Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A combination microparticle strategy for achieving antigen-specific tolerance

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that affects nearly 1 million people in the United States, leading to signif - icant morbidity and mortality. It affects the central nervous system (CNS) and is characterized by demyelinating lesions and axonal damage. Although a number of drugs have been approved for the treatment of MS, current treatments are unable to prevent the long-term decline of the CNS function and have side effects related to their general impact on the patient’s immune system. The development of tolerogenic vaccines, vaccines that induce tolerance to specific agents, for MS has been the focus of considerable research, as this approach promises to avoid nonspecific immune suppression while enabling a broadly useful, inexpensive, and relatively simple therapy. A report by Kwiatkowski et al. (1) in this edition of PNAS describes a biomaterials-based strategy to induce tolerance to a peptide frequently used as a model antigen in MS research. This biomaterial vaccine significantly alters numerous immune cell populations in both the vaccine-draining lymph nodes and CNS and, strikingly, is capable of reversing paralysis in a murine model of advanced disease. There is
Associations between Response to Commonly Used Neo-Adjuvant Schedules in Rectal Cancer and Routinely Collected Clinical and Imaging Parameters

Simple Summary We studied real-world patients with locally advanced rectal cancer receiving preoperative radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy. The aim was to find factors associated with complete response to therapy, i.e., no remaining tumour, that could be used to identify patients who would not need surgery in the future. Tumour stage and length, intensity of preoperative treatment, and laboratory factors, such as carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), leucocyte counts, and platelets, were all associated with complete response. Treatment intensity mattered and when radiotherapy was combined with chemotherapy, 21% had a complete response compared to 8% with radiotherapy alone. A model for identifying patients with a better chance of achieving a complete response was developed using tumour stage and length, CEA, and leukocyte levels as factors predicting complete response. Abstract Complete pathological response (pCR) is achieved in 10–20% of rectal cancers when treated with short-course radiotherapy (scRT) or long-course chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and in 28% with total neoadjuvant therapy (scRT/CRT + CTX). pCR is associated with better outcomes and a “watch-and-wait” strategy (W&W). The aim of this study was to identify baseline clinical or imaging factors predicting pCR. All patients with preoperative treatment and delays to surgery in Uppsala-Dalarna (n = 359) and Stockholm (n = 635) were included. Comparison of pCR versus non-pCR was performed with binary logistic regression models. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) models for predicting pCR were built using factors with p < 0.10 in multivariate analyses. A pCR was achieved in 12% of the 994 patients (scRT 8% [33/435], CRT 13% [48/358], scRT/CRT + CTX 21% [43/201]). In univariate and multivariate analyses, choice of CRT (OR 2.62; 95%CI 1.34–5.14, scRT reference) or scRT/CRT + CTX (4.70; 2.23–9.93), cT1–2 (3.37; 1.30–8.78; cT4 reference), tumour length ≤ 3.5 cm (2.27; 1.24–4.18), and CEA ≤ 5 µg/L (1.73; 1.04–2.90) demonstrated significant associations with achievement of pCR. Age < 70 years, time from radiotherapy to surgery > 11 weeks, leucocytes ≤ 109/L, and thrombocytes ≤ 4009/L were significant only in univariate analyses. The associations were not fundamentally different between treatments. A model including T-stage, tumour length, CEA, and leucocytes (with scores of 0, 0.5, or 1 for each factor, maximum 4 points) showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.66 (95%CI 0.60–0.71) for all patients, and 0.65–0.73 for the three treatments separately. The choice of neoadjuvant treatment in combination with low CEA, short tumour length, low cT-stage, and normal leucocytes provide support in predicting pCR and, thus, could offer guidance for selecting patients for organ preservation.
Galaxy-driven turbulence and the growth of intracluster magnetic fields

