Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional Connectivity of Prefrontal Cortex in Various Meditation Techniques – A Mini-Review

Meditation is a practice of concentration and relaxation. In philosophical terms, it is a process of gaining self-consciousness. Although there is diversity in meditation (Mindfulness, compassion, transcendental, and focused attention meditation), interventions show that meditation practices improve prefrontal cortex (PFC) functions like cognition, self-awareness, attention, and memory and reduce psychological symptoms. These results are thought to be due to meditation increasing functional connections of different brain regions. We reviewed to show the functional connectivity of the prefrontal cortex in various meditation practices. We were viewed various neuroimaging interventions of functional connectivity associated with the prefrontal cortex and different brain areas during meditation techniques on healthy meditators compared with non-meditators. fMRI findings show that meditation practices are associated with increased neural function and processing, default mode network, gray matter volume, and functional coupling in the brain area related to different parts of PFC. PFC's functional connectivity is associated with increased attention, working memory, cognitive control, executive control, emotion regulation, counteracting adverse effects, self-perception, and self-compassion. Furthermore, PFC's functional connectivity decreases anxiety, depression, perceived stress, negative emotion, and hyperarousal symptoms. In this review, we outlined the published effect of meditation on the function and structure of the different parts of the prefrontal cortex. We suggest a positive theoretical correlation between meditation and the functional connectivity of the prefrontal cortex. Altered prefrontal connectivity is seen in some neurological and psychosocial disorders. Therefore meditation can also play an influential role in treating these disorders.
Statistical Mechanics of Dimers on a Plane Lattice. II. Dimer Correlations and Monomers

In part I of this paper, exact expressions were obtained for the partition function and thermodynamic properties of an $m\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}n$ plane square lattice filled with $\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{mn}$ rigid dimers each occupying two adjacent lattice sites. In this part the correlation properties of the model are studied with the aid of a general perturbation theory for Pfaffians. Closed formulas are derived for the changes in the probability of a dimer occupying a given bond that are induced by the proximity of an edge or a corner of the lattic (singlet correlations) and, in the center of the lattice by the fixed position of another dimer (pair correlations). We show how to calculate the number of configurations of a dimer lattice containing a pair of monomers (or holes) a fixed distance apart. The explicit result when the separation vector is ($p$, 0) or ($p$, 1) involves a Toeplitz determinant $|{a}_{i\ensuremath{-}j+1}|$ ($i, j=1, 2, \ensuremath{\cdots}p$) defined by $\ensuremath{\Sigma}\stackrel{\ensuremath{\infty}}{n=\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\infty}}{a}_{n}{e}^{\mathrm{in}\ensuremath{\theta}}=\mathrm{sgn}{cos\ensuremath{\theta}}\mathrm{exp}[\ensuremath{-}iinvcot(\ensuremath{\tau}cos\ensuremath{\theta})],$ where $\ensuremath{\tau}=\frac{x}{y}$ and $x$ and $y$ are the activities of $x$ and $y$ dimers. A similar result holds along the diagonals ($p, p\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1$). The relative number of configurations decays to zero with radial separation $r$ as $\frac{B}{{r}^{\frac{1}{2}}}$.
Pressure-induced structural transformation in GaAs: A molecular-dynamics study

Structural phase transformation in crystalline gallium arsenide is studied with the isothermal-isobaric molecular-dynamics method. The pair-distribution functions and bond-angle distributions indicate that the fourfold-coordinated zinc-blende structure transforms into a sixfold-coordinated orthorhombic structure under a pressure of 22 GPa. The reverse transformation, from an orthorhombic to a zinc-blende structure, shows hysteresis, and is observed at a pressure of \ensuremath{\cong}10 GPa. Molecular-dynamics results are in good agreement with experiments. The energy barrier associated with this structural transformation is estimated to be \ensuremath{\sim}0.06 eV.
Leisure Learning's Contribution: Effects on Torah and Other Enrichment Learners

