Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Statins in Epilepsy: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT Background and Objectives: Statins are inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, used for the management of hypercholesterolemia and related atherosclerotic diseases. Several studies have indicated the neuroprotective effects of statins on several neuropathological conditions. However, the role of these medications in epilepsy is still unclear. The purpose is to evaluate and summarize the level of evidence on the efficacy of statins in neuronal hyperexcitability and the neuroinflammatory processes of epilepsy. Methods: A systematic review was performed. Eligibility Criteria: This review involved studies conducted in humans and nonhuman experimental models, covering the use of an inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase, alone or accompanied by another medication, in epilepsy. Information Sources: A systematic literature search was performed in PubMed, Embase, Ebsco Host, Scopus, Science Direct, Medline, and LILACS. Risk of Bias: It was evaluated with the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale and the experimental studies were evaluated using the GRADE tool. Results: Twenty articles of the 183 evaluated were included. Sixteen studies were conducted in animal models and four studies in humans. Most studies in mice reported a reduction in epileptiform activity and reduction in systemic inflammation with the treatment of statins, potentially influencing epilepsy control. Few studies in humans were performed in the geriatric population with variable results (neuroinflammation, seizure prevention, cell death, prevention of kindling, increase in convulsive threshold, increase in latency, decrease in frequency of crisis, and reduction in mortality) related to reduction in the rate of hospitalizations, mortality, and prevention of epilepsy. Studies in mice found a decrease in interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor alpha and an increase in IL-10 and endothelial nitric oxide synthase. Conclusions: The possible antiepileptic mechanism of statins may be related to the reduction in neuroinflammation mediated by a decrease in pro-inflammatory cytokines and action in the nitrergic system. Further studies evaluating the impact of statins on seizure control are necessary.
Nano-Power CMOS Voltage Reference for RF-Powered Systems

This brief presents a fully CMOS voltage reference based on a self-biased topology, which provides low current consumption while saving silicon area. Temperature compensation is achieved by means of a subthreshold triode-based Widlar current reference and a proper arrangement of an active load. The proposed voltage reference was fabricated in a standard 0.13-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu {\text{m}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> CMOS technology and occupies a core area as low as 0.003 mm<sup>2</sup>. The circuit properly operates with a power supply ranging from 2.4 V to 1.1 V while providing a reference voltage of around 800 mV with an average temperature coefficient of 100 ppm/°C and an overall current consumption below 25 nA. This performance makes the proposed voltage reference very suitable for RF-powered applications.
A study on milk adulteration of Savar Upazila in Bangladesh

Background: Milk adulteration has become a serious concern. Some of the adulterants in milk have serious adverse health effects. This study was designed to assess consumer awareness about milk and determine formalin and melamine in milk.Methods: The study involved a laboratory-based investigation and a survey was conducted to assess consumer awareness about milk adulteration from January 2018 to June 2018. Total 10 samples were collected from local market purposively. 2 adulteration tests were conducted to detect formalin and melamine in samples. 10 brands of milk from 8 companies were collected from different markets of Savar and tested at BCSIR as per Bangladesh Standards. On the other hand; a survey was conducted to assess consumer awareness about milk adulteration. A pre tested semi structured questionnaire, was used to collect the information. Statistical analysis was done by using Excel.Results: We found the concentration of formaldehyde and melamine in all 10 analyzed products below the level of detection. The majority (55.9%) of the respondents knew that there is a law in the country that deals with milk adulteration; among them 41.7% thought that the reduced mobile court activity is reason for unchanged milk adulteration situation and insufficient penalty is also a major factor (45%). Only (55.9%) respondents consider water is main milk adulterant and 31.8% know about Chemicals. The majority of the respondents 87.8% strongly agreed that milk adulteration has harmful effects on health.Conclusions: These findings may be helpful for the concerned government regulatory bodies to monitor the quality of the commercial milk in the market.
Placental Structure in Preterm Birth Among HIV-Positive Versus HIV-Negative Women in Kenya

Background: Preterm birth (PTB) is a major cause of infant morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Recent data suggest that in addition to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection, use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) increases the risk of PTB. As the mechanisms remain unexplored, we conducted this study to determine whether HIV and ART were associated with placental changes that could contribute to PTB. Setting: We collected and evaluated placentas from 38 HIV-positive women on ART and 43 HIV-negative women who had preterm deliveries in Nairobi, Kenya. Methods: Anatomical features of the placentas were examined at gross and microscopic levels. Cases were matched for gestational age and compared by the investigators who were blinded to maternal HIV serostatus. Results: Among preterm placentas, HIV infection was significantly associated with thrombosis (P = 0.001), infarction (P = 0.032), anomalies in cord insertion (P = 0.02), gross evidence of membrane infection (P = 0.043), and reduced placental thickness (P = 0.010). Overall, preterm placentas in both groups were associated with immature villi, syncytial knotting, villitis, and deciduitis. Features of HIV-positive versus HIV-negative placentas included significant fibrinoid deposition with villus degeneration, syncytiotrophoblast delamination, red blood cell adhesion, hypervascularity, and reduction in both surface area and perimeter of the terminal villi. Conclusions: These results imply that HIV infection and/or ART are associated with morphological changes in preterm placentas that contribute to delivery before 37 weeks. Hypervascularity suggests that the observed pathologies may be attributable, in part, to hypoxia. Further research to explore potential mechanisms will help elucidate the pathways that are involved perhaps pointing to interventions for decreasing the risk of prematurity among HIV-positive women.
Subcellular drug distribution: mechanisms and roles in drug efficacy, toxicity, resistance, and targeted delivery

