Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comment on “Prevalence of subhealth status and its effects on mental health and smartphone addiction: a cross-sectional study among Chinese medical students”

We entitled “Prevalence of subhealth status and its effects on mental health and smartphone addiction: a cross-sectional study among Chinese medical students” by et al. 1 . The findings of this study suggest that anxiety, depression, and smartphone addiction among Chinese medical students are associated with subhealth status. This study is of great significance in the prevention and treatment of the physical and mental health of medical students. However, in our opinion, there are some ques-tions that are still unanswered and worth discussing.
Fungi-on-a-Chip: microfluidic platforms for single-cell studies on fungi

Abstract This review highlights new advances in the emerging field of ‘Fungi-on-a-Chip’ microfluidics for single-cell studies on fungi and discusses several future frontiers, where we envisage microfluidic technology development to be instrumental in aiding our understanding of fungal biology. Fungi, with their enormous diversity, bear essential roles both in nature and our everyday lives. They inhabit a range of ecosystems, such as soil, where they are involved in organic matter degradation and bioremediation processes. More recently, fungi have been recognized as key components of the microbiome in other eukaryotes, such as humans, where they play a fundamental role not only in human pathogenesis, but also likely as commensals. In the food sector, fungi are used either directly or as fermenting agents and are often key players in the biotechnological industry, where they are responsible for the production of both bulk chemicals and antibiotics. Although the macroscopic fruiting bodies are immediately recognizable by most observers, the structure, function, and interactions of fungi with other microbes at the microscopic scale still remain largely hidden. Herein, we shed light on new advances in the emerging field of Fungi-on-a-Chip microfluidic technologies for single-cell studies on fungi. We discuss the development and application of microfluidic tools in the fields of medicine and biotechnology, as well as in-depth biological studies having significance for ecology and general natural processes. Finally, a future perspective is provided, highlighting new frontiers in which microfluidic technology can benefit this field.
ECERIFERUM1-6A is required for the synthesis of cuticular wax alkanes and promotes drought tolerance in wheat.

Cuticular waxes cover the aerial surfaces of land plants and protect them from various environmental stresses. Alkanes are major wax components and contribute to plant drought tolerance, but the biosynthesis and regulation of alkanes remain largely unknown in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Here, we identified and functionally characterized a key alkane biosynthesis gene ECERIFERUM1-6A (TaCER1-6A) from wheat. The CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout mutation in TaCER1-6A greatly reduced the contents of C27, C29, C31, and C33 alkanes in wheat leaves, while TaCER1-6A overexpression significantly increased the contents of these alkanes in wheat leaves, suggesting that TaCER1-6A is specifically involved in the biosynthesis of C27, C29, C31, and C33 alkanes on wheat leaf surfaces. TaCER1-6A knockout lines exhibited increased cuticle permeability and reduced drought tolerance, whereas TaCER1-6A overexpression lines displayed reduced cuticle permeability and enhanced drought tolerance. TaCER1-6A was highly expressed in flag leaf blades and seedling leaf blades and could respond to abiotic stresses and abscisic acid (ABA). TaCER1-6A was located in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which is the subcellular compartment responsible for wax biosynthesis. A total of three haplotypes (HapI/II/III) of TaCER1-6A were identified in 43 wheat accessions, and HapI was the dominant haplotype (95%) in these wheat varieties. Additionally, we identified two R2R3-MYB transcription factors TaMYB96-2D and TaMYB96-5D that bound directly to the conserved motif CAACCA in promoters of the cuticular wax biosynthesis genes TaCER1-6A, TaCER1-1A, and fatty acyl-CoA reductase4 (TaFAR4). Collectively, these results suggest that TaCER1-6A is required for C27, C29, C31, and C33 alkanes biosynthesis and improves drought tolerance in wheat.
Geometry image super-resolution with AnisoCBConvNet architecture for efficient cloth modeling

