Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Navigating between Scylla and Charybdis: challenges and strategies for implementing guideline‐directed medical therapy in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction

Guideline‐directed medical therapy (GDMT) has the potential to reduce the risks of mortality and hospitalisation in patients with heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). However, real‐world data indicate that many patients with HFrEF do not receive optimised GDMT, which involves several different medications, many of which require up‐titration to target doses. There are many challenges to implementing GDMT, the most important being patient‐related factors (comorbidities, advanced age, frailty, cognitive impairment, poor adherence, low socioeconomic status), treatment‐related factors (intolerance, side‐effects) and healthcare‐related factors that influence availability and accessibility of HF care. Accordingly, international disparities in resources for HF management and limited public reimbursement of GDMT, coupled with clinical inertia for treatment intensification combine to hinder efforts to provide GDMT. In this review paper, authors aim to provide solutions based on available evidence, practical experience, and expert consensus on how to utilise evolving strategies, novel medications, and patient profiling to allow the more comprehensive uptake of GDMT. Authors discuss professional education, motivation, and training, as well as patient empowerment for self‐care as important tools to overcome clinical inertia and boost GDMT implementation. We provide evidence on how multidisciplinary care and institutional accreditation can be successfully used to increase prescription rates and adherence to GDMT. We consider the role of modern technologies in advancing professional and patient education and facilitating patient–provider communication. Finally, authors emphasise the role of novel drugs (especially sodium–glucose co‐transporter 2 inhibitors), and a tailored approach to drug management as evolving strategies for the more successful implementation of GDMT.
Programmable droplet manipulation and wetting with soft magnetic carpets

Significance A set of magnetically responsive, soft hairs, which form a soft magnetic carpet, can be infused with a liquid to achieve switchable wetting. Applying a pattern of magnetic field results in a reconfigurable wetting pattern on the soft magnetic carpet. Combining this switchable wetting with a travelling magnetic field wave can allow us to spatially manipulate droplets. The efficiency of the droplet manipulation depends on the size and the contact angle of the droplet, which allows a pathway to sort and separate different droplets. Temporal and spatial control over multiple droplets allows us to conduct droplet reactions, which has a potential to be used for automated analytical testing and screening. The ability to regulate interfacial and wetting properties is highly demanded in anti-icing, anti-biofouling, and medical and energy applications. Recent work on liquid-infused systems achieved switching wetting properties, which allow us to turn between slip and pin states. However, patterning the wetting of surfaces in a dynamic fashion still remains a challenge. In this work, we use programmable wetting to activate and propel droplets over large distances. We achieve this with liquid-infused soft magnetic carpets (SMCs) that consist of pillars that are responsive to external magnetic stimuli. Liquid-infused SMCs, which are sticky for a water droplet, become slippery upon application of a magnetic field. Application of a patterned magnetic field results in a patterned wetting on the SMC. A traveling magnetic field wave translates the patterned wetting on the substrate, which allows droplet manipulation. The droplet speed increases with an increased contact angle and with the droplet size, which offers a potential method to sort and separate droplets with respect to their contact angle or size. Furthermore, programmable control of the droplet allows us to conduct reactions by combining droplets loaded with reagents. Such an ability of conducting small-scale reactions on SMCs has the potential to be used for automated analytical testing, diagnostics, and screening, with a potential to reduce the chemical waste.
Three regions of the NIP5;1 promoter are required for expression in different cell types in Arabidopsis thaliana root

ABSTRACT Arabidopsis thaliana NIP5;1, a boric acid diffusion facilitator, is involved in the acquisition of boron (B) from soil for growth under B limitation. AtNIP5;1 is expressed mainly in roots, where its expression is highest in the root cap and elongation zone. Here, we studied the role of the AtNIP5;1 promoter in the expression of this gene in roots. We fused a series of AtNIP5;1 promoter variants with deleted 5′-fragments to the GUS reporter gene and investigated the expression patterns by histochemical staining. We found that three regions of the AtNIP5;1 promoter are required for specific expression in the root cap and elongation zone (−880 to −863 bp from the translation start site), distal side of the differentiation zone (−747 to −722 bp), and basal side of the differentiation zone (−661 and −621 bp). The results suggest that at least three regions of the AtNIP5;1 promoter each confer different cell-type-specific expression.
Adaptive subspace detector for multi-input multi-output radar in the presence of steering vector mismatch

