Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of vitamin D 3 in reducing metabolic and oxidative stress in the liver of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Diabetes mellitus is a growing health problem worldwide and is associated with severe liver complications. The aim of the present study is to analyse the status of metabolic and free-radical-scavenging enzymes and second messengers in the liver of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats, and to determine the hepatoprotective role of vitamin D3. All studies were performed using the liver of adult male Wistar rats. Gene expression studies were carried out using real-time PCR with specific probes. Second messenger levels were determined using H-labelled Biotrak assay kits, and glucose uptake assay with D-[C]glucose. The present results show that there was a decrease in hepatic glucose uptake, malate dehydrogenase activity, glycogen content, inositol triphosphate (IP3) and cyclic GMP levels, and superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, phospholipase C, cyclic AMP-responsive element-binding protein, vitamin D receptor (VDR) and insulin receptor (INSR) gene expression in the diabetic rats when compared with the controls (all P,0·05), while cyclic AMP levels and GLUT2 expression were increased (P,0·05). Treatment of the diabetic rats with vitamin D3 and insulin reversed the altered parameters to near control values. In conclusion, the data suggest a novel role of vitamin D3 in restoring impaired liver metabolism in STZ-induced diabetic rats by regulating glucose uptake, storage and metabolism. We demonstrated that the restoring effect of vitamin D3 is mediated through VDR modulation, thereby improving signal transduction and controlling free radicals in the liver of diabetic rats. These data suggest a potential role for vitamin D3 in the treatment of diabetes-associated hepatic complications.
DRIVERS OF SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PROJECTS IN THE ENERGY SECTOR IN KENYA

The purpose of the study is to determine the drivers of successful implementation of public private partnership in public procurement projects in the energy sector in Kenya. Specifically the study determined the need to evaluate how legal framework, risk management, value for money and stakeholder involvement ensures successful implementation of PPP in public procurements projects in the energy sector in Kenya. The research questions include; how does legal framework influence the implementation of PPP procurement in the energy sector? To what extent does risk management influence the implementation of PPP procurements in the energy sector? To what extent does value for money influence the implementation of PPP procurement in the energy sector? How does stakeholder involvement influence the implementation of PPP procurements in the energy sector? The study was anchored on; Principle agent theory, stakeholder theory, four pillar model and public value theory. The study employed stratified random sampling technique in coming up with a sample size of 154 respondents from a total of 253 target population in the energy sector in Kenya. Structured and semi structured questioners were be used to collect data. Pilot study was carried out to establish the validity and reliability of the research instruments. The instruments were designed appropriately according to the study objective. Data gathered from the questionnaires administered was analyzed by the help of Ms Excel and SPSS version 20, while data was presented inform of frequency tables and charts. The study used multiple linear regression and correlation analysis to show the relationship between variables. The response rate of the study was 87%. The findings of the study indicated that legal framework, risk management, value for money and stakeholder involvement have a positive relationship with successful implementation of public private partnerships in public procurement projects. Finally, the study recommended that companies in the energy sector should embrace drivers of successful implementation of public private partnerships so as to its successful implementation and further researches should to be carried out in other institutions to find out if the same results can be obtained.
Effect of VA-Mycorrhizal Fungi Inocula Produced in Vitro on Some Maize Fungal Diseases and Growth Parameters under Field Conditions

our vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi (Glomus spp.) isolates namely VAM-O, VAM-B, VAM-S and VAM-M were isolated from onion, broad bean, swiss cheese and maize roots, respectively, used to produce in vitro inocula which were evaluated under field conditions. The VAM isolates were grown in vitro on barely modified (BM) cultures to produce their applicable inocula. The in vitro inocula were used at low (2.5/g ridge), medium (5.0/g ridge) and high levels (10.0/g ridge) equivalent to 10, 15 and 20 kg/feddan, respectively. Two field experiments were carried out during 2002 and 2003 growing seasons to evaluate the effect of VAM inoculation treatments compared to P-fertilizer and VAM inoculation + N-fertilization compared to N-fertilizer alone on the seed germination, percentage of smutted and stunted plants, fresh and dry weight/plant, ear weight, grain yield/plant and weight of 100-kernels. Response of maize to VAM inoculation was greatly varied depending on the VAM isolate, inoculum level and growing season. The aforementioned maize growth parameters were significantly enhanced by VAM inoculation than P-fertilization, whereas most VAM treatments + N-fertilization showed similar response when compared with the N-fertilizer alone.
ENVIRONMENT AND TRAUMA 1 Examining How the Environment and Trauma Contribute to Mental Illness in Homeless Populations

