Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Higher proportion of low-virulence anaerobic bacterial infection in young patients with intervertebral disc herniation

Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration caused by the latent infection of low-virulence anaerobic bacteria (LVAB) is a hot research topic. The present study analyzed and compared the positive rate of LVAB within IVDs of patients of different ages. IVD samples were intraoperatively retrieved from 176zpatients with disc herniation and subjected to microbiological culture. Subsequently, all the patients were classified into 3 groups based on their ages as follows: Group A (age <30 years), group B (age from 30 to 50 years) and group C (age >50 years) and the positive rates of LVAB were compared among the three groups. The severity of IVD degeneration was also assessed by measuring intervertebral height. Of the 176 cultured discs, 39 samples had bacterial growth, while 6 of them were suspiciously contaminated. Follwoing the exclusion of the 6 suspicious samples, 31 samples were Propionibacterium acnes and 2 samples were coagulase-negative Staphylococci of the remaining 33 samples, The bacterial positive rates were significantly higher in younger patients, with 34.4% (11/32), 25.5% (13/51) and 10.3% (9/87) in group A, B and C, respectively. More importantly, the bacterial-positive samples had a significantly lower disc height compared with the negative samples in groups A and B. Therefore, it can be reasonably concluded that younger patients have a much higher prevalence of LVAB infection in herniated IVDs and a greater severity of IVD degeneration when infected by bacteria. The LVAB may have a strong association with IVD degeneration, particularly in young patients.
MHD FLOW IN A POROUS CHANNEL WITH CONSTANT SUCTION/INJECTION AT THE WALLS

Abstract: In this paper our study is concern with the steady state fully developed MHD flow of a viscous incompressible conducting fluid within a channel filled with a porous medium and bounded by two infinite walls. Poiseuille and Couette-Poiseuille flow with constant suction and injection through the walls have been considered under the transverse applied magnetic field of uniform strength. The Brinkman equation has been used for the flow in the porous channel. Exact solutions are obtained for the flow velocity, volumetric flow rate and skin friction. The effects of various parameters on the flow are discussed and presented graphically.
Prolonged high-fat-diet feeding promotes non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and alters gut microbiota in mice

BACKGROUND Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become an epidemic largely due to the worldwide increase in obesity. While lifestyle modifications and pharmacotherapies have been used to alleviate NAFLD, successful treatment options are limited. One of the main barriers to finding safe and effective drugs for long-term use in NAFLD is the fast initiation and progression of disease in the available preclinical models. Therefore, we are in need of preclinical models that (1) mimic the human manifestation of NAFLD and (2) have a longer progression time to allow for the design of superior treatments. AIM To characterize a model of prolonged high-fat diet (HFD) feeding for investigation of the long-term progression of NAFLD. METHODS In this study, we utilized prolonged HFD feeding to examine NAFLD features in C57BL/6 male mice. We fed mice with a HFD (60% fat, 20% protein, and 20% carbohydrate) for 80 wk to promote obesity (Old-HFD group, n = 18). A low-fat diet (LFD) (14% fat, 32% protein, and 54% carbohydrate) was administered for the same duration to age-matched mice (Old-LFD group, n = 15). An additional group of mice was maintained on the LFD (Young-LFD, n = 20) for a shorter duration (6 wk) to distinguish between age-dependent and age-independent effects. Liver, colon, adipose tissue, and feces were collected for histological and molecular assessments. RESULTS Prolonged HFD feeding led to obesity and insulin resistance. Histological analysis in the liver of HFD mice demonstrated steatosis, cell injury, portal and lobular inflammation and fibrosis. In addition, molecular analysis for markers of endoplasmic reticulum stress established that the liver tissue of HFD mice have increased phosphorylated Jnk and CHOP. Lastly, we evaluated the gut microbial composition of Old-LFD and Old-HFD. We observed that prolonged HFD feeding in mice increased the relative abundance of the Firmicutes phylum. At the genus level, we observed a significant increase in the abundance of Adercreutzia, Coprococcus, Dorea, and Ruminococcus and decreased relative abundance of Turicibacter and Anaeroplasma in HFD mice. CONCLUSION Overall, these data suggest that chronic HFD consumption in mice can mimic pathophysiological and some microbial events observed in NAFLD patients.
Effect of depressive symptoms and HIV exposure on the quality of life of HIV-seropositive and seronegative pregnant women

