Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gut-Derived Endotoxin and Telomere Length Attrition in Adults with and without Type 2 Diabetes

Premature aging, as denoted by a reduced telomere length (TL), has been observed in several chronic inflammatory diseases, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, no study to date has addressed the potential inflammatory influence of the gut-derived Gram-negative bacterial fragments lipopolysaccharide, also referred to as endotoxin, and its influence on TL in low-grade inflammatory states such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The current study therefore investigated the influence of endotoxin and inflammatory factors on telomere length (TL) in adults with (T2DM: n = 387) and without (non-diabetic (ND) controls: n = 417) obesity and T2DM. Anthropometric characteristics were taken, and fasted blood samples were used to measure biomarkers, TL, and endotoxin. The findings from this study highlighted across all participants that circulating endotoxin (r = −0.17, p = 0.01) was inversely associated with TL, noting that endotoxin and triglycerides predicted 18% of the variance perceived in TL (p < 0.001). Further stratification of the participants according to T2DM status and sex highlighted that endotoxin significantly predicted 19% of the variance denoted in TL among male T2DM participants (p = 0.007), where TL was notably influenced. The influence on TL was not observed to be impacted by anti-T2DM medications, statins, or anti-hypertensive therapies. Taken together, these results show that TL attrition was inversely associated with circulating endotoxin levels independent of the presence of T2DM and other cardiometabolic factors, suggesting that low-grade chronic inflammation may trigger premature biological aging. The findings further highlight the clinical relevance of mitigating the levels of circulating endotoxin (e.g., manipulation of gut microbiome) not only for the prevention of chronic diseases but also to promote healthy aging.
Robust motion-compensated video upconversion

The quality of field-rate conversion improves significantly with motion-compensation techniques. It becomes possible to interpolate new fields at their correct temporal position. This results in smooth motion portrayal without loss of temporal resolution. However, motion vectors are not always valid for every pixel or object in an image. Therefore, visible artifacts occur wherever such wrong vectors are used on the image. One effective method to solve this problem is the use of non-linear filtering. In this method, a wrongly interpolated pixel is either substituted or averaged with neighbouring pixels. We introduce and evaluate a new and very robust upconversion algorithm which is based on the non-linear filtering approach. It is unique in that it estimates motion vector reliability and uses this information to control the filtering process. This algorithm outperforms others in its class, especially when we have complex image sequences.
Carcharodon megalodon from the Upper Miocene of Denmark, with comments on elasmobranch tooth enameloid: coronoïn

C. megalodon, not previously known from deposits in Denmark, is recorded from a large, but imperfect tooth derived from the marine clay exposed at the type locality for the Upper Miocene Gram Formation. Detached, large vertebral centra from this locality, probably belonging to the same species, are considered as well as the nomenclature and phylogenetic relationships of the genus and species. A revised list of the Gram clay elasmobranch assemblage is included. Elasmobranch tooth enameloid, now distinguished under the term coronorn and perfectly preserved in the C. megalodon tooth, is a mesodermally derived, hypermineralized hard substance. Its ultrastructural, histological and ontogenetic characteristics in elasmobranchs in general are touched upon and considered in comparison with similar features of other enameloids including acrodin of actinopterygians and varieties of pleromin occurring in dipnoan and chimaeroid dentitions. Corono1n and acrodin (both differing from pleromins in all essential features of ontogenetic formation and growth),, are characteristic of elasmo­branchs and actinopterygians, respectively, and these two groups separated phylogenetically far back in the Palaeozoic. It is not unexpected, therefore, that corono¥n and acrodin are found to be structurally distin­guishable from each other.
Effect of welding variables on mechanical properties of low carbon steel welded joint

