Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A systematic review on the clinical significance of nutraceuticals for weight loss

Aim To find out if weight loss nutraceuticals can result in clinically significant weight loss. Methods Bibliographic databases such as MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Library and Web of Science, reference lists of eligible studies and review articles and conference proceedings were searched for randomised clinical trials of nutraceuticals for weight loss. Studies not meeting our eligibility criteria were discarded. A mean difference of 5% between-group weight loss was considered clinically significant. PROSPERO protocol identifier: CRD42021238650 Results We found that out of 196 sources of nutraceutical products, Portulaca oleracea, Garcinia cambogia, green tea, carnitine, Irvingia, pyruvate, chitosan, chromium, Gymnema sylvestre, turmeric and conjugated linoleic acid supplements had at least one reported clinical significance. None of them were consistent in showing this result and none had a meta-analysis to approve their clinical significance. Conclusion Current randomised trials and meta-analyses studying single sourced weight loss nutraceuticals don’t strongly support their use for weight loss. P. oleracea, G. cambogia , green tea, carnitine, Irvingia, pyruvate, chitosan, chromium, G. sylvestre , turmeric and conjugated linoleic acid should further be studied to identify and develop potent bioactive agents which may result in better clinical results.
Associations of Healthy Eating Behavior with Mental Health and Health-Related Quality of Life: Results from the Korean National Representative Survey

Background: Healthy eating behaviors may be related to mental health and health-related quality of life. This study investigates the associations between diet quality, mental health, and health-related quality of life among men and women in Korea. Methods: A total of 6823 participants, aged 19, from the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2016 to 2018 were included. Their overall diet quality was estimated using the Korean Healthy Eating Index (KHEI). Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify the associations between diet quality, mental health, and quality of life. Results: The prevalence of stress perception and depression was highest in the lowest tertile of the KHEI score and higher for women than men. Among men, a significant association was observed only for stress perception and depressive symptoms in the second tertile, with odds ratios of 0.745 (95% CI, 0.585–0.949) and 0.519 (95% CI, 0.275–0.980). In contrast, the multivariate-adjusted odds ratios for stress perception, depressive symptoms, and low EQ-5D index among women in the highest tertile were 0.668 (95% CI, 0.541–0.823), 0.464 (95% CI, 0.288–0.746), and 0.722 (95% CI, 0.566–0.920), and significant dose–response associations were observed. Conclusions: A higher-quality diet was associated with a lower risk of stress and depression and a better quality of life. Thus, healthy eating behaviors may improve mental health and quality of life.
Mind the Tap: Assessing Foot-Taps for Interacting with Head-Mounted Displays

From voice commands and air taps to touch gestures on frames: Various techniques for interacting with head-mounted displays (HMDs) have been proposed. While these techniques have both benefits and drawbacks dependent on the current situation of the user, research on interacting with HMDs has not concluded yet. In this paper, we add to the body of research on interacting with HMDs by exploring foot-tapping as an input modality. Through two controlled experiments with a total of 36 participants, we first explore direct interaction with interfaces that are displayed on the floor and require the user to look down to interact. Secondly, we investigate indirect interaction with interfaces that, although operated by the user's feet, are always visible as they are floating in front of the user. Based on the results of the two experiments, we provide design recommendations for direct and indirect foot-based user interfaces.
Seasonal changes in dissolved chemical composition and flux of meltwater draining from Lirung Glacier in the Nepal Himalayas