Abstract After administration, drug molecules usually enter target cells to access their intracellular targets. In eukaryotic cells, these targets are often located in organelles, including the nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, lysosomes, Golgi apparatus, and peroxisomes. Each organelle type possesses unique biological features. For example, mitochondria possess a negative transmembrane potential, while lysosomes have an intraluminal delta pH. Other properties are common to several organelle types, such as the presence of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) or solute carrier-type (SLC) transporters that sequester or pump out xenobiotic drugs. Studies on subcellular drug distribution are critical to understand the efficacy and toxicity of drugs along with the body’s resistance to them and to potentially offer hints for targeted subcellular drug delivery. This review summarizes the results of studies from 1990 to 2017 that examined the subcellular distribution of small molecular drugs. We hope this review will aid in the understanding of drug distribution within cells.
Exploiting a Micro Pirani Gauge for Beyond Atmospheric Pressure Measurement

Pirani gauge sensor is conventionally used for very low pressure measurement (below 100 mbar) and the measurement is usually performed at steady state. However, if the same sensor is exploited during its transient state, its sensitivity to higher pressures still remains remarkable and can be extended to even beyond atmospheric one, which is what we have observed recently based on a Pirani sensor implemented in a SOI technology from MEMSCAP. To exploit this sensor for beyond atmospheric pressure measurement, we have proposed an interface circuit to measure the rise time of the transient voltage across the sensor in this brief. This proposed interface circuit is implemented and fabricated in a CMOS $0.35~\mu \text{m}$ technology. The experimental results performed on the fabricated interface circuit have demonstrated a perfect agreement with those measured with discrete components under the same condition. Limited by the instrument used, the pressure measurement has been performed up to 7.9 bar. Within this pressure range, a good linearity has been observed with a relative error kept within 1.2%. The influence of noise on measurement accuracy has also been discussed in this brief in order to reduce its impact on accuracy to minimum.
Cytotoxic effect of methanolic extract, alkaloid and terpenoid fractions of Stachys pilifera against HT-29 cell line

Stachys pilifera (S. pilifera) Benth (Lamiaceae) is used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of diseases. Despite some reports on the antitumor effects of some species of this genus, anticancer activity of S. pilifera has not been yet reported. Here, we examined the cytotoxic effect and cell death mechanisms of methanolic extract of S. pilifera and its alkaloid and terpenoid fractions on the HT-29 colorectal cell line. HT-29 cells were cultivated and then incubated in the methanolic extract of S. pilifera and its fractions at various concentrations for 24 h. Cell viability was measured by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Morphology of cells was evaluated by contrast microscopy. Furthermore, effects of the tested extract and fractions were tested on some regulators of cell death and proliferation such as caspase-8, caspase-9, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), and nitric oxide (NO). Cisplatin was used as positive control. The estimated IC50 values of the methanolic extract, alkaloid and terpenoid fractions, and cisplatin against HT29 cell after 24 h were determined to be 612, 48.12, 46.44, and 4.02 μg/mL, respectively. Morphological changes such as plasma membrane blebbing, cell size reduction, and apoptotic bodies were observed in cells faced with the extract and fractions. S. pilifera extract and its fractions induced apoptosis through inhibition of NF-κB, NO, and activation of caspase-8 and caspase-9. Data showed considerable cytotoxic and antiproliferative effects of S. plifera on colorectal cell line through induction of apoptosis. These findings provide a basis for the therapeutic potential of S. pilfera in the treatment of colon cancer.
A kernel-based approach to molecular conformation analysis

We present a novel machine learning approach to understand conformation dynamics of biomolecules. The approach combines kernel-based techniques that are popular in the machine learning community with transfer operator theory for analyzing dynamical systems in order to identify conformation dynamics based on molecular dynamics simulation data. We show that many of the prominent methods like Markov state models, extended dynamic mode decomposition (EDMD), and time-lagged independent component analysis (TICA) can be regarded as special cases of this approach and that new efficient algorithms can be constructed based on this derivation. The results of these new powerful methods will be illustrated with several examples, in particular, the alanine dipeptide and the protein NTL9.
A V-Band Transceiver With Integrated Resonator and Receiver/Transmitter Antenna for Near-Field IoT

