Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An intermediate analysis of moderate and severe forms of COVID-19 treated in Craiova Infectious Disease Clinic

Objective. Description and differentiation of moderate and severe forms of COVID-19 diagnosed and treated in Infectious Diseases Clinic, „Victor Babeş“ Infectious Diseases and Pneumology Hospital from Craiova. Material and method. Retrospective study (March 2020 – July 2020) of the first 300 hospitalized cases comparing the moderate and severe forms of COVID-19 from a clinical and biological point of view. Results. 56 moderate and 33 severe cases were recorded;between them there are a series of differences with statistical significance: age of patients (49.5 ± 16.13, p < 0.0001), number of obese patients (12 vs. 14, p = 0.06), with cardiovascular suffering, (8 vs. 18, p < 0.0001), diabetes (9 vs. 15, p = 0.005) or neoplasms (2 vs. 7, p = 0.02). Several severely ill patients have dyspnoea (14 vs. 24, p < 0.0001), pulmonary rales (8 vs. 13, p = 0.01), elevated systolic blood pressure (2 vs. 9, p = 0.01), coma (0 vs. 5, p = 0.01) or radio-logical image of bronchopneumonia (0 vs. 6, p = 0.004). Critically ill patients have a higher leukocyte count (6,176.07±2,512.05 vs. 8,666.67±4,565.88, p=0.01), higher ESR at 1 hour (43.05±18.09 vs. 71.18±30.8 mm, p < 0.0001), higher level of C-reactive protein (29.62±19.81 vs. 43.46±18.01 mg/l, p = 0.01), serum lactate (1.19±0.91 vs. 3.47±3.84 mEq/l, p = 0.006), blood glucose (112.5±25.01 vs. 304.45±273.58 mg/ dl, p < 0.0001), D dimers (518.7±455.32 vs. 1,314.22±1,347.54 µg/ml, p < 0.0001), troponin (1.8±4.02 vs. 90.81±202.08 mg/l, p < 0.0001);the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is higher in severe forms (3.66±1.2 vs. 6.21±4.21, p < 0.0001). Of the 33 patients with severe forms 16 (approximately 50% of them, respectively 5.33% of the 300 cases) died. Conclusions. Patients with severe forms of COVID-19 are much older and have more comorbidities (es-pecially obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes or malignancies). For the early detection of severe forms, physicians should detect dyspnea, low oxygen saturation or the presence of pulmonary rales, more com-monly encountered in severe forms. Tests for inflammation and procoagulant status are significantly better expressed in patients with severe forms. At the level of the studied group, the glycemic control was subop-timal for severe forms of the disease. Despite the intensive care support, about half of those admitted with severe forms (5.33% of all cases) died. © 2020, Amaltea Medical Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Risk Reporting Practices of Listed Companies: Cross- Country Empirical Evidence from the Auto Industry

Prior literature has shown that corporate transparency is linked to a firm’s competitiveness. The frequently noted vagueness and inadequacy of reported risk disclosures have been accompanied by calls for industry-specific studies. This paper aims to examine the disclosure informativeness of leading multinational automobile firms worldwide regarding firm-specific risks, namely company risk and company size. Applying a content analysis to examine the prevalent disclosure context in the automotive industry, we analyze and classify the annually reported risk statements of 34 multinationals quoted within the NASDAQ OMX Global Automobile Index. These corporations are headquartered in 10 countries, located in the U.S. as well as in the E.U. and in Asia. Based on an employed Wilcoxon signed rank test, our results show that automobile multinationals favor revealing fewer (more) forward-looking and bad-news risk disclosures as compared to past-looking and good-news risk statements. Our findings further indicate that bigger and riskier automobile multinationals do not reveal larger amounts of risk information. This finding is inconsistent with disclosure theory and provides insight into less complex risk reporting practices that affect investor perceptions of risk by omitting risk information. This paper also provides new empirical evidence regarding the association between company risk and corporate risk disclosing practices in the auto industry; our data show that company size did not play a significant role. With our concentration on explaining current risk reporting practices in the automotive sector, these results are robust with respect to firm-specific risk variables, thus the findings may prove usable for policy frameworks.
Molecular Identity of Subterranean Termites

