Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of quality of life among children with bronchial asthma and their caregivers at the National Hospital Abuja, Nigeria

Background: The global disease burden associated with bronchial asthma has continued to increase particularly among children. Asthma-related quality of life is a health related assessment of disease impact on patient and care givers. Aim: To determine the perceived quality of life (QOL) among children with bronchial asthma and their caregivers as well as the related factors. Subjects and methods: This was a prospective study of children diagnosed with bronchial asthma and the caregivers attending the Respiratory Clinic of the National hospital Abuja, Nigeria. Using the Paediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ) and the Paediatric Asthma Caregiver’s Quality of Life Questionnaire (PACQLQ) information from the various domains was obtained. The PAQLQ 23 questions assessed the child physical domain (5), emotional (8) and social behaviors (10), and the PACQLQ 13 questions assessed the caregivers’ activity limitation domain (4) and emotional function (9). Mean QOL scores from each domain and overall scores were calculated based on a seven-point scale. A QOL score of 7 was reported as best with no impairment; score one as least and severest impairment; score 4 as mid point in the range from 2-6 of moderate degree impairment. Other information on the demographic biodata and clinical information from child and caregivers was also obtained. Results: Forty-three children and 43 caregivers each were enrolled, from August to December 2014. Patients were aged 7-15years; 25(58.1%) males, 18(41.9%) females; while caregiver’s were males 23(53.5%), females 20(46.5%), age range 21- 48years. 25(58.1%) caregivers were of middle- lower socio-economic status; 20(46.5%) children had persistent asthma, 22(51.2%) well controlled, 21(48.8%) partly controlled. Medication use were; none, 17 (39.5%); long acting beta2 agonist/ inhaled corticosteroids (LABA/ ICS), 13(30.2%); antihistamine, 8 (18.6%); leukotriene receptor antagonist (LTRA),5(11.6%). Overall mean QOL was 4.89(4.54- 5.24;95% CI) for the children and 4.6 (3.91- 4.82; 95% CI) for caregivers; correlation (R) 0.438 p=0.003. Multiple regression showed that females gender had significant impairment in mean QOL scores in the activity domain (p= 0.022), and those with poor control and severe asthma also had significant impairment in mean QOL (p <0.05). Conclusion: Asthma impacted QOL of both the asthmatic children and caregivers with female gender in the activity domain, severe and not well controlled disease as independent predictors of quality of life. Keywords: Asthma, Paediatrics, Caregivers, QOL, Assessment
Modification of Al alloy nanopowder with Nb nanopowder on its thermal and tribological properties with SPS for power conductors

Al 1000 alloy has high purity and good electrical conductivity required for high power transmission conductors but lacks adequate thermal and tribological properties necessary for optimal performance and durability. To augment these properties, Nb nanopowder was incorporated into Al base metal and consolidated with spark plasma sintering (SPS). The SPS was conducted with pre-optimized processing parameters of 630 °C temperature, 30 MPa pressure, 10 min holding time and 200 °C min−1 heating rate. The sintering was conducted in a vacuum with graphite die of 20 mm in diameter. Thereafter, the sintered samples were metallographically prepared and subjected to thermal and tribological testing. A laser flash analysis (LFA) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used in the thermal test while ball-on-disc tribometer was used in the tribology test. Results obtained showed that Al-4Nb had the highest thermal conductivity of 115. 95 ± 6.9 Wm-1K−1 which represented 42% improvement. The same sample had best tribology characteristics with 45% improvement in coefficient of friction (COF), 20% improvement in both wear volume and wear rate. So, it follows that Al-Nb composite is a better replacement for monolithic Al 1000 alloy in power transmission conductors with a potential property of low sag and high wear resistance during operation.
Mechanism of Bainite Transformation in Fe-Cr-Mo-V-Ti-C Steel

