Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EFFECT OF PERMEABLE BOUNDARY OF WATER-CONDUCTING DEVICE ON WATER AND SALT TRANSPORT UNDER INDIRECT SUBSURFACE DRIP IRRIGATION

Indirect subsurface drip irrigation is an effective means for water-conservation irrigation. The diameter of water-conducting device and height of permeable boundary are two important design parameters for such irrigation. In this study, there were analyzed the effects of water-conducting device diameter and permeable stratum height on the characteristics of wetting front and water–salt distribution through a laboratory test. Results demonstrated that the two parameters have influenced the size and shape of the wetting, and they effected on water and salt transport in the wetting front. The suitable diameter of water-conducting device, height of permeable layer would be chosen to regulate of tree root growth, and to reduce effects of soil salinity on tree.
Multi-Beam Directional Modulation Synthesis Scheme Based on Frequency Diverse Array

In this paper, a frequency diverse array-based directional modulation with artificial noise synthesis scheme is proposed to enhance the physical layer security of wireless communications. We aim to optimize the secrecy performance by jointly optimizing the frequency offsets, the beamforming vector, and the artificial-noise projection matrix (ANPM). Specifically, we address the physical layer security problems for known locations of proximal eavesdropper (Eve) and legitimate user (LU). The beamforming vector and frequency offsets are designed to preserve the signal power at LU. The ANPM is calculated to minimize the effect of AN on LU. Furthermore, we extend our approach to the case of multi-LUs with unknown Eve locations. Being different from the case of a single LU, the frequency offsets across array antennas are optimized to equally allocate transmitted power to each LU. The numerical results show that the proposed method can provide a higher secrecy performance than conventional DM methods. In the case of multi-LUs with unknown Eve locations, the proposed method can provide a high secrecy capacity while achieving almost equal achievable capacity to each LU.
Histopathological Classification of Breast Cancer Images Using a Multi-Scale Input and Multi-Feature Network

Diagnosis of pathologies using histopathological images can be time-consuming when many images with different magnification levels need to be analyzed. State-of-the-art computer vision and machine learning methods can help automate the diagnostic pathology workflow and thus reduce the analysis time. Automated systems can also be more efficient and accurate, and can increase the objectivity of diagnosis by reducing operator variability. We propose a multi-scale input and multi-feature network (MSI-MFNet) model, which can learn the overall structures and texture features of different scale tissues by fusing multi-resolution hierarchical feature maps from the network’s dense connectivity structure. The MSI-MFNet predicts the probability of a disease on the patch and image levels. We evaluated the performance of our proposed model on two public benchmark datasets. Furthermore, through ablation studies of the model, we found that multi-scale input and multi-feature maps play an important role in improving the performance of the model. Our proposed model outperformed the existing state-of-the-art models by demonstrating better accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity.
Temporal Trends and Risk Factors for Delayed Hospital Admission in Suspected Stroke Patients

(1) Background: The benefit of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) treatment declines with any time delay until treatment. Hence, factors influencing the time from symptom onset to admission (TTA) are of utmost importance. This study aimed to assess temporal trends and risk factors for delays in TTA. (2) Methods: We included 1244 consecutive patients from 2015 to 2018 with suspected stroke presenting within 24 h after symptom onset registered in our prospective, pre-specified hospital database. Temporal trends were assessed by comparing with a cohort of a previous study in 2006. Factors associated with TTA were assessed by univariable and multivariable regression analysis. (3) Results: In 1244 patients (median [IQR] age 73 [60–82] years; 44% women), the median TTA was 96 min (IQR 66–164). The prehospital time delay reduced by 27% in the last 12 years and the rate of patients referred by Emergency medical services (EMS) increased from 17% to 51% and the TTA for admissions by General Practitioner (GP) declined from 244 to 207 min. Factors associated with a delay in TTA were stroke severity (beta−1.9; 95% CI–3.6 to −0.2 min per point NIHSS score), referral by General Practitioner (GP, beta +140 min, 95% CI 100–179), self-admission (+92 min, 95% CI 57–128) as compared to admission by emergency medical services (EMS) and symptom onset during nighttime (+57 min, 95% CI 30–85). Conclusions: Although TTA improved markedly since 2006, our data indicates that continuous efforts are mandatory to raise public awareness on the importance of fast hospital referral in patients with suspected stroke by directly informing EMS, avoiding contact of a GP, and maintaining high effort for fast transportation also in patients with milder symptoms.
Total, soluble and insoluble oxalate content of bran and bran products.