This is an open access article & it is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) Identification of termites is a challenging task due to variable morphological differences among species and their eusocial behaviour with different caste system. A method for easy and accurate species-level identification at any life stage is required. In this study, a 658-base pair region of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene was used to explore its utility in the identification of important subterranean termites. Termite specimens collected from 25 locations from various states, were characterized using specific primers for their identification. Sequence analysis and divergence among the species was assessed. The composition of the mitochondrial sequence of the COI gene in the present study was expectedly AT biased. GenBank accession numbers were obtained for the species. Sequence analysis and divergence among the species was assessed, which revealed significantly high percentage of A+T base composition. Molecular sequence information from NCBI revealed relatedness in all the collected termites, accurately as revealed by their morphological characters. The studies indicate the relevance of DNA sequencing to match different forms of termites and address ambiguities in morphological identification. The information on species diversity would help plan strategies for management of termites.
RESEARCH PAPER Investigation of the different adrenoceptor targets of nebivolol enantiomers in rat thoracic aorta

Background and purpose: Nebivolol is a highly selective b1-adrenoceptor antagonist with b3-adrenoceptor agonist properties and is a racemate mixture of D- and L-enantiomers. However, the cellular mechanisms of the effects of each enantiomer are not yet clear and are a matter for debate. The aim of the present experiments was to determine the adrenoceptors involved in the vascular effects of D- and L-enantiomers of nebivolol in rat thoracic aorta. Experimental approach: Responses to nebivolol enantiomers were evaluated in rings of thoracic aorta from male SpragueDawley rats. Key results: D-nebivolol (0.1–10 mmol·L -1 ), but not L-nebivolol, significantly shifted to the right the concentration-response curve to phenylephrine, an a1-adrenoceptor agonist, in a concentration-dependent manner. For the following experiments, aortic rings were constricted with endothelin 1 and now both enantiomers produced an endothelium-dependent relaxation of the rings involving the nitric oxide pathway. This relaxation was not modified by 1 mmol·L -1 CGP 20,712A (b1-adrenoceptor antagonist), but significantly blunted by 7 mmol·L -1 L-74,8337 (b3-adrenoceptor antagonist). However, only the vasorelaxation induced by D-nebivolol was significantly reduced by 1 mmol·L -1 ICI 118,551 (b2-adrenoceptor antagonist). Conclusions and implications: Our results suggest that the nebivolol enantiomers act on different targets. D-nebivolol induced vasorelaxation by activating b2- and b3-adrenoceptors and antagonizing a1-adrenoceptors. L-nebivolol induced vasorelaxation by activating only b3-adrenoceptors in our model. Our results emphasize that nebivolol is a b1-adrenoceptor antagonist with several important pharmacological differences from other b1-adrenoceptor antagonists.
A Bayesian marked spatial point processes model for basketball shot chart

Abstract The success rate of a basketball shot may be higher at locations where a player makes more shots. For a marked spatial point process, this means that the mark and the intensity are associated. We propose a Bayesian joint model for the mark and the intensity of marked point processes, where the intensity is incorporated in the mark model as a covariate. Inferences are done with a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. Two Bayesian model comparison criteria, the Deviance Information Criterion and the Logarithm of the Pseudo-Marginal Likelihood, were used to assess the model. The performances of the proposed methods were examined in extensive simulation studies. The proposed methods were applied to the shot charts of four players (Curry, Harden, Durant, and James) in the 2017–2018 regular season of the National Basketball Association to analyze their shot intensity in the field and the field goal percentage in detail. Application to the top 50 most frequent shooters in the season suggests that the field goal percentage and the shot intensity are positively associated for a majority of the players. The fitted parameters were used as inputs in a secondary analysis to cluster the players into different groups.
Effects of Internal Service Quality on Work Engagement: A Case Study of Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza

This study examined the Service Quality (SERVQUAL) model with the Internal Service Quality (ISQ) dimensions such as tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy that impact on employee work engagement. This research work was conducted in Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza (SCP), one of the 5-star deluxe hotels of Nepal. The study has adopted an inferential research design to meet the study objectives regarding the impact of independent variables on work engagement of SCP Hotel. A structured questionnaire was distributed to 126 sample respondents out of a total of 503 employees of SCP hotel. The study reveals a significant relationship of work engagement with empathy and not with rest of the independent variables. Based on the findings it is recommended that employees should be taken good care of, and employers should be well aware of the employees’ emotional level since empathy has shown a highly significant relationship with work engagement. Study results have scope of future reference whereby implementing SERVQUAL dimensions for employee work engagement and reduction in employee turnover and improved.
Dilute acid hydrolysis pretreatment for sugar and organic acid production from pineapple residues

Pineapple residue which is pineapple leaves composed of about 80% of carbohydrate containing lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose was utilised for the production of fermentable sugars. However, pretreatment of lignocellulosic material is required to remove hemicellulose and lignin and reducing crystallinity of cellulose to enhance hydrolysis. This paper presents an experimental study of acid hydrolysis pretreatment in pineapple residue to produce sugar and organic acid using sulphuric acid. The effect of different acid concentration (4%, 8% and 12% v/v), solid-to-liquid ratio (10%, 15% and 20% w/v) and reaction time (40, 80, and 120 minutes) of acid hydrolysis pretreatment on pineapple residue at temperature of 100°C were studied to produce high yield of sugar and low organic acid production. As a result, the highest of sugar concentration simultaneously with the lowest of organic acids concentration from pineapple residue were 2.68 ± 0.12 g/L (xylose), 8.84 ± 0.11 g/L (glucose), 1.62 ± 0.20 g/L (formic acid) and 3.28 ± 0.26 g/L (acetic acid); recorded at conditions of 12% acid concentration (v/v), 20% solid-to-liquid ratio and 80 minutes of reaction time. In conclusion, dilute acid hydrolysis pretreatment was a great approach in order to produce high sugar at the same time with low organic acids yield from pineapple residue at mild conditions.
Attitude and Awareness amongst Secondary School Students of Sexually Transmitted Infections in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area, Rivers State

Introduction: The study investigated the attitude and awareness amongst secondary school students of sexually transmitted infections in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers state. Methodology: Three research questions were formulated to guide the study, with a target population of 350 from fifteen schools and sample size of 70 students, drawn through disproportionate random sampling technique. The Sexually Transmitted Infection Evaluator (STIE) questionnaire was employed to gather data from the respondents. The instrument was validated by two experts in Measurement and Evaluation, while reliability of the instrument was determined through test-retest method to obtain a coefficient of 0.90 index. The research questions were analyzed using mean value. Results: The attitude of students towards sexually transmitted infections is negative and the awareness level is still poor. Original Research Article Stephenson et al.; ISRR, 9(2): 82-90, 2020; Article no.ISRR. 63939 83 Conclusion: Based on the findings it was recommended that sex education should be taught in all schools and teachers should come up with modalities of improving sexuality education in schools to ensure students awareness of sexually transmitted infections.
The Effect of Recombinant Human Alpha-1,2-Fucosyltransferase and Alpha-Galactosidase A on the Reduction of Alpha-Gal Expression in the Liver of Transgenic Pigs

