Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proteomics and bioinformatics approaches for the identification of plasma biomarkers to detect Parkinson's disease

The aim of the present study was to screen for biomarkers of Parkinson's disease (PD) using proteomics and bioinformatics approaches. PD patients were divided into three groups: Those without surgery (PD1 group); those who had undergone deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery without electrode stimulation (PD2 group); and those who had undergone DBS surgery with 1 month of electrode stimulation (PD3 group). The non-Parkinson control group (CK group) was also involved. Quantitative proteomic analysis of human sera was performed through the use of tandem mass tag markers and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based techniques. For the proteins with quantitative information, a systematic bioinformatics analysis was then performed, including protein annotation, functional classification, functional enrichment and cluster analysis based on functional enrichment. Of the 739 proteins identified, quantitative information was available for 644. With regard to differential expression, 18 upregulated and 21 downregulated proteins were screened in the PD1/CK comparison group; 12 upregulated and 12 downregulated proteins in the PD2/PD1 comparison group; and 16 upregulated and 19 downregulated proteins in the PD3/PD2 comparison group. Coiled-coil domain-containing protein 154 (CCDC154) and tripartite motif-containing protein 3 (TRIM3) were key proteins involved in the molecular mechanisms of PD, participating in intracellular vesicle, ubiquitin protein ligase and transition metal ion-binding activities. After DBS surgery, desert hedgehog protein (DHH) was downregulated, whereas neuropilin-2 (NRP2) was upregulated; these participated in the ensheathment of neurons and the semaphorin receptor complex, respectively. The expression level of chloride intracellular channel protein 1 (CLIC1) was increased after 1 month of electrode stimulation following DBS. By combining proteomic approaches and LC-MS methods, significant proteins including CCDC154, TRIM3, DHH, NRP2 and CLIC1 were detected with high specificity and sensitivity. These may be used as novel biomarkers for early diagnosis of PD and the future development of treatments.
Climate Change and Agriculture: Modeling the Impact of Carbon Dioxide Emission on Cereal Yield in Ghana

The objective of the paper is to contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of climate change and agriculture by examining the effect of carbon dioxide concentration (CO2) on cereal yield using autoregressive distributed lag models (ARDL). The research is based on quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional research using secondary data obtained from World Bank data base for the period of 1961-2010. The co-integration test indicates the series are co-integrated. The results on the long run and shorts run elastically co-efficient indicate that there is significant negative link between CO2 and cereal yield. There significant positive long run and short run link between cereal yield and income (proxied by real gross domestic product). Policy makers and agriculture scientists and environmental scientists should put in place policies to reduce atmospheric temperature increase and pollution to benefit from CO2 fertilization in order to ensure food security. The findings indicate that income (proxied by real gross domestic product) positively affect cereal yield. The link between CO2 and cereal production should be examine in future studies current study considered cereal yield.
Phenology, Yield and Yield Components of Maize as Affected by Humic Acid and Nitrogen

In this research we studied the role of humic acid and nitrogen in improving the phenology, growth and productivity of maize ( Zea mays L.). Field experiment was carried out at the New Developmental Farm of the University of Agriculture Peshawar during Autumn 2011. Zea mays L. cultivar, Azam was sown. Two factors were studied using three levels of humic acid (1.5, 3 and 4.5 kg ha -1 ) and four levels of nitrogen (80, 120, 160 and 200 kg ha -1 ). Humic acid was applied at sowing time whereas 1/3 rd nitrogen at sowing time, and 1/3 rd at 4-5 leaf stage and remaining 1/3 rd at tasseling stage in comparison with control. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design having four replications. Non-significant parameter was emergence m -2 while significant were days to silking, thousand grain weight, grain yield and grain per ear. Days to silking was delayed with increase in levels of humic acid and nitrogen. Humic acid levels significantly increased grains ear -1 and grain yield ha -1 with 3 kg HA ha -1 while no effect was observed in thousand grains weight. Nitrogen increased grains ear 1 , thousand grains weight (g) and grains yield ha -1 at the rate of 160 kg N ha -1 as compared to other levels and control. Hence it is concluded that 3 kg HA ha -1 and 160 kg N ha -1 gave significant results.
Effect of forced-air artificial intermittent drying on cocoa beans in South-Western Nigeria

Drying experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of forced-air, artificial intermittent drying system on quality of fermented cocoa beans harvested in south-western Nigeria. The beans were dried naturally by using traditional sun drying method and artificially, by hot air inside an oven at air temperatures of 35, 40, 45, 50 and 55°C respectively. Fermented beans were exposed to 9 h of drying and 15 h of resting daily. The following quality parameters were assessed; free fatty acid (FFA), pH, moisture content and acetic acid for each drying temperatures and sun drying. From the test results, the free fatty acid and acetic acid levels increases with increase in drying temperature, also, the pH level decreases with increase in drying temperature. Optimum bean-quality was obtained for cocoa beans dried at 45°C oven temperature. A predictive equation was established that shows the relationship between oven temperature (°C) and free fatty acid level (mg/g) of the beans. Generally, it was also discovered that there is no known adverse effect on the quality of the beans dried under forced-air artificial intermittent drying system. Key words: Effect, temperature, cocoa beans, forced-air, artificial, intermittent, free fatty acid, acetic acid quality, convection.
The Influence of Partnership Attributes on the Perceived Benefits of Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce

Partner relationships in business-to-business electronic commerce (B2B e-commerce) are important issues for both practitioners and academicians. However, empirical studies have seldom addressed the influence of various partnership factors on perception of B2B ecommerce benefits. This study employs the structural equation modeling to examine how partnership attributes (e.g. partner interdependence, coordination, trust, and commitment) influence perceived benefits of B2B e-commerce, which has three dimensions, namely informational, transactional, and strategic benefits. Data collected from 157 IS executives in large Taiwanese organizations were used to test the relationships between the research model constructs. The results indicate that partner interdependence, coordination and trust influence the perception of B2B e-commerce for informational, transactional and strategic benefits, whereas partner commitment contributes only to perceived strategic benefits of B2B e-commerce. The results of this study could help e-business managers or policy-makers to implement B2B e-commerce effectively in their organization and with trading partners.
Shifting Boundaries in Respect of Perceptions Governing Women and the Burning of Impepho

Within the Zulu people’s belief system almost all ritual and or traditional ceremonies require ancestral intervention if the occasion is to be accorded a status befitting it. The summoning of and or libation to the ancestors are closely linked to burning of impepho, a type of an indigenous African plant which is well-known to the majority of Sub-Saharan Africans. Depending on the nature of the rite in question or affordability by the family wanting to offer a sacrifice, chickens, goats or cows are presented as food for the ancestors. Males, albeit of particular standing within the family are charged with presiding powers at such ceremonies. Ordinarily, women have no place in these matters. However, there is a growing power shift which sees women in female headed households perceiving themselves as much of custodians of culture as their male counterparts. The article reports on the recently completed study whose aim was to find out why women were not allowed to preside in undertakings necessitating the burning of impepho. Furthermore the study is ground breaking in that the responses of women, who actually preside over ritual practices requiring the burning of impepho, deconstruct the myth that women should not handle impepho on such occasions. One of the key questions answered in this article is whether the prayers of such women and their needs go unheard by the ancestors.
Effects of blowing ratio on the heat transfer coefficient distribution downstream of a single film cooling hole

Detailed distributions of heat transfer coefficients downstream of a single film cooling hole were presented. The film cooling hole has an angle of inclination of 45° and a circular shape diameter of 10 mm. Tests were conducted in a purpose built heat transfer rig at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, UPM. The rig has been modified to conduct transient heat transfer testing using thermochromic liquid crystal technique. A single narrow-band liquid crystal was used to map the distribution of heat transfer coefficient downstream of a single film cooling hole at a blowing ratio ranging between 0.5-0.94. The detailed heat transfer coefficient distributions provide a clear understanding of free jet-mainstream interactions for different blowing ratio. Results shows that blowing ratio of 0.64 provides a better cooling protection compared to the other blowing ratios tested.
Significance of ungulates in the diet of recently settled wolfes in the Mercantour mountains (southeastern France)

