Category: 3. Business

BANGKOK — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Friday that the company is discussing a potential new computer chip designed for China with the Trump administration.

Huang was asked about a possible “B30A” semiconductor for artificial intelligence data centers for China while on a visit to Taiwan, where he was meeting Nvidia’s key manufacturing partner, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., the world’s largest chip maker.

“I’m offering a new product to China for … AI data centers, the follow-on to H20,” Huang said. But he added that “That’s not our decision to make. It’s up to, of course, the United States government. And we’re in dialogue with them, but it’s too soon to know.”

Such chips are graphics processing units, or GPUs, a type of device used to build and update a range of AI systems. But they are less powerful than Nvidia’s top semiconductors today, which cannot be sold to China due to U.S. national security restrictions.

The B30A, based on California-based Nvidia’s specialized Blackwell technology, is reported to operate at about half the speed of Nvidia’s main B300 chips.

Huang praised the the Trump administration for recently approving sales of Nvidia’s H20 chips to China after such business was suspended in April, with the proviso that the company must pay a 15% tax to the U.S. government on those sales. Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, was told to pay the same tax on its sales of its MI380 chips to China.

As part of broader trade talks, Beijing and Washington recently agreed to pull back some non-tariff restrictions. China approved more permits for rare earth magnets to be exported to the U.S., while Washington lifted curbs on chip design software and jet engines. After lobbying by Huang, it also allowed sales of the H20 chips to go through.

Huang did not comment directly on the tax when asked but said Nvidia appreciated being able to sell H20s to China.

He said such sales pose no security risk for the United States. Nvidia is also speaking with Beijing to reassure Chinese authorities that those chips do not pose a “backdoor” security risk, Huang said.

“We have made very clear and put to rest that H20 has no security backdoors. There are no such things. There never has. And so hopefully the response that we’ve given to the Chinese government will be sufficient,” he said.

The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet watchdog, recently posted a notice on its website referring to alleged “serious security issues” with Nvidia’s computer chips.

It said U.S. experts on AI had said such chips have “mature tracking and location and remote shutdown technologies” and Nvidia had been asked to explain any such risks and provide documentation about the issue.

Huang said Nvidia was surprised by the accusation and was discussing the issue with Beijing.

“As you know, they requested and urged us to secure licenses for the H20s for some time. And I’ve worked quite hard to help them secure the licenses. And so hopefully this will be resolved,” Huang said.

Unconfirmed reports said Chinese authorities were also unhappy over comments by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggesting the U.S. was only selling outdated chips to China.

Speaking on CNBC, Lutnick said the U.S. strategy was to keep China reliant on American chip technology.

“We don’t sell them our best stuff,” he said. “Not our second best stuff. Not even our third best, but I think fourth best is where we’ve come out that we’re cool,” he said.

China’s ruling Communist Party has made self-reliance in advanced technology a strategic priority, though it still relies on foreign semiconductor knowhow for much of what it produces.

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AP Videojournalist Taijing Wu in Taipei contributed to this report.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has introduced the Angel Fund, a new category of Venture Capital Fund designed to invest primarily in unlisted securities and financial assets of early-stage startup companies.

The announcement came through a notification issued on Monday, amending the Private Fund Regulations, 2015. The Angel Fund will operate as a sub-category of Venture Capital Fund under a closed-end structure, excluding hedge funds from its scope.

According to SECP, an “Eligible Investor” for the Angel Fund includes individuals who earned at least Rs5 million in the previous financial year or hold net assets of at least Rs15 million, excluding personal residences. Such investors must also provide a declaration confirming their understanding of private fund investment risks. Qualified institutional buyers are also eligible.

The revised regulations further define categories such as “Financial Close,” which marks the stage when financing and investment arrangements are finalized, and funds are ready for deployment. Additionally, other fund types outlined include the “Fund of Funds,” which invests in units of other private funds, the “Hedge Fund,” which uses diverse trading strategies, the “Impact Fund,” which focuses on socially responsible investments, and the “Infrastructure Fund,” which supports projects in transportation, utilities, and energy.

By introducing the Angel Fund, SECP aims to open new avenues for financing early-stage companies, strengthen the startup ecosystem, and attract investors to Pakistan’s growing entrepreneurial landscape.

