Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cytokine profile among a sample of bipolar and schizophrenic patients: a comparative study

Background Bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia are serious forms of mental illness which are considered to be complex and multisystemic conditions. Several lines of evidence point to the key role of immune dysfunction in both disorders, with recent reports citing abnormal blood levels of cytokines where the most obvious mechanism is a dysregulation of the balance of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Objective The aim was to explore the presence of immune dysfunction in BD in comparison with schizophrenia and to compare them to apparently healthy control persons. Participants and methods This study was a cross-sectional study on 90 individuals (30 diagnosed as BD, 30 as schizophrenic, and 30 apparently healthy controls). Age matched and sex matched. They were assessed by general medical and neurological examination. Semistructured clinical interview for DSM-IV (SCIDI), positive and negative schizophrenia scale (PANSS) for the schizophrenia group, Yearsania rating scale (YMRS) for the bipolar group, and laboratory investigations include: serum interleukin (IL)1B level and serum IL6 level for the three groups. Result The mean serum IL1B level was found to be higher in the bipolar group than that of the control group and schizophrenia group . The mean serum IL1B level in the schizophrenia group was higher than that of the control group. The mean serum IL6 level was higher in the bipolar and schizophrenia groups than that of the control group. It was also found that serum IL1B showed a highly significant correlation with the duration of illness in the bipolar group, while serum IL6 showed a significance with the duration of illness in the bipolar and schizophrenia groups. In the bipolar group, significant correlation was found between IL6 and number of episodes, while in the schizophrenia group, a significant correlation was found between IL6 and age at onset of illness and number of episodes. Conclusion There is mounting evidence of increased immune markers, particularly proinflammatory cytokines in BD and schizophrenia patients. So, identifying the biomarkers could represent new tools which could help to improve diagnosis and find prognostic markers which offers great promises toward a better understanding of the etio-pathological mechanisms involved in BD and schizophrenia, and for the development of prevention and personalized treatments.
OBSERVAL-NET experts ' reports on Validation of Non-formal and Informal Learning ( VNIL ) 2013 Malta : Knowledge Innovation Centre 2014 , 84

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A novel intuitionistic fuzzy MCDM-based CODAS approach for locating an authorized dismantling center: a case study of Istanbul

As the number of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) increases rapidly, their management has become one of the most important environmental topics worldwide. This study is conducted to evaluate various alternatives for location selection of an authorized dismantling center (ADC) for ELVs using a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach. An intuitionistic fuzzy MCDM-based combinative distance-based assessment (CODAS) approach is proposed to aid waste managers and solve their problem. The intuitionistic fuzzy weighted averaging operator is utilized to aggregate individual opinions of decision-makers into a group opinion. The intuitionistic fuzzy Euclidean and Hamming distances are used to calculate the assessment score of alternatives. A real-life case study of Istanbul is provided to illustrate how this novel intuitionistic fuzzy MCDM-based CODAS approach can be used for alternative selection in real-world applications. The comparison with the available state-of-the-art intuitionistic fuzzy set-based MCDM approaches approves the validity and consistency of the proposed intuitionistic fuzzy CODAS approach. The intuitionistic fuzzy CODAS, WASPAS, and TOPSIS approaches generate exactly the same ordering of alternatives for the new ADC in Istanbul. The results show that the intuitionistic fuzzy CODAS approach indicates valid results and is an effective decision-making technique for vagueness and uncertainty nature of linguistic assessments.
Patterns in the politics of drugs and tobacco: The Supreme Court and issue attention by policymakers and the press

Past research has demonstrated lasting effects of important Supreme Court decisions on issue attention in the national media. In this light, the Court has served as an important agenda setter. We significantly expand on these findings by arguing that these salient Court decisions can raise the perceived importance of political issues and induce heightened, short-term policy attention in the broader political system. Using measures of media attention, congressional policy actions, and presidential policy actions, we utilize dynamic vector autoregressive modelling to examine the Court’s impact on issue attention in the macro policy system regarding tobacco and drug policy. Overall, this study suggests that the Supreme Court’s most important decisions might significantly affect broader issue attention in the American political system.
Delivery Efficacy Differences of Intravenous and Intraperitoneal Injection of Exosomes:Perspectives from Tracking Dye Labeled and MiRNA Encapsulated Exosomes.