Introduction: Depression among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seropositive individuals has been associated with reduced quality of life. Objective: To evaluate the effect of depressive symptoms and HIV exposure on mean quality of life scores in HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative postpartum women. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with two groups: 80 HIV-seropositive and 80 HIV-seronegative postpartum women. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the World Health Organization Quality of Life short-version scale were used to assess presence of depressive symptoms and quality of life scores. Two-way analysis of variance was used to compare the effects of depressive symptoms, HIV exposure and interaction between depressive symptoms and HIV exposure on mean quality of life scores, with p < 0.05 considered statistically significant. Results: Depressive symptoms were present in 35% (28) of HIV-seropositive and 17.5% (14) of HIV-seronegative participants (p = 0.02). The interaction between depressive symptoms and HIV exposure was not significant for any quality of life domain. The main effect of HIV exposure was also not significant. Depressive symptoms had a negative influence on quality of life scores in all domains (physical health, psychological health, social relationships and environment) (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The quality of life of pregnant women is negatively influenced by the presence of depressive symptoms. Keywords: Pregnancy; quality of life; depression and HIV
Effect of seed irradiation on the content of antioxidants in leaves of Kidney bean, Cabbage and Beet cultivars

Seeds of two varieties of kidney bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L., var. oratus and var. ellipticus), cabbage ( Brassica oleracea L., var. capitata alba and var. capitata rubra) and beet (B. vulgaris L., saccharifera Alef. and ssp. esculenta (Salisb) Gurke, var. rubra) were exposed to ultraviolet (UV) irradiation (460-760 µW/cm 2 for 30, 60 and 90 min). The purpose of the study was to evaluate the importance of pre-sowing treatment with UV for activation the antioxidative system and building up adaptive mechanisms against unfavorable environmental conditions in crops. In particular, we studied the effects of exposing seeds to UV irradiation prior to sowing on antioxidant contents in leaves of experimental plants developed from the irradiated seeds and on their physiological state and growth indices (height, biomass, photosynthetic activity of leaves, amount of plastid pigments and total proteins). Treatment of seeds with low doses of UV caused increase in ascorbic acid content in leaves of kidney bean varieties (32-35%). Applied doses of UV significantly enhanced the amount of tocopherol in leaves of both varieties of kidney bean (2-4 times and more), and white beet (5-9 times). Seed UV irradiation with high doses (90min) had clear effect on the content of plastid pigments in kidney bean varieties (about 35%), while in cabbage and beet stimulative were both doses (30min and 90min) (45% and more). UV treatment of seeds also stimulated synthesis of anthocyanins in leaves of kidney bean varieties (3-6%) and white beet (14-21%). In the case of cabbage and red beet low doses of irradiation were effective (9-20%). We conclude that UV irradiation of seeds stimulated stress adaptive mechanisms in tested plants. These effects, however, depend on the intensity of irradiation, also on plant species and varieties. Treatment of seeds with optimal doses of UV irradiation may used for stimulation of antioxidant synthesis in plants and enhance their nutritional value and tolerance to environmental stress factors.
Scuttle flies (Diptera: Phoridae) whose larvae develop in flowers of Aristolochia (Aristolochiaceae) in Panama

