Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
0-DDT from soils

The abiotic desorption of p,p 0-DDT from seven Chinese soils spiked with p,p 0-DDT and the effects of oxalate at 0.001–0.1 M and the root exudates of maize, wheat, and ryegrass were evaluated using batch experiments. Soil organic carbon played a predominant role in the retention of DDT. Oxalate significantly increased the desorption of p,p 0-DDT, with the largest increments ranging from 11% to 54% for different soils. Oxalate addition also resulted in the increased release of dissolved organic carbon and inorganic ions from soils. Root exudates had similar effects to those of oxalate. Root exudates significantly increased DDT desorption from the soils, and the general trend was similar among the plant species studied for all the soils (p > 0.05). Low molecular weight dissolved organic carbon amendments caused partial dissolution of the soil structure, such as the organo-mineral linkages, resulting in the release of organic carbon and metal ions and thus the subsequent enhanced desorption of DDT from the soils. The enhancing effects of oxalate and root exudates on DDT desorption were influenced by the contents of soil organic carbon and dissolved organic carbon in soils. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Optimal amidoximation conditions of acrylonitrile grafted onto polypropylene by photoirradiation‐induced graft polymerization

To prepare amidoxime (AO) adsorbents for uranium recovery from seawater, the optimum conditions for graft polymerization and amidoximation of acrylonitrile (AN) group and alkaline treatment of the AO group have been investigated in terms of the uranium adsorption capacity. AN has been grafted onto polypropylene (PP) fabric by photoirradiation-induced graft polymerization with benzophenone as the photoinitiator. A concentration of AN ≤1.0M, a photoirradiation time of 2 h, and a reaction temperature of 60°C proved to be optimal for the grafting of AN onto PP. The grafted AN groups were effectively converted into AO groups upon reaction with ≥5.0% (w/v) hydroxylamine solution at pH 7.0−9.0 for ≥16 h at 60−80°C. Although widely used for this purpose, we have shown that methanol is not an essential solvent for the amidoximation reaction. Conditioning of the AO group with KOH solution (alkaline treatment) proved to be effective for enhancing the uranium adsorption capacity of amidoximated PP-g-AN-AO fabric, which increased logarithmically with the conditioning time. The AO group density in the PP-g-AN-AO fabric increased linearly with the degree of AN grafting, whereas the uranium adsorption capacity of PP-g-AN-AO fabric conditioned with KOH reached a maximum at a degree of AN grafting of approximately 60%. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012
Socket preservation after tooth extraction : a systematic review

Objective: The aim of this study is to compare ridge dimensional and new bone formation after a socket preservation using different bone substitution material. Methods: This systematic study was conducted by reviewing the last five years dental articles that published from Pubmed and Wiley Online that focusing in socket preservation after tooth extraction. The articles were searched manually. There were 49 studies found, but only 4 studies met the inclusion criteria to be reviewed. Result: From 172 patiens as the subjects among the selected studies showed some changes in ridge dimensional insignificantly after the uses of bone substitution materials. Mean while, a significantly different new vital bone formation showed among studies. Conclusion: there is no difference of ridge dimensional changes between the bone substitution materials in the studies, but there is significantly difference new vital bone formation.
Delivery of bupivacaine included in poly(acrylamide-co-monomethyl itaconate) hydrogels as a function of the pH swelling medium

