Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non-insulin-based insulin resistance indices for predicting all-cause mortality and renal outcomes in patients with stage 1–4 chronic kidney disease: another paradox

Non-insulin-based insulin resistance (IR) indices serve as the indicators of metabolic syndrome (MetS) but have limited value for predicting clinical outcomes. Whether the obesity paradox affects the predictive value of these indicators in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains unknown. We investigated whether MetS and non-insulin-based IR indices can predict all-cause mortality and renal outcomes in a prospective observational study with stage 1–4 CKD Asians (N = 2,457). These IR indices were associated with MetS. A Cox regression model including body mass index (BMI) revealed an association between MetS and renal outcomes. Among the IR indices, only high triglyceride–glucose (TyG) index was associated with adverse renal outcomes: the hazard ratio of Q4 quartile of the TyG index was 1.38 (1.12–1.70). All-cause mortality was marginally associated with MetS but not high IR indices. Low TyG and TyG–BMI indices as well as low BMI and triglyceride were paradoxically associated with increased risks of clinical outcomes. The triglyceride-to-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio and metabolic score for IR indices were not associated with clinical outcomes. In conclusion, MetS and TyG index predict renal outcome and obesity paradox affects the prediction of IR indices in patients with stage 1–4 CKD.
Associations between physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness with vascular health phenotypes in older adults: a cross-sectional study

Objective: We investigated the associations between physical activity (PA) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) with vascular health phenotypes in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 82 participants (66.8 ± 5.2 years; 81% females). Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was assessed using accelerometers, and CRF was measured using the distance covered in the 6-min walk test (6MWT). The vascular health markers were as follows: i) arterial function measured as aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) estimated using an automatic blood pressure device; and ii) arterial structure measured as the common carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT). Using a combination of normal cIMT and aPWV values, four groups of vascular health phenotypes were created: normal aPWV and cIMT, abnormal aPWV only, abnormal cIMT only, and abnormal aPWV and cIMT. Multiple linear regression was used to estimate the beta coefficients (β) and their respective 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) adjusting for BMI, and medication for diabetes, lipid, and hypertension, sex, age, and blood pressure. Results: Participants with abnormal aPWV and normal cIMT (β = −53.76; 95% CI = −97.73—−9.78 m; p = 0.017), and participants with both abnormal aPWV and cIMT (β = −71.89; 95% CI = −125.46—−18.31 m; p = 0.009) covered less distance in the 6MWT, although adjusting for age, sex and blood pressure decreased the strength of the association with only groups of abnormal aPWV and cIMT covering a lower 6MWT distance compared to participants with both normal aPWV and cIMT (β = −55.68 95% CI = −111.95–0.59; p = 0.052). No associations were observed between MVPA and the vascular health phenotypes. Conslusion: In summary, poor CRF, but not MVPA, is associated with the unhealthiest vascular health phenotype (abnormal aPWV/cIMT) in older adults.
Small-signal modeling and wide-band oscillation analysis with the high proportion of renewable energy integrated through LCC-HVDC

With the high proportion of renewable energy through high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission into the grid and the application of high proportion of power electronic equipment, in the modern power system, the traditional electromagnetic conversion equipment represented by synchronous generators is gradually replaced by power electronic equipment, which in a high level has been affecting the dynamic behavior of the power system. In recent years, the wide-band oscillation problem of unknown mechanism continues to appear in power systems, which poses a major threat to the security, stability, and operation of power systems. Therefore, based on the typical oscillation event, this paper constructs a typical small-signal model of the new power system which is composed of synchronous generator, HVDC transmission equipment, and renewable energy generation equipment. The model is suitable for the analysis of wide-band oscillation problem of the new power system with renewable energy as the main body. The comparison of time-domain response with the detailed time-domain model shows that the proposed small-signal model can well reflect the dynamic behavior of the detailed time-domain model. Based on the model, the influence of access distance, access proportion, and operation and control modes of renewable energy integrated through LCC-HVDC on the wide-band oscillation characteristics of the system is analyzed, and the correctness of the analysis is verified by the detailed time-domain model.
Emerging role of gut microbiota dysbiosis in neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration

Alzheimer's disease (AD), is a chronic age-related progressive neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by neuroinflammation and extracellular aggregation of Aβ peptide. Alzheimer's affects every 1 in 14 individuals aged 65 years and above. Recent studies suggest that the intestinal microbiota plays a crucial role in modulating neuro-inflammation which in turn influences Aβ deposition. The gut and the brain interact with each other through the nervous system and chemical means via the blood-brain barrier, which is termed the Microbiota Gut Brain Axis (MGBA). It is suggested that the gut microbiota can impact the host's health, and numerous factors, such as nutrition, pharmacological interventions, lifestyle, and geographic location, can alter the gut microbiota composition. Although, the exact relationship between gut dysbiosis and AD is still elusive, several mechanisms have been proposed as drivers of gut dysbiosis and their implications in AD pathology, which include, action of bacteria that produce bacterial amyloids and lipopolysaccharides causing macrophage dysfunction leading to increased gut permeability, hyperimmune activation of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and NLRP3), impairment of gut- blood brain barrier causing deposition of Aβ in the brain, etc. The study of micro-organisms associated with dysbiosis in AD with the aid of appropriate model organisms has recognized the phyla Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes which contain organisms of the genus Escherichia, Lactobacillus, Clostridium, etc., to contribute significantly to AD pathology. Modulating the gut microbiota by various means, such as the use of prebiotics, probiotics, antibiotics or fecal matter transplantation, is thought to be a potential therapeutic intervention for the treatment of AD. This review aims to summarize our current knowledge on possible mechanisms of gut microbiota dysbiosis, the role of gut brain microbiota axis in neuroinflammation, and the application of novel targeted therapeutic approaches that modulate the gut microbiota in treatment of AD.
Elucidating the role of seed structure in the heterometallic seeded growth of copper-based nanocrystals

Seed-mediated synthesis is a versatile method to prepare multimetallic nanocrystals for diverse applications. However, many fundamental questions remain on how the structural and chemical properties of nanocrystal seeds control the reaction pathways, especially for nonaqueous synthesis at elevated temperatures. Herein, we elucidate the role of surface ligands and crystallinity of Au nanocrystal seeds on the heterometallic seeded growth of Cu-based nanocrystals. We found that weakly coordinating ligands are critical to facilitate the diffusion between Au and Cu, which enables subsequent one-dimensional growth of Cu. Replacing multiple-twinned Au seeds with single-crystalline ones switched the growth pathway to produce heterostructured nanocrystals. Our work illustrates the importance of precise control of seed characteristics for the predictive synthesis of structurally complex multimetallic nanocrystals.
High carrier frequency of pathogenic PATL2 gene mutations predicted in population: a bioinformatics-based approach

Topoisomerase II homologue 2 (PATL2) has been confirmed to be a key gene that contributes to oocyte maturation. However, the allele distribution and carrier frequency of these mutations remain uncharacterized. So a bioinformatics subcategory analysis of PATL2 mutations from outcome data and Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) databases was conducted. Altogether, the causative PATL2 mutation number detected in patients with oocyte maturation defects in the clinical studies and pathogenic PATL2 mutation sites predicted by software based on the database was approximately 53. The estimated carrier frequency of pathogenic mutation sites was at least 1.14‰ based on the gnomAD and ExAC database, which was approximately 1/877. The highest frequency of mutations detected in the independent patients was c.223-14_223-2del13. The carrier frequency of this mutation in the population was 0.25‰, which may be a potential threat to fertility. Estimated allele and carrier frequency are relatively higher than those predicted previously based on clinical ascertainment. A review of PATL2 mutation lineage identified in 34 patients showed that 53.81%, 9.22% and 14.72% of the oocytes with PATL2 mutations were arrested at the germinal vesicle (GV) stage, metaphase I (MI) stage and first polar body stage, respectively. Oocytes that could develop to the first polar body stage were extremely rare to fertilise, and their ultimate fate was early embryonic arrest. Phenotypic variability is related to the function of the regions and degree of loss of function of PATL2 protein. A 3D protein structure changes predicted by online tools, AlphaFold, showed aberrations at the mutation sites, which may explain partially the function loss. When the mutated and wild-type proteins are not in the same amino acid category, the protein structure will be considerably unstable. The integration of additional mutation sites with phenotypes is helpful in drawing a complete picture of the disease. Bioinformatics analysis of PATL2 mutations will help reveal molecular epidemiological characteristics and provide an important reference for new mutation assessment, genetic counselling and drug research.
Enhanced target characterization and improved scattering power decompositions using the optimized coherency matrix from full-polarimetric SAR data

