Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Summary Measures of Health Inequality: A Review of Existing Measures and Their Application

Measuring and monitoring health inequalities is key to achieving health equity. While disaggregated data are commonly used to assess differences in health between different population subgroups, summary measures of health inequality also play a vital role in monitoring health inequalities. Building on disaggregated data, they quantify the level of inequality in a single number and are useful to compare inequality over time and across different health indicators, programmes and settings. We provide a comprehensive overview of existing summary measures of health inequality, including their definition, calculation, interpretation and application. The use of these measures is illustrated based on an example from the WHO’s Health Equity Monitor database using the WHO’s Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT) software. We discuss the strengths and limitations of different measures and provide guidance for selecting suitable summary measures for analysing health inequalities and communicating results. Summary measures of health inequality should form an integral part of health inequality monitoring to inform equity-oriented policies and programmes.
On-Chip Optical Beam Manipulation with an Electrically Tunable Lithium-Niobate-on-Insulator Metasurface

Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) have garnered increasing attention because of their high efficiency in information processing. Recently, lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) has become a new platform for PICs with excellent properties. Several tunable devices such as on-chip tunable devices that utilize the electric-optic effect of LN have been reported. However, an on-chip electrically tunable beam modulator that can focus or deflect the wave has not yet been developed. In this study, we designed an electrically tunable LNOI metasurface for on-chip optical beam manipulation. With a carefully designed local phase profile, we realized the tunable focusing and reflection functions on the chip. As the bias voltage varies, the focusing length can be shifted up to 19.9 μm (~13λ), whereas the focusing efficiency remains greater than 72%. A continuously tunable deflection can also be achieved efficiently within a range of 0–45°. The beam modulator enhances the ability to manipulate light on LNOI chips, which is expected to promote the development of integrated on-chip photonics.
Eukaryotic ribosome quality control system: a potential therapeutic target for human diseases

Protein homeostasis is well accepted as the prerequisite for proper operation of various life activities. As the main apparatus of protein translation, ribosomes play an indispensable role in the maintenance of protein homeostasis. Nevertheless, upon stimulation of various internal and external factors, malfunction of ribosomes may be evident with the excessive production of aberrant proteins, accumulation of which can result in deleterious effects on cellular fate and even cell death. Ribosomopathies are characterized as a series of diseases caused by abnormalities of ribosomal compositions and functions. Correspondingly, cell evolves several ribosome quality control mechanisms in maintaining the quantity and quality of intracellular ribosomes, namely ribosome quality control system (RQCS). Of note, RQCS can tightly monitor the entire process from ribosome biogenesis to its degradation, with the capacity of coping with ribosomal dysfunction, including misassembled ribosomes and incorrectly synthesized ribosomal proteins. In the current literature review, we mainly introduce the RQCS and elaborate on the underlying pathogenesis of several ribosomopathies. With the in-depth understanding of ribosomal dysfunction and molecular basis of RQCS, therapeutic strategy by specifically targeting RQCS remains a promising option in treating patients with ribosomopathies and other ribosome-associated human diseases.
Comparison of Flavonoid O-Glycoside, C-Glycoside and Their Aglycones on Antioxidant Capacity and Metabolism during In Vitro Digestion and In Vivo

