Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of Voluntary Physical Activity Behavior: A Review of Evidence Involving Dopaminergic Pathways in the Brain

Physical activity leads to well-established health benefits. Current efforts to enhance physical activity have targeted mainly socioeconomic factors. However, despite these efforts, only a small number of adults engage in regular physical activity to the point of meeting current recommendations. Evidence collected in rodent models and humans establish a strong central nervous system component that regulates physical activity behavior. In particular, dopaminergic pathways in the central nervous system are among the best-characterized biological mechanisms to date with respect to regulating reward, motivation, and habit formation, which are critical for establishing regular physical activity. Herein, we discuss evidence for a role of brain dopamine in the regulation of voluntary physical activity behavior based on selective breeding and pharmacological studies in rodents, as well as genetic studies in both rodents and humans. While these studies establish a role of dopamine and associated mechanisms in the brain in the regulation of voluntary physical activity behavior, there is clearly need for more research on the underlying biology involved in motivation for physical activity and the formation of a physical activity habit. Such knowledge at the basic science level may ultimately be translated into better strategies to enhance physical activity levels within the society.
INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL LOCATION ON COST EFFICIENCY IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BOMET COUNTY, KENYA

Kenyan public secondary schools are intended to run at a cost that is both cheap and sustainable. Despite this, the cost of education in most public secondary schools in Bomet County is still high in relative terms. This could indicate that public schools are operating inefficiently in terms of costs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of school location on cost efficiency in public secondary schools in Bomet County, Kenya. The target population of the study was two hundred and seventy principals of public secondary schools and all the five Sub-County Directors of Education in Bomet County. Using stratified and simple random sampling approaches, a sample of 175 principals was chosen. The data was collected from the principals using a semi-structured questionnaire, and the data from the Sub-county Directors of Education was collected using an interview schedule. The data was collected from the principals using a semi-structured questionnaire, and the data from the Sub-county Directors of Education was collected using an interview schedule. The Content Validity Index was used to check for validity, and it found that all variables had an S-CVI of greater than 0.9, indicating that they were all valid and could be used in the study. All variables had Cronbach alpha coefficients of greater than 0.7, indicating that the variables were internally reliable enough to be used in the study. The data was analyzed and summarized using descriptive statistics, such as frequencies, means, and standard deviations. To test the hypotheses, the researchers employed simple linear regression analysis in inferential statistics to see how well school location could predict cost efficiency. Statistical operations on data analysis were performed using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) statistics software. The influence of the school location on the cost efficiency in public secondary schools was examined using nine indicators. These indicators included the effects of school location on diverse expenses such as water services provision, electricity services provision, food supplies, administration cost, extracurricular activities, access to workshops and seminars, external support services, transportation costs, and missing on the cost-saving opportunities. The study results indicated that the respondents indicated that the school incurred huge expenses on water bills, and food supplies to a very small extent. The study also concluded on the presence of a statistically significant influence of school location on the cost efficiency of public secondary schools in Bomet County. These results were attributed to higher operational costs associated with their geographical remoteness and sparsely populated schools, which were then not able to benefit from economies of scale in their operations.
A New Gal in Town: A Systematic Review of the Role of Galanin and Its Receptors in Experimental Pain

Galanin is a neuropeptide expressed in a small percentage of sensory neurons of the dorsal root ganglia and the superficial lamina of the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. In this work, we systematically reviewed the literature regarding the role of galanin and its receptors in nociception at the spinal and supraspinal levels, as well as in chronic pain conditions. The literature search was performed in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, OVID, TRIP, and EMBASE using “Galanin” AND “pain” as keywords. Of the 1379 papers that were retrieved in the initial search, we included a total of 141 papers in this review. Using the ARRIVE guidelines, we verified that 89.1% of the works were of good or moderate quality. Galanin shows a differential role in pain, depending on the pain state, site of action, and concentration. Under normal settings, galanin can modulate nociceptive processing through both a pro- and anti-nociceptive action, in a dose-dependent manner. This peptide also plays a key role in chronic pain conditions and its antinociceptive action at both a spinal and supraspinal level is enhanced, reducing animals’ hypersensitivity to both mechanical and thermal stimulation. Our results highlight galanin and its receptors as potential therapeutic targets in pain conditions.
Urban Fault Lines: The Politics of Territorial Restructuring in Nanjing and Ningbo