The total and soluble oxalate content of various wheat, oat and rice bran products available in supermarkets and health food shops were analyzed using HPLC chromatography. The total oxalate contents of the individual bran samples analyzed ranged from 37.0 mg/100 g dry matter (DM) for oat bran to 392.7 mg/100 g DM for wheat bran flakes while the soluble oxalate contents ranged from 8.9 mg/100 g DM (Oat Bran Weet-Bix) to 109.6 mg/100 g DM (wheat bran flakes), respectively. The mean data showed that oat bran products contained the lowest level of total oxalate (67.2 mg/100 g DM) and soluble oxalate (8.9 mg/100 g DM) compared to rice bran (total oxalate 139.5 mg/100 g DM, soluble oxalate 65.3 mg/100 g DM) and wheat bran (total oxalate 220.8 mg/100 g DM, soluble oxalate 60.8 mg/100 g DM). The data suggests that a daily portion of bran products, particularly wheat bran, would supply a constant intake of soluble and insoluble oxalate but this would be a relatively small intake compared to other oxalate containing foods that may be eaten in the diet. The effect of the soluble oxalate intake could be mitigated by the consumption of high calcium foods at the same time.
Treatment Strategy for Odontogenic Sinusitis

Background The treatment options for odontogenic sinusitis (OS) include medical management including antibiotics and saline nasal irrigation, endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS), and dental treatment. Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether OS caused by dental caries and periapical abscess can be cured by dental treatment alone and which patients should consider surgery early. Methods A total of 33 patients with OS caused by dental caries and periapical abscess were enrolled. Patients with OS caused by dental implants, trauma, surgery, or tooth extraction were excluded. All patients were initially treated with dental treatment and medical management without ESS. The patients were divided into two groups according to the results of dental treatment and multiple clinical parameters were compared between the two groups. Results Among the 33 enrolled patients, 22 patients (67%) were cured with dental and medical management, and 11 patients (33%) required ESS after the failure of dental and medical management. Based on the multivariate analysis results, patients who were smokers (OR 33.4) and had a higher Lund-Mackay score on CT (OR 2.0) required ESS after the failure of dental and medical treatment. Conclusions Two-thirds of the patients with OS caused by dental caries and periapical abscess were cured with dental treatment and medical management without ESS. We recommend dental treatment and medical management first in OS caused by dental caries and periapical abscess. However, we recommend early ESS in patients with smoking habits and severe CT findings of the sinus.
FEDS: a Novel Fluorescence-Based High-Throughput Method for Measuring DNA Supercoiling In Vivo

