Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microbial Quality Analysis of Panipuri Samples Collected from Different Parts of Bhaktapur

Objectives: The study was aimed to identify potential bacterial pathogens from the panipuri samples collected from different vendors of Bhaktapur district and determine their antibiogram patterns. Methods: Altogether 120 (40 puri, 40 stuffing and 40 pani) samples of panipuri were collected from different vendors of Bhaktapur district in a cold chain and were transported to the microbiology laboratory. Puri and stuffing were then pre-enriched, enriched and cultured while pani samples were processed using the MPN method. All the isolates were identified following standard microbiological procedure and subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing following CLSI guidelines. Results: The result revealed contamination of 77.5% stuffing, 67.5% puri and 52.5% pani samples with pathogenic bacteria. Among bacterial pathogens, the highest number was Staphylococcus aureus followed by Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. 100% of S. aureus were found to be resistant to ampicillin and novobiocin. Similarly, 94.1% of E. coli were resistant to ampicillin followed by ciprofloxacin (64.7%). A very few isolates of Salmonella spp, Shigella spp and Vibrio spp were resistant to tetracycline. The highest number of multidrug-resistant bacteria were S. aureus, followed by Klebsiella spp and E. coli. Conclusion: The study showed that the panipuri samples from street vendors were found to be highly contaminated with pathogenic bacteria which might affect consumers’ health. Thus, to prevent any food-borne illness in the future, frequent evaluation and regulation of the quality of such foods should be carried out.
Multidimensional Latent Semantic Networks for Text Humor Recognition

Humor is a special human expression style, an important “lubricant” for daily communication for people; people can convey emotional messages that are not easily expressed through humor. At present, artificial intelligence is one of the popular research domains; “discourse understanding” is also an important research direction, and how to make computers recognize and understand humorous expressions similar to humans has become one of the popular research domains for natural language processing researchers. In this paper, a humor recognition model (MLSN) based on current humor theory and popular deep learning techniques is proposed for the humor recognition task. The model automatically identifies whether a sentence contains humor expression by capturing the inconsistency, phonetic features, and ambiguity of a joke as semantic features. The model was experimented on three publicly available wisecrack datasets and compared with state-of-the-art language models, and the results demonstrate that the proposed model has better humor recognition accuracy and can contribute to the research on discourse understanding.
Never a Dull Moment: Pat’s Babershop as Educational Environment, Hypertext, and Place

Art education is often justified as a means of helping students make sense of themselves and their world through the study of works of art and visual culture. Within everyday aestheticized social spaces, such as amusement parks, restaurants, malls, and barbershops, are embedded educationally meaningful opportunities of cultural, social, philosophical, and aesthetic significance. This article describes a barbershop as a multisensory; socially constructed educational environment. The barbershop is valuable to art education because it is simultaneously a hypertextual curriculum metaphor, an example of visual culture, and a socially constructed place that offers lessons about spirituality community, ritual and the meaningful examination of everyday life. As a site of social discourse, interpretation, and cultural commentary, the barbershop-as-hypertext offers points of entry into important life lessons not taught in school. In conclusion, the benefits of constructing an artroom as a social environment similar to that of a barbershop are considered.
Laboratory and experimental hut trial evaluation of VECTRON ™ T500 for indoor residual spraying (IRS) against insecticide resistant malaria vectors in Burkina Faso

