared between robotic and self-guided groups, most outcomes were similar in all impairment classes. However, robotic therapy was associated with greater improvement in UE flexor synergy than self-guided therapy in patients with moderate impairment (2.3±1.3 vs. -0.1±2.8, P=0.027). Conclusions: Post-strokerobot-assisted rehabilitation, as an adjunct to standard rehabilitation therapy, improved UE function in patients with moderate or severe pre-therapy UE flexor synergy impairment. Adjunct robotic therapy produced greater improvement in UE flexor synergy motor function than adjunct self-guided rehabilitation in patients with moderate pre-therapy impairment.
Birth weight, childhood body mass index and height and risks of endometriosis and adenomyosis

Abstract Background: Body size in adult life is likely associated with risks of endometriosis and adenomyosis, yet little is known about associations with body size earlier in life. Aim: To examine whether birth weight, childhood body mass index (BMI) and height are associated with risks of endometriosis and adenomyosis. Subjects and methods: From the Copenhagen School Health Records Register, 171,447 girls born 1930–1996, with measured weights and heights at ages 7–13 were included. Outcomes were obtained from health registers. Cox regressions were performed to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: During follow-up, 2149 endometriosis cases and 1410 adenomyosis cases were diagnosed. Childhood BMI was inversely associated with endometriosis (HR = 0.92 [95% CI: 0.88–0.96] per z-score at age 7). In contrast, childhood height was positively associated with endometriosis (HR = 1.09 [95% CI: 1.05–1.14] per z-score at age 7). Associations with childhood body size did not differ by endometriosis location. Childhood BMI and height had limited associations with adenomyosis. Birth weight was not associated with endometriosis or adenomyosis. Conclusion: Lean and tall girls are more often diagnosed with endometriosis, but not adenomyosis. These findings suggest that indicators of endometriosis risk are already apparent at early ages.
RAS: A Data‐Driven Rigidity‐Aware Skinning Model For 3D Facial Animation

We present a novel data‐driven skinning model—rigidity‐aware skinning (RAS) model, for simulating both active and passive 3D facial animation of different identities in real time. Our model builds upon a linear blend skinning (LBS) scheme, where the bone set and skinning weights are shared for diverse identities and learned from the data via a sparse and localized skinning decomposition algorithm. Our model characterizes the animated face into the active expression and the passive deformation: The former is represented by an LBS‐based multi‐linear model learned from the FaceWareHouse data set, and the latter is represented by a spatially varying as‐rigid‐as‐possible deformation applied to the LBS‐based multi‐linear model, whose rigidity parameters are learned from the data by a novel rigidity estimation algorithm. Our RAS model is not only generic and expressive for faithfully modelling medium‐scale facial deformation, but also compact and lightweight for generating vivid facial animation in real time. We validate the efficiency and effectiveness of our RAS model for real‐time 3D facial animation and expression editing.
Management of breakthrough pain due to cancer

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UL36 Encoded by Marek’s Disease Virus Exhibits Linkage-Specific Deubiquitinase Activity

(1) Background: Deubiquitinase (DUB) regulates various important cellular processes via reversing the protein ubiquitination. The N-terminal fragment of a giant tegument protein, UL36, encoded by the Marek’s disease (MD) virus (MDV), encompasses a putative DUB (UL36-DUB) and shares no homology with any known DUBs. The N-terminus 75 kDa fragment of UL36 exists in MD T lymphoma cells at a high level and participates in MDV pathogenicity. (2) Methods: To characterize deubiquitinating activity and substrate specificity of UL36-DUB, the UL36 N-terminal fragments, UL36(323), UL36(480), and mutants were prepared using the Bac-to-Bac system. The deubiquitinating activity and substrate specificity of these recombinant UL36-DUBs were analyzed using various ubiquitin (Ub) or ubiquitin-like (UbL) substrates and activity-based deubiquitinating enzyme probes. (3) Results: The results indicated that wild type UL36-DUBs show a different hydrolysis ability against varied types of ubiquitin chains. These wild type UL36-DUBs presented the highest activity to K11, K48, and K63 linkage Ub chains, weak activity to K6, K29, and K33 Ub chains, and no activity to K27 linkage Ub chain. UL36 has higher cleavage efficiency for K48 and K63 poly-ubiquitin than linear ubiquitin chain (M1-Ub4), but no activity on various ubiquitin-like modifiers. The mutation of C98 and H234 residues eliminated the deubiquitinating activity of UL36-DUB. D232A mutation impacted, but did not eliminated UL36(480) activity. The Ub-Br probe can bind to wild type UL36-DUB and mutants UL36(480)H234A and UL36(480)D232A, but not C98 mutants. These in vitro results suggested that the C98 and H234 are essential catalytic residues of UL36-DUB. UL36-DUB exhibited a strict substrate specificity. Inhibition assay revealed that UL36-DUB exhibits resistance to the Roche protease inhibitor cocktail and serine protease inhibitor, but not to the Solarbio protease inhibitor cocktail. (4) Conclusions: UL36-DUB exhibited a strict substrate preference, and the protocol developed in the current study for obtaining active UL36-DUB protein should promote the high-throughput screening of UL36 inhibitors and the study on the function of MDV-encoded UL36.
Socioecological indicators of senior financial exploitation: an application of data science to 8,800 substantiated mistreatment cases