ABSTRACT Aim The study was aimed to assess whether leisure learners who engage in Torah/Bible studies report higher levels of spirituality than those who study other subjects, and whether higher levels of spirituality result in a higher meaning in life and greater psychosocial resources, specifically hope and quality of life. Methods A survey of 234 participants, who study either Torah or other subjects in their leisure time. Participants completed self–report questionnaires to report their spiritual sources of motivation, features of the subject of study, evaluations of their learning experience, and their meaning in life, hope, and quality of life. Results Quantitative measures showed that higher quality of life among Torah learners was affected by meaning in life and by personal spirituality and hope, but was not affected by faith in God. Among non–Torah learners, personal spirituality and hope had stronger associations with quality of life and weaker associations with meaning in life, compared to Torah learners. Conclusions Torah and other subject of study had different effects on learners' psychosocial resources. This study emphasizes the importance of generalizing the findings of sources of spirituality on learning among formal students as well as different social behaviors between Torah and other enrichment learners.
Supplementation with detox juice added with probiotic improves atherogenic parameters in healthy individuals

Phytochemicals present in detox juices and probiotics have demonstrated protective effects on cardiovascular risk factors. The consumption of these products alone modulate metabolic mechanisms and biomarkers. However, the effects of the combination of detox juice and probiotics have not yet been evaluated on atherogenic parameters. A randomized controlled study was carried out with 40 healthy volunteers (20 men and 20 women), aged between 18 and 50 years old. The volunteers ingested 200mL of juice for 30 days. Before and after supplementation, the anthropometric and lipid profiles and plasma concentrations of TBARS, Myeloperoxidase, Glutathione, Protein and non-protein Thiols and Vitamin C were analyzed. A reduction in LDL-c (p=0.05), triglycerides (p=0.05) and a significant increase in HDL-c (p=0.002) was observed. There was a significant decrease in the concentrations of TBARS (p=0.01), myeloperoxidases (p=0.02) and a significant increase in the Vitamin C and GSH (p=0.01). There wasn`t improvement in anthropometric parameters and total cholesterol. The findings highlight that supplementation with probiotic detox juice improves the lipid and antioxidant profile, suggesting a possible positive effect in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease in healthy volunteers. Nevertheless, more robust researches with a prolonged treatment period should be conducted.
Gauge Two-Form in D=4, N=4 Supergeometry with SU(4) Supersymmetry

We employ a gauge two-form $B_{\underline{ab}} $ in place of the pseudoscalar B' to produce a version of on-shell D=4, N=4 superspace supergravity with SU(4) symmetry. The replacement is accomplished using the Chern-Simons forms associated with the six spin-1 fields of N=4 supergravity. Finally, a Green-Schwarz action is presented and the relation of the theory to the N=4, D=4 heterotic string is exhibited.
Growth and structure of small gold particles on rutile TiO2(110)

The growth and structure of small ${\mathrm{Au}}_{n}$ particles $(n=1\text{\char21{}}4)$ on a rutile $\mathrm{Ti}{\mathrm{O}}_{2}(110)$ surface have been examined using gradient corrected density functional theory slab calculations. We present potential energy maps for single Au atoms on the stoichiometric and reduced surfaces. This comparison shows that the presence of oxygen vacancies on $\mathrm{Ti}{\mathrm{O}}_{2}(110)$ drastically alters the adsorption and surface diffusion of single Au atoms, and in turn the growth and structure of Au particles. On the reduced surface, the delocalization of electrons from oxygen vacancies provides a low-energy diffusion channel for Au adatoms along a $\mathrm{Ti}(5c)$ row, while there is no preferential direction in Au diffusion on the stoichiometric surface. The small Au particles bind preferably to the vacancy site, with a sizable adsorption energy that oscillates with the number of constituent atoms by virtue of spin pairing. Based on the comparison of supported and gas-phase Au particles, we also discuss the effect of the particle-substrate interaction on the structure of small Au particles grown on $\mathrm{Ti}{\mathrm{O}}_{2}(110)$.
Superconductivity: A guide to alternating current susceptibility measurements and alternating current susceptometer design

