Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Folic Acid and Vitamin-C Administration on Paraoxonase and Arylesterase -1 Activities in Rats intoxicated with Lead

Lead; Folic acid; Vitamin C; Paraoxonase/arylesterase-1; PON-1; Lipid profile ABSTRACT: Paraoxonase and aryl-esterase-1 (PON-1) in serum of rats intoxicated with lead then administered Folic acid and Vitamin-C was investigated in forty male albino rats (160-190 g) randomly separated into 2 groups of 20 rats each namely: Lead acetate (60 mg kg ) and normal saline was given to each group for 6 weeks and there after administered Folic acid (500 μg kg ) and/or Vitamin-C (60 mg kg) orally for 4 weeks. Blood sample was obtained at the end from each rat for biochemical assessment. Results obtained indicated significant (p<0.05) reduction in activities of arylesterase (60.51±8.52 U L) and paraoxonase (74.95±3.63 U L) of non-supplemented, rats intoxicated with lead compared to 121.51±7.34 and 98.19±2.25 U L respectively for the control groups. Similarly, the values of catalase (10.54±0.46 U mg) and superoxide dismutase (4.93±0.66 U mg), differ significantly (p<0.05) in the non-supplemented group intoxicated with lead as compared to 31.62±0.67 U mg, and 28.46±1.54 U mg respectively for the control groups. Malonyldialdehyde level (0.58±0.29 nmol L) decreased significantly (p<0.05) in the control group as compared to the 5.21±0.16 nmol L observed in the non-supplemented group intoxicated with lead. Significant (p<0.05) decrease was observed for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level (41.08±0.48 mg L) in the non-supplemented, rats intoxicated with lead as compared to the level (78.67±0.66 mg L) noticed in the control group. Findings from this study deduced that sub-chronically lead intoxication may cause cardiovascular diseases as evident in the decreased activities of arylesterase and paraoxonase. However, administration of Folic acid and Vitamin-C to the rats intoxicated with lead improves the catalytic activities of PON-1, and this may mitigate leadinduced cardiovascular disease risk.
Właściwości materiałów cementowych wzmacnianych odpornymi na środowisko zasadowe włóknami szklanymi, jako odpowiedniego materiału do zastosowań naprawczych Properties of cementitious materials reinforced with alkali-resistant glass fi bres as a suitable material for repair applications

During the last 40 years, many researchers have discussed the reinforcement of the cementitious materials by glass fi bres (1‒3). The fi rst fi bres used were glass type E; these mixtures were unsatisfactory due to the poor durability (4). This is due to the chemical attack of fi bres by alkalis present in the liquid phase of the very basic cement paste (5, 6). Glass type E was subsequently replaced by type alkali-resistant [AR] which had a different chemical composition. As 1. Wprowadzenie
Autism and IL-17 & IL-18

Clinical trials have identified autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as a complex neurodegenerative disease. Individuals with ASD have problems with social activities and abilities, mutual communication, stereotyped behaviors, and have a propensity to and have activities and interests. The immune system and neural development are linked from fetal development to maturity, and dysfunctions in this communication impair many immune system functions. One of the most widely held beliefs about ASD is that it is a condition caused by immune system dysfunction. When a pregnant woman is exposed to an infection, an inflammatory immune response is activated, and molecules such as maternal cytokines and chemokines that can cross the placenta are produced. It has been reported that the pro-inflammatory cytokine molecules IL-17 and IL-18, which pass from the placenta to the fetus, control the ASD pathway, induce neurotoxicity as a result of inflammation, and have an impact on ASD, which is a neurodegenerative disorder.
Concrete incorporating high-calcium fly ash and EAF slag aggregates

