Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diosmetin Induces Modulation of Igf-1 and Il-6 Levels to Alter Rictor-Akt-PKCα Cascade in Inhibition of Prostate Cancer

Growth signals, which typically originate from the surrounding microenvironment, are important for cells. However, when stimulation by growth factors becomes excessive and exceeds their threshold limit, deleterious effects may ensue. In patients with cancer, maintenance of tumors depends, at least in part, on growth factor stimulation, which can also facilitate cancer progression into advanced stages. This is particularly important when the tumor grows beyond its tissue boundaries or when it invades and colonizes other tissues. These aforementioned malignant events are known to be partly supported by elevated cytokine levels. Among the currently known growth signals, insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 and IL-6 have been previously studied for their roles in prostate cancer. Both IGF-1 and IL-6 have been reported to activate the RAPTOR independent companion of MTOR complex 2 (Rictor)/AKT/protein kinase C α (PKCα) signaling pathway as one of their downstream mechanisms. At present, research efforts are mainly focused on the exploration of agents that alter growth factor (such as IGF-1) and cytokine (such as IL-6) signaling for their potential application as therapeutic agents, as both of these have been reported to modulate disease outcome. In the present study, IGF-1 and IL-6 served distinct roles in the androgen responsive LNCaP cell line and in the androgen refractory PC-3 cell line in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Increased phosphorylation of Rictor at the Thr-1135 residue, AKT at the Ser-473 residue and PKCα at the Ser-657 residue were observed after treatment with IGF-1 and IL-6. Subsequently, it was found that diosmetin, a natural plant aglycone, had the potential to modulate the downstream signaling cascade of Rictor/AKT/PKCα to inhibit the progression of prostate cancer. Treatment of LNCaP and PC-3 cells with diosmetin inhibited the phosphorylation of Rictor (Thr-1135), AKT (Ser-473) and PKCα (Ser-657) in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the Bax/Bcl-2 expression ratio was increased in response to diosmetin treatment, which would result in increased apoptosis. Based on these observations, diosmetin may represent a novel therapeutic target for prostate cancer.
Seroprevalence of BKV-Antibodies among Cancer Patients and Healthy Individuals

BKPyV, a small DNA virus classified into the polyomaviridae family, is holoendemic with global distribution among human population.The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of anti-BK polyomavirus IgG antibodies among cancer patients and healthy controls. In the present study, A total of 85 serum samples were collected (65 cancer patients and 20 healthy controls) with age range between 15- 75 years, the female-to-male ratio was 3:1. All obtained sera samples were tested using ELISA method for the detection of anti-BK polyomavirus IgG antibodies. BKV-IgG seroprevalence show high rate of exposure to the virus 48.23% (41 of 85 samples) revealed positive result (50.77% in cancer patient and 40% in healthy control). Seroprevalence was not different between female and male. The frequency of IgG antibodies decreased from 66.67% in the age group <40 years to 46.94% among age group 40-60 years, and drop again to 38.1% in >60 years old.
The Combined Use of Cytokine Serum Values with Laboratory Parameters Improves Mortality Prediction of COVID-19 Patients: The Interleukin-15-to-Albumin Ratio

Laboratory parameters display limited accuracy in predicting mortality in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, as with serum albumin. Emerging evidence suggests that cytokine serum values may enhance the predictive capacity of albumin, especially interleukin (IL)-15. We thus investigated whether the use of the IL-15-to-albumin ratio enables improving mortality prediction at hospital admission in a large group of COVID-19 patients. In this prospective cross-sectional study, we enrolled and followed up three hundred and seventy-eight patients with a COVID-19 diagnosis until hospital discharge or death. Two hundred and fifty-five patients survived, whereas one hundred and twenty-three died. Student’s T-test revealed that non-survivors had a significant two-fold increase in the IL-15-to-albumin ratio compared to survivors (167.3 ± 63.8 versus 74.2 ± 28.5), a difference that was more evident than that found for IL-15 or albumin separately. Likewise, mortality prediction considerably improved when using the IL-15-to-albumin ratio with a cut-off point > 105.4, exhibiting an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.841 (95% Confidence Interval, 0.725–0.922, p < 0.001). As we outlined here, this is the first study showing that combining IL-15 serum values with albumin improves mortality prediction in COVID-19 patients.
Exploring students’ conceptions of object visibility: a case study of seeing in darkness

This article investigates the optics conceptions of 228 Thai high school students in grades 10–12 when they attempted to explain how an object can be seen both in general and in a completely dark room. To elicit students’ conceptions precisely, their confidence in giving reasons for the final two diagnostic questions is also considered. The study indicates that these high school students still have beliefs and misconceptions about how an object can be seen and how the human eyes work. Only 6.57% (15 students) of all participants could use scientific principles and strong self-confidence to explain how an object can be seen and how human eyes work, answering all questions correctly and with appropriate reasons. The identified misconceptions are discussed and compared to the literature. The teaching implications for developing a conceptual understanding of how human eyes work under low light intensity levels are suggested and discussed.
Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Analysis of Sequence Variation and Green Plant Regeneration via Anther Culture in Barley