ABSTRACT In this article, a methodology is proposed for enhanced target characterization and improvement in scattering powers from model-based decomposition using full Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR) data. The novelty of this approach is established by utilizing the degree of polarization (DOP) from full PolSAR data. The optimum degree of polarization (DOPopt) is obtained by maximizing the DOP estimated from each of the four Mueller matrices corresponding to the original 3 × 3 coherency matrix and the three unitary transformed (one real and two complex) coherency matrices, respectively. The optimized coherency matrix which corresponds to the is then used for the enhanced target detection using a polarimetric similarity measure. It is observed that the optimized coherency matrix corresponding to a target is much closer to an elementary target (i.e., either dihedral, trihedral or helix) with a canonical scattering mechanism than the original coherency matrix. Furthermore, it can be seen that the scattering powers obtained from the Freeman–Durden-model-based polarimetric decomposition technique using this optimized coherency matrix shows good improvement than using the original coherency matrix. The double-bounce power over the urban areas has increased for the L-band Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR) San Francisco data and for the L-band Advanced Land Observing Satellite 2 (ALOS2) Kyoto, Japan data compared to the original PolSAR data. Negative powers have also decreased by the use of this novel technique.
Quantification of cell migration: metrics selection to model application

Cell migration plays an essential role in physiological and pathological states, such as immune response, tissue generation and tumor development. This phenomenon can occur spontaneously or it can be triggered by an external stimuli, including biochemical, mechanical, or electrical cues that induce or direct cells to migrate. The migratory response to these cues is foundational to several fields including neuroscience, cancer and regenerative medicine. Various platforms are available to qualitatively and quantitatively measure cell migration, making the measurements of cell motility straight-forward. Migratory behavior must be analyzed by multiple metrics and then models to connect the measurements to physiological meaning. This review will focus on describing and quantifying cell movement for individual cell migration.
The influence of age on the match-to-match variability of physical performance in women’s elite football

Introduction: The fluctuation of external match load throughout a season is influenced by several contextual factors. While some, have been deeply analysed in men’s football literature, information is lacking on how other contextual elements, such as player’s age or experience, may affect the match-to-match variability of locomotor activities. In fact, aging has been described as a multifactorial process with the potential to affect human performance. The aim of this study is to assess if the variability of match locomotor performances fluctuates according to the players’ age. Methods: 59 female players from four top-level clubs were divided into three age groups and monitored during two seasons using GPS APEX (STATSports, Northern Ireland), with a sampling frequency of 10Hz, in 150 official matches to determine the coefficient of variation (CV) of full-match and 1-min peak locomotor demands of total distance (TD), high-speed running distance, sprint distance (SpD), accelerations, and decelerations. To test whether there was a group effect of age on match-to-match variability we used a one-way ANOVA with CV% as the independent variable. Results: CV values of full match variables ranged from 3.8% to 27.8%, with total distance (3.8%) in the peak age group and SpD (27.8%) in the pre-peak age group. Similarly, CV values of 1-min peaks ranged from 4.1% (post-peak group) in TD to 22.3% (peak group) in SpD. Discussion: The main finding was that there were no significant differences between the different age groups in the metrics analysed although trends indicate less variability in the post-peak age group.
Advances in cellular and molecular predatory biology of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus six decades after discovery

Since its discovery six decades ago, the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus has sparked recent interest as a potential remedy to the antibiotic resistance crisis. Here we give a comprehensive historical overview from discovery to progressive developments in microscopy and molecular mechanisms. Research on B. bacteriovorus has moved from curiosity to a new model organism, revealing over time more details on its physiology and fascinating predatory life cycle with the help of a variety of methods. Based on recent findings in cryo-electron tomography, we recapitulate on the intricate molecular details known in the predatory life cycle including how this predator searches for its prey bacterium, to how it attaches, grows, and divides all from within the prey cell. Finally, the newly developed B. bacteriovorus progeny leave the prey cell remnants in the exit phase. While we end with some unanswered questions remaining in the field, new imaging technologies and quantitative, systematic advances will likely help to unravel them in the next decades.
Adenoviral-vectored epigraph vaccine elicits robust, durable, and protective immunity against H3 influenza A virus in swine