A B S T R A C T� A R T I C L E I N F O� Thispaperdiscussedtheeffectofweldingvariablesonthemechanicalprop- ertiesofwelded�10�mmthicklowcarbonsteelplate,�weldedusingtheShield- edMetalArcWelding�(SMAW)�method. �Weldingcurrent,�arcvoltage,�welding� speedandelectrodediameterweretheinvestigatedweldingparameters. �The� weldedsampleswerecutandmachinedtostandardconfigurationsfortensile,� impacttoughness,�andhardnesstests. �Theresultsshowedthattheselected� weldingparametershadsignificanteffectsonthemechanicalpropertiesof� theweldedsamples. �Increasesinthearcvoltageandweldingcurrentresulted� inincreasedhardnessanddecreaseinyieldstrength,� tensilestrengthand� impacttoughness. � Increasingtheweldingspeedfrom� 40-66.67� mm/min� causedanincreaseinthehardnesscharacteristicoftheweldeds amples. � Initialdecreaseintensileandyieldstrengthswereobservedwhichthereafter� increasedastheweldingspeedincreased. �Anelectrodediameterof�2.5�mm� providedthebestcombinationofmechanicalpropertieswhencomparedto� theasreceivedsamples. �Thisbehaviourwasattributedtothefactthatin- creasedcurrentandvoltagemeantincreasedheatinputwhichcouldcreate� roomfordefectformation,�thustheobservedreducedmechanicalproperties. �
Plasma Lipocalin-2 and Adiponectin are Affected by Obesity Rather Than Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus per se

Purpose Changes in plasma adipocytokines and inflammatory markers in type 2 DM remain controversial as to whether they are due to obesity or directly associated with the diabetic state. Our objective was to study the effect of obesity and diabetes on plasma lipocalin-2 (LCN2), adiponectin, and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) by comparing their levels in non-diabetic obese subjects and non-obese type 2 DM patients, as well as determining the association of these adipocytokines with metabolic syndrome factors and diabetic parameters. Patients and Methods In this study, 85 Yemeni male volunteers aged 30–60 years old were enrolled, 25 of whom were healthy subjects with BMI < 25 kg/m2 served as control; 30 non-diabetic obese subjects (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 and FBG < 6.1 mmol/l); and 30 non-obese type 2 DM patients (BMI < 25 kg/m2 and FBG > 7 mmol/l). Results Lipocalin-2 and adiponectin were significantly (p = 0.043 and p = 0.034) lower in non-diabetic obese subjects by 16.2% and 29.7% with respect to control group, with no effect in the non-obese type 2 DM patients. Moreover, LCN2 was significantly (p = 0.04) lower in the non-diabetic obese subjects by 15.8% as compared with the non-obese type 2 DM patients, with no significant difference in adiponectin levels. In contrast, serum IL-1β was significantly (p = 0.001 and p = 0.003) higher in both non-diabetic obese subjects and the non-obese type 2 DM patients by 76.5% and 67.7% as compared to control group. The significant decrease in both LCN2 and adiponectin and the significant increase in IL-1β in the non-diabetic obese subjects disappeared upon adjustment for waist circumference (WC). In contrast, the significant increase in IL-1β in the non-obese Type 2 DM patients was not affected upon adjustment for WC. Conclusion Plasma LCN2 and adiponectin were not affected by diabetes per se, suggesting that the observed changes in LCN2 and adiponectin in type 2 DM may be due to obesity rather than the diabetic state, whereas IL-1β levels were affected by both obesity and diabetes.
Research on Geogrid Strain of Reinforced Earth Retaining Wall by Numerical Simulation

Numerical simulation was used to study the relationship between reinforced earth retaining wall gradient and geogrid strain. Research results show that when the load on the wall top is small, the function of geogrids in the upper section of retaining wall is not brought to full play, the angle between potential rupture surface and horizontal plane is small and resembles Rankines active soil pressure rupture surface, and it is far from wall face. When the load on wall top increases, potential rupture surface becomes steep, the distance between the surface and wall face is about one third of wall height. Inclined wall face also displays this property. The gentler the reinforced earth retaining wall gradient is, the smaller the geogrid stress is, and the safer the wall is. However, when gradient drops below 1:0.4, safety increase becomes vague. When wall gradient is 1:0.3, geogrid stress is most uniformly distributed, and thus has the highest use efficiency and the wall is the most cost-effective.
HammerCloud: A Stress Testing System for Distributed Analysis