The process of anther culture involves numerous abiotic stresses required for cellular reprogramming, microspore developmental switch, and plant regeneration. These stresses affect DNA methylation patterns, sequence variation, and the number of green plants regenerated. Recently, in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), mediation analysis linked DNA methylation changes, copper (Cu2+) and silver (Ag+) ion concentrations, sequence variation, β-glucans, green plants, and duration of anther culture (Time). Although several models were used to explain particular aspects of the relationships between these factors, a generalized complex model employing all these types of data was not established. In this study, we combined the previously described partial models into a single complex model using the structural equation modeling approach. Based on the evaluated model, we demonstrated that stress conditions (such as starvation and darkness) influence β-glucans employed by cells for glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Additionally, Cu2+ and Ag+ ions affect DNA methylation and induce sequence variation. Moreover, these ions link DNA methylation with green plants. The structural equation model also showed the role of time in relationships between parameters included in the model and influencing plant regeneration via anther culture. Utilization of structural equation modeling may have both scientific and practical implications, as it demonstrates links between biological phenomena (e.g., culture-induced variation, green plant regeneration and biochemical pathways), and provides opportunities for regulating these phenomena for particular biotechnological purposes.
Opportunity Unraveled: Private Information and the Missing Markets for Financing Human Capital

Investing in college carries high returns but comes with considerable risk. Financial products like equity contracts can mitigate this risk, yet college is typically financed through nondischargeable, government-backed student loans. This paper argues that adverse selection has unraveled private markets for college-financing contracts that mitigate risk. We use survey data on students’ expected post-college outcomes to estimate their knowledge about future outcomes and quantify the threat of adverse selection in markets for equity contracts and several statecontingent debt contracts. We find students hold significant private knowledge of their future earnings, academic persistence, employment, and loan repayment likelihood, beyond what is captured by observable characteristics. Our empirical results imply that a typical college-goer must expect to pay back $1.64 in present value for every $1 of equity financing to cover the financier’s costs of covering those who would adversely select their contract. We estimate that college-goers are not willing to accept these terms so that private markets unravel. Nonetheless, our framework quantifies significant welfare gains from government subsidies that would open up these missing markets and partially insure college-going risks. ∗We are grateful for the thoughtful comments from Zach Bleemer, Raj Chetty, Erzo Luttmer, Miguel Palacios, Jim Poterba, Constantine Yannelis, Motohiro Yogo, and seminar participants at the University of Arizona, the MIT Golub Center for Finance and Policy, the University of Bristol, the University of Hong Kong, UC Merced, ZEW Mannheim, the International Institute of Public Finance, and the NBER Public Economics and Insurance Working Group Fall meetings. We acknowledge financial support from the National Science Foundation (Hendren) and the MIT Golub Center for Finance and Policy (Herbst). †dherbst@arizona.edu ‡nhendren@fas.harvard. edu
Gender Self-Perception and Psychological Distress in Healthcare Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The aim of this study was to analyze university Health Sciences students’ self-perception regarding gender stereotypes, and to explore whether there was any association between gender stereotypes and clinical/socio-demographic variables. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 252 university students who completed a self-administrated online questionnaire (18.3% males, 81.7% females). We evaluated the self-perception of gender stereotypes as determined using the BSRI-12 questionnaire and explored the association of this measure with the impact of perceived stress measured using a modified scale (PSS-10-C) as well as anxiety and depression according to scores on the Goldberg scale (GADS). Results: According to the students’ self-perception of gender stereotypes, 24.9% self-perceived themselves as feminine, 20.1% as masculine, 24.9% as androgynous, and 30% as undifferentiated. The degree determines self-identification with gender stereotypes. Nursing and Occupational Therapy are studied mostly by women, 28.4% and 45%, respectively, while Physiotherapy is studied mainly by men (71.2%). Females indicated more anxiety (75.7%) and depression (81.7%) than males (52.9% and 67.3%, respectively). In contrast, males developed more stress (88.5%) than females (74.1%). Conclusions: University degree, anxiety, depression, and stress determined self-identification with gender stereotypes. The results of this study indicate that gender roles influence the possibility of developing mental disorders and should be taken into account in future studies.
A New Dimeric Copper(II) Complex of Hexyl Bis(pyrazolyl)acetate Ligand as an Efficient Catalyst for Allylic Oxidations