Glacier meltwaters were sampled at approximately weekly intervals at the outlet of the debris-covered glacier, Lirung Glacier (28°12.9'N, 86°39.9'E; 4000 m a.m.s.l.), in the Nepal Himalayas from 16 May (pre-monsoon) to 26 October (post-monsoon) 1996. The average water discharge during the monsoon period (19 June-13 September) was 2.85±0.35 times higher than that during the pre- and post-monsoon periods. During the monsoon period the average TDS concentration was lower (0.57 times) and the average daily TDS flux was higher (1.63±0.23 times) than during the pre-and post-monsoon periods. The major cation and anion compositions in equivalent l -1 were Ca 2+ >> Mg 2+ ≥ Na + ≥ K + >> NH 4 + and Alk > SO 4 2- >> NO 3 - > Cl - , respectively. The composition of the major species was, however, quite constant throughout the observed period. The dominance of Ca 2+ , Alk and SO 4 2- indicates that sulphide oxidation coupled with carbonate dissolution is the dominant chemical weathering processes occurring within the subglacial drainage system of this glacier as widely observed in other alpine glacierized basins. The monsoon season affected the weathering fluxes of solutes through the enhanced meltwater mass but not the weathering mechanism(s) within the subglacial drainage system of the glacier.
Esaxerenone Protects against Diabetic Cardiomyopathy via Inhibition of the Chemokine and PI3K-Akt Signaling Pathway

(1) Background: Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a unique form of cardiomyopathy that develops as a consequence of diabetes and significantly contributes to heart failure in patients. Esaxerenone, a selective non-steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, has demonstrated potential in reducing the incidence of cardiovascular and renal events in individuals with chronic kidney and diabetes disease. However, the exact protective effects of esaxerenone in the context of DCM are still unclear. (2) Methods: The DCM model was successfully induced in mice by administering streptozotocin (55 mg/kg per day) for five consecutive days. After being fed a normal diet for 16 weeks, echocardiography was performed to confirm the successful establishment of the DCM model. Subsequent sequencing and gene expression analysis revealed significant differences in gene expression in the DCM group. These differentially expressed genes were identified as potential targets for DCM. By utilizing the Swiss Target Prediction platform, we employed predictive analysis to identify the potential targets of esaxerenone. A protein–protein-interaction (PPI) network was constructed using the common targets of esaxerenone and DCM. Enrichment analysis was conducted using Metascape. (3) Results: Compared to the control, the diabetic group exhibited impaired cardiac function and myocardial fibrosis. There was a total of 36 common targets, with 5 key targets. Enrichment analysis revealed that the chemokine and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway was considered a crucial pathway. A target-pathway network was established, from which seven key targets were identified. All key targets exhibited good binding characteristics when interacting with esaxerenone. (4) Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that esaxerenone exhibits a favorable therapeutic effect on DCM, primarily by modulating the chemokine and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway.
Nouvelles recherches au gisement de Willendorf (Basse Autriche)

The palaeolithic site of Willendorf (Wachau) has provided a long loess sequence including nine archaeological layers, which range from archaic Upper Palaeolithic to evolved Gravettian. The stratigraphy of this remarkable succession has been reconsidered in 1981, when a section was cleaned in the upper part of the loess sequence and charcoals were sampled for radiocarbon dating. This new section provided a consistent set of data indicating that most of the occupations (cultural layers 1 to 6) took place during the Interpleniglacial periode, between ±42.000 and 26.000 B.P., while the two upper cultural layers (8 and 9) belong to the beginning of the Upper Pleniglacial (around 25.000 B.P.)
Implementation of Team-Based Learning for a Clinical Module of the Ethiopian Undergraduate Anesthesia Curriculum and Students’ Perspectives: A Pilot Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction Team-based learning (TBL) is an active learning strategy that gives students the opportunity to apply conceptual information through a series of tasks that incorporate individual effort, team collaboration, and immediate feedback. This study aimed to report baseline TBL implementation in a clinical module of a fourth-year competency-based undergraduate anesthesia curriculum and explore the perspectives of students. Methods In April 2023, 18 students participated in two TBL sessions over two weeks, and readiness assurance test results and post-TBL evaluations were analyzed. Week one TBL implementation scores were compared with week two, establishing a longitudinal analysis over two points in time. Students also participated in an online survey to assess their views on the advantages and design of TBL, their perceptions of its best and worst features, and their suggestions for its implementation. Results Of 18 students, 16 (89%) responded to the survey. Most students believed that TBL was an effective educational strategy but expressed concern about the amount of time required for TBL preparation and the need for student readiness. The individual readiness assurance test scores did not differ significantly between weeks 1 and 2 (mean difference [MD] = 0.39, P= 0.519, 95% CI: −0.824 to 1.60). However, the students’ median [IQR] team readiness assurance test scores increased significantly from week one to week two, from 8 [2] to 10 [1] (p = 0.004). Peer evaluation scores also showed a significant increase in week 2 (MD = 2.4, P = 0.001, 95% CI: −3.760 to −0.996). Conclusion TBL was successfully implemented for a clinical module at Dilla University—Ethiopia for the first time. Students perceived it positively, but some criticized its preparation time, workload, and minimal facilitator engagement. We suggest convenient and flexible scheduling personalized for each student’s needs when TBL is applied for clinical modules.
Late-Paleoproterozoic tectonothermal events of the metamorphic basement in Alxa area:Evidence from geochronology

