Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intestinal Permeability and Microbial Dysbiosis in Acute Coronary Syndrome (MIACS study)

Background: Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Metabolic syndrome and obesity are major risk factors for atherosclerosis and ACS. Dysbiosis plays an important role in metabolic syndrome and obesity. Studies show a markedly increased risk of heart attacks in patients with high levels of the pro-atherogenic metabolite trimethylamine-N-Oxide (TMAO). TMAO is produced by the intestinal microbial flora through metabolism of dietary phospholipids; Gram-negative bacteria (Phylum Proteobacteria ) is the major source of TMAO metabolism. Patients with obesity and metabolic syndrome have a defective intestinal tight-junctional (TJ) barrier, which allows paracellular permeation of luminal antigens such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS; endotoxins); leading to endotoxemia. Endotoxins are also associated with increased risk of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. We aim to study the hypothesis that patients with ACS have dysbiosis, including higher proportion of Gram-negative bacterial species capable of producing the pro-atherogenic metabolite TMAO, and test if dysbiosis in ACS patients is associated with increased intestinal permeability and endotoxemia. Methods: This is a prospective case-control study conducted at a single university hospital. We enrolled ACS patients (within 72 hours of acute cardiac events) and healthy controls. Relevant clinical and demographic data were collected. Stool microbiome composition was examined using the 16S ribosomal RNA (Illumina) method to identify microbiota taxonomic genera. LPS serum level was measured by an ELISA-based method. The intestinal TJ barrier function was evaluated using lactulose-to-mannitol urinary excretion ratio (L/M ratio). Serum TMAO was measured using a mass spectrometry. Results: We enrolled 19 patients and 19 controls. ACS patients had increased relative abundance of Gammaproteobacteria and Proteobacteria compared to healthy controls, with mean proportions of 1.8 ± 3.0 vs 0.2 ± 0.4 % (P = .04) and 4.1 ± 3.8 vs 2.1 ± 1.7% (P=.056), respectively. L/M-ratio was three times higher in ACS patients compared to healthy controls (.06 ± .07 vs .023 ± .02, P = .014). There was no difference in the mean serum LPS or TMAO levels. Conclusion: ACS patients have dysbiosis and increased intestinal permeability. Further studies are required to find the role of dysbiosis in acute cardiac events.
CAF - the C++ Actor Framework for Scalable and Resource-Efficient Applications

The actor model of computation has gained significant popularity over the last decade. Its high level of abstraction combined with its flexibility and efficiency makes it appealing for large applications in concurrent and distributed regimes. In this paper, we report on our work of designing and building CAF, the "C++ Actor Framework". CAF targets at providing an extremely scalable native environment for building high-performance concurrent applications and distributed systems. Based on our previous library tt libcppa, CAF significantly extends its scopes of application and operation, as well as the range of scalability. The particular contributions of this paper are threefold. First we present the design and implementation of a type-safe messaging interface for actors that rules out a category of runtime errors and facilitates robust software design. Second we introduce a runtime inspection shell as a first building block for convenient debugging of distributed actors. Finally we enhance the scheduling facilities and improve scaling up to high numbers of concurrent processors. Extensive performance evaluations indicate ideal runtime behaviour for up to 64 cores at very low memory footprint. In these tests, CAF clearly outperforms competing actor environments.
Cyanovirin-N Binds to gp120 To Interfere with CD4-Dependent Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Virion Binding, Fusion, and Infectivity but Does Not Affect the CD4 Binding Site on gp120 or Soluble CD4-Induced Conformational Changes in gp120