This study studies the problem of adaptive target detection by multi-input multi-output (MIMO) radar with multiple antennas at each of the receiver sites. MIMO radar has been postulated to have a number of advantages over its monostatic counterpart. However, many previous publications have not necessarily made valid assumptions in assessing performance potential. Here, the authors consider the issue of the overall MIMO radar system steering vector which should be aligned with the desired pointing direction. However, misalignment can occur because of calibration errors, receiver channel imperfections and beam pointing errors. To account for this misalignment, the steering vector is assumed to belong to a known linear subspace. At the design stage, the authors resort to a generalised likelihood ratio principle and Rao test criterion. Subsequently, MIMO versions of the subspace generalised likelihood ratio test (MIMO-SGLRT), the subspace adaptive beam-former orthogonal rejection test (MIMO-SABORT) and the subspace Rao (MIMO-SRao) detector are developed to improve the robustness of MIMO radar detection performance for the case of steering vector mismatch. The constant false alarm rate properties of the three detectors are demonstrated. Finally, the performance of the MIMO-SGLRT, MIMO-SABORT and MIMO-SRao detectors in both the matched and mismatched steering vector cases are numerically evaluated. The results show the robustness of the proposed detectors to steering vector mismatch.
Genomic Analysis Reveals Potential Mechanisms Underlying Promotion of Tomato Plant Growth and Antagonism of Soilborne Pathogens by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Ba13

Microbial agents are considered the optimal alternative for chemical agents. Exploring the mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of microbial agents is essential for rational applications in the field. ABSTRACT Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Ba13 is a plant beneficial bacterium isolated from loessial soil with notable biological activity. This study clarified potential mechanisms underlying the plant growth-promoting and antipathogenic effects of strain Ba13. A pot experiment was used to verify the plant growth-promoting effects of strain Ba13 on tomato, and the antipathogenic activity was tested in petri dishes. The underlying mechanisms were explored based on whole-genome sequencing of strain Ba13 and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) detection of plant hormones and biosynthetic intermediates. The results showed that exposure to strain Ba13 promoted tomato plant growth significantly. Compared with control treatment, bacterial treatment increased plant height and fresh weight by 10.98% and 20.15%, respectively, at 28 days after inoculation. Strain Ba13 exhibited antagonistic activity against all eight plant pathogens tested. The 3,861,210-bp genome of strain Ba13 was predicted to encode antibiotics (e.g., surfactin, bacillaene, bacillomycin D, bacilysin, and bacillibactin) and volatile gaseous compounds (e.g., 2,3-butanediol and acetoin). Genes were also predicted to encode extracellular phytase and β-glucanase that are secreted through the secretory (Sec) system. Strain Ba13 could synthesize indole-3-acetic acid through the indole-3-pyruvic acid pathway. The results of this study indicate that B. amyloliquefaciens Ba13 has multiple effects on tomato plants and associated microorganisms, directly or indirectly promoting plant growth and controlling plant diseases. IMPORTANCE Microbial agents are considered the optimal alternative for chemical agents. Exploring the mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of microbial agents is essential for rational applications in the field. In this study, we report a functional bacterial strain, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Ba13, which exhibited plant growth-promoting and antipathogenic effects. The whole genome of strain Ba13 was sequenced, and functional genes of interest were predicted. Strain Ba13 could synthesize indole-3-acetic acid through the indole-3-pyruvic acid pathway.
Essential oils from the leaves and flowers of Leucophyllum frutescens (Scrophulariaceae): phytochemical analysis and inhibitory effects against elastase and collagenase in vitro

Abstract Leucophyllum frutescens (Scrophulariaceae) is a medicinal plant of Mexican traditional medicine. The aim of this study was to analyse the volatile components from the leaves and flowers by GC/MS and to assess their anti-aging activity for the first time. A total of 30 compounds were identified where 1-octen-3-ol (73.56%) and D-limonene (11.12%) represented the major ingredients in the leaves, while n-heneicosane (32.30%) and dehydroepingaione (15.15%) were the major components in the flowers. In vitro anti-aging activity was measured via assessing collagenase and elastase inhibition. Essential oils from the leaves and flowers showed potential collagenase inhibitory activity with IC50 of 55.7 and 47.4 µg/mL. However, the oils from the leaves and flowers showed moderate anti-elastase activity with IC50 of 60.8 and 97.7 µg/mL. Therefore, the oil of Leucophyllum frutescens could afford a promising natural anti-aging drug. Graphical Abstract
Age is associated with reduced urethral pressure and afferent activity in rat

Age‐related changes in the lower urinary tract (LUT) can affect the coordination of reflexes and increase the incidence of bladder disorders in elderly. This study examines the age‐related loss of urethral signaling capability by measuring the afferent activity directly. We find that less urethral pressure develops in response to fluid flow in old rats compared to young rats and that pressure and flow evoke less urethral afferent activation. These findings are consistent with our previous study demonstrating that the urethra‐to‐bladder reflex, which is required for efficient voiding, becomes weaker with age. We measured the pudendal afferent response in young (4–7 months) and old (18–24 months) rats to fluid flow in the urethra across a range of flow rates. We used paraffin embedding and hematoxylin and eosin staining to quantify age‐related changes in the sensory branch of the pudendal nerve. Urethral afferent signaling in response to the same urethral flow rates was weaker in older animals. That is, the sensitivity of urethra afferents to flow decreased with age, and higher flow rates were required in older animals to recruit urethra afferents. There was also a reduction in the myelin thickness of pudendal afferents in old rats, which is a possible contributing factor to the sensory activity. Furthermore, the same flow rates evoked less pressure in the urethras of old animals, indicating there is an age‐related change of the urethral tissue that reduces the pressure stimulus to which these afferents respond. These results help characterize the underlying changes in LUT system with age.
The Human Disease Ontology 2022 update

