Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Heating characteristics of ferromagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for magnetic hyperthermia

Heating characteristics of Fe oxide nanoparticles designed for hyperthermia were examined. Samples with coercive forces from 50 to 280 Oe(codoped magnetite) were produced with a coprecipitation technique following by hydrothermal reaction. The maximum specific loss powers (SLPs) of 420 W/g was obtained at 117 kHz (640 Oe) for a dispersant sample with coercive force of 280 Oe (ATH9D). SLPs measured on dry powder samples at 17 kHz and measured at 117 kHz on dispersant samples were compared. The measured SLP amplitudes are lower for 17 kHz and higher for 117 kHz than those expected from ferromagnetic dc minor loops. For the 117 kHz case, friction of particles in a carrier fluid (similar mechanism to Brown relaxation in superparamagnetic dispersant samples) is considered to contribute to the heating mechanism.
大剂量静脉铁剂治疗缺铁性贫血的应用进展

Application progress of high-dose intravenous iron in the treatment of iron deficiency anemia Liu Limin, Wu Depei National Clinical Research Center for Hematologic Diseases, the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Jiangsu Institute of Hematology, Key Laboratory of Thrombosis and Hemostasis of Ministry of Health, Suzhou 215006, China Corresponding author: Wu Depei, Email: wudepei@suda.edu. cn
On the asymptotic behaviour of selector statistics

Adaptive procedures proposed by Hogg are based on selector statistics for the skewness and the tails. The asymptotic properties of several proposed selector statistics are investigated. Since ail these statistics have under some assumptions asymptoti¬cally a normal distribution, their properties depend on the asymptotic bias and variance. The reasonable concept to compare the different selector statistics is based on the selection probabil¬ities in discriminating the type of the underlying distribution. These values are numerically calculated and analyzed in detail for a number of underlying distributions.
Prognosis of COVID‐19 patients using lab tests: A data mining approach

The rapid prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) has caused a pandemic worldwide and affected the lives of millions. The potential fatality of the disease has led to global public health concerns. Apart from clinical practice, artificial intelligence (AI) has provided a new model for the early diagnosis and prediction of disease based on machine learning (ML) algorithms. In this study, we aimed to make a prediction model for the prognosis of COVID‐19 patients using data mining techniques.
Segmentation Squeeze-and-Excitation Blocks in Stroke Lesion Outcome Prediction

Multi-modal Magnetic Resonance Imaging sequences along with 4D Perfusion Weighted Imaging scans provide important information for stroke lesion outcome prediction. However, the proposed methodologies until now were not able to discriminate correctly the most informative features from the less useful ones. In this work, we propose an enhanced version of a data fusion method for stroke tissue outcome prediction by employing attention models. We compare our proposal with two other recent attention mechanisms for image segmentation, showing that all of them improved over the baseline in most metrics. However, our proposal also improved all distance metrics, which indicates a reduction in false positive detections far from the lesion.
Extensions of Plus Closure

Huge progress in the study of the homological properties of commutative rings has been made through the use of tight closure, an idea developed by Mel Hochster and Craig Huneke. Unfortunately, tight closure is only defined for equicharacteristic local rings. There appears to be no way to extend it to mixed characteristic local rings. Thus there is a natural desire to find a suitable closure operation for this setting. One interesting alternate closure operation, which sometimes has similar properties, is the plus closure. The plus closure appears to be harder to work with but may in fact coincide with the tight closure in characteristic p rings. It also does have a certain degree of utility in the mixed characteristic case. Unfortunately, it is essentially worthless for equicharacteristic zero rings. More importantly, because much of the internal structure of mixed characteristic rings resembles that of equicharacteristic zero rings, it simply is not a satisfactory analogue for tight closure. In the mixed characteristic case, the plus closure is most effective for ideals which contain a power of the prime integer p. Of course, in the characteristic p case, where the plus closure is at its best, all ideals have this property. The idea behind the research undertaken here is that we can use the plus closure of I pR for large n to define a new closure for I. In this article, we define and explore four new closely related closure operations. Two of the closures, the full extended plus closure and the full rank one closure, are defined first; then the remaining two potentially smaller closures, the extended plus closure and the rank one closure, are defined by applying the full closures to ideals in finitely generated Z-subalgebras of the original ring. The full closures seem to provide the basis for a Ž solid theory for characteristic p rings where the tight closure already . performs this role . It is our hope that the full closures will actually
Development of Nanoparticle Adaptation Phenomena in Acinetobacter baumannii: Physiological Change and Defense Response