This study examined housing insecure individuals’ pathways to developing mental health issues. Fifteen semi structured interviews were conducted with residents of a transitional housing facility (n = 4) and unsheltered individuals (n = 11) identified by a community liaison. Participants were screened for having ever experienced mental health issues. This study used two methods of analysis: 1) analytic induction and 2) content coding. Analytic induction builds the framework for theory development (Creswell, 2007), so it was utilized to construct assertions surrounding housing insecure individuals’ pathways to mental health issues. Two assertions were composed: 1) participants described their relationships with others as having an effect on their mental health in both beneficial (i.e. from supportive relationships) and harmful ways (i.e. from marginalization, isolation etc.). , and 2) participants often described their mental health as being associated with trauma (i.e. being in war, being assaulted, untimely death of a loved one, etc.) and/or abuse (i.e. physical, sexual, emotional, neglect, etc.). Furthermore, in keeping with a strengths-based approach (Rappaport, 1995; Thomas, Grey, & McGinty, 2012), this study used content coding to identify resources and coping mechanisms that housing insecure individuals identified as beneficial. Four strategies emerged: 1) therapy, 2) therapy with medication, 3) meditation, and 4) distraction.
E-PROCUREMENT ADOPTION AND PROCUREMENT PERFORMANCE IN COUNTY GOVERNMENTS IN KENYA : A CASE OF KIAMBU COUNTY GOVERNMENT

Over the years, procurement process has continued to evolve in both private and public sector. The traditional manual procurement process has recently received a facelift to electronic procurement process courtesy of the advancement in Information Communications Technology (ICT) that has been able to provide an electronic inter-phase in procurement processes. As part of the Government’s initiative to reform the Public Finance Management (PFM) system and restore the public confidence in the use of public funds, the government of Kenya introduced an Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), e-procurement module that would enhance efficiency in planning, budgeting, procurement, expenditure management and reporting in the National and County Governments. The study sought to establish the adoption of e-procurement on procurement performance in county governments in Kenya taking Kiambu County as a case. The specific objectives for the study were; ERP integration, e-tendering, eordering, and e-awarding on procurement performance in County governments in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population consisted of 112 top management employees from the ICT, Procurement, stores management and Finance and Accounts departments of Kiambu county government. The study used close-ended questionnaires. The study also recommends for the integration of Electronic systems when planning distribution of supplies to sub counties and materials management systems when managing inventories and the use of electronic systems to source the supplier’s information. Moreover, the study recommends the county governments to use electronic means to access tenders in the county. There is also need for the submission of tenders electronically as well as submission of successful receipt of tenders electronically at the county. The study recommends for electronic notification of successful applicants. Furthermore, the study recommends for the use of electronic means to give notice of the existing tenders.
Folktale Text Transformation: Learning Model to Read Appreciatively

This study focused on the development of learning models to read appreciatively through folktale text transformation. This study was conducted as an effort to improve the reading skills appreciatively of 12th-grade students in vocational schools. This study was a mixed method research with the subsequential design. Data were analysed by qualitative and quantitative techniques with a matching pattern of test-pretest post-test . The results showing the difference values between Randomized Pretest and Posttest significantly. Based on this differences, can be inferred that the developed learning model of narrative text transformation was capable of substantially improving skills of reading appreciatively of 12th-grade students in vocational schools. Thus, learning models to read appreciatively through folktale text transformation was effective and fit to be used in improving skills of reading appreciatively
What can information specialists do for science communication ? With cases from the Prior project

The paper investigates the role of information specialists in science communication and interdisciplinary research project environments. It identifies three scenarios in which information specialists meet researchers: researchers’ cognitive knowledge building, researchrelated communicative activities in groups, and researchers as representatives of a whole, historic scientific community. These scenarios coincide with three approaches in information science: (1) library support; (2) system development; and (3) information science research into a discipline’s traditions and practices. The paper provides the information science agenda for areas (2) and (3) and draws on personal experience from the author’s work on the Prior project.
Efficacy of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing ( EMDR ) in the Iranian Veterans with Chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ( PTSD ) after Iran-Iraq War