Concrete mixtures with high volumes of electric arc furnace slag as aggregates and high-calcium fly ash as part of the binding system were produced and tested for their properties. The properties tested included strength development, microstructure and abrasion resistance, and the results were compared to those of conventional concrete. Results showed that compressive strength levels equal to or higher than those of conventional concrete can be achieved by using more than 90% by mass industrial by-products in the concrete mixture. These concretes of greater unit weight have shown very good aggregate–matrix transition zone and abrasion resistance, which makes them particularly suitable for pavement applications. The possibility of heavy metals leaching was also tested using a tank-leaching test, which showed minimal risk from the incorporation of electric arc furnace slag and high-calcium fly ash in concrete.
An Evaluation of Corporate Governance Characteristics and Corporate Performance between Government-Linked Companies (GLCs) in Malaysia and Singapore: A Panel Data Analysis

This research seeks to investigate whether corporate governance contributes to the Government-link public listed companies’ performance in Malaysia and Singapore. A sample consisting of 20 Malaysian Governmentlinked public listed companies and 20 Singaporean Government-linked public listed companies were selected. The research timeframe covers from 2012 to 2017. Findings revealed that except for board meetings and independent directors, 4 other independent variables were statistically significant in affecting the Malaysian and Singaporean government-link public listed companies’ performance. Directors’ ownership had a significant negative impact on ROA and ROE in Malaysia but had no impact in Singapore. Board meetings and independent directors had no impact towards firm performance in both countries. Board size had positive and significant impact on ROE in Singapore. Number of women directors was significantly negatively related to Tobin’s Q, ROA and ROE. Leverage level was significantly negatively related to all firm performance’s measures in Malaysia, while only significantly related to Tobin’s Q in Singapore.
Million Dollar Arsenic Removal Plants in West Bengal, India: Useful or Not?

The effectiveness of arsenic removal plants (ARPs) to provide safe water was evaluated based on a study of 577 ARPs out of 1900 installed in 5 arsenic-affected districts of West Bengal, India. Out of 577, 145 (25.1%) were found in defunct condition. Both raw and filtered water from 305 ARPs were analyzed for total arsenic concentration. Forty-eight ARPs were installed despite raw water arsenic concentrations below the Indian standard (50 µg/L) and in 22 cases even below the WHO guideline value (10 µg/L). Among the 264 ARPs having raw water arsenic above 50 µg/L, 140 (53.1%) and 73 (27.7%) failed to remove arsenic below the WHO guideline value and Indian standard, respectively. The highest arsenic concentration in treated water was 705 µg/L. Analysis of 217 treated water samples for iron showed that 175 (80.6%) failed to remove iron below 300 µg/L. The treated water became coloured on standing 6 to 8 h, for 191 (44.2%) ARPs and 25 (5.8%) produced bad-odoured water. Overall, the study showed that 475 (82.3%) of the ARPs were not useful. The reasons for ineffectiveness and poor performance of these ARPs include improper maintenance, sand gushing problems, a lack of user-friendliness and absence of community participation. A comparative study of ARPs in two different blocks (Domkol in Murshidabad district and Swarupnagar in North 24 Parganas) showed that 39 (80%) and 38 (95%) ARPs, respectively, were not useful. Further study in Gram Panchayet Kolsur, Deganga block, North 24 Parganas, showed that 14 (87.5%) ARPs were not useful. Proper watershed management with active participation from the villagers is urgently required for successful mitigation.
Comparison of the Rate of Verbal Oral Movements in Healthy Younger and Older Native Speakers of Persians

Background: Normal aging is associated with many changes in speech-producing elements that can influence the articulators' ability to produce sounds quickly and precisely. To diagnose any motor problems in the oral area, it is necessary to obtain numerical oral motor performance rates in normal individuals. According to previous studies, quantitative measures of Oral diadochokinesis (DDK) vary across different cultures, languages, and ages. However, little research has been conducted in Persian native speakers to evaluate normal DDK in different age groups. Therefore, this study aimed to determine and compare DDK indicators in healthy young and older Persian native speakers. Methods: The participants were 105 healthy young and older individuals (56 women and 49 men) with the age range18-40, 60-80, and >80 years. Each subject was asked to repetitively express the syllables 15 times, and the sequence /pataka/ 10 times. Mann–Whitney and independent-sample t-tests were applied to show the differences, respectively between and within age groups. Results: The significant difference was revealed between young and older groups in performance in all tasks (p=0.00). In younger participants, increasing age correlated significantly with increasing time needed to produce /ta/ (p=0.04) and /ka/ (p=0.01) syllables. Also, the rate variation decreased as the point of articulation moved backward in the vocal tract for /ta/ and /ka/ production in both the older (p=0.6) and younger group (p=0.4). Conclusion: The results of this study can also help clinicians to document differences in the articulation rate between older and younger people and diagnose abnormal oral motor rates.
Why do People Refuse Entrepreneurship and How to Improve Entrepre- neurial Education?

