Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pyrolysis of Grape Marc from Tunisian Wine Industry: Feedstock Characterization, Thermal Degradation and Kinetic Analysis

Despite the huge amounts of grape marc generated in Tunisia from the wine industry, very few efforts have been exerted to manage this harmful waste. Therefore, thermal processes may contribute to an environmental friendly management and also help winemakers to create new economic profitable circuits in an increasingly competitive context. Among the various thermochemical conversion process, pyrolysis is suitable for the recovery of food processing residues, due to their high minerals content and ability to create high added values of the derived products (biochar, bio-oil and syngas). In this context, the aim of this work is to optimize the pyrolysis process in order to benefit from the grape marc potential for achieving highest product yields. Therefore, physico-chemical and energy characteristics of grape marc issued from a Tunisian wine cooperative were determined according to international standards. Thermogravimetric analyzes were also performed to predict the grape marc behavior during degradation under an inert atmosphere. The profile of the mass loss rate shows two decomposition peaks corresponding to the cellulose and lignin decomposition. These peaks are shifted to lower temperatures comparing to several lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks due to high content of minerals that may play a catalytic role in the thermal degradation process. The biochar yield was about 40%, which was never met in literature for agricultural biomass in slow pyrolysis. Such behavior may be attributed to high lignin content in grape marc. Activation energies were calculated using integral Flynn-Wall-Ozawa and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose methods and differential Friedman method. The obtained values were 226.8, 224.2 and 229.5 kJ/mol, respectively. Such kinetics data are crucial in the design of the pyrolyzer for Tunisian grape marc recovery.
iPad applications that required a range of motor skills promoted motor coordination in children commencing primary school

BACKGROUND/AIM Children are reported to spend less time engaged in outdoor activity and object-related play than in the past. The increased use and mobility of technology, and the ease of use of tablet devices are some of the factors that have contributed to these changes. Concern has been raised that the use of such screen and surface devices in very young children is reducing their fine motor skill development. We examined the effectiveness of iPad applications that required specific motor skills designed to improve fine motor skills. METHOD We conducted a two-group non-randomised controlled trial with two pre-primary classrooms (53 children; 5-6 years) in an Australian co-educational school, using a pre- and post-test design. The effectiveness of 30 minutes daily use of specific iPad applications for 9 weeks was compared with a control class. Children completed the Beery Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI) and observation checklist, the Shore Handwriting Screen, and self-care items from the Hawaii Early Learning Profile. RESULTS On post testing, the experimental group made a statistically and clinically significant improvement on the VMI motor coordination standard scores with a moderate clinical effect size (P < 0.001; d = 0.67). Children's occupational performance in daily tasks also improved. CONCLUSION Preliminary evidence was gained for using the iPad, with these motor skill-specific applications as an intervention in occupational therapy practice and as part of at home or school play.
Identification of Users for a Smoking Cessation Mobile App: Quantitative Study

Background The number of mobile apps that support smoking cessation is growing, indicating the potential of the mobile phone as a means to support cessation. Knowledge about the potential end users for cessation apps results in suggestions to target potential user groups in a dissemination strategy, leading to a possible increase in the satisfaction and adherence of cessation apps. Objective This study aimed to characterize potential end users for a specific mobile health (mHealth) smoking cessation app. Methods A quantitative study was conducted among 955 Dutch smokers and ex-smokers. The respondents were primarily recruited from addiction care facilities and hospitals through Web-based media via websites and forums. The respondents were surveyed on their demographics, smoking behavior, and personal innovativeness. The intention to use and the attitude toward a cessation app were determined on a 5-point Likert scale. To study the association between the characteristics and intention to use and attitude, univariate and multivariate ordinal logistic regression analyses were performed. Results The multivariate ordinal logistic regression showed that the number of previous quit attempts (odds ratio [OR] 4.1, 95% CI 2.4-7.0, and OR 3.5, 95% CI 2.0-5.9) and the score on the Fagerstrom Test of Nicotine Dependence (OR 0.8, 95% CI 0.8-0.9, and OR 0.8, 95% CI 0.8-0.9) positively correlates with the intention to use a cessation app and the attitude toward cessation apps, respectively. Personal innovativeness also positively correlates with the intention to use (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.2-0.4) and the attitude towards (OR 0.2, 95% CI 0.1-0.4) a cessation app. No associations between demographics and the intention to use or the attitude toward using a cessation app were observed. Conclusions This study is among the first to show that demographic characteristics such as age and level of education are not associated with the intention to use and the attitude toward using a cessation app when characteristics related specifically to the app, such as nicotine dependency and the number of quit attempts, are present in a multivariate regression model. This study shows that the use of mHealth apps depends on characteristics related to the content of the app rather than general user characteristics.
Analyzing Self-Driving Cars on Twitter

