Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Examining the risk factors of conversion to open surgery in patients with urgent laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is the gold standard for treating gallbladder disease. Acute cholecystitis patients undergoing LC had a significantly lower rate of complications, shorter hospital stays, and more comfortable post-operative periods than those undergoing open cholecystectomy (OC). [1] However, approximately 2–15% of patients require conversion to open surgery for various reasons. [2,3] The most common reason for conversion is believed to be inflammatory tissue reactions that make dissection difficult. It is well accepted that the inability to identify the anatomy of the Calot’s triangle as a result of inflammation in the area around the gallbladder tends to require conversion to OC. Consequently, there is a need to identify potential risk factors in patients with acute cholecystitis and stratify them accordingly. This will assist surgeons in choosing the best approach for cholecystectomy in these patients and, hopefully, reduce the complication rates associated with interval Research Article
On *-differential identities in prime rings with involution

Let $\mathcal{R}$ be a ring. An additive map $x\mapsto x^*$ of $\mathcal{R}$ into itself is called an involution if (i) $(xy)^*=y^*x^*$ and (ii) $(x^*)^*=x$ hold for all $x,y\in \mathcal{R}$. In this paper, we study the effect of involution $"*"$ on prime rings that satisfying certain differential identities. The identities considered in this manuscript are new and interesting. As the applications, many known theorems can be either generalized or deduced. In particular, a classical theorem due to Herstein [A note on derivation II, Canad. Math. Bull., 1979] is deduced.
hULMonA: The Universal Language Model in Arabic

Arabic is a complex language with limited resources which makes it challenging to produce accurate text classification tasks such as sentiment analysis. The utilization of transfer learning (TL) has recently shown promising results for advancing accuracy of text classification in English. TL models are pre-trained on large corpora, and then fine-tuned on task-specific datasets. In particular, universal language models (ULMs), such as recently developed BERT, have achieved state-of-the-art results in various NLP tasks in English. In this paper, we hypothesize that similar success can be achieved for Arabic. The work aims at supporting the hypothesis by developing the first Universal Language Model in Arabic (hULMonA - حلمنا meaning our dream), demonstrating its use for Arabic classifications tasks, and demonstrating how a pre-trained multi-lingual BERT can also be used for Arabic. We then conduct a benchmark study to evaluate both ULM successes with Arabic sentiment analysis. Experiment results show that the developed hULMonA and multi-lingual ULM are able to generalize well to multiple Arabic data sets and achieve new state of the art results in Arabic Sentiment Analysis for some of the tested sets.
Salty Matters Potash bitterns and Phanerozoic marine brine evolution

1) Sulphate-enriched potash deposits, with ores typically composed of halite (NaCl) with carnallite (MgCl2.KCl.6H2O) and lesser sylvite (KCl), along with varying combinations of MgSO4 salts, such as polyhalite (2CaSO4.MgSO4.K2SO4.H2O), kieserite (MgSO4.H2O) kainite (4MgSO4.4KCl.11H2O) and langbeinite (2MgSO4. K2SO4); and Introduction The significance of evaporites as indicators of the chemical evolution of seawater across time and in relation to potash bitterns is considered in the next two Salty Matters articles. This article focuses on Phanerozoic seawater chemistry, where actual salts are widespread and the proportions of potash bittern salts are a useful pointer to the chemical makeup of the mother brine. Throughout both articles, the term “lower salinity” refers to marine brines with salinities between one and ten times that of ambient seawater. The second article considers seawater chemistry based on Precambrian evaporites, where much of the evidence of mother brine composition comes from salt pseudomorphs, rather than remnants of actual salts. In the second article we shall see that atmospheric conditions in the Early Precambrian were reducing and hotter than today, so that seawater was more saline, warmer, anoxic, with higher levels of calcium and bicarbonate compared to Phanerozoic seawater. Gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O), which requires free sulphate, was a rare precipitate during concentration of Archean seawater. Changing atmospheric proportions of CO2, CH4 and O2 meant sodium carbonate salts were significant lower-salinity early Archean marine-brine precipitates. Yet today, sodium carbonate salts, such as trona (NaHCO3.Na2CO3), nahcolite (NaHCO3) and shortite (2CaCO3.Na2CO3) cannot precipitate from a brine with the ionic proportions of modern seawater. The presence of sodium carbonate salts in any evaporite succession across the Phanerozoic is a reliable indicator of a nonmarine mother brine (Figure 1). Salty Matters
Subdoses of 2,4-D Choline Salt on Yield Components in Function of the Soybean Growth Stage

