Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Growth Performance, Immune Response and Carcass Status of Broiler Chickens Fed Diets Contain Different Sources of Methionine

An experiment was conducted for a period of 42 days to assess the possible substitution of synthetic DL-methionine (DL-Met) by herbal methionine (H-Met) with graded levels on growth performance, immune response and carcass traits of broiler chicks. A total of 150-day-oldArber Acer chicks were randomly allotted into five experimental groups (30 chicks/group), each group with three replicates of 10 birds per replicate. Group 1 of birds was kept as a control group and the birds fed the basal diet containing the full methionine requirement (100%) from DL-Met without any H-Met substitution. While, other experimental groups fed on basal diet with DL-Met / H-Met at percentage of 75/25, 50/50, 25/75 and 0/100 for groups 2  5 respectively. The results showed that, 50% replacement of DL- Met by H- Met improved (P≥0.05) final body weight and weight gain by about 2.2% and 2.3% respectively when compared with chick of control group. H- Met inclusion had no effect on feed intake, while 50% replacement of 50% of synthetic methionine by H- Met non-significantly (P≥0.05) improved FCR, PER, EEU and PI by about 2.1%, 2.4%, 2.2% and 4.2% respectively when compared with the control. 50% replacement of synthetic Met by H- source non-significantly reduced blood serum triglyceride, cholesterol, GPT and ALP when compared with the control. 50% of synthetic Met replacement by H- Met synergistically together and had immune-stimulant effect and lower fat liver content of broiler chickens.
Transmission Line Fault Imaging Using Phaseless Inverse Scattering and Temporal Sparsity

A phaseless 1-D inverse scattering technique for detecting and imaging soft faults in lossy transmission lines is proposed. Its novelty is that it: 1) performs impedance profile imaging with only phaseless measurements and 2) integrates a temporal background subtraction sparsity technique to image temporal change across the impedance profile. The combination of these techniques removes the need for directional couplers and phase synchronization and reduces the required number of measurements. The novelty of the approach is that, even in its phaseless form, accurate linear expressions for the impedance profile are obtained, opening up significant flexibility in the techniques’ application. Numerical and experimental results show that the proposed techniques provide accurate results for a wide range of impedance profiles with limited phaseless measurements. The techniques have the potential for providing low complexity systems for accurately monitoring the formation of newly formed transmission line faults.
Are Zinc oxide nanoparticles safe? A structural study on human serum albumin using in vitro and in silico methods

With due attention to adsorption of proteins on the nanoparticles surface and the formation of nanoparticle-protein corona, investigation of nanoparticles toxicity on the structure of proteins is important. Therefore, this work was done to evaluate toxicity of Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) on the structure of human serum albumin (HSA) through in vitro and in silico studies. First, ZnO NPs were synthesized using hydrothermal method and their size and morphology were determined by SEM and TEM methods and then to study its toxicity on the HSA structure were used UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. In order to interpret experimental results and interactions of ZnO NP with HSA at the atomistic level was used molecular dynamics (md) simulation. The obtained images from SEM and TEM showed that ZnO NPs were nanosheet with size of less than 40 nm. The results of spectroscopic studies showed ZnO NPs lead to significant conformational changes in the protein’s absorption and emission spectra. Moreover, md results indicated that the inserting of ZnO NP into simulation box lead to unfolding of HSA at the beginning of simulation and the most important factor in the unfolding of protein structure is the non-covalent electrostatic interactions between polar charge groups of HSA and ZnO NP, even when the nanoparticle is located far away - greater than 4 Å - from the protein.
Combined effects of oxytetracycline concentration and algal food level on the life-table demography of Brachionus calyciflorus (Rotifera)