To explore the efficacy of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to treat Iranian Veterans who have experienced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after Iran-Iraq war, a pilot study was designed with pre-test, post-test and control group. First through clinical interview (psychiatrist and clinical psychologist views) and PTSD scale of Mississipi, 30 people of the war Veterans suffering from chronic PTSD were chosen. Then the patients were placed in two different experimental and control groups randomly. Only experimental group were treated with EMDR for four-session in four weeks. After treatment, both groups were assessed with PTSD scale of Mississipi. The obtained results were analyzed with ANCOVA and the results showed that the difference between the experimental and control groups were statistically significant (f=5.501, p=0.027). With regard to results, it can be stated that this difference was created by EMDR treatment.
A Time-aware Method for Occupancy Detection in a Building

The target of buildings’ energy efficient is to facilitate a comfortable environment for occupants while maintaining minimal energy consumption. Occupant behaviors pay a large impact in influencing the energy consumption. Time-aware occupancy detection could give information support for intelligent building energy management. In this paper several building occupancy detection methods, which are based on the temporal analysis of historical data, are proposed for providing different size of prediction window occupancy detection. Each proposed approaches are evaluated against accurate real-life data collected from a building. Experiments have been conducted using actual occupancy data under six different time horizons can be used to perform time-aware occupancy states prediction. The experimental results show that Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) and Gaussian mixture models-Hidden Markov Model (GMM-HMM) outperforms the other methods for the evaluation. With proposed more accurate time-aware occupancy prediction algorithms, we hope to develop more energy-efficient HVAC(Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) scheduling systems in order to save energy consumption.
Effect of Organic Osmolytes on Pea Seed Yield under Drought Stress Conditions Imposed at Different Growth Stages

Drought is one of the major abiotic stresses which adversely affect crop growth and production worldwide as water is vital for every aspect of plant growth and development. The present experiment was carried out during the two growing seasons of 2012/2013 and 2013/2014, at The Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Shoubra El-Kheima, Egypt, in order to investigate the effecting of using foliar application of organic osmolytes on vegetative growth, seed yield and quality of pea (Pisum sativum L) under drought stress conditions imposed at different growth stages. The plants were exposed to drought stress at different growth stages; vegetative growth stage, flowering stage, all growth stages and control plants (no stress imposed) and foliar application of organic osmolytes; glycine betaine (GB) was used at 2 mM/L and proline was used at 2 mM/L. Results showed that untreated plants (no stress imposed) and the both foliar GB or proline had the highest significant value of vegetative growth. No significant differences observed in the first season in abortion, while in the second season GB had the highest value but didn’t differ significantly with proline, control and its combination had the lowest value. The foliar application of GB produced the highest pod yield per plant and feddan compared with the other treatments. While, foliar application of GB or proline produced the highest hundred-seed weight compared with control treatment. The interaction among studied factors indicated that combination of GB or proline foliar application without drought stress had a little highest value followed by drought in vegetative and flowering stages.
Influence of Saccharum officinarum ( Poales : Poaceae ) Variety on the Reproductive Behavior of Diatraea flavipennella ( Lepidoptera : Crambidae ) and on the Attraction of the Parasitoid Cotesia flavipes ( Hymenoptera : Braconidae )

BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. Influence of Saccharum officinarum (Poales: Poaceae) Variety on the Reproductive Behavior of Diatraea flavipennella (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) and on the Attraction of the Parasitoid Cotesia flavipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)
Impact of dietary fenugreek seeds on lactational performance and blood biochemical and hematological parameters of dairy goats under hot summer conditions.

High ambient temperature is considered as the major constraint on animal production in the tropics and sub-tropics regions. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary fenugreek seeds on lactational performance and blood biochemical, hematological and antioxidant parameters of dairy goats under stressful summer conditions. Forty-two dairy Baladi goats were randomly divided into three equal groups (14 animals in each group). The first (control) group was fed a basal diet without any additives. The second (FG1) and third (FG2) groups were fed the basal diet supplemented daily with 50 g and 100 g fenugreek seeds per animal, respectively. Compared to the control group, Baladi goats in FG1 and FG2 groups had a significantly increased daily milk yield at a rate of 8.2 and 34.2%, respectively (p<0.05). Furthermore, milk protein percentages were increased by daily supplementation with either 50 or 100 g fenugreek seeds (p<0.05), but fat percentage was only decreased in the FG2 group (p<0.01). Serum glucose (p<0.05), triglycerides (p<0.01), cholesterol (p<0.01) and triiodothyronine (p<0.01) were significantly reduced after supplementation of fenugreek seeds in the diet, either FG1 or FG2 groups. Compared to the control group, both fenugreek-supplemented groups had a significantly greater serum globulin and thryoxine level (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively). Additionally, both fenugreeks-supplemented groups had a significantly higher total antioxidant capacity (p<0.01) and catalase activity (p<0.01). The current results indicate that supplementation of dietary fenugreek seeds may improve the milk yield, physiological and hematological parameters, and antioxidant capacity of heat-stressed goats.
Associations between VEGF polymorphisms and risk of psoriasis : a case-control study in a Chinese Han population and meta-analysis