Changan Pakistan has announced a limited-time promotional offer on its popular Alsvin sedan, providing customers with up to Rs. 275,000 in savings along with ready delivery on selected variants.

The offer is available through Changan Auto Mehran Motors and will remain valid until August 31, 2025.

Features and Highlights

The top-tier variant of the Changan Alsvin comes equipped with several premium features aimed at elevating the driving experience.

These include a power sunroof, premium leather seats, and a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system. The infotainment system supports various connectivity options and adds a modern touch to the cabin layout.

These upgrades are available on the top-of-the-line model, which continues to be a strong contender in Pakistan’s compact sedan segment.

Limited-Time Discount

The promotional campaign allows buyers to save up to Rs. 275,000 on new Alsvin bookings.

The discount applies to immediate purchases made through authorized dealers and is subject to availability.

Changan aims to make this offer more accessible by offering ready delivery, eliminating long wait times that are common in the market.

Booking and Contact Details

Customers interested in availing the offer can contact Changan Auto Mehran Motors at the following numbers:

• 0301 8227027
• 0301 8227032
• 0301 8217155
• 0301 2030097
• 0301 8220147

The dealership is accepting bookings and inquiries throughout the week until the offer ends on August 31, 2025.

For months, the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, has ignored demands from Donald Trump to cut interest rates and defied the US president’s calls to resign.

On Friday, as Trump ramps up his extraordinary attack on the central bank’s independence, Powell will set out where he thinks the world’s largest economy is headed in a closely scrutinized speech at the Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming.

As Trump’s erratic trade strategy continues to enshroud the US economy in a fog of uncertainty, investors, economists and officials hope Powell will provide hints of the Fed’s plans for the months ahead.

At five consecutive meetings, the Fed has left rates unchanged, despite the president’s calls for rapid cuts. Before moving, most policymakers wanted more clarity on the economic impact of his policies, including sweeping tariffs on imports, and deportations.

Things might be about to change. At the Fed’s next rate-setting meeting, in September, traders currently put the chances of a rate cut at 73.5%, according to CME’s FedWatch tool. It would be the first in nine months.

At the Fed’s last meeting, in July, where it again opted to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged, two governors opposed the decision – the first time multiple governors have voted against the majority since 1993.

After the meeting, official employment data showed that jobs growth stalled this summer – prompting Trump to fire the federal official in charge of labor statistics – as inflation continued to rise.

a interactive graph of interest rate cuts from August 2019 to July 2025

At the Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming today, Powell will address the economic outlook. It will be the last time he speaks as chair at the annual jamboree of central bankers, with his term due to expire next May.

A parade of those aspiring to replace Powell – believed to include the two governors who called for rate cuts at the last Fed meeting, Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, and Kevin Hassett, director of Trump’s national economic council – will be interviewed in the coming weeks.

The Trump administration meanwhile continues to encroach on the Fed’s independence under Powell, whom the US president has described as a “numbskull” in a string of personal attacks online.

Trump paid a rare presidential visit to the central bank’s headquarters in July, touring costly renovations that he has suggested – without evidence – are tantamount to fraud.

Earlier this week, Trump called on a Fed governor, Lisa Cook, to resign after one of his allies, the US Federal Housing Finance Agency head, Bill Pulte, alleged that she had committed mortgage fraud. Cook said she had “no intention of being bullied” into stepping down.

TOKYO — Clad in an elegant kimono of pale green, tea ceremony instructor Keiko Kaneko uses a tiny wooden spoon to place a speck of matcha into a porcelain bowl.

She froths up the special powdered Japanese green tea with a bamboo whisk after pouring hot water with a ladle from a pot simmering over hot coal.

Her solemn, dance-like movements celebrate a Zenlike transient moment, solitude broken up by the ritualistic sharing of a drink.

No wonder Kaneko and others serious about “sado,” or “the way of tea,” are a bit taken aback by how matcha is suddenly popping up in all sorts of things, from lattes and ice cream to cakes and chocolate.

No one knows for sure who started the global matcha boom, which has been going on for several years. But it’s clear that harvests, especially of fine-grade matcha, can’t keep up with demand.