Several recent studies have reported on the development of bacterial resistance to broad-spectrum antimicrobial silver nanoparticles (nanosilver; NAg). NAg is currently one of the most important alternative antimicrobial agents. ABSTRACT The present work describes the evolution of a resistance phenotype to a multitargeting antimicrobial agent, namely, silver nanoparticles (nanosilver; NAg), in the globally prevalent bacterial pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii. The Gram-negative bacterium has recently been listed as a critical priority pathogen requiring novel treatment options by the World Health Organization. Through prolonged exposure to the important antimicrobial nanoparticle, the bacterium developed mutations in genes that encode the protein subunits of organelle structures that are involved in cell-to-surface attachment as well as in a cell envelope capsular polysaccharide synthesis-related gene. These mutations are potentially correlated with stable physiological changes in the biofilm growth behavior and with an evident protective effect against oxidative stress, most likely as a feature of toxicity defense. We further report a different adaptation response of A. baumannii to the cationic form of silver (Ag+). The bacterium developed a tolerance phenotype to Ag+, which was correlated with an indicative surge in respiratory activity and changes in cell morphology, of which these are reported characteristics of tolerant bacterial populations. The findings regarding adaptation phenomena to NAg highlight the risks of the long-term use of the nanoparticle on a priority pathogen. The findings urge the implementation of strategies to overcome bacterial NAg adaptation, to better elucidate the toxicity mechanisms of the nanoparticle, and preserve the efficacy of the potent alternative antimicrobial agent in this era of antimicrobial resistance. IMPORTANCE Several recent studies have reported on the development of bacterial resistance to broad-spectrum antimicrobial silver nanoparticles (nanosilver; NAg). NAg is currently one of the most important alternative antimicrobial agents. However, no studies have yet established whether Acinetobacter baumannii, a globally prevalent nosocomial pathogen, can develop resistance to the nanoparticle. The study herein describes how a model strain of A. baumannii with no inherent silver resistance determinants developed resistance to NAg, following prolonged exposure. The stable physiological changes are correlated with mutations detected in the bacterium genome. These mutations render the bacterium capable of proliferating at a toxic NAg concentration. It was also found that A. baumannii developed a “slower-to-kill” tolerance trait to Ag+, which highlights the unique antimicrobial activities between the nanoparticulate and the ionic forms of silver. Despite the proven efficacy of NAg, the observation of NAg resistance in A. baumannii emphasises the potential risks of the repeated overuse of this agent on a priority pathogen.
Topologically preserved registration of 3D CT images with deep networks

Objective. Computed Tomography (CT) image registration makes fast and accurate imaging-based disease diagnosis possible. We aim to develop a framework which can perform accurate local registration of organs in 3D CT images while preserving the topology of transformation. Approach. In this framework, the Faster R-CNN method is first used to detect local areas containing organs from fixed and moving images whose results are then registered with a weakly supervised deep neural network. In this network, a novel 3D channel coordinate attention (CA) module is introduced to reduce the loss of position information. The image edge loss and the organ labelling loss are used to weakly supervise the training process of our deep network, which enables the network learning to focus on registering organs and image structures. An intuitive inverse module is also used to reduce the folding of deformation field. More specifically, the folding is suppressed directly by simultaneously maximizing forward and backward registration accuracy in the image domain rather than indirectly by measuring the consistency of forward and inverse deformation fields as usual. Main results. Our method achieves an average dice similarity coefficient (DSC) of 0.954 and an average Similarity (Sim) of 0.914 on publicly available liver datasets (LiTS for training and Sliver07 for testing) and achieves an average DSC of 0.914 and an average Sim of 0.947 on our home-built left ventricular myocardium (LVM) dataset. Significance. Experimental results show that our proposed method can significantly improve the registration accuracy of organs such as the liver and LVM. Moreover, our inverse module can intuitively improve the inherent topological preservation of transformations.
Sperm selection by the oviduct: perspectives for male fertility and assisted reproductive technologies

Abstract The contribution of sperm to embryogenesis is gaining attention with up to 50% of infertility cases being attributed to a paternal factor. The traditional methods used in assisted reproductive technologies for selecting and assessing sperm quality are mainly based on motility and viability parameters. However, other sperm characteristics, including deoxyribonucleic acid integrity, have major consequences for successful live birth. In natural reproduction, sperm navigate the male and female reproductive tract to reach and fertilize the egg. During transport, sperm encounter many obstacles that dramatically reduce the number arriving at the fertilization site. In humans, the number of sperm is reduced from tens of millions in the ejaculate to hundreds in the Fallopian tube (oviduct). Whether this sperm population has higher fertilization potential is not fully understood, but several studies in animals indicate that many defective sperm do not advance to the site of fertilization. Moreover, the oviduct plays a key role in fertility by modulating sperm transport, viability, and maturation, providing sperm that are ready to fertilize at the appropriate time. Here we present evidence of sperm selection by the oviduct with emphasis on the mechanisms of selection and the sperm characteristics selected. Considering the sperm parameters that are essential for healthy embryonic development, we discuss the use of novel in vitro sperm selection methods that mimic physiological conditions. We propose that insight gained from understanding how the oviduct selects sperm can be translated to assisted reproductive technologies to yield high fertilization, embryonic development, and pregnancy rates. Summary Sentence Understanding how sperm are selected during their transport through the oviduct provides the underpinning for rational development of new technologies for treating infertility.
Perceived Group Identity Alters Task-Unrelated Thought and Attentional Divergence During Conversations