Copolymeric hydrogels of poly(acrylamide-co-monomethyl itaconate) (A/MMI) crosslinked with N,N′-methylenbisacrylamide (NBA) were synthesized as devices for the controlled release of bupivacaine (Bp). Two compositions of the copolymer, 60A/40MMI and 75A/25MMI, were studied. A local anesthetic was included in the feed mixture of polymerization (2–8 mg Bp/tablet) and by immersion of the copolymeric tablets in an aqueous solution of the drug. A very large amount of Bp (36–38 mg Bp/tablet) was included in the gels by sorption due to interactions between the drug and the side groups of the hydrogels. Swelling and drug release were in accordance with the second Fick's law at the first stages of the processes. The swelling behavior of these copolymers depended on the pH of the medium. The equilibrium swelling degree (W∞) was larger at pH 7.5 (W∞ ≈ 90 wt %) than at pH 1.5 (W∞ ≈ 52–64 wt %) due to the ionization of the side groups of the copolymer. Release of the drug also depended on the pH of the swelling medium; at pH 7.5, about 60% of the included drug was released, and at pH 1.5, about 80% was released. Bp release was controlled by the comonomer composition of the gels, their drug-load, and the pH of the swelling medium. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 327–334, 2002
Characterizing the disproportionate burden of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern among essential workers in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada

Importance: The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern (VOC) across North America has been associated with concerns of increased COVID-19 transmission. Characterizing the distribution of VOCs can inform the development and implementation of policies and programs to address the prevention needs of disproportionately affected communities. Objective: We compared per-capita rates of COVID-19 cases (overall and VOC) from February 3, 2021 to March 10, 2021, across neighborhoods in the health regions of Toronto and Peel, Ontario, by proportion of the population working in essential services and income. Design: Descriptive epidemiological analysis, integrating COVID-19 surveillance and census data. Per-capita daily epidemic curves were generated using 7-days rolling averages for cases and deaths. Cumulative per-capita rates were determined using census-reported population of each neighbourhood. Setting: The study setting was the city of Toronto and the region of Peel (the City of Brampton, Mississauga, and Caledon), Canadas largest cities with a combined population of 4.3 million. This area of Canada has had one of the highest incident rates of COVID-19 throughout the pandemic. Participants: We used person-level data on laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 community cases (N=22,478) and census data for neighborhood-level attributes. Exposures: We stratified neighbourhood using dissemination areas which represent geographic areas of approximately 400-700 individuals, into tertiles by ranking the proportion of population in each neighbourhood working in essential services (health, trades, transport, equipment, manufacturing, utilities, sales, services, agriculture); and the per-person equivalent household income. Main Outcome(s) and Measure(s): The primary outcomes were laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases overall and VOC positives by neighbourhood. Results: During the study period, VOC cases emerged faster in groups with lowest income (growth rate 43.8%, 34.6% and 21.6% by income tertile from lowest to highest), and most essential work (growth rate 18.4%, 30.8% and 50.8% by tertile from lowest tertile of essential workers to highest tertile of essential workers). Conclusions and Relevance: The recent introduction of VOC in the large urban area of Toronto has disproportionately affected neighbourhoods with the most essential workers and lowest income levels. Notably, this is consistent with the increased burden of non-VOC COVID-19 cases suggesting shared risk factors. To date, restrictive public health strategies have been of limited impact in these communities suggesting the need for complementary and well-specified supportive strategies including vaccine prioritization to address disparities and overall incidence of both VOC and non-VOC COVID-19.
Acute Brain Ischemia, Infarction and Hemorrhage in Subjects Dying with or Without Autopsy-Proven Acute Pneumonia

Stroke is one of the most serious complications of Covid-19 disease but it is still unclear whether stroke is more common with Covid-19 pneumonia as compared to non-Covid-19 pneumonia. We investigated the concurrence rate of autopsy-confirmed acute brain ischemia, acute brain infarction and acute brain hemorrhage with autopsy-proven acute non-Covid pneumonia in consecutive autopsies in the Arizona Study of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders (AZSAND), a longitudinal clinicopathological study of normal aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Of 691 subjects with a mean age of 83.4 years, acute pneumonia was histopathologically diagnosed in 343 (49.6%); the concurrence rates for histopathologically-confirmed acute ischemia, acute infarction or subacute infarction was 14% and did not differ between pneumonia and non-pneumonia groups while the rates of acute brain hemorrhage were 1.4% and 2.0% of those with or without acute pneumonia, respectively. In comparison, in reviews of Covid-19 publications, reported clinically-determined rates of acute brain infarction range from 0.5% to 20% while rates of acute brain hemorrhage range from 0.13% to 2%. In reviews of Covid-19 autopsy studies, concurrence rates for both acute brain infarction and acute brain hemorrhage average about 10%. Covid-19 pneumonia and non-Covid-19 pneumonia may have similar risks tor concurrent acute brain infarction and acute brain hemorrhage when pneumonia is severe enough to cause death. Additionally, acute brain ischemia, infarction or hemorrhage may not be more common in subjects dying of acute pneumonia than in subjects dying without acute pneumonia.
Using Proper Mean Generation Intervals in Modeling of COVID-19