Exosomes are cell-derived nanovesicles that play vital roles in intercellular communication. Recently, exosomes are recognized as the promising drug delivery vehicles. Up to now, how the in vivo distribution of exosomes is affected by different administration routes has not been fully understood. In the present study, in vivo distribution of exosomes following intravenous and intraperitoneal injection approaches were systemically analyzed by tracking the fluorescence labeled exosomes and qPCR analysis of C. elegans specific miRNA abundance delivered by exosomes in different organs. The results showed that exosomes administered through tail vein were mostly taken up by liver, spleen and lungs while exosomes injected intraperitoneally were more dispersedly distributed. Besides the liver, spleen, and lungs, intraperitoneal injection effectively delivered exosomes into the visceral adipose tissue, making it a promising strategy for obesity therapy. Moreover, the results from fluorescence tracking and qPCR were slightly different, which could be explained by systemic errors. Together, our study reveals that different administration routes cause significant differential in vivo distribution of exosomes, suggesting that optimization of the delivery route is prerequisite to obtain rational delivery efficiency in detailed organs.
Wavelet Multiple Correlation Stock Market Integration in Asian Countries : evidence from Wavelet multiple correlations jei Journal of Economic Integration

This study examines the integration of nine Asian stock markets using the new methodology of wavelet multiple correlation and multiple cross-correlation proposed by Fernandez (2012). This novel approach eliminates several limitations which are encountered when conventional pairwise wavelet correlation and cross-correlation are used to assess the comovement of a set of stock indices. Our results show that Asian stock markets are highly integrated at lower frequencies and comparatively less integrated at higher frequencies. From the perspective of international investors, the Asian stock markets therefore offer little potential gains from international portfolio diversification especially for monthly, quarterly, and bi-annual time horizon investors, whereas, higher potential gains are expected at intraweek, weekly, and fortnightly time horizons.
Genetic and Epigenetic Biomarkers of Immune Checkpoint Blockade Response

Checkpoint inhibitor therapy constitutes a promising cancer treatment strategy that targets the immune checkpoints to re-activate silenced T cell cytotoxicity. In recent pivotal trials, immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) demonstrated durable responses and acceptable toxicity, resulting in the regulatory approval of 8 checkpoint inhibitors to date for 15 cancer indications. However, up to ~85% of patients present with innate or acquired resistance to ICB, limiting its clinical utility. Current response biomarker candidates, including DNA mutation and neoantigen load, immune profiles, as well as programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, are only weak predictors of ICB response. Thus, identification of novel, more predictive biomarkers that could identify patients who would benefit from ICB constitutes one of the most important areas of immunotherapy research. Aberrant DNA methylation (5mC) and hydroxymethylation (5hmC) were discovered in multiple cancers, and dynamic changes of the epigenomic landscape have been identified during T cell differentiation and activation. While their role in cancer immunosuppression remains to be elucidated, recent evidence suggests that 5mC and 5hmC may serve as prognostic and predictive biomarkers of ICB-sensitive cancers. In this review, we describe the role of epigenetic phenomena in tumor immunoediting and other immune evasion related processes, provide a comprehensive update of the current status of ICB-response biomarkers, and highlight promising epigenomic biomarker candidates.
From a multidimensional quantum hydrodynamic model to the classical drift-diffusion equation

In the paper, we discuss the combined semiclassical and relaxation-time limits of a multidimensional isentropic quantum hydrodynamical model for semiconductors with small momentum relaxation time and Planck constant. The quantum hydrodynamic equations consist of the isentropic Euler equations for the particle density and current density including the quantum Bohn potential and a momentum relaxation term. The momentum equation is highly nonlinear and contains a dispersive term with third-order derivatives. The equations are self-consistently coupled to the Poisson equation for the electrostatic potential. With the help of the Maxwell-type iteration, we prove that, as the Planck constant and the relaxation time tend to zero, periodic initial-value problems of a scaled isentropic quantum hydrodynamic model have unique smooth solutions existing in the time interval where the classical drift-diffusion models have smooth solutions.
Calcium Montmorillonite-Based Dietary Supplement Attenuates Necrotic Enteritis Induced by Eimeria maxima and Clostridium perfringens in Broilers‡

