Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MAO-A Inhibitory Potential of Terpene Constituents from Ginger Rhizomes—A Bioactivity Guided Fractionation

Background: In the search for novel antidepressive drug candidates, bioguided fractionation of nonpolar constituents present in the oleoresin from ginger rhizomes (Zingiber officinale Roscoe, Zingiberaceae) was performed. This particular direction of the research was chosen due to the existing reports on the antidepressive properties of ginger total extract. The search for individual metabolites acting as MAO-A inhibitors, which correspond to the apparent effect of the total extract, is the subject of this work. Methods: Hexane extracts from ginger rhizomes were fractionated by using column chromatography (including silica gel impregnated with silver nitrate) and semi-preparative high-performance chromatography. For the activity assessment, an in vitro monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) inhibition luminescence assay was performed on 10 purified terpenes: 1,8-cineole, α-citronellal, geraniol, β-sesquiphellandrene, γ-terpinen, geranyl acetate, isobornyl acetate, terpinen-4-ol, (E,E)-α-farnesene, and α-zingiberene. Results: Geraniol and (−)-terpinen-4-ol were found to be the strongest enzyme inhibitors with inhibition of 44.1% and 42.5%, respectively, at a concentration of 125 µg/mL. No differences in the inhibition potential were observed for the different groups of terpenes: sesquiterpenes, monoterpenes, or sesquiterpene alcohols; however, the two most active compounds contained a hydroxyl moiety. Conclusions: Terpene constituents from ginger’s extract were found to exhibit moderate inhibitory properties against the MAO-A enzyme in in vitro tests.
Optimal control of parabolic equations by spectral decomposition

Abstract This paper deals with an optimal control problem of Bolza type for a class of parabolic equations. It consists in finding the initial datum that minimizes a cost functional, which comprises an energy term on the control and a regulation term given by a distributed cost on the state, and such that the final state lies within a prescribed distance to a given target. Beyond the particularities of the chosen problem, our aim here is to propose a new methodology based on a spectral decomposition of the operator governing the evolution of the system, describe its implementation for this kind of problem, and finally perform some preliminary numerical experiments to assess its behaviour.
Does structural integrity following rotator cuff repair affect functional outcomes and pain scores? A meta-analysis

Background To assess whether the integrity of rotator cuff repairs has an impact on functional outcomes, as well as pain scores, after surgery. Methods Systematic review and meta-analyses performed for Level Ι, ΙΙ and ΙΙΙ studies that presented functional outcome scores and radiological assessment of integrity following rotator cuff repair. Extracted data included patient demographics, functional outcome scores [Constant Score, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) shoulder score, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) shoulder score, visual analogue scale (VAS) Pain score], as well as assessment of repair integrity on radiological investigations. A meta-analysis was performed using weighted means and a random effects model. Results Twelve studies were included in the final analysis. Average re-tear rate for the 800 included patients was 22% at a mean follow-up of 27.5 months after surgery. Patients with intact repairs had a significantly higher Constant Score (8.61 points, p < 0.00001), UCLA shoulder score (2.96 points, p < 0.0001) and ASES shoulder score (9.49 points, p < 0.0006). Patients with intact repairs also reported lower pain VAS Pain scores by 0.62 points (p < 0.0004) Conclusions Our results show better functional outcome and pain scores in patients with intact rotator cuffs at follow-up when compared to those that have re-torn. This difference is equivalent to the published Minimal Clinically Important Difference for the ASES but not Constant Scores. This review has also highlighted that shoulder strength in patients with intact cuff repairs is likely to be greater than in patients with a failed repair.
Employing the EPEC Hierarchy of Conditions (Version II) To Evaluate the Effectiveness of Using Synchronous Technologies with Multi-Location Student Cohorts in the Tertiary Education Setting

As e-learning maintains its popularity worldwide, and university enrolments continue to rise, online tertiary level coursework is increasingly being designed for groups of distributed learners, as opposed to individual students. Many institutions struggle with incorporating all facets of online learning and teaching capabilities with the range and variety of software tools available to them. This study used the EPEC Hierarchy of Conditions (ease of use, psychologically safe environment, e-learning self-efficacy, and competence) for E-Learning/E-Teaching Competence (Version II) to investigate the effectiveness of an online synchronous platform to train pre-service teachers studying in groups at multiple distance locations called satellite campuses. The study included 58 pre-service teachers: 14 who were online using individual computers and 44 joining online, sitting physically together in groups, at various locations. Students completed a survey at the conclusion of the coursework and data were analyzed using a mixed methods approach. This study’s findings support the EPEC model applied in this context, which holds that success with e-learning and e-teaching is dependent on four preconditions: 1) ease of use, 2) psychologically safe environment, 3) e-learning self-efficacy, and 4) competency. However, the results also suggest two other factors that impact the success of the online learning experience when working with various sized groups. The study demonstrates that the effectiveness of a multi-location group model may not be dependent only on the EPEC preconditions but also the effectiveness of the instructor support present and the appropriateness of the tool being implemented. This has led to the revised EPEC Hierarchy of Conditions for E-Learning/E-Teaching Competence (Version III).
Critical role of the Ror‐family of receptor tyrosine kinases in invasion and proliferation of malignant pleural mesothelioma cells

