Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estado nutricional de hierro, cobre y zinc en relación con el uso de método anticonceptivo hormonal Iron, copper and zinc status in relation with the hormonal contraceptive method

Childbearing age women are part of a vulnerable group to present micronutrient deficiencies. It has been associated the contraceptive method (CM) with iron (Fe) status, and the hormonal CM (HCM) with the alteration of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) biomarkers. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of CM over the biomarkers of Fe, Cu and Zn status, and the prevalence of micronutrient deficiency on 81 Chilean childbearing age women. We evaluated mean corpuscular volume (MCV), hemoglobin (Hb), zinc protoporphyrin (Zpp), serum Fe (FeS) , transferrin saturation (TS), total Fe binding capacity (TIBC), transferrin receptor (Tfr), serum ferritin (SF), serum copper (CuS), ceruloplasmin (Cp) mass, activity and specific activity and serum zinc (ZnS). From the total women, 40% used HCM and 49% did not use HCM. Women using HCM showed higher values of FeS, ST, CuS, Cp mass and activity (p<0.05) and lower Zpp (p<0.05) compared with those that did not use HCM. Not statistical differences were found on MCV, Hb, TIBC, Tfr, SF, ZnS and Cp specific activity values between groups. HCM utilization did not affect Fe, Cu and Zn status in the studied population.
A multi-scale daily SPEI dataset for drought characterization at observation stations over mainland China from 1961 to 2018

Abstract. The monthly standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) can be used to monitor and assess drought characteristics with 1-month or longer drought duration. Based on data from 1961 to 2018 at 427 meteorological stations across mainland China, we developed a daily SPEI dataset to overcome the shortcoming of the coarse temporal scale of monthly SPEI. Our dataset not only can be used to identify the start and end dates of drought events, but also can be used to investigate the meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, and socioeconomic droughts with a different timescales. In the present study, the SPEI data with 3-month (about 90 d) timescale were taken as a demonstration example to analyze spatial distribution and temporal changes in drought conditions for mainland China. The SPEI data with a 3-month (about 90 d) timescale showed no obvious intensifying trends in terms of severity, duration, and frequency of drought events from 1961 to 2018. Our drought dataset serves as a unique resource with daily resolution to a variety of research communities including meteorology, geography, and natural hazard studies. The daily SPEI dataset developed is free, open, and publicly available from this study. The dataset with daily SPEI is publicly available via the figshare portal (Wang et al., 2020c), with https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare. 12568280 . Highlights. A multi-scale daily SPEI dataset was developed across mainland China from 1961 to 2018. The daily SPEI dataset can be used to identify the start and end days of the drought event. The developed daily SPEI dataset in this study is free, open, and publicly available.
Evolution of seismic design codes of highway bridges in Chile

Chile, as a country with a long history of strong seismicity, has a record of both a constant upgrading of its seismic design codes and structural systems, particularly for bridges, as a result of major earthquakes. Recent earthquakes in Chile have produced extensive damage to highway bridges, such as deck collapses, large transverse residual displacements, yielding and failure of shear keys, and unseating of the main girders, demonstrating that bridges are highly vulnerable structures. Much of this damage can be attributed to construction problems and poor detailing guidelines in design codes. After the 2010 Maule earthquake, new structural design criteria were incorporated for the seismic design of bridges in Chile. The most significant change was that a site coefficient was included for the estimation of the seismic design forces in the shear keys, seismic bars, and diaphragms. This article first traces the historical development of earthquakes and construction systems in Chile to provide a context for the evolution of Chilean seismic codes. It then describes the seismic performance of highway bridges during the 2010 Maule earthquake, including the description of the main failure modes observed in bridges. Finally, this article provides a comparison of the Chilean bridge seismic code against the Japanese and United States codes, considering that these codes have a great influence on the seismic codes for Chilean bridges. The article demonstrates that bridge design and construction practices in Chile have evolved substantially in their requirements for the analysis and design of structural elements, such as in the definition of the seismic hazard to be considered, tending toward more conservative approaches in an effort to improve structural performance and reliability for Chilean bridges.
Topical Administration of Raloxifene Does Not Significantly Improve Bone Toughness or Screw Pull-Out Strength in Multiple In Vitro Models

