Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lethality of inappropriate plasma exposure on chicken embryonic development

In this study, we examined the effects of non-thermal dielectric barrier discharge plasma on embryonic development in chicken eggs in order to determine the optimal level of plasma exposure for the promotion of embryonic growth. We exposed developing chicken embryos at either Hamburger-Hamilton (HH) stage 04 or HH 20 to plasma at voltages of 11.7 kV to 27.6 kV. Our results show exposure at 11.7 kV for 1 min promoted chicken embryonic development, but exposure to more duration and intensity of plasma resulted in dose-dependent embryonic death and HH 20 stage embryos survive longer than those at stage HH 04. Furthermore, plasma exposure for 4 min increased the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inactivated the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2)-antioxidant response signaling pathway, resulting in suppression of antioxidant enzymes in the skeletal muscle tissue of the dead embryos. We also found decreased levels of adenosine triphosphate production and reductions in the expression levels of several growth-related genes and proteins. These findings indicate that inappropriate plasma exposure causes dose-dependent embryonic death via excessive accumulation of ROS, NRF2-antioxidant signaling pathway disruption, and decreased growth factor expression.
Measurement based optimal multi-path routing

We propose a new architecture for efficient network monitoring and measurements in a traditional IP network. This new architecture enables establishment of multiple paths (tunnels) between source-destination pairs without having to modify the underlying routing protocol(s). Based on the proposed architecture we propose a measurement-based multipath routing algorithm derived from simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation. The proposed algorithm does not assume that the gradient of analytical cost function is known to the algorithm, but rather relies on noisy estimates from measurements. Using the analytical model presented in the paper we prove the convergence of the algorithm to the optimal solution. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed algorithm under a variety of network scenarios. A comparative study with an existing optimal routing algorithm, MATE, is also provided.
COMPASS: Rotational Keyboard on Non-Touch Smartwatches

Entering text is very challenging on smartwatches, especially on non-touch smartwatches where virtual keyboards are unavailable. In this paper, we designed and implemented COMPASS, a non-touch bezel-based text entry technique. COMPASS positions multiple cursors on a circular keyboard, with the location of each cursor dynamically optimized during typing to minimize rotational distance. To enter text, a user rotates the bezel to select keys with any nearby cursors. The design of COMPASS was justified by an iterative design process and user studies. Our evaluation showed that participants achieved a pick-up speed around 10 WPM and reached 12.5 WPM after 90-minute practice. COMPASS allows users to enter text on non-touch smartwatches, and also serves as an alternative for entering text on touch smartwatches when touch is unavailable (e.g., wearing gloves).
The effect of surface modification on the properties of sisal fiber and improvement of interfacial adhesion in sisal/starch composites induced by starch nanocrystals

Abstract A facile approach was utilized to introduce starch nanocrystals (SNCs) onto sisal fiber (SF) to improve the interfacial adhesion between SF and starch. For this, fibers were treated with alkali and then subjected to cold plasma treatment to increase the accessibility with SNCs, which was confirmed through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It was found that due to the influence of cold plasma treatment, new functional groups were introduced onto SF. The surface characteristics of SF were examined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The observed results suggested that SNCs were successfully distributed onto SF. Tensile strength and interfacial shear strength of fibers treated under different conditions were calculated and compared through a two-parameter Weibull model. The highest interfacial shear strength of 3.05 MPa was obtained by Alkali-300 W-SNCs, which indicated an increase of 80.6% than untreated SF. It has also been proved that the starch nanocrystals produced hydrogen bonding and physical interlocking between sisal fiber and starch. Notably, the outcome of this investigation indicates that SNCs may be applied for the fabrication of high performance, environmentally friendly sisal/starch composites for a range of technological applications.
Evaluation of Emotional Blunting in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia Compared to Alzheimer's Disease