ABSTRACT Cyanovirin-N (CV-N), an 11-kDa protein isolated from the cyanobacterium Nostoc ellipsosporum, potently inactivates diverse strains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), HIV-2, and simian immunodeficiency virus. While it has been well established that the viral surface envelope glycoprotein gp120 is a molecular target of CV-N, the detailed mechanism of action is of further interest. We compared matched native and CV-N-treated virus preparations in a panel of assays that measure viral replication, assessing successive stages of the viral life cycle. CV-N-treated virions failed to infect cells as detected by p24 production and quantitative PCR for HIV-1 reverse transcription products, whereas treatment of the target cells did not block infection, confirming that CV-N acts at the level of the virus, not the target cell, to abort the initial infection process. Compared to native HIV-1 preparations, CV-N-treated HIV-1 virions showed impaired CD4-dependent binding to CD4+ T cells and did not mediate “fusion from without” of CD4+ target cells. CV-N also blocked HIV envelope glycoprotein Env-induced, CD4-dependent cell-cell fusion. Mapping studies with monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to defined epitopes on the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein indicated that CV-N binds to gp120 in a manner that does not occlude or alter the CD4 binding site or V3 loop or other domains on gp120 recognized by defined MAbs and does not interfere with soluble CD4-induced conformational changes in gp120. Binding of CV-N to soluble gp120 or virions inhibited subsequent binding of the unique neutralizing MAb 2G12, which recognizes a glycosylation-dependent epitope. However, prior binding of 2G12 MAb to gp120 did not block subsequent binding by CV-N. These results help clarify the mechanism of action of CV-N and suggest that the compound may act in part by preventing essential interactions between the envelope glycoprotein and target cell receptors. This proposed mechanism is consistent with the extensive activity profile of CV-N against numerous isolates of HIV-1 and other lentiviruses and supports the potential broad utility of this protein as a microbicide to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV.
Does Ination Adjust Faster to Aggregate Technology Shocks than to Monetary Policy Shocks?

This paper studies U.S. ination adjustment speed to aggregate technology shocks and to monetary policy shocks in a medium size Bayesian VAR model. According to the model estimated on the 1959-2007 sample, ination adjusts much faster to aggregate technology shocks than to monetary policy shocks. These results are robust to di¤erent identi cation assumptions and measures of aggregate prices. However, by separately estimating the model over the preand post-1980 periods, this paper further shows that ination adjusts much faster to technology shocks than to monetary policy shocks in the post-1980 period, but not in the pre-1980 period. JEL Codes: E31, E4, C11, C3
Integrated parallel prefetching and caching

Prefetching and caching are widely-used approaches for improving the performance of file systems. A recent study shows that it is important to integrate the two, and proposed an algorithm that performs well both in theory and in practice [2, I]. That study waa restricted to the case of a single disk. Here, we study integrated prefetching and caching strategies for multiple disks. The interaction between caching and prefetching is further complicated when a system has multiple disks, not only because it is possible to do multiple prefetches in parallel, but also because appropriate cache replacement strategies can alleviate the load imbalance among the disks. We present two offline algorithms, one of which has provably near-optimal performance. Using tracedriven simulation, we evaluated these algorithms under a variety of data placement alternatives. Our results show that both algorithms can achieve near linear speedup when the load is distributed evenly on the disks, and our best algorithm performs well even when the placement of blocks on disks distributes the load unevenly. Our simulations also show that replicating data, even across all of the disks, offers little performance advantage over a striped layout if prefetching is done well. Finally, we evaluated online variations of the algorithms and show that the online algorithms perform well even with moderate advance knowledge of future file accesses.
Estimation of Umbilical Artery Resistive Index in Pregnant Women with Preeclampsia in Al-Najaf Province

This study was carried out on 105 pregnant women with preeclampsia in addition to 105 pregnant women without preeclampsia as a control at Al-Najaf province from September ,2017-May 2018. All the included patients were examined by Doppler study to assess the resistive index of umbilical artery RI in preeclamptic pregnant patients with PE and pregnant women without PE. The results reveals that there was significant difference of umbilical artery RI 0.658±0.304, concerning preeclamptic pregnant patients in comparison to pregnant women without PE(0.571±0.215) , ( PV lesser than0.05) . In addition to that the umbilical artery RI was (0.577±0.301) in preeclamptic pregnant patient with mild PE while it was (0.813±0.247) in preeclamptic pregnant patient with severe PE which displayed a statistically significant difference( PV less than0.05). Also this study showed that the umbilical artery RI in preeclamptic pregnant patients with H. pylori was(1.11±0.319) which was greater than that for preeclamptic pregnant patients without H. pylori (0.919±0.25) with a statistically significant difference ( PV less than 0.5). It was concluded that Umbilical artery resistive index is a useful parameter in detection of preeclampsia and its severity and the umbilical artery resistive index might be useful parameter in prediction of infection of positive H. pylori infection associated with preeclampsia.
Evaluation of the scattered radiation components produced in a gamma camera using Monte Carlo method

