Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biomaterial‐based possibilities for managing peri‐implantitis

Abstract Peri‐implantitis is an inflammatory disease of hard and soft tissues around osseointegrated implants, followed by a progressive damage of alveolar bone. Oral microorganisms can adhere to all types of surfaces by the production of multiple adhesive factors. Inherent properties of materials will influence not only the number of microorganisms, but also their profile and adhesion force onto the material surface. In this perspective, strategies to reduce the adhesion of pathogenic microorganisms on dental implants and their components should be investigated in modern rehabilitation concepts in implant dentistry. To date, several metallic nanoparticle films have been developed to reduce the growth of pathogenic bacteria. However, the main drawback in these approaches is the potential toxicity and accumulative effect of the metals over time. In view of biological issues and in attempt to prevent and/or treat peri‐implantitis, biomaterials as carriers of antimicrobial substances have attracted special attention for application as coatings on dental implant devices. This review will focus on biomaterial‐based possibilities to prevent and/or treat peri‐implantitis by describing concepts and dental implant components suitable for engagement in preventing and treating this disease. Additionally, we raise important criteria referring to the geometric parameters of dental implants and their components, which can directly affect peri‐implant tissue conditions. Finally, we overview currently available biomaterial systems that can be used in the field of oral implantology.
Influence of Lameness on the Lying Behaviour of Zero-Grazed Lactating Jersey Dairy Cattle Housed in Straw Yards

Simple Summary Lameness is a concern within the dairy industry. Firstly, it has a negative effect on the animal’s welfare, and secondly, has been found to be costly to producers. Ultimately, it can result in having to cull the cow early. Lameness can change the behaviour of cows who may spend more time lying down to relieve the pain in their feet. In this study, we used activity monitors to automatically record the behaviour of non-lame and lame Jersey cattle. Unlike previous studies involving other breeds, the Jersey cows in this study showed no statistically significant differences in the length of time spent lying or standing in relation to lameness status. Lame cows did have significantly shorter average lying bouts compared to non-lame cows. We also recorded what proportion of the herd were lame. The results (38%) were higher than expected in Jersey cattle but may be related to the fact the cows were housed all year round and therefore were not given access to grass. In conclusion, we saw no evidence of an effect of lameness on lying behaviour in this study. Abstract Thirty-five lactating Jersey cows were recruited to the study. They were grouped according to locomotion score (LS), where low scores indicate normal gait. LS-1 (n = 12), LS-2 (n = 12) and LS-3 (n = 11) were used. Locomotion scores were balanced for parity and stage of lactation. Lying behaviour was recorded using IceTag™ data loggers attached to the cows for four consecutive days. The study animals remained in the straw based yards with grooved concrete flooring throughout the duration of the study. All data were normally distributed and assessed using a one-way ANOVA with a post hoc Tukey test. There were no statistically significant differences between locomotion score and the time spent lying, active and standing of zero-grazed lactating Jersey dairy cattle housed on straw yards. Lame cows (LS-3) had significantly shorter lying bouts than sound cows (LS-1) (34 min vs. 42 min, respectively). There has been limited research to date measuring the lying behaviour of cattle on straw and into the Jersey breed. The cows had longer than expected standing times and an increased frequency of lying bouts. This may have been attributed to the stocking density in which the cows were kept. We also reported a prevalence of lameness within the herd of 38%.
PD-1HI T cells are associated with lower hiv-specific immune responses despite long-term antiretroviral therapy.