The purpose of this paper is to measure entrepreneurial intentions with a clear timeframe for the intended behavior, thus going beyond a simple measure of attitude. It then looks at those who refuse the idea of becoming entrepreneurs to understand why This is something the literature on entrepreneurship has ignored so far. Samples were collected in 2018 from final year university students in Portugal. Data shows that trusting one’s own skills, valuing own job creation, valuing being one’s own boss and valuing the independence associated with being an entrepreneur does contribute to student’s willingness to become entrepreneurs. The results provide some important lessons for entrepreneurial education programs, as people who say no to entrepreneurship:  are less motivated to career factors and more worried about life quality factors;  see harder obstacles to creating startups;  trust less in their entrepreneurial skills. Implications for theory and practice are proposed, as these results can be used to improve entrepreneurial education. This new view on potential entrepreneurs’ individual choices is presented as an advancement to the theory and to our present understanding of entrepreneurship.
The Hepatoprotective Role of Balanites aegyptiaca Extract and its Nano-Formulation Against Methomyl-Induced Toxicity and Oxidative Stress in Mice via Overexpression of Nrf2

IntroductionMethomyl (MET) is a monomethyl carbamate insecticide that is widely used around the world. MET is highly toxic to humans via oral exposure and mainly affects the liver tissue. It actually induces toxicity through overproduction of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) leading to oxidative stress with subsequent destruction of lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.Materials and MethodsVarious plant extracts have been primarily screened for their antioxidant activities by measuring the free radical scavenging ability. Later, the plant extract with the highest antioxidant efficacy has been further formulated into a nanosuspension and the antioxidative effect has also been investigated against MET. Additionally, liver, kidney, and heart function biomarkers, liver tissue oxidative stress parameters, and total antioxidant capacity were assessed. Moreover, RT-PCR was applied to measure the Nrf2 expression.ResultsThe antioxidant screening data showed that balanites extract (BLT, Balanites aegyptiaca) had the most potent antioxidant activity. Besides, BLT showed dose-dependent improvement in liver, heart, and kidney functions in experimental mice treated with MET. The antioxidant biomarkers in liver tissue and total antioxidant capacity were elevated as compared to the MET-treated group. Furthermore, BLT significantly ameliorated MET-induced toxicity via the induction of Nrf2 and MET hepatic clearance. This study suggests the potential use of BLT extract as a natural antioxidant for the safe management of MET-induced hepatotoxicity and oxidative stress.ConclusionsBased on the presented data in this study, it can be concluded that BLT or BLT-NS can be used as a safe drug for methomyl toxicity.
Absolute Configuration of β- eudesmol Major Component from Essential Oil of Warionia saharae

Objective: A known sesquiterpenes β-Eudesmol (beta-Selinenol) the main components of essential oil of Warionia saharae have been isolated from the hydrodistillation extract leaves. The essential oil components was analyzed and identified by GC-MS spectroscopy. Methodology: The main chiral component has been chromatographically purified by TLC and GLC by analysis of their spectroscopic data (GC-MS, IR) and by using vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectroscopy associated with density functional theory (DFT) calculations to confirm its structure and absolute configuration. Results and discussion: VCD has attracted increasing attention in recent years; it is a definitive method, commonly used in the absolute configuration of natural products. While the most of major components of the essential oil of WS are optically active molecules such as β-eudesmol, we carried out in this work a comparison between the observed spectra of the essential oil and VCD spectra reported in the literature of each pure enantiomer.
UNDERSTANDING TPB MODEL, AVAILABILITY, AND INFORMATION ON CONSUMER PURCHASE INTENTION FOR HALAL FOOD