Recent decades have seen a flurry of administrative division adjustments (ADAs) in major Chinese cities, including ADAs that reconfigure multiple local government units at once. Despite the growing visibility of such reforms, it remains unclear how they come about and how profoundly they change cities’ governance and development prospects. To address these questions, this paper examines cases of ADA in Nanjing and Ningbo that had varying practical and political significance. Nanjing's 2013 ADA, though broad in scope, primarily served the purpose of administrative streamlining. By contrast, Ningbo's 2016 ADA marked a political and economic turning point, furthering the city's agenda of territorial consolidation. This detailed case comparison traces how varying ADA outcomes emerged from different intergovernmental relationships between cities, urban subunits, and provincial authorities, highlighting the territorial interest conflicts that play out within Chinese cities and the broader political challenges surrounding efforts to improve metropolitan governance.
Monitoring of Unfractionated Heparin Therapy in the Intensive Care Unit Using a Point-of-Care aPTT: A Comparative, Longitudinal Observational Study with Laboratory-Based aPTT and Anti-Xa Activity Measurement

Continuous intravenous unfractionated heparin (UFH) is administered routinely in the intensive care unit (ICU) for the anticoagulation of patients, and monitoring is performed by the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) or anti-Xa activity. However, these strategies are associated with potentially large time intervals before dose adjustments, which could be detrimental to the patient. The aim of the study was to compare a point-of-care (POCT) version of the APTT to (i) laboratory-based APTT and (ii) measurements of anti-Xa activity in terms of correlation, agreement and turnaround time (TAT). Thirty-five ICU patients requiring UFH therapy were prospectively included and followed longitudinally for a maximum duration of 15 days. UFH was administered according to a local adaptation of Raschke and Amanzadeh’s aPTT nomograms. Simultaneous measurements of POCT-APTT (CoaguCheck® aPTT Test, Roche Diagnostics) on a drop of fresh whole blood, laboratory-based APTT (C.K. Prest®, Stago) and anti-Xa activity (STA®Liquid anti-Xa, Stago) were systematically performed two to six times a day. Antithrombin, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, factor VIII and lupus anticoagulant were measured. The time tracking of sampling and analysis was recorded. The overall correlation between POCT-APTT and laboratory APTT (n = 795 pairs) was strongly positive (rs = 0.77, p < 0.0001), and between POCT-APTT and anti-Xa activity (n = 729 pairs) was weakly positive (rs = 0.46, p < 0.0001). Inter-method agreement (Cohen’s kappa (k)) between POCT and laboratory APTT was 0.27, and between POCT and anti-Xa activity was 0.30. The median TATs from sample collection to the lab delivery of results for lab-APTT and anti-Xa were 50.9 min (interquartile range (IQR), 38.4–69.1) and 66.3 min (IQR, 49.0–91.8), respectively, while the POCT delivered results in less than 5 min (p < 0.0001). Although the use of the POCT-APTT device significantly reduced the time to results, the results obtained were poorly consistent with those obtained by lab-APTT or anti-Xa activity, and therefore it should not be used with the nomograms developed for lab-APTT.
Study of the photoluminescence of N-doped, Carbon Dot-based nanocomposite materials from citric acid and urea

In this work, we investigate the photoluminescence mechanisms of N-doped, CQD-based nanocomposites, in the form of aqueous suspensions as well as the transition to thin films, in order to facilitate their use for solid-state applications. The products of two different synthetic routes have been investigated for their optical response in the form of aqueous suspensions and thin films. In addition, dialysis was utilized to purify and separate the as-synthesized material into different fractions, which were then studied separately. The PL spectra revealed two optical centers identified as H-aggregates of citrazinic acid derivatives and 4-hydroxy-1H-pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyridine-1,3,6(2H,5H)-trione (HPPT). The materials were further studied with FTIR and UV–Vis spectroscopy, as well as TEM microscopy, in order to acquire a better understanding of these optical centers. The optical centers were found to be excitation-independent emitters, sensitive to ambient pH conditions and able to interact with each other by an energy transfer mechanism in the solid state.
Deep Learning-Based Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Diagnosis of Ischemic Penumbra in Early Cerebral Infarction