Distributed analysis of LHC data is an I/O-intensive activity which places large demands on the internal network, storage, and local disks at remote computing facilities. Commissioning and maintaining a site to provide an efficient distributed analysis service is therefore a challenge which can be aided by tools to help evaluate a variety of infrastructure designs and configurations. HammerCloud is one such tool; it is a stress testing service which is used by central operations teams, regional coordinators, and local site admins to (a) submit arbitrary number of analysis jobs to a number of sites, (b) maintain at a steady-state a predefined number of jobs running at the sites under test, (c) produce web-based reports summarizing the efficiency and performance of the sites under test, and (d) present a web-interface for historical test results to both evaluate progress and compare sites. HammerCloud was built around the distributed analysis framework Ganga, exploiting its API for grid job management. HammerCloud has been employed by the ATLAS experiment for continuous testing of many sites worldwide, and also during large scale computing challenges such as STEP'09 and UAT'09, where the scale of the tests exceeded 10,000 concurrently running and 1,000,000 total jobs over multi-day periods. In addition, HammerCloud is being adopted by the CMS experiment; the plugin structure of HammerCloud allows the execution of CMS jobs using their official tool (CRAB).
Breakfast Dietary Pattern Is Inversely Associated with Overweight/Obesity in European Adolescents: The HELENA Study

Obesity in children and adolescents is a public health problem and diet can play a major role in this condition. We aimed to identify sex-specific dietary patterns (DP) and to evaluate the association with overweight/obesity in European adolescents. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis with 2327 adolescents aged between 12.5 to 17.5 years from a multicenter study across Europe. The body mass index was categorized in “normal weight” and “overweight/obesity”. Two non-consecutive 24-h dietary recalls were collected with a computerized self-reported software. Principal component factor analysis was used to identify DP. Mixed-effect logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between the sex-specific DP and overweight/obesity outcome. As a result, we found three DP in boys (snacking and bread, Mediterranean diet, and breakfast) and four DP in girls (convenience, plant-based and eggs, Western, and breakfast). The association between DP and overweight/obesity highlights that those adolescents with higher adherence to the breakfast DP had lower odds for overweight/obesity, even after the inclusion of covariables in the adjustments. In European adolescents, the breakfast DP positively characterized by breakfast cereals, fruit, milk, and dairy and negatively characterized by sugar-sweetened beverages in boys and negatively characterized by cereals (pasta, rice, and others) in girls, was inversely associated with overweight/obesity.
Field Evaluation of Staphylococcus aureus Bacterin Use in Dairy Farms

A total of 420 lactating Holstein cows in three dairy farms in Damietta (farm A, 120 lactating cows and farm C, 160 lactating cows) and El-Sharkia (farm B, 140 lactating cows) Governorates; were examined for the presence of clinical and subclinical mastitis among the resident cows, then were vaccinated by Staph. aureus bacterin and then were observed during the period from May 2015 to December 2017 for evaluating the efficacy of the vaccine in reducing the number of infected animals and preventing new infections. Clinical mastitis and subclinical mastitis were respectively reported in 286 (17.54%) and 726 (44.53%) out of the total examined quarters (n=1630) from 420 animals in 3 farms. Before vaccination, the overall prevalence rate of Staph. aureus was (19.5% versus 46.5%) in mastitic quarters and (32.1% versus 44.6%)in subclinical mastitis. Vaccination of cows with 5 ml of Staph. aureus bacterin 2 doses with 14-day interval decrease the severity of mastitis in the new cases of clinical mastitis and reduce the prevalence of Staph. aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococcal mastitis, improved clearance rates of existing Staph. aureus mastitis, but it has little effect on reducing new mastitic cases. However, it was found to be effective in preventing new infections with Staph. aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci in dairy heifers, and minimizing somatic cell count, and increasing milk yield. Also, the total bacterial count, total Staphylococcal count, and Staph. aureus count was reduced. Vaccine efficacy was stretched to fat, protein percent and milk yield were elevated.
Development of an Instrument to Assess the Stability of Cementless Femoral Implants Using Vibration Analysis During Total Hip Arthroplasty