Background: A previous study has demonstrated an increase in mechanical properties of acellular canine bone after topical raloxifene exposure. The goal of this study was to determine if similar treatment yields the same results in bovine bone and whether this translates into a difference in screw pull-out strength in human cadaveric tissue. Methods: Matched pairs of bone specimens were submerged in solutions of either raloxifene (20 µM) or phosphate-buffered saline as a control for 7 days. In the first experiment, cancellous bone from fetal bovine distal femora underwent quasi-static four-point bending tests. In the second experiment, 3.5 mm unicortical cancellous screws were inserted to a 30 mm depth in human osteoporotic cadaveric humeral heads and quasi-static screw pull-out tests were performed. Results: In the four-point bending tests, there were no significant differences between the raloxifene and control groups for any of the mechanical properties - including stiffness (p = 0.326) and toughness (p = 0.850). In the screw pull-out tests, the raloxifene soaked samples trended towards a higher load at failure, without statistical significance (p = 0.099). Failure loads were 122 ± 74.3 N and 89.5 ± 63.8 N for the raloxifene and control groups, respectively.Conclusions: Biologic solutions that address the acute improvement of bone quality during the fracture healing timeframe are an important area of future research and untapped potential for reducing construct failure in osteoporotic fracture fixation. The bovine samples did not demonstrate an increase in toughness with raloxifene treatment, which is in contrast to previously published data. In vivo experiments are likely required to determine whether topical use of raloxifene will improve implant fixation.
Modeling Adhesive Hysteresis

When an elastomer approaches or retracts from an adhesive indenter, the elastomer’s surface can suddenly become unstable and reshape itself quasi-discontinuously, e.g., when small-scale asperities jump into or snap out of contact. Such dynamics lead to a hysteresis between approach and retraction. In this study, we quantify numerically and analytically the ensuing unavoidable energy loss for rigid indenters with flat, Hertzian and randomly rough profiles. The range of adhesion turns out to be central, in particular during the rarely modeled approach to contact. For example, negligible traction on approach but quite noticeable adhesion for nominal plane contacts hinges on the use of short-range adhesion. Central attention is paid to the design of cohesive-zone models for the efficient simulation of dynamical processes. Our study includes a Griffith’s type analysis for the energy lost during fracture and regeneration of a flat interface. It reveals that the leading-order corrections of the energy loss are due to the finite-range adhesion scale at best, with the third root of the linear mesh size, while leading-order errors in the pull-off force disappear linearly.
Does social media enhance party responsiveness? How user engagement shapes parties’ issue attention on Facebook