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a highly aggressive tumor with poor prognosis and closely related to exposure to asbestos. MPM is a heterogeneous tumor with three main histological subtypes, epithelioid, sarcomatoid, and biphasic types, among which sarcomatoid type shows the poorest prognosis. The Ror‐family of receptor tyrosine kinases, Ror1 and Ror2, is expressed in various types of tumor cells at higher levels and affects their aggressiveness. However, it is currently unknown whether they are expressed in and involved in aggressiveness of MPM. Here, we show that Ror1 and Ror2 are expressed in clinical specimens and cell lines of MPM with different histological features. Studies using MPM cell lines indicate that expression of Ror2 is associated tightly with high invasiveness of MPM cells, whereas Ror1 can contribute to their invasion in the absence of Ror2. However, both Ror1 and Ror2 promote proliferation of MPM cells. We also show that promoted invasion and proliferation of MPM cells by Ror signaling can be mediated by the Rho‐family of small GTPases, Rac1, and Cdc42. These findings elucidate the critical role of Ror signaling in promoting invasion and proliferation of MPM cells.
Prevalence of chronic kidney disease in Nigeria: systematic review of population-based studies

Background The aim of this study was to identify and discuss published population-based studies carried out in Nigeria that have information on the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and have also used the Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) practice guidelines in defining CKD, with emphasis on the performance of three estimating equations for glomerular filtration rate (GFR) – Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD), Cock-croft–Gault, and CKD epidemiology collaboration (CKD-EPI) creatinine equation. Materials and methods A systematic literature search was carried out in Google, MEDLINE, PubMed, and AJOL database, with the aim of identifying relevant population-based studies with information on the prevalence of CKD in a location in Nigeria. Results Seven cross-sectional population-based studies were identified. Two of the studies used the Cockcroft–Gault and observed a prevalence of 24.4% and 26%. Four of the studies used the MDRD and the prevalences observed were 12.3%, 14.2%, 2.5%, and 13.4%. One of the studies used the CKD-EPI equation and the prevalence was 11.4%. The male to female ratios of CKD prevalence in six studies were 1:1.9, 0.8:1, 1:1.6, 1:2, 1:1.8, 1:1.4, and the observed risk factors in the studies were old age, obesity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, family history of hypertension, family history of renal disease, low-income occupation, use of traditional medication, low hemoglobin, and abdominal obesity. Conclusion The prevalence of CKD was high but variable in Nigeria, influenced by the equation used to estimate the GFR. MDRD and CKD-EPI results are agreeable. There is a need for more population-based studies, with emphasis on repeating the GFR estimation after 3 months in subjects with GFR <60 mL/min/1.7 m2.
Cognitive and noncognitive long-term effects of school socioeconomic composition in primary education : A quasi-experimental approach

This longitudinal study examined the cognitive and non-cognitive effects of school socioeconomic composition during the course of primary education. A quasi-experimental cohort design was used to evaluate the growth trajectories of both highand low-socioeconomic status (SES) pupils in low-, medium-, and high-SES schools. Results showed that while medium-SES schools were most advantageous for high-SES pupils’ cognitive development, low-SES pupils’ cognitive development was not affected by school socioeconomic composition. Conversely, school socioeconomic composition only affected low-SES pupils’ non-cognitive development, not affecting that of high-SES pupils. Low-SES pupils showed more positive development in terms of school well-being and study effort in low-SES schools than in mediumand high-SES schools. Additionally, the results indicated school socioeconomic composition mattered most during the final grades of primary education.
Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Style: A Comparative-Gender Study

This study involved Russian managers, extending a US investigation into the possible relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and leadership style; with special attention to that of the ‘transformational’ leadership style. As such, the findings from the US study are compared with the researcher’s Russian investigation. The research further addressed any possible differences in overall EI between genders, as well as differences in preferred leadership style. The results of this investigation found no significant relationship between EI and the leadership style of the Russian manager sample (n=152), nor did it find any significant variances in the overall EI scores, or preferred leadership styles of the managers, according to gender. However, supporting seminal literature, the Russian manager-sample were assessed as clearly preferring a ‘participative’ style of leadership.
Incobotulinumtoxin A for Sialorrhea in Neurological Disorders: A Real-Life Experience