The metamorphic basement(block) in Alxa area,Inner Mongolia,can be divided into Archean Debusige complex, Paleoproterozoic Bayan-Wulashan complex,Paleo-Middle Proterozoic Alxa complex,Boluositanmiao orthogneiss and Bijigetai orthogneiss.1926Ma and 1802Ma metamorphic events was recorded in zircons from the gneisses of Debusige complex,1918Ma metamorphic event and 1722Ma cooling age was respectively recorded in hornblende and plagioclase from Debusige complx.1839Ma magmatic event was distinguished in zircons from Boluositanmiao deformed orthogneiss.The Late-Paleoproterozoic tectonothemal events can be divided into early event(2000～1900Ma) and late event(1850～1800Ma). The Late Paleoproterozoic tectonothermal events in the eastern part of Alxa area are similar to magmatic and metamorphic events in the Daqingshan-Jining-Datong area in time and feature. Therefore,Paleoproterozoic orogenic belt(khondalite belt) in the West Block,the North China Craton,extended westly to the northeastern part of Alxa area.
Antimicrobial, Anticancer, and Antioxidant Activities of Maize and Clover Pollen Grains Extracts: A Comparative Study with Phytochemical Characterizations

The failure to treat infectious diseases due to the continual emergence of drug-resistant microbes poses a huge and serious challenge for human health globally. Currently, the discovery and development of natural therapeutic compounds are attracting considerable attention from researchers worldwide. In this project, two types of pollen grains (maize and clover) were evaluated for potential antimicrobial activities. Extracts of both pollen grains were purified using HPLC, which has been shown to have numerous phenolic and flavonoid compounds. Pyro catechol and methyl gallate were detected in high concentrations (1145.56 and 1056.57 µg/mL, respectively) in the maize extract, while caffeic acid, quercetin, and kaempferol (464.73, 393.05, and 390.93 µg/mL, respectively) were among the compounds observed at high concentrations in the clover pollen grains extract. Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, and Candida albicans were more sensitive to the clover pollen grains extract with inhibition zones of 22 ± 0.2, 18 ± 0.1, 29 ± 0.3, and 42 ± 0.4 mm compared to the size of the inhibitory zones caused by the maize pollen grains extract (19 ± 0.3, 15 ± 0.4, 27 ± 0.1, and 22 ± 0.4 mm, respectively). Moreover, lower MIC values for the clover pollen grains extract were recorded against C. albicans (1.97 ± 0.04 µg/mL), S. aureus (62.5 ± 1.00 µg/mL), and E. coli (62.5 ± 0.07 µg/mL) than the MICs caused by the maize pollen grains extract. The use of a transmission electron microscope revealed that the E. coli that had been treated with the clover pollen grains extract showed changes in its cell walls compared to that treated with the maize pollen grains extract. The clover pollen grains extract exhibited a stronger antioxidant potential, with an IC50 value of 22.18 µg/mL, compared to an IC50 value of 54.85 µg/mL for the maize pollen grains extract, via a DPPH scavenging assay. Regarding anticancer activity, the maize pollen grains extract was revealed to be more effective in terms of inhibiting the human colon cancer cell line HCT-116, with an IC50 value of 67.02 ± 1.37 µg/mL, compared with the observed toxicity caused by the clover extract, with an IC50 value of 75.03 ± 1.02 µg/mL. Overall, the clover pollen grains extract demonstrated potent antibacterial and antioxidant activities, but not anticancer activity, when compared to the maize grains extract. Thus, the current findings related to both types of pollen grains (clover and maize) highlight their potential therapeutic applications for the treatment of certain infectious diseases and malignancies.
Spatially Selective Speaker Separation Using a DNN With a Location Dependent Feature Extraction