Genetically modified pigs lacking Galα1 → 3Gal and other immunogenic carbohydrates are considered as the most promising, alternative source of various tissues and organs for human transplantation. Here, we tested the hypothesis that combining the expression of human α1,2-fucosyltransferase (hFUT2) and α-galactosidase A (hGLA) genes would allow for the removal of this specific carbohydrate in porcine transgenic livers. We investigated the expression profile of human α1,2-fucosyltransferase and α-galactosidase A proteins and the amount of Galα1 → 3Gal antigen in the liver of single transgenic hFUT2 (n=5), hGLA (n=5), and double transgenic hFUT2 × hGLA (n=5) pigs. Both human proteins, α1,2-fucosyltransferase and α-galactosidase A, were abundantly expressed in the liver tissue in respective transgenic lines as was revealed by confocal microscopy and Western blotting. The level of Galα1 → 3Gal epitope evaluated by lectin histochemistry and lectin blotting was significantly lower (p<0.05) in all genetically modified livers than that in the control non-transgenic porcine livers. Importantly, the double transgenic line expressed a significantly lower (p<0.05), but still detectable level of this antigen, compared to both single transgenic pigs, as shown by lectin blotting. Histological evaluation of the liver samples stained with haematoxylin and eosin showed no morphological evidence of hepatic abnormalities in all transgenic pigs. Our study indicates that the simultaneous expression of two protective transgenes hFUT2 × hGLA indeed improves the removal of the Galα1 → 3Gal epitope in porcine liver. However, this modification alone is not sufficient enough for complete elimination of this antigen from porcine liver tissue.
National monitoring systems for health inequalities by socioeconomic status – an OECD snapshot

ABSTRACT We assess the extent and quality of High-Income Countries’ (HIC) practices in monitoring Socioeconomic Inequalities in Health (SIH) through routine data collection/collation and analysis systems. Official websites of government authorities of eligible countries were examined for any reports containing data on SIH, which were assessed for quality from an epidemiological perspective, using published guidelines for monitoring of socioeconomic inequalities in health status.Despite the global commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 10, and recommendations of the WHO 2008 Commission of Social Determinants of Health, most of the thirty-six HIC whose websites were searched appear not to be routinely monitoring SIHs. Only seven HIC websites were found to have SIH monitoring reports that were readily discoverable on their official websites. Only two countries (England and Scotland) have been publishing such trends in detail for more than a half-decade. Although an SIH monitoring system is not itself a sufficient condition for reducing SIH, it is likely a necessary one. For countries that are planning to establish a system, lessons from others who have established such systems include the value of routinely and automatically post-coding of major health outcomes, with robust assignment of average socio-economic status to each local area.
Effect of phytohormones on growth and yield of Indian mustard

In a field trial, the effect of foliar spray of 0 (de-ionized water), 10 - 6 , 10 - 5 and 10 - 4 M ofindole acetic acid (IAA) gibberellic acid (GA 3 ) and kinetin (KN) at 40 days after sowing (pre-flowering stage) on growth and yield characteristics of mustard (Brassica juncea L.) was examined. GA 3 application at 10 - 5 M concentration was found to be more effective than IAA and KN in promoting shoot length, leaf number, lear area and plant dry weight at 60 and 80 days after sowing (DAS), net assimilation rate (NAR) at 60-80 d interval and yield at harvest. Application of 10 - 5 M GA 3 increased seed yield, oil yield and seed yield merit by 33.3, 31.2 and 50.3 % respectively compared to water sprayed control.
Utilization of Monosaccharides by Hungateiclostridium thermocellum ATCC 27405 through Adaptive Evolution

Hungateiclostridium thermocellum ATCC 27405 is a promising bacterium for consolidated bioprocessing with a robust ability to degrade lignocellulosic biomass through a multienzyme cellulosomal complex. The bacterium uses the released cellodextrins, glucose polymers of different lengths, as its primary carbon source and energy. In contrast, the bacterium exhibits poor growth on monosaccharides such as fructose and glucose. This phenomenon raises many important questions concerning its glycolytic pathways and sugar transport systems. Until now, the detailed mechanisms of H. thermocellum adaptation to growth on hexose sugars have been relatively poorly explored. In this study, adaptive laboratory evolution was applied to train the bacterium in hexose sugars-based media, and genome resequencing was used to detect the genes that got mutated during adaptation period. RNA-seq data of the first culture growing on either fructose or glucose revealed that several glycolytic genes in the Embden–Mayerhof–Parnas pathway were expressed at lower levels in these cells than in cellobiose-grown cells. After seven consecutive transfer events on fructose and glucose (~42 generations for fructose-adapted cells and ~40 generations for glucose-adapted cells), several genes in the EMP glycolysis of the evolved strains increased the levels of mRNA expression, accompanied by a faster growth, a greater biomass yield, a higher ethanol titer than those in their parent strains. Genomic screening also revealed several mutation events in the genomes of the evolved strains, especially in those responsible for sugar transport and central carbon metabolism. Consequently, these genes could be applied as potential targets for further metabolic engineering to improve this bacterium for bio-industrial usage.
Relative effects of human capital, social capital and psychological capital on hotel employees’ job performance