A new dimeric copper(II) bromide complex, [Cu(LOHex)Br(μ-Br)]2 (1), was prepared by a reaction of CuBr2 with the hexyl bis(pyrazol-1-yl)acetate ligand (LOHex) in acetonitrile solution and fully characterized in the solid state and in solution. The crystal structure of 1 was also determined: the complex is interlinked by two bridging bromide ligands and possesses terminal bromide ligands on each copper atom. The two pyrazolyl ligands in 1 coordinate with the nitrogen atoms to complete the Cu coordination sphere, resulting in a five-coordinated geometry—away from idealized trigonal bipyramidal and square pyramidal geometries—which can better be described as distorted square pyramidal, as measured by the τ and χ structural parameters. The pendant hexyloxy chain is disordered over two arrangements, with final site occupancies refined to 0.705 and 0.295. The newly synthesized complex was evaluated as a catalyst in copper-catalyzed C–H oxidation for allylic functionalization through a Kharasch–Sosnovsky reaction without any external reducing agent. Using 0.5 mol% of this catalyst, and tert-butyl peroxybenzoate (Luperox) as an oxidant, allylic benzoates were obtained with up to 90% yield. The general reaction time was only slightly decreased to 24 h but a very significant decrease in the alkene:Luperox ratio to 3:1 was achieved. These factors show relevant improvements with respect to classical Kharasch–Sosnovsky reactions in terms of rate and amount of reagents. The present study highlights the potential of copper(II) complexes containing functionalized bis(pyrazol-1-yl)acetate ligands as efficient catalysts for allylic oxidations.
Economic Effects of Covid-19 on the Indian Carpet Industry

Abstract The Indian carpet industry has great potential in the economic development of the nation. This agri-based, unorganized sector employs millions of skilled and unskilled labors and acts as a source for their livelihood. The present study provides an overview of the impact of Covid-19 on the Indian carpet industry, discusses the export performance and vulnerabilities of the workers employed, identify certain export market strategies for the overall prosperity of the carpet industry. The Indian carpet industry has to pay a heavy price in the lockdown and the condition of the carpet industry is still deplorable. The sluggish demand for carpet across developed nations, closure of the production centers followed by phased lockdowns in the country and the migration of skilled labors/weavers added to its woes. The carpet industry is experiencing a tough time and it is evident with an abrupt decline in the export volumes and values of trade. To develop a strategic policy and provide job security to the workers employed in precarious jobs is the need of the hour.
Speaker-Independent Speech Enhancement with Brain Signals

Single-channel speech enhancement algorithms have seen great improvements over the past few years. Despite these improvements, they still lack the efficiency of the auditory system in extracting attended auditory information in the presence of competing speakers. Recently, it has been shown that the attended auditory information can be decoded from the brain activity of the listener. In this paper, we propose two novel deep learning methods referred to as the Brain Enhanced Speech Denoiser (BESD) and the U-shaped Brain Enhanced Speech Denoiser (U-BESD) respectively, that take advantage of this fact to denoise a multi-talker speech mixture. We use a Feature-wise Linear Modulation (FiLM) between the brain activity and the sound mixture, to better extract the features of the attended speaker to perform speech enhancement. We show, using electroencephalography (EEG) signals recorded from the listener, that U-BESD outperforms a current autoencoder approach in enhancing a speech mixture as well as a speech separation approach that uses brain activity. Moreover, we show that both BESD and U-BESD successfully extract the attended speaker without any prior information about this speaker. This makes both algorithms great candidates for realistic applications where no prior information about the attended speaker is available, such as hearing aids, cellphones, or noise cancelling headphones. All procedures were performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and were approved by the Ethics Committees of the School of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin, and the Health Sciences Faculty at Trinity College Dublin.
Proposed Marketing Strategy to Increase Customer Purchase Intention for Cluster House Residence

Marketing strategy is a necessary business process to generate value and gain profitable relationships for customers. Some of the tools that guide the marketing strategy are the marketing mix and AI-DA model. The marketing mix helps the business to engage customers; satisfy customer needs, and build customer relationships (Kotler and Amstrong 2016). AIDA model is a marketing theory in a world of advertising based on the customer's perception (Hadiyanti 2016). This paper aims to propose a marketing strategy to increase customer purchase intention for cluster house residence that increases sales. The objective study of this research is a cluster house residence of Bukit Parama Regency. The research uses the analysis of the marketing mix and the AIDA model. The marketing mix covered in this study includes the product, price, place, and promotion. This study's AIDA model covers customer journey includes attention, interest, desire, and action.
Effect of Training and Reward on Social Sustainability in Ghana’s Cocoa Supply Chain: The Role of Green Buyer-Supplier Relationship.

