Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of a potential probiotics Lactococcus garvieae B301 on the growth performance, immune parameters and caecum microflora of broiler chickens.

In this study, a novel Lactococcus garvieae B301 was isolated from the intestinal tract of a healthy piglet. L. garvieae B301 was tolerant to acid pH, simulated gastric and small intestinal transit juices, indicating that it was capable of surviving in the gastrointestinal tract. L. garvieae B301 was safe and beneficial to broilers, as broiler chickens supplemented with L. garvieae B301 had lower diarrhoea incidence and mortality than the Control. Moreover, supplementation of broiler diets with L. garvieae B301 resulted in an increase in body weight and the number of caecum lactic acid bacteria and Bifidobacterium spp. , and decrease in feed-to-gain ratio and the number of caecum coliforms. It also had a positive effect on the thymus index and bursa of Fabricius index and enhanced serum levels of immune globulins. All these results showed that L. garvieae B301 could enhance the growth performance of broiler chickens and improve their health. Thus, L. garvieae B301 could be a promising feed additive for broiler chickens.
A Dictyostelium mutant lacking an F-actin cross-linking protein, the 120-kD gelation factor

Actin-binding proteins are known to regulate in vitro the assembly of actin into supramolecular structures, but evidence for their activities in living nonmuscle cells is scarce. Amebae of Dictyostelium discoideum are nonmuscle cells in which mutants defective in several actin-binding proteins have been described. Here we characterize a mutant deficient in the 120-kD gelation factor, one of the most abundant F-actin cross- linking proteins of D. discoideum cells. No F-actin cross-linking activity attributable to the 120-kD protein was detected in mutant cell extracts, and antibodies recognizing different epitopes on the polypeptide showed the entire protein was lacking. Under the conditions used, elimination of the gelation factor did not substantially alter growth, shape, motility, or chemotactic orientation of the cells towards a cAMP source. Aggregates of the mutant developed into fruiting bodies consisting of normally differentiated spores and stalk cells. In cytoskeleton preparations a dense network of actin filaments as typical of the cell cortex, and bundles as they extend along the axis of filopods, were recognized. A significant alteration found was an enhanced accumulation of actin in cytoskeletons of the mutant when cells were stimulated with cyclic AMP. Our results indicate that control of cell shape and motility does not require the fine-tuned interactions of all proteins that have been identified as actin-binding proteins by in vitro assays.
Circulating S100β Protein Is Increased in Intrauterine Growth-Retarded Fetuses

To determine whether S100β, an acidic calcium-binding protein previously demonstrated as a reliable indicator of a brain lesion, could be helpful in the detection of brain distress in intrauterine growth-retarded (IUGR) fetuses, we studied, by a case-control study, the correlation between S100B protein and the degree of fetoplacental blood flow impairment. Maternal and umbilical blood samples and placental tissue specimens were collected at delivery from IUGR pregnancies with normal (n = 10) or abnormal (n = 10) umbilical artery Doppler findings and from 40 uncomplicated pregnancies. S100β protein levels were measured by means of a specific RIA, and flow velocimetry waveforms were recorded from uterine, umbilical, and fetal middle cerebral arteries. Overall mean S100β proteins in umbilical plasma levels were higher (p < 0.05) in IUGR patients (121.8 ± 70.4 fmol/mL) than in control patients (54.7 ± 21.9 fmol/mL). IUGR fetuses with redistribution of blood flow showed the higher concentration of the protein (163.7 ± 55.2 fmol/mL). Fetal S100β concentrations correlated with middle cerebral artery pulsatility index (r = −0.536, p < 0.03) and with umbilical artery pulsatility index to middle cerebral artery pulsatility index ratio (r = 0.469, p < 0.03). No difference in the localization or intensity of S100β staining in the placental tissues or cord between uncomplicated and IUGR pregnancies was found. This study provides evidence that circulating S100β protein is increased in IUGR fetuses and correlates with cerebral hemodynamics, suggesting that it may represent an index of cerebral cell damage in the perinatal period.
Arginase as a Critical Prooxidant Mediator in the Binomial Endothelial Dysfunction-Atherosclerosis