Oxytetracycline (OTC) is commonly used for aquaculture and livestock, and its environmental concentration has increased to a considerable level and displays potential environmental risk. In the present study, the life-table demography of Brachionus calyciflorus exposed to sublethal concentrations (30.0, 60.0, 90.0, 120.0, 150.0 and 180.0 mg L−1 ) of OTC was investigated at 1.0 × 106 , 2.0 × 106 and 4.0 × 106 cells mL−1 of Scenedesmus obliquus . The results showed that at each algal density, OTC concentration affected significantly life expectancy at hatching, net reproductive rate, generation time and intrinsic rate of population increase (P > 0.05). Compared to the controls, and at 2.0 × 106 cells mL−1 of S. obliquus , treatments with OTC at 30.0–150.0 and 60.0–120.0 mg L−1 significantly prolonged life expectancy at hatching and generation time, treatments with OTC at 30.0–120.0 and 30.0–90.0 mg L−1 increased net reproduction rate and intrinsic rate of population increase, respectively, but the reverse was also true for those with OTC at 180.0 mg L−1 . Higher and lower algal densities decreased the magnitude of stimulatory effects of lower concentrations of OTC but enhanced that of inhibitory effects of high concentration of OTC on the survival, asexual reproduction and population growth of the rotifers. At the three algal densities, net reproduction rate was more sensitive to OTC than the other endpoints, and significant concentration- effect relationship existed between OTC concentration and each of all the life-table demographic parameters except the proportion of mictic offspring.
Population structure of Spanish mackerel Scomberomorus commerson (Lacepede 1800) in the Northern Indian Ocean determined using microatellite markers

Narrow barred Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus commerson (Lacepede, 1800) is one of the economically important marine fish species in the Northern Indian Ocean. Genetic stock structuring is reported in S. commerson from Arabian Peninsula, Indo-West Pacific, Northern Australian, Southeast Asia and Northern Australia. The present study utilized microsatellite markers to elucidate the population structure of S. commerson (Lacepede, 1800) in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. A total of 12 polymorphic microsatellite loci were amplified in 250 samples collected from five different geographic locations. Low F ST values (0.0023–0.027), AMOVA, PCoA and the Bayesian analysis of genetic structure indicated unit stock of the species in Indian waters. Bottleneck analysis using Wilcoxon signed rank tests and Mode shift test indicated lack of recent bottleneck events across populations of S. commerson . The findings of the present study could be used in managing the commercially important species, S. commerson as a unit stock in Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal of Northern Indian Ocean and reinforces the need for regional cooperation on fisheries management.
Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles mediated by Houttuynia cordata leaf extract: Characterization and improvement of anti-inflammatory activity

ABSTRACT Silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) were synthesized in an eco-friendly manner using aqueous Houttuynia cordata leaf extract (HLE). HLE mediated Ag-NPs (Ag-NPs/HLE) exhibited surface plasmon resonance with a maximum absorbance at 450 nm. The mean diameter of Ag-NPs was 23 nm, and their crystalline structure was confirmed via X-ray diffraction analysis. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy indicated that hydroxyl, carboxyl, and ketone groups of sugar or polyphenolics were involved in Ag-NPs synthesis. The contribution of reducing sugars to the reduction of Ag ions was found to be greater than that of polyphenols. NO production in LPS stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages was more effectively inhibited by Ag-NPs/HLE than by chemically synthesized Ag-NPs. The production of the major inflammatory mediators, PGE2 and TNF-α was decreased by 73% and 66%, respectively, upon the addition of 10 μg/mL Ag-NPs/HLE. Ag-NPs biosynthesized using HLE showed improved anti-inflammatory activity compared to conventional Ag-NPs owing to the incorporation of phytochemicals.
Mammalian Auditory Cortex Structure as the Basis of Cortical Sound Processing

The basic morphological aspects of auditory cortex organization in different orders of eutherian mammals are considered in the present review. The modern data describing a partitioning of mammalian auditory cortex into subfields are presented. A detailed observation of the structural organization of primary auditory cortex is given, as well as a review of recent morphological data about secondary auditory areas. Another section describes the system of auditory cortical projections. The data are considered from the perspective of possible homologies existing between the auditory cortices in different mammalian species.
Seroprevalence of Chikungunya virus infection in Ballari and nearby districts of Karnataka