Flavonoids are well known for their extensive health benefits. However, few studies compared the differences between flavonoid O-glycoside and C-glycoside. In this work, flavonoid O-glycoside (isoquercitrin), C-glycoside (orientin), and their aglycones (quercetin and luteolin) were chosen to compare their differences on antioxidant activities and metabolism during in vitro digestion and in vivo. In vitro digestion, the initial antioxidant activity of the two aglycones was very high; however, they both decreased more sharply than their glycosides in the intestinal phase. The glycosidic bond of flavonoid O-glycoside was broken in the gastric and intestinal stage, while the C-glycoside remained unchanged. In vivo, flavonoid O-glycoside in plasma was more elevated than C-glycoside on the antioxidant activity; however, flavonoid C-glycoside in urine was higher than O-glycoside. These results indicate that differences of flavonoid glycosides and their aglycones on antioxidant activity are closely related to their structural characteristics and metabolism in different samples. Aglycones possessed higher activity but unstable structures. On the contrary, the sugar substituents reduced the activity of flavonoids while improving their stability and helping to maintain antioxidant activities after digestion. Especially the C-glycoside was more stable because the stability of the C–C bond is higher than that of the C–O bond, which contributes to the difference between flavonoid O-glycoside and C-glycoside on the absorption and metabolism in vivo. This study provided a new perspective for comparing flavonoid O-glycoside, flavonoid C-glycoside, and their aglycones on their structure–activity relationship and metabolism.
Association of MDR1 C1236T Polymorphisms and B Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Background: Multidrug resistance gene 1 (MDR-1) encodes for P-glycoprotein (P-gp) recognized for removing cytostatic drugs from tumor cells. MDR1 gene polymorphisms change function of P-gp. In this study, we are interested in investigating whether MDR1 C1236T single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) affect the susceptibility and treatment-related toxicities in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL) in the population of eastern China. Materials and methods: A group of 107 B-NHL patients and 150 healthy donors, unrelated ethnic Han Chinese and residents of eastern China, were included in this study. The MDR1 C1236T polymorphisms were determined using polymerase chain reaction-allele specific primers after extraction of genomic DNA. Analyses were performed using SPSS and Arlequin software. Results: MDR1 C1236T polymorphisms were not significantly related to the risk and treatment-related toxicities of B-NHL. A significant association between extranodal sites and C1236T allele was observed (C vs T: P=0.01). Conclusion: Our findings could expand our understanding of MDR1 in B-NHL and provide references for further research in multidrug resistance.
Antipsychotic Polypharmacy-Related Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality: A Comprehensive Review

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder that exists at the more extreme end of a spectrum of diseases, and significantly affects daily functioning. Cardiovascular adverse effects of antipsychotic medications are well known, and include changes in blood pressure and arrhythmias. Sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of death worldwide, and antipsychotic medications are associated with numerous cardiac side effects. A possible link exists between antipsychotic medications and sudden cardiac death. Common prescribing patterns that may influence cardiovascular events include the use of multiple antipsychotics and/or additional drugs commonly prescribed to patients on antipsychotics. The results of this review reflect an association between antipsychotic drugs and increased risk of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death by iatrogenic prolongation of the QTc interval. QTc prolongation and sudden cardiac death exist in patients taking antipsychotic monotherapy. The risk increases for the concomitant use of specific drugs that prolong the QTc interval, such as opioids, antibiotics, and illicit drugs. However, evidence suggests that QTc intervals may not adequately predict sudden cardiac death. In considering the findings of this narrative review, we conclude that it is unclear whether there is a precise association between antipsychotic polypharmacy and sudden cardiac death with QTc interval changes. The present narrative review warrants further research on this important potential association.
Body Composition Interactions with Physical Fitness: A Cross-Sectional Study in Youth Soccer Players

This study aimed to: (i) analyze fat mass and physical fitness variations among age-groups and playing positions, and (ii) explore the relationship between fat mass and physical fitness in youth male soccer players. A total of 66 players from under-16, under-17, and under-19 were tested. Body mass, skinfolds, countermovement jump (CMJ), single-leg triple hop jump (SLTH), bilateral triple hop jump (BTH), and yo-yo intermittent recovery Level 2 (YYIR-2) were assessed. A two- and one-way ANOVA were conducted, and the effect size was measured. Interactions were found in skin folds and fat mass. The under-19 group was taller, heavier, with a greater BMI and muscle mass than the under-16 group. They also exceeded the under-16 and under-17 in SLTH, BTH, and YYIRT-2. The under-17 group jumped higher and longer than under-16 group. Goalkeepers were taller and heavier than the midfielders. Central defenders were taller and had more muscle mass than midfielders and were heavier than the midfielders and wingers. The wingers jumped higher than the midfielders and showed better YYIRT-2. BMI was small correlated with YYIRT-2 and moderately with CMJ. Fat mass had a moderate negative correlation with CMJ and YYIRT-2. Muscle mass largely correlated with CMJ, UTH, very large with BTH and moderate with YYIRT-2. Summarily, with increasing age, better performances and body compositions were registered. Muscle mass better influences performance than body fat. Body composition can distinguish players positions.
Vitamin D Deficiency, Excessive Gestational Weight Gain, and Oxidative Stress Predict Small for Gestational Age Newborns Using an Artificial Neural Network Model

