Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of DOTATATE‐PET/CT in preoperative assessment of phaeochromocytoma and paragangliomas

Diagnosis of paragangliomas (PGL) and phaeochromocytomas (PC) can be challenging particularly if the tumour is small. Detection of metastatic disease is important for comprehensive management of malignant PC/PGL. Somatostatin receptor imaging (SRI) agents have high sensitivity for these tumours, particularly the DOTA family of radiopharmaceuticals labelled with 68Gallium.
Alpha Power Modulates Perception Independently of Endogenous Factors

Oscillations are ubiquitous in the brain. Alpha oscillations in particular have been proposed to play an important role in sensory perception. Past studies have shown that the power of ongoing EEG oscillations in the alpha band is negatively correlated with visual outcome. Moreover, it also co-varies with other endogenous factors such as attention, vigilance, or alertness. In turn, these endogenous factors influence visual perception. Therefore, it remains unclear how much of the relation between alpha and perception is indirectly mediated by such endogenous factors, and how much reflects a direct causal influence of alpha rhythms on sensory neural processing. We propose to disentangle the direct from the indirect causal routes by introducing modulations of alpha power, independently of any fluctuations in endogenous factors. To this end, we use white-noise sequences to constrain the brain activity of 20 participants. The cross-correlation between the white-noise sequences and the concurrently recorded EEG reveals the impulse response function (IRF), a model of the systematic relationship between stimulation and brain response. These IRFs are then used to reconstruct rather than record the brain activity linked with new random sequences (by convolution). Interestingly, this reconstructed EEG only contains information about oscillations directly linked to the white-noise stimulation; fluctuations in attention and other endogenous factors may still modulate brain alpha rhythms during the task, but our reconstructed EEG is immune to these factors. We found that the detection of near-perceptual threshold targets embedded within these new white-noise sequences depended on the power of the ~10 Hz reconstructed EEG over parieto-occipital channels. Around the time of presentation, higher power led to poorer performance. Thus, fluctuations in alpha power, induced here by random luminance sequences, can directly influence perception: the relation between alpha power and perception is not a mere consequence of fluctuations in endogenous factors.
Epistemological Beliefs of Prospective Music Teachers

The main aim of this study is to investigate the epistemological beliefs of prospective music teachers. The differences between epistemological beliefs and gender, grade level, literacy levels of mother and father, perceived parental attitudes were also investigated. The sample of the study consisted of 274 prospective music teachers from three different teacher training faculties. The Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire developed by Schommer (1990) and adapted into Turkish by Deryakulu ve Öztürk (2005) was used to collect the research data. The main results weres given below: (1) Epistemological belief levels of prospective music teachers were found to be underdeveloped; (2) Female prospective music teachers beliefs that learning depends on effort were found more developed than males; (3) No differences were found between epistemological beliefs and education levels of parents; (4) Prospective music teachers who perceived their parents attitudes/family environment democratic were found to be more developed/mature epistemological belief that learning depends on effort. The results were discussed in term of its implications and the development of teacher training programs to support the matured epistemological beliefs was proposed in terms of music teacher training.
ArSAS : An Arabic Speech-Act and Sentiment Corpus of Tweets

Speech acts are the type of communicative acts within a conversation. Speech act recognition (aka classification) has been an active research in recent years. However, much less attention was directed towards this task in Arabic due to the lack of resources for training an Arabic speech-act classifier. In this paper we present ArSAS , an Arabic corpus of tweets annotated for the tasks of speech-act recognition and sentiment analysis. A large set of 21k Arabic tweets covering multiple topics were collected, prepared and annotated for six different classes of speech-act labels, such as expression, assertion, and question. In addition, the same set of tweets were also annotated with four classes of sentiment. We aim to have this corpus promoting the research in both speech-act recognition and sentiment analysis tasks for Arabic language.
An early Cambrian greenhouse climate