Le Loup (Canis lupus) s'est etabli au debut des annees 90 dans le massif du Mercantour, au sud-est de la France. La predation qu'il exerce sur le cheptel domestique et sur les especes gibier suscite de vives reactions de rejet aupres d'une partie de la population locale. Dans ce contexte, il est apparu primordial d'evaluer la part des ongules dans le regime alimentaire du loup. Cette estimation a ete effectuee a partir de l'analyse de 236 feces recoltees d'avril 1994 a mars 1995 sur un terrain d'etude de 280 km 2 frequente par une meute de 8 loups. Le chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) est abondant sur ce terrain d'etude (environ 1 000/100 km 2 ) et 300 mouflons (Ovis gmellini) etaient presents. On note egalement la presence de petites populations de chevreuil (Capreolus capreolus), cerf (Cervus elaphus), bouquetin (Capra ibex) et sanglier (Sus scrofa). De plus, environ 10 000 moutons (Ovis aries) sont presents en alpage du printemps a l'automne dans la zone d'etude. Les ongules (sauvages et domestiques confondus) constituent la base du regime alimentaire des loups. Ils sont presents dans 97 % des feces analysees. Leur frequence relative d'occurrence varie de 94 % en hiver et au printemps a 87 % en ete et en automne. Des restes d'ongules sauvages, essentiellement de chamois et mouflon, ont ete trouves dans 80 % des feces analysees. En ete, la frequence relative d'occurrence du chamois, par rapport a l'ensemble des ongules sauvages, a ete plus du double de celle du mouflon (71 % contre 29 %). A l'inverse, la frequence relative d'occurrence du mouflon a ete pres du double de celle du chamois au printemps (68 % contre 32 %), en automne (64 % contre 33 %) et en hiver (59 % contre 26 %), bien que le mouflon soit dix fois moins abondant que le chamois. La selection exercee par le loup a l'egard du mouflon durant ces saisons est probablement due au fait que le mouflon : i) a des difficultes a se deplacer quand l'epaisseur de neige est importante, ii) est gregaire et infeode a quelques lieux privilegies et predictibles durant l'hiver, iii) a tendance a se cantonner a de plus basses altitudes que le chamois durant toute la periode hivernale et iv) a une periode de mise-bas tres precoce par rapport aux autres ongules sauvages presents dans le Mercantour. En ce qui concerne les ongules domestiques, le mouton est la principale victime des attaques de loup en raison de son abondance relative et de sa vulnerabilite. Il represente 50 % et 22 % du total des occurrences d'ongules en ete et automne respectivement. Les ongules sauvages sont preferes aux ongules domestiques mais nos donnees montrent que, lorsque la surveillance des troupeaux n'est pas adaptee a la presence du loup, la predation sur les ongules domestiques n'est pas necessairement rare dans les regions caracterisees par une communaute d'ongules sauvages riche et diverse.
Efficiency and expressiveness in UW-OpenMP

OpenMP uses the efficient ‘team of workers’ model, where workers are given chunks of tasks (iterations of a parallel-for-loop, or sections in a parallel-sections block) to execute, and worker (not tasks) can be synchronized using barriers. Thus, OpenMP restricts the invocation of barriers in these tasks; as otherwise, the behavior of the program would be dependent on the number of runtime workers. To address such a restriction which can adversely impact programmability and readability, Aloor and Nandivada proposed UW-OpenMP by taking inspiration from the more intuitive interaction of tasks and barriers in newer task parallel languages like X10, HJ, Chapel and so on. UW-OpenMP gives the programmer an impression that each parallel task is executed by a unique worker, and importantly these parallel tasks can be synchronized using a barrier construct. Though UW-OpenMP is a useful extension of OpenMP (more expressive and efficient), it does not admit barriers within recursive functions invoked from parallel-for-loops, because of the inherent challenges in handing them. In this paper, we extend UW-OpenMP (we call it UWOmp++) to address this challenging limitation and in the process also realize more efficient programs. We propose a source to source transformation scheme to translate UWOmp++ C programs to equivalent OpenMP C programs that are guaranteed not to invoke barriers in any task. Our translation uses a novel intermediate representation called UWOmpCPS, which represents a parallel program written in OpenMP in an extended CPS format (admits parallel-for-loops and barriers). The use of this intermediate representation leads us to handle recursive functions within parallel-for-loops efficiently. We have implemented our proposed translation scheme in the ROSE compiler framework. Our preliminary evaluation shows that the proposed language extension to allow recursion helps plug an important gap in expressiveness, without compromising on the efficiency resulting from the ‘team of workers’ model.
Palatal rugae patterns in the Serbian population

Establishing the gender of a dead person is one of the main aspects in forensic medicine, especially in cases of massive disasters. Palatal rugae have been related with specific racial groups and are said to be useful in sex determination. One hundred pre-orthodontic plaster casts, equally distributed between males and females with an age range of 15-30 years, were examined for different rugae patterns by the Thomas classification. The total number of rugae was not significantly gender linked. According to size, the primary type of rugae was dominant in both males and females. Wavy and curved patterns of rugae were the most common, both in males and females. There was a significant sex difference in the circular and converging types which was higher in males and females, respectively. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 41018 i br. 45004]
TGF-β signaling proteins and CYP24A1 may serve as surrogate markers for progesterone calcitriol treatment in ovarian and endometrial cancers of different histological types