In the emerging world of near-field Internet of Things (NF-IoT), small footprint and energy efficient wireless sensor nodes are essential components. This brief presents a V-band transceiver for NF-IoT without the conventional low noise amplifier, mixers, power amplifier, and phase-locked loop building blocks. Also, there are no external components except a battery or energy scavenger. The choice of V-band enables a small footprint and is conducive to low-power and low energy/bit. The receiver has a low-power, on–off keying detection circuit, while the transmitter is an amplitude-redistribution cross-coupled oscillator with on-chip resonator, quenched by the transmit data. The transceiver has an integrated antenna shared by the transmitter and the receiver. The design, realized in the GlobalFoundries 65-nm low-power enhanced CMOS process, occupies 2.75 mm<sup>2</sup> of chip area and consumes 52 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mu }\text{W}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> in receive mode and 1 mW (10 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mu }\text{W}~{@}~1$ </tex-math></inline-formula>% duty cycle) in transmit mode with a data rate of 100 kb/s. For a transmitter power of −10 dBm, the receiver sensitivity is −42 dBm for a BER of 10<sup>−3</sup>.
Incidence and Characteristics of Midfoot Injuries

Background: The epidemiology of midfoot injuries is poorly known. It has been estimated that the incidence of Lisfranc injuries (intra-articular injury in the tarsometatarsal joint) is 1/55 000 person-years and the incidence of Chopart injuries (intra-articular injury in the talonavicular and calcaneocuboidal joint) 4/100 000 person-years. The purpose of our study was to assess the computed tomography (CT) imaging–based incidence (per 100 000 person-years) and trauma mechanisms of midfoot injuries. Methods: All CT studies performed due to acute injury of the foot and ankle region between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2016, at Tampere University Hospital were reviewed. Patients presenting with an injury in the midfoot region in the CT scan were included in this study, and their records were retrospectively evaluated to assess patient characteristics. Results: During the 5-year study period, 953 foot and ankle CT scans were obtained because of an acute injury of the foot and ankle. Altogether, 464 foot injuries were found. Of these, 307 affected the midfoot area: 233 (75.9%) the Lisfranc joint area, 56 (18.2%) the Chopart joint area, and 18 (5.9%) were combined injuries or miscellaneous injuries in the midfoot. The incidence of all midfoot injuries was 12.1/100 000 person-years. The incidence of Lisfranc injuries was 9.2/100 000 person-years. The incidence of Chopart injuries was 2.2/100 000 person-years. Conclusions: The incidence of Lisfranc injuries was higher and the incidence of Chopart injuries lower than previously estimated. More than two-thirds of the midfoot injuries in this study were nondisplaced (<2 mm displacement in fracture or joint) and were caused by low-energy trauma. Level of Evidence: Level III, epidemiologic study.
Design and Characterization of a 9.2-Gb/s Transceiver for Automotive Microcontroller Applications With 8-Taps FFE and 1-Tap Unrolled/4-Taps DFE

We have designed a high-speed serial interface operating at 9.2 Gb/s for an automotive microcontroller in a 28-nm planar CMOS technology. The full-rate voltage-mode transmitter features an 8-tap feed-forward equalization where each tap can be programmed with steps of 1/16. Impedance tuning is possible by activating different driver replicas. The half-rate receiver features continuous time-linear equalization as well as decision-feedback equalization with 4 taps (one loop-unrolled), along with a dedicated phase-detection algorithm. The final circuit occupies an area of 0.125 mm2 and consumes 5.7 mW/Gb/s under nominal conditions. Experimental characterization demonstrates that the equalization strategies are able to improve the bit error rate well below $10^{-12}$ with typical communication channels for automotive applications.
Social centrality and aggressive behavior in the elementary school: Gender segregation, social structure, and psychological factors.

In this paper, we build on key findings in the sociological literature regarding different patterns of association between social centrality and overt aggressive behavior in the context of same-and-cross gender social interactions. We explore these associations in a population of urban elementary school students ( Age ^ = 8.62 , SD = 0.69, N = 848), while addressing claims that the role of psychological factors is overstated in this literature. Our results indicate that, on average, social centrality is positively associated with aggressive behavior for boys, but negatively for girls. We also find a moderating effect indicating that the proportion of male peers with whom participants are reported to hang around, as well as their own gender play a role in the association between social centrality and aggression. These findings are discussed in the context of an ecological perspective on human development in which interactions among individuals, their social groups, and key environments are viewed as central to shaping developmental pathways.
Effects of the replacement of wheat flour with cricket powder on the characteristics of muffins.