OBJECTIVE We evaluated frequencies of T cells with high PD-1 expression (PD-1) before and after long-term effective antiretroviral therapy (ART), and determined if frequencies on-ART correlated positively with measures of HIV persistence and negatively with HIV-specific responses. METHODS We enrolled individuals who started ART during chronic infection and had durable suppression of viremia for ≥4 years (N = 99). We assessed PD-1 T cell frequencies at timepoints pre- and on-ART using flow cytometry, and evaluated how frequencies on-ART are associated with measures of HIV persistence, HIV-specific immune responses, and immune activation levels. RESULTS Pre-ART, PD-1 CD4 T cells correlated positively with viremia and negatively with CD4 T cell count. At year 1 on-ART, %PD-1 CD4 T cells decreased but then remained stable at 4 and 6-15 years on-ART, while %PD-1 CD8 T cells on-ART remained similar to pre-ART. PD-1 CD4 T cells correlated positively with HIV DNA pre- and on-ART, and with CD4 T cell activation on-ART. PD-1 CD4 T cells negatively correlated with HIV Gag- and Env-specific T cell responses but not with CMV- or EBV-specific responses. PD-1 CD8 T cells trended towards a negative correlation with responses to Gag and Env, but not to CMV and EBV. CONCLUSIONS PD-1 T cells persist in blood despite prolonged suppression on ART, correlate with HIV DNA levels, and are associated with lower HIV-specific T cell responses but not CMV- or EBV-specific responses, suggesting that these cells are HIV-specific. The findings support evaluating PD-1 blockade strategies for their effect on HIV persistence and HIV-specific immunity.
Cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis: An exploratory analysis of environmental and lifestyle risk factors

Background Many potentially modifiable risk factors for MS are investigated. It is not known, however, if these factors also apply to MS-related cognitive impairment (CI), a frequent consequence of MS. Objective The aim of our study was to assess risk factors for CI in MS patients, focusing on environmental exposures, lifestyle and comorbidities. Methods We included MS patients referring to MS Centers in Florence and Barletta between 2014 and 2017. Neuropsychological performance was assessed through the Rao’s battery and Stroop test, cognitive reserve (premorbid intelligence quotient–IQ) was evaluated using the National Adult Reading Test (NART). Potential risk factors were investigated through a semi-structured questionnaire. Results 150 patients were included. CI was detected in 45 (30%) subjects and was associated with older age (p<0.005), older age at MS onset (p = 0.016), higher EDSS score (p<0.005), progressive disease course (p = 0.048) and lower premorbid IQ score (p<0.005). As for risk factors, CI was related with lower physical activity in childhood-adolescence (p<0.005). In women, hormonal therapy resulted to be protective against CI (p = 0.041). However, in the multivariable analysis, the only significant predictors of CI were older age (p<0.05; OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.02–1.10) and lower premorbid IQ (p<0.05; OR 0.93, 95% CI: 0.88–0.98). Removing IQ from the model, CI was associated with higher EDSS (p = 0.030; OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.02–1.53) and, marginally, previous physical activity (p = 0.066; OR 0.49, 95% CI: 0.23–1.05) Conclusions Our findings suggest that physical activity in childhood-adolescence could be a contributor to cognitive reserve building, thus representing a potential protective factors for MS-related CI susceptible to preventive strategies.
Laxer Clinical Criteria for Gaming Disorder May Hinder Future Efforts to Devise an Efficient Diagnostic Approach: A Tree-Based Model Study

Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has been recognized in May 2013 and can be evaluated using the criteria developed by American Psychiatric Association (APA). The present study investigated the role each IGD criteria plays in diagnosing disordered gaming. A total of 3377 participants (mean age 20 years, SD = 4.3 years) participated in the study. The data collected was scrutinized to detect patterns of IGD using Conditional Inference Tree (Ctree), a sophisticated machine algorithm. Participants provided basic sociodemographic information and completed the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale–Short-Form (IGDS9-SF). The results identified classes of IGD-related symptoms, indicating that endorsing ‘withdrawal’ and ‘loss of control’ increases the probability of disordered gaming by 77.77% while endorsement of ‘withdrawal’, ‘loss of control’ and ‘negative consequences’ increases the probability of disordered gaming by 26.66%. Moreover, lack of endorsement of ‘withdrawal’ and endorsement of ‘preoccupation’ increases the likelihood of disordered gaming by 7.14%. Taken together, the results obtained illustrate that different IGD criteria can present with different clinical weighing as unique diagnostic roles in the development of disordered gaming can be evidenced by each criterion. Moreover, the present findings help inform future revisions of diagnostic manuals and helps enhancing the assessment of IGD in the future. Additional research and clinical implications are discussed.
The characterisation of the uptake of microparticulates across intestinal lymphoid tissue

Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLG) biodegradable microparticles were evaluated as an oral delivery system for immunisation against equine influenza virus. Model particulates (fluorescent polystyrene and gold labelled polystyrene) were used to characterise the route and mechanism of intestinal uptake. Peyer's patches were found to be the site of particulate intestinal absorption characterised by phagocytosis at the M cell surface. Microparticles were found within intercellular compartments indicating a paracellular route for the transit of microparticles from lumen to lymph. A quantitative method of counting the number of microparticles passing into the lymph in both the superior mesenteric and thoracic lymph ducts indicated levels of intestinal uptake high enough to deliver vaccines via this route. PLG microparticles encapsulating equine influenza virus were prepared by the process of solvent evaporation. The immune responses were evaluated in mice after either systemic or oral immunisation of Balb\c mice using formalin treated equine influenza (Prague 56 H7N7) either encapsulated in PLG biodegradable microparticles or free in solution. Using the single-radial- immunodiffusion test, the haemagglutinin integrity of the microencapsulated influenza was found to be preserved during the microencapsulation process. When administered systemically the microencapsulated virus induced raised levels of anti-influenza IgG antibody in serum that were comparable with those obtained with the virus in solution. Oral administration of the microencapsulated virus induced raised levels of anti-influenza IgA antibody in saliva as well as levels of anti-influenza IgG comparable to those obtained after parenteral injection. Raised levels (compared to preimmune levels) of anti-influenza antibodies in both the systemic circulation and mucosal secretions indicates that orally administered microencapsulalated equine influenza virus represents a practical method of immunisation against influenza.
Excision Arthroplasty of the Canine Scapulohumeral Joint: Report of Three Cases

Excision arthroplasty has been proposed as an alternative salvage procedure to arthrodesis for conditions of the canine scapulohumeral joint that cannot be effectively treated. The purpose of this paper is to describe the technique, review the indications for the procedure in three cases and discuss complications and long term results. In a retrospective review of 3 cases, all patients had return of pain-free use of the limb. Excision arthroplasty of the canine scapulohumeral joint is less invasive, technically less demanding than arthrodesis and was found to be an effective salvage procedure in the three dogs reported herein.
Etude d'un groupe de diabétiques inscrits dans la convention INAMI "Autosurveillance glycémique".

We have studied the clinical characteristics of 126 insulin-treated diabetic patients, mainly type I subjects, who regularly performed during 18 months home glucose monitoring. The numbers of strips used each month was of 60 +/- 33 (mean +/- lSD). During the study period, HbA1C levels decreased from 8.6 +/- 2.1 to 7.0 +/- 1.3% (p < 0.001). A significant decrease of HbA1C was also observed in a subgroup of 30 patients, in whom insulin therapy scheme (number of injections a day) was similar before and during home glucose monitoring. Our results confirm the benefits of regularly performed home glucose monitoring.
Recent advances in drug treatment for Alzheimer's dementia

The increasing ageing population and subsequent increase in dementia means that the need for finding appropriate treatments has become more important. Current treatments are limited and only provide some symptomatic improvements in patients. This article reviews the recent drug advances in treatment for Alzheimer's disease which have been of varying success. It appears that a combination of these will be required.
Approximate Solutions to Time-Fractional Schrödinger Equation via Homotopy Analysis Method