(1) Background: Size at birth is an important early determinant of health later in life. The prevalence of small for gestational age (SGA) newborns is high worldwide and may be associated with maternal nutritional and metabolic factors. Thus, estimation of fetal growth is warranted. (2) Methods: In this work, we developed an artificial neural network (ANN) model based on first-trimester maternal body fat composition, biochemical and oxidative stress biomarkers, and gestational weight gain (GWG) to predict an SGA newborn in pregnancies with or without obesity. A sensibility analysis to classify maternal features was conducted, and a simulator based on the ANN algorithm was constructed to predict the SGA outcome. Several predictions were performed by varying the most critical maternal features attained by the model to obtain different scenarios leading to SGA. (3) Results: The ANN model showed good performance between the actual and simulated data (R2 = 0.938) and an AUROC of 0.8 on an independent dataset. The top-five maternal predictors in the first trimester were protein and lipid oxidation biomarkers (carbonylated proteins and malondialdehyde), GWG, vitamin D, and total antioxidant capacity. Finally, excessive GWG and redox imbalance predicted SGA newborns in the implemented simulator. Significantly, vitamin D deficiency also predicted simulated SGA independently of GWG or redox status. (4) Conclusions: The study provided a computational model for the early prediction of SGA, in addition to a promising simulator that facilitates hypothesis-driven constructions, to be further validated as an application.
Groundwater Variability Across India, Under Contrasting Human and Natural Conditions

Characterizing local to regional scale water cycles and water resources will be crucial for achieving the United Nations' water‐related Sustainable Developmental Goals. However, quantification and understanding of groundwater extraction across scales have been hampered by inadequate water usage reporting and limited information on irrigation practices. Here we analyze observations from ∼15,000 groundwater monitoring wells and the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites together with irrigation, agricultural, and meteorological datasets to show how drought‐induced coupling between natural and anthropogenic groundwater storage variations has caused sustainability challenges in India, the world's biggest consumer of groundwater for irrigation. Notably, the mechanisms and consequences of such coupling differ significantly depending on aquifer types. In Andhra Pradesh's hard rock aquifer, groundwater declines have been limited, despite the nearly constant water scarcity that its farmers face. Moreover, its free farm power policy involves an annual irrigation energy consumption of 26 billion kWh that costs US$ 2.5 billion, possibly unparalleled compared to any other part of the world of similar size (0.27 million km2). In West Bengal's highly permeable alluvial aquifer, the water table is declining rapidly (15 cm/yr) due to a policy that encourages irrigation. Situated between these two states, Odisha's aquifer shows substantial resilience to drought, owing to the state's relatively natural landscape and forest restoration policy. The findings of this study provide new insights to understand the divergent aspects of groundwater irrigation in north versus south India, which can enable development of adaptation and mitigation strategies to avert the looming water crisis.
Harvesting Systems for RF Energy: Trends, Challenges, Techniques, and Tradeoffs