The kinetics and mechanism of bainite transformation have been studied in Fe-Cr-Mo-V-Ti-C steel high speed dilatometry backed by thermodynamic analysis. The complete transformation of austenite, however, has not occurred at any reported temperature. Obtained results confirm the incomplete reaction phenomenon with the cessation of the bainite transformation well before the paraequilibrium is achieved. These experimental data indicate that bainitic ferrite is formed by a displacive transformation mechanism, but soon afterwards, excess of carbon is patitioned into the residual austenite. The results are discussed in terms of the mechanism of bainite transformation.
Milk and Type I Diabetes: Examining the evidence and broadening the focus

The "milk hypothesis" that early exposure to cow milk protein may trigger type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes (1) has helped focus attention on the possibility that this form of diabetes may be food induced (2). The intense interest generated by several case-control studies (3), a report linking bovine serum albumin (BSA) antibodies and diabetes (4), and public interest surrounding this issue prompted the American Academy of Pediatrics to reexamine its guidelines for early infant feeding (5). In addition, a large international trial lasting several years in which cow milk will be omitted from the early diet of susceptible infants is being considered, and a pilot study is underway (6). However, the case-control data are contradictory, and the key experimental data in humans incriminating milk (4) have been challenged (7-9). Considering that dietary modification might prevent the most common chronic disease of childhood, the implications for infant feeding practices, and the controversial nature of the hypothesis, it is important to examine the available evidence to consider its current status and what should be the next steps to clarify this controversy. The milk hypothesis has received considerable attention and support because altering the diet of susceptible individuals might offer a simple and safe approach to prevention. However, the role of foods in diabetes pathogenesis is turning out to be more complex than previously suspected. Focusing solely on breast-feeding and early exposure to a single diet component, cow milk, is probably an oversimplification of the problem (Table 1).
AlterAções NutricioNAis em PAcieNtes com liPodistrofiA A ssociAdA Ao HiV/Aids de umA uNidAde de referêNciA do m uNicíPio de Belém - PArá NutritioNal ChaNges iN PatieNts with hiV/aids - assoCiated liPodystroPhy iN a refereNCe uNit iN Belém - Pará

Introduction: with the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy some patients began to present metabolic changes, like HIV/aids – associated lipodystrophy, which is characterized by body fat redistribution. Objective: To evaluate the anthropometric and biochemical changes in patients with HIV/ aids – associated lipodystrophy treated in a Specialized Reference Unit, in Belem – Para. Methods: a cross-sectional descriptive study with lipodystrophic patients. Sociodemographic, economic, anthropometric, biochemical and immunological variables of the patients were analyzed. In the statistical analysis Epi Info 3.5. 4 and BioEstat 5.0 softwares, with 5% significance were used. Results: 53.2% of the 62 patients were female, 53.2% were eutrophic according to BMI and 56.7% used a protease inhibitor. Women presented the mixed form of lipodystrophy more frequently and men, lipoatrophy. The adequacy deficit was present in 64.3% of patients according to arm muscle circumference, in 46.3%, according to triceps skinfold thickness and 65.5% according to arm circumference. Women presented higher percentages of very high risk for metabolic disorders, total cholesterol and high LDL-c, and men of low HDL-c and high glycemia and triglycerides. Among women, 31.3% presented a high risk of developing opportunistic infections and most patients presented low risk of worsening the disease. Conclusion: anthropometric and biochemical changes were frequent in patients, which makes individualized nutritional
Effects of ulinastatin on inflammatory response and curative effect in severe sepsis patients

Objective To study the effects of ulinastatin(UTI)on inflammatory response in the patients with severe sepsis and to evaluate the curative effect of UTI.Methods 63 patients of severe sepsis were randomly divided into three groups.Control group(groupⅠ,n=21),UTI 10 000 U·kg-1·d-1 group(groupⅡ,n=21),UTI 20 000U·kg-1·d-1 group(groupⅢ,n=21). Before treatment and on 120th hour after the treatment,blood samples were taken from peripheral veins for the determination of TNF-α,IL-1β,IL-10,MDA and SOD activities,simultaneously APACHEⅡ scores were recorded.Mortality rate was compared on 28th day.Results The indexes of three groups were similar before treatment.On 120th hour after the treatment,the venous blood levels of TNF-α,MDA and APACHEⅡ score,the 28-day mortality rate in groupⅡ and Ⅲ were significantly lower than those in groupⅠ(P〈0.05),the venous blood levels of IL-10,SOD in groupⅡ andⅢ were significantly higher than those in group I(P〈0.05),the venous blood levels of TNF-a,MDA in groupⅢ were significantly lower than those in groupⅡ(P〈0.05),the venous blood levels of IL-10 in groupⅢ were significantly higher than those in groupⅡ(P〈0.05). Conclusions UTI can inhibit inflammatory response in patients with severe sepsis and reduce 28-day mortality.UTI 20 000 U·kg-1·d-1 group is superior to UTI 10 000 U·kg-1·d-1 group in inhibiting inflammatory response.
Wybuchy gazu w pomieszczeniach zamkniętych – rozpoznanie charakterystyk i przeciwdziałanie zagrożeniom

W pracy przedstawiane są zagadnienia oceny charakteru i skali potencjalnych zagrożeń, jakie mogą powstać w zamkniętych pomieszczeniach, w których nastąpiło utworzenie mieszaniny paliwowo-powietrznej w wyniku uwolnienia gazów palnych. Przedstawione zostały metody wyznaczania krytycznych wartości stężenia mieszanin gazowo-powietrznych ze względu na zagrożenie pożarem i wybuchem. Rozpatrzone zostały zagadnienia pomniejszania siły wybuchu i skali potencjalnych zniszczeń poprzez wpływanie na materiałowo-przestrzenne warunki rozwoju przemiany.
Study on Anti-depression of Tricyclic Drug and Ginseng Saponin

Objective To study the anti-depression action of tricyclic drug and Ginseng saponin. Methods The anti-depression effect was observed with the rat enforced swimming test. The monoamine substances in brain were detected quantitively. The NA, DA and 5-HT were detected with fluorospectrophotometry method. Results The high dose of tricyclic drug as imipramine and Ginseng saponin had obviously anti-depression action P0.01. Conclusion The formation of depression might be related with NA, DA and 5-HT quantities in brain.
Persian Adaptation of Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (ERQ-CA)

Background and purpose: This preliminary study was conducted for the adaptation and standardization of Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (ERQ-CA) in a sample of Iranian students. Materials and methods: The current psychometric study was carried out in male and female students in public elementary and secondary schools in Tehran, Iran during 2017-2018 academic year. The samples consisted of 412 participants, including 56.8% females, who were selected using multi-stage clustering sampling. Data were collected using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (ERQ-CA), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children (PANAS-C), Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), and Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS). Data analysis was performed in SPSS V20 applying descriptive and inferential statistics (factor analysis, principal component analysis, Cronbach's alpha, and Pearson correlation). Results: Factor analysis revealed that the ERQ-CA has two factors (reappraisal and suppression). Cronbach's alpha was 0.81 for total items and 0.79 and 0.68 for reappraisal and suppression, respectively. Also, significant correlation coefficients were found for the relationship between reappraisal and suppression with positive and negative affect, anxiety (excluding obsessive-compulsive disorder), and depression subscales (P=0.01, and P=0.05, respectively). Conclusion: The Persian version of ERQ-CA showed reasonably good psychometric properties, therefore, it could be used in clinical and research evaluations of emotion regulation strategies in Iranian children and adolescents.
End-of-life care for the British Asian Hindu Community: Preferences and Solutions

Background: In the UK, most people prefer to die at home but many still die in hospital. People from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups are even more likely to die in hospital. Little is known about their preferences for location of care at the end of life. Aim: To explore preferences for place of care and death among the British Hindu community and to identify barriers preventing the British Hindu community achieving their preferences for place of care and death. Methods: The study used focus groups comprising Indian Hindus living in London. Analysis was undertaken using the framework approach. Results: A total of 14 Indian Hindus participated in two focus groups. Three main themes emerged: home as the best place for end-of-life care; priorities for end-of-life care; and barriers to caring for a loved one at home. Important priorities included filial piety, which was viewed as essential in the delivery of practical and emotional care at the end of life. The multiple barriers included: (i) little knowledge of palliative care or hospice; (ii) language and cultural barriers that hampered accessing support from statutory services; (iii) conflict between traditional Hindu culture and modernity; (iv) difficulties in families becoming caregivers; and (v) a reluctance to ask for help at critical moments. Conclusion: This study adds to an emerging and important literature highlighting the complex challenges in realising home deaths among an ageing minority community. The researchers recommend that public health initiatives are developed to raise the profile of palliative care and that service providers place a greater emphasis on identifying and valuing the social capital present among the Hindu community. Implementation of these recommendations will enable more people who wish to die at home to do so. Conflicts of interest: none. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors
Tunable All-dielectric Metasurfaces: Fundamentals and Applications

All-dielectric metasurfaces have received significant attention in the past years, and have been established as a platform for efficient manipulation of optical beams. Advances in the design and fabrication of such dielectric metasurfaces have led to the development of several ultra-thin optical metadevices, including flat lenses, beam converters, deflectors and holograms. Composed of periodic or aperiodic lattices of dielectric nanoparticles, metasurfaces exhibit low absorption in the infrared and visible spectral ranges. Low losses allow nanoparticles to exhibit Mie-type resonances with a higher quality-factor in comparison to their plasmonic counterparts. Furthermore, Mie-type resonances in dielectric nanoparticles offer two independent families of resonant modes – electric and magnetic. The far-field interference of these two types of resonant modes leads to fundamentally new effects, such as unidirectional scattering, unconventional reflection behaviour associated with the generalised Brewster effect and near-unity transmission in the so-called Huygens’ regime. Operating in the Huygens’ regime of the dielectric metasurfaces enables the combination of near-unity transmission together with a full range of phase modulation, thus being the key to enabling functional dielectric metasurfaces with nearly 100% efficiency. Most functional dielectric metasurfaces to date are based on static designs, defined through geometrical parameters, such as nanoparticle shape, size, and array layout. However, in many applications, it is crucial to enable dynamic tunability of the device functionality with time. For example, the focal distance of a camera lens needs to be changed when taking pictures of objects at different distances; the position of the ranging beam in a LIDAR (light imaging, detection, and ranging) for driverless vehicles needs to scan different directions. Therefore, implementing dynamic control over the response of the metasurfaces is of paramount importance for their practical implementation. In this thesis, I discuss possible ways to achieve tunability from dielectric metasurfaces. At first, I consider existing methods, their pros and cons, as well as possible applications. Further, I offer several methods that I developed and investigated, both theoretically and experimentally. Namely, I describe tuning by changing the properties of resonator material, where I utilise a thermo-optic effect to control the refractive index of resonator particles and consequently the optical response of metasurfaces. Next, I consider tuning by changing the properties of surrounding material, first theoretically, and later demonstrating experimental realisation of this concept using a liquid crystal as a tuning medium. Finally, I describe two tunable metadevices: one, for switching a beam deflection, and second, for active tuning of spontaneous emission.
Analysis of Light Bulb Temperature Control for Egg Incubator Design