Residues of herbicide tanks may cause damage to sensitive crops. The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential effects of subdoses of the herbicide 2,4-D choline salt on the vegetative and reproductive stages of soybean. The experiment was randomized blocks with a subdivided plot design and four replications. The application times were at V3 and R2 in the main plot. The herbicide 2,4-D choline salt was applied at the subdoses 0, 2.28, 4.56, 9.12, 18.24, 27.36 and 45.60 g a.e. ha-1 in the subplots. Phytotoxicity was evaluated at 3, 7 and 14 days after application (DAT) of treatments, soybean height at 14 and 28 DAT and at ripening, yield components at ripening, and grain yield. The phytotoxicity evaluation of 2,4-D choline salt evidenced that symptoms were only observed up to 14 days after application (DAT) of treatments. The 2,4-D did not affect any of the variables tested. Grain yield was not influenced by application times or subdoses.
The application of dried blood spots in toxicokinetic and pharmacokinetic studies

Dried Blood Spot (DBS) sampling is a microsampling technique used throughout the World for neonatal screening. The work set out in this thesis shows the development and implementation of DBS in the area of preclinical and clinical pharmaceutical drug development, specifically in support of Toxicokinetics and Pharmacokinetics. The advantages of the technique are explored along with the issues faced. The papers discussed in this commentary, include in papers 1 and 2, the concept of supporting both Toxicokinetics and Pharmacokinetics studies and the validation of bioanalytical assays utilising DBS. Commentary paper 3 further explores the practicalities of DBS in the Clinical environment and commentary paper 4 the transferability of DBS technology between laboratories. Commentary paper 5 uses Incurred Sample Reanalysis data to answer questions around specific DBS issues and commentary paper 6 looks at indicating papers for Dried Plasma Spots. Commentary papers 7 and 8 explore the use of consortia to investigate hematocrit and homogeneity when using DBS and finally commentary paper 9 explores the training required to ensure quality DBS samples. The impact and contributions to this field of research are demonstrated through discussion and critical examination of selected examples of the author’s peerreviewed publications in this area. Developments of scientific practices, where the author has contributed intellectual, leadership and practical insight to achieve significant improvements in the generation of knowledge, are highlighted throughout the commentary.
A novel individual-tree mixed model to account for competition and environmental heterogeneity : a Bayesian approach

Negative correlation caused by competition among individuals, and positive spatial correlation due to environmental heterogeneity, may lead to biases in estimating genetic parameters and predicting breeding values (BV) from forest genetic trials. Former models dealing with competition and environmental heterogeneity did not account for the additive relationships among trees or for the full spatial covariance. This paper extends an individual-tree mixed model with direct additive genetic, genetic and environmental competition effects, by incorporating a two-dimensional smoothing surface to account for complex patterns of environmental heterogeneity (Competition + Spatial Model, CSM). We illustrate the proposed model using simulated and real data from a loblolly pine progeny trial. The CSM was compared with three reduced individual-tree mixed models using a real data set, while simulations comprised only CSM versus true parameters comparisons. Dispersion parameters were estimated using Bayesian techniques via Gibbs sampling. Simulation results showed that the CSM yielded posterior mean estimates of variance components with slight or negligible biases in the studied scenarios, except for the permanent environment variance. The worst performance of the simulated CSM was under a scenario with weak competition effects and small-scale environmental heterogeneity. When analyzing real data, the CSM yielded a lower value of the Deviance Information Criterion than the reduced models. Moreover, although correlations between predicted BV calculated from CSM and from a standard model with block effects and direct genetic effects only were high, the ranking among the top 5% ranked individuals showed differences which indicated that the two models will have quite different genotype selections for the next cycle of breeding.
The Profit-Credit Cycle