We propose an anisotropic constrained-boundary convolutional neural networks (hereafter, AnisoCBConvNet) that can stably express high-quality meshes without oscillation by applying super-resolution operations to low-resolution cloth meshes. As a training set for the neural network, we use a pair between simulation data of low resolution (LR) cloth and data obtained by applying the same simulation to high resolution (HR) cloth with increased quad mesh resolution of LR cloth. The actual data used for training are 2D geometry images converted from 3D meshes. The proposed AnisoCBConvNet is used to train an image synthesizer that converts LR geometry images to HR geometry images. In particular, by controlling the weights anisotropically near the boundary, the problem of surface wrinkling caused by oscillation is alleviated. When the HR geometry image obtained through AnisoCBConvNet is converted back to the HR cloth mesh, details including wrinkles are expressed better than the input cloth mesh. In addition, our results improved the noise problem in the existing geometry image approach. We tested AnisoCBConvNet-based super-resolution in various simulation scenarios, and confirmed stable and efficient performance in most of the results. By using our method, it will be possible to effectively produce CG VFX created using high-quality cloth simulation in games and movies.
Coexisting Goethite Promotes Fe(II)-Catalyzed Transformation of Ferrihydrite to Goethite

In redox-affected soil environments, electron transfer between aqueous Fe(II) and solid-phase Fe(III) catalyzes mineral transformation and recrystallization processes. While these processes have been studied extensively as independent systems, the coexistence of iron minerals is common in nature. Yet it remains unclear how coexisting goethite influences ferrihydrite transformation. Here, we reacted ferrihydrite and goethite mixtures with Fe(II) for 24 h. Our results demonstrate that with more goethite initially present in the mixture more ferrihydrite turned into goethite. We further used stable Fe isotopes to label different Fe pools and probed ferrihydrite transformation in the presence of goethite using 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy and changes in the isotopic composition of solid and aqueous phases. When ferrihydrite alone underwent Fe(II)-catalyzed transformation, Fe atoms initially in the aqueous phase mostly formed lepidocrocite, while those from ferrihydrite mostly formed goethite. When goethite was initially present, more goethite was formed from atoms initially in the aqueous phase, and nanogoethite formed from atoms initially in ferrihydrite. Our results suggest that coexisting goethite promotes formation of more goethite via Fe(II)–goethite electron transfer and template-directed nucleation and growth. We further hypothesize that electron transfer onto goethite followed by electron hopping onto ferrihydrite is another possible pathway to goethite formation. Our findings demonstrate that mineral transformation is strongly influenced by the composition of soil solid phases.
Design and Validation of a Lightweight Hip Exoskeleton Driven by Series Elastic Actuator With Two-Motor Variable Speed Transmission

To overcome the different requirements of torque-velocity characteristics for walking, running, stand-to-sit, sit-to-stand, and climbing stairs, we propose a novel concept for actuator design, namely, a series elastic actuator with two-motor variable speed transmission. The two-motor variable speed transmission can be adjusted in real-time to realize variable torque-velocity characteristics. A novel lightweight wearable hip exoskeleton driven by a series elastic actuator with two-motor variable speed transmission, named SoochowExo, has been developed in this paper for use in the elderly population. The weight of the whole hip exoskeleton is 2.85 kg (excluding batteries), including two actuators and the frame. The proposed hip exoskeleton can match the weight of the state-of-the-art hip exoskeleton while offering suitable torque and velocity for sitting-to-standing, walking, running on level ground, and climbing stairs. The benchtop tests and the preliminary human subject tests further confirm the design.
Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Protein 3A Domains Essential for Growth of Lymphoblasts: Transcriptional Regulation through RBP-J (cid:2) /CBF1 Is Critical

Experimental reverse genetic replacement of Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen 3A (EBNA3A) with a conditional mutant EBNA3A revealed that EBNA3A is critical for continued lymphoblastoid cell (LCL) growth. Wild-type (wt) EBNA3A expressed in the LCLs speciﬁcally sustained growth under nonpermissive conditions, whereas EBNA3B or EBNA3C expression had no effect (S. Mauro, E. Johannsen, D. Illanes, A. Cooper, and E. Kieff, J. Virol. 77:10437–10447, 2003). This genetic system and related biochemical assays have now been used to discover that EBNA3A lacking amino acid residues 170 to 240 ( (cid:1) 170–240), TLGC 202 to AAGA 202 , or (cid:1) 300–386, which are deﬁcient in repression of EBNA2 activation of an RBP-J (cid:2) /CBF1-dependent EBV Cp enhancer, are null mutations for LCL growth, whereas EBNA3A (cid:1) 2–124, (cid:1) 410–439, (cid:1) 440–470, (cid:1) 470–500, (cid:1) 500–523, (cid:1) 523–612,
Monogenic, Polygenic and Multifactorial Obesity in Children: Genetic and Environmental Factors