Megaselia metropolitanoensis Disney, sp. n. , M. sakaiae Disney, sp. n. and Puliciphora pygmaea (Borgmeier, 1960) comb. n. are reported developing in the flowers of Aristolochia inflata H. B. K. and A. maxima Jacq. in Panama. The new species are described, as is the hitherto unknown male of Puliciphora pygmaea. The latter is transferred to the the genus Puliciphora Dahl, 1897 from the genus Myrmomyia Silvestri, 1911 which is formally synonymised with Puliciphora, along with P. brachymyrmecis (Silvestri, 1911) comb. n. and P. nigroflava (Borgmeier, 1958) comb. n.
Why do you like to drive automated?: a context-dependent analysis of highly automated driving to elaborate requirements for intelligent user interfaces

Technology acceptance is a critical factor influencing the adoption of automated vehicles. Consequently, manufacturers feel obliged to design automated driving systems in a way to account for negative effects of automation on user experience. Recent publications confirm that full automation will potentially lack in the satisfaction of important user needs. To counteract, the adoption of Intelligent User Interfaces (IUIs) could play an important role. In this work, we focus on the evaluation of the impact of scenario type (represented by variations of road type and traffic volume) on the fulfillment of psychological needs. Results of a qualitative study (N=30) show that the scenario has a high impact on how users perceive the automation. Based on this, we discuss the potential of adaptive IUIs in the context of automated driving. In detail, we look at the aspects trust, acceptance, and user experience and its impact on IUIs in different driving situations.
Hepatitis B and C Viral Infections in Tihamet Aseer, South-Western Saudi Arabia: Are There Gender Differences?

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is endemic in Saudi Arabia. Many studies have shown varying results in gender differences in HBV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The objective of this study was to determine if gender differences exist in HBV and HCV infection and to elucidate any related risk factors in Tihamet Aseer, south-western Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study of a representative sample of males and females in Tihamet Aseer, south-western Saudi Arabia. A comprehensive questionnaire was completed by all participants. Blood samples were taken and sera were tested for hepatitis B surface antigen and HCV antibodies by fourth-generation enzyme immunoassays. Results: The study included 1532 participants from the Tihamet Aseer area. An overall seroprevalence of 7.9% and 1.7% was found for HBV and HCV infections, respectively. In logistic regression analysis, no gender differences were found for HBV seroprevalence. Identified risk factors for HBV infection included a history of blood transfusion and lack of hepatitis B vaccination. On the other hand, females were more prone to become seropositive for HCV (adjusted odds ratio = 5.034, 95% confidence interval: 1.042–9.321). Other identified risk factors for HCV infection were illiteracy and a history of blood transfusion. Conclusion: The prevalence and HBV and HCV infection is high compared to the national figures. Gender differences were only observed in HCV infection. It is recommended to have an active educational and media campaign. A “catch-up” vaccination program against HBV should be introduced for adults as a strategy to achieve the herd immunity effect in the affected area.
Noisy Matrix Completion: Understanding Statistical Guarantees for Convex Relaxation via Nonconvex Optimization

This paper studies noisy low-rank matrix completion: given partial and noisy entries of a large low-rank matrix, the goal is to estimate the underlying matrix faithfully and efficiently. Arguably one of the most popular paradigms to tackle this problem is convex relaxation, which achieves remarkable efficacy in practice. However, the theoretical support of this approach is still far from optimal in the noisy setting, falling short of explaining its empirical success. We make progress towards demystifying the practical efficacy of convex relaxation vis-à-vis random noise. When the rank and the condition number of the unknown matrix are bounded by a constant, we demonstrate that the convex programming approach achieves near-optimal estimation errors - in terms of the Euclidean loss, the entrywise loss, and the spectral norm loss - for a wide range of noise levels. All of this is enabled by bridging convex relaxation with the nonconvex Burer-Monteiro approach, a seemingly distinct algorithmic paradigm that is provably robust against noise. More specifically, we show that an approximate critical point of the nonconvex formulation serves as an extremely tight approximation of the convex solution, thus allowing us to transfer the desired statistical guarantees of the nonconvex approach to its convex counterpart.
THE DIFFERENCE IN CONSUMER RISK PERCEPTION BETWEENCELEBRITY ENDORSER AND EXPERT ENDORSER IN COLLEGE ADVERTISEMENTS