Bank profitability leads the credit cycle. An increase in return on equity of the banking sector predicts rising credit-to-GDP ratios in a panel of 17 advanced economies spanning the years 1870 to 2015. However, increases in profitability also predict elevated crisis likelihood a few years later. These results are consistent with behavioral credit cycle models in which banks extrapolate past loan losses to expected future credit outcomes: following a sequence of positive news bankers become increasingly optimistic, expand credit, but they are systematically disappointed by future realizations. Using recent US data, we show that survey-based measures of optimism and profitability expectations are indeed tightly linked to past profitability, forecast credit growth, and display predictable forecast errors.
THOMAS: The Hegemonic OSU Morphological Analyzer using Seq2seq

This paper describes the OSU submission to the SIGMORPHON 2019 shared task, Crosslinguality and Context in Morphology. Our system addresses the contextual morphological analysis subtask of Task 2, which is to produce the morphosyntactic description (MSD) of each fully inflected word within a given sentence. We frame this as a sequence generation task and employ a neural encoder-decoder (seq2seq) architecture to generate the sequence of MSD tags given the encoded representation of each token. Follow-up analyses reveal that our system most significantly improves performance on morphologically complex languages whose inflected word forms typically have longer MSD tag sequences. In addition, our system seems to capture the structured correlation between MSD tags, such as that between the “verb” tag and TAM-related tags.
Reliability-Aware Virtualized Network Function Services Provisioning in Mobile Edge Computing

Along with Network Function Virtualization (NFV), Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) is becoming a new computing paradigm that enables accommodating innovative applications and services with stringent response delay and resource requirements, including autonomous vehicles and augmented reality. Provisioning reliable network services for users is the top priority of most network service providers, as unreliable services or severe service failures can result in tremendous losses of users, particularly for their mission-critical applications. In this paper, we study reliability-aware VNF instances provisioning in an MEC, where different users request different network services with different reliability requirements through paying their requested services with the aim to maximize the network throughput. To this end, we first formulate a novel reliability-aware VNF instance placement problem by provisioning primary and secondary VNF instances at different cloudlets in MEC for each user while meeting the specified reliability requirement of the user request. We then show that the problem is NP-hard and formulate an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) solution. Due to the NP-hardness of the problem, we instead devise an approximation algorithm with a logarithmic approximation ratio for the problem. Moreover, we also consider two special cases of the problem. For one special case where each request only requests one primary and one secondary VNF instances, the problem is still NP-hard, and we devise a constant approximation algorithm for it. For another special case where different VNFs have the same amounts of computing resource demands, we show that it is polynomial-time solvable by developing a dynamic programming solution for it. We finally evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms through experimental simulations. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms are promising, and the empirical results of the algorithms outperform their analytical counterparts as theoretical estimations usually are very conservative.
SUPPLEMENTATION OF EXTENDER WITH REDUCED GLUTATHIONE ( GSH ) PRESERVES RABBIT SPERM QUALITY AFTER CRYOPRESERVATION

The present study aimed to determine the effect of reduced glutathione (GSH) on rabbit sperm quality after freezing and thawing. The pooled ejaculates were used and diluted with freezing extender (TCG with 3.5M and 0.1M sucrose) and supplemented either with 4mM GSH or remained untreated. The samples were cooled, frozen and stored in liquid nitrogen. The post-thaw motility, viability and acrosome were analysed. The results showed that the addition of 4 mM of GSH to the freezing media significantly improved (P < 0.05) the progressive motility, total motility and sperm motion characteristics (VSL, VAP, LIN and STR) of rabbit sperm compared to the control. Similarly, the proportions of viable and reacted sperm were different (P < 0.05) between 4mM GSH and control. Based upon the results it has been concluded that 4mM glutathione supplementation maintains the sperm motility, viability, and acrosome integrity following the cryopreservation.
Chapter 2 Hydroxyapatite Production by an Intensification Process