Botulinum toxin type A is one of the most useful treatments of sialorrhea in neurological disorders. Evidence for the use of incobotulinumtoxin A (inco-A) in the treatment of sialorrhea is limited. Thirty-six patients with sialorrhea were treated with infiltrations of inco-A into both parotid glands. The severity of sialorrhea was evaluated by the Drooling Severity Scale (DSS), and the Drooling Frequency Scale (DFS). Patients’ perceptions of clinical benefit were recorded via the Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I) scale. Following treatment, there was a significant difference in both the DFS and the DSS (p < 0.001). Clinical benefits on the basis of the PGI-I were present in up to 90% of patients.
Gender gaps in Indigenous socioeconomic outcomes: Australian regional comparisons and international possibilities

International literature clearly demonstrates the potential for gender-based inequalities to constrain development processes. In the United Nations Development Programme Gender-related Development Index, Australia ranks in the top five across 177 countries, suggesting that the loss of human development due to gender inequality is minor. However, such analysis has not been systematically applied to the Indigenous Australian population, at least in a quantitative sense. Using the 2006 Australian Census, this paper provides an analysis across three dimensions of socioeconomic disparity: Indigeneity, gender, and geography. This paper also explores the development of a similar gender-related index as a tool to enable a relative ranking of the performance of Indigenous males and females at the regional level across a set of socioeconomic outcomes. The initial findings suggest that although there is a substantial development gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, the development loss from gender-related inequality for Indigenous Australians is relatively small. Higher life expectancy and education attainment for Indigenous females balances out their slightly lower earnings to a large extent. At the regional level, Indigenous females tend to fare better than Indigenous males for the set of indicators chosen; and, this is particularly true in capital cities.
GENETIC DIVERSITY AMONG RICE GENOTYPES OF PAKISTAN THROUGH RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA (RAPD) ANALYSIS

Genetic diversity assessment among the 19 rice genotypes of Pakistan including 3 commercial Basmati cultivars viz., Basmati 370, Basmati 385 and Super Basmati was done using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. Out of 40 random decamer primers, 20 RAPD primers revealed polymorphism while 15 were monomorphic and no reaction was observed by using remaining 5 primers. OPI 7 generated maximum number of bands while OPZ 4 and OPZ 6 produced minimum fragments. The banding patterns obtained from the polymorphic primers were used to determine the genetic similarity coefficients which ranged from 0.42 to 0.85. Cluster analysis was performed using Unweighted Paired Group of Arithmetic Means (UPGMA) using the similarity coefficients. Cluster analysis resolved two major clusters among the 19 genotypes used. All the 3 commercial Basmati cultivars grouped together whereas the 15 rice genotypes clustered in another group. The remaining one genotype did not fall into any clusters and found to be distantly related to the rest of the genotypes. The results showed the potential of RAPD markers for genetic diversity assessment.
Predictive data and energy management in GreenHDFS

The sheer scale and rapid rise of Big Data mandates highly scalable, self-adaptive, and energy-conserving data-intensive compute clusters. Based on our analysis of the traces from a production Hadoop cluster at Yahoo! , we observe that file size, file lifespan, and file heat are statistically correlated and very strongly associated with the hierarchical directory structure (i.e., absolute file path) in which the files are organized. Leveraging that observation, we present predictive GreenHDFS; an energy-conserving variant of the Hadoop distributed file system that uses a supervised machine learning technique to learn the correlation between the directory hierarchy and the file attributes to guide novel predictive file zone placement, migration, and replication policies that significantly outperform the current state-of-the-art reactive approaches. Using real-world traces from a large-scale (2600 servers, 5 Petabytes) production Hadoop cluster at Yahoo! in our GreenHDFS simulations, we show how predictive GreenHDFS results in a much better trade-off between performance and energy consumption.
INTRAINDIVUAL VARIABILITY OF THE MOVEMENT PATTERNS IN EXPERT HANDBALL THROWERS

The aim of this study was to compare players’ intra-individual variability in the throwing movement pattern in support, throwing to the four corners of the goal, and in the presence of the goalkeeper in handball. Four players from the Spanish first division participated as subjects, plus seven goalkeepers. The start of the goalkeepers’ movements was recorded from a force platform with a frequency of 500 Hz, while the throw was videotaped by two video cameras synchronized at the same frequency with the force platform. The variability in the movement pattern faked the goalkeepers. The kinetic chain is proximal-distal (P-D) a temporal sequence orientated to reduce the stress in the joint of the shoulder. The inertia of the trunk reduced the time of execution and determined the instant of throwing depending on the goalkeeper´s movements.
Risk factors for human fascioliasis in schoolchildren in Baños del Inca, Cajamarca, Peru

