Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serelaxin alleviates cardiac fibrosis through inhibiting endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition via RXFP1

Rationale: Cardiac fibrosis is an integral constituent of every form of chronic heart disease, and persistence of fibrosis reduces tissue compliance and accelerates the progression to heart failure. Relaxin-2 is a human hormone, which has various physiological functions such as mediating renal vasodilation in pregnancy. Its recombinant form Serelaxin has recently been tested in clinical trials as a therapy for acute heart failure but did not meet its primary endpoints. The aim of this study is to examine whether Serelaxin has an anti-fibrotic effect in the heart and therefore could be beneficial in chronic heart failure. Methods: We utilized two different cardiac fibrosis mouse models (ascending aortic constriction (AAC) and Angiotensin II (ATII) administration via osmotic minipumps) to assess the anti-fibrotic potential of Serelaxin. Histological analysis, immunofluorescence staining and molecular analysis were performed to assess the fibrosis level and indicate endothelial cells which are undergoing EndMT. In vitro TGFβ1-induced endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) assays were performed in human coronary artery endothelial cells and mouse cardiac endothelial cells (MCECs) and were examined using molecular methods. Chromatin immunoprecipitation-qPCR assay was utilized to identify the Serelaxin effect on chromatin remodeling in the Rxfp1 promoter region in MCECs. Results: Our results demonstrate a significant and dose-dependent anti-fibrotic effect of Serelaxin in the heart in both models. We further show that Serelaxin mediates this effect, at least in part, through inhibition of EndMT through the endothelial Relaxin family peptide receptor 1 (RXFP1). We further demonstrate that Serelaxin administration is able to increase its own receptor expression (RXFP1) through epigenetic regulation in form of histone modifications by attenuating TGFβ-pSMAD2/3 signaling in endothelial cells. Conclusions: This study is the first to identify that Serelaxin increases the expression of its own receptor RXFP1 and that this mediates the inhibition of EndMT and cardiac fibrosis, suggesting that Serelaxin may have a beneficial effect as anti-fibrotic therapy in chronic heart failure.
Strength of grass covers on dikes

Wave overtopping is responsible for many dike failures, dike breaches and severe flooding. The erosion resistance of dikes to overtopping waves is determined by the strength of the grass cover. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the erosion resistance of grass covers is desired to enable a good and effective dike management. In the existing approach to assess the erosion resistance of grass covers, the erosion resistance is empirically quantified in terms of local hydraulic loads. However, despite the cyclical nature of overtopping waves, no insights into the dependence of the erosion resistance on successive loads are available. To improve the understanding of the resistance of grass covers to wave overtopping induced loads, understanding of the development of the mechanical behaviour of grass sods is essential. In this study the mechanical behaviour of grass covers under tensile loads have been examined by means of direct pull tests executed in the field. Especially the influence of repetitive wave loading and the conditions during testing were of interest. The results of this study show that the deformation of the grass cover due to tensile load is time dependent. The failure mode of the grass cover is influenced by the degree of saturation of the grass cover. The maximum strength and mechanical behaviour of the grass cover is influenced by accumulation of damage. The findings presented in this study provide a better understanding of the processes that influence the mechanical behaviour of the grass cover. Moreover, insights in the development of the process of damage accumulation are revealed. Based on the findings of this study, a method is proposed to determine the resistance of grass covers against repetitive loads by means of direct pull tests. In this method the resistance of grass covers against repetitive loads is described by an estimation of the fatigue limit. Relating the fatigue limit of a grass cover to hydraulic loads, enables an assessment of the erosion resistance of a grass cover at a specific location.
Effect of Short-Term and Long-Term Aging on Fatigue Performance of Superpave Hot-Mix Asphalt (HMA)