Background and Objective: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an arthropod-borne virus, causes fever and nonspecific clinical manifestations similar to malaria and other bacterial infections, it is not routinely tested at the health facilities and therefore goes undiagnosed and as such its prevalence is likely to be underestimated. Materials and Methods: The patients with history of fever and arthralgia and clinically suspected were analyzed and Ig M anti chikungunya antibodies were tested by Ig M capture enzyme linked immunosorbant assay. Results: A total of 449 serum samples from suspected cases of chikungunya infection were received during the study period, out of which 125(21.8%) samples were positive for chikungunya infection. Of the total number of affected 56(44.8%) were males and 69(55.2%) were females. Conclusion: In Indian scenario there is a need of screening of CHIKV and other arboviruses to prevent the complications as early
Study of biochemical parameters in farmers exposed to pesticides used in cotton growing around the Bala hippopotamus pond

Repeated exposure to pesticides can cause a variety of human health problems, particularly among farmers. This work consisted in studying biochemical parameters and their evolution in cotton farmers exposed to pesticides. A longitudinal study was conducted during and after the 2018/2019 cotton season on a cohort of cotton farmers around the Bala hippopotamus pond in the department of Satiri. Biochemical parameters were measured during and after the crop year on the Architect ci 4100. The majority of the farmers had high uric acid (UA) and low blood sugar (Gluc) concentrations. A few had concentrations of Cholinesterase (ChE) (6.19%); Direct Bilirubin (BilD) (23.01%); Gamma Glutamyl Transferase (GGT) (8.85%); Alkaline Phosphatase (ALkP) (4.42%); Cholesterol (Chol) (4.42%); triglycerides (Trig) (4.42%); aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (4.42%) higher than normal and lower than normal albumin (Alb) (13.27%) and total protein (TP) (13.27%) concentrations. Analysis of the evolution of biochemical parameters showed that none of the producers had higher than normal ChE and TP concentrations. After the campaign, the number of producers with lower than normal values increased for AST, AlkP, Alb and Urea while those with higher than normal values increased for GGT, UA, Gluc, Chol, Trig and BilD. Also, a significant decrease in AST, ALT and creatinine (CreaC) concentrations and a significant increase in GGT and BilD concentrations were observed. The existence of some disturbances of biochemical parameters in farmers should encourage to test the hypothesis of a link between pesticide exposure and the appearance of biochemical disorders in clinical trials.
Serum Adropin and Apelin as Potential Markers PredictingAcute Heart Failure-associated Renal Dysfunction among Elderly Iraqi Patients

Adropin and apelin, newly recognized proteins, are imperative for energy homeostasis and maintaining insulin sensitivity, and have been denoted as new regulators of endothelial cells. The currentworkwas designed to investigate serum adropin and apelin levels amongacute heart failure patients with and without renal dysfunction, and to study the associationwithother clinical and biochemical parameters. This study was performed in Iraqi Centre for Cardiovascular Diseases/Al-Hariry Hospital from June 2019 to January 2020. Current study enrolled 90 hospitalized patients with ejection fraction ≤ 45%. They were compared with 45 healthy subjects as control group. Anthropometric and metabolicinvestigations were done for each subject. The differences between acute heart failure patients and controls werehighly significant ( p < 0.05) in all metabolic and anthropometric variables. Patients had low levels of ejection fraction% as compared to the controls with OR= 1.37(CI=0.82-1.66). Moreover, the differences between patients with and without renal dysfunction werehighly significant vary ( p < 0.05) in all metabolic variables. Serum adropin levels were high (5.10±0.16ng/ml)in normal healthy controls compared to (1.26±0.01ng/ml) in acute heart failure patients with renal dysfunction and (1.46±0.01ng/ml) in those without renal dysfunction ( p= 0.0001), OR=1.39(CI= 0.92-1.83). Serum apelin levels in acute heart failurepatients with renal dysfunction were low (271.42 ± 6.48ρg/ml) and (390.22 ± 3.74ρg/ml) in those without renal dysfunction ( p= 0.0001), OR=1.26(CI= 0.78-1.70). Thus, Serum adropin and apelin levels were low in acute heart failure patients especially among those with renal dysfunction as compared to the control, which reveals the role of these markers in heart disease and renal dysfunction.
Impact of coronary revascularization on outcomes of transcatheter aortic valve implantation