An early Cambrian greenhouse climate constrained by combining oxygen isotope and climate modeling data approaches. The oceans of the early Cambrian (~541 to 509 million years ago) were the setting for a marked diversification of animal life. However, sea temperatures—a key component of the early Cambrian marine environment—remain unconstrained, in part because of a substantial time gap in the stable oxygen isotope (δ18O) record before the evolution of euconodonts. We show that previously overlooked sources of fossil biogenic phosphate have the potential to fill this gap. Pristine phosphatic microfossils from the Comley Limestones, UK, yield a robust δ18O signature, suggesting sea surface temperatures of 20° to 25°C at high southern paleolatitudes (~65°S to 70°S) between ~514 and 509 million years ago. These sea temperatures are consistent with the distribution of coeval evaporite and calcrete deposits, peak continental weathering rates, and also our climate model simulations for this interval. Our results support an early Cambrian greenhouse climate comparable to those of the late Mesozoic and early Cenozoic, offering a framework for exploring the interplay between biotic and environmental controls on Cambrian animal diversification.
The Impact of Human Papilloma Viruses, Matrix Metallo-Proteinases and HIV Protease Inhibitors on the Onset and Progression of Uterine Cervix Epithelial Tumors: A Review of Preclinical and Clinical Studies

Infection of uterine cervix epithelial cells by the Human Papilloma Viruses (HPV) is associated with the development of dysplastic/hyperplastic lesions, termed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). CIN lesions may regress, persist or progress to invasive cervical carcinoma (CC), a leading cause of death worldwide. CIN is particularly frequent and aggressive in women infected by both HPV and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), as compared to the general female population. In these individuals, however, therapeutic regimens employing HIV protease inhibitors (HIV-PI) have reduced CIN incidence and/or clinical progression, shedding light on the mechanism(s) of its development. This article reviews published work concerning: (i) the role of HPV proteins (including HPV-E5, E6 and E7) and of matrix-metalloproteinases (MMPs) in CIN evolution into invasive CC; and (ii) the effect of HIV-PI on events leading to CIN progression such as basement membrane and extracellular matrix invasion by HPV-positive CIN cells and the formation of new blood vessels. Results from the reviewed literature indicate that CIN clinical progression can be monitored by evaluating the expression of MMPs and HPV proteins and they suggest the use of HIV-PI or their derivatives for the block of CIN evolution into CC in both HIV-infected and uninfected women.
Mineral Surface-Templated Self-Assembling Systems: Case Studies from Nanoscience and Surface Science towards Origins of Life Research

An increasing body of evidence relates the wide range of benefits mineral surfaces offer for the development of early living systems, including adsorption of small molecules from the aqueous phase, formation of monomeric subunits and their subsequent polymerization, and supramolecular assembly of biopolymers and other biomolecules. Each of these processes was likely a necessary stage in the emergence of life on Earth. Here, we compile evidence that templating and enhancement of prebiotically-relevant self-assembling systems by mineral surfaces offers a route to increased structural, functional, and/or chemical complexity. This increase in complexity could have been achieved by early living systems before the advent of evolvable systems and would not have required the generally energetically unfavorable formation of covalent bonds such as phosphodiester or peptide bonds. In this review we will focus on various case studies of prebiotically-relevant mineral-templated self-assembling systems, including supramolecular assemblies of peptides and nucleic acids, from nanoscience and surface science. These fields contain valuable information that is not yet fully being utilized by the origins of life and astrobiology research communities. Some of the self-assemblies that we present can promote the formation of new mineral surfaces, similar to biomineralization, which can then catalyze more essential prebiotic reactions; this could have resulted in a symbiotic feedback loop by which geology and primitive pre-living systems were closely linked to one another even before life’s origin. We hope that the ideas presented herein will seed some interesting discussions and new collaborations between nanoscience/surface science researchers and origins of life/astrobiology researchers.
Morphological patterns of the pretendinous cord in Dupuytren’s disease: a predictor of clinical outcome?