Abstract This study was conducted to examine Ghana’s cocoa supply chain sustainability, with a focus on the effect of training and reward on social sustainability in Ghana’s cocoa, and also the unique role of green buyer-supplier relationship (governance and trust). Questionnaires were administered to three hundred and twenty-eight (328) cocoa farmers from the Western region of Ghana which generated the primary data for the research and the Partial Least Square (PLS-SEM) was used to aid the analysis of the data gathered. The result showed that both Training and Reward have directly affected social sustainability significantly and the same have indirectly affected social sustainability through the green buyer-supplier relationships (governance and trust). In addition, it was observed that the green buyer-supplier relationship positively related to social sustainability. The outcome of this study provides contemporary knowledge on how a combination of training and reward together with green buyer-supplier relationship (governance and trust) could enhance social sustainability in the cocoa industry. This study is among the very few scholarly works that have attempted to explore the drivers of social sustainability in the agri-food supply chain setting, especially, the context of developing economies. This study adds to the extant literature by providing a contemporary view of top management support and social sustainability in the context of the agri-food supply chain.
Growth and development of Chrysomya saffranea (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in response to different food substrates

Chrysomya saffranea is an insect that is important in criminal forensics as it plays a large role in decomposition on human cadavers. In this paper, the different developmental stages of C. saffranea flies were studied in the laboratory on different food, such as meat, liver, fat tissue and mixed food, to test whether these media affect the development of their larvae and have an impact on the calculation of the post‐mortem interval. Our results indicated a significant growth enhancement among flies that fed on the mixed food (pure fat, meat and liver minced in equal proportions) compared with those that fed on minced (pure fat tissues, pure meat of and minced liver) of buffalo. The present results also confirmed the impact of food on the growth of C. saffranea, as well as the post‐mortem interval PMI.
The Effect of the Internal Audit Roles and Auditor Professionalism on Fraud Prevention

This research aimed to find the internal audit roles (X1) and the auditor professionalism (X2) at Fraud Prevention in NJC Bank in Kuningan Regency. Samples of this research were the NJC Bank employees. The data collection used in this research is the questionnaire method and the data processing used the SPSS program. The analysis results show that the role of the internal auditor has a significant effect on fraud prevention (H1), the auditor professionalism significantly affects fraud prevention (H2), and the test results simultaneously show that the two independent variables have a significant effect on fraud prevention. Supported the results of the implication of this analysis is to improve the roles of the internal auditors and the professionalism of auditor internal could increase fraud prevention.
Features of implementation of measures to improve the hydrological regime of the Pshish River in the Kuban water basin

The article discusses ways to improve the hydrological regime of the Pshish River in the Kuban water basin. In the context of the progressive shortage of fresh water, especially in the south of Russia, the study of the water resources of the Kuban River basin is of particular relevance. Medium and small rivers are still poorly studied in hydrological terms. At high water levels, the Pshish River and the Krasnodar reservoir are the feeding boundaries for ground water in the protected area, and they are drains at low water levels. When the water levels in the reservoir are less than 29 m (this is the low-water level in the Pshish River in the area of the transverse dam), its influence on the protected area practically ceases, since the coastline of the Krasnodar reservoir recedes from the transverse dam far to the northwest, exposing the previously flooded riverbed. Clearing of flooded riverbeds is proposed to be carried out by the method of roiling. This method is used in reservoirs with the flow, because the essence of it is that muddy sediments are roiled using a floating dredger with water jets and the slurry is not sucked into the dredger and suspended sediments are transported by the flow of water in the bowl of the “dead” area of the reservoir. The use of this method is recommended for economic reasons, since it is 2.4 times cheaper than clearing with the removal of pulp.
Processing voice morphology and argument structure by Greek Beginning Readers and children with Reading Difficulties

Abstract Studies on the processing of non-active (NACT) voice have indicated that passive sentences are more difficult to comprehend and require more time to process. Children with Reading Difficulties (RDs) face problems with sentence comprehension, which are often attributed to phonological processing, working memory, syntactic awareness limitations, or a maturation delay. Using an online self-paced reading task, we investigated the effect of voice morphology and argument structure on sentence processing in 3 groups of participants; 30 children RDs, 28 Age-Matched (AM) controls without RDs, and 28 young Beginning Readers (BRs). Our results suggest that although the RDs and BR groups present similar reading times, their reading patterns differ qualitatively. Beginning Readers experienced greater processing delays when processing NACT structures, suggesting that they have not yet fully grasped the properties of the various NACT verbs. However, the RDs group presents effects not found in the BR group; children with RDs were sensitive to the properties of the different types of NACT verbs showing (a) evidence that the language processor successfully engages in predictions based on the morphosyntactic and lexical characteristics of verbs and (b) preference for default/prototypical readings. These results point toward processing limitations that are greatly affected by syntactic complexity.