BACKGROUND Cricket powder (CP) is a cheap and valuable source of protein, unsaturated fatty acids and dietary fiber, as well as vitamins and minerals such as iron and calcium, which makes it useful for the enrich- ment of bakery products. METHODS The ash, fat, moisture and protein contents of enriched muffins were analyzed ac- cording to PN-EN ISO and AACC methods. The proximate carbohydrate content was estimated by subtract- ing the total fat, protein, ash and moisture content from 100% of food composition. The color of the muffins was measured in the CIE L*a*b* scale using a Chroma Meter CR-410. A TA.XTplus texture analyzer was used to perform texture profile analysis. RESULTS The protein content in muffins enriched with increased CP in samples with 5% and 10% CP addition, and the carbohydrate content reduced as the percentage of CP increased. Results of texture analysis indicated that the use of CP as an additive caused a significant decrease in the hardness, springiness, chewiness and re- silience of the obtained muffins. There were no changes in cohesiveness. With increasing amounts of CP, the value of lightness (L*) decreased, while the green/red (a*) and blue/yellow (b*) color balances were shifted towards green and blue respectively. The results of consumer acceptance tests showed that control muffins and muffins with 2% CP did not significantly differ from each other. CONCLUSIONS Taking into account the slight changes in color and textural properties, cricket powder can be used for the enrichment of muffins with protein without reducing the sensory attractiveness of the product obtained.
Rethinking Self-driving: Multi-task Knowledge for Better Generalization and Accident Explanation Ability

Current end-to-end deep learning driving models have two problems: (1) Poor generalization ability of unobserved driving environment when diversity of training driving dataset is limited (2) Lack of accident explanation ability when driving models don't work as expected. To tackle these two problems, rooted on the believe that knowledge of associated easy task is benificial for addressing difficult task, we proposed a new driving model which is composed of perception module for \textit{see and think} and driving module for \textit{behave}, and trained it with multi-task perception-related basic knowledge and driving knowledge stepwisely. Specifically segmentation map and depth map (pixel level understanding of images) were considered as \textit{what \& where} and \textit{how far} knowledge for tackling easier driving-related perception problems before generating final control commands for difficult driving task. The results of experiments demonstrated the effectiveness of multi-task perception knowledge for better generalization and accident explanation ability. With our method the average sucess rate of finishing most difficult navigation tasks in untrained city of CoRL test surpassed current benchmark method for 15 percent in trained weather and 20 percent in untrained weathers. Demonstration video link is: this https URL
Direct costs of glaucoma: Relationship between cost and severity of the disease

Objectives To estimate the direct medical costs associated with the management of patients with primary open-angle glaucoma and to compare the costs of patients according to the degree of severity. Methods A longitudinal retrospective study was carried out using all patients with primary open-angle glaucoma that recorded follow-up from May 2010 to June 2013 at the Hospital Privado de Córdoba. We estimated the cost of the disease from the perspectives of the institution, with a bottom-up approach. Results The three-year follow-up after treatment of 104 patients revealed that the average cost of care for a patient with primary open-angle glaucoma was US$2746 ± 1560. The first year of treatment was significantly more expensive than subsequent ones (US$1100–$810–$827). Cost was related to the degree of severity of glaucoma; patients in “Stage 0” had significantly lower costs than those in other groups (Kruskal–Wallis test, p < 0.01). This was a consequence of lower costs associated with medication and a lower percentage of patients undergoing surgery. Discussion The direct medical costs of a patient with primary open-angle glaucoma vary according to the severity of their disease and the year of treatment. We found that costs increased with disease severity, but decreased over time.
Clinical Utility of Add-On Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Binge Eating Disorder with Obesity in Schizophrenia

Over the recent years, there has been an increasing application of noninvasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) to modify eating behaviors in healthy population and persons with eating disorders. tDCS is a noninvasive, neuromodulatory intervention which is well-tolerated and safe. In this case report, we describe the successful application of add-on tDCS in a patient with schizophrenia to reduce the craving for food that in turn, helped in reversing the weight gain.
A study on ethno-traditional processing of pork in Assam, India

A study was carried out in four prominent districts of Assam i.e. Dhemaji, Karbi Anglong, Kamrup and Baksa district were the traditional processing of pork is commonly done by the tribal communities. Data were collected from a total of 100 respondents through a pre-tested, reliable and valid interview schedule. Majority of the respondents belonged to Schedule Tribe caste and mostly were farmers. About 46 per cent of the respondents out of 100 respondents processed pork and majority (40 per cent) from them processed it occasionally at home. About 30.43 per cent of the respondents processed pork basically for their own consumption. The mean availability of processed pork was highest in Kamrup followed by Dhemaji. The storage problem, practicing in fewer quantities and costing related to processing (costly affair), poor marketing system were the major factors which impeded commercialization of traditional process pork in many areas of Assam.