ABSTRACT Senior financial exploitation (FE) is prevalent and harmful. Its often insidious nature and co-occurrence with other forms of mistreatment make detection and substantiation challenging. A secondary data analysis of N = 8,800 Adult Protective Services substantiated senior mistreatment cases, using machine learning algorithms, was conducted to determine when pure FE versus hybrid FE was occurring. FE represented N = 2514 (29%) of the cases with 78% being pure FE. Victim suicidal ideation and threatening behaviors, injuries, drug paraphernalia, contentious relationships, caregiver stress, and burnout and victims needing assistance were most important for differentiating FE vs non-FE-related mistreatment. The inability to afford housing, medications, food, and medical care as well as victims suffering from intellectual disability disorder(s) predicted hybrid FE. This study distinguishes socioecological factors strongly associated with the presence of FE during protective service investigations. These findings support existing and new indicators of FE and could inform protective service investigation practices.
Regulating Retinoic Acid Availability during Development and Regeneration: The Role of the CYP26 Enzymes

This review focuses on the role of the Cytochrome p450 subfamily 26 (CYP26) retinoic acid (RA) degrading enzymes during development and regeneration. Cyp26 enzymes, along with retinoic acid synthesising enzymes, are absolutely required for RA homeostasis in these processes by regulating availability of RA for receptor binding and signalling. Cyp26 enzymes are necessary to generate RA gradients and to protect specific tissues from RA signalling. Disruption of RA homeostasis leads to a wide variety of embryonic defects affecting many tissues. Here, the function of CYP26 enzymes is discussed in the context of the RA signalling pathway, enzymatic structure and biochemistry, human genetic disease, and function in development and regeneration as elucidated from animal model studies.
Cross‐comparison of convergence algorithms to solve trip‐based dynamic traffic assignment problems

Solving a dynamic traffic assignment problem in a transportation network is a computational challenge. This study first reviews the different algorithms in the literature used to numerically calculate the user equilibrium (UE) related to dynamic network loading. Most of them are based on iterative methods to solve a fixed‐point problem. Two elements must be computed: the path set and the optimal path flow distribution between all origin–destination pairs. In a generic framework, these two steps are referred to as the outer and the inner loops, respectively. The goal of this study is to assess the computational performance of the inner loop methods that calculate the path flow distribution for different network settings (mainly network size and demand levels). Several improvements are also proposed to speed up convergence: four new swapping algorithms and two new methods for the step size initialization used in each descent iteration. All these extensions significantly reduce the number of iterations to obtain a good convergence rate and drastically speed up the overall simulations. The results show that the performance of different components of the solution algorithm is sensitive to the network size and saturation. Finally, the best algorithms and settings are identified for all network sizes with particular attention being given to the largest scale.
Validation of exercise motivations inventory – 2 (EMI-2) scale for college students

Abstract Objective The purpose of this study was to determine whether the Exercise Motivations Inventory − 2 (EMI-2) scale would be appropriate to measure college students’ exercise motivation. Participants: The EMI-2 scale questionnaire was administered to 325 college students in the southwestern U.S. Method: The WINSTEPS program was conducted to analyze Rating Scale Fit, Differential Item Functioning (DIF), and Item fit by applying Rasch rating scale model calibration. Results: A 5-point Likert-type rating scale of the EMI-2 was more appropriate to investigate college students’ exercise motivation. Seventeen of 51 items were selected as the DIF, and one item had over standard item fit. Overall, 33 items were finally selected for a new version of the EMI-2 scale for college students. Additionally, Person-Item map showed that person ability and item difficulty were fit matched. Conclusions: This reconstructed EMI-2 scale can be utilized to assess exercise motivations of college students.