Arginase is a metalloenzyme which hydrolyzes L-arginine to L-ornithine and urea. Since its discovery, in the early 1900s, this enzyme has gained increasing attention, as literature reports have progressively pointed to its critical participation in regulating nitric oxide bioavailability. Indeed, accumulating evidence in the following years would picture arginase as a key player in vascular health. Recent studies have highlighted the arginase regulatory role in the progression of atherosclerosis, the latter an essentially prooxidant state. Apart from the fact that arginase has been proven to impair different metabolic pathways, and also as a consequence of this, the repercussions of the actions of such enzyme go further than first thought. In fact, such metalloenzyme exhibits direct implications in multiple cardiometabolic diseases, among which are hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia. Considering the epidemiological repercussions of these clinical conditions, arginase is currently seen under the spotlights of the search for developing specific inhibitors, in order to mitigate its deleterious effects. That said, the present review focuses on the role of arginase in endothelial function and its participation in the establishment of atherosclerotic lesions, discussing the main regulatory mechanisms of the enzyme, also highlighting the potential development of pharmacological strategies in related cardiovascular diseases.
Autophagy and Apoptosis in Inﬂammatory Bowel Disease

: The pathogenesis of inﬂammatory bowel disease (IBD) implicates several interconnecting factors. Immunity and external factors interact, and most aspects are still under investigation. Autophagy and apoptosis are two critical pathways that decide the fate of the individual cells of the intestinal mucosa. Experimental and clinical data indicate that the two are closely interconnected and usually mutually exclusive. However, despite the abundant information on their role, very limited translation into therapeutic application has been seen during recent years. In this review, research on these two pathways is presented. After a general overview of autophagy and apoptosis, their association with IBD, including the important mitophagy and ferroptosis, is discussed. The inﬂuence of autophagy-and apoptosis-related genes is also discussed. Finally, the interplay of autophagy and apoptosis in IBD is presented and the implications for treatment applications are examined. It is shown that dysregulated autophagy leads to increased apoptosis of enterocytes and impairs the tight junction proteins of the protective intestinal barrier. Dysregulated autophagy also induces the downregulation of lysozyme and the other antimicrobial proteins’ production. Mucus production by the goblet cells is also reduced due to defective autophagy and increased apoptosis.
Organic Aerosol Particle Chemical Properties Associated With Residential Burning and Fog in Wintertime San Joaquin Valley (Fresno) and With Vehicle and Firework Emissions in Summertime South Coast Air Basin (Fontana)

Organic aerosol mass (OM) components were investigated at Fresno in winter and at Fontana in summer by positive matrix factorization of high‐resolution time‐of‐flight aerosol mass spectra and of Fourier Transform infrared spectra, as well as by k‐means clustering of light‐scattering (LS) aerosol single‐particle spectra. The results were comparable for all three methods at both sites, showing different contributions of primary and secondary organic aerosol sources to PM1. At Fresno biomass burning organic aerosol contributed 27% of OM on low‐fog days, and nitrate‐related oxidized OA (NOOA) accounted for 47% of OM on high‐fog days, whereas at Fontana very oxygenated organic aerosol (VOOA) components contributed 58–69% of OM. Amine and organosulfate fragment concentrations were between 2 and 3 times higher on high‐fog days than on low‐fog days at Fresno, indicating increased formation from fog‐related processes. NOOA and biomass burning organic aerosol components were largely on different particles than the VOOA components in Fresno, but in Fontana both NOOA and VOOA components were distributed on most particle types, consistent with a longer time for and a larger contribution from gas‐phase photochemical secondary organic aerosol formation in summer Fontana than winter Fresno. Uncommon trace organic fragments, elevated inorganic, and alcohol group submicron mass concentrations persisted at Fontana for more than 5 days after 4 July fireworks. These unique aerosol chemical compositions at Fresno and Fontana show substantial and extended air‐quality impacts from residential burning and fireworks.
Computer Vision and Image Understanding