Objective Although the effect of coronary revascularization on clinical outcomes before and after transcatheter valve implantation (TAVI) is debatable, there is currently insufficient data to determine the most appropriate revascularization strategy. In this study, we present our single-center experience of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and its effect on clinical outcomes and mortality in patients undergoing TAVI. Methods We performed a retrospective analysis of 526 consecutive patients at our center, and 127 patients with obstructive coronary artery disease were included in the study. Patients were divided into two groups: the revascularization group (group 1) and the non-revascularization group (group 2). Procedural complications and long-term all-cause mortality rates were compared between the two groups. Results Of the 526 patients, group 1 comprised 65 patients (12.3%) who underwent PCI, and group 2 comprised 62 patients (11.7%) who did not undergo revascularization. According to Valve Academic Research Consortium 2 criteria, post-procedural complications, including pericardial effusion, stroke, major vascular complications, major bleeding, and emerging arrhythmias, were similar between the groups. A Kaplan–Meier survival curve analysis showed no significant difference between the revascularization and non-revascularization groups (Overall: 40.0±2.8 month; 95% CI 34.4–45.6 month, p=0.959). After adjustment for basal SYNTAX score, chronic kidney disease stage, previous myocardial infarction, and baseline troponin levels, the long-term survival of group 1 was significantly longer when compared with group 2 (p=0.036). In 75.4% of cases, PCI was performed within 11.0±14.7 days before or after TAVI as a staged procedure. In 13.8% of cases, PCI was performed simultaneously with TAVI. While there was no significant difference in in-hospital, 6-month, and 1-year mortality rates between the simultaneous and staged PCI groups, there was a significant difference in 30-day mortality (11.1% vs. 0%, respectively; p=0.016). Conclusion Peri-procedural and long-term safety outcomes and mortality rates are not significantly different between revascularized and non-revascularized patients, and neither staged nor simultaneous PCI have adverse outcomes in patients undergoing TAVI.
A 28 GHz and 60 GHz Dual-Band On-Chip Antenna for 5G-Compatible IoT-Served Sensors in Standard CMOS Process

In this communication, a dual-band on-chip meander-line monopole antenna is proposed and demonstrated for emerging fifth-generation (5G)-compatible Internet of Things (IoT)-served sensor nodes. The targeted 28/60 GHz compact antenna is a hybrid structure of meander-line monopole antenna and packaging substrate to both shield the antenna from its deployed environment and to enhance the antenna radiation efficiency as well as the gain over the two bands of interest. The antenna model and design analysis are presented in this work together with a fabricated and tested 65 nm bulk CMOS chip. The prototyped on-chip antenna exhibits a measured gain of −10 dBi at 28 GHz with a bandwidth of 5.3% and 0 dBi at 60 GHz with a bandwidth of 5.9%. A radiation efficiency of 45% and 30% is obtained at 28 and 60 GHz, respectively. The antenna occupies a space of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.25\times0.3$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm<sup>2</sup> (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda /43\times \lambda /35.7$ </tex-math></inline-formula> at 28 GHz). The on-chip antenna solution proposed in this work addresses the highly desirable yet challenging overall design of future wireless systems (5G and beyond) which hit the mark on compactness, cost, and compatibility. In addition, this work provides a viable design platform for achieving frequency diversity and multifunctionality of future wireless involving power harvesting, data transfer, and sensing operation.
Differences in Habitat Requirements between Two Sister Dendrocopos Woodpeckers in Urban Environments: Implication for the Conservation of Syrian Woodpecker

Abstract. In numerous and extensive studies on birds in cities, woodpeckers have usually been neglected. Most research has only considered their suburban populations. Among European woodpeckers, only the Syrian Woodpecker Dendrocopos syriacus is synanthropic, occupying both rural and urban areas. In this study, habitat requirements of sympatric Syrian and Great Spotted D. majorWoodpeckers were investigated in two urban populations from central Poland. The occurrence of Syrian Woodpecker was found to be associated with walnut trees, fruit trees and mainly older softwood trees (poplars, willows). Plots with Syrian Woodpeckers were characterized by trees scattered among single-family buildings and within tenement houses in town centres. In contrast, plots with Great Spotted Woodpeckers were densely wooded, often with high share of hardwood trees and located in suburbs or residential woods. The aforementioned results show that these two sibling woodpeckers occupy different niches in urban populations. Moreover, this study supports the statement that urban areas are important for the Syrian Woodpecker in central Europe — a rare species in the European Union. Trees removal in cities, especially softwood trees, is a serious threat to the preservation of Syrian Woodpecker populations.
Identification of Genes Differentially Expressed in Simvastatin‐Induced Alveolar Bone Formation