This study aims at investigating the influence of laboratory aging on the fatigue performance of asphalt mixtures prepared using the superpave method. In this study, one type of asphalt binder (PG64-10) and one type of aggregate (limestone) were used. Loose mixtures were short-term aged (STA) in a draft oven at 135C for 2 hours, 3 hours and 4 hours. Half of tested samples were long-term aged (LTA) in a draft oven at 85C for time periods of 3 days, 5 days and 7 days. Fatigue test was performed on test specimens using the Indirect Tensile Test (IDT) under stress-controlled mode. Four initial strain levels: 100, 200, 300 and 400, two test temperatures: 40 and 20C and one loading frequency: 10 Hz, were used and considered in the testing matrix of the study. Data analysis was conducted and fatigue curves were obtained for each case in this study. The effect of STA and LTA on fatigue life was investigated at the two test temperatures. It was found that the STA led to an increase in fatigue life at both test temperatures under stress-controlled mode in the IDT test. Nevertheless, the fatigue life increased as the LTA period increased from 3 to 5 days, but then it was reduced for 7-day LTA. Findings of this study also showed that the fatigue life increased as the temperature increased from 20 to 40C. Control specimens (short-term aged for 2 hours) tested at 20°C were found to have the shortest fatigue lives. On the other hand, specimens that were long-term aged for 5 days and tested at 40°C had the longest fatigue lives.
STONE PINE ORCHARDS FOR NUT PRODUCTION: wHICH,

The Mediterranean stone pine Pinus pinea produces the genuine pine nuts or “pignoli” used in Mediterranean and Arabian cuisine. Due to their supreme quality, they achieve higher prices than lower-quality surrogates like seeds from the Chinese Pinus koraiensis. On the Iberian Peninsula alone, stone pine covers more than 550,000 ha, and Spain and Portugal are the main pine-nut producing countries. Although stone pine, a native or at least protohistoric archaeophyte in most Mediterranean countries, is said to have been ‘cultivated’ since the Neolithic, actually hardly any effort seems to have been made for its proper domestication as nut crop (or at least to have achieved it): there are no defined cultivars, but nearly the whole current stone pine nut production is still harvested from forest stands where no cultivation techniques are applied except seeding or planting of new stands, thinnings for stand density regulation and some pruning in the lower or inner crown to ease manual harvesting or, historically, for fuel wood (Mutke et al., 2000a). Even the small pine groves or isolated border trees so typical of Mediterranean rural landscapes are usually seed-grown without known pedigree.
COINTEGRATION AND CAUSALITY BETWEEN FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: INDIAN EVIDENCE

A nation is always branded by its economic growth, which can be known by measuring GDP of the country. More the growth of the nation, more developed it is regarded. Simultaneously, its economic development takes place. Profuse literature on the subject state that there exists a relationship between growth of the nation and the economic development, but nowhere the relationship is illustrated so strongly as in case of Tiger economies in the decades of 60s-90s. Therefore, to illustrate such relationship in India is the aim of this study. For the purpose, GDP and money supply of India has been taken as variables, which represent the core idea of the study. Statistical tools like regression equations and co integration equations were used to determine the relationship. Robust results were estimated and analyzed which supported the literature.
Accuracy of Enhanced Distance Active Contour (EDAC) for Microcalcifications Segmentation

Boundaries of microcalcification segmented using the Distance Active Contour (DAC) method produces low accuracy. In this paper the Enhanced Distance Active Contour (EDAC) is proposed to overcome the problem. The accuracy is measured by using the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Curve. The values of True Positive, True Negative, False Positive, and False Negative based on the EDAC segmentation results are benched by radiologists. Results obtained show that the Area Under the Curve (AUC) of the ROC is numerically found to be 0.84 in value which verifies that EDAC produces high accuracy.
GROWTH OF MEROMORPHIC SOLUTIONS OF GENERAL COMPLEX LINEAR DIFFERENTIAL-DIFFERENCE EQUATION

In this paper, we investigate the ralations between the growth of entire or meromorphic coefficients and the growth of meromorphic solutions of general complex linear differential-difference equation, and obtain the lower bound of the order of meromorphic solutions by comparing the (lower) orders or the (lower) types of the coefficients. Our results can be seen as generalizations for both the case of complex linear differential equation and the case of complex linear difference equation. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: 30D35; 39B32.
MALAYSIAN ONLINE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT (MOJEM)