This research aims to examine the difference in consumer risk perception between celebrity and expert endorser in advertisement. We proposed two hypothesis, H1: There is a difference in consumer risk perception between an expert endorser and celebrity endorser in college advertisement. H2: There is a difference in consumer risk perception between an expert endorser and a celebrity endorser in college advertisement, which is moderated by the consumer product knowledge. Experimental design was employed in this study with Statistical Experimental- Completely Randomized Design. This was conducted on three groups to test H1 and six groups to test H2. To test H1, the participant of each group was given full color print ads using celebrity endorser, expert endorser and nonendorser in advertisement. We go further splitting each group with high and low consumer product knowledge to test H2. The participants of this research are 200 students of SMA 7 Semarang. We use One Way Anova to test H1 and two ways Anova to test H2. Our findings showed that there is a difference in consumer risk perception between an expert endorser and celebrity endorser in college advertisement. We also found that there is no difference in consumer risk perception between an expert endorser and a celebrity endorser in college’s advertisement, which is moderated by the consumer product knowledge. We also found that there is difference in consumer’s perceived performance risk, consumer’s perceived financial risk and consumer’s social risk between an expert and celebrity endorser in College advertisement. On the other hand, we found there is no difference in consumer perceived psychological risk between an expert and celebrity endorser in College advertisement. Keywords: celebrity endorser, expert endorser, consumer risk perception, consumer product knowledge.
Entrained Flow Reactor Study of K-Capture by Solid Additives

A method to simulate the reaction between gaseous K-species and solid additives, at suspension fired conditions has been developed, using an entrained flow reactor (EFR). A water slurry containing solid additives (kaolin or coal fly ash) and KCl, is injected into the EFR and the solid products are collected from the cyclone and filter. The K-capture reaction is evaluated by determining the fraction of water-insoluble K in the products. The results showed that KCl can effectively be captured by kaolin and coal fly ash, forming water-insoluble Kaluminosilicates. The amount of K, captured per gram of additives, rose when increasing the molar ratio of K/(Al+Si) in the reactants. A change of the reaction temperature, from 1100 °C to 1450 °C, did not significantly influence the extent of the reaction, which is in contradiction to the trend observed in previous fixed-bed reactor studies. The method using the EFR, developed in this study, will be applied for further studies on the reaction of different additives and alkali species.
Temperature and angular dependence of the upper critical field in K 2 Cr 3 As 3