Recent observations confirm the presence of large-scale magnetic fields of microgauss strength over ∼10 kpc scales in some clusters of galaxies. The possible production of these fields by a turbulent dynamo driven by galaxy motion through the ICM is examined, using a variety of seed fields. The calculations are fully nonlinear and time-dependent, and they show that it is in general very difficult for this mechanism to produce the observed magnetic fields
A Review of Neovascular Glaucoma: Etiology, Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Neovascular glaucoma (NVG) is a rare, aggressive, blinding secondary glaucoma, which is characterized by neovascularization of the anterior segment of the eye and leading to elevation of the intraocular pressure (IOP). The main etiological factor is retinal ischemia leading to an impaired homeostatic balance between the angiogenic and antiangiogenic factors. High concentrations of vasogenic substances such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) induce neovascularization of the iris (NVI) and neovascularization of the angle (NVA) that limits the outflow of aqueous humor from the anterior chamber and increases the IOP. NVG clinical, if untreated, progresses from secondary open-angle glaucoma to angle-closure glaucoma, leading to irreversible blindness. It is an urgent ophthalmic condition; early diagnosis and treatment are necessary to preserve vision and prevent eye loss. The management of NVG requires the cooperation of retinal and glaucoma specialists. The treatment of NVG includes both control of the underlying disease and management of IOP. The main goal is the prevention of angle-closure glaucoma by combining panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) and antiangiogenic therapy. The aim of this review is to summarize the current available knowledge about the etiology, pathogenesis, and symptoms of NVG and determine the most effective treatment methods.
Structure of relativistic shocks in pulsar winds: A model of the wisps in the Crab Nebula

We propose a model of a optical 'wisps' of the Crab Nebula, features observed in the nebular synchrotron surface brightness near the central pulsar, as manifestations of the internal structure of the shock terminating the pulsar wind. We assume that this wind is composed of ions and a much denser plasma of electrons and positrons, frozen together to a toroidal magnetic field and flowing relativistically. We construct a form of solitary wave model of the shock structure in which we self-consistently solve for the ion orbits and the dynamics of the relativistically hot, magnetized e(+/-) background flow. We ignore dispersion in the ion energies, and we treat the pairs as an adiabatic fluid. The synchrotron emission enhancements, observed as the wisps, are then explained as the regions where reflection of the ions in the self-consistent magnetic field causes compressions of the e(+/-).
The extinction time of a subcritical branching process related to the SIR epidemic on a random graph

We give an exponential tail approximation for the extinction time of a subcritical multitype branching process arising from the SIR epidemic model on a random graph with given degrees, where the type corresponds to the vertex degree. As a corollary we obtain a Gumbel limit law for the extinction time, when beginning with a large population. Our contribution is to allow countably many types (this corresponds to unbounded degrees in the random graph epidemic model, as the number of vertices tends to∞). We only require a second moment for the offspring-type distribution featuring in our model.
Antibacterial and Photodegradation of Organic Dyes Using Lamiaceae-Mediated ZnO Nanoparticles: A Review

The green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) using plant extracts has been receiving tremendous attention as an alternative to conventional physical and chemical methods. The Lamiaceae plant family is one of the largest herbal families in the world and is famous for its aromatic and polyphenolic biomolecules that can be utilised as reducing and stabilising agents during the synthesis of ZnO NPs. This review will go over the synthesis and how synthesis parameters affect the Lamiaceae-derived ZnO NPs. The Lamiaceae-mediated ZnO NPs have been utilised in a variety of applications, including photocatalysis, antimicrobial, anticancer, antioxidant, solar cells, and so on. Owing to their optical properties, ZnO NPs have emerged as potential catalysts for the photodegradation of organic dyes from wastewater. Furthermore, the low toxicity, biocompatibility, and antibacterial activity of ZnO against various bacteria have led to the application of ZnO NPs as antibacterial agents. Thus, this review will focus on the application of Lamiaceae-mediated ZnO NPs for the photodegradation of organic dyes and antibacterial applications.
Drivers of extreme burnt area in Portugal: fire weather and vegetation