Local delivery of simvastatin (SIM) has exhibited potential in preventing inflammation and limiting bone loss associated with experimental periodontitis. The primary aim of this study was to analyze transcriptome changes that may contribute to SIM's reduction of periodontal inflammation and bone loss. We evaluate the global genetic profile and signaling mechanisms induced by SIM on experimental periodontitis bone loss and inflammation. Twenty mature female Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to ligature‐induced experimental periodontitis around maxillary second molars (M2) either unilaterally (one side untreated, n = 10) or bilaterally (n = 10). After the ligature removal at day 7, sites were injected with either carrier, pyrophosphate (PPi ×3), 1.5‐mg SIM‐dose equivalent SIM‐pyrophosphate prodrug, or no injection. Three days after ligature removal, animals were euthanized; the M1‐M2 interproximal was evaluated with μCT, histology, and protein expression. M2 palatal gingiva was harvested for RNA sequencing. Although ligature alone caused upregulation of proinflammatory and bone catabolic genes and proteins, seen in human periodontitis, SIM‐PPi upregulated anti‐inflammatory (IL‐10, IL‐1 receptor‐like 1) and bone anabolic (insulin‐like growth factor, osteocrin, fibroblast growth factor, and Wnt/ β‐catenin) genes. The PPi carrier alone did not have these effects. Genetic profile and signaling mechanism data may help identify enhanced pharmacotherapeutic approaches to limit or regenerate periodontitis bone loss. © 2018 The Authors. JBMR Plus Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Occurrence of common phyllosphere fungi of horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) is unrelated to degree of damage by leafminer (Cameraria ohridella)

ABSTRACT The horse chestnut leaf-miner (Cameraria ohridella Deschka & Dimić, Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae) is an invasive pest causing extensive damage to leaves of the horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum L.) in Europe. In Lithuania, C. ohridella invaded in 2002 causing wilting, browning and premature fall of A. hippocastanum leaves. The aim was to get a better understanding of possible linkages between foliar fungal communities and leaf-miner damage in A. hippocastanum. Leaves of A. hippocastanum, differentially damaged by C. ohridella, were collected in 10 sites in Lithuania. The fungal communities were described through DNA isolation and amplification using an ITS rRNA marker and Ion Torrent-sequencing. Clustering of 214,897 high-quality sequences resulted in 1017 non-singleton fungal taxa, among which Aureobasidium pullulans (28.2% of all fungal sequences), Endoconidioma populi (27.7%), Phoma fungicola (11.3%), Cladosporium ramotenellum (7.6%) and Cryptococcus sp. 2185_4 (5.0%) were most common. Correspondence analysis showed that fungal communities from heavily and slightly damaged leaves were largely intermingled, showing that in both types of samples fungal communities were similar. In conclusion, the study demonstrated that the phyllosphere of A. hippocastanum is inhabited by a high diversity of fungal species, the majority of which constitute generalist endophytes, epiphytes and saprotrophic fungi. The occurrence of common phyllosphere fungi was unrelated to the degree of damage by C. ohridella.
L2 Reading Skill Acquisition in Non-Literate Adult Native Speakers of Arabic

Reading is a complex skill requiring a range of cognitive and metalinguistic processes. This paper presents an overview of literacy definitions and bottom-up and top-down processes in reading and emphasises the importance of phonological awareness. It describes the outcomes of a study that re-examines the efficiency of whole language and phonics based curriculum of an English literacy course for non-literate Arabic natives. The purpose of the paper is to underscore the relevant processes and techniques crucial for developing reading skill, which are to be applied in L2 literacy classrooms, in order to enable and empower students to use a language as a tool which will give them an opportunity to successfully integrate into society as functionally literate individuals.