INTRODUCTION: This paper presents a simulation for evaluation of the scattered radiation components produced in a gamma camera PARK using Monte Carlo code SIMIND. It simulates a whole body study with MDP (Methylene Diphosphonate) radiopharmaceutical based on Zubal anthropomorphic phantom, with some spinal lesions. METHODS: The simulation was done by comparing 3 configurations for the detected photons. The corresponding energy spectra were obtained using Low Energy High Resolution collimator. The parameters related with the interactions and the fraction of events in the energy window, the simulated events of the spectrum and scatter events were calculated. RESULTS: The simulation confirmed that the images without influence of scattering events have a higher number of valid recorded events and it improved the statistical quality of them. A comparison among different collimators was made. The parameters and detector energy spectrum were calculated for each simulation configuration with these collimators using 99mTc. CONCLUSION: The simulation corroborated that LEHS collimator has higher sensitivity and HEHR collimator has lower sensitivity when they are used with low energy photons.
The Characteristics of Acute Aortic Dissection among Young Chinese Patients: A Comparison between Marfan Syndrome and Non-Marfan Syndrome Patients

Purpose Aortic dissection (AoD) is one of the most common catastrophes involving the aorta. Nevertheless, early diagnosis remains to be a challenge in the Emergency Department (ED), particularly in young individuals. In this study, we attempted to identify the characteristics of acute AoD among young individuals, particular in patients with Marfan syndrome. Materials and Methods This was an retrospective chart-review study conducted in a tertiary referring hospital. The hospital database was queried for the combination of AoD and patients under age of 40 years. The medical charts were reviewed to obtain demographic data, clinical data and laboratory characteristics by using a standardized data collection sheet. A comparison between Marfan syndrome and non-Marfan syndrome patients was performed. Results During the 10-years period, 18 of 344 patients with acute AoD were younger than 40 years-old. Patients with Marfan syndrome developed acute AoD at a younger age than patients without Marfan syndrome. The mean diastolic blood pressure was significantly lower in patients with Marfan syndrome upon presenting to the ED than those without. Patients with Marfan syndrome had trends toward higher risk of development of type A AoD, increased recurrence rate and higher mortality rate than those without. However, statistical significance was not present. Conclusion ED physicians should have high alert to acute AoD in young patients presenting with severe unexplained chest and back pain, particularly in those patients with a history of heart diseases, hypertension, and Marfan syndrome or featuring Marfanoid habitus. Acute coronary syndrome, unexplained abdominal symptoms, and sudden cardiac arrest could be the initial manifestation of AoD in young patients. A low threshold to perform enhanced computed tomography may facilitate early diagnosis and timely treatment in this patient population.
PENGARUH BABY MASSAGE TERHADAP KUALITAS TIDUR BAYI USIA 3-6 BULAN (Di BPM Ny. Farochah SST, Kecamatan Jombang, Kabupaten Jombang)