This paper studies users' perception regarding a controversial product, namely self-driving (autonomous) cars. To find people's opinion regarding this new technology, we used an annotated Twitter dataset, and extracted the topics in positive and negative tweets using an unsupervised, probabilistic model known as topic modeling. We later used the topics, as well as linguist and Twitter specific features to classify the sentiment of the tweets. Regarding the opinions, the result of our analysis shows that people are optimistic and excited about the future technology, but at the same time they find it dangerous and not reliable. For the classification task, we found Twitter specific features, such as hashtags as well as linguistic features such as emphatic words among top attributes in classifying the sentiment of the tweets.
Association of Early Exposure of Probiotics and Islet Autoimmunity in the TEDDY Study.

IMPORTANCE Probiotics have been hypothesized to affect immunologic responses to environmental exposures by supporting healthy gut microbiota and could therefore theoretically be used to prevent the development of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM)-associated islet autoimmunity. OBJECTIVE To examine the association between supplemental probiotic use during the first year of life and islet autoimmunity among children at increased genetic risk of T1DM. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In this ongoing prospective cohort study that started September 1, 2004, children from 6 clinical centers, 3 in the United States (Colorado, Georgia/Florida, and Washington) and 3 in Europe (Finland, Germany, and Sweden), were followed up for T1DM-related autoantibodies. Blood samples were collected every 3 months between 3 and 48 months of age and every 6 months thereafter to determine persistent islet autoimmunity. Details of infant feeding, including probiotic supplementation and infant formula use, were monitored from birth using questionnaires and diaries. We applied time-to-event analysis to study the association between probiotic use and islet autoimmunity, stratifying by country and adjusting for family history of type 1 diabetes, HLA-DR-DQ genotypes, sex, birth order, mode of delivery, exclusive breastfeeding, birth year, child's antibiotic use, and diarrheal history, as well as maternal age, probiotic use, and smoking. Altogether 8676 infants with an eligible genotype were enrolled in the follow-up study before the age of 4 months. The final sample consisted of 7473 children with the age range of 4 to 10 years (as of October 31, 2014). EXPOSURES Early intake of probiotics. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Islet autoimmunity revealed by specific islet autoantibodies. RESULTS Early probiotic supplementation (at the age of 0-27 days) was associated with a decreased risk of islet autoimmunity when compared with probiotic supplementation after 27 days or no probiotic supplementation (hazard ratio [HR], 0.66; 95% CI, 0.46-0.94). The association was accounted for by children with the DR3/4 genotype (HR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.21-0.74) and was absent among other genotypes (HR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.62-1.54). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Early probiotic supplementation may reduce the risk of islet autoimmunity in children at the highest genetic risk of T1DM. The result needs to be confirmed in further studies before any recommendation of probiotics use is made.
Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation for the acute treatment of episodic and chronic cluster headache: A randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled ACT2 study