Since the arrival of high temperature superconductivity in 1987, the measurement of ac susceptibility has gradually become more popular as a large number of laboratories around the world have either already acquired an ac susceptometer or are in the process of doing so. Its advantage over other techniques is that it is an inductive, noncontact measurement that screens an entire volume of the sample. Here it is explained why this seemingly simple technique is very useful and the principle of measurement is explained in full detail. It is shown how to design and construct a low‐cost susceptometer and how to interpret the data when applied to high temperature bulk superconductors.
Unbiased Estimation of Central Moments by using U‐statistics

We obtain an estimator of the rth central moment of a distribution, which is unbiased for all distributions for which the first r moments exist. We do this by finding the kernel which allows the rth central moment to be written as a regular statistical functional. The U‐statistic associated with this kernel is the unique symmetric unbiased estimator of the rth central moment, and, for each distribution, it has minimum variance among all estimators which are unbiased for all these distributions.
Associations of four biological age markers with child development: A multi-omic analysis in the European HELIX cohort

Background: While biological age in adults is often understood as representing general health and resilience, the conceptual interpretation of accelerated biological age in children and its relationship to development remains unclear. We aimed to clarify the relationship of accelerated biological age, assessed through telomere length and three omics-derived biological clocks, to child developmental outcomes, including growth and adiposity, cognition, behaviour, lung function and onset of puberty, among European school-age children participating in the HELIX exposome cohort. Methods: The study population included up to 1,173 children, aged between 5 and 12 years, from study centres in the UK, France, Spain, Norway, Lithuania, and Greece. Telomere length was measured through qPCR, blood DNA methylation and gene expression was measured using microarray, and proteins and metabolites were measured by a range of targeted assays. DNA methylation age was assessed using Horvaths skin and blood clock, while novel blood transcriptome and "immunometabolic" (based on plasma protein and urinary and serum metabolite data) clocks were derived and tested in a subset of children assessed six months after the main follow-up visit. Associations between biological age indicators with child developmental measures as well as health risk factors were estimated using linear regression, adjusted for chronological age, sex, ethnicity and study centre. The clock derived markers were expressed as {Delta} age (i.e., predicted minus chronological age). Results: Transcriptome and immunometabolic clocks predicted chronological age well in the test set (r= 0.93 and r= 0.84 respectively). Generally, weak correlations were observed, after adjustment for chronological age, between the biological age indicators. Higher birthweight was associated with greater immunometabolic {Delta} age, smoke exposure with greater DNA methylation {Delta} age and high family affluence with longer telomere length. All biological age markers were positively associated with BMI and fat mass, and all markers except telomere length were associated with height, at least at nominal significance (p<0.05). Immunometabolic {Delta} age was associated with better working memory (p = 4e -3) and reduced inattentiveness (p= 4e -4), while DNA methylation {Delta} age was associated with greater inattentiveness (p=0.03) and poorer externalizing behaviours (p= 0.01). Shorter telomere length was also associated with poorer externalizing behaviours (p=0.03). Conclusions: In children, as in adults, biological ageing appears to be a multi-faceted process and adiposity is an important correlate of accelerated biological ageing. Patterns of associations suggested that accelerated immunometabolic age may represent build-up of biological capital while accelerated DNA methylation age and telomere attrition may represent a "wear and tear" model of biological ageing in children.Funding: UK Research and Innovation (MR/S03532X/1); European Commission (grant agreement numbers: 308333; 874583).
Improving the Prediction of Death from Cardiovascular Causes with Multiple Risk Markers