DNA represents the chemical support of genetic information in all forms of life. In addition to its linear sequence of nucleotides, it bears critical information in its structure. This information, called DNA supercoiling, is central to all fundamental DNA processes, such as transcription and replication, and defines cellular physiology. Unlike reading of a nucleotide sequence, DNA supercoiling determinations have been laborious. We have now developed a method for rapid measurement of DNA supercoiling and established its utility by identifying a novel regulator of DNA supercoiling in the bacterium Salmonella enterica as well as behaviors that could not have been discovered with current methods. ABSTRACT DNA supercoiling (DS) is essential for life because it controls critical processes, including transcription, replication, and recombination. Current methods to measure DNA supercoiling in vivo are laborious and unable to examine single cells. Here, we report a method for high-throughput measurement of bacterial DNA supercoiling in vivo. Fluorescent evaluation of DNA supercoiling (FEDS) utilizes a plasmid harboring the gene for a green fluorescent protein transcribed by a discovered promoter that responds exclusively to DNA supercoiling and the gene for a red fluorescent protein transcribed by a constitutive promoter as the internal standard. Using FEDS, we uncovered single-cell heterogeneity in DNA supercoiling and established that, surprisingly, population-level decreases in DNA supercoiling result from a low-mean/high-variance DNA supercoiling subpopulation rather than from a homogeneous shift in supercoiling of the whole population. In addition, we identified a regulatory loop in which a gene that decreases DNA supercoiling is transcriptionally repressed when DNA supercoiling increases. IMPORTANCE DNA represents the chemical support of genetic information in all forms of life. In addition to its linear sequence of nucleotides, it bears critical information in its structure. This information, called DNA supercoiling, is central to all fundamental DNA processes, such as transcription and replication, and defines cellular physiology. Unlike reading of a nucleotide sequence, DNA supercoiling determinations have been laborious. We have now developed a method for rapid measurement of DNA supercoiling and established its utility by identifying a novel regulator of DNA supercoiling in the bacterium Salmonella enterica as well as behaviors that could not have been discovered with current methods.
Terrestrial Activity and Habitat Selection of Eastern Mud Turtles (Kinosternon subrubrum) in a Fragmented Landscape: Implications for Habitat Management of Golf Courses and Other Suburban Environments

Abstract In urbanized landscapes, golf course ponds may provide the only remaining habitat for semi-aquatic animals. Eastern Mud Turtles (Kinosternon subrubrum), which rely heavily on both aquatic and terrestrial habitats, may face challenges on golf courses, which typically have significantly modified and fragmented landscapes. We conducted a radio-telemetric study of 11 mud turtles inhabiting a golf course pond in the western Piedmont of North Carolina to investigate their terrestrial activity and habitat selection in a fragmented landscape. Most turtles moved to terrestrial habitats in late summer and emigrated a mean distance (± SE) of 187.2 ± 67.4 m and moved a mean straight line distance (± SE) of 119.3 ± 47.4 m from the pond. We determined habitat selection using logistic regression to compare turtle locations with random locations and found that mud turtles selected forested habitats with moderate canopy cover and no grass. Mud turtles also selected habitat containing herbaceous vegetation and woody debris as overwintering locations. Mud turtles did not select heavily disturbed habitats with limited canopy cover and pavement or cut grass associated with fairways, roughs, and residential lawns. Overall, our study suggests that maintaining relatively undisturbed forested habitat within fragmented urban landscapes, such as those found on golf courses, may allow for the persistence of these semi-aquatic turtles. Information from this study can be used to better understand critical upland habitat requirements of other semi-aquatic species inhabiting fragmented landscapes and aid in the implementation of habitat management plans.
In Vitro to In Vivo Concordance of Toxicity Using the Human Proximal Tubule Cell Line HK-2

The renal proximal tubule cell line, human kidney 2 (HK-2), recapitulates many of the functional cellular and molecular characteristics of differentiated primary proximal tubule cells. These features include anchorage dependence, gluconeogenesis capability, and sodium-dependent sugar transport. In order to ascertain how well HK-2 cells can reliably reveal the toxicological profile of compounds having a potential to cause proximal tubule injury in vivo, we sought to evaluate the effects of known proximal tubule toxicants using the HK-2 cell line. We selected 20 pure nephrotoxic compounds that included chemotherapeutic drugs, antibiotics, and heavy metal-containing compounds and evaluated their ability to induce HK-2 cell injury relative to 10 innocuous pure compounds or cell culture media alone. We performed a comprehensive set of in vitro cellular toxicological assays to evaluate cell viability, oxidative stress, mitochondrial integrity, and a specific biomarker of renal injury, Kidney Injury Molecule 1. For each of our selected compounds, we were able to establish a reproducible profile of toxicological outcomes. We compared our results to those described in peer-reviewed publications to understand how well the HK-2 cellular model agrees with overall in vivo rat or human toxicological outcomes. This study begins to address the question of how well in vitro data generated with HK-2 cells can mirror in vivo animal and human outcomes.
Does Smokers’ Self-Construal Moderate the Effect of (Self-)persuasion on Smoking?