Background Clinical observations and results from recent studies support the use of non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) for treating cluster headache (CH) attacks. This study compared nVNS with a sham device for acute treatment in patients with episodic or chronic CH (eCH, cCH). Methods After completing a 1-week run-in period, subjects were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive nVNS or sham therapy during a 2-week double-blind period. The primary efficacy endpoint was the proportion of all treated attacks that achieved pain-free status within 15 minutes after treatment initiation, without rescue treatment. Results The Full Analysis Set comprised 48 nVNS-treated (14 eCH, 34 cCH) and 44 sham-treated (13 eCH, 31 cCH) subjects. For the primary endpoint, nVNS (14%) and sham (12%) treatments were not significantly different for the total cohort. In the eCH subgroup, nVNS (48%) was superior to sham (6%; p < 0.01). No significant differences between nVNS (5%) and sham (13%) were seen in the cCH subgroup. Conclusions Combing both eCH and cCH patients, nVNS was no different to sham. For the treatment of CH attacks, nVNS was superior to sham therapy in eCH but not in cCH. These results confirm and extend previous findings regarding the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of nVNS for the acute treatment of eCH.
Association of 25-OH Vitamin D Status with Findings on Screening Colonoscopy.

Objectives Greater serum levels and dietary intake of vitamin D have been inversely associated with the risk of multiple cancers including colon cancer. Most colorectal cancers are thought to arise from adenomatous polyps, which become dysplastic under the influence of numerous factors. Prospective data are needed to distinguish between association or a causative role of vitamin D in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer. Methods A prospective cohort study was designed, located at a hospital-based screening colonoscopy referral center, including Department of Defense beneficiaries aged 18 yr or older. A serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level was drawn, and colonoscopy findings were recorded. A power calculation using p = 0.8, alpha = 0.05 generated a necessary sample size of n = 224 to detect an association between vitamin D level and adenomatous polyp. Unconditional multivariable logistic regression modeling was used to evaluate associations between outcomes, adjusted for known risk factors. Results Of final population (n) = 228, 155 (68%) were diagnosed with vitamin D insufficiency (<30 ng/mL) and 104 (46%) were found to have adenomatous polyps. Adjusted odds ratio for adenomatous colon polyp given vitamin D <30 ng/mL = 1.16 (95% CI 0.57-2.36). Conclusions Serum vitamin D level was not associated with increased adenomatous polyp detection at screening colonoscopy in this population.
Weight Loss Associated With Consumption of Apples: A Review

ABSTRACT Apples are known as a major source of polyphenols, dietary fiber, carotenoids, and other nutrients. There are many documents and studies that show fruit polyphenols likely promote anti-obesity effects and exert their beneficial effects via scavenging free radicals, regulating gene expression, and altering signal transduction in target cells and tissues, especially fat tissues.The goal of this review is to presenti the major components of apple and the evidence that indicates its potential to diminution weight gain risk from in vitro, animal, and epidemiological and clinical studies. This review summarizes data about the apple and apple products that been have reported to reduce weight gain by various mechanisms, including antioxidant, antiproliferative, and cell signaling pathways. An extensive search was performed in PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, and Google Scholar to identify human, animal, and cell culture studies on the association between weight loss and apple consumption, published from inception up to journey 15, 2017. The feeding of apples rats (7–10 mg/kg/d) in different forms in 8 experiments have shown that this caused weight loss during 3 to 28 weeks. In agreement with this, the obtained results from 5 experiments on humans have revealed that consumption of the whole apple or apple juice (240–720 mg/d) in 4–12 weeks by fat people can cause weight loss. Experiments on animals and humans have shown that the consumption of apples in different forms can cause weight loss in overweight ones. However, the main questions are which kind of apple, which part of it, how much, and how long overweight persons should consume them to reduce their body fat and body mass index (BMI). Then, it is necessary to do a meta-analysis to show how these factors affect the body fat percentage and whether this weight-lowering effect is statistically significant or not.
Stable population coding for working memory coexists with heterogeneous neural dynamics in prefrontal cortex

Significance Working memory (WM) is a core cognitive function thought to rely on persistent activity patterns in populations of neurons in prefrontal cortex (PFC), yet the neural circuit mechanisms remain unknown. Single-neuron activity in PFC during WM is heterogeneous and strongly dynamic, raising questions about the stability of neural WM representations. Here, we analyzed WM activity across large populations of neurons in PFC. We found that despite strong temporal dynamics, there is a population-level representation of the remembered stimulus feature that is maintained stably in time during WM. Furthermore, these population-level analyses distinguish mechanisms proposed by theoretical models. These findings inform our fundamental understanding of circuit mechanisms underlying WM, which may guide development of treatments for WM impairment in brain disorders. Working memory (WM) is a cognitive function for temporary maintenance and manipulation of information, which requires conversion of stimulus-driven signals into internal representations that are maintained across seconds-long mnemonic delays. Within primate prefrontal cortex (PFC), a critical node of the brain’s WM network, neurons show stimulus-selective persistent activity during WM, but many of them exhibit strong temporal dynamics and heterogeneity, raising the questions of whether, and how, neuronal populations in PFC maintain stable mnemonic representations of stimuli during WM. Here we show that despite complex and heterogeneous temporal dynamics in single-neuron activity, PFC activity is endowed with a population-level coding of the mnemonic stimulus that is stable and robust throughout WM maintenance. We applied population-level analyses to hundreds of recorded single neurons from lateral PFC of monkeys performing two seminal tasks that demand parametric WM: oculomotor delayed response and vibrotactile delayed discrimination. We found that the high-dimensional state space of PFC population activity contains a low-dimensional subspace in which stimulus representations are stable across time during the cue and delay epochs, enabling robust and generalizable decoding compared with time-optimized subspaces. To explore potential mechanisms, we applied these same population-level analyses to theoretical neural circuit models of WM activity. Three previously proposed models failed to capture the key population-level features observed empirically. We propose network connectivity properties, implemented in a linear network model, which can underlie these features. This work uncovers stable population-level WM representations in PFC, despite strong temporal neural dynamics, thereby providing insights into neural circuit mechanisms supporting WM.
The Applied Effectiveness of Clay Art Therapy for Patients With Parkinson’s Disease

This study investigates how clay art therapy affects Parkinson’s disease patients’ overall mental and physical condition as well as future treatment potentiality. The research was nonequivalent control groups pre and post study. A total of 54 patients with Parkinson’s disease (control = 28, experimental = 26) were recruited from 3 setting locations in South Korea. Test measures were completed before and after the 16 sessions. The experimental group received two 80-minute evaluations per week for 8 weeks. Demographic information: hand dexterity, self-expression, mood depression, and quality of life measurements. There were significant differences in hand dexterity (t = 4.96, P < .001), self-expression (t = 3.74, P < .001), mood depression (t = −11.85, P < .001), and quality of life (t = 8.07, P < .001) between the 2 groups. Further research and development of clay art therapy can advocate the benefits, highlight practicality and demonstrate the possibility for its usage as a treatment methodology.
Biscuits with No Added Sugar Containing Stevia, Coffee Fibre and Fructooligosaccharides Modifies α-Glucosidase Activity and the Release of GLP-1 from HuTu-80 Cells and Serotonin from Caco-2 Cells after In Vitro Digestion

This study assessed the in vitro effects of the bioaccessible food components released during the simulated human digestion of a coffee fibre-containing biscuit (CFB) on α-glucosidase activity, antioxidant capacity and satiety hormones. Digest of CFB presented a significantly (p < 0.05) lower amount of sugar (68.6 mg/g) and a higher antioxidant capacity (15.1 mg chlorogenic acid eq./g) than that of a sucrose-containing biscuit (SCB). The CFB significantly reduced (p < 0.05) α-glucosidase activity (IC50 = 3.3 mg/mL) compared to the SCB (IC50 = 6.2 mg/mL). Serotonin and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) release by differentiated Caco-2 and HuTu-80 cells, respectively, was stimulated by the CFB (355% at a concentration of 0.5 mg/mL and 278% at a concentration of 0.05 mg/mL) to the same order of magnitude as those of the SCB. To summarize, the CFB was demonstrated to reduce monosaccharide bioaccessibility, to inhibit a diabetes-related digestive enzyme, and to improve the release of satiety hormones.
The Nature of the Cancer Process