Matcha is a type of tea that’s grown in shade, steamed and then ground into a very fine powder. It’s processed differently from regular green tea, with the best matcha ground using stone mills, and switching from one to the other takes time. No farmer wants to switch and then find that matcha fever has died.

The Japanese agricultural ministry has been working to boost tea growth, offering help for farmers with new machines, special soil, financial aid and counseling to try to coax tea growers to switch to matcha from regular green “sencha” tea.

“We don’t want this to end up just a fad, but instead make matcha a standard as a flavor and Japanese global brand,” said Tomoyuki Kawai, who works at the tea section of the agricultural ministry.

Production of “tencha,” the kind of tea used for matcha, nearly tripled from 1,452 tons in 2008, to 4,176 tons in 2023, according to government data.

Japan’s tea exports have more than doubled over the last decade, with the U.S. now accounting for about a third. Much of that growth is of matcha, according to Japanese government data. The concern is that with labor shortages as aging farmers leave their fields, the matcha crunch may worsen in coming years.

Other countries, including China and some Southeast Asian countries, also are producing matcha, so Japan is racing to establish its branding as the origin of the tea.

Tea ceremony practitioners aren’t angered by the craze, just perplexed. They hope it will lead to people taking an interest in sado, whose followers have been steadily declining. But they aren’t counting on it.

The tea ceremony is “reminding us to cherish every encounter as unique and unrepeatable,” said Kaneko, who is a licensed instructor.

She pointed to the special small entrance to her tea house. Noble samurai had to stoop to enter, leaving their swords behind them. The message: when partaking of tea, everyone is equal.

The purity and stillness of the ceremony are a world apart from the hectic and mundane, and from the craze for matcha that’s brewing outside the tea house.

The Matcha Crème Frappuccino is standard fare at the Starbucks coffee outlets everywhere. While matcha, a special ingredient traditionally used in the tea ceremony, isn’t meant to be drunk in great quantities at once like regular tea or juices, it’s suddenly being consumed like other fruit and flavors.

Matcha drinks have become popular at cafes from Melbourne to Los Angeles. Various cookbooks offer matcha recipes, and foreign tourists to Japan are taking home tins and bags of matcha as souvenirs.

It’s a modern take on traditions perfected by the 16th century Buddhist monk Sen no Rikyu in Kyoto, who helped shape the traditions of tea ceremony and of “wabi-sabi,” the rustic, imperfect but pure and nature-oriented aesthetic often seen as synonymous with high-class Japanese culture.

Minoru Handa, the third-generation chief of suburban tea store Tokyo Handa-en, which sells green and brown tea as well as matcha, says the appeal of matcha is in its versatility. Unlike tea leaves, the powder can be easily mixed into just about anything.

“The health boom and the interest in Japanese culture have added to the momentum,” he said, stirring a machine that was roasting brown tea, sending a pungent aroma through the streets.

“It’s safe and healthy so there’s practically no reason it won’t sell,” said Handa.

His business, which dates back to 1815, has a longtime relationship with growers in Kagoshima, southwestern Japan, and has a steady supply of matcha. To guard against hoarders he limits purchases at his store to one can per customer.

Handa, who has exhibited his prize-winning tea in the U.S. and Europe, expects that growers will increase the supply and shrugs off the hullabaloo over the matcha shortage.

But Anna Poian, co-director and founder of the Global Japanese Tea Association, thinks lower-grade matcha should be used for things like lattes, since one has to put in quite a lot of fine-grade matcha to be able to taste it.

“It’s a bit of a shame. It’s a bit of a waste,” she said.

The best matcha should be reserved for the real thing, she said in an interview from Madrid.

“It is a very delicate, complex tea that is produced with the idea to be drunk only with water,” she said.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

Changan Pakistan has introduced a temporary relief initiative for vehicle owners affected by the ongoing monsoon season. The company is offering up to 50% off on repairs for vehicles damaged due to rain or related weather conditions.

Offer Details

The discount applies to both Changan and Deepal vehicles and covers labor charges and rain-related repair costs up to a limit of PKR 30,000. The offer will remain valid until August 31, 2025.

Scope of Repairs

The campaign is aimed at addressing damage caused by seasonal rainfall, including electrical faults, water ingress, body damage, and other mechanical or cosmetic issues linked to exposure to water. Affected vehicle owners are encouraged to bring their vehicles to authorized service centers for inspection and assessment of repairs.