In susceptible–exposed–infectious–recovered (SEIR) epidemic models, with the exponentially distributed duration of exposed/infectious statuses, the mean generation interval (GI, time lag between infections of a primary case and its secondary case) equals the mean latent period (LP) plus the mean infectious period (IP). It was widely reported that the GI for COVID-19 is as short as 5 days. However, many works in top journals used longer LP or IP with the sum (i.e., GI), e.g., >7 days. This discrepancy will lead to overestimated basic reproductive number and exaggerated expectation of infection attack rate (AR) and control efficacy. We argue that it is important to use suitable epidemiological parameter values for proper estimation/prediction. Furthermore, we propose an epidemic model to assess the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 for Belgium, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). We estimated a time-varying reproductive number [R0(t)] based on the COVID-19 deaths data and we found that Belgium has the highest AR followed by Israel and the UAE.
Challenges in defining Long COVID: Striking differences across literature, Electronic Health Records, and patient-reported information

Since late 2019, the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has introduced a wide array of health challenges globally. In addition to a complex acute presentation that can affect multiple organ systems, increasing evidence points to long-term sequelae being common and impactful. As the worldwide scientific community forges ahead with efforts to characterize a wide range of outcomes associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, the proliferation of available data has made it clear that formal definitions are needed in order to design robust and consistent studies of Long COVID that consistently capture variation in long-term outcomes. In the present study, we investigate the definitions used in the literature published to date and compare them against data available from electronic health records and patient-reported information collected via surveys. Long COVID holds the potential to produce a second public health crisis on the heels of the pandemic. Proactive efforts to identify the characteristics of this heterogeneous condition are imperative for a rigorous scientific effort to investigate and mitigate this threat.
Chagas disease and SARS-CoV-2 coinfection does not lead to worse in-hospital outcomes: results from the Brazilian COVID-19 Registry

Objective: Chagas disease (CD) continues to be a major public health burden in Latina America, where co-infection with SARS-CoV-2 can occur. However, information on the interplay between COVID-19 and Chagas disease is lacking. Our aim was to assess clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes of patients with CD and COVID-19, and to compare it to non-CD patients. Methods: Patients with COVID-19 diagnosis were selected from the Brazilian COVID-19 Registry, a prospective multicenter cohort, from March to September, 2020. CD diagnosis was based on hospital record at the time of admission. Study data were collected by trained hospital staff using Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) tools. Genetic matching for sex, age, hypertension, DM and hospital was performed in a 4:1 ratio. Results: Of the 7,018 patients who had confirmed infection with SARS-CoV-2 in the registry, 31 patients with CD and 124 matched controls were included. Overall, the median age was 72 (64.-80) years-old and 44.5% were male. At baseline, heart failure (25.8% vs. 9.7%) and atrial fibrillation (29.0% vs. 5.6%) were more frequent in CD patients than in the controls (p<0.05 for both). C-reactive protein levels were lower in CD patients compared with the controls (55.5 [35.7, 85.0] vs. 94.3 [50.7, 167.5] mg/dL). Seventy-two (46.5%) patients required admission to the intensive care unit. In-hospital management, outcomes and complications were similar between the groups. Conclusions: In this large Brazilian COVID-19 Registry, CD patients had a higher prevalence of atrial fibrillation and chronic heart failure compared with non-CD controls, with no differences in-hospital outcomes. The lower C-reactive protein levels in CD patients require further investigation.
On the transport of small bubbles under developing channel flow in a buoyant gas-evolving electrochemical cell