Background: Malaria cases in some areas could be attributed to vector resistant to the insecticide. World Health Organization recommended insecticides for vector control are limited in number. It is essential to find rotational partners for existing Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) products. VECTRON ™ T500 is a novel insecticide with broflanilide as active ingredient. It has a mode of action on mosquitoes completely different to usually used. The aim of this study was to determine the optimum effective dose and efficacy of VECTRON TM T500 against susceptible and resistant strains of Anopheles in Burkina Faso. Methods: VECTRON™T500 was sprayed at 50, 100 and 200 mg/m² doses onto mud and concrete blocks using Potter Spray Tower. The residual activity of broflanilide was assessed through cone bioassays 1 week and then monthly up to 14 months post spraying. Its efficacy was evaluated at 100 and 150 mg/m² against wild free-flying mosquitoes in experimental huts on both substrates. Actellic 300CS was applied at 1000 mg/m² as reference product. Cone assays were conducted monthly, using susceptible and resistant mosquito strains. Results: In the laboratory, VECTRON ™ T500 showed residual efficacy (≥80% mortality) on An. gambiae Kisumu up to 12 and 14 months, respectively, on concrete and mud blocks. Similar results were found with 100 and 200 mg/m² using An. coluzzii pyrethroid resistant strain. In experimental huts, a total of 19,552 An. gambiae s.l. were collected. Deterrence, blood-feeding inhibition and exophily with VECTRON™ treated huts were very low. At 100 and 150 mg/m², mortality of wild An. gambiae s.l. ranged between 55% and 73%. Monthly cone bioassay mortality remained >80% up to 9 months. Conclusions: VECTRON™ T500 shows great potential as IRS formulation for malaria vector control. It can be added to the arsenal of IRS products for use in rotations to control malaria and manage mosquito insecticide resistance.
Decaffeinated Green Tea Extract Does Not Elicit Hepatotoxic Effects and Modulates the Gut Microbiome in Lean B6C3F1 Mice

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the hepatotoxic potential and effects on the gut microbiome of decaffeinated green tea extract (dGTE) in lean B6C3F1 mice. Gavaging dGTE over a range of 1X–10X mouse equivalent doses (MED) for up to two weeks did not elicit significant histomorphological, physiological, biochemical or molecular alterations in mouse livers. At the same time, administration of dGTE at MED comparable to those consumed by humans resulted in significant modulation of gut microflora, with increases in Akkermansia sp. being most pronounced. Results of this study demonstrate that administration of relevant-to-human-consumption MED of dGTE to non-fasting mice does not lead to hepatotoxicity. Furthermore, dGTE administered to lean mice, caused changes in gut microflora comparable to those observed in obese mice. This study provides further insight into the previously reported weight management properties of dGTE; however, future studies are needed to fully evaluate and understand this effect.
The COVID-19 impact on employee performance and satisfaction: a moderated moderated-mediation conditional model of job crafting and employee engagement

ABSTRACT Human Resource Development (HRD) is indispensable for the success of any organization; educational institutions are not an exception. The unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19 brought a paradigmatic shift in educational work cultures from supporting primarily face-to-face teaching to online teaching. The global pandemic posed substantial, unique challenges for HRD professionals in educational institutions as they sought to best manage the sudden change. Drawing from the HRD literature we found two promising research variables, job crafting and employee engagement that could help mitigate the ill effects of COVID-19 on performance and satisfaction in higher educational institutions. Based on the Job Crafting Theory (JCT) and Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theoretical frameworks, we developed a conceptual model and examined the relationships among COVID-19 Impact, employee job performance, and satisfaction. We used a carefully crafted survey instrument and collected data from 640 faculty members working in educational institutions. After checking the instrument’s psychometric properties using the LISREL software of structural equation modelling, we used Hayes’s PROCESS for testing the hypothesized relationships. The results indicate that COVID-19 Impact is negatively related to job performance and satisfaction. However, the results also support that performance is a mediator in the relationship between COVID-19 Impact and satisfaction. Further, job crafting acted as a moderator in reducing the negative effect of COVID-19 on performance. Perhaps most importantly, employee engagement (second moderator) moderates the moderated-mediation relationship between job crafting (first moderator) and COVID-19 Impact on satisfaction, mediated through employee performance. Overall, the study results reveal that the three-way interaction between COVID-19 Impact, job crafting, and employee engagement on employee performance provides a novel way of explaining the complex relationships in minimizing the adverse effects of the global pandemic. The implications for HRD theory and practice are discussed.
Sinularin Induces Oxidative Stress-Mediated Apoptosis and Mitochondrial Dysfunction, and Inhibits Angiogenesis in Glioblastoma Cells