Kebutuhan tidur selain dapat dilihat dari aspek kuantitasnya juga dapat dilihat dari aspek kualitasnya. Dengan kualitas tidur yang baik, pertumbuhan dan juga perkembangan bayi dapat dicapai secara optimal. Salah satu cara yang digunakan untuk memenuhi kebutuhan tersebut adalah dengan baby massage. Peneliti melakukan wawancara kepada 5 ibu bayi. Hasil wawancara didapatkan 3/5 (60%) ibu mengatakan bahwa bayinya mudah rewel dan sering terbangun pada malam hari, menangis dan apabila bayinya terbangun sulit untuk memulai tidur kembali. Dari 2/5 (40%) ibu mengatakan anaknya tidur pulas dan tidak pernah rewel pada malam hari. Penelitian ini bertujuan menganalisis pengaruh baby massage terhadap kualitas tidur bayi usia 3-6 bulan di BPM Ny. Farochah, Kecamatan Jombang, Kabupaten Jombang. Jenis penelitian ini adalah pra eksperimental dengan rancangan one group pretest-posttest design. Populasi penelitian ini adalah bayi usia 3-6 bulan. Sampel penelitian sejumlah 32 bayi usia 3-6 bulan, diambil secara purposive sampling. Variable independent adalah baby massage dan variable dependent adalah kualitas tidur bayi usia 3-6 bulan. Instrument penelitian menggunakan kuesioner. Pengolahan data menggunakan editing, coding, tabulating dan uji statistic Wilcoxon. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kualitas tidur bayi Usia 3-6 bulan sebelum diberi baby massage sebagian besar cukup yaitu sebesar 17 orang (53,1%) dan kualitas tidur bayi Usia 3-6 bulan sesudah diberi baby massage sebagian besar baik yaitu sebesar 24 orang (75%). Uji statistik wilcoxon menunjukan bahwa nilai signifikan p value = 0,001 < a (0,05), sehingga H1 diterima. Kesimpulan penelitian yang berarti ada Pengaruh Baby Massage Terhadap Kualitas Tidur Bayi Usia 3-6 bulan Di BPM Ny. Farochah, Kecamatan Jombang, Kabupaten Jombang. Kata kunci : baby massage, kualitas tidur bayi usia 3-6 bulan
Dark Nests and Conspicuousness in Color Patterns of Nestlings of Altricial Birds

Nests of altricial birds exhibit variable spectral properties that may affect the efficacy (conspicuousness) of the colored begging traits that a nestling displays to its parents. Here we explored whether selection for efficient perception has favored the evolution of nestling color designs that maximizes nestling detectability in variable light environments. Visual models were used to estimate how parents perceive the coloration of mouths, flanges, heads, and breasts of nestlings within their nest in 21 species of European birds. We show that the largest chromatic and achromatic contrasts against the nest background appeared for nestling mouths and flanges, respectively. Nestlings of open‐nesting species showed a larger general achromatic contrast with the nest than did nestlings of hole‐nesting species. However, nestlings of hole nesters showed a more evident achromatic contrast between flanges and other traits than did nestlings of open nesters. In addition, species with larger clutch sizes showed larger general achromatic contrasts with the nest. Gaping traits of open‐nesting species contrasting with the nest background were better perceived under rich light regimes than under poor ones. These findings are consistent with a scenario in which selection for nestling detectability in dark environments has favored the evolution of particular achromatic components of gape coloration but also nestling traits that enhance signal efficacy by maximizing color contrasts within a nestling.
PCR-RFLP anaLysis oF MsTn gene in KaRaKaChan sheeP bReed

The present study was conducted in order to investigate and identify the allelic variants of myostatin (MSTN) gene associated with meat traits in sheep. Blood samples were taken from a population of 25 animals of Bulgarian breed Karakachan sheep – 22 ewes and 3 rams. Genomic DNA was extracted and myostatin genotypes were estimated by means of PCR amplification and PCR-RFLP method. The PCR products were digested with HaeIII restriction enzyme. In the total population of sheep polymorphism was not found. The MSTN locus was found to be monomorphic – only the allele m and the genotype mm were detected.
Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Parents Towards Immunization of Children in Saudi Arabia, 2018

Background: Immunization has shown a major preventive aspect of infectious diseases, disability and death. Objectives: Assessing the Knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of Saudi parents in Saudi Arabiathe immunization programs for children, Saudi Arabia (KSA), 2018. Methods: It is a cross sectional survey study that was carried among 600 different Saudi parents form different Cities of Saudi Arabiafor 3 months from Nov 2017 to Jan 2018. The parents completed a questionnaire that contains 4 different parts about the demographics, knowledge, attitude and practice of parents toward immunization. Results: The included parents have shown a high level of awareness about vaccination regarding the preventive measures and importance of vaccination which resulted in positive attitudes and practice pattern among most of them. The overall KAP was good among most of the parents (87.2%). The higher KAP level was significantly associated with female gender, higher educational degree and having higher number of children. Conclusion: Most of Saudi parents had good KAP toward immunization which was associated with female gender and higher educational degrees. However, educational programs are still needed to increase the parents’ knowledge and practice especially among illiterate and less educated parents living in rural areas.
On the Private and Social Desirability of Mixed Bundling in Complementary Markets with Cost Savings