Background: Emotional blunting is a major clinical feature of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Assessing the change in emotional blunting may facilitate the differential diagnosis of this disorder and can quantify a major source of distress for the patients' caregivers and families. Methods: We evaluated investigator ratings on the Scale for Emotional Blunting (SEB) for 13 patients with bvFTD versus 18 patients with early-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). The caregivers also performed SEB ratings for both the patients' premorbid behavior (before dementia onset) and the patients' behavior on clinical presentation (after dementia onset). Results: Before the onset of dementia, the caregivers reported normal SEB scores for both dementia groups. After the onset of dementia, both caregivers and investigators reported greater SEB scores for the bvFTD patients compared to the AD patients. The patients were rated to be much more emotionally blunted by the bvFTD caregivers than by the investigators. A change of ≥15 in the caregiver SEB ratings suggests bvFTD. The change in caregiver SEB ratings was positively correlated with bifrontal hypometabolism on FDG-PET scans. Conclusions: Changes in the caregiver assessment of emotional blunting with dementia onset can distinguish patients with bvFTD from those with AD, and they may better reflect the impact of emotional blunting than similar assessments made by clinicians/investigators.
Photoacoustic lifetime contrast between methylene blue monomers and self-quenched dimers as a model for dual-labeled activatable probes

Abstract. Activatable photoacoustic probes efficiently combine the high spatial resolution and penetration depth of ultrasound with the high optical contrast and versatility of molecular imaging agents. Our approach is based on photoacoustic probing of the excited-state lifetime of methylene blue (MB), a fluorophore widely used in clinical therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Upon aggregation, static quenching between the bound molecules dramatically shortens their lifetime by three orders of magnitude. We present preliminary results demonstrating the ability of photoacoustic imaging to probe the lifetime contrast between monomers and dimers with high sensitivity in cylindrical phantoms. Gradual dimerization enhancement, driven by the addition of increasing concentrations of sodium sulfate to a MB solution, showed that lifetime-based photoacoustic probing decreases linearly with monomer concentration. Similarly, the addition of 4 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate, a concentration that amplifies MB aggregation and reduces the monomer concentration by more than 20-fold, led to a signal decrease of more than 20 dB compared to a solution free of surfactant. These results suggest that photoacoustic imaging can be used to selectively detect the presence of monomers. We conclude by discussing the implementation of the monomer–dimer contrast mechanism for the development of an enzyme-specific activatable probe.
Ecosystem focused therapy in poststroke depression: a preliminary study

Poststroke depression (PSD) occurs in the context of abrupt, often catastrophic disability that finds the patient and his or her family unprepared. We developed the Ecosystem Focused Therapy (EFT), a systematic intervention aimed to increase the PSD patient's and his or her ecosystem's abilities to address the “psychosocial storm” of PSD and utilize available treatments effectively and efficiently. This is a preliminary study of its efficacy.
Development of a Mouse Model of Menopausal Ovarian Cancer

Despite significant understanding of the genetic mutations involved in ovarian epithelial cancer and advances in genomic approaches for expression and mutation profiling of tumor tissues, several key questions in ovarian cancer biology remain enigmatic: the mechanism for the well-established impact of reproductive factors on ovarian cancer risk remains obscure; cell of origin of ovarian cancer continue to be debated; and the precursor lesion, sequence, or events in progression remain to be defined. Suitable mouse models should complement the analysis of human tumor tissues and may provide clues to these questions currently perplexing ovarian cancer biology. A potentially useful model is the germ cell-deficient Wv (white spotting variant) mutant mouse line, which may be used to study the impact of menopausal physiology on the increased risk of ovarian cancer. The Wv mice harbor a point mutation in c-Kit that reduces the receptor tyrosine kinase activity to about 1–5% (it is not a null mutation). Homozygous Wv mutant females have a reduced ovarian germ cell reservoir at birth and the follicles are rapidly depleted upon reaching reproductive maturity, but other biological phenotypes are minimal and the mice have a normal life span. The loss of ovarian function precipitates changes in hormonal and metabolic activity that model features of menopause in humans. As a consequence of follicle depletion, the Wv ovaries develop ovarian tubular adenomas, a benign epithelial tumor corresponding to surface epithelial invaginations and papillomatosis that mark human ovarian aging. Ongoing work will test the possibility of converting the benign epithelial tubular adenomas into neoplastic tumors by addition of an oncogenic mutation, such as of Tp53, to model the genotype and biology of serous ovarian cancer. Model based on the Wv mice may have the potential to gain biological and etiological insights into ovarian cancer development and prevention.
School demands and subjective health complaints among Swedish schoolchildren: A multilevel study