The research investigates on five factors that affect the intention to purchase halal food which are attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, availability, and information. A survey was conducted with 150 graduate students in State University of Jakarta and multiple regression analysis was used to test the relationships among the variables. It is found that attitude was identifying as the main factor that influence the intention to purchase halal food products. These results of the study give implication to firms competing in food industry that should be taken into account in promoting their halal food products.
EVALUATION AND VARIABILITY OF LINEAR CLASSIFICATION INDICATORS IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH MILK YIELD OF COWS OF HOLSTEIN BREED OF REGIONAL SELECTION

Researches have been conducted to study conformation type of firstborn Holstein breed cows of Ukrainian selection. Cows at the age of first lactation were evaluated in the period of 2-4 months of its course using two systems of linear classification as recommended by ICAR. The 9-score system described 18 conformation traits. Four groups of conformation traits that characterize dairy type, body, limbs and udder, were assessed on a 100-score scale. It was found that firstborn cows have a good development of exterior traits that characterize dairy type, with an average estimate of 83.8 score, body condition (score 84.4), limbs (score 83.3) and udder quality (score 84.2). Evaluation of descriptive traits of firstborn cows showed that the degree of their development, compared with group, has a significantly higher variability in the herd with coefficients of variation of 11.2-31.4%. According to the final assessment, firstborns of Holstein breed Ukrainian selection corresponded to the desired type on the international scale "good plus" (score 84). By the 100-score system of linear assessment, all group traits and final score were positively correlated with yield at the age of first (0.233-0.455) and third (0.203-0.356) lactation and for lifetime (0.278-0.468). About sufficient level for effective selection testified relationship with milk yield: height (0.2110.341), body depth (0.282-0.369) angularity (0.338-0.475), rump width (0.211-0.368), fore udder attachment (0.263-0.367), rear udder attachment (0.224-341), central ligament (0.233-0.362) and locomotion (0.221-0.382).
Establishment of Reference Ranges for Coagulation Tests for Dogs in Sri Lanka

Coagulopathy is an important, common systemic clinical syndrome caused by snake envenoming in the world. The reference ranges, so far, used in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) for clinical evaluation of dogs with coagulation abnormalities were from western countries which not the ideal is considering the geographical differences. Therefore, in this study have been established reference intervals for coagulation tests (PT, aPTT, CT, and BT) for dogs in Sri Lanka. Selection of dogs for suitable blood samples was done during January to June in 2012. Apparently healthy dogs that were brought to VTH for routine medical attention, routine general check-up, vaccination, and routine elective surgical interventions i.e. ovariohysterectomy or castration, were used for this purpose. First, a general clinical examination was performed on each selected dog and those who qualified were blood sampled for laboratory tests namely, Full Blood Count (FBC), Total Protein (TP), Albumin (Alb), Fibrinogen, Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and Aspartate aminotransferase (AST). The blood samples from these 45 dogs were used to establish reference ranges for PT, aPTT, CT and BT. At the end of the period, 45 dogs were selected which were clinically healthy, with normal FBC and liver function test values. The reference intervals obtained using dogs for PT, aPTT, CT and BT were 7-11 seconds, 1122 seconds, 3 -12.5 minutes and 0.5-5 minutes, respectively. These values are of extreme importance in order to treat, manage and monitor snake envenomed dogs better.
ILLIXR: Enabling End-to-End Extended Reality Research