Shadow detection is significant for scene understanding. Ambiguities in a shadow image, such as shadow-like non-shadow regions and shadow regions with non-shadow patterns, are still very challenging for prevalent CNN-based methods. This work attempts to alleviate this problem from a new perspective of shape semantics, and then proposes a Semantic-aware Transformer (SaT) in a multi-task learning manner. Concretely, we first propose a shadow detection network based on the recent progress of Transformer architecture, allowing us to capture significant global interactions between contexts. Next, we design a multi-task learning framework, combining shadow supervision and semantic supervision to perform a semantic-aware shadow detection. Finally, we introduce a simple yet effective information buffer unit to overcome the gradient signal conflict from multi-task learning. Experimental results on three public benchmark datasets (i.e., ISTD, SBU, and UCF) show that our SaT can effectively detect ambiguous cases and achieve state-of-the-art results.
Floorplan evaluation with timing-driven global wireplanning, pin assignment, and buffer/wire sizing

We describe a new algorithm for floorplan evaluation using timing-driven buffered routing according to a prescribed buffer site map. Specifically, we describe a provably good multi-commodity flow based algorithm that finds a global routing minimizing routing area (wirelength and number of buffers) subject to given constraints on buffer/wire congestion and sink delays. This permits detailed floorplan evaluation, i.e. computing the trade-off curve between routing area and wire/buffer congestion under any combination of delay and capacity constraints. Our algorithm (1) enforces maximum source/buffer wireloads; (2) enforces wire and buffer congestion constraints by taking into account routing channel capacities and buffer site locations; (3) enforces individual sink delay constraints; (4) performs buffer/wire sizing and layer assignment; and (5) integrates pin assignment with virtually no increase in runtime. Preliminary experiments show that near-optimal results are obtained with a practical runtime.
Current and emerging drugs for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease

: During the last decade a large number of biological agents against tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF- α ), as well as many biochemical substances and molecules specifically for the medical treatment of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), have been developed. This enormous progress was a consequence of the significant advances in biotechnology along with the increased knowledge of the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of IBD. However, conventional therapies remain the cornerstone of treatment for most patients. During recent years conventional and biologic IBD therapies have been optimized. Newer mesalazine formulations with a reduced pill size and only one dose per day demonstrate similar efficacy to older formulations. New corticosteroids retain the efficacy of older corticosteroids while exhibiting a higher safety profile. The role of antibiotics and probiotics has been further clarified. Significant progress in understanding thiopurine metabolism has improved the effective dose along with adjunctive therapies. Quite a large number of substances and therapies, including biologic agents other than TNF- α inhibitors, unfractionated or low-molecular-weight heparin, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, microbes and microbial products, leukocytapheresis, and other substances under investigation, could offer important benefits to our patients. In this paper we review the established and emerging therapeutic strategies in patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
Intra- and inter-observer variability of evaluation of uterine cervix elastography images during pregnancy.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate reproducibility and repeatability of the assessment of elastography images of the uterine cervix using an Elastography Index. MATERIAL AND METHODS Elastography images of the uterine cervix were obtained. Numeric scale called Elastography Index, previously published by the authors, was used to describe parts of the cervix. A total of 282 images were evaluated twice by an experienced and twice by an inexperienced operator RESULTS Reproducibility and repeatability of the evaluation of internal and external os and cervical canal were over 90%. Inter-assay coefficient of variation was 1.84%, 6.76% and 7.27% respectively and 5.84% for anterior and 16.74% for posterior wall. Analysis of the second evaluation only of both operators revealed no significant difference for posterior wall as well (F-test; p = 0.09). CONCLUSION Authors proved satisfactory reproducibility and repeatability of subjective assessment of elastography images of uterine cervix during pregnancy with the use of Elastography Index in the hands of experienced and inexperienced observer
Three-Dimensional Imaging of Hepatic Sinusoids in Mice Using Synchrotron Radiation Micro-Computed Tomography