Abstract. Fire weather indices are used to assess the effect of weather on wildfire behaviour and to support fire management. Previous studies identified the high daily severity rating percentile (DSRp) as being strongly related to the total burnt area (BA) in Portugal, but it is still poorly understood how this knowledge can support fire management at a smaller spatial scale. The aims of this study were to (1) assess whether the 90th DSRp (DSR90p) threshold is adequate for estimating most of the BA in mainland Portugal; (2) analyse the spatial variability of the DSRp threshold that explains a large part of BA, at higher resolution; and, (3) analyse whether vegetation cover can justify the DSRp spatial variability. We used weather reanalysis data from ERA5-Land, wildfire and land use data from Portuguese land management departments for an extended summer period (15 May to 31 October) from 2001 to 2019. We computed and related DSRp to large wildfires (BA > 100 ha) and land use to clarify the effectiveness of the DSRp for estimating BA in Portugal and assess how vegetation influences it. Results revealed that the DSR90p is an adequate indicator of extreme fire weather days and BA in Portugal. In addition, the spatial pattern of the DSRp associated with most of the total BA shows variability at the municipality scale. Municipalities where large wildfires occur with more extreme weather conditions have most of the BAs in forests and are in coastal areas. By contrast, municipalities where large wildfires occur with less extreme weather conditions are predominantly covered by shrublands and are situated in eastern and inland regions. These findings are a novelty for fire science in Portugal and should be considered by fire managers and fire risk assessors.
Large eddy simulation study of fully developed wind-turbine array boundary layers

It is well known that when wind turbines are deployed in large arrays, their efficiency decreases due to complex interactions among themselves and with the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). For wind farms whose length exceeds the height of the ABL by over an order of magnitude, a “fully developed” flow regime can be established. In this asymptotic regime, changes in the streamwise direction can be neglected and the relevant exchanges occur in the vertical direction. Such a fully developed wind-turbine array boundary layer (WTABL) has not been studied systematically before. A suite of large eddy simulations (LES), in which wind turbines are modeled using the classical “drag disk” concept, is performed for various wind-turbine arrangements, turbine loading factors, and surface roughness values. The results are used to quantify the vertical transport of momentum and kinetic energy across the boundary layer. It is shown that the vertical fluxes of kinetic energy are of the same order of magnitude as the power.
Reduction of cogging force in linear generators for wave energy harvesting

Due to huge energy potential of sea waves, many technologies have been proposed in the last few years. Some concepts have been developed and sometimes also tested in the open sea. Some prototypes use linear generators to directly convert the vertical motion of buoys into electrical energy. This solution minimizes the numbers of energy conversion steps, increasing the energy efficiency. At the same time, the limited numbers of components could also increase the reliability of the wave energy converter. For this reason, the development of linear generators is considered with great interest. This paper investigated the cogging force, a magnetic force due to the interaction between the magnets and the iron stator. To limit the cogging force, a modified shape of the stator is investigated. Simulations on a specific FEM software are performed, obtaining interesting results.
A survey for faint variable objects in SA 57

Nine Mayall 4 m prime-focus Kodak IIIa-J plates spanning an 11-yr baseline are analyzed in a uniform manner for the detection of variable objects to B = 22.6 at the level of Sigma of about 0.1 mag. Techniques are developed that succeed in independently finding objects already known to be variable, namely a sample of QSOs. Few additional objects were identified as variables with high certainty. The principal result, therefore, is an upper limit both to variable QSOs not previously identified by other techniques, and an upper limit at faint magnitudes on other classes of variable objects. 21 refs.
Fault Localization for Hardware Design Code with Time-Aware Program Spectrum