As a move towards educational transformation, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has established a policy on the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) and its practices are being emphasized throughout Malaysian education system. However, due to a lack of meta-analysis, the types of pedagogical practices used by teachers in enhancing students’ HOTS in the local context is unclear. This study used a meta-analytical approach to fill in the gap in literature on the pedagogical practices of HOTS in Malaysian classrooms. A total of 32 empirical studies were included in the analyses. Therefore, this paper aims at synthesising the pedagogical practices of teaching HOTS among Malaysian teachers. The findings offered a synthesis of HOTS pedagogical practices employed by teachers in Malaysian schools, which could be categorised as practices that promote and practices that inhibit the teaching of HOTS. The synthesis revealed that some practices that promoted the teaching of HOTS were brainstorming, constructivist learning, inquiry teaching, thinking map, and problem-based learning whereas some practices that inhibited the teaching of HOTS were teacher-centered learning and teaching lower-order thinking skills.
Nrf2 and HIF1α converge to arsenic-induced metabolic reprogramming and the formation of the cancer stem-like cells

In this report, we demonstrated that inorganic arsenic (iAs) induces generation of the cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) through Nrf2-dependent HIF1α activation, and the subsequent metabolic reprogramming from mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis in epithelial cells. Methods: Genome-wide ChIP-seq analysis was performed to investigate the global binding of Nrf2 and/or HIF1α on the genome in the cells treated with iAs. Both untargeted metabolomics and UDP-13C-glucose flux were applied to determine metabolic reprogramming in the iAs-induced CSCs. The role of Nrf2 on iAs-induced HIF1α and other stemness gene expression was validated by lentiviral transfection of Nrf2 inhibitor Keap1 and CRISPR-Cas9-mediated Nrf2 gene knockout, respectively. Results: The CSCs induced by iAs exhibit a diminished mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation and an enhanced glycolysis that is actively shunted to the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) and serine/glycine pathway. ChIP-seq data revealed that treatment of the cells with iAs amplified Nrf2 enrichment peaks in intergenic region, promoter and gene body. In contrast, a shift of the HIF1α peaks from distal intergenic region to gene promoter and the first exon was noted. Both Nrf2 and HIF1α are responsible for the iAs-induced expression of the glycolytic genes and the genes important for the stemness of the CSCs. Intriguingly, we also discovered a mutual transcriptional regulation between Nrf2 and HIF1α. Inhibition of Nrf2 by lentiviral infection of Keap1, or knockout of Nrf2 by CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, not only blocked iAs-induced HIF1α activation, but reduced the expression of the key stemness genes for the formation of CSCs also. Conclusion: We demonstrated that Nrf2 activation is an initiating signal for iAs-induced HIF1α activation, and Nrf2 and HIF1α played a concerted role on inducing metabolic reprogramming and the CSCs.
A comparative analytic study of knowledge, attitude and practice of breast feeding in primi and multipara women at a tertiary care centre in Gujarat, India -

Background: Mother’s milk undoubtedly represents the best nourishment for the child during first months of life. The benefits of breastfeeding (BF) specially, exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), are well established. No artificial feed can replace breast milk, its specific nutrients and protection against diseases. All women should be encouraged to exclusively breastfeed their infants up to 6 months of age and thereafter to continue along with appropriate and adequate complementary foods, for up to 2 years of age. Methods: In the present study, we aimed to study and to compare knowledge, attitude and the feeding practices in a primi and multi para at tertiary care centre. The descriptive study was conducted in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department of Government Medical College and Hospital, Rajkot, Gujarat, India. Women were interviewed personally with the help of a fixed questionnaire regarding their knowledge attitude and feeding practices. Results: In the present study, we aimed to study and to compare knowledge, attitude and the feeding practices in a primi and multi para at tertiary care centre. The descriptive study was conducted in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department of Government Medical College and Hospital, Rajkot, Gujarat, India. Women were interviewed personally with the help of a fixed questionnaire regarding their knowledge attitude and feeding practices. Conclusions: Efforts need to be made to help mother to initiate feeding early specially in caesarean section. Women need to be made aware of benefits of breast feeding and proper techniques. Health care providers and nursing staff should be encouraged to actively participate in proper counselling and training of mothers.
AGRUPACIÓN DE GENES EN CIENCIA INTENSIVA: COMPARACIÓN Y ANÁLISIS DE TENDENCIA MEDIANTE EL ÍNDICE DE ESTABILIDAD BIOLÓGICA