Current methods of vaccination against swine Influenza A Virus (IAV-S) in pigs are infrequently updated, induce strain-specific responses, and have a limited duration of protection. Here, we characterize the onset and duration of adaptive immune responses after vaccination with an adenoviral-vectored Epigraph vaccine. In this longitudinal study we observed robust and durable antibody responses that remained above protective titers six months after vaccination. We further identified stable levels of antigen-specific T cell responses that remained detectable in the absence of antigen stimulation. Antibody isotyping revealed robust class switching from IgM to IgG induced by Epigraph vaccination, while the commercial comparator vaccine failed to induce strong antibody class switching. Swine were challenged six months after initial vaccination, and Epigraph-vaccinated animals demonstrated significant protection from microscopic lesion development in the trachea and lungs, reduced duration of viral shedding, lower presence of infectious virus and viral antigens in the lungs, and significant recall of antigen-specific T cell responses following challenge. The results obtained from this study are useful in determining the kinetics of adaptive immune responses after vaccination with adjuvanted whole inactivated virus vaccines compared to adenoviral vectored vaccines and contribute to the continued efforts of creating a universal IAV-S vaccine.
Analysing Neuronal Network Architectures

The connections cortical neurons forms are different in each individual human or animal. Although there are known and determined large scale connections between areas of the brain that are common across individuals, the local connectivity on smaller scales varies between individuals. Connections between neurons in a single cortical column are seemingly random and were thus modeled in theoretical studies using the principle of sparse random networks. In this thesis I investigate how the simplifications of sparse random networks affect the behaviour and plausibility of the network. First, I focus on the global weight distribution in random sparse networks and test the impact of various weight distributions on network excitability. Randomsparse networks also commonly assume an independent distribution of connections in the network. Experimental results indicate that this assumption is not true in biological neuronal networks. In the second part of this thesis it is shown how changes in degree distributions of the network can be employed to improve the similarity of random networks to biological observations. A third aspect studied in this work is the impact of connection strengths on a local level. Network responses to larger stimuli in in vitro experiments are not reproducible by classical sparse randomnetworks. It is shown how changes in the distributions of local connection strengths can be used to improve the network response behaviour with respect to these experimental findings. Finally, these network adjustments are combined and the adjusted networks are tested on further data of in vivo recordings. The adjusted networks show a biologically more plausible behaviour than the random sparse network topologies in all tested scenarios.
The Null Distribution of the Empirical AUC for Classi ers with Estimated Parameters: a Special Case

We study the distribution of the area under an empirical receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve constructed from a first stage regression model with parameters estimated on the same data set. We provide a general, but somewhat intrinsic, characterization of the limit distribution of this area, denoted AUC, when the regressors are Bernoulli random variables jointly independent of the outcome. Using the general theory, we further analyze the limit distribution in the two regressor case. It is non-normal and right-skewed. Though the theory applies, explicit expressions for the limit distribution are cumbersome to write down for a larger number of regressors. We provide a trivariate example as further illustration.
Caractérisation duale du bon comportement de fonctions convexes

On determine les conditions sur la conjuguee f * d'une fonction f convexe s.c. i. propre, qui caracterisent le bon comportement de f (notion introduite par Auslender et Crouzeix). La conicite locale de dom f * a l'origine, correspondant au bon comportement de la fonction de recession de f, est ici essentielle
Optical Distortion by Heated Windows in High-Power Laser Systems,

In a typical long‐focal‐length laser system, the distortion of the laser beam by the heated exit window can significantly reduce the intensity at the target at power levels well below those required to melt or fracture the window. The spatially inhomogeneous incident laser intensity causes a temperature gradient which changes the thickness and the index of refraction n of the window, causing it to become a lens having, in general, aberration and birefringence in addition to a finite focal length. Expressions are derived for the thermally induced optical distortion in terms of measurable parameters such as n, dn/dT, the strain‐optical coefficients p11 and p12, and the thermal‐expansion coefficient α. Since the values of all these parameters are not known for most materials of interest, alternate expressions are derived for use in obtaining rough estimates of the amount of distortion. The temperature differential ΔTcrit across the radius of the window which causes a factor of 1/q reduction in target intensity is derived and tabulated (for the case of q=2). Figures of merit for rating materials are derived and tabulated for various materials. The distortion is smaller in general for ionic crystals than for covalent crystals. The briefringence is expected to be larger for the ionic materials than for the covalent ones. In typical systems, rather large increases, say an order of magnitude, in the value of ΔTcrit can be obtained by changing the focal length of the optical system. Other methods of reducing the optical distortion are discussed briefly. Since the optical distortion is expected to be the factor which determines the limit of the target intensity in long‐focal‐length systems, a large heat capacity and small values of α, dn/dT, p11, p12, and n are important, while the melting point, tensile strength, and Young's modulus are less important, within obvious limits. Experiments are suggested for studying the thermally induced optical distortion.