Representative democracy presents politicians with an information problem: How to find out what voters want? While party elites used to rely on their membership or mass surveys, social media enables them to learn about voters’ issue priorities in real time and adapt their campaign messages accordingly. Yet, we know next to nothing about how campaigns make use of these new possibilities. To narrow this gap, we use a unique data set covering every Facebook post by party leaders and party organizations in the run-up to the 2017 Austrian parliamentary election. We test the hypothesis that party actors are more likely to double down on issues that have previously generated higher levels of user engagement. We also theorize that responsiveness is conditional on major/minor party status and pre-campaign issue salience. The analysis shows that parties’ issue strategies respond to user engagement, especially major parties on low-salience issues. This represents some of the first empirical evidence on how social media can enhance parties’ issue responsiveness.
A computer-game-based rehabilitation platform for individuals with fine and gross motor upper extremity deficits post-stroke (CARE fOR U) – Protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background & purpose Activity-based neuroplasticity and re-organization leads to motor learning via replicating real-life movements. Increased repetition of such movements has growing evidence over last few decades. In particular, computer-game-based rehabilitation is found to be effective, feasible and acceptable for post-stroke upper limb deficits. Our study aims to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of 12 weeks of computer-game-based rehabilitation platform (GRP) on fine and gross motor skills post-stroke in India. Methods Through this trial we will study the effect of adjunctive in-hospital GRP (using a motion-sensing airmouse with off-the-shelf computer games) in 80 persons with subacute stroke, for reduction of post-stroke upper limb deficits in a single-centre prospective Randomized Open, Blinded End- point trial when compared to conventional therapy alone. Results We intend to evaluate between-group differences using Wolf Motor Function test, Stroke Specific Quality of Life, and GRP assessment tool. Feasibility will be assessed via recruitment rates, adherence to intervention periods, drop-out rate and qualitative findings of patient experience with the intervention. Conclusion The CARE FOR U trial is designed to test the feasibility and effectiveness of a computer-game based rehabilitation platform in treating upper limb deficits after stroke. In case of positive findings GRP can be widely applicable for stroke populations needing intensive and regular therapy with supervision.
A Novel Energy-Efficient MIMO-OFDM Decoder Architecture with Error Detection

Medical data transmission is a major challenge in wireless communication to preserve their integrity and coherence. As the transmission takes place at high data rate, the complexity and throughput of the system, pertaining to the fetal ECG signal, is crucial. In addition to the accumulation of noises in the channel, the observation of fetal ECG signal, using diagnostic devices, also provides additive noise, thereby reducing the quality of the transmitted signal. The major motive of this paper is to demarcate the fetal ECG signal from noise at early stages of transmission using Chambolle-Pock based hybridized classifiers. This technique provides sensitivity of 91.1% followed by performance validation of Error Detection and correction adders for different decoder architectures in transceiver. Thereby area and power reduction of 86.3% and 91.1% is achieved. The simulations are carried out with MIT-BIH Arrhythmia using simulation tools, such as MATLAB 2013b, ModelSim 10.0b, and Cadence Virtuoso under 90 nm on over 200 data sets.
Characterizing Ectomycorrhizal Fungal Community Structure and Function of Two Varieties of Pinus clausa That Differ in Disturbance History

Despite the immense amount of diversity present in the soil biota, the ecological and evolutionary processes that regulate species diversity and abundance of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi across space and time remain elusive. In forest ecosystems, ECM fungal diversity may be maintained by periodic disturbances which operate at different time scales due to their effects on host genetic and phenotypic characteristics and the associated environment. To investigate the degree to which these factors shape ECM fungal community composition and function, I sampled 10 independent sites for a pine species indicative of an endangered ecosystem, the Florida scrub, where disturbance history has driven the divergence of a single species into two genetically distinct varieties (Pinus clausa var. immuginata and var. clausa). A total of 300 ECM fungal species were identified based on rDNA ITS sequences, but each variety harbors different ECM species composition and function. A follow-up greenhouse experiment, in which the seed from each variety was grown in its own soil (“home”) and in the soil of the other variety (“away”), suggests these communities differentially impact the growth of their host seedlings. While var. clausa seedlings had the same total biomass regardless of soil origin, var. immuginata had higher biomass in their own soil compared to var. clausa. This is likely due to an increased number of ECM colonized tips in the home soil compared to in away soil. Taken together, these results may suggest different evolutionary histories where structure host genetic and phenotypic characteristics may be important for structuring their dynamics with ECM fungi.
Experiences of individuals with blindness or visual impairment during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Hungary

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the measures of social distancing and national lockdown had a significant impact on everyday life. Individuals with BVI (blindness and visual impairment) are assumed to face increased barriers in numerous domains of their lives. This online survey research investigates, among Hungarian adults with BVI (N = 132), the impact of the lockdown on their access to shopping, daily support needs, access to remote studies of higher education or work, and leisure habits. Respondents accounted for negative impacts of the lockdown on their participation and independence in all research topics. Issues of accessibility were common both concerning shopping for essential goods and access to remote study and work.
Stream Flow Generation for Simulating Yearly Bed Change at an Ungauged Stream in Monsoon Region