Obesity is a chronic disease that has increased alarmingly in recent years. It is considered a risk factor for the development of diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, dyslipidemia, and some types of cancer. Two genetic profiles have been described: monogenic obesity, in which a single gene is mutated, usually leading to loss-of-function or haploinsufficiency, and polygenic obesity, which involves several polymorphic genes with complex interactions between genes and environmental factors. In the latter case, the frequency of polymorphisms can be very high, depending on the population analyzed. In both cases, the genes of interest are associated with changes in body composition through different mechanisms, including hyperphagia, energy expenditure, adipocyte differentiation and lipolysis. However, most studies have analyzed genes associated with obesity in other populations, and the results are often inconsistent, so it is important to study the context of obesity, such as genetics, biochemical biomarkers and environmental factors. Environmental factors include physical activity, nutritional status, and an intake of foods rich in fats and carbohydrates that favor obesity in children. In addition, several chemical compounds have been described as potential endocrine disruptors that increase BMI and produce obesity, and some biological agents can alter the homeostasis of adipose tissue. In this review, we analyzed the genetic and environmental factors that influence obesity, particularly in children.
INSOMNIA AS A PRESENTATION OF DEPRESSION MANAGED WITH SIDDHA VARMAM THERAPY AND HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICINE: A CASE REPORT

Insomnia is a common sleep disorder where the patient finds it difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep. This disease condition regularly affects millions of people worldwide. Published literature has reported nearly 30% population has difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, wakes up too early and/ or in some cases, non-restorative or poor quality of sleep. Insomnia significantly affects quality of life as it may lead to daytime sleepiness, lethargy, and a general feeling of being unwell, both mentally and physically. Commonly associated symptoms include mood swings, irritability, anxiety and a potentially higher risk of developing chronic diseases. In conventional system of medicine, antipsychotics and sedatives are used to combat insomnia that is often habit forming. However, insomnia can be successfully treated by integrated approach of AYUSH systems of medicine. In Siddha System of medicine, insomnia is referred as Thookaminmai. This paper reports a case of 42 year old female suffering from depression presented with complain of chronic insomnia at AYUSH wellness clinic, President‟s Estate treated with Siddha Varmam therapy and Homoeopathic individualized oral medicine.
Magnetic defect probes of the 6 surface state.

The impact of nonmagnetic and magnetic impurities on topological insulators is a central focus concerning their fun-damentalphysicsandpossiblespintronicsandquantumcomputingapplications.Combiningscanningtunnelingspec-troscopywithtransportmeasurements,weinvestigate,bothlocallyandglobally,theeffectofnonmagneticandmagneticsubstituentsinSmB 6 , a predicted topological Kondo insulator. Around the so-introduced substitutents and in accord with theoretical predictions, the surface states are locally suppressed with different length scales de-pending on the substituent ’ s magnetic properties. For sufficiently high substituent concentrations, these states are globally destroyed. Similarly, using a magnetic tip in tunneling spectroscopy also resulted in largely suppressed surface states. Hence, a destruction of the surface states is always observed close to atoms with substantial magnetic moment. This points to the topological nature of the surface states in SmB 6 and illustrates how magnetic impurities destroy the surface states from microscopic to macroscopic length scales. further out compared to nonmagnetic impurities. In the former case, the formation of a global conducting surface state in SmB 6 :3%Gd at low T is already inhibited, providing a microscopic picture of how the topologically protected surface state is destroyed in real space.
D-Joseph: An Efficient Approach for Dynamic Software Reconfiguration in Data Stream Processing Systems