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have proven themselves as an effective means to separate clean speech from noisy mixtures. When there are multiple concurrent talkers, however, unambiguously defining the target output is not trivial, especially if the mixture is single-channel and the talkers are not known in advance. Although this problem can be addressed with permutation invariant training or deep clustering, the performance still suffers in this case. Approaches for compact arrays of multiple microphones can exploit spatial diversity to resolve the ambiguity: a separate output may be generated for each direction of arrival (DOA), or the speaker assignment can be controlled with a location-based training (LBT). Alternatively, we can narrow down the target definition at the input, to perform a spatially selective speaker separation instead of separating all speakers simultaneously. This is achieved by specifying freely adjustable target DOAs. On the one hand, these can be integrated as location-based input features (LBI). On the other hand, the main contribution of this work is a location dependent feature extraction (LDE): we implicitly introduce a DOA dependence in a small part of the DNN by optimizing its parameters for each DOA separately. Experiments demonstrate that LDE outperforms LBT and LBI in terms of instrumental metrics and speech recognition results. A representative audio example is presented for a qualitative impression. An analysis of the spatial selectivity reveals that target and nontarget directions can be distinguished quite well with LDE, which is also verified by recordings of real moving talkers.
Correlation of Serum TSH with Ovarian Reserve in Patient of Infertility. A Retrospective Study

Background: Various hormones have different impact in fertility either to predict, to investigate or to treat infertility. Due to hindrance in follicular growth, embryo development, implantation and placental formation thyroid dysfunction affects fertility. Studies suggest that thyroid disorder affecting follicular process is associated with ovarian reserve. Similarly serum FSH is directly related to AMH depicting strong correlation of age with each other. This study was conducted to see the association between thyroid dysfunction and serum Anti Mullerian Hormone (AMH) level. Methods: All the female having infertility between age of 20 to 45 were included in the study. Those who did not undergo hormonal assay were excluded from study. All the data were taken from Opd record and their serum Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, AMH and Day2 Follicle Stimulating Hormone Luteinizing Hormone, Prolactin, Estradiol and Progesterone were evaluated. Result: A total of 292 patients visited infertility clinic at our institution over a period of 1.5 yrs and of them only 80 had undergone all hormonal assay. Majority of women enrolled for the study were in the age group 21-30 and the mean age was 29.98±5.4 yrs. Hypothyroidism was seen in 27.5% (n=22) females while we found no cases of hyperthyroidism in our study. Though 35% of females had TSH <2.5. Low serum AMH levels (<1.6 ng/ml) were noted in 25% (n=20). Among women of age less than 35 yrs and low AMH (<1.6) mean TSH was 7.27±6.93 and with normal AMH (>1.6) mean TSH was 3.61±1.73 which was statistically significant (p-value <0.001). Similarly mean FSH in women with low AMH (<1.6) was 8.66±2.89 and with normal AMH (>1.6) was 5.81±1.36 which was statistically significant (p-value <0.001). Conclusion: TSH and FSH level is inversely related to ovarian reserve infertile women.
SDR-Based Portable System for Evaluating Exposure to Ambient Electromagnetic Fields

