Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Multi-Component Nano-Co-Delivery System Utilizing Astragalus Polysaccharides as Carriers for Improving Biopharmaceutical Properties of Astragalus Flavonoids

Purpose Enhancing the dissolution, permeation and absorption of active components with low solubility and poor permeability is crucial for maximizing therapeutic efficacy and optimizing functionality. The objective of this study is to investigate the potential of natural polysaccharides as carriers to improve the biopharmaceutical properties of active components. Methods In this study, we employed four representative flavonoids in Astragali Radix, namely Calycosin-7-O-β-D-glucoside (CAG), Ononin (ON), Calycosin (CA) and Formononetin (FMN), as a demonstration to evaluate the potential of Astragalus polysaccharides (APS) as carriers to improve the biopharmaceutical properties, sush as solubility, permeability, and absorption in vivo. In addition, the microstructure of the flavonoids-APS complexes was characterized, and the interaction mechanism between APS and flavonoids was investigated using multispectral technique and molecular dynamics simulation. Results The results showed that APS can self-assemble into aggregates with a porous structure and large surface area in aqueous solutions. These aggregates can be loaded with flavonoids through weak intermolecular interactions, such as hydrogen bonding, thereby improving their gastrointestinal stability, solubility, permeability and absorption in vivo. Conclusion We discovered the self-assembly properties of APS and its potential as carriers. Compared with introducing external excipients, the utilization of natural polysaccharides in plants as carriers may have a unique advantage in enhancing dissolution, permeation and absorption.
VGGish-based detection of biological sound components and their spatio-temporal variations in a subtropical forest in eastern China

Passive acoustic monitoring technology is widely used to monitor the diversity of vocal animals, but the question of how to quickly extract effective sound patterns remains a challenge due to the difficulty of distinguishing biological sounds within multiple sound sources in a soundscape. In this study, we address the potential application of the VGGish model, pre-trained on Google’s AudioSet dataset, for the extraction of acoustic features, together with an unsupervised clustering method based on the Gaussian mixture model, to identify various sound sources from a soundscape of a subtropical forest in China. The results show that different biotic and abiotic components can be distinguished from various confounding sound sources. Birds and insects were the two primary biophony sound sources, and their sounds displayed distinct temporal patterns across both diurnal and monthly time frames and distinct spatial patterns in the landscape. Using the clustering and modeling method of the general sound feature set, we quickly depicted the soundscape in a subtropical forest ecosystem, which could be used to track dynamic changes in the acoustic environment and provide help for biodiversity and ecological environment monitoring.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome heterogeneity and the septic ARDS subgroup

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is an acute diffuse inflammatory lung injury characterized by the damage of alveolar epithelial cells and pulmonary capillary endothelial cells. It is mainly manifested by non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema, resulting from intrapulmonary and extrapulmonary risk factors. ARDS is often accompanied by immune system disturbance, both locally in the lungs and systemically. As a common heterogeneous disease in critical care medicine, researchers are often faced with the failure of clinical trials. Latent class analysis had been used to compensate for poor outcomes and found that targeted treatment after subgrouping contribute to ARDS therapy. The subphenotype of ARDS caused by sepsis has garnered attention due to its refractory nature and detrimental consequences. Sepsis stands as the most predominant extrapulmonary cause of ARDS, accounting for approximately 32% of ARDS cases. Studies indicate that sepsis-induced ARDS tends to be more severe than ARDS caused by other factors, leading to poorer prognosis and higher mortality rate. This comprehensive review delves into the immunological mechanisms of sepsis-ARDS, the heterogeneity of ARDS and existing research on targeted treatments, aiming to providing mechanism understanding and exploring ideas for accurate treatment of ARDS or sepsis-ARDS.
Beyond the Blind Spot: Enhancing Polyphony Through City Planning Activism Using Public Participation GIS

A key advantage of public participation GIS (PPGIS) tools has been seen as increasing the polyphony of urban planning by reaching the wisdom of crowds. However, the challenge is to enable participation for those who do not have the skills or resources. This article describes participatory action research where the authors of the article collaborated with a local city planning activist at the Kontula Mall, Helsinki (Finland) to improve the participation of a group marginalized from the renewal process (i.e., immigrant entrepreneurs) using a PPGIS tool (Maptionnaire). The case study provided insights into the potential for city planning activism to bring out marginalized groups’ perspectives and use PPGIS. Moreover, the research also revealed barriers to polyphony in current planning practices. Nevertheless, planning activism can enable the participation of the marginalized by coming into contact with them, providing them with information, and bringing their perspectives to the collaboration. The PPGIS tool can serve as a platform to collect participatory data through different response modes. Local activism can also facilitate the questionnaire’s co-design, testing, and marketing. Therefore, a bottom-up approach can be a way to improve the impact of PPGIS and enhance polyphony in urban planning.
Convective and stratiform components of the precipitation‐moisture relationship

We reexamine the well known empirical relationship between area‐averaged surface precipitation (P) and the column moisture content (r) using ground radar and satellite observations, with an emphasis on the convective and stratiform rainfall classifications. The rapid rise in P above critical r (rc) or the “pickup” is more pronounced for stratiform rainfall on hourly and less time scales while convective rainfall, displays only a weak pickup above rc. After partitioning the area‐averaged rainfall into conditional rain rates and rain area, we find that the nonlinearity in the P‐r curve can be almost entirely explained by the nonlinear increase in rain area, especially in stratiform regions. These findings have implications for the representation of organized convective cloud systems in global circulation models.
Eco‐friendly biodiesel production using passion fruit peels and cupuaçu seeds: Catalyst development and process optimization

Yellow passion fruit peel and cupuaçu seeds are common wastes. Usually, they have few or no applications and are discarded, causing environmental pollution. To use them in a new way and reduce ecological pollution, we obtained the ash of yellow passion fruit peels by calcination. We characterized it using Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance (FTIR‐ATR), X‐ray fluorescence (XRF), X‐ray diffractometry (XRD), adsorption‐desorption of N2, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), basicity, and soluble alkalinity. It was observed that the ash was mainly composed of potassium (69%) in the form of carbonate, chloride, and sulfate, with a good surface area (11.23 m2 g−1). The cupuaçu butter was also extracted from the cupuaçu seeds and characterized, showing low acidity, peroxide, saponification, and iodine indexes, in addition to presenting a lipid profile with 57% saturated fatty acid and 43% unsaturated fatty acid. Oleic and stearic acids were present in higher proportions. These results demonstrate that this butter can be a sustainable input in biodiesel production. Thus, the ash was used as a heterogeneous catalyst in the butter transesterification. The biodiesel synthesis was optimized, resulting in 97.8% butter conversion into biodiesel under the following conditions: reaction time of 2 h, 5 wt% of catalyst, 80 °C, and a methanol‐to‐oil molar ratio of 30. This work, therefore, shows that it is possible to obtain and utilize bioinputs, such as cupuaçu butter and passion fruit peel ash, to produce biodiesel through transesterification, and the use of waste materials (precisely passion fruit peels and cupuaçu seeds) makes this method a cost‐effective and environmentally friendly approach to biofuel production.
Education and sustainability : responding to the global challenge

A publication from IUCNs Commission on Education and Communication (CEC), this book tells the stories of people who work with communities to motivate them to create a more sustainable future. The accounts range from engaging communities through theatre to a revival of indigenous stories to pass on good environmental practice. The publication was produced both to share what educators around the world have learnt and to give them a platform to tell their stories.
Factors associated with small airway obstruction in COVID-19 survivors: A cross-sectional study among health-care providers

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been identified for more than two years, yet studies assessing post-infection lung function are limited. Reports on lung function in COVID-19 patients indicate that patients have restrictive defects and small airway dysfunction that can persist and are not necessarily related to the severity of the disease. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of small airway obstruction and its incidence-associated factors among COVID-19 survivors to better describe the long-term effects of COVID-19. A cross-sectional study was conducted among COVID-19 survivors who less than 50 years at Medan Adventist Hospital between 2020–2022. The data were collected through interview, direct assessment and respiratory examination. A total of 89 COVID-19 survivors were recruited of which the majority of them were female with a mean age of 32.6-year-old with the largest group was 19–30 years. The comorbidities found among the survivors were heart and thyroid disorders, with the most common symptom of post-COVID-19 was fatigue. Most of them had mild COVID-19. The mean forced mid-expiratory flow (FEF25–75%) was 96.3±20.22, with an incidence rate of small airway obstruction was 19.1%. Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated no significant association between age, gender, comorbidities, history of oxygenation during COVID-19 treatment, COVID-19 severity and the type of post COVID-19 syndrome symptoms with the incidence of small airway obstruction. In conclusion, among COVID-19 survivors who were less than 50 years old, those studied variables seems have less association with the incidence of small airway obstruction. Nevertheless, a further study with a bigger sample size is important to be conducted.
An Adaptive Longitudinal Platooning Design Based on Concurrent Learning

This letter proposes a new adaptive longitudinal platooning strategy in the framework of concurrent learning. Adaptive refers to vehicles facing uncertainty in powertrain parameters via on-line estimation; concurrent learning refers to using both current and past data in the estimation. The proposed platooning strategy advances existing ones since convergence to the true powertrain parameters is guaranteed without imposing persistence of excitation on the vehicle behavior: it suffices the presence of a single non-zero data sample. Meanwhile, the concurrent learning proof we give advances existing ones since it takes into account an extra unknown gain in the error dynamics.
CHANGES IN PAIN AND DISABILITY IN PATIENTS WITH SHOULDER PAIN AFTER THREE MONTHS OF DIGITALLY DELIVERED EXERCISE AND PATIENT EDUCATION

Objective To describe and examine potential predictors of changes in pain and disability in patients with shoulder pain who have completed 3 months of digitally delivered treatment comprising exercise and patient education. Design Retrospective cohort study (clinicaltrials.org Nr: NCT05402514). Subjects Patients with shoulder pain who completed treatment (n = 682). Methods Primary outcome was change in shoulder pain (numerical rating scale 0–10; minimal clinical important change: at least 2 points). Pain and disability were reported on the Shoulder Pain and Disability Index. Changes in outcomes were analysed with paired sample t-tests. Association with potential predictors (sex, age, education, body mass index, physical activity, symptom duration, baseline pain/function, and treatment adherence) were explored with linear regression models Results Statistically significant improvements were found for all treatment outcomes. Minimal clinically important change in pain was reached by 54.5% (n = 372). Higher baseline level of symptoms, short symptom duration, and high treatment adherence were associated with greater changes. Conclusion Patients with shoulder pain reported significant reductions in pain and disability following treatment, but the clinical relevance of the improvements has not been confirmed. Satisfactory treatment adherence, higher baseline pain and shorter symptom duration predicted larger improvements. A control group is needed to evaluate the actual effect of the treatment. LAY ABSTRACT Shoulder pain can be treated through exercise and patient education, which is often delivered by physiotherapists and other healthcare professionals. This study examined how shoulder pain and disability change following 3 months of digitally delivered treatment with exercise and patient education. Reductions in shoulder pain and disability were found after completion of treatment. However, these reductions only reached clinically meaningful levels (a change that is experienced as real change by patients) in half of the patients treated. Larger improvements were associated with the following factors: complying with treatments as prescribed; higher levels of pain at the start of treatment; and shorter symptom duration. In summary, patients appear to improve following digitally delivered treatment for shoulder pain, especially with more severe initial symptoms. Yet, approximately half of all patients do not experience meaningful changes in pain and disability. Further studies with control groups are needed to investigate the actual effect of the treatment.
Hypoglycemia Incidence Rate in National and Non-National Health Insurance of Type 2 Diabetes Patients in COVID-19 Pandemic at Central Borneo

Community activity restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia impact the quantity and quality of health services for type 2 diabetes (T2DM). This limitation could increase the risk of hypoglycemia in type 2 diabetes patients. The study aimed to compare the incidence rate of hypoglycemia between national (NHIP) and non-national health insurance participants (N-NHIP) with T2DM during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. The study used a cross-sectional design and was conducted at a government hospital in Central Borneo. Data was collected by consecutive sampling from September to November 2021. Sixty-two participants were divided into two groups (NHIP and N-NHIP groups). Each group consisted of 31 participants. They were interviewed regarding their experience with hypoglycemia in the last three months. The incidence rate of hypoglycemia in N-NHIP was higher than in NHIP (93.55% vs. 87.10%; p>0.05). Hypoglycemia is mostly presented in patients using a combination of short-acting and long-acting insulin. The incidence rate of hypoglycemia in T2DM during the COVID-19 pandemic in Central Borneo was relatively high. In future studies, it is necessary to analyse the factors that significantly affect the incidence of hypoglycemia in the population of T2DM patients in Indonesia.
Lithospheric structure of Central Europe: Puzzle pieces from Pannonian Basin to Trans‐European Suture Zone resolved by geophysical‐petrological modeling

We have analyzed the thermochemical structure of the mantle in Central Europe, a complex area with a highly heterogeneous lithospheric structure reflecting the interplay of contraction, strike slip, subduction, and extension tectonics. Our modeling is based on an integrative 3‐D approach (LitMod) that combines in a self‐consistent manner concepts and data from thermodynamics, mineral physics, geochemistry, petrology, and solid Earth geophysics. This approach minimizes uncertainties of the estimates derived from modeling of various data sets separately. To further constrain our 3‐D model we have made use of the vast geophysical and geological data (2‐D and 3‐D, shallow/crustal versus deep lithospheric experiments) based on experiments performed in Central Europe in the past decades. Given the amount and the different nature/resolution of the available constraints, one of the most challenging tasks of this study was to consistently combine them, finding a trade‐off between all local and regional data sets available in a way that (i) preserves as many structural details as possible and (ii) summarizes those data sets into a single robust regional model. The resulting P/T‐dependent mantle densities are in LitMod 3‐D calculated based on a given mineralogical composition. They therefore provide more reliable estimates compared to pure gravity models, which enhance modeling of the crustal structures. Our results clearly indicate presence of several lithospheric domains characterized by distinct features, Pannonian Basin being one of the most outstanding ones. It has the thinnest crust and lithosphere in the area modeled, characterized by relatively fertile composition.
Detecting early signs in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: comprehensive review and diagnostic implications