Background Strategies are needed to coordinately block drivers and induce suppressors of cancer to reduce incidence and improve outcomes for individuals with inherited or acquired risk. We previously reported the chemopreventive and therapeutic efficacy of the combination of progestin and calcitriol in transformed and malignant endometrioid endometrial cancer (EC) and in ovarian cancer models involving attenuated expression of TGF-β signaling proteins and progestin-mediated inhibition of calcitriol-induced CYP24A1 expression. This study aims to expand the applications for this combination to other subtypes of endometrial and ovarian cancers, including those with mutations in ARID1A or PIK3CA, DNA mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency or BRCA1 null status. Methods Ovarian and EC cell lines of different histotypes were cultured with either progesterone, calcitriol, or the combination of progesterone and calcitriol for 3 or 5 days. The end points for this in vitro investigation included assessments of cell growth by (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium) (MTS) assays and the expression of TGF-β ligands, receptors, SMAD proteins and CYP24A1 by western blotting. Results Treatment of ovarian clear cell carcinoma, endometrioid carcinoma, papillary serous adenocarcinoma, BRCA1 null, and DNA MMR deficient EC cell lines with progesterone alone or in combination with calcitriol inhibited cell growth and expression of TGF-β1, TGF-β2, TGF-Rβ1, TGF-βR2, pSMAD2/3 and CYP24A1. Expression of TGF-βR3, SMAD-4, progesterone receptor (PR) and vitamin-D receptor (VDR) was not altered in any cell line tested except, ES-2, where VDR expression was upregulated in response to treatment. Conclusions These results suggest that progesterone alone and progesterone-calcitriol combination have broad application in both chemopreventive and therapeutic settings that merit further development in a wide variety of ovarian and ECs, including those derived from germline or somatic mechanisms. Moreover, our data suggest that TGF-β signaling proteins and CYP24A1 may be effective surrogate markers indicative of treatment response.
International Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Research

The development of drought tolerant maize has been limited by the suggested complexity of the environment on drought phenotypic traits. However, some simple sequence repeats (SSRs) molecular markers linked to drought tolerance via quantitative trait loci (QTL) have been identified in maize but their use requires validation on newly developed elite maize inbred lines. This study therefore aims to validate 19 selected SSR markers linked to maize drought tolerance and determine the genetic diversity of sixty-eight elite maize inbred lines. Genomic DNA was extracted with a CTAB method and the PCR products were separated on agarose gel with auto radiograms visually scored for polymorphic bands to establish a data matrix. Assessment of the genetic links among the inbred lines was carried out using cluster analysis. The 68 maize inbred lines were clustered based on a matrix of genetic similarity Jaccard using the UPGMA algorithm. Some of the markers that were informative included P-bnlg238, Phi037, P-bnlg1179 and Umc2214 and these showed significant group differentiation among the inbred lines. Marker Umc1447, Umc1432 and Umc2359 were among the markers with monomorphic bands, while Phi034, Bnlg1074 and P-umc1542 showed no characterized bands. The polymorphism information content (PIC) value of the informative markers ranged from 0.13 (Bnlg434) to 0.76 (P-bnlg238). The cluster analysis classified the maize inbred lines into four groups based on the International Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Research ISSN: 2455-6939 Volume:04, Issue:02 "March-April 2018" www.ijaer. in Copyright © IJAER 2018, All right reserved Page 553 SSR data. The exploitation of information of genetic diversity among the inbred maize lines to develop drought tolerant hybrids is hereby discussed.
Prospective trial registration and publication rates of randomized clinical trials in digital health: A cross-sectional analysis of global trial registries

Objectives We sought to examine the prevalence of prospective registration and publication rates in digital health trials. Materials and Methods We included 417 trials that enrolled participants in 2012 and were registered in any of the 17 WHO data provider registries. The evaluation of the prospective trial registration was based on the actual difference between the registration and enrollment dates. We identified existing publications through an automated PubMed search by every trial registration number as well as a pragmatic search in PubMed and Google based on extracted metadata from the trial registries. Results The prospective registration and publication rates were at (38.4%) and (65.5%), respectively. We identified a statistically significant (p < 0.001) “Selective Registration Bias” with 95.7% of trials published within a year after registration, were registered retrospectively. We reported a statistically significant relationship (p = 0.003) between prospective registration and funding sources, with industry-funded trials having the lowest compliance with prospective registration at (14.3%). The lowest non-publication rates were in the Middle East (26.7%) and Europe (28%), and the highest were in Asia (56.5%) and the U.S. (42.5%). We found statistically significant differences (p < 0.001) between trial location and funding sources with the highest percentage of industry-funded trials in Asia (17.4%) and the U.S. (3.3%). Conclusion The adherence of investigators to the best practices of trial registration and result dissemination is still evolving in digital health trials. Further research is required to identify contributing factors and mitigation strategies to low compliance rate with trial publication and prospective registration in digital health trials.
High Leverage and a Great Recession

This paper examines the role of high leverage, deleveraging, and the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates (ZLB) in explaining macroeconomic and housing price uctuations under an adverse credit shock. There are two key features that dierentiate my work from the existing literature of deleveraging and the ZLB. First, I endogenize the debt limit of borrowers by tying it to the market value of collateral assets and credit market conditions. Second, I allow for high leverage by calibrating the model to match with the high debt-to-income ratio in the U.S. at the onset of the Great Recession. I am able to show that, only with the second feature, the ZLB is more likely to bind under an adverse credit shock, compared to the model with exogenous debt limits by Eggertsson and Krugman [2012]. When the ZLB binds, a great recession emerges with a drastic decline in output and the price level, mainly due to the Fisherian debt deation that puts more debt burden