Verification of hardware design code is crucial for the quality assurance of hardware products. As an indispensable part of verification, localizing faults in the hardware design code is significant for hardware development but is often regarded as a notoriously difficult and time-consuming task. Thus, automated fault localization techniques that could assist manual debugging have attracted much attention in the hardware community. Prior work indicates that existing methods neither fully utilize program dynamic execution information nor lack attention to timing. In this work, we propose Tarsel: a time-aware spectrum-based fault localization approach to help bridge this gap. Tarsel integrates hardware-specific timing information with the program spectrum and captures the changes of executed statements when the state of the hardware program changes to effectively locate faults. The experimental results show that Tarsel successfully locates over half of bugs in the benchmark at Top-3 and about 90% of bugs at Top-5. In addition, Tarsel statistically outperforms the state-of-the-art fault localization approach CirFix under all six typical metrics. In particular, while no bugs are ranked at Top-1 by CirFix, Tarsel successfully locates 11.41% of bugs at Top-1. It brings fresh insights of hardware bug localization to the community.
A Differential Inertial Wearable Device for Breathing Parameter Detection: Hardware and Firmware Development, Experimental Characterization

Breathing monitoring is crucial for evaluating a patient’s health status. The technologies commonly used to monitor respiration are costly, bulky, obtrusive, and inaccurate, mainly when the user moves. Consequently, efforts have been devoted to providing new solutions and methodologies to overcome these limitations. These methods have several uses, including healthcare monitoring, measuring athletic performance, and aiding patients with respiratory diseases, such as COPD (chronic obtrusive pulmonary disease), sleep apnea, etc. Breathing-induced chest movements can be measured noninvasively and discreetly using inertial sensors. This research work presents the development and testing of an inertia-based chest band for breathing monitoring through a differential approach. The device comprises two IMUs (inertial measurement units) placed on the patient’s chest and back to determine the differential inertial signal, carrying out information detection about the breathing activity. The chest band includes a low-power microcontroller section to acquire inertial data from the two IMUs and process them to extract the breathing parameters (i.e., RR—respiration rate; TI/TE—inhalation/exhalation time; IER—inhalation-to-exhalation time; V—flow rate), using the back IMU as a reference. A BLE transceiver wirelessly transmits the acquired breathing parameters to a mobile application. Finally, the test results demonstrate the effectiveness of the used dual-inertia solution; correlation and Bland–Altman analyses were performed on the RR measurements from the chest band and the reference, demonstrating a high correlation (r¯ = 0.92) and low mean difference (MD¯ = −0.27 BrPM (breaths per minute)), limits of agreement (LoA¯ = +1.16/−1.75 BrPM), and mean absolute error (MAE¯ = 1.15%). Additionally, the experimental results demonstrated that the developed device correctly measured the other breathing parameters (TI, TE, IER, and V), keeping an MAE of ≤5%. The obtained results indicated that the developed chest band is a viable solution for long-term breathing monitoring, both in stationary and moving users.
Sequential and Parallel Tools for Model Checking Conditional Stable Properties in a Layered Way

We invented a divide & conquer approach to conditional stable model checking so as to ease the state space explosion problem. As indicated by its name, the technique concentrates on conditional stable properties expressed as <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\varphi _{1} \leadsto \Box \varphi _{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\varphi _{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\varphi _{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> are state propositions. The properties can be used to formalize desired properties that self-stabilizing systems should satisfy. Self-stabilization in distributed systems was first introduced by Dijkstra and became a very crucial concept in fault tolerance to design robust systems. However, designing self-stabilizing systems need much more effort than non-stabilizing ones because the former are subject to transient errors at any time. Therefore, it is worth dedicating to conditional stable properties. In this paper, we report a sequential tool and a parallel technique/tool for the divide & conquer approach to conditional stable model checking. Some experiments are also conducted showing that our sequential and parallel tools can ease the state space explosion and improve the running performance of model checking for conditional stable properties to a certain scope, respectively.
Syphilis Infections, Reinfections and Serological Response in a Large Italian Sexually Transmitted Disease Centre: A Monocentric Retrospective Study

