Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF COSMETIC COMPOSITIONS CONTAINING ROSEMARY AND GRAPEFRUIT PULP AND SEEDS EXTRACTS

Modern cosmetic formulations represent a combination of synthetic and natural ingredients. Knowledge of the rheological behavior allows managing the structure and the quality of the products by means of supplement addition, regime change or mechanical and technological processing adjustment. The extraction from rosemary and grapefruit pulp and seeds with ethanol-in-water solutions is carried out in a thermostated shaker at 20oС. The total polyphenol content (TPC) and the antioxidant capacity (AOC) of the extracts are determined. The cosmetic compositions prepared are based on stearic acid, with 3-ethanolamine as emulsifier. Extracts are used as a preservative, instead of controversial lately methyl-parabens. The rheological behavior of the cosmetic formulations is studied. It is found that all compositions exhibited thixotropic flow behavior. The cosmetic emulsion containing an alcoholic extract of grapefruit seeds has different rheological behavior which may be described by the Bingham rheological model. This effect can be explained by the composition of the extract and its influence on the pH. It is found that the extract from grapefruit seeds has acidic properties and affects the pH of the medium. The cosmetic formulation with rosemary extract exhibits power low and thixotropic behavior. The purity of the cosmetic formulations was tested against E. Coli bacteria. It is found that no bacterial colonies are observed neither after one day, nor after three months of storage. It can be concluded that the natural extracts from rosemary and grapefruit seeds and pulp exhibit good antibacterial properties, being quite satisfactory substitute of the parabens.
MMP 2-sensing up-conversion nanoparticle for fl uorescence biosensing in head and neck cancer cells

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have extensive biological-applications because of their bio-compatibility, tunable optical properties and their ability to be excited by infrared radiation. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play important roles in extracellular matrix remodelling; they are usually found to significantly increase during cancer progression, and these increases may lead to poor patient survival. In this study, we produced a biosensor that can be recognized by MMP2 and then be unravelled by the attached quencher to emit visible light. We used 3.5-nm gold nanoparticles as a quencher that absorbed emission from UCNPs at a wavelength of 540 nm. The biosensor consists of an upconversion nanoparticle, MMP2-recognized polypeptides and quenchers. Here, UCNPs consisting of NaYF4:Yb/Er were prepared via a high temperature co-precipitation method while protecting the oleic acid ligand. To improve the biocompatibility and modify the UCNPs with a polypeptide, they were coated with a silica shell and further conjugated with MMP-recognizing polypeptides. The polypeptide has two ends of featuring carboxylic and thiol groups that react with UCNPs and AuNPs, and the resulting nanoparticles were referred to as UCNP@p-Au. According to the in vitro cell viability analysis, UCNP@p-Au exhibited little toxicity and biocompatibility in head and neck cancer cells. Cellular uptake studies showed that the MMP-based biosensor was activated by 980-nm irradiation to emit green light. This MMP-based biosensor may serve as sensitive and specific molecular fluorescent probe in biological-applications. & 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
HIV-1 Diversity in Tanzania and its Implication toward Development of Effective Vaccines: A Review Article