Research has shown that self-persuasion is more effective in increasing smokers’ risk perception and decreasing short-term smoking behavior compared to the traditional direct persuasion. However, the role of self-construal, which is closely associated with how one perceives persuasive messages, is not explored. The current research filled this gap by introducing self-construal to the self-persuasion literature to investigate its potential moderating role. Throughout five studies, we measured daily smokers’ chronic self-construal (Study 1–3), selected smokers with different culturally-nurtured self-construal (Study 4), and primed situational self-construal (Study 5) to examine the role of self-construal in regard to smokers’ cognition, attitude, and short-term smoking behavior, after being targeted by direct- or self-persuasion. Health warnings on cigarette packages and text regarding the negative consequences of smoking were used as direct persuasive messages. Adapted versions of health warnings and an argumentation task were used to induce self-persuasion. Null results were obtained from most of the studies. The overall support for the null hypothesis, however, remains weak and needs to be further verified. Limitations and future research direction are discussed.
Development of Oculimacula yallundae and O-acuformis (eyespot) on leaf sheaths of winter wheat in the UK in relation to thermal time

In a controlled environment (15/10°C) (day/night) container experiment on winter wheat (cv. Avalon), eyespot incidence (percentage of plants affected) and number of leaf sheaths penetrated after 6 weeks increased with inoculum concentration (102−106 conidia mL−1) of Oculimacula yallundae (OY) or Oculimacula acuformis (OA), but there was no difference between the two species. In an outdoor container experiment, seedlings inoculated with OY 2 weeks after sowing had a greater incidence of eyespot than those inoculated with OA, when assessed 7 weeks after inoculation. Seedlings inoculated with OA at 10 or 20 weeks after sowing developed more severe eyespot by maturity than those inoculated with OY. In an experiment at 15/10°C with seedlings inoculated with OY + OA 2 weeks after sowing, more leaf sheaths were penetrated by OY (3·0 per plant) than OA (2·3 per plant) 6 weeks after inoculation. Field experiments with winter wheat consistently showed leaf sheath production, leaf sheath death, and number of leaf sheaths infected or penetrated by OA or OY were related linearly to thermal time (°C days) after sowing. Depending on cultivar, season and sample, a new leaf sheath was produced in 116–216°C days; a leaf sheath died in 221–350°C days; and infection of a new leaf sheath occurred in 129–389°C days. The mean number of living leaf sheaths infected differed between samples, cultivars and seasons for both OY and OA. Regression analysis of the 1985/86 data suggested that OY progressed more rapidly than OA through the leaf sheaths, and that both the pathogens progressed more rapidly than the rate of leaf sheath death, but more slowly than the rate at which leaf sheaths were produced. It also suggested that OA progressed more slowly than the rate at which leaf sheaths died in 1987/88, but OY did not.
An Overview of Different Strategies to Recreate the Physiological Environment in Experimental Erythropoiesis

Human erythropoiesis is a complex process leading to the production of mature, enucleated erythrocytes (RBCs). It occurs mainly at bone marrow (BM), where hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are engaged in the early erythroid differentiation to commit into erythroid progenitor cells (burst-forming unit erythroid (BFU-E) and colony-forming unit erythroid (CFU-E)). Then, during the terminal differentiation, several erythropoietin-induced signaling pathways trigger the differentiation of CFU-E on successive stages from pro-erythroblast to reticulocytes. The latter are released into the circulation, finalizing their maturation into functional RBCs. This process is finely regulated by the physiological environment including the erythroblast-macrophage interaction in the erythroblastic island (EBI). Several human diseases have been associated with ineffective erythropoiesis, either by a defective or an excessive production of RBCs, as well as an increase or a hemoglobinization defect. Fully understanding the production of mature red blood cells is crucial for the comprehension of erythroid pathologies as well as to the field of transfusion. Many experimental approaches have been carried out to achieve a complete differentiation in vitro to produce functional biconcave mature RBCs. However, the various protocols usually fail to achieve enough quantities of completely mature RBCs. In this review, we focus on the evolution of erythropoiesis studies over the years, taking special interest in efforts that were made to include the microenvironment and erythroblastic islands paradigm. These more physiological approaches will contribute to a deeper comprehension of erythropoiesis, improve the treatment of dyserythropoietic disorders, and break through the barriers in massive RBCs production for transfusion.
Wire-Based Additive Manufacturing of Ti-6Al-4V Using Electron Beam Technique