We report measurements of the upper critical field $H_{\mathrm{c2}}$ as functions of temperature $T$, polar angle $\theta$ (of the field direction with respect to the crystallographic $c$ axis), and azimuthal angle $\phi$ (of the field direction relative to the $a$ axis within the $ab$ plane) for the Cr-based superconductor K$_{2}$Cr$_{3}$As$_{3}$ with a quasi-one-dimensional and non-centrosymmetric crystal structure. We confirm that the anisotropy in $H_{\mathrm{c2}}(T)$ becomes inverse with decreasing temperature. At low temperatures, $H_{\mathrm{c2}}(\theta)$ data are featured by two maxima at $\theta$ = 0 ($\mathbf{H}\parallel c$) and $\pi/2$ ($\mathbf{H}\bot c$), which can be quantitatively understood only if uniaxial effective-mass anisotropy and absence of Pauli paramagnetic effect for $\mathbf{H}\bot c$ are taken simultaneously into consideration. The in-plane $H_{\mathrm{c2}}(\phi)$ profile shows a unique threefold modulation especially at low temperatures. Overall, the characteristic of the $H_{\mathrm{c2}}(\theta, \phi, T)$ data mostly resemble those of the heavy-fermion superconductor UPt$_3$, and we argue in favor of a dominant spin-triplet superconductivity with odd parity in K$_{2}$Cr$_{3}$As$_{3}$.
Maternal Immune Response During Pregnancy and Vertical Transmission in Human Toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic zoonosis distributed worldwide, caused by the ingestion of contaminated water/food with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. If a pregnant woman is infected with this parasite, it may be transmitted to the fetus and produce ocular, neurological, or systemic damage with variable severity. The strength and profile of mother's immune response have been suggested as important factors involved in vertical transmission rate and severity of clinical outcome in the congenitally infected fetus. The aim of this work was to evaluate a possible relation between the mother's immune response during pregnancy and congenital transmission to the fetus. We obtained peripheral blood from T. gondii infected pregnant woman and tested it for anti T. gondii (IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, IgG4, and IgA) in serum. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated to analyze the in vitro effect of soluble T. gondii antigens on proliferation and production of cytokines. We found that IgG2-4 and IgA antibodies and lymphocytes proliferation, especially CD4+, CD8+, and CD19+ were positive in a higher proportion of cases in transmitter than in non-transmitter women. Furthermore, IgG2-3 and IgA anti-Toxoplasma antibody levels were higher in those mothers who transmitted the infection than in those who did not. Interestingly, a higher proportion of positive cases to IFN-γ and negatives to the immunoregulatory cytokine TGF-β, were related to T. gondii vertical transmission. Our descriptive results are consistent with the paradoxical previous observations in murine models of congenital toxoplasmosis, which suggest that an increased immune response that protects the mothers from a disseminated or severe disease, and should protect the fetus from infection, is positively related to parasite transmission.
Anti-Cavitation Design of the Symmetric Leading-Edge Shape of Mixed-Flow Pump Impeller Blades

Mixed-flow pumps compromise large flow rate and high head in fluid transferring. Long-axis mixed-flow pumps with radial–axial “spacing” guide vanes are usually installed deeply under water and suffer strong cavitation due to strong environmental pressure drops. In this case, a strategy combining the Diffusion-Angle Integral Design method, the Genetic Algorithm, and the Computational Fluid Dynamics method was used for optimizing the mixed-flow pump impeller. The Diffusion-Angle Integral Design method was used to parameterize the leading-edge geometry. The Genetic Algorithm was used to search for the optimal sample. The Computational Fluid Dynamics method was used for predicting the cavitation performance and head–efficiency performance of all the samples. The optimization designs quickly converged and got an optimal sample. This had an increased value for the minimum pressure coefficient, especially under off-design conditions. The sudden pressure drop around the leading-edge was weakened. The cavitation performance within the 0.5–1.2 Qd flow rate range, especially within the 0.62–0.78 Qd and 1.08–1.20 Qd ranges, was improved. The head and hydraulic efficiency was numerically checked without obvious change. This provided a good reference for optimizing the cavitation or other performances of bladed pumps.
Mutism resulting from heterochronic bilateral cerebellar hemorrhages – A case report

Background: Cerebellar mutism (CM) is a neurological condition characterized by lack of speech due to cerebellar lesions. Interruption of the bilateral dentatothalamocortical (DTC) pathways at midline structure seems the principal cause of CM but not fully understood. We described a rare case of CM due to heterochronic bilateral cerebellar hemorrhages. Case Description: An 87-year-old woman presented with depression of alertness after sudden vomiting. Neurologically, mild dysmetria and mutism were observed. The head computed tomography (CT) showed both a fresh right cerebellar hemorrhage and an obsolete left one. The patient was diagnosed as CM since both the thalamus and the supplementary motor area were bilaterally intact on both CT and magnetic resonance imaging. Medical treatment and rehabilitation improved her ataxia and ambulation. She became cognitively alert and could communicate by nodding, shaking her head, or facial expression. However, her mutism did not change at 4 months after the stroke. Conclusion: There are few reports on CM due to direct injuries to the bilateral dentate nuclei. Since our case did not show any injury other than bilateral dentate nuclei, this report can support the hypothesis that the interruptions of the bilateral DTC are the cause of CM.