Background: Human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are characterized by extremely high genetic variability. This extensive heterogeneity resulted from high error rate of reverse transcriptase enzyme in combination with fast turnover of virions among HIV-infected individuals. With geographical distribution of subtypes its evolution and unpredictable process and intermixing of HIV-1 variants is inevitable. Recombinant viruses contribute already substantially to the global pandemic especially in sub-Saharan African. East Africa studies has shown more complex mixture of HIV-1 Subtypes and associated recombinant virus especially in Tanzania. Objective: To review past and current literature on HIV-1 diversity and challenges emerging toward effective, safe and cheap HIV-1 Vaccine in Tanzania and gives out some recommendations that could help in tackling these challenges. Methods: A Pub med, HINARI, Springer online archives and Google Scholar literature of publication on HIV-1 Subtypes and Vaccine was performed to identify articles on ‘HIV-1 diversity’, ‘HIV-1 Subtypes’, ‘HIV-1 and vaccine’ , ‘HIV-1 Evolution’, ‘HIV-1 subtypes and vaccine’ and HIV-1 diversity and vaccine in Tanzania. Articles resulting from these searches in the articles were reviewed. Findings: The predominant HIV-1 subtypes across African continent are HIV-1 Subtype C with few cases of Subtypes A in east Africa and recombinant forms in West Africa. In Tanzania the predominant subtype was HIV-1 Subtype A in Northern side compared with HIV-1 subtype C in the western and central part of the country. We also reported few cases of HIV-1 Subtype D and B in the shore of lake Victoria near Uganda border. Conclusion: With regard to HIV infection, we are facing a unique challenge where by a concept of vaccine as a standalone prevention measure to end the epidemic is unlikely. Therefore it is a high time to join global effort to come up with a new paradigm of joining potentially promising ideas toward effective HIV/AIDS vaccine. In area like Tanzania where HIV-1 is very diverse can be taken as an opportunity to harness the possibility of finding broad neutralizing antibodies across all strains for a good candidate of HIV-1 vaccine.
On Chapman-Jouguet deflagrations

While the Chapman-Jouguet (CJ) criterion for predicting the detonation speed is well established, the same criterion also predicts CJ deflagrations. From purely thermodynamic and gasdynamic considerations, one can also define a CJ deflagration speed, with a corresponding limiting characteristic. The speed of deflagration waves observed in practice, however, is significantly lower than this value, and is dictated by the rate at which heat and species diffuse across the reaction front. In the presence of turbulence, however, the flame speed may be significantly enhanced. We isolate experimentally such CJ deflagrations following the interaction methane-oxygen detonation interaction with a column of cylinders. A self-similar multiple discontinuity model similar to previously proposed models by Chao and Chue et al. with an embedded CJ deflagration is formulated, and the results are found in excellent agreement with the experiments. Detailed flow visualization of the dynamics of these high speed deflagrations illustrate that they undergo a continuous amplification process. The front organizes into fewer modes and culminates with one of them being sufficiently strong to trigger a detonation.
Multiple Zonal Jets in a Differentially Heated Rotating Annulus

AbstractA laboratory experiment of multiple baroclinic zonal jets is described, thought to be dynamically similar to flow observed in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Differential heating sets the overall temperature difference and drives unstable baroclinic flow, but the circulation is free to determine its own structure and local stratification; experiments were run to a stationary state and extend the dynamical regime of previous experiments. A topographic analog to the planetary β effect is imposed by the gradient of fluid depth with radius supplied by a sloping bottom and a parabolic free surface. New regimes of a low thermal Rossby number (RoT ~ 10−3) and high Taylor number (Ta ~ 1011) are explored such that the deformation radius Lρ is much smaller than the annulus gap width L and similar to the Rhines length. Multiple jets emerge in rough proportion to the smallness of the Rhines scale, relatively insensitive to the Taylor number; a regime diagram taking the β effect into account better reflects.
Kinematics-energy space for expressive interaction in music performance

A musical interpretation is often the result of a wide range of requirements on expressiveness rendering and technical skills. Aspects that are indicated with the term expressive intention and which refers to the communication of moods and feelings are being considered more and more important in performer-computer interaction during music performance. Recent studies demonstrated that by modifying opportunely systematic deviations introduced by the musician it is possible to convey different sensitive content like expressive intentions and emotions. We present an abstract space, that can be used for the user interface, which represents, at an abstract level, the expressive content and the interaction between the performer and the expressive engine. This space was derived by multidimensional analysis of perceptual tests on various professionally performed pieces ranging from western classical to popular music. This space reflects how the musical performances are organized in the listener's mind.
Effects of PTPN 22 C 1858 T polymorphism on susceptibility and clinical characteristics of British Caucasian rheumatoid arthritis patients