Background: Traditional risk factors including demographics, blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes status are successfully able to predict a proportion of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. Whether including additional routinely measured factors improves CVD prediction is unclear. Objectives: To determine whether a comprehensive risk factor list, including clinical blood measures, blood counts, anthropometric measures, and lifestyle factors, improves prediction of CVD deaths beyond traditional factors. Methods: The analysis comprised of 21,982 participants aged 40 years and older (mean age=59.4 years at baseline) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2001 to 2016 survey cycles. Data were linked with the National Death Index mortality data through 2019 and split into 80:20 training and testing sets. Relative to the traditional risk factors (age, sex, race/ethnicity, smoking status, systolic blood pressure, total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, antihypertensive medications, and diabetes), we compared models with an additional 22 clinical blood biomarkers, 20 complete blood counts, 7 anthropometric measures, 51 dietary factors, 13 cardiovascular health-related questions, and all 113 predictors together. To build prediction models for CVD mortality, we performed Cox proportional hazards regression, elastic-net (ENET) penalized Cox regression, and random survival forest, and compared classification using C-index and net reclassification improvement. Results: During follow-up (median, 9.3 years), 3,075 participants died; 30.9% (1,372/3,075) deaths were from cardiovascular causes. In Cox proportional hazards models with traditional risk factors (C-index=0.850), CVD mortality classification improved with incorporation of clinical blood biomarkers (C-index=0.867), blood counts (C-index=0.861), and all predictors (C-index=0.871). Net CVD mortality reclassification improved 13.2% by adding clinical blood biomarkers and 12.2% by adding all predictors. Results for ENET-penalized Cox regression and random survival forest were similar. No improvement was observed in separate models for anthropometric measures, dietary nutrient intake, or cardiovascular health-related questions. Discussion: The addition of clinical blood biomarkers and blood counts substantially improves CVD mortality prediction, beyond traditional risk factors. These biomarkers may serve as an important clinical and public health screening tool for the prevention of CVD deaths.
Acoustic Events Detection in Dissimilarity Measurement Space

The paper considers the problem of detecting acoustic events in a robust manner. The dissimilarity measurement is used to measure the distance between acoustic samples. Then this distance is used as the replacement of the Euclidean distance to build the detection model with the SVM algorithm. All the well-known features are considered when we build model in a way of feature subset ensemble. Experiments are conducted to detect events under a variety of environmental sounds. The model demonstrates the robustness of the ensemble method with dissimilarity measurement. The detection model has shown to produce comparable performance as human listeners.
Dietary fiber and its role in performance, welfare, and health of pigs

Abstract Dietary fiber (DF) is receiving increasing attention, and its importance in pig nutrition is now acknowledged. Although DF for pigs was frowned upon for a long time because of reductions in energy intake and digestibility of other nutrients, it has become clear that feeding DF to pigs can affect their well-being and health. This review aims to summarize the state of knowledge of studies on DF in pigs, with an emphasis on the underlying mode of action, by considering research using DF in sows as well as suckling and weaned piglets, and fattening pigs. These studies indicate that DF can benefit the digestive tracts and the health of pigs, if certain conditions or restrictions are considered, such as concentration in the feed and fermentability. Besides the chemical composition and the impact on energy and nutrient digestibility, it is also necessary to evaluate the possible physical and physiologic effects on intestinal function and intestinal microbiota, to better understand the relation of DF to animal health and welfare. Future research should be designed to provide a better mechanistic understanding of the physiologic effects of DF in pigs.
Structural, compositional and optical properties of PECVD silicon nitride layers

We have investigated the correlation between the various plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) process parameters on the structural, compositional and optical properties of SiNx layers. The investigated process parameters are gas composition, radio frequency power and its frequency and deposition temperature. We also investigated SiON and ammonia-free SiNx layers. Refractive index, thickness, residual stress, structure and composition of the dielectric layers were determined using interferometry, wafer bowing, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infra-red and secondary ion mass spectrometry measurements. SiNx films can be deposited to be almost stress-free with relatively low concentration of hydrogen (10 to 19% of atomic H). SiNx layers have the potential to cover a wide range of refractive indices (1.8–2.1) with possible extension down to 1.40 through various SiON layers.
Efficacy and Safety of East Asian Herbal Medicine for Brain Metastases in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Protocol to Identify Specific Herbs