Hepatic sinusoid, the smallest vessel in the liver, plays important roles in hepatic microcirculation. Although the structure of the hepatic sinusoids affects diverse functions of the liver, little is known about morphological alterations in the sinusoids under pathological conditions. In this study, we show that the structure of hepatic sinusoids can be identified three-dimensionally in normal and carbon tetrachloride-injured mouse liver, using the absorption mode of synchrotron radiation micro-computed tomography. We observed that the hepatic sinusoidal structure on tomographic slice images was similar to that on histological images of normal and acutely injured mice. Moreover, centrilobular necrosis and structural alterations of the sinusoids in the necrotic region were detectable on tomographic slice and volume-rendered images of the acutely injured mice. Furthermore, quantitative analyses on 3D volume-rendered images of the injured sinusoid revealed decrease in the volume of the sinusoid and connectivity of the sinusoidal network. Our results suggest that the use of synchrotron radiation micro-computed tomography may improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of hepatic diseases by detecting the hepatic sinusoids and their alterations in three-dimensional structures of the damaged liver.
Association between maternal use of folic acid supplements and risk of autism spectrum disorders in children.

IMPORTANCE Prenatal folic acid supplements reduce the risk of neural tube defects in children, but it has not been determined whether they protect against other neurodevelopmental disorders. OBJECTIVE To examine the association between maternal use of prenatal folic acid supplements and subsequent risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) (autistic disorder, Asperger syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified [PDD-NOS]) in children. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS The study sample of 85,176 children was derived from the population-based, prospective Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). The children were born in 2002-2008; by the end of follow-up on March 31, 2012, the age range was 3.3 through 10.2 years (mean, 6.4 years). The exposure of primary interest was use of folic acid from 4 weeks before to 8 weeks after the start of pregnancy, defined as the first day of the last menstrual period before conception. Relative risks of ASDs were estimated by odds ratios (ORs) with 95% CIs in a logistic regression analysis. Analyses were adjusted for maternal education level, year of birth, and parity. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Specialist-confirmed diagnosis of ASDs. RESULTS At the end of follow-up, 270 children in the study sample had been diagnosed with ASDs: 114 with autistic disorder, 56 with Asperger syndrome, and 100 with PDD-NOS. In children whose mothers took folic acid, 0.10% (64/61,042) had autistic disorder, compared with 0.21% (50/24,134) in those unexposed to folic acid. The adjusted OR for autistic disorder in children of folic acid users was 0.61 (95% CI, 0.41-0.90). No association was found with Asperger syndrome or PDD-NOS, but power was limited. Similar analyses for prenatal fish oil supplements showed no such association with autistic disorder, even though fish oil use was associated with the same maternal characteristics as folic acid use. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Use of prenatal folic acid supplements around the time of conception was associated with a lower risk of autistic disorder in the MoBa cohort. Although these findings cannot establish causality, they do support prenatal folic acid supplementation.
Uplink power control with MMSE receiver in multi-cell MU-massive-MIMO systems

In the current literature considering multi-cell multi-user massive multiple-input multiple-output (MU-Massive-MIMO) systems, equal uplink power allocation among users is typically assumed, which does not exploit the potential of peruser power control. By contrast, in this paper we apply multi-cell uplink power control, assuming the minimum mean-square-error receiver based on the pilot contaminated channel estimation and a very large but finite number of antennas at the base station. We derive the lower bound on the average post-processing uplink signal to interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) with individual power assignment between pilot and data transmissions for each user, which facilitates a joint iterative uplink pilot and data power control strategy that minimizes the sum transmit power of all users subject to the per-user SINR and per-user power constraints. The convergence of the proposed algorithm to a unique fixed point optimal solution is discussed for both single- and multi-user scenarios. Numerical results indicate the significance of uplink power control which further improves the energy efficiency in MU-Massive-MIMO systems.
The Effectiveness of Project Based Learning Model Based on Local Wisdom Plantae Material To Improve Students' Science Literacy Ability