Eligibility and Conditions

To qualify for the discount:

• The vehicle must be a Changan or Deepal model
• Damage must be linked to monsoon-related incidents
• Total repair cost covered by the discount is capped at PKR 30,000
• All services must be performed at authorized Changan workshops

Service centers will determine eligibility based on a physical inspection of the damage.

Company Statement

In its official communication, Changan stated that the initiative is part of its ongoing commitment to support customers during adverse weather conditions. The campaign aims to alleviate the financial burden of essential repairs resulting from seasonal rainfall.

Introduction

Peer-assisted learning, defined as “people from similar social groupings who are not professional teachings, helping each other to learn and learning themselves by teaching”, has been used across all levels of health care education for centuries.¹ It can be categorized based on group size, more specifically the student-to-student ratio (mentoring, tutoring, or didactic) and the relationship between students: either peer teaching that occurs between students of same levels of education, or near peer teaching (NPT) which takes place in a face-to-face setting with students who are at least one academic year apart.²

NPT is increasingly used in undergraduate health professional programs as it is beneficial for health training institutions, students as teachers and students as learners. At the institutional level, it represents a solution to the rising student numbers and a shortage of faculty tutors and mentors in constrained educational environments.^3,4 Regarding seniors students, several studies have shown that they not only improve their clinical knowledge and competences but also develop teaching and leadership skills.^5–7 Consequently, NPT is now formally recognized worldwide and has led to the development of “medical student-as-teachers” programs in several institutions to support students in acquiring teaching skills.^8,9 Junior students also benefit from NPT, often achieving comparable or even superior learning outcomes compared to traditional teaching methods.^10,11 NPT has proven particularly effective during the clinical years and when the content focuses on practical and procedural clinical skills.^10,12

NPT often targets clinical skills including history taking, physical exam, communication, or procedural skills such as suturing, ultrasound or basic life support. Studies evaluating the impact of NPT programs through objective structured clinical encounters (OSCE) have shown that most NPT programs support learning over time and promote consistent improvements in OSCE performance.^10,11 However, little is known about the effectiveness of a single NPT training delivered alongside traditional faculty-led clinical skills training. This study aimed to assess the impact of a single NPT session on students’ overall performance in a summative OSCE.

Method

Setting and Design

We developed and evaluated the impact of a new NPT session on third year medical students’ clinical performance at the Faculty of Medicine, Geneva University, Switzerland. The Geneva Faculty of Medicine offers a six-year curriculum divided into three pre-clinical years (bachelor’ level, 480 students) and three clinical years (master’s level, 480 students) with approximately 160 students per year. Clinical skills training takes place during the second and third years of the bachelor. During these two years, medical students practice history taking, physical examination, and communication skills, through four formative OSCEs, each focusing on a different system: abdominal, cardiac, respiratory, and neurological. Two formats are used: 1) a group format involving direct observation followed by immediate feedback. One clinical teacher supervises two or three students interacting consecutively with a standardized patient mimicking a different clinical problem, followed by group feedback from the teacher, peers, and simulated patient; 2) an individualised video-based format—where students receive delayed verbal feedback given by a clinical teacher after a videotaped encounter with a standardized patient. At the end of the third year of the bachelor, students take a summative OSCE of three stations, covering topics such as abdominal, cardiac, respiratory, musculoskeletal, neurological, gynaecological, emergency, and hematologic related conditions.

Development of the Near-Peer Clinical Skills Training

It consisted of a two-hour session during which all third-year students (junior students) could rehearse and improve clinical skills on three clinical situations. The clinical situations were related to systems for which students from previous years had shown weaker history taking and physical examination skills than in other systems at the end of the bachelor years. The first two clinical situations focused on musculoskeletal and neurological complaints for all students, and the third addressed gynaecological, emergency, or hematologic related issues. The tutor facilitated a group of three students successively role-playing the clinician, the observer, or the patient. The observer’s role was to provide feedback on the clinician’s history-taking and physical examination skills—using a grid—prior to the facilitator’s input. The clinical situations were developed by experienced clinical teachers and aligned with previously taught clinical skills. The NPT was limited to one session for feasibility and was optional, due the limited availability of both junior and senior students.