An increasing number of edge systems have large computational demands, stringent resource constraints, and end-to-end quality-driven goodness metrics. Architects have embraced domain-specific accelerators to meet the demands of such systems. We make the case for research that shifts emphasis from domain-specific accelerators to domain-specific systems, with a consequent shift from evaluations using benchmarks that are collections of independent applications to those using testbeds that are full integrated systems. We describe extended reality (XR) as an exciting domain motivating such domain-specific systems research, but hampered by the lack of an end-to-end evaluation testbed. We present ILLIXR (Illinois Extended Reality testbed), the first fully open source XR system and research testbed. ILLIXR enables system innovations with end-to-end co-designed hardware, compiler, OS, and algorithm, and driven by end-user perceived quality-of-experience (QoE) metrics. Using ILLIXR, we perform the first comprehensive quantitative analysis of performance, power, and QoE for a complete XR system and its individual components. We describe several implications of our results that propel new directions in architecture, systems, and algorithm research for domain-specific systems in general, and XR in particular, all enabled by ILLIXR.
DIFERENTIAL DIAGNOSES OF ANGIOKERATOMAS

Angiokeratomas (AK) are probably the vascular lesions that induce more confusion in the literature. The most accepted classification of AK was performed by Imperial and Helwig[1], and they divide these lesions into five classical types: Mibelli’s AK, Fordyce’s AK, corporis diffusum AK, circumscribed naeviforme AK and solitary or multiple adquired angiokeratomas. Nevertheless, in the clinical practice, is not unusual to see AK type lesions associated to different types of vascular anomalies, and these lesions have difficult handling. In ISSVA classification AKs have been included as vascular anomalies provisionally unclassified. We perform the differential diagnoses of AKs and according to clinical picture, histopathological aspect, immunohistochemical markers and radiological findings proposed to divide AKs mainly in two groups. Primary AKs are the classical types. The new inmunohistochemical findings suggest that these lesions might be included as mixed capillary-lymphatic malformations. Secondary AKs are related with different vascular anomalies, secondary to other process with lymphatic obstruction, related to drugs, or associated with no vascular lesions as lymphoid lesions. Different underlying vascular anomelies might be related with AKs including deep capillary-lymphatic malformations (CLM), venous-lymphatic malformations (VLM), capillary-lymphatic-venous malformations (CLVM) (Klippel-Trenaunauy Sd), deep lymphatic malformations (LM), venous malformations (VM) as hyperkeratotic venous malformation, cavenomatous cerebral malformations, traumatic arteriovenous fistula and eccrine angiokeratomatous hamartoma. Clinical aspect, radiological studies and histopathological examination might help to do a correct diagnosis of this heterogenous entity. Jesús del Pozo, Felipe Sacristán, Manuel Gómez Tellado, Servicios de Dermatología, Anatomía Patológicay, Cirugía Pediátrica Unidad de Anomalías Vasculares Pediátricas, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de A Coruña (INIBIC). Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña (CHUAC). Sergas. Universidade da Coruña (UDC). As Xubias, 84. 15006, A Coruña, España. ABSTRACT
Enhancing (publications on) data quality: Deeper data minding and fuller data confession

Statistics typically treats data as inputs for analysis, whereas the broader data science enterprise deals with the entire data life cycle, including the phases that output data. This commentary argues that it would benefit statistics and (data) science if we statisticians were also to treat data as products in and of themselves, and accordingly subject them to data minding, a stringent quality inspection process that scrutinizes data conceptualization, data pre‐processing, data curation and data provenance, in addition to data collection, the traditional objective of our emphasis before data analysis. A concrete step in promoting deeper data minding is to encourage fuller data confession in (statistical) publications, that is, to entice—or at least not to disincentivize—the authors into providing more details on the genealogy of a given body of data, including an account of its deliberations, especially with respect to sources of adverse influence on data quality. The collection of articles in this special issue (on data science for societies) provides both the inspiration and aspiration for deeper data minding and fuller data confession.
Semi-supervised Music Tagging Transformer

We present Music Tagging Transformer that is trained with a semi-supervised approach. The proposed model captures local acoustic characteristics in shallow convolutional layers, then temporally summarizes the sequence of the extracted features using stacked self-attention layers. Through a careful model assessment, we first show that the proposed architecture outperforms the previous state-of-the-art music tagging models that are based on convolutional neural networks under a supervised scheme. The Music Tagging Transformer is further improved by noisy student training, a semi-supervised approach that leverages both labeled and unlabeled data combined with data augmentation. To our best knowledge, this is the first attempt to utilize the entire audio of the million song dataset.