: The RFEH design challenges can be broadly classiﬁed into overall radio frequency direct current (RF-to-DC) power conversion efﬁciency (PCE), form factor, operational bandwidth (BW), and compactness. A detailed overview of the essential components of an RFEH system is presented in this paper. Various design approaches have been proposed for the realization of compact RFEH circuits that contribute immensely to mm-wave rectenna design. Effective mechanisms for conﬁguring the rectenna modules based on the recommended spectrums for the RFEH system were also outlined. This study featured a conceptual viewpoint on design tradeoffs, which were accompanied by profound EH solutions perspectives for wireless power communications. The work covers some challenges attributed to 5G EH in mm-wave rectenna: from a controlled source of communication signals to distributed ambient EH and system level design. Conversely, the primary targets of this work are to: (I) examine a wide range of ambient RF sources and their performance with various antennae and RF-rectiﬁer layouts; (II) propose unique rectenna design techniques suitable for current trends in wireless technology; (III) explore numerous approaches for enhancing the rectenna or RF-rectiﬁer efﬁciency in a low-power ambient environment; and (IV) present the ﬁndings of a comprehensive review of the exemplary research that has been investigated. These are aimed toward addressing the autonomous system’s energy challenges. Therefore, with the careful management of the reported designs, the rectenna systems described in this study would inﬂuence the upcoming advancement of the low-power RFEH module.
Fuerza, velocidad de marcha y tiempo de reacción en adultos mayores activos

El envejecimiento implica pérdida de funcionalidad, existiendo una asociación entre mayores niveles de fuerza, de velocidad de marcha y de tiempo de reacción con un buen estado de salud. El objetivo es analizar el nivel de capacidades físicas y perceptivas de los participantes en un programa de actividad física. Participaron 170 adultos mayores (93 mujeres), de 65±6,8 años. La fuerza se midió con el press de banca, test de la silla y la prensión manual. La velocidad de la marcha en 8 y 30 m se midió con células fotoeléctricas y el tiempo de reacción con sistema optogait. Los resultados muestran un buen nivel de condición física, siendo los más mayores más lentos y con peor reacción a un estímulo. La fuerza disminuye al avanzar la edad, pero puede mantenerse en óptimos niveles con la práctica regular de actividad física.
Haiti and the Pitfalls of Sharing Police Powers

ABSTRACT This article examines the benefits and pitfalls of international policing in Haiti over the past quarter century. It shows the importance of the political foundations for joint policing arrangements. Haiti's experience illustrates that international personnel can provide useful stopgap policing services when the interests of national and international partners converge around public order crises. However, the Haitian case also shows how weak political commitment on one or both sides can lead to vague mandates, poor cooperation in the field, weak police accountability, and stalled domestic reforms. These problems have undermined the performance of international personnel and the Haitian National Police, eroding public trust in both. Ultimately, international intervention has failed to yield a capable, trusted, and apolitical Haitian police force or a notably stronger rule of law. Haiti thus offers a cautionary tale for international policing.
Complex Metal Borohydrides: From Laboratory Oddities to Prime Candidates in Energy Storage Applications

Despite being the lightest element in the periodic table, hydrogen poses many risks regarding its production, storage, and transport, but it is also the one element promising pollution-free energy for the planet, energy reliability, and sustainability. Development of such novel materials conveying a hydrogen source face stringent scrutiny from both a scientific and a safety point of view: they are required to have a high hydrogen wt. % storage capacity, must store hydrogen in a safe manner (i.e., by chemically binding it), and should exhibit controlled, and preferably rapid, absorption–desorption kinetics. Even the most advanced composites today face the difficult task of overcoming the harsh re-hydrogenation conditions (elevated temperature, high hydrogen pressure). Traditionally, the most utilized materials have been RMH (reactive metal hydrides) and complex metal borohydrides M(BH4)x (M: main group or transition metal; x: valence of M), often along with metal amides or various additives serving as catalysts (Pd2+, Ti4+ etc.). Through destabilization (kinetic or thermodynamic), M(BH4)x can effectively lower their dehydrogenation enthalpy, providing for a faster reaction occurring at a lower temperature onset. The present review summarizes the recent scientific results on various metal borohydrides, aiming to present the current state-of-the-art on such hydrogen storage materials, while trying to analyze the pros and cons of each material regarding its thermodynamic and kinetic behavior in hydrogenation studies.
Hepatocyte Proteome Alterations Induced by Individual and Combinations of Common Free Fatty Acids