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a cancer of largely unknown cause that leads to a 5-year survival rate of approximately 7% in the United States. Current treatment strategies are not effective, indicating a strong need for the development of novel therapies. In this study, the outcomes of sinularin, a marine-derived product, were evaluated against GBM. Our cellular studies using GBM cells revealed that sinularin induces cell death. The measured half maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) values ranged from 30 to 6 μM at 24–72 h. Cell death was induced via the generation of ROS leading to mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. This was evidenced by annexin V/propidium iodine staining and an upregulation of cleaved forms of the pro-apoptotic proteins caspase 9, 3, and PARP, and supported by CellROXTM Green, MitoSOXTM Red, and CM-H2DCFDA staining methods. In addition, we observed a downregulation of the antioxidant enzymes SOD1/2 and thioredoxin. Upon treatment with sinularin at the ~IC50 concentration, mitochondrial respiration capacities were significantly reduced, as shown by measuring the oxygen consumption rates and enzymatic complexes of oxidative phosphorylation. Intriguingly, sinularin significantly inhibited indicators of angiogenesis such as vessel tube formation, cell migration, and cell mobility in human umbilical vein endothelial cells or the fusion cell line EA.Hy926. Lastly, in a transgenic zebrafish model, intersegmental vessel formation was also significantly inhibited by sinularin treatment. These findings indicate that sinularin exerts anti-brain cancer properties that include apoptosis induction but also antiangiogenesis.
Integrative Organelle-Based Functional Proteomics: In Silico Prediction of Impaired Functional Annotations in SACS KO Cell Model

Autosomal recessive spastic ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay (ARSACS) is an inherited neurodegenerative disease characterized by early-onset spasticity in the lower limbs, axonal-demyelinating sensorimotor peripheral neuropathy, and cerebellar ataxia. Our understanding of ARSACS (genetic basis, protein function, and disease mechanisms) remains partial. The integrative use of organelle-based quantitative proteomics and whole-genome analysis proposed in the present study allowed identifying the affected disease-specific pathways, upstream regulators, and biological functions related to ARSACS, which exemplify a rationale for the development of improved early diagnostic strategies and alternative treatment options in this rare condition that currently lacks a cure. Our integrated results strengthen the evidence for disease-specific defects related to bioenergetics and protein quality control systems and reinforce the role of dysregulated cytoskeletal organization in the pathogenesis of ARSACS.
Efficacy and safety of dual combination therapy of blood pressure-lowering drugs as initial treatment for hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy and tolerability of dual combination of blood pressure (BP)-lowering drugs as initial treatment for hypertension. METHODS MEDLINE, Embase, CENTRAL were searched until August 2017 for randomized, double-blind trials of dual combination therapy vs. monotherapy in adults with hypertension who were either treatment naïve or untreated for at least 4 weeks. Regimens were classified with reference to usual daily 'standard-dose'; for example, <1 + <1 for a combination of two drugs both at less than one standard-dose. Random-effects models were used for meta-analysis. RESULTS Thirty-three trials (13 095 participants) with mean baseline mean BP 155/100 mmHg were included. Compared with standard-dose monotherapy, dual combinations of <1 + <1, 1 + <1 and 1 + 1 (i.e. low-to-standard dose), showed a dose-response relationship in reducing SBP [mean differences (95% confidence interval) of 2.8 (1.6-4.0), 4.6 (3.4-5.7) and 7.5 (5.4-9.5) mmHg, respectively], and in improving BP control [risk ratio (RR) (95% confidence interval) 1.11 (0.92-1.34), 1.25 (1.16-1.35) and 1.42 (1.27-1.58), respectively]. Withdrawals due to adverse events were uncommon with low-to-standard dose dual combinations, with no significant difference compared with standard-dose monotherapy [2.9 vs. 2.2%; RR 1.28 (0.85 to 1.92)]. There were fewer data for higher dose dual combinations, which did not appear to produce substantial additional efficacy and could potentially be less tolerable. CONCLUSION Compared with standard-dose monotherapy, initiating treatment with low-to-standard dose dual combination therapy is more efficacious without increasing withdrawals due to adverse events. PROSPERO REGISTRATION CRD42016032822.
Determining the Enablers and Barriers for the Adoption of Clean Cookstoves in the Middle Belt of Ghana—A Qualitative Study