Abstract The morphology of the pretendinous cord in Dupuytren’s disease is poorly described in vivo and especially with respect to recurrence after treatment. This prospective study was designed to describe the morphology of Dupuytren’s cords by ultrasound and to identify possible correlation between the ultrasonographic characteristics of these cords and the clinical outcomes two years after treatment. Thirty-nine patients with a contracture of at least 20° in the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint, who were scheduled for local treatment by either injectable collagenase clostridium histolyticum (CCH) or percutaneous needle fasciotomy (PNF), were examined by ultrasound. The echogenicity and position of the pretendinous cords in relation to flexor tendons and neurovascular bundles were categorized. The structure of the cords was described and characterized as predominantly nodular or fibrillar. All 39 patients were assessed clinically after two years. A majority of the patients (84%) had cords with nodular components, and six patients (16%) had fibrillar cords. After two years, the clinical results were compared to the ultrasonographic findings before treatment. Three patients had recurrent contracture, and a retrospective analysis showed that all of these patients had cords with mixed echogenicity and nodules before treatment. Fifteen patients had a palpable pretendinous cord, and all but one of these had cords with mixed echogenicity and nodular structure before treatment. This pilot study indicates that some ultrasonographic features of the Dupuytren’s cord, such as mixed echogenicity and nodular structure, may predict recurrence after minimally invasive treatment for Dupuytren’s contracture. However, a larger study in correlation with histological examination of the excised cords would be necessary to confirm the pathoanatomical significance of these ultrasonographic features.
Influence of the composition on setting time and porosity in hydroxyapatite cements with alginate and chitosan

Twenty formulations of synthetic hy- droxyapatite cements (HAC) of two different types are presented. The evaluation of the setting time and the porosity has been done through an experimental design. Type A cements consist in a mixture of hy- droxyapatite (HA) and gypsum (GS) as a solid part (P), and a potassium phosphate solution (KP) as a liquid part (L). The sodium alginate (SA) powder was dissolved or in the solid part or in the liquid one. The setting times of the Type A cements vary from 8 to 16 min, which are similar values to report in the literature. The porosity values found (41-43 %) were not influenced by the changes evaluated. The best of type A cements was that prepared with 0.5 wt % KP and dissolving the SA in the solid part. The solid part of type Q cements consist in a mixture of HA - non sintered (ns-HA) or sintered (s-HA)- , a calcium generator -calcium oxide (CaO) or s-tricalcium phosphate (s-TCP)-, and an inorganic material which acts as agglutinant - zinc oxide (ZnO) or mag- nesium oxide (MgO)-. The liquid phase of type Q cements is formed by an acid solution of chitosan, in malic (MH) or succinic (SH) acid. The setting times observed for these cements are ranged between 2 and 24 min. The use of MgO instead of ZnO as ag- glutinant decreases the setting time of the cements. The same effect was observed when the succinic acid was substituted by malic acid as dissolution medium of the chitosan. The porosity values for type Q ce- ments vary between 50 and 70 %.
Interleukin-35 Level Is Reduced in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection

Backgrounds: As one of the major public health problems, the hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection would activate the immune system. The outcome of HBV infection was affect significantly by the interactions between HBV and host immune response. Interleukins play important role in anti-viral immunity. Here we investigated the role of interleukin-35 (IL-35) in chronic HBV infection patients. Methods/Results: Serum IL-35 in 72 chronic hepatitis B virus infection patients and 41 healthy control subjects were analyzed by ELISA assay. The mRNA level of IL-35 in PBMCs was determined by RT-qPCR. In this study, we found that both protein and mRNA levels of IL-35 were significantly decreased in chronic HBV patients compared to the healthy controls. Furthermore, the statistical analysis found that serum IL-35 was significantly associated with HBV DNA (P =0.0158), ALT (P =0.0003), AST (P =0.0216), TB (P =0.0270) and AFP (P =0.0369). Importantly, correlation analysis also found that serum IL-35 level was negatively correlated with HBV DNA copies, ALT, AST, TB and AFP. Meanwhile, IL-35 treatment inhibited the level of HBV DNA, HBsAg and HBeAg in HepAD38 cells. Conclusion: Our study identified that IL-35 may be a novel marker associated with HBV infection and hepatocytes injury. These data suggested the potential use of IL-35 in the HBV treatment.
A comparative psychopathologic study of university students

: We present here the results of GHQ-28 items in its spanish version in a sample of 50 university students in examination period. The mean total score was 8.20. We observed a higher mean total score in medical students (9.40) than in students of other careers (7.00), which indicates greater psychopathology in medical students. This fact is corroborated by the higher scores obtained in etch scale.
A continuous growth model for plant tissue