Objective: The level of primary implant fixation in cementless total hip arthroplasty is a key factor for the longevity of the implant. Vibration-based methods show promise for providing quantitative information to help surgeons monitor implant fixation intraoperatively. A thorough understanding of what is driving these changes in vibrational behavior is important for further development and improvement of these methods. Additionally, an instrument must be designed to enable surgeons to leverage these methods. This study addresses both of these issues. Method: An augmented system approach was used to develop an instrument that improves the sensitivity of the vibrational method and enables the implementation of the necessary excitation and measurement equipment. The augmented system approach took into account the dynamics of the existing bone-implant system and its interaction with the added instrument. Results: Two instrument designs are proposed, accompanied by a convergence-based method to determine the insertion endpoint. The modal strain energy density distribution was shown to affect the vibrational sensitivity to contact changes in certain areas. Conclusion: The augmented system approach led to an instrument design that improved the sensitivity to changes in the proximal region of the combined bone-implant-instrument system. This fact was confirmed both in silico and in vitro. Clinical Impact: The presented method and instruments address practical intraoperative challenges and provide perspective to objectively support the surgeon’s decision-making process, which will ensure optimal patient treatment.
Exploring Readiness for Birth Control in Improving Women Health Status: Factors Influencing the Adoption of Modern Contraceptives Methods for Family Planning Practices

Background: Pakistan is the world’s sixth most populated country, with a population of approximately 208 million people. Despite this, just 25% of legitimate couples say they have used modern contraceptive methods. A large body of literature has indicated that sexual satisfaction is a complex and multifaceted concept, since it involves physical and cultural components. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of influencing factors in terms of contraceptive self-efficacy (CSE), contraceptive knowledge, and spousal communication on the adoption of modern contraceptive methods for family planning (FP) under the moderating role of perceived barriers. Methods: Data were collected using an adopted questionnaire issued to married women of reproductive age belonging to the Rawalpindi and Neelum Valley regions in Pakistan. The sample consisted of 250 married women of reproductive age. SPSS was used to analyze the respondents’ feedback. Results: The findings draw public attention towards CSE, contraceptive knowledge, and spousal communication, because these factors can increase the usage of modern methods for FP among couples, leading to a reduction in unwanted pregnancies and associated risks. Regarding the significant moderation effect of perceived barriers, if individuals (women) are highly motivated (CSE) to overcome perceived barriers by convincing their husbands to use contraceptives, the probability to adopt modern contraceptive methods for FP practices is increased. Conclusions: Policymakers should formulate strategies for the involvement of males by designing male-oriented FP program interventions and incorporating male FP workers to reduce communication barriers between couples. Future research should address several other important variables, such as the desire for additional child, myths/misconceptions, fear of side effects, and partner/friend discouragement, which also affect the adoption of modern contraceptive methods for FP practices.
Machine Learning Techniques for Differential Diagnosis of Vertigo and Dizziness: A Review