Task-unrelated thought (TUT) occurs frequently in our daily lives and across a range of tasks, but we know little about how this phenomenon arises during and influences the way we communicate. Conversations also provide a novel opportunity to assess the alignment (or divergence) in TUT during dyadic interactions. We conducted a study to determine: (a) the frequency of TUT during conversation as well as how partners align/diverge in their rates of TUT, (b) the subjective and behavioral correlates of TUT and TUT divergence during conversation, and (c) if perceived social group identity impacts TUT and TUT divergence during conversation. We used a minimal groups induction procedure to assign participants (N = 126) to either an ingroup, outgroup, or control condition. We then asked them to converse with one another via a computer-mediated text chat application for 10 min while self-reporting TUTs. On average, participants reported TUT about once every 2 min; however, this rate was lower for participants in the ingroup condition, compared to the control condition. Conversational pairs in the ingroup condition were also aligned more in their rates of TUT compared to the outgroup condition. Finally, we discuss subjective and behavioral correlates of TUT and TUT divergence in conversations, such as valence, turn-taking ratios, and topic shifts.
The burden of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis in older adults in the United States: A systematic review

Background Increases in life expectancy, the availability of sexual performance enhancing medication, and changes in sexual partnering suggest that sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among older persons could be on the rise, yet there have been relatively few studies examining STIs in this demographic. Our systematic review aimed to further characterize the incidence and prevalence of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis, along with associated risk factors among older adults (45 years or older) in the United States. Methods We searched five electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Cinahl, Web of Science, and Global Health) for data published from inception to January 2021. The retrieved articles were screened based on eligibility criteria, and subsequent review of relevant article bibliographies was conducted. Results Of 4748 articles identified, 23 studies met our inclusion criteria and one additional article was identified through bibliography review. Of the 23 included articles, only 3 (11.5%) were focused exclusively on evaluating STIs in an older population. We found prevalence to be the following ranges: syphilis (0–18%), chlamydia (0–14.2%) and gonorrhea (0–15%). Few studies specifically investigated risk factors in this demographic. Conclusions The understudied burden of STIs in the older adult population substantiates the need to recognize issues surrounding sexuality in this demographic.
Addressing the Weaponization of Genetic Research

In the spring of 2022, a white teenager named Payton Gendron opened fire in a Buffalo, New York, supermarket, killing 13 people, most of whom were Black. The teenager’s violent rampage was subsequently revealed to have been rooted in white supremist ideology in his 180-page manifesto, in which he espoused his belief in the far right “Great Replacement” conspiracy and contended that the U.S. should belong to white persons only (Hajela 2022). He also noted that, in his planned horrific act, he sought to inspire others to carry out similar attacks. * Perhaps most disturbing of all was the fact that Payton Gendron attempted to use genetic research to justify these murders and white nationalist ideology in general. He cited, for example, a 2008 report on human genetic variation that suggested genetic differences among 7 continental populations but lacked proportional representation from Africa (Li et al, 2008) (Carlson et al, 2022). It is becoming clear that the current national resurgence of white supremacy is being driven in part by extremist groups who co-opt scientific findings and genetic research and “interpret” these data as support for their ideology. A 2014 study on the origins of present-day Europeans, for instance, is regularly invoked and misused by social media users with links to neo-Nazi and supremacy groups (Lazaridis et al, 2014). In this sense, modern-day genetic research is being “weaponized” with hateful intent, and clearly, the scientific community needs to confront and counter this dangerous trend. Efforts thus far have been insufficient, however, say the authors of a newly published commentary (Carlson et al, 2022).
Digital Educational Strategies to Teach Skin Self-examination to Individuals at Risk for Skin Cancer