Necrotic enteritis (NE) is a poultry disease caused by Clostridium perfringens and characterized by severe intestinal necrosis. The incidence of avian NE has been progressively increasing following the removal of antibiotics from poultry feed. We evaluated the effect of diets supplemented with the thermally-processed clays, calcium montmorillonite (CaMM) on clinical signs, immunopathology, and cytokine responses in broiler chickens using an experimental model of NE consisting of co-infection with Eimeria maxima and C. perfringens. In Trial 1, Ross/Ross chickens were fed from hatch with a normal basal diet or a CaMM-supplemented diet with or without a fermentable fiber, an organic acid, and/or a plant extract, and co-infected with E. maxima and C. perfringens under conditions simulating clinical infection in the field. Chickens fed a diet supplemented with CaMM plus a fermentable fiber and an organic acid had increased body weight gain, reduced gut lesions, and increased serum antibody levels to C. perfringens α-toxin and NetB toxin compared with chickens fed the basal diet alone. Levels of transcripts for interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and tumor necrosis factor-α superfamily-15 were significantly altered in the intestine and spleen of CaMM-supplemented chickens compared with unsupplemented controls (p<0.05). In Trial 2, Cobb/Cobb chickens were fed an unsupplemented diet or a diet supplemented with CaMM or Varium®, each with a fermentable fiber and an organic acid, and co-infected with E. maxima and C. perfringens under subclinical infection conditions. Compared with unsupplemented controls, broilers fed with CaMM plus a fermentable fiber and an organic acid had increased body weight gain, and reduced feed conversion ratio, mortality, and intestinal lesions, compared with chickens fed an unsupplemented diet (p<0.05). Dietary supplementation of broiler chickens with CaMM plus a fermentable fiber and an organic acid might be useful to control avian NE in the field.
The combination of salvianolic acid A with latamoxef completely protects mice against lethal pneumonia caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), especially methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), is a major cause of pneumonia, resulting in severe morbidity and mortality in adults and children. Sortase A (SrtA), which mediates the anchoring of cell surface proteins in the cell wall, is an important virulence factor of S. aureus. Here, we found that salvianolic acid A (Sal A), which is a natural product that does not affect the growth of S. aureus, could inhibit SrtA activity (IC50 = 5.75 μg/ml) and repress the adhesion of bacteria to fibrinogen, the anchoring of protein A to cell wall, the biofilm formation, and the ability of S. aureus to invade A549 cells. Furthermore, in vivo studies demonstrated that Sal A treatment reduced inflammation and protected mice against lethal pneumonia caused by MRSA. More significantly, full protection (a survival rate of 100%) was achieved when Sal A was administered in combination with latamoxef. Together, these results indicate that Sal A could be developed into a promising therapeutic drug to combat MRSA infections while limiting resistance development.
The Clinical Relevance of Hyperkyphosis: A Narrative Review

The kyphosis angle of the thoracic spine tends to increase with aging. Hyperkyphosis is a kyphosis angle, exceeding the normal range. This narrative literature review aims to provide an overview of the current literature concerning kyphosis measurement methods, the etiology and adverse health effects of hyperkyphosis. As of yet, a well-defined threshold for hyperkyphosis is lacking. To attain more generalizability and to be able to compare study results in older adults, we propose to define age-related hyperkyphosis as a Cobb angle of 50° or more in standing position. Hyperkyphosis may be a potentially modifiable risk factor for adverse health outcomes, like fall risk and fractures. Additionally, hyperkyphosis may indicate the presence of osteoporosis, which is treatable. Prospective and intervention studies, using a Cobb angle of 50° as a clear and uniform definition of hyperkyphosis, are warranted to investigate the clinical relevance of hyperkyphosis.
Getting Gender Right in Neural Machine Translation

Speakers of different languages must attend to and encode strikingly different aspects of the world in order to use their language correctly (Sapir, 1921; Slobin, 1996). One such difference is related to the way gender is expressed in a language. Saying “I am happy” in English, does not encode any additional knowledge of the speaker that uttered the sentence. However, many other languages do have grammatical gender systems and so such knowledge would be encoded. In order to correctly translate such a sentence into, say, French, the inherent gender information needs to be retained/recovered. The same sentence would become either “Je suis heureux”, for a male speaker or “Je suis heureuse” for a female one. Apart from morphological agreement, demographic factors (gender, age, etc.) also influence our use of language in terms of word choices or syntactic constructions (Tannen, 1991; Pennebaker et al., 2003). We integrate gender information into NMT systems. Our contribution is two-fold: (1) the compilation of large datasets with speaker information for 20 language pairs, and (2) a simple set of experiments that incorporate gender information into NMT for multiple language pairs. Our experiments show that adding a gender feature to an NMT system significantly improves the translation quality for some language pairs.
Effect of Acute and Chronic Aerobic Exercise on Immunological Markers: A Systematic Review