The aim of this paper is to study both the private and the social desirability of a mixed bundling strategy that generates a cost savings effect. We confirm that mixed bundling is the dominant strategy for multiproduct firms, although it may give rise to a prisoner’s dilemma. Moreover, we show that mixed bundling may maximise social welfare, provided that cost savings are sufficiently high. Finally, we highlight the parametric regions where the social and the private interests coincide, and those where they do not. The recent evolution of broadband telecommunications services provides an ideal framework to apply our theoretical predictions.
Musculoskeletal pain among bakery workers in Lebanon: a national survey

Abstract This study examined the association of self-reports of repetitive hand movements, perceptions of the work environment, and somatization with upper extremity musculoskeletal pain among bakery workers, an understudied population globally. Surveys were conducted in 504 randomly selected bakeries across Lebanon and administered through face-to-face interviews at the workplace. The survey included items on musculoskeletal pain, general health, workplace environment, activities, and socio-demographics. The findings showed that 23% of bakery workers reported upper extremity pain. Workers who reported poor health (OR = 2.08; 95% CI = 1.12–3.87) and those who perceived that the work environment negatively affects their health (OR = 2.04; 95% CI = 1.26–3.33) were twice as likely to experience upper extremity musculoskeletal pain. Somatization was positively associated with reporting upper extremity musculoskeletal pain (OR = 1.51; 95% CI = 1.22–1.86). Workers that reported having another job were three times more likely to report upper musculoskeletal pain (OR = 2.76; 95% CI = 1.31–5.79). The need for interventions in the work environment and work strategies is evident.
Urinary incontinence following surgery for BPH: the role of aging on the incidence of bladder dysfunction.

PURPOSE The reported incidence of urinary incontinence (UI) due to bladder dysfunction following surgery of BPH is variable. We described the causes of incontinence in a large group of men that developed this unusual complication and analyzed the influence of age on the prevalence of bladder dysfunction. MATERIALS AND METHODS We evaluated a total of 125 patients with urinary incontinence following surgical treatment for BPH: Transurethral resection of the prostate (81 men) and open prostatectomy (44 men). A third group of 21 patients with incontinence following radical prostatectomy was used for comparison. All patients underwent urodynamic analysis. Urethral Sphincter Insufficiency (USI) was defined as involuntary loss of urine induced by Valsalva maneuver in the absence of a detrusor contraction. Bladder dysfunction was defined as detrusor overactivity and/or decreased compliance. RESULTS Urethral sphincter insufficiency was the most common etiology of urinary incontinence in the three groups of patients. However, bladder dysfunction was observed in 59.3%, 56.8% and 57.1% of patients who underwent transurethral resection, open prostatectomy and radical prostatectomy, respectively. Median patient age was 69 and 75 years for patients with and without bladder dysfunction, respectively. A logistic regression model for the presence of bladder dysfunction showed that age was a statistically significant predictor. CONCLUSIONS Urethral Sphincter insufficiency is the main cause of incontinence following surgery for BPH. Bladder dysfunction may be the isolated cause of incontinence in approximately 25% of patients. The chances of bladder dysfunction rises 5.3% for each year added to patient age. Patients older than 70 years have twice the probability of post procedural incontinence.
Surface Acoustic Wave Devices for Harsh Environment Wireless Sensing

Langasite surface acoustic wave devices can be used to implement harsh-environment wireless sensing of gas concentration and temperature. This paper reviews prior work on the development of langasite surface acoustic wave devices, followed by a report of recent progress toward the implementation of oxygen gas sensors. Resistive metal oxide films can be used as the oxygen sensing film, although development of an adherent barrier layer will be necessary with the sensing layers studied here to prevent interaction with the langasite substrate. Experimental results are presented for the performance of a langasite surface acoustic wave oxygen sensor with tin oxide sensing layer, and these experimental results are correlated with direct measurements of the sensing layer resistivity.