Esta investigación evalúa el rendimiento de los algoritmos de agrupación más conocidos utilizando el índice de estabilidad biológica (BSI). Se realizó una comparación entre los algoritmos de agrupación, para determinar de estos cuál es el óptimo según el puntaje obtenido en cada algoritmo, la agrupación de génica en Ciencia Intensiva, el mismo que utiliza bases de datos extensas para cubrir casi todos los resultados que pudiesen ocurrir realmente. Se aplica este método a una base de datos de expresión de genes (Microarray). El análisis se lo realizó a la base de datos “mouse” incluida en el paquete clValid en el software R, para el estudio de las células mesenquimales de ratones (cresta neural y el mesodermo derivado), también se utiliza métodos gráficos como los dendogramas para un primer enfoque. Para la selección del algoritmo óptimo, se calculó el índice biológico de estabilidad para cada algoritmo de agrupación siendo el mejor, el que más cerca de la unidad se encuentre. En consecuencia, el algoritmo más estable para dicha base de datos es “Diana”. Para llegar a este resultado se visualizó gráficamente el número de clústeres con la respuesta obtenida en cada caso; se tomó como el algoritmo óptimo el que más se apegue a la realidad del problema teniendo en cuenta su puntaje en los índices y además con la ayuda de un gráfico de filogenética para un ultimo enfoque.
Finite element study of interfacial effects in the consolidation of matrix coated fibre composites

The paper addresses finite element studies of the diffusion bonding effects at the interface between a locally reinforcing metal matrix composite and a monolithic engineering material. Diffusion bonding occurs during the consolidation of the composite during component manufacturing. The surface interaction behaviour at the interface has been described using an interface model. The model is developed by adopting an existing diffusion bonding theory and has been implemented into finite element software, ABAQUS, by mean of a user subroutine. Simulations of the surface interaction behaviour between the contacting surfaces have been carried out. The finite element simulations show that the diffusion bonding can lead to localized deformation, the inhibitation of consolidation, and a resulting inhomogeneous distribution of consolidated and unconsolidated distortion which results from the constraint imposed on the consolidating composite.
Coevolution of Morphology and Behavior of Robots in a Multiagent Environment

: Design of robots becomes far more diﬃcult as the complexity increasesin the required tasks and task environments increase. We have constructed an evolutionary model in which control of behaviors and morphology including selection and arrangement of sensors/motors in artiﬁcial creatures coevolve based on ontogenesis and biological evolution, so as to investigate a new eﬀective method of designing robots. This paper extends this model in the context of a multi-agent environment in which cooperation of robots will be required
Estimation of major livestock feed resources and feed balance in Moyale district of Boran Zone, Southern Ethiopia

The study was conducted to assess the major livestock feed resources and estimating annual feed production and feed balance in Moyale district of Boran Zone, Southern Ethiopia. A simple random sampling technique was employed to select the household’s (HHs) and 96 representative households were selected. Data were collected using group discussions, structured questionnaire, secondary data and personal observations. As it was identified in the study district, natural pasture, crop residues and agro-industrial by-product were major feed resources for the livestock. An average of 129,461.0156 tons of feed dry matter (DM) per year was produced in the district from the major available feed resources, and the demand for maintenance requirement of the livestock population in the district was 190,054.416 (tons DM/year) and this showed that a deficit off 60,593.4004 (31.88%) tons of DM per year in the district. Drought, feed shortage, water scarcity, disease and parasite, market and theft and predator were assessed to be the major livestock production constraints. Generally, the results from this study confirmed that the total dry matter produced from different feed resources in to the study area was not enough to satisfy the dry matter requirement of livestock to support the livestock production in to the study area, which suggest that the main focus needs to be refining the existing feed resources through restoration of tainted grazing areas, introduction compliant feedstuff production, improving feed utilization practices and introduce and promote the crop residue feed improvement. Key words: Feed availability, feed balance, feed requirement, feed resources.
Recent Trends in XAI: A Broad Overview on current Approaches, Methodologies and Interactions