Morphogenesis in plants and animals involves large irreversible deformations. In plants, the response of the cell wall material to internal and external forces is determined by its mechanical properties. An appropriate model for plant tissue growth must include key features such as anisotropic and heterogeneous elasticity and cell dependent evaluation of mechanical variables such as turgor pressure, stress and strain. In addition, a growth model needs to cope with cell divisions as a necessary part of the growth process. Here we develop such a growth model, which is capable of employing not only mechanical signals but also morphogen signals for regulating growth. The model is based on a continuous equation for updating the resting configuration of the tissue. Simultaneously, material properties can be updated at a different time scale. We test the stability of our model by measuring convergence of growth results for a tissue under the same mechanical and material conditions but with different spatial discretization. The model is able to maintain a strain field in the tissue during re-meshing, which is of particular importance for modeling cell division. We confirm the accuracy of our estimations in two and three-dimensional simulations, and show that residual stresses are less prominent if strain or stress is included as input signal to growth. The approach results in a model implementation that can be used to compare different growth hypotheses, while keeping residual stresses and other mechanical variables updated and available for feeding back to the growth and material properties.
A panel of 7 prognosis-related long non-coding RNAs to improve platinum-based chemoresistance prediction in ovarian cancer.

In order to study the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in predicting platinum-based chemoresistance in patients with high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGS-OvCa), a=7-lncRNA signature was developed by analyzing 561 microarrays and 136 specimens from RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) obtained from online databases [odds ratio (OR), 2.859; P<0.0001]. The upregulated lncRNAs (RP11-126K1.6, ZBED3-AS1, RP11-439E19.10 and RP11‑348N5.7) and downregulated lncRNAs [RNF144A-AS1, growth arrest specific 5 (GAS5) and F11-AS1] exhibited high sensitivity and specificity in predicting chemoresistance in the Gene Expression Omnibus and the Cancer Genome Atlas (area under curve >0.8). The lncRNA signature was independent of clinical characteristics and 4 HGS-OvCa molecular subtypes. This signature was negatively associated with disease-free survival (n=47; log-rank, P<0.01). Furthermore, the expression of the 7 lncRNAs was consistent with microarray (GSE63885, GSE51373, GSE15372 and GSE9891) and RNA-seq data. In in vitro experiments, ZBED3-AS1, F11-AS1 and GAS5 were differentially expressed in cell lines that are known to be resistant and non-resistant to platinum-based drugs, which was consistent with the results in the present study. This lncRNA signature may be used as a prognostic marker for predicting resistance to platinum-based chemotherapeutics in HGS-OvCa. These findings may contribute to individualized therapies in patients with HGS-OvCa in the future.
Study of Mechanical and Water Barrier Properties of Chitosan Based Edible Films Affected By Process Parameters by Using Response Surface Methodology

Response Surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the pH (4.0, 5.5, and 6.0), drying temperature (40, 50, 60 C) for the development of chitosan based edible films. The optimization was done on the basis of different responses viz. water transmission, tensile strength and elongation at break. WTR showed the quadratic model with independent variables (pH and drying temperature). WTR was observed to be highly significant (P<0.001) with B (temperature). TS showed the linear relationship with pH and drying temperature and TS was observed to be highly significant (P<0.001) with A (pH) and B (Temperature). EB showed the quadratic relationship between the independent variables pH and drying temperature. EB was observed to be highly significant (P<0.001) with B (Temperature). All the response variables were in favourable range.
Erythropoietin Protects Erythrocytes Against Oxidative Stress-Induced Eryptosis In Vitro.