Introduction: Brain metastasis (BM) is a significant risk factor for survival and prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). While surgical resection and radiotherapy are the primary treatment modalities, the overall prognosis in NSCLC patients with BM remains poor, and all therapies lead to adverse events. East Asian herbal medicine (EAHM) has broad prospects as an adjuvant treatment, but its efficacy and safety remain controversial. We propose to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize the clinical efficacy and safety of EAHM for the treatment of NSCLC with BMs and to identify specific herbs that can improve the prognosis. Methods: The PubMed, EMBASE, CENTRAL, Web of Science, CBM, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, Evidence Reports on Kampo Treatment, ICHUSHI, and Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System databases will be searched from their inception to October 2022. Randomized controlled trials will be included. Two authors will evaluate the eligibility and quality of the included trials. The methodological quality will be assessed using the RoB 2 tool, and Stata 16 will be used for data synthesis. Publication bias will be assessed using funnel plots and Egger tests. The GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) system will evaluate the quality of the synthesized evidence. Further sensitivity analyses will be performed to determine the efficacies of specific herbs in EAHM. Discussion: Given there are currently no systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the efficacy of EAHM as a treatment for NSCLC with BMs, a compilation and analysis of the available high-quality clinical research evidence are essential. The results will help establish guidelines for the application of specific herbs as a complementary alternative therapy for BMs in NSCLC. The findings will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42022300527.
Polysomnographic predictors of incident diabetes and pre-diabetes: an analysis of the DREAM study.

STUDY OBJECTIVES We sought to evaluate sleep measures that better predict incident diabetes and pre-diabetes in a large cohort of veterans. METHODS This secondary analysis included 650 patients without baseline diabetes from a multisite observational veterans' cohort. Participants underwent OSA evaluation via laboratory-based polysomnography between 2000-2004 with follow-up through 2012. The primary outcomes were pre-diabetes and diabetes defined by fasting blood glucose, hemoglobin A1c or use of glucose-lowering medication at study initiation. Exposure variables included respiratory event frequency, arousals, and oxygen desaturation. Cox models adjusted for BMI, age, race, sex, change in BMI, and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device utilization. RESULTS The adjusted analysis revealed that time spent with oxygen saturation less than 90 (T90) (HR 1.009, CI 1.001-1.017, p=0.02), respiratory arousals (HR 1.009, CI 1.003-1.015, p=0) and total arousals (HR 1.006 CI 1.001 - 1.011 p = 0.02) were associated with an increased incidence of diabetes. Increases in mean nocturnal oxygen saturation were associated with decreased incidence of diabetes (HR 0.914 CI 0.857-0.975, P<0.01 and pre-diabetes (HR 0.914 CI 0.857-0.975, P<0.01). No significant relationships were demonstrated for AHI, measures related to central apnea, Cheyenne Stokes respiration, periodic limb movements, or Epworth Sleepiness Scale score. CONCLUSIONS There was no significant association of incident pre-diabetes or diabetes with AHI, the gold standard of sleep apnea severity. This study suggests that hypoxia may be a better predictor of glycemic outcomes than AHI in an OSA population and may provide clues to the underlying mechanism(s) that link sleep-disordered breathing and its metabolic consequences.
A Residual Structure For Trellis Coded Vector Quantization

A residual structure for fixed-rate trellis-coded vector quantization (TCRVQ) is presented. Optimality conditions for the stagewise code vectors of TCRVQ follow straightforwardly from those for conventional RVQ [l]. TCRVQ is interpreted as a kind of generalized coset code and a new fast encoding algorithm is described. We show that by exhaustively searching only one coset it is possible to identify the minimum distance code vector in every other coset at an additional cost of only one compare per code vector. Experimental results are described for the memoryless Gaussian and Laplacian sources and for a Gauss-Markov source at rates of R = 1 and 2 bitslsample, and for a variety of vector sizes. Very good results are obtained with modest vector dimensions.