Despite its benefits and espousal in developed counties, the adoption of clean cookstoves is reportedly low in less developed countries, especially in Sub–Saharan Africa. This qualitative study aimed at exploring and documenting the enablers and barriers for adoption of clean cookstove in the middle belt of Ghana. The findings showed convenience of clean cookstove use, reduced firewood usage, less smoke emission and associated health problems resulting from indoor air pollution and time for firewood gathering and cooking, good smell and taste of food as enabling factors for clean cookstove adoption. Factors such as safety, financial constraint (cost), non-availability of spare parts on the open market to replace faulty stove accessories, stove size and household size were the potential barriers to clean cookstove adoption. These findings help us to understand the factors promoting and inhibiting the adoption of clean cook stoves, especially in rural settings.
Genetic Restoration of Heme Oxygenase-1 Expression Protects from Type 1 Diabetes in NOD Mice

Antigen-presenting cells (APCs) including dendritic cells (DCs) play a critical role in the development of autoimmune diseases by presenting self-antigen to T-cells. Different signals modulate the ability of APCs to activate or tolerize autoreactive T-cells. Since the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) by APCs has been associated with the tolerization of autoreactive T-cells, we hypothesized that HO-1 expression might be altered in APCs from autoimmune-prone non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice. We found that, compared to control mice, NOD mice exhibited a lower percentage of HO-1-expressing cells among the splenic DCs, suggesting an impairment of their tolerogenic functions. To investigate whether restored expression of HO-1 in APCs could alter the development of diabetes in NOD mice, we generated a transgenic mouse strain in which HO-1 expression can be specifically induced in DCs using a tetracycline-controlled transcriptional activation system. Mice in which HO-1 expression was induced in DCs exhibited a lower Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) incidence and a reduced insulitis compared to non-induced mice. Upregulation of HO-1 in DCs also prevented further increase of glycemia in recently diabetic NOD mice. Altogether, our data demonstrated the potential of induction of HO-1 expression in DCs as a preventative treatment, and potential as a curative approach for T1D.
High prevalence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Gram-negative pathogens from patients attending Felege Hiwot Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Bahir Dar, Amhara region

Background Infections caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) producing Gram-negative bacteria has emerge as a global threat in clinical practices. The treat is more serious in developing countries due to inappropriate use, poor adherence, use of counterfeit, sub-standard antibiotics and poor infection control practices. Data on ESBL producing Gram-negative bacteria are limited in developing countries including Ethiopia. The aim of this study was therefore, to describe the burden of ESBL producing Gram negative pathogens isolated from patients attending at Felege Hiwot Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Bahir Dar, Amhara region. Materials and methods A total of 532 clinical samples of blood, urine, stool, wound, abscess, ear discharge, nasal discharge, cervical discharge and body fluid specimens were aseptically collected and bacteriologically processed. Identification of the bacterial species was performed using an automated system (Vitek-2 Compact 27530, USA) and antibiotic susceptibility test was determined by disk diffusion method and selection of antibiotics were in accordance with CLSI guidelines. The MDR pattern of the Gram-negative pathogens was assessed using phenotypic methods of ESBL and carbapenemase production following standard procedure. Result A total of 532 samples were processed and 263 pathogens were isolated. Of these, 185 (70.3%) were Gram-negative and 78 (29.7%) Gram-positive. Of the Gram-negative bacteria the high proportion of the isolates were identified from blood 146/185 (78.9%) and 29/185 (15.7%) were from urine cultures. The most common isolate in all clinical samples was Klebsiella pneumoniae 97/185 (52.4%) followed by Escherichia coli 23/185 (12.4%), Acinetobacter baumannii 15/185 (17.6%) and Enterobacter aerogenes 12/185(6.5%). Of the total Gram negatives, the prevalence of MDR was 148/185 (80.0%). Of the MDR isolates the prevalence of ESBL producers were, 127/148 (85.8%) and 24/148 (16.2%) were carbapenemase producers. Conclusion and recommendation Prevalence of MDR and ESBL producing Gram-negative pathogens in this hospital is alarmingly high. Therefore, continuous monitoring of the problem with effective infection prevention and careful selection of empirical therapy are warranted in the study area.
Identification of Altered Circular RNA Expression in Serum Exosomes from Patients with Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma by High-Throughput Sequencing