Vertigo is a sensation of movement that results from disorders of the inner ear balance organs and their central connections, with aetiologies that are often benign and sometimes serious. An individual who develops vertigo can be effectively treated only after a correct diagnosis of the underlying vestibular disorder is reached. Recent advances in artificial intelligence promise novel strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with this common symptom. Human analysts may experience difficulties manually extracting patterns from large clinical datasets. Machine learning techniques can be used to visualize, understand, and classify clinical data to create a computerized, faster, and more accurate evaluation of vertiginous disorders. Practitioners can also use them as a teaching tool to gain knowledge and valuable insights from medical data. This paper provides a review of the literatures from 1999 to 2021 using various feature extraction and machine learning techniques to diagnose vertigo disorders. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of the work done thus far and to provide future directions for research into the use of machine learning in vertigo diagnosis.
Wild Mustard (Sinapis arvensis) Competition and Control in Rain-Fed Spring Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Wild mustard (Sinapis arvensis L.) is a weed that frequently infests spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) fields in Moscow province, Russia. It is an annual broad leaf weed, which is indigenous throughout most parts of the globe and one of the most competitive weeds of spring cereal crops. In southern Russia it is emerging as an important crop competitor. Field trials focusing on herbicide timing and efficacy on wild mustard control and spring wheat yield in the Moscow region, Kashira and Baribino districts. A PRE glyphosate application to wheat regardless of fall or spring application timing favorably suppressed wild mustard in 2018. Weeds were not controlled in 2019 with the earliest application timings of glyphosate because weeds emerged late. In comparing fall and spring application timings, the formulated combination of (iodosulfuron/mesosulfuron/antidote mefenpyr-diethyl) at both field rates provided 80% weed control for all application timings and locations, and also resulting in the greatest spring wheat grain yield. Overall, herbicide treatments performed greater when they were in the fall than during the spring. Based on POST herbicide application, tribenuron-methyl provided the greatest wild mustard suppression (75%) and also caused the highest reduction in wild mustard biomass (3.3 g), stem number (6), seed number (880) and germination percentage (33%). When wild mustard was approximately 32 weeds/m2 causedtotal wheat yield loss.
Radiological impact of oil and Gas Activities in selected oil fields in Production Land Area of Delta State, Nigeria

A study of the radiological impact of oil and gas exploration activities in the production land area of Delta State has been carried out in-situ using two synchronized and calibrated radiation meters (Digilert 50 and 100) and a geographical positioning system (GPS). Ten oil field facilities were studied. At each facility, nine sampling locations and their host communities were evaluated making a total of 100 study points. Measured exposure rate in the oil field facilities ranged from 0.011±0.003mRh -1 in Evwreni camp site to 0.031±0.01mRh -1 at the Otorogu gas plant. Mean field exposure rates/equivalent dose rates ranged from 0.016±0.006mRh -1 (0.839±0.34mSvy -1 ) to 0.0213±0.008mRh -1 (1.134±0.44mSvy -1 ). In the host communities the values ranged from 0.0115±0.003mRh -1 (0.612±0.16mSvy -1 ) in Evwreni community to 0.021±0.007mRh -1 (1.117±0.37mSvy -1 ) in Otujeremi town, while for the control study area the value obtained was 0.009±0.002mRh -1 (0.479±0.11mSvy -1 ). The results show that the radiation levels for the Ughelli East, Kokori, Eriemu, Evwreni, Eriemu, Oweh, Olomoro-Oleh oil and gas fields are within the 1mSvy -1 maximum permissible limit recommended for the public and non-nuclear industrial environment, while the levels for the fields at Otorogu, Ughelli West, Afiesere and Uzere West and East and the host communities of Olomoro, Uzere and Emeragha exceeded the maximum recommended value, an indication that the oil fields and host communities environment have been impacted radiologically. However, these results obtained may not have immediate health hazard, but will pose some long-term health side effects on the staff working in the facilities and residents of the host communities. Interim proactive measures are recommended @JASEM
Development and evaluation of the interactive bidding strategies for a demander and its suppliers in supplier selection auction market

Supplier selection strategy is a critical issue in a supply chain management (SCM) system. Selecting the correct suppliers can have a significant impact on the competitiveness of firms. This research is concerned with the development of the interactive bidding strategies for a demander and its multiple suppliers in a supplier selection auction market (SSAM). The objective of this paper is to investigate the negotiation efficiency for the various bidding strategies the demander employed in different order conditions. The negotiation efficiency is assumed as the required negotiation times to achieve an agreement, agreed price and the procurement costs. Further, this paper runs the experiments of SSAM and provides a bidding strategy guideline for a demander to achieve its goals of supplier selection in varying order conditions. To this end, the negotiation efficiency of this proposed bidding strategy model is compared with other research.