Participants

As part of a prospective study held in 2022 and 2023, near-peer teachers—fourth to sixth year medical students (senior students: approximately 160 per year)—were invited by Email to attend this optional NPT session. Fifty of them (n=26 in 2022, and n=24 in 2023) accepted the invitation and attended a two-hour session. This session included an overview of the learning objectives, content, process and organisation of the training, and their role. The second part consisted of a 90-min small group training session in which senior students practiced clinical and teaching skills such as feedback and small group facilitation. Senior students alternated roles as supervisor, the clinician interviewing the patient, or the observer during 3–5 min sequences. These sessions were led by two senior students (ASA and VT) in charge of the project. Participants then registered online to facilitate one or two NPT sessions focused on clinical skills training.

All junior (third year) medical students were invited to attend this optional NPT session via Email over two consecutive years: 246 registered (122 out of 160 in 2022 and 124 out of 160 in 2023) and 210 attended the training session (114 in 2022 and 96 in 2023).

Outcome Measures

We collected junior students overall score and sub-scores regarding history taking, physical exam, and communication skills at the end of the third year summative OSCE exam. Each of the three stations of the exam lasted 18 minutes—and assessed history taking, physical exam, and communication skills.

The study project was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Geneva University, Geneva Switzerland (CUREG-2023-03-50). All junior and senior students provided written consent for the use of their data.

Analysis

A multiple regression model was used to investigate the potential association of the OSCE scores (raw scores, ie number of points divided by the maximum of attributable points of the evaluation grid) and the following categorical variables: gender (gender influences performance in some clinical skills such as communication¹³), set of OSCEs stations used the day of the exam, and participation in the NPT.

Additional complementary analysis used the same model with two additional variables: the scores from the two formative OSCEs taken during the third year. These two variables were considered as student’s baseline performance prior to the NPT and summative OSCE.

Finally, a linear mixed effect model was used to investigate whether there was a link between the performance at every single station of the OSCE and the fact that this station had dealt with a system specifically trained during the NPT. All the OSCE station scores were normalized and taken into the model as with the following variables: gender, participation in the NPT, system specifically trained during the NPT (fixed effects), and individual-specific effect (random). The validity of the models was checked by visual inspection of the plot and quantile–quantile normal plot of the residuals.

All analyses were run on R 4.4.2 (the R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria).

Results

Three hundred and nineteen students (153 in 2022 and 166 in 2023) attended the end of third year summative OSCE (57% women and 43% male). Junior medical students who participated in a near-peer teaching program significantly outperformed non-participants in the summative OSCE, independently from other variables such as gender, scores at prior third year formative OSCE, topics of the summative OSCE and across all the dimensions assessed (global score 80.01±7.64 vs 74.58±6.71 p-value < 0.0001) (Table 1 and Figure 1).

Table 1 Third Year Medical Students’ Scores at the Summative OSCE Whether They Took Part in the NPT Study or Not

Figure 1 Boxplot of the OSCE global scores according to near-peer OSCE participation (yes; n=208) or nonparticipation (no; n=111).

Performance at prior third year formative OSCEs was not different between NPT attenders and non-attenders (81.58±8.74 vs 80.35±9.13; p-value=0.6345), and integration of these results in the model led to the same conclusion regarding the difference between the NPT and the other group, apart from weaker evidence for the communication subscale.

Further sub-analysis showed that students who attended the NPT did not systematically obtain higher scores in the OSCE stations specifically related to the clinical situations for which they received additional clinical skills training (musculoskeletal-hip global score 66.70±9.89 vs 67.49±9.89 p-value 0.820; neurology global score 75.42±8.34 vs 75.94±8.03 p-value 0.695; lymphatic global score 77.17±9.67 vs 75.20±8.79 p-value 0.598 in 2022) (musculoskeletal global score 84.85±11.42 vs 77.21±12.59 p-value 0.013; neurology global score 72.44±11.2 vs 62.44±11.52 p-value 0.018; emergency global score 66.71±16.57 vs 57.74 ±15.14 p-value 0.067 in 2023) (Appendix 1).

The linear mixed effect model used to investigate whether there was a link between the performances at every single OSCE station of the exam confirmed a strong effect of the participation in the NPT (0.4075±0.0771; p<0.0001). There was, however, no evidence of any additional benefit specifically linked to the station focused on a system specifically trained during the NPT (−0.0119±0.0598; p=0.8428).