ABSTRACT Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, and early detection of melanoma may lead to diagnosis of thinner and more treatable cancers, resulting in improved survival rates. This study examined the effects of message interactivity (high vs. low) and imagery (cartoon, real human character, or customized imagery preference) on accuracy of identifying abnormal skin lesions (ASL) and skin self-examination (SSE) intention. This study employed a 3 (cartoon character vs. real person vs. customization) x 2 (high interactivity vs. low interactivity) between-subjects online experimental design. Participants at risk for skin cancer were randomly assigned to one of the six conditions and completed a survey after reviewing the educational materials. Univariate analyses were conducted to detect group differences on the accuracy of identifying ASL and intention to conduct SSE in the next 3 months. Among 321 participants who completed the study, the mean age was 36.61 years, 56.7% were females, 76.1% had a college or higher degree, and over 60% self-identified as non-Hispanic White. Individuals in the high interactivity and customization group (compared to the low interactivity and cartoon group) were more likely to accurately identify ASL. Individuals in the high interactivity and customization or low interactivity and real person imagery groups (compared to the low interactivity and cartoon group) reported higher intention to conduct SSE in the next 3 months. These results suggest that customization and interactivity may be beneficial for educational programs or intervention design to improve both melanoma identification and SSE intention.
Improvement of the Pour Plate Method by Separate Sterilization of Agar and Other Medium Components and Reduction of the Agar Concentration

In the era of rapid microbiological methods, there is a need to improve long-established culture techniques. Drawbacks of the pour plate method include having to melt each medium separately before seeding. ABSTRACT Although the pour plate method is widely employed in microbiological quality control, it has certain drawbacks, including having to melt the culture medium before seeding. In this study, the preparation of the culture medium was modified by using a lower concentration of agar (10 g/L), which was separated from the nutrients during sterilization. The new protocol was assessed in media frequently used in microbiological quality control of food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products, with tryptic soy agar (TSA), Sabouraud 4% dextrose agar (SDA), and violet red bile glucose agar (VRBG). In comparison with the conventionally produced media, the modifications significantly improved the growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in SDA, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium, and Candida albicans in TSA and Escherichia coli ATCC 8739 and ATCC 25922 and S. Typhimurium in VRBG. The modified VRBG was also more selective for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Regarding physicochemical properties, a significantly lower pH was observed in TSA and VRBG and lower strength values in TSA. Sterilizing agar separately from the other components of the medium and reducing the agar concentration to 10 g/L can improve microorganism growth and enhance the selectivity of differential media in the pour plate method. These modifications could facilitate the automation of this culture technique. IMPORTANCE In the era of rapid microbiological methods, there is a need to improve long-established culture techniques. Drawbacks of the pour plate method include having to melt each medium separately before seeding. For this technique, we demonstrate that separating the agar from the other components of commonly used media during sterilization and reducing the agar concentration to 10 g/L can enhance microbial growth. The new protocol could have advantages in routine laboratory practice because less agar is required and the same molten agar suspension can be used to prepare different media. Moreover, these modifications could facilitate the automation of the pour plate method.
MgB/sub 2/ thick films via screen printing

We report the fabrication of MgB/sub 2/ thick films using a simple screen printing method. The substrates investigated were mono-crystalline Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/, LaAlO/sub 3/, MgO, ZrO, SrTiO/sub 3/, Si as well as steel. The dense, polycrystalline MgB/sub 2/ films consisted of crystallites with longest dimensions of about 100 nm. No texturing was observed. The transition temperatures T/sub c(0)/ varied between 34 and 36 K with transition widths smaller than 2 K. The critical current densities depended only modestly on the external field. At 6 T critical current densities of 1 /spl times/ 10/sup 8/ A/m/sup 2/ could be measured at 10 K.
Shock breakout in SN 1987A

Detailed models for the UV burst from SN 1987A are calculated using a two-temperature radiation hydrodynamics code. The sequence of events which occur during shock breakout is described, including the formation of a radiative precursor, the disappearance of the shock, and the growth of a thin, dense shell above the photosphere which gives rise to a new viscous, isothermal shock. Continuum spectra are calculated under the assumption that the emergent radiation is a dilute blackbody with a color temperature equal to the radiation temperature at the thermalization depth. This color temperature is 2-3 times higher than the effective temperature. Light-travel-time corrections have been included in the light curves and the spectra. Quantities most relevant to accurate modeling of the fluorescing ring around SN 1987A are highlighted.
The uniform general signed rank test and its design sensitivity

A sensitivity analysis in an observational study tests whether the qualitative conclusions of an analysis would change if we were to allow for the possibility of limited bias due to confounding. The design sensitivity of a hypothesis test quantifies the asymptotic performance of the test in a sensitivity analysis against a particular alternative. We propose a new, nonasymptotic, distribution-free test, the uniform general signed rank test, for observational studies with paired data, and examine its performance under Rosenbaum’s sensitivity analysis model. Our test can be viewed as adaptively choosing from among a large underlying family of signed rank tests, and we show that the uniform test achieves design sensitivity equal to the maximum design sensitivity over the underlying family of signed rank tests. Our test thus achieves superior design sensitivity, indicating it will perform well in sensitivity analyses on large samples. We support this conclusion with simulations and a data example, showing that the advantages of our test extend to moderate sample sizes as well.