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Predominance and Metabolic Potential of Halanaerobium spp. in Produced Water from Hydraulically Fractured Marcellus Shale Wells

ABSTRACT Microbial activity in the produced water from hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells may potentially interfere with hydrocarbon production and cause damage to the well and surface infrastructure via corrosion, sulfide release, and fouling. In this study, we surveyed the microbial abundance and community structure of produced water sampled from 42 Marcellus Shale wells in southwestern Pennsylvania (well age ranged from 150 to 1,846 days) to better understand the microbial diversity of produced water. We sequenced the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene to assess taxonomy and utilized quantitative PCR (qPCR) to evaluate the microbial abundance across all 42 produced water samples. Bacteria of the order Halanaerobiales were found to be the most abundant organisms in the majority of the produced water samples, emphasizing their previously suggested role in hydraulic fracturing-related microbial activity. Statistical analyses identified correlations between well age and biocide formulation and the microbial community, in particular, the relative abundance of Halanaerobiales. We further investigated the role of members of the order Halanaerobiales in produced water by reconstructing and annotating a Halanaerobium draft genome (named MDAL1), using shotgun metagenomic sequencing and metagenomic binning. The recovered draft genome was found to be closely related to the species H. congolense, an oil field isolate, and Halanaerobium sp. strain T82-1, also recovered from hydraulic fracturing produced water. Reconstruction of metabolic pathways revealed Halanaerobium sp. strain MDAL1 to have the potential for acid production, thiosulfate reduction, and biofilm formation, suggesting it to have the ability to contribute to corrosion, souring, and biofouling events in the hydraulic fracturing infrastructure. IMPORTANCE There are an estimated 15,000 unconventional gas wells in the Marcellus Shale region, each generating up to 8,000 liters of hypersaline produced water per day throughout its lifetime (K. Gregory, R. Vidic, and D. Dzombak, Elements 7:181–186, 2011, https://doi.org/10.2113/gselements.7.3.181 ; J. Arthur, B. Bohm, and M. Layne, Gulf Coast Assoc Geol Soc Trans 59:49–59, 2009; https://www.marcellusgas.org/index.php ). Microbial activity in produced waters could lead to issues with corrosion, fouling, and souring, potentially interfering with hydraulic fracturing operations. Previous studies have found microorganisms contributing to corrosion, fouling, and souring to be abundant across produced water samples from hydraulically fractured wells; however, these findings were based on a limited number of samples and well sites. In this study, we investigated the microbial community structure in produced water samples from 42 unconventional Marcellus Shale wells, confirming the dominance of the genus Halanaerobium in produced water and its metabolic potential for acid and sulfide production and biofilm formation.
Achalasia leading to diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus

A 50-year-old male with a 7 month history of progressive dysphagia to solids then subsequently to liquids. He underwent a diagnostic gastroscopy which was normal. A further barium swallow suggested achalasia. He was referred to a tertiary centre, where he underwent pH and manometry studies which confirmed a diagnosis of achalasia. He was referred for a laparoscopic cardiomyotomy, and at surgery there was a suspected tumour at the gastro-oesophageal junction. A follow-up endoscopy with biopsies was normal. Following this, a positron emission tomography scan showed T3 distal oesophageal cancer with no nodal involvement or distal metastasis. An attempt at oesophagectomy was performed, but at operation there was locally advanced carcinoma infiltrating the coeliac axis. He is currently undergoing palliative chemotherapy.