Background The aim of the investigation was to determine the risk factors for human fascioliasis in schoolchildren in five localities of the Baños del Inca district in Cajamarca, Peru. Secondarily, the prevalence of infection among this population was also studied. Methods A questionnaire was applied to 270 schoolchildren from 6-12 years of age and to their parents with the aim of collecting information related to risk factors predisposing the children to Fasciola hepatica infection. Faecal samples from all the children were tested for F. hepatica using the modified rapid sedimentation method of Lumbreras and the technique of Kato-Katz for egg counts. Results Risk factors were identified as follows-raising cattle, consumption of radishes and chewing grass. The prevalence of F. hepatica in Baños del Inca was 6.30%; there was no significant difference by sex or age. Conclusion Risk factors associated with this parasitosis in children in this area of Cajamarca were the raising of cattle, the consumption of radish and the habit of chewing grass. The prevalence results in this district suggest a mesoendemic level of infection, with local variations between meso- and hyper-endemic levels.
TH17-Induced Neutrophils Enhance the Pulmonary Allergic Response Following BALB/c Exposure to House Dust Mite Allergen and Fine Particulate Matter From California and China

Asthma is a global and increasingly prevalent disease. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 235 million people suffer from asthma. Studies suggest that fine particulate matter (PM2.5) can induce innate immune responses, promote allergic sensitization, and exacerbate asthmatic symptoms and airway hyper-responsiveness. Recently, severe asthma and allergic sensitization have been associated with T-helper cell type 17 (TH17) activation. Few studies have investigated the links between PM2.5 exposure, allergic sensitization, asthma, and TH17 activation. This study aimed to determine whether (1) low-dose extracts of PM2.5 from California (PMCA) or China (PMCH) enhance allergic sensitization in mice following exposure to house dust mite (HDM) allergen; (2) eosinophilic or neutrophilic inflammatory responses result from PM and HDM exposure; and (3) TH17-associated cytokines are increased in the lung following exposure to PM and/or HDM. Ten-week-old male BALB/c mice (n = 6-10/group) were intranasally instilled with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), PM+PBS, HDM, or PM+HDM, on days 1, 3, and 5 (sensitization experiments), and PBS or HDM on days 12-14 (challenge experiments). Pulmonary function, bronchoalveolar lavage cell differentials, plasma immunoglobulin (Ig) protein levels, and lung tissue pathology, cyto-/chemo-kine proteins, and gene expression were assessed on day 15. Results indicated low-dose PM2.5 extracts can enhance allergic sensitization and TH17-associated responses. Although PMCA+HDM significantly decreased pulmonary function, and significantly increased neutrophils, Igs, and TH17-related protein and gene levels compared with HDM, there were no significant differences between HDM and PMCH+HDM treatments. This may result from greater copper and oxidized organic content in PMCA versus PMCH.
Wavelet analysis of the coherence between Bouguer gravity and topography: application to the elastic thickness anisotropy in the Canadian Shield

SUMMARY We use a wavelet transform to compute the local and azimuthal variations of the coherence between Bouguer gravity and topography in eastern Canada. The isotropic coherence is calculated by averaging the wavelet spectra from optimally overlapping 2-D Morlet wavelets having an isotropic spectral envelope in adjacent directions within 180°, defining the so-called ‘fan’ wavelet. The isotropic wavelet coherence spectrum is inverted to obtain local estimates of the elastic thickness (Te) of the lithosphere. We calculate the anisotropic coherence by restricting the fan wavelet over an azimuthal range of 90°. The direction of maximum coherence is diagnostic of the direction of preferred isostatic compensation, or the direction where the lithosphere is weakest. The coherence is inverted using the theoretical response of a thin anisotropic plate model. We have carried out extensive tests on synthetic topography and Bouguer gravity data sets to verify that: (1) the wavelet method can recover Te for simple models with either homogeneous or spatially variable rigidity patterns; and that: (2) the method can determine azimuthal variations in the 2-D coherence for homogeneous models with anisotropic Te. We have used data from the eastern Canadian Shield to infer the variations in Te and the anisotropy of the coherence. The relative variations in Te show trends similar to those obtained in previous studies that used different spectral methods. The wavelet transform gives Te values between 30 and 120 km. Te is generally high (>80 km) throughout eastern Canada. Lower values (30–60 km) are found in the eastern Grenville Province, in the northern Appalachians, and in the Superior Province in the Great Lakes region. The high values found in Hudson Bay are consistent with previous studies of elastic thickness and models of basin subsidence. The direction of maximum coherence obtained from the wavelet method is also consistent with our previous results obtained with the multitaper method and shows that the weak mechanical axis is perpendicular to the fast seismic axis where seismic anisotropy has been detected.