This paper discusses the need to accurately determine the population’s exposure to low-intensity radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) from modern technologies like mobile networks, Wi-Fi, and IoT and proposes a practical solution for this assessment. There is no scientific consensus on the biological effects, mostly due to challenges in conducting accurate biological experiments. Recent research suggests that real-life exposure sources trigger stronger biological responses than laboratory-generated RF-EMF. However, there is a lack of research comparing the effects of these sources. This paper introduces a portable system for assessing and monitoring EMF exposure in urban areas. Employing a Software-Defined Radio (SDR) platform to ensure adaptability, the system incorporates two measurement configurations. The initial version concentrates on determining the average power within a 20 MHz Wi-Fi channel, whereas the subsequent configuration augments its functionality by introducing a frequency sweep. This sweep broadens the scrutinized bandwidth, thereby enriching the captured data content through the storage of spectrum sweeps corresponding to each average power value. These data can be used to create EMF profile maps based on individuals’ geographical coordinates. Compared to current limited-performance commercial exposimeters, the proposed system offers expanded capabilities by broadening the frequency bandwidth, georeferencing measurements, and storing data in an SQL database. Compared to high-performance commercial exposimeters, the major advantage of the system is its ability to detect short-term fluctuations in signal spectra and store the corresponding data for subsequent analysis.
The Les Essarts eclogite-bearing metamorphic Complex (Vendée, southern Armorican Massif, France):

We present data that aims to clarify the origin of the Les Essarts eclogite-bearing 19 GÉOLOGIE DE LA FRANCE, N° 1-2, 2001 The Les Essarts eclogite-bearing metamorphic Complex (Vendée, southern Armorican Massif, France): Pre-Variscan terrains in the Hercynian belt? Le complexe métamorphique à éclogites des Essarts (Vendée, Massif armoricain méridional) : un témoin de terrains pré-varisques au sein de la chaîne hercynienne ? Gaston GODARD (1) Géologie de la France, n° 1-2, 2001, pp. 19-51, 25 fig. (fig. 2 et 10 en fin d’ouvrage) Mots-clés : Serpentinite, Eclogite, Leptynite, Amphibolite, Métamorphisme rétrograde, Protolithe, Métagabbro, Gneiss, Métamorphisme polycyclique, Faciès éclogite, Vendée.
Differential Effects of Paraquat, Rotenone, and MPTP on Cellular Bioenergetics of Undifferentiated and Differentiated Human Neuroblastoma Cells

Paraquat (PQ), rotenone (RO), and 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) are neurotoxicants that can damage human health. Exposure to these neurotoxicants has been linked to neurodegeneration, particularly Parkinson’s disease. However, their mechanisms of action have not been fully elucidated, nor has the relative vulnerability of neuronal subtypes to their exposures. To address this, the current study investigated the cytotoxic effects of PQ, RO, and MPTP and their relative effects on cellular bioenergetics and oxidative stress on undifferentiated human neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) cells and those differentiated to dopaminergic (DA) or cholinergic (CH) phenotypes. The tested neurotoxicants were all cytotoxic to the three cell phenotypes that correlated with both concentration and exposure duration. At half-maximal effective concentrations (EC50s), there were significant reductions in cellular ATP levels and reduced activity of the mitochondrial complexes I and III, with a parallel increase in lactate production. PQ at 10 µM significantly decreased ATP production and mitochondrial complex III activity only in DA cells. RO was the most potent inhibitor of mitochondrial complex 1 and did not inhibit mitochondrial complex III even at concentrations that induced a 50% loss of cell viability. MPTP was the most potent toxicant in undifferentiated cells. All neurotoxicants significantly increased reactive oxygen species, lipid peroxidation, and nuclear expression of Nrf2, with a corresponding inhibition of the antioxidant enzymes catalase and superoxide dismutase. At a 10 µM exposure to PQ or RO, oxidative stress biomarkers were significant in DA cells. Collectively, this study underscores the importance of mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in PQ, RO, and MPTP-induced cytotoxicity and that neuronal phenotypes display differential vulnerability to these neurotoxicants.