Scientific literacy is an ability that students must have in facing the challenges of the 21st century and is also one of the objectives of implementing the 2013 Curriculum. The object of this research is the basic competencies of Plantae material which is taught using project based learning (PjBL) based on local wisdom. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of project-based learning (PjBL) based on local wisdom to train students' scientific literacy skills. This research was conducted in class X MA NU Miftahul Falah Dawe Kudus, the sample of this study was taken by using saturated sampling technique. This research design using One Group Pretest Posstest Design. The data was collected using test with indicators of scientific literacy competence. The test results were analyzed using the N-gain test and paired sample t-test to prove the effectiveness of the learning. The results showed that the level of learning effectiveness was moderate with the average of N-Gain 0.66. The results of the paired sample t-test obtained a value of sig. 0.0000 < α = 0.05, which means that there is a significant difference between the pretest and posttest mean values. Based on the research results it can be denied that the project-based learning based on local wisdom of the Plantae material is effective to train students' scientific literacy competencies
Prognostic factors for time receiving workers' compensation benefits in a cohort of patients with low back pain.

STUDY DESIGN Prospective inception cohort study. OBJECTIVE To develop a prognostic model that predicts time receiving workers' compensation benefits for low back pain claimants. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA As the cost and difficulty of managing low back pain escalate, any predictor of outcome is advantageous. METHODS To obtain the outcome and predictor variables, patient data from two separate databases were linked: a clinical database and an administrative (Ontario workers' compensation) database. Claimants injured between January 1 and December 31, 1994, were included and observed for 1 year from the date of accident. The outcome variable was cumulative number of calendar days receiving benefits. RESULTS Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression (forward stepwise) showed eight significant predictors; five were associated with increased time receiving benefits compared with their reference groups: 1) working in the construction industry, 2) older age, 3) lag time from injury to treatment, 4) pain referred into the leg, and 5) three or more positive Waddell nonorganic signs. Three predictors were associated with reduced time receiving benefits: 1) higher values of questionnaire score, 2) intermittent pain, and 3) a previous episode of back pain. A predictive score was calculated to categorize claimants as at high or low risk for chronicity. When an arbitrary cutoff point was set at the 75th percentile of predictive score, negative predictive value was 94%. CONCLUSION This research identified eight factors for time receiving workers' compensation benefits among claimants with low back pain. This model discriminates between high- and low-risk claimants. Few low-risk claimants continued to receive benefits for more than 3 months.
Sustainability MSMEs Performance and Income Distribution: Role of Intellectual Capital and Strategic Orientations

Purpose: Previous research has found that organizational performance pressures and barriers have an effect on the long-term viability of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Furthermore, MSMEs' intellectual capital and strategic orientation, according to recent research findings, have an impact on this. The goal of this study is to see how intellectual capital and strategic orientation affect MSMEs' performance. Research design, data and methodology: The performance of MSMEs is the dependent variable, with intellectual capital, market orientation, learning orientation, and technical orientation as independent factors. With a sample size of 113 respondents, this research focused on information technology-based MSMEs in Indonesia's Solo Raya area. Data was analyzed use Confirmatory Factor Analysis for the reliability test and path analysis SEM. Results: The interaction between intellectual capital and strategic orientation in respect to MSMEs' performance reveals that innovation capability serves as a partial mediator in the relationship between intellectual capital and technical orientation and organization performance. Conclusions: In general, intellectual capital and strategic orientation have a positive substantial influence on innovation, according to the findings. Furthermore, they have a considerable favorable influence on the performance of MSMEs. It's just that intellectual capital has no discernible impact on knowledge sharing.