Background This study aimed to identify altered exosome circular RNA (circRNA) in the serum of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma using high-throughput sequencing. Material/Methods Serum was collected from three patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma and three patients with a benign thyroid goiter. Exosomes were isolated using an exosome isolation kit and confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. Exosome circRNAs were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing using the HiSeq 4000 sequencer. The differentially expressed circRNAs were confirmed by fluorescence quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Results Twenty-two differentially expressed circRNAs were screened, which included three that were upregulated and 19 that were down-regulated in serum from patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma compared with controls. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis showed that these differentially expressed circRNAs were associated with 16 signaling pathways, including the thyroid hormone signaling pathway, the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and the AMPK signaling pathway. Three differentially regulated circRNAs included hsacirc_007293, hsacirc_031752, and hsacirc_020135 were confirmed by qRT-PCR. The expression trends were consistent between the high-throughput sequencing technique and qRT-PCR. Conclusions The findings from this study have shown that gene regulation can be studied from exosomes obtained from serum samples in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma, and supports the need for further studies on the role of exosome circRNAs in thyroid cancer.
Human Multilineage 3D Spheroids as a Model of Liver Steatosis and Fibrosis

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disorder in western countries. Despite the high prevalence of NAFLD, the underlying biology of the disease progression is not clear, and there are no approved drugs to treat non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), the most advanced form of the disease. Thus, there is an urgent need for developing advanced in vitro human cellular systems to study disease mechanisms and drug responses. We attempted to create an organoid system genetically predisposed to NAFLD and to induce steatosis and fibrosis in it by adding free fatty acids. We used multilineage 3D spheroids composed by hepatocytes (HepG2) and hepatic stellate cells (LX-2) with a physiological ratio (24:1). HepG2 and LX-2 cells are homozygotes for the PNPLA3 I148M sequence variant, the strongest genetic determinant of NAFLD. We demonstrate that hepatic stellate cells facilitate the compactness of 3D spheroids. Then, we show that the spheroids develop accumulations of fat and collagen upon exposure to free fatty acids. Finally, this accumulation was rescued by incubating spheroids with liraglutide or elafibranor, drugs that are in clinical trials for the treatment of NASH. In conclusion, we have established a simple, easy to handle, in vitro model of genetically induced NAFLD consisting of multilineage 3D spheroids. This tool may be used to understand molecular mechanisms involved in the early stages of fibrogenesis induced by lipid accumulation. Moreover, it may be used to identify new compounds to treat NASH using high-throughput drug screening.
Convolutional Neural Network for Object Detection in Garlic Root Cutting Equipment

Traditional manual garlic root cutting is inefficient and can cause food safety problems. To develop food processing equipment, a novel and accurate object detection method for garlic using deep learning—a convolutional neural network—is proposed in this study. The you-only-look-once (YOLO) algorithm, which is based on lightweight and transfer learning, is the most advanced computer vision method for single large object detection. To detect the bulb, the YOLOv2 model was modified using an inverted residual module and residual structure. The modified model was trained based on images of bulbs with varied brightness, surface attachment, and shape, which enabled sufficient learning of the detector. The optimum minibatches and epochs were obtained by comparing the test results of different training parameters. Research shows that IRM-YOLOv2 is superior to the SqueezeNet, ShuffleNet, and YOLOv2 models of classical neural networks, as well as the YOLOv3 and YOLOv4 algorithm models. The confidence score, average accuracy, deviation, standard deviation, detection time, and storage space of IRM-YOLOv2 were 0.98228, 99.2%, 2.819 pixels, 4.153, 0.0356 s, and 24.2 MB, respectively. In addition, this study provides an important reference for the application of the YOLO algorithm in food research.