We construct the approximate solutions of the time-fractional Schrodinger equations, with zero and nonzero trapping potential, by homotopy analysis method (HAM). The fractional derivatives, in the Caputo sense, are used. The method is capable of reducing the size of calculations and handles nonlinear-coupled equations in a direct manner. The results show that HAM is more promising, convenient, efficient and less computational than differential transform method (DTM), and easy to apply in spaces of higher dimensions as well.
The Effect of Experimental Conditions upon the Concentration of Hydrocarbons in Mouse Skin after Cutaneous Application

The uptake and retention of polycyclic hydrocarbons by skin have been studied in mice of the A/St strain. The level of phenanthrene (Ph), anthracene, and 3-methylcholanthrene (MC) in the skin reached a maximum 2 hours after topical application of 1 per cent solutions of the hydrocarbons. Solvents of pure benzene or a 1:1 mixture of mineral oil in benzene gave lower 2-hour skin levels than did 5 per cent mineral oil in benzene. Increasing the concentration of either Ph or benzo[ a ]pyrene (BP) above 1 per cent did not increase the level of hydrocarbon in the skin 2 hours after painting. The presence of 5 per cent Ph in a 1 per cent solution of BP reduced the skin concentration of BP by 43 per cent. Likewise the presence of 1 per cent BP in a 5 per cent solution of Ph reduced the skin level of Ph by 15 per cent. There was no effect of sex upon the localization of any of five hydrocarbons in the skin of A mice. Twelve polycyclic hydrocarbons were compared with respect to skin concentration after painting. The chief factor affecting concentration was molecular size. K region activity also appeared to have an effect upon localization. The significance of these observations with respect to mechanisms of the carcinogenic process are discussed.
The Effects of Online Activities on Student Learning Outcomes in Blended Learning Environment

This quasi-experimental study aims to find out how online activities influence the learning outcomes of Yogyakarta State University students on e-learning courses. This 4-week study consisted of two experimental groups and one control group. The experimental groups received face-to-face instruction plus e-learning or blended learning (BL) with online discussions and quizzes. The control group used Blended Learning without any online activities. Quantitative analytical results include 1) student's learning outcomes in BL with online discussions and quizzes are better than those without any online activities. 2) The student's learning outcomes in BL with online discussions and quizzes are also better than those with online quizzes. Furthermore, this study also found that 3) student's learning outcomes in BL with online quizzes are better than those without any online activities and 4) there is a positive correlation between student's learning outcomes and their level of activities in the BL environment.
3D Point Cloud Geometry Compression on Deep Learning

3D point cloud presentation has been widely used in computer vision, automatic driving, augmented reality, smart cities and virtual reality. 3D point cloud compression method with higher compression ratio and tiny loss is the key to improve data transportation efficiency. In this paper, we propose a new 3D point cloud geometry compression method based on deep learning, also an auto-encoder performing better than other networks in detail reconstruction. It can reach much higher compression ratio than the state-of-art while keeping tolerable loss. It also supports parallel compressing multiple models by GPU, which can improve processing efficiency greatly. The compression process is composed of two parts. Firstly, Raw data is compressed into codeword by extracting feature of raw model with encoder. Then, the codeword is further compressed with sparse coding. Decompression process is implemented in reverse order. Codeword is recovered and fed into decoder to reconstruct point cloud. Detail reconstruction ability is improved by a hierarchical structure in our decoder. Latter outputs are grown from former fuzzier outputs. In this way, details are added to former output by latter layers step by step to make a more precise prediction. We compare our method with PCL compression and Draco compression on ShapeNet40 part dataset. Our method may be the first deep learning-based point cloud compression algorithm. The experiments demonstrate it is superior to former common compression algorithms with large compression ratio, which can also reserve original shapes with tiny loss.
STDGAN: ResBlock Based Generative Adversarial Nets Using Spectral Normalization and Two Different Discriminators