Discussion

This study aimed to assess the impact of a single NPT session on students’ overall objective performance in a summative OSCE. We were especially interested in evaluating whether students’ performance was higher for the systems specifically trained during the NPT. We showed that students who attended this new near peer led clinical skills training session obtained higher grades at the summative OSCE than non-participating students during two consecutive years, independently from other factors such as gender, scores at prior 3^rd year formative OSCEs, topics of the summative OSCE. The effect extended to all the dimensions of the OSCE (history taking, physical examination, and communication) and was independent from the clinical situations trained during the NPT session.

Improved performance at summative OSCEs may be explained by the fact that participation was optional, and that only highly motivated and already skilled students may have attended such additional training activity.^14–16 However, several studies have shown that higher grades are more associated with peer-facilitated sessions than other factors such as previous academic grades.^17,18 In our study, the absence of significant differences in prior formative OSCE scores between participants and non-participants suggests that the two groups were comparable in terms of baseline performance. Furthermore, we also found that medical students who attended this single NPT did not consistently outperform non-attenders in OSCE stations related to the clinical scenarios covered during the NPT session. Several studies have reported that peer-teachers are preferred to medical teachers for various reasons: senior students are familiar with the exam content, have completed the same curriculum and can share their own experience and highlight common pitfalls; finally, despite being less clinically experienced than Faculty educators, they deliver information relevant to the expected level.^19–21 In addition, working cooperatively, in a secure learning environment can empower students’ learning and increase their self-confidence by decreasing their anxiety and the stress related to the upcoming exam.^22,23 Similarly, peer-led learning in clinical environments has been shown to positively influence and support medical students’ clinical development during clerkships.²⁴ These elements, which refer to cognitive and social congruence may explain why this single NPT was effective despite its short duration and its limited focus. Cognitive congruence refers to the fact that as near-peer tutors are usually only one or two years apart, this makes it easier for them to identify students’ needs, share past experiences and give useful advice.^12,25 The concept of social congruence concerns senior and junior students sharing similar roles.¹⁶ Being a student helps build a rapport with students that goes beyond the traditional teacher-student dynamic and creates a more collaborative and mutually respectful interaction.⁷ A recent study evaluating the effectiveness of near-peer teaching (NPT) among third-year medical students found that participants reported an improved understanding of how their clinical skills would be assessed during OSCEs.²⁶ This further confirms that NPT not only enhances clinical skill acquisition but also provides valuable insights and strategies for preparing for OSCEs. This may explain why a single NPT improve student’s performance at OSCEs, independently from the specificity of the skills trained during the session.

There are, however, several limitations. As noted, both senior and junior student recruitment was voluntary and limited to a single institution, raising the possibility of a selection bias toward high-performing students. However, the fact that participation to this NPT was not associated with the level of performance at previous formative OSCE does not support this hypothesis. A randomized trial would have been the best design to test the effectiveness of NPT but was not possible due to the voluntary nature of the intervention. Additionally, no selection criteria were applied to senior students, and we did not collect information about their prior academic performance or teaching experience. As a result, we cannot determine whether these factors influenced the quality of the NPT sessions.

Conclusion

A single NPT session seems to improve junior students’ general performance but not specifically the scores related to the trained clinical situations at a summative OSCE. This suggests that NPT may facilitate the transfer of more generic rather than specific skills or boost students’ confidence and skill acquisition by providing opportunities to gain additional insight into how to prepare for the OSCE. Further research is needed to better understand the mechanisms that really enhance student learning in such context.

Data Sharing Statement

The datasets generated or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to the privacy of the students but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate

An ethical compliance decision was granted by the Geneva University Commission for Ethical Research (CUREG2.0) (Institutional Review Board (IRB) DECISION FORM: CUREG-2023-03-50) to the project as all methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations and that all participants gave their informed consent to allow the use their anonymized data for this study.

Acknowledgment

The authors thank the junior and senior students who took part into the study and Julia Sader for improving the English quality of the manuscript. An earlier version of a first manuscript presenting initial results has been uploaded to ResearchSquare as a preprint (https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-3079788/v1).

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

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