This study examines the relative effects of human capital (HC), social capital (SC) and psychological capital (PC) on hotel employees’ job performance. ,A sample of 417 employees from seven five-star hotels in China was recruited for the study. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to confirm the quality of measurement structures. Stepwise regression was used to examine the relative effects of the three capitals on hotel employees’ job performance. ,PC was found to be the strongest predictor of self-reported job performance (SJP) among the three capitals under investigation. Education and work experience in the HC domain affected SJP, whereas SC dimensions did not. However, only education and work experience in the HC domain were found to affect supervisor-rated job performance (RJP). ,Given the impact of PC on hotel employee’s SJP, human resource managers should attend to this capital in staff recruitment, retention and training and development. ,This study provides a holistic comparative lens to examine the relative contribution of the three capitals on hotel employees’ job performance. This will help to further clarify the roles played by each of the capitals in hotel service work, thus advancing the development of the theories underlying each of the three capitals.
ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION TREATMENT WITH COMBINATION OF MESENCHYMAL STEM CELL DERIVED EXOSOMES AND FOCUSED LOW-INTENSIVE SHOCK WAVE THERAPY

Relevance. Erectile dysfunction brings basic problem of urology, andrology and sexology. Erectile dysfunction have significant impact on quality of life, sexual and reproductive health and psychological condition in men. Novel experimental and clinical studies a several methods of regenerative medicine shoved simultaneous impact on main pathogenetic aims showing significant levels of clinical efficacy. Aim – to develop and analyze clinical effects of mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes intracavernous injections and low-intensity extracorporeal shock-wave therapy combination in patients with severe erectile dysfunction on background of metabolic syndrome and atherosclerosis. Materials and methods. A prospective clinical study was conducted on a contingent of 38 patients of “Men’s Health Clinic” (Kyiv, Ukraine) suffering from severe organic erectile dysfunction (ICD-10:N52.9; International index of erectile function score lower than 7) on the background of metabolic syndrome (ICD-10: E88.81) and generalized atherosclerosis (ICD-10: I70.9). Study results. Therapeutics model of combined application of mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes intracavernous injections and low-intensity extracorporeal shock-wave therapy showed significant positive impact of applied therapeutic model according to IIEF-5, EHS scores as well as due to pharmacodoppler-sonography data. Therapeutics model of application low-intensity extracorporeal shock-wave therapy also showed significant positive impact on same diagnostic categories. Conclusion. Comparison of post-therapeutic data between MG and CG showed absence of significant differences in all categories besides mean PSV, but values of statistical mistake probability are very close to significance threshold for IIEF-5 severe and moderate categories as well as EHS grades 4 and 2, what highlights perspective of further comparison studies on larger population scales, longer observation periods or less severe forms of ED.
PANCREAS HORMONES- INSPIRED METHOD

This paper intends to formulate a new multi-objective inspired method, called Pancreas Hormones Method (PHM) for solving optimization problems. PHM is a population-based method, which based on biological nature of pancreas hormones in the maintenance of blood glucose level in the human body system. The adaptive blood glucose control system has provided useful alternatives and supplements to the types of optimization problems embodied in distributed systems. In this method, cell absorption of glucose is considered as a candidate solution; this happens when each cells' receptors in the human body bind with insulin granule, which allows utilizing glucose by a cell. The pancreas evaluates the fitness of all solutions by measure blood glucose level (BGL) in each iteration (secretion phases). Insulin granules (molecules) tend to target cells randomly and search for the optimal solutions which can get it by retard BGL to normal range. In each generation of the algorithm, the best solution is which can access the BGL to the balance point, whereas the other solutions are considered as a searcher of the search space. In this paper, PHM designed, and then it validated, tested on the bases of standard benchmarks and compared with the results of some successful algorithms. The results of PHM are promising.