The stream flow generation method is necessary for predicting yearly bed change at an ungauged stream in Monsoon region where there is no hydrologic and hydraulic information. This study developed the stream flow generation method of daily mean flow for each month over a year for bed change simulation at an ungauged stream. The hydraulic geometries of cross-sections and the corresponding bankfull indicators of the Byeongseong river of 4 km reach were analyzed to estimate the bankfull discharge. The estimated bankfull discharge of the target reach was 77.50 m3/s, and the total annual discharge estimated 3720 m3/s through the correlation equation with the bankfull discharge. The measured total annual discharge of the Byeongseong river was 3887.30 m3/s, which is greater by 167.30 m3/s of 4.3% relative error. The volume and bed changes over a year by the Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering Two-Dimension (CCHE2D) model simulated using the measured discharge during 2013 and 2014 coincided with the surveyed in the same period. Estimated total annual discharge was used for the scenarios of stream flow generation. The generated stream flow using the flow apportioned to each month on the basis of the flow percentage in an adjacent stream simulated the river bed most appropriately. The generated stream flow using the flow based on the monthly rainfall percentage of the rainfall station in the target stream basin also simulated river bed well, which is confirmed as an alternative. Quantitatively, the root mean square error (RMSE), mean bias error (MBE), and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) in-depth change of thalweg between the measured and the simulated were found to be 0.25 m, 0.04 m, and 0.44%, respectively. The result of the simulated cross-sectional river bed change for target reach coincided well with the surveyed. The proposed method is highly applicable to generate the stream flow for analyzing the yearly bed change at an ungauged stream in Monsoon region.
Nutrient availability predicts multiple stem frequency, an indicator of species resprouting capacity in tropical forests

Resprouting capacity is a key component of plant life history. While resprouting requires substantial nutrient reserves to support new growth, the influence of soil fertility on resprouting is largely unknown. We tested whether the frequency of multi‐stemmed trees, a potential indicator of resprouting history, is associated with low soil fertility, reflecting selection for conservative life histories that enhance survival, or with high fertility, reflecting greater resource availability to support regrowth. Data from the Barro Colorado Island (BCI) 50‐ha plot in Panama showed that multi‐stemmed trees are more likely to resprout during their lifetime than single‐stemmed trees, and that multiple stem frequency has a strong taxonomic signal for adult trees. To test how multiple stem frequency varies with demographic rates and nutrient allocation strategies, we compiled functional trait datasets for 71 species from lowland forest on BCI and 43 species from lower montane forest in western Panama. We also assessed environmental correlates of community‐wide multiple stem frequency in thirty‐seven 1‐ha lowland plots in the Panama Canal watershed and twelve 1‐ha montane plots in western Panama, spanning gradients of rainfall and soil fertility. Multiple stem frequency was not correlated with species demographic rates or wood density, suggesting that resprouting is unrelated to classical ‘persistence’ traits in neotropical tree species. Multiple stem frequency of tree species occurring on BCI was weakly but significantly positively correlated with regional soil phosphorus associations, but unrelated to foliar nutrient concentrations. Multiple stem frequency covaried strongly with soil and tissue nutrient status across fertility gradients. It was significantly positively correlated with nutrient allocation traits, including foliar phosphorus and wood nitrogen and phosphorus, among species sampled across soil habitats in western Panama. At the community level, the proportion of woody stems >10 cm DBH with at least one multiple stem increased with plant available soil phosphorus. Synthesis. These results suggest a novel mechanism by which soil phosphorus availability influences tree recruitment and forest dynamics by facilitating resprouting. Future experiments should seek to understand whether soil fertility mediates resprouting frequency through nutrient supply directly, or via the formation of enhanced wood nutrient reserves.
Safety Enhancement of UAVs from the Signal Processing’s Perspectives: A Bird’s Eye View

Unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) or drones have gained popularity in recent years. However, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is still hesitant to open up the national air space (NAS) to UAVs due to safety concerns because UAVs have several orders of magnitude of more accidents than manned aircraft. To limit the scope in this paper, we focus on large, heavy, and expensive UAVs that can be used for cargo transfer and search and rescue operations, not small radio-controlled toy drones. We first present a general architecture for enhancing the safety of UAVs. We then illustrate how signal processing technologies can help enhance the safety of UAVs. In particular, we provide a bird’s eye view of the application of signal processing algorithms on condition-based maintenance, structural health monitoring, fault diagnostics, and fault mitigation, which all play critical roles in UAV safety. Some practical applications are used to illustrate the importance of the various algorithms.
Lane Change Prediction With an Echo State Network and Recurrent Neural Network in the Urban Area

The prediction of lane changes can reduce traffic accidents and improve traffic flow. In this paper two classifiers, Echo State Network and a recurrent neural network with Long Short Term Memory cells, were compared to predict lane changes using the input variables steering angle and indicator. The input variables were extracted from a data set which was generated from a naturalistic driving study in the urban area of Chemnitz, Germany. Both classifiers predicted left and right lane changes successfully. They achieved high true positive rates and low false positive rates. The Echo State Network predicted left and the recurrent neural network predicted right lane changes better.
Effects of Leukocyte-Platelet-Rich Fibrin (L–PRF) on Pain, Soft Tissue Healing, Growth Factors, and Cytokines after Third Molar Extraction: A Randomized, Split-Mouth, Double-Blinded Clinical Trial

This study assessed the effects of leukocyte-platelet-rich fibrin (L–PRF) on soft tissue healing and the correlation with the local concentration of growth factors (GF) and cytokines in the dental socket of lower third molars. Forty lower-third molars (20 participants) were included in this randomized, double-blinded, split-mouth study. After extractions, randomized sides received alveolar filling with L–PRF on one side and a natural blood clot on the other side. The pain was assessed for up to seven days and soft tissue healing (Landry index) for 14 days post-extraction. Swabs were collected from the surgical sites for GF and cytokine assessment by flow luminometry. Participants reported lower postoperative pain on the sides grafted with L–PRF, which also presented increased tissue healing scores (p < 0.05). There were increased levels of all GFs and several cytokines at the L–PRF site at day one, while vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), IL–10, and IL1–RA remained higher throughout for seven days (p < 0.05). VEGF concentration at L–PRF sites correlated positively with the participants’ blood platelet content (ρ = 0.769). PDGF correlated negatively with pain experience on days 2 and 3, and positively with soft tissue healing scores, while FGFb presented a weak correlation with a reduction of pain on day 3. The use of L–PRF improves the soft tissue healing process and decreases postoperative pain after the third molar extractions, which correlates with an increase in the local concentration of growth factors such as PDGF and FGFb.
Advancing and refining archaeological dental calculus research using multiomic frameworks

ABSTRACT Dental calculus (calcified dental plaque) is a cross-cultural biological matrix that is emerging as a critical source of information for anthropologists and oral health professionals. It contains a multitude of diverse biomolecules, providing information about an individual’s culture, diet, ancestry, and health. Most researchers who study archaeological dental calculus use genomic or proteomic approaches, although a wide range of other techniques are now available. However, few studies have utilized efficient multiomic protocols. This lack of integration is problematic, as such approaches in other fields have proven to improve results and strengthen interpretations. Our review discusses three multiomic approaches: (1) interactions between the metaproteome and metagenome; (2) relationships between the host genome and oral metagenome; and, (3) associations between the epigenome and metagenome. We draw from multiomic studies on soil, plant, gut, and modern oral microbiomes to demonstrate how such integration can provide insights that are not attainable with single-omic approaches.