Introduction: The effects of aerobic exercise on the immune system are not yet fully defined in the scientific literature. This fact demonstrates the need to investigate its influence on existing immunological markers by classifying and quantifying their acute and chronic effects. Objective: To investigate the effects of acute and chronic aerobic exercise on inflammatory markers of healthy adults. Methods: This study is a systematic review according to PRISMA recommendations. The following databases were searched: MEDLINE (via PubMed), Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, SciELO, Bireme and Cochrane Library, and article references. The last search was performed in March 2019. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomized controlled trials (NRCTs) investigating the acute and chronic effects of aerobic exercise on immune markers in healthy male and female adults aged 20 to 45 years, without restrictions in language or year of publication. Two authors independently analyzed the studies by reading the titles, abstracts, and full texts. Risk of Study bias was analyzed using Cochrane's Risk of Bias Tool. Outcomes: We included 15 studies in this systematic review, 13 of which were acute intervention and 2 were chronic, with 296 participants, 196 men and 100 women all being healthy individuals. It was observed that the acute intervention promotes changes in most immunological markers, while the chronic intervention interferes with a smaller proportion, this being in lymphocyte subpopulations. In the evaluation of quality, it was found that most studies did not present a high risk of bias in the evaluated aspects, but an unclear related risk of bias was observed, requiring a more careful analysis. Conclusion: Thus, it can be concluded that the evidence indicates that acute and chronic interventions may modify most immune markers, but aspects such as gender, contraceptive pill use in women, physical capacity of the investigated individuals, environment, and type and intensity of the exercises may interfere with these markers as well as the data analysis. Therefore, this review suggests that further research is needed to contribute to the confirmation and estimation of results.
Eicosapentaenoic-to-Arachidonic Acid Ratio Predicts Mortality and Recurrent Vascular Events in Ischemic Stroke Patients

Aims: The ratio of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) to arachidonic acid (AA) is related to major adverse events and death in cardiovascular diseases. The association between long-term prognosis of ischemic stroke and EPA/AA ratio has not been clarified. Methods: Acute ischemic stroke patients who had undergone blood examinations for polyunsaturated fatty acids were enrolled. Major cardiovascular events, including recurrence of ischemic stroke, occurrence of cardiovascular and peripheral artery diseases and hemorrhagic stroke, and death, were analyzed, retrospectively. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to explore factors, including clinical characteristics, laboratory data including EPA/AA ratio, and treatments associated with major cardiovascular events and death. Results: A total of 269 patients (mean age, 70 ± 13 years; 179 men) were enrolled. During follow-up (mean, 2.3 ± 1.0 years), 64 patients exhibited major cardiovascular events and death (annualized rate, 10.5% per person-year). Multivariate Cox analysis revealed that EPA/AA ratio (hazard ratio, 0.26; 95% confidence interval, 0.07–0.99; p = 0.048) and statin therapy (hazard ratio, 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.25–0.73; p = 0.002) correlated inversely with major cardiovascular events and death. In the Kaplan–Meier analysis, cumulative event-free rates were significantly lower among patients with EPA/AA ratio < 0.33 and patients without statin therapy (p = 0.006). Conclusions: Low EPA/AA ratio at baseline and treatment without statins could predict mortality, recurrent ischemic stroke, cardiovascular and peripheral artery diseases, and hemorrhagic stroke among patients with acute ischemic stroke. The combination of baseline EPA/AA ratio and statin therapy could be critical in predicting the long-term prognosis of ischemic stroke patients.
Role of Metallic Nanofillers on Mechanical and Tribological Behaviour of Carbon Fabric Reinforced Epoxy Composites

In this study, hybrid composites based on carbon fabric and epoxy (C/Ep) were fabricated by hand lay-up method followed by compression moulding. The C/Ep with optimum carbon fiber (60 wt%) was chosen as a reference material, and to it, the metallic nanoparticles like aluminum (Al) and zinc (Zn) of different wt% (0.5 and 1.0) were included as secondary fillers. To understand the synergism effect of these hybrid reinforcements, mechanical properties and tribological behavior of composites were studied. From the test results, it was proved that hybridization improved the mechanical and tribological properties. The C/Ep consisting of 0.5 wt% Zn and Al showed higher tensile properties in comparison with all other fabricated composites. Increase in flexural strength and flexural modulus also observed as the filler content increased in C/Ep composite. Higher impact strength is noted at 1 wt% Zn filled C/Ep composite. Wear test data revealed that 0.5 wt% Zn in C/Ep has got superior wear resistance. Wear mechanisms were discussed using scanning electron micrographs of selected worn surfaces of the composites.