Objectives. To confirm the association of a functional single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), C1858T (rs2476601), in the PTPN22 gene of British Caucasian rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and to evaluate its influence on the RA phenotype. Methods. A total of 686 RA patients and 566 healthy volunteers, all of British Caucasian origin, were genotyped for C1858T polymorphism by PCR–restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. Data were analysed using SPSS software and the v test as applicable. Results. The PTPN22 1858T risk allele was more prevalent in the RA patients (13.9%) compared with the healthy controls (10.3%) (P^0.008, odds ratio 1.4, 95% confidence interval 1.09–1.79). The association of the T allele was restricted to those with rheumatoid factor (RF)-positive disease (n^524, 76.4%) (P^0.004, odds ratio 1.5, 95% confidence interval 1.1–1.9). We found no association between PTPN22 and the presence of the HLA-DRB1 shared epitope or clinical characteristics. Conclusions. We confirmed the previously reported association of PTPN22 with RF-positive RA, which was independent from the HLA-DRB1 genotype.
HEAVY METAL PROFILES IN VARIOUS MATRICES OF THE BONNY/NEW CALABAR RIVER ESTUARY, NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA

A study of the concentrations of Ca, Mg, K, Zn, Pb, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni and Na in the sediment, sea water, fish and crab of the Bonny/New Calabar River Estuary in Niger Delta, Nigeria was carried out using atomic absorption spectrophotometer A-100 for two consecutive years. The contamination levels of the respective metals varied between 2011 and 2012and the range of mean values for all metals in mg/kg were presented along with variations at statistically significant level (P <0.05) between the two years studied. Only K, Zn and Co exhibited variation in their concentrations in water samples between the two years at a statistical significant level (P <0.05) probability. In sediment, only Cr varied between the two years at a statistically significant level (P = 0.05). All metals concentrations were higher in sediment than in water samples.Bioaccumulation factor (BF) indicated a more potent source of metals from sediment than water with organisms accumulating Zn, Fe and Ni in the magnitude of 10, 6 and 5 times more from sediment than from water. Some metals were more accumulated in fish than crab and vice versa. The evidence of elevated levels of heavy metals in sediment and bioaccumulation in biota in the studied area may poise a wanton threat to the health of inhabitants whose diet is predominantly fish. This calls for regular monitoring to avert potential public health problems arising from consumption of metals in seafood.
Comparative Assessment of Vegetation Dynamics under the Influence of Climate Change and Human Activities in Five Ecologically Vulnerable Regions of China from 2000 to 2015

Ongoing climate change and human activities have a great effect on vegetation dynamics. Understanding the impact of climate change and human activities on vegetation dynamics in different ecologically vulnerable regions has great significance in ecosystem management. In this study, the predicted NPP (Net Primary Productivity) and the actual NPP based on different ecological process data and models were combined to estimate the vegetation dynamics and their driving forces in the Northern Wind-sand, Loess Plateau, Arid Desert, Tibetan Plateau, and Karst regions from 2000 to 2015. The results indicated that the NPP in all ecologically vulnerable regions showed a restoration trend, except for that in the Karst region, and the percentage of areas in which NPP increased were, in order, 78% for the Loess Plateau, 71% for the Northern Wind-sand, 69% for the Arid Desert, 54% for the Tibetan Plateau, and 31% for the Karst regions. Vegetation restorations in the Northern Wind-sand and Arid Desert regions were primarily attributable to human activities (86% and 61% of the restoration area, respectively), indicating the success of ecological restoration programs. The Loess Plateau had the largest proportion of vegetation restoration area (44%), which was driven by combined effects of climate and human factors. In the Tibetan Plateau, the vegetation changes due to climate factors were primarily distributed in the west, while those due to human factors were primarily distributed in the east. Human activities caused nearly 60% of the vegetation degradation in the Karst region. Based on these results, it is recognizable that regional climate conditions are the key factor that limits ecological restoration. Therefore, future policy-making should pay more attention to the local characteristics of different ecological vulnerable regions in regional ecosystem management to select reasonable restoration measures, improve restoration efficiency, and maximize the benefits of ecological restoration programs.
ectsofgrazers ’ species identityon cyanobacteria in bitrophic and tritrophic foodwebs