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is a pathology with a hard-to-detect onset and is estimated to be present in a quarter of the adult human population. To improve our understanding of the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, we treated a human hepatoma cell line model, HepG2, with increasing concentrations of common fatty acids, namely myristic, palmitic and oleic acid. To reproduce more physiologically representative conditions, we also included combinations of these fatty acids and monitored the cellular response with an in-depth proteomics approach and imaging techniques. The two saturated fatty acids initially presented a similar phenotype of a dose-dependent decrease in growth rates and impaired lipid droplet formation. Detailed analysis revealed that the drop in the growth rates was due to delayed cell-cycle progression following myristic acid treatment, whereas palmitic acid led to cellular apoptosis. In contrast, oleic acid, as well as saturated fatty acid mixtures with oleic acid, led to a dose-dependent increase in lipid droplet volume without adverse impacts on cell growth. Comparing the effects of harmful single-fatty-acid treatments and the well-tolerated fatty acid mixes on the cellular proteome, we were able to differentiate between fatty-acid-specific cellular responses and likely common lipotoxic denominators.
A Brief Overview of Adaptive Designs for Phase I Cancer Trials

Simple Summary Phase I cancer trials are important for new drug developments to test the safety and optimal dosage of cancer drugs which are usually toxic. Understanding biostatistical methodologies of these designs is important for developing phase I studies that are both safe for the participants and which use optimal dosages for better outcomes. Currently there are several phase I designs that are being refined and modified for better outcomes and newer designs are being continuously developed. In this review article, we described several important phase I study designs to provide a brief overview of existing methods. Our review could be helpful to the research community who intent to have a better and yet a concise summary of existing methods. Abstract Phase I studies are used to estimate the dose-toxicity profile of the drugs and to select appropriate doses for successive studies. However, literature on statistical methods used for phase I studies are extensive. The objective of this review is to provide a concise summary of existing and emerging techniques for selecting dosages that are appropriate for phase I cancer trials. Many advanced statistical studies have proposed novel and robust methods for adaptive designs that have shown significant advantages over conventional dose finding methods. An increasing number of phase I cancer trials use adaptive designs, particularly during the early phases of the study. In this review, we described nonparametric and algorithm-based designs such as traditional 3 + 3, accelerated titration, Bayesian algorithm-based design, up-and-down design, and isotonic design. In addition, we also described parametric model-based designs such as continual reassessment method, escalation with overdose control, and Bayesian decision theoretic and optimal design. Ongoing studies have been continuously focusing on improving and refining the existing models as well as developing newer methods. This study would help readers to assimilate core concepts and compare different phase I statistical methods under one banner. Nevertheless, other evolving methods require future reviews.
Exploiting Plasmonic Phenomena in Polymer Optical Fibers to Realize a Force Sensor

In this work, a novel sensing approach to realize a force optical fiber sensor is designed, developed, and experimentally tested. The proposed sensing methodology exploits the effects of deformation due to an applied force on a patch of plastic optical fiber (POF) connected at the input of a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor realized in a D-shaped POF. Therefore, the proposed force sensor system consists of an SPR D-shaped POF sensor, connected to a spectrometer, within input of a POF patch, connected to a light source used for interacting with the applied force. When the applied force on the patch changes, the mode profile of the light in the multimode POF patch and the SPR-POF sensor change too, so the SPR spectra shift. The obtained experimental results demonstrate that the proposed sensor has a resolution of the force sensor equal to about 22 mN and an excellent linear response in the range from 0 N to 0.5 N.