— While many data stream systems have to provide continuous (24x7) services with no acceptable downtime, they also have to cope with changes in their execution environments and in the requirements that they must comply (e.g., moving from on-premises architecture to a cloud system, changing the network technology, adding new functionality or modifying existing parts). On one hand, dynamic software reconfiguration (i.e., the capability of evolving on the fly) is a desirable feature. On the other hand, stream systems may suffer from the disruption and overhead caused by the reconfiguration. Due to the necessity of reconfiguring (i.e., evolving) the system whilst the system must not be disrupted (i.e., blocked), consistent and non-disruptive reconfiguration is still considered an open problem. This paper presents and validates D-Joseph, a non-quiescent approach for dynamic software reconfiguration that preserves the consistency of distributed data stream processing systems. Unlike many works that require the system to reach a safe state (e.g., quiescence) before performing a reconfiguration, the proposed approach enables the system to smoothly evolve (i.e., be reconfigured) in a non-disruptive way without reaching quiescence. The evaluation indicates that the proposed approach supports consistent distributed reconfiguration and has negligible impact on availability and performance. Furthermore, the implementation of the proposed approach showed better performance results in all experiments than the quiescent approach and Upstart.
RUNNING HEAD: Dementia in Aboriginal Australians

Dementia prevalence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians is three to five times higher than the general Australian population. A better understanding of the underlying biomedical and social risk factors is needed to guide dementia prevention in Aboriginal Australians. The current study is the first to examine potential risk factors for dementia in the majority urban and regional population, with a representative sample of 336 Aboriginal Australians aged 60 years and older. Participants included 45 people with a dementia diagnosis (n=27 probable/possible Alzheimer’s disease); and 286 people without dementia. Univariate logistic regression analyses (controlling for age) identified childhood trauma, midlife factors (history of unskilled work, past high-risk alcohol use) and medical factors (history of stroke, head injury with loss of consciousness, epilepsy) as risk factors for dementia. Multivariable analysis revealed age, childhood trauma, unskilled work, stroke, and head injury as independent predictors of all-cause dementia. A range of comorbid factors related to dementia was also identified (i.e., functional impairment, incontinence, recent hospital admission, low body mass index, living in residential care, depression, current high-risk alcohol use, social isolation, low physical activity levels). These findings extend previous outcomes in a remote Aboriginal population by highlighting that life-course social determinants of health, in addition to neurological disorders, likely play an important role in elevating dementia risk. Certain psychosocial and medical exposures are highly prevalent in Aboriginal Australians, similar to other indigenous populations, and should be considered when designing targeted and culturally appropriate prevention initiatives to reduce the burden of dementia.
The value of private information in the physician-patient relationship: a game-theoretic account

This paper presents a game-theoretical model of the physician-patient relationship. There is a conflict of interest between physician and patient, in that the physician prefers the patient to always obtain a particular treatment, even if the patient would not consider this treatment in his interest. The patient obtains imperfect cues of whether or not he needs the treatment. The effect is studied of an increase in the quality of the patient’s private information, in the form of an improvement in the quality of his cues. It is shown that when the patient’s information improves in this sense, he may either become better off or worse off. The precise circumstances under which either result is obtained, are derived.
Edinburgh Research Explorer Adaptive regulation of the brain's antioxidant defences by neurons and astrocytes

The human brain generally remains structurally and functionally sound for many decades, despite the post-mitotic and non-regenerative nature of neurons. This is testament to the brain ’ s profound capacity for homeostasis: both neurons and glia have in-built mechanisms that enable them to mount adaptive or protective responses to potentially challenging situations, ensuring that cellular viability and function-ality is maintained. The high and variable metabolic and mitochondrial activity of neurons places several demands on the brain, including the task of neutralizing the associated reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced, to limit the accumulation of oxidative damage. Astrocytes play a key role in providing anti- oxidant support to nearby neurons, and redox regulation of the astrocytic Nrf2 pathway represents a powerful homeostatic regulator of the large cohort of Nrf2-regulated antioxidant genes that they express. In contrast, the Nrf2 pathway is weak in neurons, robbing them of this particular homeostatic device. However, many neuronal antioxidant genes are controlled by synaptic activity, enabling activity-de- pendent increases in ROS production to be offset by enhanced antioxidant capacity of both glutathione and thioredoxin-peroxiredoxin systems. These distinct homeostatic mechanisms in neurons and astro- cytes together combine to promote neuronal resistance to oxidative insults. Future investigations into signaling between distinct cell types within the neuro-glial unit are likely to uncover further mechanisms underlying redox homeostasis in the brain.
The Relationship Between the Minimal Rank of a Tree and the Rank-Spreads of the Vertices and Edges

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MINIMAL RANK OF A TREE AND THE RANK-SPREADS OF THE VERTICES AND EDGES John H. Sinkovic III Department of Mathematics Master of Science Let F be a field, G = (V,E) be an undirected graph on n vertices, and let S(F,G) be the set of all symmetric n× n matrices whose nonzero off-diagonal entries occur in exactly the positions corresponding to the edges of G. Let mr(F,G) be the minimum rank over all matrices in S(F,G). We give a field independent proof of a well-known result that for a tree the sum of its path cover number and minimal rank is equal to the number of vertices in the tree. The rank-spread of a vertex v of G is the difference between the minimal ranks of G and G − v, the graph obtained by deleting v and all its incident edges from G. The rank-spread of an edge is defined similarly. We derive a formula that expresses the minimal rank of a tree as the difference of sums of rank-spreads, the first being the sum of the rank-spreads of all the vertices and the second the sum of the rank-spreads of all the edges. We show that this is a special case of a more general inequality for all graphs. In proving the above results we explore how rank-spreads change as graphs are vertex-summed. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without the guidance and direction of Dr. Wayne Barrett. He pointed the way and smoothed out the rough places. A special thanks to Jason Grout for the many conversations about minimal rank and for all the technical support. I would like to thank my family, especially my loving wife Rachel, for believing in me and encouraging me to the end.
The Indirect Effects of Oil Price on Consumption through Assets

This research considers how oil price can indirectly affect consumption through asset prices of stock and house. Using the theory of consumption wealth effect, this research shows that, unexpectedly, a rise in oil price would lead to increase in consumption. The research uses the data of three OECD countries of France, Canada and the United States from quarter 1 st 1997 to quarter 3 rd 2017 and vector autoregression model. Empirical results prove that a positive shock to oil price has a positive indirect effect on consumptions of France and Canada via both asset prices. The indirect effect of oil price on US consumption only exists through stock price. The duration of indirect effect of oil price on consumption depends on dependency of consumption to asset prices in each country.
Identiﬁcation of interleukin-1 b regulated genes in uterine smooth muscle cells

We analyzed the response of uterine smooth muscle cells to interleukin-1 b (IL-1 b ). We ﬁrst showed that PHM1-31 myometrial cells, our cellular model, are contractile. To determine the molecular mechanisms of uterine smooth muscle cell activation by proinﬂammatory cytokines, we performed genechip expression array proﬁling studies of PHM1-31 cells in the absence and the presence of IL-1 b . In total, we identiﬁed 198 known genes whose mRNA levels are signiﬁcantly modulated ( O 2.0-fold change) following IL-1 b exposure. We conﬁrmed the expression changes for selected genes by independent mRNA and protein analysis. The group of genes induced by IL-1 b includes transcription factors and inﬂammatory response genes such as nuclear factor of k light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells (NF k B), pentraxin-related gene (PTX3), and tumor necrosis factor a -induced protein 3/A20 (TNFAIP3/A20). We also found up-regulation of chemokines like C-X-C motif ligand 3 (CXCL3) and extracellular matrix remodeling signaling molecules like tenascin C (TNC). Our data suggest that IL-1 b elicits the rapid activation of a cellular network of genes particularly implicated in inﬂammatory response that may create a cellular environment favorable for myometrial cell contraction. Our results provide novel insights into the mechanisms of uterine smooth muscle cell regulation and possibly infection-induced preterm labor.