Using laboratory microcosms, we studied direct and indirect interactions among different components of biand tritrophic communities. Filamentous cyanobacteria (Phormidium sp.) and autotrophic flagellates (Chlorogonium elongatum) were primary producers. The second trophic level was represented by ciliates Furgasonia blochmanni and Pseudomicrothorax dubius grazing on the filamentous cyanobacteria and two filter feeders, Euplotes octocarinatus and Stylonychia pustulata, feeding on the autotrophic flagellates. An oligochaete, Chaetogaster sp. , was used as the top predator. An experiment was carried out for all combinations of two factors: (1) the identity of the cyanobacteria consumer (Furgasonia or Pseudomicrothorax) and (2) the presence or absence of the top predator. Significant effects of the treatments on both the abundance of cyanobacteria and filter feeding ciliates and predator-induced defense in Phormidium and Euplotes were observed in a 36-day experiment. The experiment showed that the substitution of one species (Furgasonia) for another (Pseudomicrothorax) seemingly playing the same ecological role may lead to significant changes in the whole community.
Rutin Content of the Grain of 22 Buckwheat ( Fagopyrum esculentum Moench and Fagopyrum tataricum Gaertn . ) Varieties Grown in Hungary

Nineteen common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) and three tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum Gaertn.) varieties were grown in the summer 2007 at the Research and Experimental Farm of the Corvinus University in Soroksár, Hungary. The rutin content of the grain of F. tataricum, determined by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), resulted several times higher than that of F. esculentum. Among the three varieties of F. tataricum, under investigation, ‘Ishisoba’ presented a significantly (P = 0.05) higher rutin content, although the actual differences of rutin levels remained rather modest. On the contrary, a large variation of the rutin content of the grain appeared among the 19 varieties of F. esculentum when comparing top and least rutin values observed (‘Fukue’ 51 mg/100 g dry weight (DW) and ‘Mancan’ 11 mg/100 g DW). However, the content of rutin of most of the varieties of F. esculentum was confined within a rather narrow range between 15 and 25 mg/100 g DW, values which are to be regarded as typical of this species. In this respect, ‘Fukue’ with 51 mg/100 g DW, for sure, represents a variety of F. esculentum capable of expressing an extremely high rutin content of the grain under the Hungarian environment. The rutin content of tartary buckwheat grain, though somewhat lower than the highest values reported in the pertinent literature, remained decidedly higher compared to that of common buckwheat. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CFHTLenS and RCSLenS Cross-Correlation with Planck Lensing Detected in Fourier and Configuration Space

We measure the cross-correlation signature between the Planck cosmicmicrowave background (CMB) lensing map and the weak lensing observations from both the Red-sequence Cluster Lensing Survey and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey. In addition to a Fourier analysis, we include the first configuration-space detection, based on the estimators \textlesskappa(CMB)kappa(gal)\textgreater and \textlesskappa(CMB)gamma(t)\textgreater. Combining 747.2 deg(2) from both surveys, we find a detection significance that exceeds 4.2 sigma in both Fourier-and configuration-space analyses. Scaling the predictions by a free parameter A, we obtain A(CFHT)(Planck) = 0.68 +/- 0.31 and A(RCS)(Planck) = 1.31 +/- 0.33. In preparation for the next generation of measurements similar to these, we quantify the impact of different analysis choices on these results. First, since none of these estimators probes the exact same dynamical range, we improve our detection by combining them. Secondly, we carry out a detailed investigation on the effect of apodization, zero-padding and mask multiplication, validated on a suite of high-resolution simulations, and find that the latter produces the largest systematic bias in the cosmological interpretation. Finally, we show that residual contamination from intrinsic alignment and the effect of photometric redshift error are both largely degenerate with the characteristic signal from massive neutrinos, however the signature of baryon feedback might be easier to distinguish. The three lensing data sets are publicly available.
Marvel Analysis of the Measured High-resolution Rovibronic Spectra of 90Zr16O