Electron beam freeform fabrication is a wire feed direct energy deposition additive manufacturing process, where the vacuum condition ensures excellent shielding against the atmosphere and enables processing of highly reactive materials. In this work, this technique is applied for the α + β-titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V to determine suitable process parameter for robust building. The correlation between dimensions and the dilution of single beads based on selected process parameters, leads to an overlapping distance in the range of 70–75% of the bead width, resulting in a multi-bead layer with a uniform height and with a linear build-up rate. Moreover, the stacking of layers with different numbers of tracks using an alternating symmetric welding sequence allows the manufacturing of simple structures like walls and blocks. Microscopy investigations reveal that the primary structure consists of epitaxial grown columnar prior β-grains, with some randomly scattered macro and micropores. The developed microstructure consists of a mixture of martensitic and finer α-lamellar structure with a moderate and uniform hardness of 334 HV, an ultimate tensile strength of 953 MPa and rather low fracture elongation of 4.5%. A subsequent stress relief heat treatment leads to a uniform hardness distribution and an extended fracture elongation of 9.5%, with a decrease of the ultimate strength to 881 MPa due to the fine α-lamellar structure produced during the heat treatment. Residual stresses measured by energy dispersive X-ray diffraction shows after deposition 200–450 MPa in tension in the longitudinal direction, while the stresses reach almost zero when the stress relief treatment is carried out.
Desempenho e características de carcaça de novilhos alimentados com dietas contendo diferentes fontes de lipídios

The objective of this trial was to evaluate the animal performance, carcass characteristics and meat tenderness of 36 crossbred steers averaging 14 months old and 320 kg body weight. The animals were fed high concentrate-based diets: control - without additional fat (CO); diet with 5% calcium salt of fatty acids (AG); and diet with 21% whole cottonseed (CA). Dry matter intake of AG treatment was lower (P=0,05) than CA, that differ from CO diet. No significant differences of treatments on daily weight gain and feed efficiency were observed. Blood urea nitrogen was greater (P=0,01) for CA treatment than AG treatment. Carcass dressing, rib eye area, fat thickness, kidney and pelvic fat, liver weight, pH and temperature did not show significant difference. No difference on water loss during cooking and tenderness measured by shear force at different aging times was detected. Diets with 5% calcium salt of fatty acids or 21% whole cottonseed can be used for feedlot with no change on animal performance or carcass characteristics.
Contamination of 15+1 European Union polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in various types of tea and their infusions purchased on Hangzhou city market in China

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research was to determine the occurrence of 15 + 1 European priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (EUPAHs) in various types of tea purchased on Hangzhou city market in China in order to control their safety. The results indicated that the incidence rate of EUPAHs compounds was 97.4%. The total EUPAHs levels ranged from 1.2 μg/kg to 155.6 μg/kg, with a median of 27.1 μg/kg and a mean of 42.3 μg/kg. Cyclopental[cd]pyrene was not only the most frequently detected EUPAH but also detected at the highest concentrations with a mean of 12.2 μg/kg. The 4-membered and 5-membered ring EUPAHs were detected in nearly all of the tea types and accounted for 83.4% to 100.0% of the total EUPAHs mass distribution. The transfer percentages of EUPAHs from the various tea leaves to tea infusions and effect of infusion time were investigated as well. A transfer rate between 5.9% and 24.2% was found for the EUPAHs and these levels were within the maximum safe consumption limits for drinking water according to European Union regulations (EU Council Directive 98/83/EC). GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT