Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetically proxied lean mass and risk of Alzheimer’s disease: mendelian randomisation study

Objective To examine whether genetically proxied lean mass is associated with risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Design Mendelian randomisation study. Setting The UK Biobank study and genome wide association study meta-analyses of Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive performance. Participants Summary level genetic data from: 450 243 UK Biobank participants with impedance measures of lean mass and fat mass; an independent sample of 21 982 patients with Alzheimer’s disease and 41 944 controls without Alzheimer’s disease; a replication sample of 7329 patients with Alzheimer’s disease and 252 879 controls; and 269 867 individuals taking part in a genome wide association study of cognitive performance. Main outcome measure Effect of genetically proxied lean mass on the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, and the related phenotype of cognitive performance. Results An increase in genetically proxied appendicular lean mass of one standard deviation was associated with a 12% reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease (odds ratio 0.88, 95% confidence interval 0.82 to 0.95, P=0.001). This finding was replicated in an independent cohort of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (0.91, 0.83 to 0.99, P=0.02) and was consistent in sensitivity analyses that are more robust to the inclusion of pleiotropic variants. Higher genetically proxied appendicular lean mass was also associated with increased cognitive performance (standard deviation increase in cognitive performance for each standard deviation increase in appendicular lean mass 0.09, 95% confidence interval 0.06 to 0.11, P=0.001), and adjusting for potential mediation through genetically proxied cognitive performance did not reduce the association between appendicular lean mass and risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Similar results were found for the outcomes of Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive performance when the risk factors of genetically proxied trunk lean mass and whole body lean mass were used, respectively, adjusted for genetically proxied fat mass. Conclusions These findings suggest that lean mass might be a possible modifiable protective factor for Alzheimer’s disease. The mechanisms underlying this finding, as well as the clinical and public health implications, warrant further investigation.
Image reconstruction using simulated annealing in electrical impedance tomography: a new approach

Abstract Image reconstruction in electrical impedance tomography (EIT) deals with an ill-posed and non-linear inverse problem. It has the objective of minimizing the difference between simulated (virtual) object data and electric voltage measurements performed on a non-simulated (real) object. In this paper, a new approach to the simulated annealing method applied to the reconstruction of EIT images is described. The main advantage of this approach is that all conductivity parameters are updated simultaneously. Most methods that employ simulated annealing to the problem of EIT usually evaluate each conductivity parameter individually resulting in high computational cost. The algorithm was tested both with computationally generated data and with measurements performed on a physical tank. In both cases, the method was able to make data inversion, determining the position, the dimensions and the conductivity of materials in an opaque object plane.
One Year of Outpatient Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Its Impact on Neuronal Correlates of Attachment Representation in Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder Using a Personalized fMRI Task

(1) Background: BPD is characterized by affect dysregulation, interpersonal problems, and disturbances in attachment, but neuroimaging studies investigating attachment representations in BPD are rare. No study has examined longitudinal neural changes associated with interventions targeting these impairments. (2) Methods: We aimed to address this gap by performing a longitudinal neuroimaging study on n = 26 patients with BPD treated with Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and n = 26 matched healthy controls (HCs; post intervention point: n = 18 BPD and n = 23 HCs). For functional imaging, we applied an attachment paradigm presenting attachment related scenes represented in drawings paired with related neutral or personalized sentences from one’s own attachment narratives. In a prior cross-sectional investigation, we identified increased fMRI-activation in the human attachment network, in areas related to fear response and the conflict monitoring network in BPD patients. These were especially evident for scenes from the context of loneliness (monadic pictures paired with individual narrative sentences). Here, we tested whether these correlates of attachment representation show a near-to-normal development over one year of DBT intervention. In addition, we were interested in possible associations between fMRI-activation in these regions-of-interest (ROI) and clinical scores. (3) Results: Patients improved clinically, showing decreased symptoms of borderline personality organization (BPI) and increased self-directedness (Temperament and Character Inventory, TCI) over treatment. fMRI-activation was increased in the anterior medial cingulate cortex (aMCC) and left amygdala in BPD patients at baseline which was absent after intervention. When investigating associations between scores (BPI, TCI) and functional activation, we found significant effects in the bilateral amygdala. In contrast, aMCC activation at baseline was negatively associated with treatment outcome, indicating less effective treatment effects for those with higher aMCC activation at baseline. (4) Conclusions: Monadic attachment scenes with personalized sentences presented in an fMRI setup are capable of identifying increased activation magnitude in BPD. After successful DBT treatment, these increased activations tend to normalize which could be interpreted as signs of a better capability to regulate intensive emotions in the context of “social pain” towards a more organized/secure attachment representation. Amygdala activation, however, indicates high correlations with pre-treatment scores; activation in the aMCC is predictive for treatment gain. Functional activation of the amygdala and the aMCC as a response to attachment scenes representing loneness at baseline might be relevant influencing factors for DBT-intervention outcomes.
Age-Related Differences in Testosterone Concentration and Its Relation to Testicular Biometrics, Hemodynamics, and Fertility in Alpacas (Vicugna pacos)

Simple Summary Studies related to alpaca (Vicugna pacos) reproduction are scarce in the Andean region. The potential age-related differences in serum testosterone profiles in alpaca males and its relation to testicular morphometric characteristics, hemodynamics, and pregnancy rate of alpaca females inseminated by natural mating was investigated as a model for the study of other South American camelid species. Under our experimental conditions, the results obtained from different age groups regarding testosterone concentration and ultrasonographic traits suggested that they were not determining factors for assessing potential fertility differences in alpaca males. Abstract The goal of this study was to investigate the age-related differences in testosterone concentration and its relation to testicular biometrics, testicular blood flow, and fertility in alpacas (Vicugna pacos). Fifteen alpaca males with different ages (young (YM; ~12–14 mo.), n = 5; intermediate (IM; ~24 mo.), n = 5; and old (OM; ≥36 mo.), n = 5) were enrolled in the study. Blood samples were taken from each alpaca male and the circulating plasmatic testosterone concentration (TC; ng/mL) was determined using ELISA analysis. The testicular traits related to bio-morphometric parameters (the length (L), width (W), area (A), and volume (TV)) were assessed using B-mode ultrasonography. Pulse-wave/power Doppler ultrasonography was used to obtain the circulatory dynamic values (testicular hemodynamics) before the beginning of natural service mating. Significant differences were observed in TC among the age groups, increasing as the age of the males increased (2.47 ± 0.31, 8.45 ± 1.53, and 22.66 ± 2.15 for YM, IM, and OM, respectively; p < 0.05); however, no differences were observed regarding the testicular B-mode ultrasonographic parameters (L, W, and A) (p > 0.05). Positive correlations were observed between TV and testicular L, W, and A (r = 0.96, r = 0.95, and r = 0.96, respectively; p ≤ 0.001). Pulse-wave-Doppler-derived parameters such as the pulsatility index (PI) and the resistive index (RI), as well as the total vascularity area (TVA) assessed by power Doppler, were similar in all of the age groups studied (p > 0.05). General linear model (GLM) analysis showed a relationship between TC and TV (OR = 0.95; p = 0.04), as well as between TC and TVA (OR = 0.99; p= 0.02). Finally, no differences were observed regarding the pregnancy rate among the different age groups (p > 0.05). In conclusion, TC increased as the age of the alpaca males increased. Although TC was related to TV and TVA, the pregnancy rates obtained from individuals belonging to the different age groups were similar, indicating that TC, TV, and TVA were not determining factors in assessing the potential age-related fertility differences in alpaca males.
Skin safety test in electrowetting application: a preliminary study

In the last ten years, the market for wearable technologies has increased significantly. Existing commercially available multisensor systems, such as intelligent devices and activity trackers, are able to acquire physiological signals like heart rate and oxygen saturation percent level. Nowadays, the integration of chemical biomarkers into wearables, particularly in fitness applications, represents a new market share. However, the development of sweat-sensing devices for monitoring hospitalized patients is still an open challenge. The European project ‘Sentinel’ aims to develop a wearable sweat sensor patch for e-health monitoring of hospitalized patients based on the electrowetting principle. This paper presents a preliminary study regarding skin safety testing for this electrowetting application. The tests were conducted on ten skin samples from five Wild-Type mice. An ad-hoc gold-based electrode representing the electrowetting configuration was realized. The skin impedance and current flow were assessed with a signal generator, a milli-amperemeter and an oscilloscope. The results show that the skin impedance and current depend on the voltage applied to the electrodes, as well as on the amount of liquid inside the sample; on the other hand, the results do not depend on the applied external force, representing the clamping force on the sweat sensor patch. In particular, the impedance values are in the range of 89 k$\Omega$-350k$\Omega$, while the current is always lower than 25 $\mu$A. Linear regression shows how for 60, 80 and 100 V, we obtain a max current of 75 $\mu$A, which is lower than the safety level required by international standards and recommendations.
Sliding mode control of singularly perturbed systems and its application in quad-rotors

ABSTRACT This paper presents a sliding mode control scheme for tracking control of nonlinear singularly perturbed systems in the presence of model errors and external disturbances. A dual-loop feedback control is developed to provide accurate tracking capability and sufficient robustness to system uncertainties. A sliding mode controller is proposed in the outer-loop feedback design such that the plant states are stabilised for given reference trajectories, while an additional robust controller is designed in the inner loop to increase the adaptability to uncertainties, and reduce the effect of unmodelled high-frequency dynamics on plant dynamics. An appealing feature of the control scheme is the attenuation of chattering. The effectiveness and merits of the new control scheme developed are shown via a verification example of velocity control of a quad-rotor.
The I-mode confinement regime at ASDEX Upgrade: global properties and characterization of strongly intermittent density fluctuations

Properties of the I-mode confinement regime on the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak are summarized. A weak dependence of the power threshold for the L-I transition on the toroidal magnetic field strength is found. During improved confinement, the edge radial electric field well deepens. Stability calculations show that the I-mode pedestal is peeling-ballooning stable. Turbulence investigations reveal strongly intermittent density fluctuations linked to the weakly coherent mode in the confined plasma, which become stronger as the confinement quality increases. Across all investigated structure sizes (k⊥≈5–12 cm−1, with k⊥ the perpendicular wavenumber of turbulent density fluctuations), the intermittent turbulence bursts are observed. Comparison with bolometry data shows that they move poloidally toward the X-point and finally end up in the divertor. This might be indicative that they play a role in inhibiting the density profile growth, such that no pedestal is formed in the edge density profile.
Image Fusion Based on Memristive Neural Network

Image fusion aims to integrate complementary information of images collected by multiple source channels into a single fusion image. It can extract the favorable information in each channel to the maximum extent and generate high quality image. This technology is widely used in various fields, among which the neural network is the most widely used. However, there are still many problems to be solved, such as the removal of redundant information and the retention of effective information. This paper proposes to add memristors on the basis of pulse coupled neural network to realize the adaptive change of neural network parameters, which breaks the shackles of traditional fixed parameters. This allows for better image fusion. For the two processing results, this paper combines the fusion image and grid sampling graph to analyze the processing effect. The results of pulse coupled neural network and memristive neural network were compared and analyzed from three aspects: information entropy, spatial frequency and average gradient. The experimental results show that the image fusion using memristive neural network is better and the resulting image is clearer. The feasibility and superiority of memristive neural network are verified.
Locally Volume Collapsed 4-Manifolds with Respect to a Lower Sectional Curvature Bound

Author(s): Theerakarn, Thunwa | Advisor(s): Lott, John | Abstract: Perelman stated without proof that a 3-dimensional compact Riemannian manifold which is locally volume collapsed, with respect to a lower curvature bound, is a graph manifold. The theorem was used to complete his Ricci flow proof of Thurston’s geometrization conjecture. Kleiner and Lott gave a proof of the theorem as a part of their presentation of Perelman’s proof.In this dissertation, we generalize Kleiner and Lott’s version of Perelman’s theorem to 4-dimensional closed Riemannian manifolds. We show that under some regularity assumptions, if a 4-dimensional closed Riemannian manifold is locally volume collapsed then it admits an F-structure or a metric of nonnegative sectional curvature.
Influence of dietary oils rich in omega-6 or omega-3 fatty acids on rumen microbiome of dairy cows

Abstract The objective of this study was to compare the effect of supplementing dairy cow diets with contrasting sources of omega-6 (soybean oil) and omega-3 (fish oil) PUFA on rumen microbiome. For 63 d, 15 mid-lactating cows were fed a control diet (n = 5 cows; no fat supplement) or control diet supplemented with 2.9% dry matter (DM) of either soybean oil (SO; n = 5 cows) or fish oil (FO; n = 5 cows). Ruminal contents were collected on days 0, 21, 42, and 63 for 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Beta diversity and Shannon, Simpson and Chao1 diversity indices were not affected by dietary treatments. In terms of core microbiome, Succiniclasticum, Prevotella, Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group, and NK4A214_group were the most prevalent taxa regardless of treatments. Bifidobacterium was absent in SO diet, Acetitomaculum was absent in FO, and Sharpea was only detected in SO. Overall, results showed that at 2.9% DM supplementation of either SO or FO over 63 days in dairy cow diets does not cause major impact on bacterial community composition and thus is recommended as feeding practice.
A fast Berry-Esseen theorem under minimal density assumptions

Let $X_1,\ldots,X_N$ be i.i. d. \ random variables distributed like $X$. Suppose that the first $k \geq 3$ moments $\{ \mathbb{E}[X^j] : j = 1,\ldots,k\}$ of $X$ agree with that of the standard Gaussian distribution, that $\mathbb{E}[|X|^{k+1}]<\infty$, and that there is a subinterval of $\mathbb{R}$ of width $w$ over which the law of $X$ has a density of at least $h$. Then we show that \begin{align} \label{eq:bnew} \sup_{s \in \mathbb{R}} \left| \mathbb{P} \left( \frac{X_1 + \ldots + X_N}{ \sqrt{N} } \leq s \right) - \int_{-\infty}^s \frac{ e^{ - u^2/2} \mathrm{d} u }{ \sqrt{2 \pi }} \right| \leq 3 \left\{ \frac{\mathbb{E}[|X|^{k+1}]}{ N^{ \frac{k-1}{2}} } + e^{ - c hw^3 N/\mathbb{E}[|X|^{k+1}] } \right\}, \end{align} where $c>0$ is universal. By setting $k=3$, we see that in particular all symmetric random variables with densities and finite fourth moment satisfy a Berry-Esseen inequality with a bound of the order $1/N$. Thereafter, we study the Berry-Esseen theorem as it pertains to perturbations of the Bernoulli law with a small density component, showing by means of a reverse inequality that the power $hw^3$ in the exponential term is asymptotically sharp.
Should We Feed the Trolls? Using Marketer-Generated Content to Explain Average Toxicity and Product Usage

Marketers and researchers recognize the importance and impact on consumer behavior of marketer-generated content (MGC) in social media channels. In this study, the authors present a method to classify MGC using a combination of unsupervised and supervised machine learning. They gather a large data set of posts from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and use a time-series model (panel-data vector autoregression) to demonstrate how MGC can be used to explain average toxicity on the part of users. They contribute to the field by examining what types of MGC lead to toxic comments and how these toxic comments impact product usage. The authors find that MGC that demonstrates the quality of products and MGC that is aimed at creating a sense of belonging to a group are more likely to increase average toxicity. Furthermore, the authors find that higher average toxicity in social media communities leads to an increase in usage of the focal product. Finally, the results contribute to the literature by providing insights on the impact of MGC on product usage.
A Novel Scalable Dual Basis GF(2m) Multiplier Architecture

Modern mobile communications and Internet transactions heavily rely on cryptosystems to ensure their security. These cryptosystems such as ECDSA usually rely on arithmetic operations over finite field GF(2 ) m . The most important arithmetic operation is multiplication, thus leading to the high demand for design of efficient multiplier. In this paper, based on the Hankel matrix-vector representation of dual basis multiplication, a novel low-complexity scalable digital circuit architecture for dual basis GF(2 ) m multiplication is derived and proposed. This scalable architecture adopts most significant digit (MSD) first scheme and can perform mbit multiplications with substantially smaller d-bit digits, and thus is feasible for implementing ECC cryptosystems such as ECDSA in resource-constrained environments such as embedded systems and smart cards. Analytical results exhibit that both area and time-area complexities of the proposed scalable architecture are substantially lower than those of the non-scalable architectures. Moreover, due to its features of regularity, modularity and concurrency, the proposed architecture is highly promising for VLSI implementations.
The science objectives for CALET

The CALorimetric Electron Telescope, CALET, is a new all-sky electron and gamma ray observatory to be installed on the standard external payload port of the Japanese Experiment Module Exposure Facility (JEM-EF) of the International Space Station (ISS). The high precision measurements of the electron energy spectrum and the particle arrival directions (10 GeV – 20 TeV) enable CALET to detect distinctive features from nearby cosmic-ray electron sources and WIMP dark matter annihilation or decay. The electron observations in the 1 GeV – 10 GeV region also allow solar modulation investigations. The outstanding energy resolution, better than ∼2 % above 100 GeV, is ideal to detect gamma-ray lines and/or spectral signatures from WIMP dark matter through galactic and extra-galactic diffuse gamma-ray observations in the 10 GeV – 10 TeV region. Gamma-ray sources such as SNRs, AGNs, GRBs, and so on are also objectives for CALET to investigate high-energy phenomena. The cosmic-ray spectra of proton, helium, and heavier nuclei up to iron can be measured in the energy range from several 10 GeV to 1000 TeV. In particular, the measurements of the B/C-ratio above 100 GeV will enable CALET to limit cosmic-ray propagation mechanisms. In this paper, we present the scientific prospects of CALET to investigate the origin, acceleration and propagation mechanisms of cosmic rays and conduct a dark matter search.
Adverbs of certainty in a cross-linguistic and cross-cultural perspective: English-Polish

The increasing interest in cross-linguistic research in the area of epistemic modality calls for developing a common theoretical framework within which the inventories and uses of epistemics can be compared across languages. The aim of this study is to compare the repertoires of English and Polish adverbs of certainty taking as the starting point the classification employed by Simon-Vandenbergen and Aijmer (2007). It attempts to examine the validity of their typology for cross-linguistic studies with reference to data from English and Polish. The uses of English and Polish epistemics are illustrated with examples from the British National Corpus and the PWN corpus, respectively. Because the means of expressing epistemic modality differ both the cross-linguistically and cross-culturally, the findings are placed in a cross-cultural perspective.