Objectives: As children spend a great deal of their time in school, the climate in the classroom can constitute a resource, but also a risk factor in the development of the pupils’ health. The aim of the present study was to determine the extent to which demands in the classroom are associated with subjective health complaints in Swedish schoolchildren. Methods: Data from the 2001/2002 and 2005/2006 Swedish cross-national Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey were analysed using a multilevel logistic regression technique. Results: The study demonstrated a substantial variation between school classes in pupils’ subjective health complaints. In school classes with high demands, the odds of having subjective health complaints was about 50% higher than in school classes with low demands. Further, the results indicated that these effects were mediated by sex so as to girls being more affected by high levels of demands in the school class. Conclusions: The findings are important since they point at the crucial role that teachers play in creating a favourable school climate. Therefore interventions aiming at supporting teachers to set realistic demands and expectations are one way to improve the school climate. Such interventions should also make clear the need to take into consideration the fact that the school class effect was mediated by sex, i.e. girls being more vulnerable to high level of school class demands.
Unraveling luminescence mechanisms in zero-dimensional halide perovskites

Zero-dimensional (0D) halides perovskites, in which anionic metal-halide octahedra (MX6)4− are separated by organic or inorganic countercations, have recently shown promise as excellent luminescent materials. However, the origin of the photoluminescence (PL) and, in particular, the different photophysical properties in hybrid organic–inorganic and all inorganic halides are still poorly understood. In this work, first-principles calculations were performed to study the excitons and intrinsic defects in 0D hybrid organic–inorganic halides (C4N2H14X)4SnX6 (X = Br, I), which exhibit a high photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQE) at room temperature (RT), and also in the 0D inorganic halide Cs4PbBr6, which suffers from strong thermal quenching when T > 100 K. We show that the excitons in all three 0D halides are strongly bound and cannot be detrapped or dissociated at RT, which leads to immobile excitons in (C4N2H14X)4SnX6. However, the excitons in Cs4PbBr6 can still migrate by tunneling, enabled by the resonant transfer of excitation energy (Dexter energy transfer). The exciton migration in Cs4PbBr6 leads to a higher probability of trapping and nonradiative recombination at the intrinsic defects. We show that a large Stokes shift and the negligible electronic coupling between luminescent centers are important for suppressing exciton migration; thereby, enhancing the photoluminescence quantum efficiency. Our results also suggest that the frequently observed bright green emission in Cs4PbBr6 is not due to the exciton or defect-induced emission in Cs4PbBr6 but rather the result of exciton emission from CsPbBr3 inclusions trapped in Cs4PbBr6.
Translocase of outer mitochondrial membrane 70 expression is induced by hepatitis C virus and is related to the apoptotic response

The localization of hepatitis C virus (HCV) proteins in cells leads to several problems. The translocase of outer mitochondrial membrane 70 (TOM70) is a mitochondrial import receptor. In this study, TOM70 expression was induced by HCV infection. TOM70 overexpression induced resistance to tumor necrosis factor‐alpha (TNF‐α)‐mediated apoptosis but not to Fas‐induced apoptosis in HepG2 cells. TOM70 was found to be induced by the HCV non‐structural protein (NS)3/4A protein, and silencing of TOM70 decreased the levels of the NS3 and Mcl‐1 proteins. These results indicate that TOM70 can directly interact with the NS3 protein. In hepatoma cells, silencing of TOM70 induced apoptosis and increased caspase‐3/7 activity but did not modify caspase‐8 and caspase‐9 activity. TOM70 silencing‐induced apoptosis was impaired in HCV NS3/4A protein‐expressing cells. Thus, this study revealed a novel finding, that is, TOM70 is linked with the NS3 protein and the apoptotic response. J. Med. Virol. 83:801–809, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Highly Efficient Water Harvesting with Optimized Solar Thermal Membrane Distillation Device

Water distillation with solar thermal technology could be one of the most promising way to address the global freshwater scarcity, with its low cost and minimum environmental impacts. However, the low liquid water productivity, which is caused by the heat loss and inadequate heat utilization in solar‐thermal conversion process, hinders its practical application. Here, a compact solar‐thermal membrane distillation system with three structure features: highly localized solar‐thermal heating, effective cooling strategy, and recycling the latent heat, is proposed. The steam generation rate is 0.98 kg m−2 h−1 under solar illumination of 1 kW m−2 in the open system, while the liquid water productivity could be 1.02 kg m−2 h−1 with the solar efficiency up to 72% with a two‐level device. The outdoor experiments show a water productivity of 3.67 kg m−2 with salt rejection over 99.75% in one cloudy day. These results demonstrate an easy and high‐efficiency way for water distillation, especially suitable for household solar water purification.
Epidemiology of cardiovascular disease in the region Middle East as a whole

Wael Almahmeed1 Mohamad Samir Arnaout2 Rafik Chettaoui3 Mohsen Ibrahim4 Mohamed Ibrahim Kurdi5 Mohamed Awad Taher6 Giuseppe Mancia7 1Heart and Vascular Institute, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; 2American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon; 3General and Cardiovascular Clinic of Tunis, Tunisia; 4Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt; 5King Khalid University Hospital and The Kingdom Hospital, Saudi Arabia; 6Ain Shams University School of Medicine, Cairo, Egypt; 7University of Milan, Bicocca, Milan, Italy
Quantized Principal Component Selection Precoding for Limited Feedback Spatial Multiplexing

In this paper, for spatial multiplexing with limited feedback, we propose quantized principal component selection (QPCS) precoding, wherein the active bases are selected at the receiver from a finite number of basis sets known at the both receiving and transmitting ends, conveyed to the transmitter using limited feedback, and assembled into a precoding matrix at the transmitter. The selected bases are conveyed to the transmitter using feedback information on both the index of the selected basis set, which defines the most appropriate set of coordinates for describing a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel, and the principal bases with the largest gain in the selected basis set. A systematic design method for a finite number of basis sets using the antenna array processing is presented. We show that the proposed QPCS precoding scheme provides comparable capacity with the closed-loop MIMO with full channel state information (CSI), even with limited feedback. Furthermore, for practical implementation of the QPCS precoding scheme, we propose a low complex structured precoder optimization procedure and show that the proposed procedure induces a negligible capacity loss compared with the exhaustive precoder optimization, even with considerably reduced complexity.
Approaches to studying and perceptions of academic quality in electronically delivered courses

The Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) and a short form of the Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI) were administered to students who were taking electronically delivered courses in computer science. The constituent structure of the CEQ was preserved in this distinctive context, and a second-order factor analysis confirmed its role as an index of perceived academic quality. The students' scores on the individual scales of the CEQ and the ASI shared nearly two-thirds of their variance. In short, approaches to studying in electronically delivered courses are strongly associated with students' perceptions of the academic quality of those courses.
Maximizing CMP throughput with mediocre cores

In this paper we compare the performance of area equivalent small, medium, and large-scale multithreaded chip multiprocessors (CMTs) using throughput-oriented applications. We use area models based on SPARC processors incorporating these architectural features. We examine CMTs with in-order scalar processor cores, 2-way or 4-way in-order superscalar cores, private primary instruction and data caches, and a shared secondary cache. We explore a large design space, ranging from processor-intensive to cache-intensive CMTs. We use SPEC JBB2000, TPC-C, TPC-W, and XML Test to demonstrate that the scalar simple-core CMTs do a better job of addressing the problems of low instruction-level parallelism and high cache miss rates that dominate Web service middleware and online transaction processing applications. For the best overall CMT performance, smaller cores with lower performance, so called "mediocre" cores, maximize the total number of CMT cores and outperform CMTs built from larger, higher performance cores.
Parsing the Phonological Loop: Activation Timing in the Dorsal Speech Stream Determines Accuracy in Speech Reproduction

Despite significant research and important clinical correlates, direct neural evidence for a phonological loop linking speech perception, short-term memory and production remains elusive. To investigate these processes, we acquired whole-head magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings from human subjects performing a variable-length syllable sequence reproduction task. The MEG sensor data were source localized using a time–frequency optimized spatially adaptive filter, and we examined the time courses of cortical oscillatory power and the correlations of oscillatory power with behavior between onset of the audio stimulus and the overt speech response. We found dissociations between time courses of behaviorally relevant activations in a network of regions falling primarily within the dorsal speech stream. In particular, verbal working memory load modulated high gamma power in both Sylvian–parietal–temporal and Broca's areas. The time courses of the correlations between high gamma power and subject performance clearly alternated between these two regions throughout the task. Our results provide the first evidence of a reverberating input–output buffer system in the dorsal stream underlying speech sensorimotor integration, consistent with recent phonological loop, competitive queuing, and speech–motor control models. These findings also shed new light on potential sources of speech dysfunction in aphasia and neuropsychiatric disorders, identifying anatomically and behaviorally dissociable activation time windows critical for successful speech reproduction.
Nutrient Requirements and Optimal Nutrition Indicator Amino Acid – Derived Estimate of Dietary Protein Requirement for Male Bodybuilders on a Nontraining Day Is Several-Fold Greater than the Current Recommended Dietary Allowance 1 , 2

Background: Despite a number of studies indicating increased dietary protein needs in bodybuilders with the use of the nitrogen balance technique, the Institute of Medicine (2005) has concluded, based in part on methodologic concerns, that ‘‘no additional dietary protein is suggested for healthy adults undertaking resistance or endurance exercise. ’’ Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the dietary protein requirement of healthy young male bodybuilders (with $3 y training experience) on a nontraining day by measuring the oxidation of ingested L-[1-C]phenylalanine to CO2 in response to graded intakes of protein [indicator amino acid oxidation (IAAO) technique]. Methods: Eightmen (means6 SDs: age, 22.56 1.7 y; weight, 83.96 11.6 kg; 13.0%6 6.3%body fat) were studied at rest on a nontraining day, on several occasions (4–8 times) each with protein intakes ranging from 0.1 to 3.5 g kg d, for a total of 42 experiments. The diets provided energy at 1.5 times each individual s measured resting energy expenditure and were isoenergetic across all treatments. Protein was fed as an amino acid mixture based on the protein pattern in egg, except for phenylalanine and tyrosine, which weremaintained at constant amounts across all protein intakes. For 2 d before the study, all participants consumed 1.5 g protein kg d.On the study day, the protein requirementwasdetermined by identifying the breakpoint in the FCO2with graded amounts of dietary protein [mixed-effects change-point regression analysis of FCO2 (labeled tracer oxidation in breath)]. Results: The Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) of protein and the upper 95% CI RDA for these young male bodybuilders were 1.7 and 2.2 g kg d, respectively. Conclusion: These IAAO data suggest that the protein EAR and recommended intake for male bodybuilders at rest on a nontraining day exceed the current recommendations of the Institute of Medicine by;2.6-fold. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02621294. J Nutr doi: 10.3945/jn.116. 236331.