Hydroxyapatite (HAP) is a worthwhile compound for its biomedical applications. Nanoparticles (NPs) and nanostructured HAP scaffolds promote and intensify the interaction between artificial material and natural bone due to their high surface/volume ratio. In this chapter, first, the technique for the production of HPA nanoparticles smaller than 100 nm is addressed. It consists of the use of a rotating disk reactor to optimize the reaction-precipitation process. The centrifugal force dispersed into the liquid layer over the disk surface enables the attainment of micromixing conditions between the reagents and maximizes the reaction rate as a consequence. The reaction between calcium chloride and ammonium phosphate in the presence of ammonium hydroxide was adopted. NPs minimum size, equal to 78 μm, was obtained using a rotational velocity of 147 rad/s and feeding points of reagents 3 cm from the disk center. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the liquid layer was specifically developed for the interpretation of the obtained experimental results on the production of pure HAP. In the second part of the chapter, the feasibility of producing Mg doped hydroxyapatite (Mg-HAP) by adding MgCl2 and using the same technique is reported. Satisfactory results were obtained: nanoparticles were between 50 and 70 μm in size and Mg/Ca molar ratio was equal to 0.06, according to the composition target.
Clinical pathological characteristics and initial treatment of primary focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in Chinese patients

Background: Few studies have focused on the clinical pathological features and initial treatment of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in Asian populations. There is a lack of large-sample-size retrospective studies of primary FSGS in Chinese patients. Methods: This retrospective study included 808 patients diagnosed with primary FSGS, between January 2003 until December 2017. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of pathological and clinical features of primary FSGS over the past 15 years, as well as characteristics of each variant under the Columbia classification, a recognized pathological classification. A total of 361 patients were classified by the Columbia classification, of which 277 underwent regular follow-ups (6 months 60 months). According to follow-up data, the current study summed up the best initial treatment based on proteinuria and Columbia classification. Results: As the years have progressed, the proportion of pFSGS patients, among all renal biopsy patients, has decreased gradually. Detection rates of 2003-2007, 2008-2012, and 2013-2017 were, respectively, 14.7%, 9.7%, and 7.9%. The proportion of pFSGS patients, among primary glomerular disease (PGD), has also decreased, respectively 22.5%, 14.5%, and 11.1%. Over time, the proportion of glomerular segmental sclerosis has gradually decreased, while the proportion of glomerular global sclerosis has gradually increased. In the current study, NOS showed the highest prevalence of (73.6%), followed by perihilar (14.1%), tip (9.2%), and collapsing variants (2.5%). Cellular variants had the lowest prevalence (0.6%). Present results showed that, in Perihilar with moderate proteinuria, simple ACEI/ARB, as an initial treatment, can bring satisfactory remission rates. Regarding NOS and tip, ACEI/ ARB combined with steroids can lead to better remission rates. For Tip with severe proteinuria, steroids alone are able to obtain satisfactory remission rates. With NOS, remission rates of steroids + CTX are better than those of steroids alone or steroids + CNIs. Conclusion: Over the past 15 years, FSGS detection rates of renal biopsies and PGD have shown a downward trend. Over time, the proportion of glomerular segmental sclerosis has gradually decreased, while the proportion of glomerular global sclerosis has gradually increased, with aging as an independent factor in this trend. In choosing an initial treatment, the combination of both proteinuria and Columbia classification may bring higher remission rates.
NUTRIENT UPTAKE BY WEEDS AND PEA (PISUM SATIVUM L.) AS INFLENCED BY DIFFERENT HERBICIDE COMBINATIONS

A field experiment was carried out during the winter season of 2012-13 and 2013-14 at Palampur to evolve an effective herbicide combination on nutrient depletion by weeds in pea (Pisum sativum L.). In the present study, pendimethalin 1000 g/ha fb HW (45 DAS)andpendimethalin 1000 g/ha (Pre)fb imazethapyr + imazamox 60 g/ha (45 DAS) resulted in significantly lower total weed dry weight over other herbicidal treatments.All the herbicide combinations were comparable to weed free in reducing the GRw between 90-120 DAS. Pendimethalin 1000 g/ha fb HW (45 DAS), pendimethalin 1000 g/ha fb imazethapyr + imazamox 60 g/ha (45 DAS) were as effective as weed free in reducing NPK uptake by weeds. Weeds in weedy check removed 49.3 kg/ha N, 19.7 kg/ha P and 44.7 kg/ha K depriving thereby the crop for that much amount of nutrients. Most of the treatments were results in significantly higher crop dry matter accumulation. Significantly higher green pod yield and NPK uptake by crop were obtained in weed free, pendimethalin 1000 g/ha fb HW (45 DAS) and pendimethalin 1000 g/ha fb imazethapyr + imazamox 60 g/ha (45 DAS) treatments.Herbicide combinations in general were better than sole application of herbicides in effectively reducing the NPK uptake by weeds and increasing NPK uptake by crop.
EVALUATION OF NUTRIENTS AND ANTI-NUTRITIONAL FACTORS OF DIFFERENT SPECIES OF AFRICAN YAM BEAN ( SPHENOSTYLIS STENOCARPA ) 1

Six species of African Yam Bean (AYB) collected from three agro-ecological zones of Nigeriathe gene bank of the Institute of Agricultural Research & Training (I.A.R &T) Ibadan, in South West Zone, local market in Obanliku L.G. A, Cross River State, in South South Zone, and a local market in Ohuhu, Umuahia North L.G. A, Abia State, of South East Zone all in Nigeria were analyzed for their nutrients and anti-nutritional factors using standard methods. The study was aimed at recommending the use of the best of these species in livestock feed production. The analysis was carried out in replicates for all determinations and the results of the replicate were expressed as mean ± SEM. Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SAS (2004), version 9.0 software. Differences between the means were separated by Duncan Multiple Range Test (DRMT) at 5% (0.05) level of significance. The results of the nutrient evaluation obtained from the proximate analysis and anti-nutritional composition of the seeds as carried out showed that there were significant differences (p< 0.05) among the nutrients and the anti-nutritional factors and the oligosaccharide levels of the different species used. The results also indicated that those species with white or closely white colour have nutrient values that are considered good for incorporation in animal feed.
Expression of p-AMPK is associated with hormone receptor phenotypes and lymph node metastasis in breast cancer

Many studies have investigated the role of phosphorylated AMP-activated protein kinase (p-AMPK) in cancer tumorigenesis and its antineoplastic effects in cancer models. The aim of this study was to examine the association of p-AMPK immunohistochemical expression with the clinicopathological parameters in breast cancer. Methods: 449 cases of previously diagnosed breast cancer, and 27 tissue samples of fibroadenomas and normal breast were utilized for detection of p-AMPK expression using tissue microarrays and immunohistochemistry. Results: Nuclear and cytoplasmic immunoexpression of p-AMPK was identified in 374 (83.3%) of breast cancer and 25 (92.6%) control cases. Hormone receptor phenotypes are significantly associated with p-AMPK staining only in epithelial cells (P-value = 0.033); the proportions of ER+ PRHER2hormone receptor phenotype were significantly higher in positive p-AMPK staining epithelial cells. Loss of progesterone receptor (PR) expression was noticeable in breast tumors with positive p-AMPK stromal cells (P-value = 0.043). Histotype of breast cancer is significantly associated with p-AMPK staining in stromal cells only; positive p-AMPK staining was more prevalent in DCIS and ductal histotypes (P-value = 0.032). Lymph node involvement was also significantly associated with p-AMPK immunostaining in both epithelial cells and stromal cells (P-value = 0.037 and P-Value = 0.042 respectively). No significant differences in survival behavior were observed and no significant associations were detected with tumor size, grade of disease, stage, vascular invasion, margins involvement and disease recurrence. Conclusions: Our results showed a slight decrease in p-AMPK expression in breast cancer in comparison with control group. Expression of p-AMPK could be a useful marker in the diagnosis and prognosis of some types of breast cancer with certain hormone receptor phenotype and lymph node involvement.