Zirconium oxide (ZrO) is an important astrophysical molecule that defines the S-star classification class for cool giant stars. Accurate, empirical rovibronic energy levels, with associated labels and uncertainties, are reported for nine low-lying electronic states of the diatomic molecule. These 8088 empirical energy levels are determined using the Measured Active Rotational-Vibrational Energy Levels algorithm with 23,317 input assigned transition frequencies, 22,549 of which were validated during this study. A temperature-dependent partition function is presented alongside updated spectroscopic constants for the nine low-lying electronic states.
Transport of cold ions from the polar ionosphere to the plasma sheet

Ionospheric outflow is believed to be a significant contribution to the magnetospheric plasma population. Ions are extracted from the ionosphere and transported downtail by the large‐scale convection motion driven by dayside reconnection. In this paper, we use a comprehensive data set of cold ion (total energy less than 70 eV) measurements combined with simultaneous observations from the solar wind to investigate the fate of these ions. By tracing the trajectories of the ions, we are able to find out where in the magnetotail ions end up. By sorting the observation according to geomagnetic activity and solar wind parameters, we then generate maps of the fate regions in the magnetotail and investigate the effects of these drivers. Our results suggest that, on overall, for about 85% of the cases, the outflowing ions are transported to the plasma sheet. The region where the ions are deposited into the plasma sheet is larger during geomagnetic quiet time than during disturbed conditions. A persistent dawn‐dusk asymmetry in the plasma sheet deposition is also observed.
The effect of magnetic field and ultraviolet-C radiation on germination and growth seedling of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench)

In this study, sorghum seeds were exposed to a static magnetic field strength 125 mT for different periods of time (0, 3, 6 and 9) hour, after magnetic treatment, the seeds were immediately irradiated with UV-C radiation at 254 nm for different periods time (0, 30 and 60) minute. The selected germination and growth seedling were Percentage of germinated seeds, a speed of germination, seedling and root length, and the number of leaves.Results showed that the magnetic treatment of sorghum seeds showed a significant effect on all germination and seedling growth parameters, where the 6-hour magnetic treatment showed the significant positive effect on all studied parameters except roots length.The highest value of germination speed and seedling length showed in magnetically treated seeds of 6 hours with a significantly positive effect which increased by 40.50%, 44.94%, respectively compared to control treatment.The treatment for 6 hours showed a significant positive effect on germination percentage which increased by 34.77%, 34.78% compared to a 3 and 9-hour respectively, and in number leaves by 14.38% compared to 9 hours while the lowest value of all parameters studied showed by exposing seeds to 9 hours compared to untreated seed. In UV-C irradiated seeds the results showed no significant effects on germination percentage and the length of the roots seedling, while showed a significantly negative impact on speed germination, seedling length and the number of leaves. The results also showed no significant in combined effect between a magnetic field and UV-C in all studies characteristics except the characteristic about the length of the roots seedling.Where the untreated seeds to the magnetic field with the exposure time 60 minutes of UV-C, gave the highest value with an increase (84.65%) compared with the exposure time 60 minutes to UV-C with the exposure time 9 hours to a magnetic field.The obtained results show that the magnetic field and UV-C radiation may have a positive or negative significant effect on selected germination parameters, which have dependent on the applied exposure time, and we suggested using 6 hours of treatment as the best value for enhancing germination and growth seedling of sorghum.
Components Separation Technique ( CST ) in Reconstruction of Large and Complex Abdominal Wall Defects

Background: Wide or recurrent midline abdominal wall defects are usually challenging surgical problem. Midline abdominal wall dehiscence resulting as a complicated wound healing after laparotomy is the most challenging. Friability of the wound edges, concomitant infections and the debilitated general condition of the patient due to long hospitalization make the healing potential low. Ideal repair should utilize native tissue and should restore the dynamic properties of the abdominal wall. Patient and Methods: Components Separation Technique (CST) was used to reconstruct abdominal wall defects in 20 patients (8 males and 12 females) over a period of 10 years. Results and Conclusion: The technique of components separation is very reliable and easy to learn and to do. It is also very effective in repairing midline abdominal wall defects of various etiologies. It provides well-vascularized native tissues for the reconstruction and it restores the dynamic integrity of the abdominal wall. It is particularly useful for the repair of midline post-laparotomy wound dehiscence.