Abstract The Human Disease Ontology (DO) (www.disease-ontology.org) database, has significantly expanded the disease content and enhanced our userbase and website since the DO’s 2018 Nucleic Acids Research DATABASE issue paper. Conservatively, based on available resource statistics, terms from the DO have been annotated to over 1.5 million biomedical data elements and citations, a 10× increase in the past 5 years. The DO, funded as a NHGRI Genomic Resource, plays a key role in disease knowledge organization, representation, and standardization, serving as a reference framework for multiscale biomedical data integration and analysis across thousands of clinical, biomedical and computational research projects and genomic resources around the world. This update reports on the addition of 1,793 new disease terms, a 14% increase of textual definitions and the integration of 22 137 new SubClassOf axioms defining disease to disease connections representing the DO’s complex disease classification. The DO’s updated website provides multifaceted etiology searching, enhanced documentation and educational resources.
Evaluation of aliasing influence on the performance of hybrid optical-digital speckle correlator

The optical speckle-displacement correlator based on hybrid optical-digital joint transform correlator architecture with digital first and optical second stage is used to determine correlation peak position with subpixel accuracy without usage of intricate interpolation algorithms. Experimental setup for realization of the optical speckle-displacement correlation technique was constructed on basis of a digital Fourier processor allowing joint power spectrum median and ring median binarization and an optical Fourier processor. Speckle patterns of steel beam specimen (steel 45) with different maximum spatial frequencies were recorded. As one of the joint transform correlator main parameters is distance between fringes at correlator frequency plane, comparison of optical speckle-displacement correlator performance for different values of speckle pattern maximum spatial frequency for the given joint power spectrum modulation was performed. Experimental results have shown that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) increases steadily while the maximum frequency of speckle pattern multiplied Fourier spectrum is reaching the Nyquist frequency fN. The analysis of the speckle pattern with frequencies higher than Nyquist frequency has shown that the SNR growth is continued to the some boundary frequency fB>fN after which the SNR is fallen sharply. Thus, the influence of aliasing on the correlator performance was studied and the best correspondence between value of speckle pattern maximum spatial frequency and distance between fringes at the correlator frequency plane was found.
RASA4 inhibits the HIFα signaling pathway to suppress proliferation of cervical cancer cells

ABSTRACT RAS p21 protein activator 4 (RASA4) has been recognized as a Ca2+-promoted Ras–MAPK pathway suppressor that inhibits tumor growth. However, the role of RASA4 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CESC) remains unclear. The mRNA levels of RASA4 were analyzed using the GEO and GEPIA databases. Kaplan–Meier analysis and ROC analyses were conducted to determine the prognostic and diagnostic values for patients from the TCGA-CSCE cohort. The CCK8 and colony assays were performed to assess the impact of RASA4 ectopic expression and gene inactivation on tumor cell proliferation. In vivo experiments were performed. Luciferase reporter assays and LW6 (a HIFα inhibitor) were employed to verify the regulatory relationship between RASA4 and the HIFa signaling pathway. The GEPIA and GEO database analysis demonstrated poorly expressed RASA4 in the CESC tissues relative to that in the noncancerous tissues. Based on the TCGA database, poorly expressed RASA4 signified high prognostic and diagnostic values. Ectopically expressed RASA4 weakened the proliferative potential of HeLa cells, whereas RASA4 genetic inactivation produced the opposite impact in the HeLa and C-33A cells. The promoting effect of RASA4 deficiency on tumourigenesis was also recorded in vivo. Subsequently, RASA4 negatively regulated the HIFα-driven luciferase activities and weakened the expression of survivin. Meanwhile, LW6 treatment abrogated the increased proliferation of HeLa cells, as well as the increased expression of survivin by RASA4 depletion. Our findings indicated that RASA4 can inhibit the proliferation of cervical cancer cells by inactivating the HIFα signaling pathway, suggesting novel prospects for targeted therapy against CESC.
Nanopore 16S rRNA sequencing reveals alterations in nasopharyngeal microbiome and enrichment of Mycobacterium and Mycoplasma in patients with COVID 19