Despite the early onset of clinical signs suggestive of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a diagnosis is often not made until four years of age or older, with a diagnostic delay of up to two years from the appearance of the first symptoms. As disease-modifying therapies for DMD become available that are ideally started early before irreversible muscle damage occurs, the importance of avoiding diagnostic delay increases. Shortening the time to a definite diagnosis in DMD allows timely genetic counseling and assessment of carrier status, initiation of multidisciplinary standard care, timely initiation of appropriate treatments, and precise genetic mutation characterization to assess suitability for access to drugs targeted at specific mutations while reducing the emotional and psychological family burden of the disease. This comprehensive literature review describes the early signs of impairment in DMD and highlights the bottlenecks related to the different diagnostic steps. In summary, the evidence suggests that the best mitigation strategy for improving the age at diagnosis is to increase awareness of the early symptoms of DMD and encourage early clinical screening with an inexpensive and sensitive serum creatine kinase test in all boys who present signs of developmental delay and specific motor test abnormality at routine pediatrician visits.
Carbon dioxide and methane emissions from the Yukon River system

Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions are important, but poorly quantified, components of riverine carbon (C) budgets. This is largely because the data needed for gas flux calculations are sparse and are spatially and temporally variable. Additionally, the importance of C gas emissions relative to lateral C exports is not well known because gaseous and aqueous fluxes are not commonly measured on the same rivers. We couple measurements of aqueous CO2 and CH4 partial pressures (pCO2, pCH4) and flux across the water‐air interface with gas transfer models to calculate subbasin distributions of gas flux density. We then combine those flux densities with remote and direct observations of stream and river water surface area and ice duration, to calculate C gas emissions from flowing waters throughout the Yukon River basin. CO2 emissions were 7.68 Tg C yr−1 (95% CI: 5.84 −10.46), averaging 750 g C m−2 yr−1 normalized to water surface area, and 9.0 g C m−2 yr−1 normalized to river basin area. River CH4 emissions totaled 55 Gg C yr−1 or 0.7% of the total mass of C emitted as CO2 plus CH4 and ∼6.4% of their combined radiative forcing. When combined with lateral inorganic plus organic C exports to below head of tide, C gas emissions comprised 50% of total C exported by the Yukon River and its tributaries. River CO2 and CH4 derive from multiple sources, including groundwater, surface water runoff, carbonate equilibrium reactions, and benthic and water column microbial processing of organic C. The exact role of each of these processes is not yet quantified in the overall river C budget.
Gender Modelling Of Serving Time, Prison Population And Review Of Punishment In Oyo State-Nigeria

Abstract A model for estimating the total prison population, Pt , in Oyo State, Nigeria is proposed and a probable way of projecting for future years using an appropriate ARMA model is discussed. By using a monthly dataset for four consecutive years we observed that there is a decline in prison population, perhaps due to the impact of current crime reduction strategies. The prisoners' average serving time varies with gender between 0.7-1.3years.
Assessing the recent droughts in Southwestern China using satellite gravimetry

Heavy droughts have frequently struck Southwestern China in recent years. A major consequence of these droughts is the loss of terrestrial water storage (TWS) which affects agriculture, civil life, and industry production and results in serious social and economic losses. The satellite gravimetry has been proved an effective way to estimate hydrological variations over the globe, and we use the monthly gravity solutions from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission and extract the hydrological variations from the regional gravity signal. Here we show that the recent heavy droughts in Southwestern China have caused observable nonseasonal gravity changes in the monthly GRACE solutions. Two heavy droughts in September 2009 to May 2010 and August 2011 to January 2012 have resulted in significant TWS deficit up to hundreds of gigatons in Southwestern China. It is found that the latter drought in 2011–2012 is the most severe one in Southwestern China over the decade, hitting large areas, and causing heavy TWS deficit. Affected by the recent droughts, the GRACE estimate shows a gradual decrease in the regional TWS during the recent 4 years in Southwestern China with a nominal rate of −13.3 ± 7.5 mm/yr, which indicates the severity of the TWS deficit in this area.