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) regulates angiogenesis during the development of psoriasis, yet it is unclear whether the VEGF -460T/C and +405G/C polymorphisms associated with psoriasis risk. Here, a case-control study in a Chinese Han population and a meta-analysis were conducted to further investigate these associations. This case-control study involved 248 Han Chinese cases and 259 genderand age-matched healthy controls, which were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-ligation detection reaction (PCR-LDR) method. The results together with data from previous studies were meta-analyzed. Our case-control study suggested the -460T/C and +405G/C polymorphisms were not associated with psoriasis, but subgroup analysis by gender indicated a significant association with decreased risk of psoriasis in male subjects under heterozygote (OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.39-0.93, P = 0.022), dominant (OR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.39-0.91, P = 0.016), and allele (OR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.500.97, P = 0.031) models of the -460T/C polymorphism. Similarly, the meta-analysis including the present study (six studies on -460T/C and nine studies on +405G/C) showed no associations between the two polymorphisms and psoriasis. However, subgroup analysis by ethnicity revealed a significant association with decreased risk of psoriasis in Caucasians under both heterozygote (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.50-0.92, Ph = 0.794, I 2 = 0.0%) and dominant (OR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.55-0.97, Ph = 0.371, I 2 = 0.0%) models of the -460T/C polymorphism and in Asians under allele (OR = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.77-0.93, Ph = 0.502, I 2 = 0.0%) model of the +405G/C polymorphism. The meta-analysis and our case-control study respectively suggest the -460T/C polymorphism confers decreased risk to psoriasis in Caucasians and male Han Chinese, and that the +405G/C polymorphism confers decreased risk to psoriasis in Asians, but not in a Chinese Han population.
A Review of the Factors Influencing the Absorption and Efficacy of Lipophilic and Highly Water-Soluble Post-Emergence Herbicides

It is well known that post-emergence herbicide uptake into plant foliage and efficacy varies with plant and chemicals, and can be greatly influenced by adjuvants and environmental conditions. The penetration of herbicides into plant leaves is related to the physicochemical properties of the active ingredients, especially molecular size and lipophilicity. For a specific herbicide, uptake varies greatly with plant species and there is no simple method at the moment to quickly evaluate the leaf surface permeability of a plant. Furthermore, current evidence suggests that highly-water soluble, ionic herbicides may be more sensitive to some environmental conditions (low humidity and rapid drop drying) than lipophilic herbicides. Various adjuvants are being used to increase the penetration of herbicides into target plant foliage, but their effect varies with chemicals and plant species. The mechanisms of action of adjuvants in enhancing herbicide uptake remain unclear despite the effort made during the last three decades. A better understanding of the transcuticular transport of herbicides and the mode of action of adjuvants should lead to a more rational use of herbicides and minimize their negative impact on the environment. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Provisional chapter Role of Immune System in Kidney Cancer

Almost all kidney cancers are associated to immune dysfunction. Among these, renal cell carcinoma (RCC) represents approximately 2% of malignancies that affect adults and for 90–95% of all kidney cancers. Recent evidences have collaborated to elucidate the mechanisms involved in the development of this disease. In this view, dysfunctional neutrophil migration, as well as T lymphocyte-DC (dendritic cell) cross talk, DC maturation, immune cell metabolism, and reactivity and abnormal expression of cytokines and chemokines and their receptors have been highlighted in RCC and stroma cells. A rational development of novel therapies to recover antitumor activity of immune system is closely related to the understanding of the complex interactions between immune system and tumor. Some insights have been reached and immunomodulatory molecules, such as interleukin-2 (IL-2) and IFN-α, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and chemokines antagonists have shown clinical efficacy. In this chapter, we overview the essential role of innate and adaptive immune response in RCC and discuss drugs approved or in development for its treatment.