Background: Syphilis infection does not confer definitive and protective immunity against reinfection, and crucial aspects of repeated episodes of syphilis are far from being understood, especially among people living with HIV (PLWH). Methods: In order to explore the burden of syphilis in a large cohort of HIV-negative patients and PLWH, this retrospective study describes the demographics, clinical presentation and treatment outcome of patients with syphilis treated at our clinic from 2013 to 2021. Results: Within the study period, 1859 syphilis episodes (827, 44.5% first infections and 1032, 55.5% reinfections) were recorded. A total of 663 patients, of whom 347 (52%) had PLWH, were considered. Syphilis was mostly diagnosed in males (77%) and European (79%) patients. More than half of syphilis episodes were recorded during the late latent stage (64%) or during follow-up/screening visits for other diseases, while symptomatic stages led to a diagnosis in almost half of HIV-negative patients (p < 0.001). PLWH with syphilis infection were predominantly homo/bisexual (p < 0.001). A significantly higher rate of syphilis reinfection was observed in PLWH, who also demonstrated a higher range of subsequent episodes. The serofast state was found to be similar at the 6- and 12-month follow-up visits. The multivariate analysis carried out in the HIV-positive group showed that an RPR titre >1:16 was an independent predictor for serological non-response. Conclusions: Syphilis reinfections are predominantly diagnosed in HIV-positive MSM. The high rate of asymptomatic presentation among PLWH supports the role of periodical syphilis screening. In PLWH, the only baseline factor associated with an increased risk of non-response was an RPR titre >1:16, while assessment at 12 months after treatment increased the possibility of detecting a serological response, indicating that PLWH have a slower serological response to treatment.
MXene-based nanomaterials for supercapacitor applications: New pathways for the future

MXenes have captivated investigators in methodical and technical areas towards different implementations, such as energy storage appliances, supercapacitors (SCs) and elastic batteries. The utilization of pristine MXenes and their nanomaterial in multiple types of SCs is cumulative due to their outstanding automatic, physicochemical, optical, electric, and electrochemical effects. Due to their exceptional electric performance, better mechanical strength, different practical clusters, and ample interlayer space, MXene-based nanomaterials (NMs) have demonstrated binding energy-storage capacity. In this review article, we have shown the timelines and progress in the synthesis methods over time and applications of MXene-based nanomaterials (NMs) in supercapacitors (SC). Lastly, we have concluded the theme with the future outlook in this field.
A Simple Discretization Scheme for Nonnegative Diffusion Processes, with Applications to Option Pricing

A discretization scheme for nonnegative diffusion processes is proposed and the convergence of the corresponding sequence of approximate processes is proved using the martingale problem framework. Motivations for this scheme come typically from finance, especially for path-dependent option pricing. The scheme is simple: one only needs to find a nonnegative distribution whose mean and variance satisfy a simple condition to apply it. Then, for virtually any (path-dependent) payoff, Monte Carlo option prices obtained from this scheme will converge to the theoretical price. Examples of models and diffusion processes for which the scheme applies are provided.
Multi-Scale Strengthened Directional Difference Algorithm Based on the Human Vision System

The human visual system (HVS) mechanism has been successfully introduced into the field of infrared small target detection. However, most of the current detection algorithms based on the mechanism of the human visual system ignore the continuous direction information and are easily disturbed by highlight noise and object edges. In this paper, a multi-scale strengthened directional difference (MSDD) algorithm is proposed. It is mainly divided into two parts: local directional intensity measure (LDIM) and local directional fluctuation measure (LDFM). In LDIM, an improved window is used to suppress most edge clutter, highlights, and holes and enhance true targets. In LDFM, the characteristics of the target area, the background area, and the connection between the target and the background are considered, which further highlights the true target signal and suppresses the corner clutter. Then, the MSDD saliency map is obtained by fusing the LDIM map and the LDFM map. Finally, an adaptive threshold segmentation method is employed to capture true targets. The experiments show that the proposed method achieves better detection performance in complex backgrounds than several classical and widely used methods.