The prefiltered image was imported into the local higher-order singular value decomposition (HOSVD) denoising algorithm (GL-HOSVD)-optimized diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) image, which was compared with the deviation correction nonlocal mean (NL mean) and low-level edge algorithm (LR + edge). Regarding the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), root mean square error (RMSE), sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and consistency, the application effect of the GL-HOSVD algorithm in DWI was investigated, and its adoption effect in the examination of ischemic penumbra (IP) of early acute cerebral infarction (ACI) patients was evaluated. A total of 210 patients with ACI were selected as the research subjects, who were randomly rolled into two groups. Those who were checked by conventional DWI were set as the control group, and those who used DWI based on the GL-HOSVD denoising algorithm were set as the observation group, with 105 people in each. Positron emission tomography (PET) test results were set as the gold standard to evaluate the application value of the two examination methods. It was found that under different noise levels, the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) of the GL-HOSVD algorithm and the root mean square error (RMSE) of the FA parameter were better than those of the nonlocal means (NL-means) of deviation correction and low-rank edge algorithm (LR + edge). The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and consistency (8.76%, 81.25%, 87.62%, and 0.52) of the observation group were higher than those of the control group (57.78%, 53.33%, 57.14%, and 0.35) (P < 0.05). Moreover, the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the DWI images of the observation group was basically consistent with that of the PET images, while the control group had a poor display effect and low definition. In summary, under different noise levels, the GL-HOSVD algorithm had a good denoising effect and greatly reduced fringe artifacts. DWI after denoising had high sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and consistency in the detection of IP, which was worthy of clinical application and promotion.
Pushing Collaborative Data Deduplication to the Network Edge: An Optimization Framework and System Design

Edge computing has become a new computing paradigm with explosive growth in recent years. We consider the problem of pushing data deduplication to the network edge and propose a new framework for distributed edge-facilitated deduplication (EF-dedup). Deduplication at the network edge allows us to exploit the high degree of geographic- and temporal-correlation in edge data to achieve space efficiency. By leveraging distributed computing power available on the edge in a collaborative fashion, the edge nodes can effectively suppress duplicated edge data, consuming considerably less space and WAN bandwidth. To this end, we partition the edge nodes into disjoint collaborative clusters, maintain a deduplication index structure across them using a distributed key-value store and perform deduplication within those clusters. However, this partitioning problem is very challenging and requires the optimization of a novel tradeoff: edge nodes with highly correlated data may not always be within the same edge cloud, with non-trivial network cost among them. We formulate a joint storage and network optimization problem with different design objectives, such as arbitrary partitioning and balanced partitioning of edge nodes. The problem is shown to be NP-Hard in general. Then, an optimization framework with efficient algorithms is developed and is proven to achieve a closed-form competitive ratio. Our experiments, performed on edge nodes in a corporate lab1 and a central cloud at AWS, demonstrate that EF-dedup achieves 67.4$\sim$133.7% better deduplication throughput than sole cloud-based techniques and achieves 20.0-62.6$\%$ lesser aggregate cost in terms of the network-storage trade-off as compared to approaches that solely favor one over the other.
A Case Study of Prolonged Exposure for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder With a Latino Male with Polysubstance Use, Severe Depression, and Anger in a Residential Substance Use Treatment Program

Substance use disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often co-occur, along with depression and anger. Despite evidence that Prolonged Exposure Therapy is effective for individuals with co-occurring PTSD and SUD when PE is implemented alongside SUD treatment, clinicians have been reluctant to offer PE or other trauma-focused therapies to individuals with co-occurring PTSD and SUD because of the belief that increased emotional distress would be counter-therapeutic for individuals in early recovery. A widely held explanation for the high degree of comorbidity is that individuals with PTSD use substances to reduce or avoid painful and disturbing PTSD symptoms. This case study describes the implementation and outcome of PE therapy with a 32-year-old man who had been admitted to a residential substance use treatment program for Latino males. The client had a long history of polysubstance use and severe PTSD. The client was homeless and reported significant depressive and anger symptoms. Assessment of PTSD revealed that he was using heroin and cocaine to avoid painful memories of a traumatic event that had occurred several years prior to his admission to this treatment program. Because the client reported using these substances to reduce emotional distress, PE was chosen as the PTSD intervention. During PE Therapy the client reported no thoughts or urges to use substances and at discharge from residential treatment he reported no problems with PTSD or depression. The client maintained all gains at 1-year follow-up, when he also reported that he was working full time and had remained abstinent since he completed treatment.
Factors Affecting the Intention to Use Financial Technology among Vietnamese Youth: Research in the Time of COVID-19 and Beyond