A gas-evolving electrochemical cell with natural convection due to buoyancy is modeled using a hydrodynamic two-phase mixture model. Physical parameters are taken from the chlorate process, where hydrogen is evolved at the cathode. Constitutive closure laws, based on empirical relations developed for sedimenting particles, give the motion of the monodisperse gas phase relative to the mixture. Typical results display the effect of bubble size, channel width, and current density on the buoyant flow rate of the electrolyte through the channel. Results from the numerical simulations are also compared to data measured by Boissonneau and Byrne on a cell with gas evolution on both the anode and the cathode. Qualitatively good agreement was found.
Proximity based Metrics Assessment of Disproportionate Exposure of Air Travelers to Spread of Covid-19 Pandemic

Following the gradual easing of the inter-regional travel ban and restrictions on domestic air travels associated with the corona virus pandemic by Government due to economic reasons, confirmed cases of the covid-19 infection across states seems to have shown continual increase and the transmission curve show increasing trend particularly in Nigeria. Awareness of travelers’ level of exposure to the spread of the covid-19 disease relative to the travel distances is a sure prerequisite to limit vulnerability and infection, to flatten the curve of transmission of the disease across spatial locations and prevent further spread. The study estimated the exposure of air travelers to the spread of the covid-19 disease, in terms of the concentration of human-covid-19 pathogen carriers they face the risk of interacting with per square kilometer of travels from the airports to-and-fro City centers and suburbs, in various air travel infective pathways in the various states and regions in Nigeria. The proximity model was used to analyze data obtained from secondary sources. It developed a covid-19 exposure risk matrix categorizing the different air travel infective pathways and corridors into extremely high, very high, moderate, low and negligibly low exposure infective pathways. It noted the policy implications of prioritizing the implementation of approved and standard covid-19 preventive guidelines on extremely and very high exposure infective travel pathways and regions; the deployment of greater health facilities, personnel and personal protective equipment (PPE) in high risk pathways was also noted as measures to limit exposure induced vulnerability and to flatten the curve of transmission and prevent further spread.
Simultaneous measurement of time-domain fNIRS and physiological signals during a cognitive task

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a commonly used technique to measure the cerebral vascular response related to brain activation. It is known that systemic physiological processes, either independent or correlated with the stimulation task, can influence the optical signal making its interpretation challenging. The aim of the present work is to investigate the impact of task-evoked changes in the systemic physiology on fNIRS measurements for a cognitive paradigm. For this purpose we carried out simultaneous measurements of time-domain fNIRS on the forehead and systemic physiological signals, i.e. mean blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, galvanic skin response, scalp blood flow (flux) and red blood cell (RBC) concentration changes. We performed measurements on 15 healthy volunteers during a semantic continuous performance task (CPT). The optical data was analyzed in terms of depth-selective moments of distributions of times of flight of photons through the tissue. In addition, cerebral activation was localized by a subsequent fMRI experiment on the same subject population using the same task. We observed strong non-cerebral task-evoked changes in concentration changes of oxygenated hemoglobin in the forehead. We investigated the temporal behavior and mutual correlations between hemoglobin changes and the systemic processes. Mean blood pressure (BP), galvanic skin response (GSR) and heart rate exhibited significant changes during the activation period, whereby BP and GSR showed the highest correlation with optical measurements.
Regularized Estimation of Kronecker-Structured Covariance Matrix With Applications to Polarization Space-Time Adaptive Processing