This paper explained the analysis and findings of using light bulb as a thermal source for an incubator system. The inner dimension of the incubator is 26 cm (W) x 38 cm (L) x 26 cm (H). In the experiment, a temperature sensor that measures the inside temperature of the incubator used as a feedback signal. To run the experiments, number of light bulbs and its type were determined. There are three types of bulb used i.e. Incandescent Light (IL Bulb), Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL Bulb) and Light Emitting Diode (LED Bulb). Three fixtures are proposed for each bulb type, i.e. one-bulb fixture, two-bulb fixture and three-bulb fixture. Apart from that, three control modes were tested, i.e. Mode 1, Mode 2 and Mode 3. Mode 1 is ON-OFF bulb control. Mode 2 is ON-OFF bulb control, as well as ON-OFF ventilation fan control. Finally, Mode 3 is only ON bulb control and ON-OFF ventilation fans The experimental results showed that, for the chosen incubator size, threebulb fixture IL-type light bulb controlled with Mode 3 control gave shorter time to reach the set point then return to set point after overshoot.
Characterization of the Vereos Digital Photon Counting PET System

434 Objectives To characterize the first fully integrated digital detector PET/CT system. Methods We previously reported basic performance of a prototype digital PET detector [1]. Here we present original data from a next generation time-of-flight (TOF) digital PET system (Vereos PET/CT, Philips Healthcare). Performance was evaluated with NEMA NU 2-2012. Timing and energy resolution were monitored with built-in QC procedures. Sensitivity measurements were performed over the clinically-relevant count rate range. Timing, energy and spatial resolution were characterized across the full clinical count rate range using point and line source methods [2-3]. Results 316 ps timing resolution and 11.1 % energy resolution were achieved. The TOF sensitivity gain for a 20 cm object was 4.2. NEMA results on the system follow. Spatial resolution [mm FWHM] ranged from 4.11 and 3.96 at 1 cm to 5.79 and 6.20 at 20 cm, transverse and axial, respectively. Sensitivity was 5.7 kcps/MBq with TOF effective sensitivity of 24.1 kcps/MBq. 171 kcps peak NECR and > 680 kcps peak true rate were obtained at 50 kBq/mL, with 30 % scatter fraction. NEMA image quality tests demonstrated hot sphere contrast ranging from 62 % (10 mm) to 88 % (22 mm), cold sphere contrasts of 86 % (28 mm) and 89 % (37 mm) and excellent image uniformity. Measurements of timing, energy, and spatial resolution stability a wide count rate range, performed on factory systems, demonstrated timing resolution stable within 5% up to singles rates observed at peak NECR. Energy and spatial resolutions were stable within 1 %. Clinical sensitivity measurements performed on factory systems showed maximum dead time effects of 13 % at singles rates seen at 30 MBq/mL in count loss measurements. Conclusions The Vereos PET/CT with digital photon counting technology represents the first fully-digital PET scanner. System characteristics include high resolution, stable performance over count rate and time, and excellent image quality. Research Support This study was sponsored by Philips Healthcare. The authors are employees of, or have a scientific cooperation contract with, Philips Healthcare.
Near-Infrared High Efficiency Organic Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSCs) and Biological Fluorescent Imaging Dyes

A series of near-infrared (NIR) organic emissive materials were synthesized and the photophysical properties analyzed. The donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) materials were designed with thienopyrazine and thienothiadiazole acceptor groups with thiophene, furan, and triphenylamine-based donor groups. The absorption and emission spectra were found to be widely tunable based on the donor and acceptor groups selected. Computational analysis confirms these
Nanoclay assisted ultra-drawing of polypropylene tapes

Abstract Isotactic polypropylene (i-PP) – montmorillonite (MMT) nanocomposite films were prepared by melt-compounding and hot-pressing. The influence of organoclays on the mechanical properties and drawability of these isotropic composite films was investigated. Ultimate properties of solid-state drawn PP tapes incorporating 2.5 wt% MMT outperformed those of pure PP tapes. Interestingly, these improvements were found not to be the result of a mechanical reinforcement effect of the nanoclay platelets but merely the result of a more efficient ultra-drawing mechanism with MMT acting as a processing additive that altered initial polymer morphology and drawing behaviour. Hence, the introduction of MMT resulted in higher ultimate draw ratios and subsequently higher ultimate mechanical properties of the oriented nanocomposite tapes. Graphical Abstract