BACKGROUND Excessive eryptosis has been found in maintained hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis patients. Signaling of triggering eryptosis includes oxidative stress, increased cytosolic Ca2+-activity, and ceramide. Erythropoietin (EPO) possesses the property of an antioxidant. The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on erythrocytes in vitro, and to assess the possible effects of recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) on eryptosis. METHODS One percent erythrocyte suspension was cultured in vitro in three kinds of media: Control group (Group C), H2O2 group (Group H), and EPO group (Group E). Erythrocytes were sampled at 24 hours and 60 hours. Phosphatidylserine (PS) was estimated with annexin-V, reactive oxygen species (ROS) with 2',7'-dichlorodihydrofuorescein diacetate (DCFDA) and cytosolic Ca2+ activity ([Ca2+]i) with Fluo3. RESULTS Eryptosis in Group C increased as the incubating time extended (2.05 ± 0.06 at 24 hours, and 10.00 ± 0.08 at 60 hours). Eryptosis increased in Group H compared with Group C (10.86 ± 0.06 at 24 hours, p < 0.01; 12.46 ± 0.14 at 60 hours, p < 0.01, respectively), while it decreased in Group E compared with Group H (8.80 ± 0.08 at 24 hours, p < 0.01; 11.29 ± 0.04 at 60 hours, p < 0.01, respectively). Meanwhile, ROS increased in Group H compared with Group C (9.37 ± 0.04 versus 5.49 ± 0.09 at 24 hours, p < 0.01;19.82 ± 0.05 versus 13.51 ± 0.10 at 60 hours, p < 0.01). [Ca2+]i increased in Group H compared with Group C (10.91 ± 0.12 versus 2.53 ± 0.06 at 24 hours, p < 0.01;14.55 ± 0.05 versus 4.63 ± 0.08 at 60 hours, p < 0.01). ROS decreased in Group E compared with Group H (6.80 ± 0.05 at 24 hours, p < 0.01; 16.82 ± 0.06 at 60 hours, p < 0.01). [Ca2+]i decreased in Group E compared with Group H (7.63 ± 0.14 at 24 hours, p < 0.01; 10.72 ± 0.07 at 60 hours, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Our research showed eryptosis was triggered by H2O2 and paralleled by increased ROS and [Ca2+]i which was partially reversed by EPO. It indicated that EPO could protect erythrocytes against oxidative stress-induced eryptosis.
ÖĞRETMEN ADAYLARININ ÖĞRENME STİLLERİ İLE DERS ÇALIŞMA ALIŞKANLIKLARI ARASINDAKİ İLİŞKİNİN İNCELENMESİ EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER CANDIDATES' LEARNING STYLES AND THEIR STUDY HABITS

In this study, it is aimed at determining whether there is significant relationship between teacher candidates’ learning styles and their gender, branch, academic achievement and finding out the relationship between studying habits and learning styles. The universe of the study consisted of teacher candidates in 2010-2011 academic year studying at Education Faculty of Harran University; the sample consisted of teacher candidates studying at Classroom Teaching, Physical Education and Sport Teaching, Religion and Ethics Education Teaching Departments. The data was analyzed with the SPSS 16.0 program. In the study, the data regarding teacher candidates' personal information were collected through “Personal Information Form"; data regarding the learning styles were collected through “Kolb Learning Style Inventory" and the data regarding study habits were collected through “Assessment Study Habits Inventory”. Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z Test, Chi-square Test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient were used for Analysis of the data. As a result of the study, it was found out that there was not any significant relationship between teacher candidates’ learning styles and their gender, department, academic achievement and study habits.
Beneficial effects of Urtica dioica on scopolamine-induced memory impairment in rats: protection against acetylcholinesterase activity and neuronal oxidative damage

Abstract This study was conducted to investigate protective effects of Urtica dioica extract on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and the oxidative damage of brain tissues in scopolamine-induced memory impairment model. The rats were treated with (1) saline (control), (2) scopolamine, and (3–5) the plant extract (20, 50, or 100 mg/kg) before scopolamine. The traveled distance and the latency to find the platform in Morris water maze (MWM) by scopolamine-treated group were longer while the time spent in target quadrant was shorter than those of the control. Scopolamine decreased the latency to enter the dark in passive avoidance test. Besides, it also increased AChE activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in the hippocampal and cortical tissues while decreased thiols content and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities in the brain (p < 0.01–p <0.001). Treatment by the extract reversed all the effects of scopolamine (p < 0.05–p <0.001). According to the results of present study, the beneficial effects of U. dioica on memory can be attributed to its protective effects on oxidative damage of brain tissue and AChE activity.