This paper investigates regularized estimation of Kronecker-structured covariance matrices (CM) for complex elliptically symmetric (CES) data. To obtain a well-conditioned estimate of the CM, we add penalty terms of Kullback-Leibler divergence to the negative log-likelihood function of the associated complex angular Gaussian (CAG) distribution. This is shown to be equivalent to regularizing Tyler’s fixed-point equations by shrinkage. A sufficient condition that the solution exists is discussed. An iterative algorithm is applied to solve the resulting fixed-point iterations and its convergence is proved. In order to solve the critical problem of tuning the shrinkage factors, we then introduce three methods by exploiting oracle approximating shrinkage (OAS) and cross-validation (CV). The proposed algorithms are applied to the CM estimation for polarizationspace-time adaptive processing (PSTAP) in the context of heterogeneous clutter, where the clutter can be modeled using CES distributions with a Kronecker product-structured CM. When the training samples are limited, the proposed estimator, referred to as the robust shrinkage Kronecker estimator (RSKE), has better performance compared with several existing methods. Simulations are conducted for validating the proposed estimator and demonstrating its high performance.
A study on hygrothermal degradation and recovery of an epoxy adhesive using molecular dynamics simulation

For application of epoxy adhesive to joining similar or dissimilar materials in vehicle bodies, its hygrothermal degradation (HTD) caused by severe environmental conditions of service will always be an issue until the relevant mechanism is clearly addressed and the remedy is found. This study provides experimental observations of an epoxy adhesive in terms of HTD and recoverability of the mechanical performance, and in the meantime, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed to analyse the underlying mechanism. Comparing experimental results of the adhesive among states of the initial, HTD and dried manifests that the glass transition temperature (Tg) and the uniaxial tensile properties both reduced after HTD but partially recovered when dried. In the MD simulations, both of the dominant HTD factors, plasticization and hydrolysis, are accounted for via characterizations of water inclusion and bond scission. The simulation results reveal that both of the HTD factors reduce Tg, while only hydrolysis weakens the tensile properties. A quantitative comparison between the influences of plasticization and hydrolysis implies that hydrolysis is reversible for this specific epoxy adhesive.
Stereochemical Analysis of Borneol in Essential Oils Using Permethylated β‐Cyclodextrin as a Chiral Stationary Phase

The enantiomeric differentiation of borneol isolated from laboratory-produced and commercial essential oils was determined using a fused-silica Cyclodex-B capillary column. High enantiomeric purities of (−)-borneol were detected in the oils of Coridothymus capitatus, Artemisia herba alba, Origanum vulgare, Ocimum canum and feverfew. High enantiomeric purities of (+)-borneol were detected in lavandin essence and in lavandin oil. The different enantiomeric distributions of (+)-borneol in lavender and in lavandin may aid in distinguishing between the two oils or essences. The wide variation of borneol enantiomers among rosemary oil cultivars indicates genetic variability in the genus Rosmarinus. There is no characteristic distribution of the enantiomers of borneol and its biosynthetic oxidation product, camphor, in Salvia officinalis oils.
Mössbauer spectroscopy analysis of iron compounds in carboxylated multiwall carbon nanotubes and their ammonium salt

Different forms of iron compounds embedded in non‐functionalized (as prepared) and functionalized multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were studied. Iron used to catalyze MWCNT synthesis can be found inside nanotubes and built‐in within their walls. Mössbauer spectroscopy was applied to study valence and spin states as well as magnetic ordering of the iron compounds. In the Mössbauer spectra of as prepared MWCNTs the Fe3C carbide provides the main contribution. The content of Fe3C decreases by about 20 and 40% in carboxylated carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs‐COOH) and ammonium salt of carboxylated carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs‐COONH4), respectively. A small amount of α‐Fe and FexCx iron forms are always observed in all studied carbon nanotubes. In MWCNTs‐COOH, additionally, ferrihydrates and/or FexCy with oxygen in the second coordination sphere of iron are present (at a level of about 17%). In MWCNTs‐COONH4 their content increases by a factor of 3. The experimental data shows that the purification and functionalization of as prepared MWCNTs result in removal of about 90% of iron contaminations. Additionally, we observe the modification of iron compounds inside MWCNTs. All these results are important in optimizing the as prepared MWCNT purification process and in finding a new way to produce different Fe phases inside MWCNTs.