The deﬁnition of an explainable artiﬁcial intelligence heavily depends on the use-case, whether one is focusing on the technical knowledge-management component [30,33,37,43] or rather the more social interaction including speech acts and conversations [27,31,33]. Since the uprising debate of the unknown outcome on the development of AI in general using Deep Learning [4,34,35,44] and recent legal restrictions (for example the GDPR [19]), the need on developing an explainable AI is rapidly increasing, especially since the last two years. Additionally, the goal to increase the users trust towards AI has still to be achieved. Thus, this contribution aims to provide an overview on the current topics especially since 2018 with a focus on case-based explanations 3 up until today.
Psychotherapy-induced change in explanations of mental illness among ethnic minorities

Psychotherapy is thought to be most effective when therapists and patients come to share common understandings of illness during the treatment process. This is perhaps even more so in case of ethnic minority patients whose illness attributions may markedly diverge from professional views. However, not much is known regarding the impact of psychotherapy on patients’ illness attributions, and it remains the question whether patient-therapist discrepancy in illness attributions decreases during treatment. This study aimed to examine the effect of psychotherapy on illness attributions of ethnic minority patients. In a randomized controlled trial patients from Turkish and Moroccan origins (N = 125) were randomly assigned to psychotherapy versus waiting-list control condition. Illness attributions of patients in both conditions and those of therapists in the psychotherapy condition were assessed at baseline and three months later. Results indicated that psychotherapy induced change in some, but not all types of attributions. Compared to the control group, psychotherapy was associated with a greater reduction of religious/mystical and stress related attributions. Furthermore, in the psychotherapy condition, patient-therapist discrepancy in illness attributions decreased significantly from baseline to post-assessment, especially with regard to environmental, religious/mystical and stress related attributions. In conclusion, psychotherapy has an effect on illness attributions of ethnic minority patients, although the mechanism for this effect is unclear. Implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.
An ERP Study on Aspectual Mismatches in Converbial Contexts in Polish

In an experiment using event-related brain potentials (ERPs), we investigated morphological and semantic/pragmatic mismatches in converbial contexts in Polish, a language with overt aspectual morphology. The morphological mismatches were caused by violations of selectional restrictions imposed by anteriority and simultaneity converbial morphemes on their verbal stems. Simultaneity converbial morphemes combined with a wrong perfective verbal stem elicited a P600 component, whereas anteriority converbial morphemes combined with a wrong imperfective verbal stem elicited a combined N400 + a weak P600. The N400 component found for ungrammatical anterior converbs is interpreted as resulting from anterior converbs being less frequent. We attributed the difference in the strength of the P600 component in these two morphological conditions to the fact that the morphosyntactic violations are attenuated when a given form is less frequent and hence its lexically encoded grammatical constraints responsible for a given violation are more difficult to retrieve from the lexicon. The semantic/pragmatic mismatches resulted from not respecting the temporal ordering requirements imposed by simultaneous and anterior converbs. The question was whether imperfective aspect as being semantically less marked than its perfective counterpart is prone to tacit repair mechanisms. In our experiment we find a late positivity in the expected ‘inceptive coercion’ case and we treat it as a signature reflecting a binary decision − a competition between two forms: a congruous perfective form of the matrix predicate and an incongruous imperfective form. Additionally, we found evidence that creating an inclusion relation between two eventualities is more costly to process than creating an overlapping relation between two eventualities.