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a major global health concern. This virus infects the upper respiratory tract and causes pneumonia-like symptoms. So far, few studies have shown that respiratory infections alter nasopharyngeal (NP) microbiome diversity and enrich opportunistic pathogens. In this study, we have sequenced the 16S rRNA variable regions, V1 through V9, extracted from NP samples of control and COVID-19 (symptomatic and asymptomatic) participants using the Oxford Nanopore technology. Comprehensive bioinformatics analysis investigating the alpha/beta diversities, non-metric multidimensional scaling, correlation studies, canonical correspondence analysis, linear discriminate analysis, and dysbiosis index analysis revealed control and COVID-19-specific NP microbiomes. We observed significant dysbiosis in COVID-19 NP microbiome with abundance of opportunistic pathogens such as Cutibacterium, Corynebacterium, Oerskovia, and Cellulomonas in asymptomatic patients, and of Streptomyces and Mycobacteriaceae family in symptomatic patients. Furthermore, we observed sharp rise in enrichment of opportunistic pathogens in symptomatic patients, with abundance of Mycobacteria and Mycoplasma, which strongly correlated with the occurrences of chest pain and fever. Our findings contribute novel insights regarding emergence of opportunistic pathogens in COVID-19 patients and their relationship with symptoms, suggesting their potential role in coinfections.
Readings in Groupware and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work: Assisting Human-Human Collaboration

From the Publisher: This comprehensive introduction to the field represents the best of the published literature on groupware and computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW). The papers were chosen for their breadth of coverage of the field, their clarity of expression and presentation, their excellence in terms of technical innovation or behavioral insight, their historical significance, and their utility as sources for further reading. Taken as a whole, the papers and their introductions are a complete sourcebook to the field. This book will be useful for computer professionals involved in the development or purchase of groupware technology as well as for researchers and managers. It should also serve as a valuable text for university courses on CSCW, groupware, and human-computer interaction.
Detection of Tonic-Clonic Seizures using Wavelet Entropy of Scalp EEG

Epilepsy is the most common chronic neurologic disorder characterized by the recurrence of unprovoked seizures. These seizures are paroxysmal events that result from abnormal neuronal discharges and are categorized into various types based on the clinical manifestations and localization. Tonic-Clonic seizures (TCSZ) may lead to injuries, and constitute the major risk factor for sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), especially in unattended patients. Therapeutic decisions and clinical trials rely on Video EEG which is not practical outside of clinical setting. In this study, wavelet entropy of scalp EEG signals are utilized to discriminate the seizures with and without clinical manifestations. The scalp EEG records from the publically available Temple University Hospital (TUH) dataset are considered for this work. A sevenlevel, fourth order Daubechies (db4) wavelet is utilized for the decomposition of first four seconds of scalp EEG during seizures. The entropy is extracted from the resultant coefficients and are used to develop SVM based models. Most of the extracted features found to have significant differences (p<0.05). The results show that polynomial SVM model achieves an accuracy of 95.5%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 99.4%, negative predictive value (NPV) of 91.57% and F-Score of 95.9%. Therefore, the proposed approach could be a support in detecting life-threatening seizures.
Comparative evaluation of three-phase Si and SiC AC-AC converter systems

In academia, for more than thirty years, Matrix Converters have been considered as one of the future converter concepts for variable speed drives for industry and more recently also for More Electric Aircraft or renewable energy applications. However, despite intensive research for the last decades, Matrix Converters have until now only achieved low market penetration. In industry, the most widely used bidirectional, low-voltage ac-ac converter topology is the two-level Voltage Source Back-to-Back Converter. The main objective of this PhD thesis is to derive and investigate the key criteria required for a systematic comparative evaluation of ac-ac converter systems. Based on a suggested set of criteria, a comprehensive comparison of the Voltage Source Back-to-Back Converter, the Current Source Back-to-Back Converter, the Indirect Matrix Converter, and the Conventional (direct) Matrix Converter is performed for a 15 kW permanent magnet synchronous motor drive. The comparison involves the investigation of the required silicon chip area for a defined maximum admissible thermal loading of the power semiconductors, the passive components including the EMI input filter, the total losses and achievable efficiency, and a prediction of the resulting converter volume. A particular focus is on the experimental investigation and performance analysis of normally-on SiC JFET prototype devices, which are close to commercialization. With this comparative evaluation, a systematic procedure is presented that ultimately enables to identify advantageous application areas of the considered converter topologies.
Landmark configuration for absolute positioning of autonomous vehicles

Landmark navigation is a common positioning method of material handling vehicles operating in industrial environments. The position is calculated based on relative measurements to landmarks, the locations of which are known in advance. This paper presents a nonlinear optimization model used to determine the position of the minimum number of beacons required by a shop floor to guarantee accurate and reliable performance of AGVs. This position is based on guidelines developed by a previous error analysis study. The model is later converted to a binary linear programming model which is used as a lower bound to a heuristic solution procedure. Finally, two examples are used to illustrate the procedure.