Generative adversarial network (GAN) is a powerful generative model. However, it suffers from two key problems, which are convergence and mode collapse. To overcome these drawbacks, this paper presents a novel architecture of GAN, called STDGAN, which consists of one generator and two different discriminators. With the fact that GAN is the analogy of a minimax game, the proposed architecture is as follows. The generator G aims to produce realistic-looking samples to fool both of two discriminators. The first discriminator D1 rewards high scores for the samples from the data distribution, while the second one D2 favors the samples from the generator conversely. Specifically, the minibatch discrimination and Spectral Normalization (SN) are first adopted in D1. Then, based on the ResBlock architecture, Spectral Normalization (SN) and Scaled Exponential Linear Units (SELU) are adopted in the first and last half layers of D2 respectively. In particular, a novel loss function is designed to optimize the STDGAN by minimizing the KL divergence. Extensive experiments on CIFAR-10/100 and ImageNet datasets demonstrate that the proposed STDGAN can effectively solve the problems of convergence and mode collapse and obtain the higher inception score (IS) and lower Frechet Inception Distance (FID) compared with other state-of-the-art GANs.
Factors Influencing Consumers' Perception on Mobile Payment among Generation Z in Malaysia

The study aimed to understand the factors that resist Malaysia's generation Z from using mobile payment services to perform daily transaction by recognizing determinants used Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The quantitative method was used to collect the data. The data was collected by used self-administered questionnaire. The target population was generation Z in Malaysia who were mobile device users. The total of 200 questionnaire form were delivered to the selected respondents with questionnaire were designed. A pilot study was conducted which 30 respondents were randomly selected before actual data collection. The primary data was collected or observed from the participants to understand an issue or tested the hypothesis. The secondary data was referred to form data collected from previous research. The result showed there was significant relationship between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, security and privacy and social influence toward intention to use mobile payment in Malaysia among generation Z.
Exploring Gaze Interaction Design in Games: Playing with Vision

Gaze interaction in games is rapidly increasing with examples in mainstream franchises. This research focuses on investigating new opportunities for gaze-enable game design moving away from sensing-based dynamics grounded in gaze pointing and consider a user-centred approach which has its starting point in visual capabilities and metaphors of looking. This approach will lead to the development of examples that illustrate novel and playful experiences that can be designed thinking about how the players see rather than where and what they look at. This research aims to contribute to the understanding of how to create playful gaze-based experiences by providing a design framework and inspire designers to engage in the conversation to shape the future of gaze interaction in play.
Watch, Reason and Code: Learning to Represent Videos Using Program

Humans have a surprising capacity to induce general rules that describe the specific actions portrayed in a video sequence. The rules learned through this kind of process allow us to achieve similar goals to those shown in the video but in more general circumstances. Enabling an agent to achieve the same capacity represents a significant challenge. In this paper, we propose a Watch-Reason-Code(WRC) model to synthesise programs that describe the process carried out in a set of video sequences. The 'watch' stage is simply a video encoder that encodes videos to multiple feature vectors. The 'reason' stage takes as input the features from multiple diverse videos and generates a compact feature representation via a novel deviation-pooling method. The 'code' stage is a multi-sound decoder that the first step leverages to generate a draft program layout with possible useful statements and perceptions. Further steps then take these outputs and generate a fully structured, compile-able and executable program. We evaluate the effectiveness of our model in two video-to-program synthesis environments, Karel andVizDoom, showing that we can achieve the state-of-the-art under a variety of settings.
Video Lecture Styles in MOOCs by Malaysian Polytechnics

As the utilisation of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) grows in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) discipline, TVET students are required to use video lectures uploaded on MOOCs frequently. However, video lectures come in various styles and it may affect students' academic performance and psychology. Acknowledging this issue, this study aims to investigate the styles of TVET video lectures included in MOOCs by Malaysian Polytechnics. The video lectures (N=90) were analysed using video lecture style taxonomy [12]. It was found that the TVET video lectures can be categorised into fifteen styles in which nine of the styles were not listed in the taxonomy. Hence, the findings of this study can benefit TVET students and instructors in utilising video lectures effectively for teaching and learning. Additionally, it can also help researchers in corpus selection to further the study of TVET video lectures.