This study focuses on understanding the factors that affect the intention of using financial technology among young Vietnamese in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fintech studies are abundant in developed countries and mainly focus on consumers’ conditions, awareness, habits, and capital. These are expected to differ significantly from the situation in developing countries. We have reviewed factors that can affect the user’s intention, including the Perceived Benefit (PB), Perceived Risk (PR), Belief (B), and Social Influence (SI), and rely on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) model in this research. The survey sample comprises 161 Z-generation consumers with strong flexibility and knowledge about the use of Fintech. We use the PLS-SEM (partial least squares structural equation modeling) analysis method with the SmartPLS software (SmartPLS GmbH, Oststeinbek, Germany) to evaluate the research model. We find that the Perceived Benefit (PB) has the most significant impact on the intention to use Fintech, followed by Belief (B). However, in general, the factors are not significant, perhaps due to many reasons that are intrinsic in Vietnam. Based on this result, service providers, policymakers, and researchers can calibrate the development and research for the following stages. We offer findings different from the previous research, thus especially extending the literature on young people.
Variations in the Composition of Human Milk Oligosaccharides Correlates with Effects on Both the Intestinal Epithelial Barrier and Host Inflammation: A Pilot Study

Background: Human milk oligosaccharides are complex, non-digestible carbohydrates that directly interact with intestinal epithelial cells to alter barrier function and host inflammation. Oligosaccharide composition varies widely between individual mothers, but it is unclear if this inter-individual variation has any impact on intestinal epithelial barrier function and gut inflammation. Methods: Human milk oligosaccharides were extracted from the mature human milk of four individual donors. Using an in vitro model of intestinal injury, the effects of the oligosaccharides on the intestinal epithelial barrier and select innate and adaptive immune functions were assessed. Results: Individual oligosaccharide compositions shared comparable effects on increasing transepithelial electrical resistance and reducing the macromolecular permeability of polarized (Caco-2Bbe1) monolayers but exerted distinct effects on the localization of the intercellular tight junction protein zona occludins-1 in response to injury induced by a human enteric bacterial pathogen Escherichia coli, serotype O157:H7. Immunoblots showed the differential effects of oligosaccharide compositions in reducing host chemokine interleukin 8 expression and inhibiting of p38 MAP kinase activation. Conclusions: These results provide evidence of both shared and distinct effects on the host intestinal epithelial function that are attributable to inter-individual differences in the composition of human milk oligosaccharides.
TUALANG HONEY MODULATED NOCICEPTIVE RESPONSES IN THE THALAMUS OF REM SLEEP DEPRIVATION RAT MODEL

Sleep deprivation has been shown to alter pain responses in humans and animals. The present study investigated whether the administration of Tualang honey in the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep deprivation rat model would modulate nociceptive responses with associated changes in the thalamus. Forty-eight Sprague Dawley male rats were randomised into four groups (n=12 for each group): control group (FMC), REM sleep deprivation (REMsd), REM sleep deprivation pretreated with Tualang Honey for 1 month (REMsdH) and tank control (TC). Following sleep deprivation for 72 hours, a formalin test was conducted and pain behaviour was recorded and analysed. The rats were sacrificed, and the brains were removed for histological examination and assessment of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDA R2) level in the thalamus. REMsdH group showed a significantly lower level of pain behaviour score and NMDA R2 compared to the REMsd group (p<0.05). In addition, REMsdH also demonstrated a significantly higher number of Nissl stained neurons in comparison with the REMsd group (p<0.05). Furthermore, dark neurons, suggestive of neuronal damage, were observed in the REMsd group. In conclusion, administration of Tualang honey before REM sleep deprivation modulated nociceptive responses and prevent changes in thalamic neurons and NMDA R2 level.
Development of a performance model for classifying broiler farms

Broiler meat is the second world's most consumed meat, and the increase in consumption by 2027 is forecasted to be near 35 kg/capita/year. Brazil ranks third in broiler production globally and is the world's largest exporter of chicken meat. To reach proper rearing conditions, broiler farms need to meet good practices of husbandry and welfare. The present study aimed to develop a performance classification model using data mining to evaluate broiler farmers based on detailed flock housing and performance information. The input dataset from 49 broiler farms from a cooperative in Northeastern Brazil was organized with details on the housing characteristics, rearing environment, management, and performance data from flocks. We also added the cooperative technical classification retrieved from the housing conditions and the production index. The input classification had weights attributed to each housing feature. The output variable (target) was defined as the performance classification (PC) index. The dataset was processed using Rapidminer® software using 80% of training and 20% for implementing the random forest algorithm. The prominent variables in classifying the performance were the feed conversion, the daily weight gain, the productivity index, and the cooperative classification criteria. The developed model pointed out a way to auto-classify farms and allow the cooperative to evaluate the farmers' production based on the broiler production and management practices. It was possible to create 'If-Then' rules that enable appropriate decisionmaking by broiler farmers to comply with good practices' norms.