Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Correlation between long non-coding RNA MAFG-AS1 and cancer prognosis: a meta-analysis

Background MAF transcription factor G antisense RNA 1 (MAFG-AS1), a novel long non-coding RNA discovered recently, was proved to be useful in predicting malignancy prognosis. Nevertheless, its association with cancer prognosis has been inconsistent. Therefore, this meta-analysis aimed to explore the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of MAFG-AS1 in diverse carcinomas. Methods Studies focused on MAFG-AS1 expression as a prognostic role in cancers were thoroughly searched in six electronic databases. The value of MAFG-AS1 in malignancies was assessed by hazard ratios (HRs) or odds ratios (ORs). Additionally, the GEPIA database was utilized to further strengthen our conclusion. Results A total of 15 studies involving 1187 cases and nine types of cancers were recruited into this meta-analysis. High MAFG-AS1 expression was significantly related to advanced tumor stage (OR = 0.52, 95%CI [0.39, 0.69], P < 0.00001), earlier lymph node metastasis (OR = 3.62, 95%CI [2.19, 5.99], P < 0.00001), worse tumor differentiation (OR = 0.64, 95%CI [0.43, 0.95], P = 0.03), and poor overall survival (HR = 1.94, 95%CI [1.72, 2.19], P < 0.00001). No significant heterogeneity and publication bias was detected across studies. Meanwhile, MAFG-AS1 was significantly elevated in ten kinds of cancers based on the validation of the GEPIA database. Conclusion The results of this meta-analysis indicated that high MAFG-AS1 expression is dramatically correlated with unfavorable prognosis in cancers. MAFG-AS1 may be served as a promising biomarker for malignancies.
Semiotic Reasoning in Mathematics: A Systematic Literature Review of Future Trends and Opportunities

A way of resulting conclusions using symbols or signs is known as semiotic reasoning. Researchers need precise information on this subject. A systematic literature review (SLR) summarizes the trends and contributions of semiotic reasoning research in mathematics published in Scopus-indexed journals, as well as its future potential. In the Scopus database's search menu, the terms "reasoning" and "semiotic" were entered, and 505 articles were found. In addition, 18 papers met the criteria for analysis. PRISM is the method of inclusion and exclusion model used. Semiotic reasoning rose considerably from 2019 to 2023, with 14 articles (77.78%). The most prevalent research technique (12 articles) is the qualitative approach. The author's country of origin and international participation are mentioned. The places of origin of the writers reveal that semiotic reasoning articles have been disseminated fairly throughout all continents. Furthermore, 12 papers (66.7%) were completed entirely by themselves. There was just one study with international collaboration (5.56%). Keyword-wise, 18 works demonstrate the characterization of sign activity (semiotic) in mathematical semiotic reasoning. Aside from that, mathematical semiotic reasoning research supports classroom mathematics learning, the advancement of mathematical semiotic reasoning theory, and the application of mathematical semiotic reasoning in other scientific domains. Semiotic reasoning research has made the most important contribution to classroom mathematics instruction. Among the mathematical principles studied are numbers, geometry, derivatives, diagrams, comparison and measurement, and distribution. These discoveries might be useful. These findings may be considered or used as a beginning point for academics to research the issue of semiotic reasoning in mathematics in line with their own goals.
Mechanism of flood peak increase along the lower Yellow River and its verification

The paper studies the abnormal phenomenon that a flood peak increased in August.2004 along the lower Yellow River and its hydrodynamic mechanism.It is found that the flood peak increase was mainly due to decrease of channel roughness in the propagation of high-concentrated flood carrying extra fine sediment which was discharged from Xiaolangdi reservoir.The mechanism of this flood is verified by the simulation with a quasi-2-D numerical model,which includes,among others,roughness change due to concentration and sediment size gradation.It is pointed out that the flood peak increase due to roughness reduction may endanger the security of flood control works along the lower Yellow River,so that attention must be pay to this problem.
Bacterial Pigments: The Bioactivities and as an Alternative for Therapeutic Applications

Synthetic pigments have been widely used in various applications since the 1980s. However, the hyperallergenicity or carcinogenicity effects of synthetic dyes have led to the increased research on natural pigments. Among the natural resources, bacterial pigments are a good alternative to synthetic pigments because of their significant properties. Bacterial pigments are also one of the emerging fields of research since it offers promising opportunities for different applications. Besides its use as safe coloring agents in the cosmetic and food industry, bacterial pigments also possess biological properties such as antimicrobial, antiviral, antioxidant and anticancer activities. This review article highlights the various types of bacterial pigments, the latest studies on the discovery of bacterial pigments and the therapeutic insights of these bacterial pigments which hopefully provides useful information, guidance and improvement in future study.
Neuronal Transdifferentiation Potential of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Neonatal and Adult Sources by a Small Molecule Cocktail

Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are good candidates for brain cell replacement strategies and have already been used as adjuvant treatments in neurological disorders. MSCs can be obtained from many different sources, and the present study compares the potential of neuronal transdifferentiation in MSCs from adult and neonatal sources (Wharton's jelly (WhJ), dental pulp (DP), periodontal ligament (PDL), gingival tissue (GT), dermis (SK), placenta (PLAC), and umbilical cord blood (UCB)) with a protocol previously tested in bone marrow- (BM-) MSCs consisting of a cocktail of six small molecules: I-BET151, CHIR99021, forskolin, RepSox, Y-27632, and dbcAMP (ICFRYA). Neuronal morphology and the presence of cells positive for neuronal markers (TUJ1 and MAP2) were considered attributes of neuronal induction. The ICFRYA cocktail did not induce neuronal features in WhJ-MSCs, and these features were only partial in the MSCs from dental tissues, SK-MSCs, and PLAC-MSCs. The best response was found in UCB-MSCs, which was comparable to the response of BM-MSCs. The addition of neurotrophic factors to the ICFRYA cocktail significantly increased the number of cells with complex neuron-like morphology and increased the number of cells positive for mature neuronal markers in BM- and UCB-MSCs. The neuronal cells generated from UCB-MSCs and BM-MSCs showed increased reactivity of the neuronal genes TUJ1, MAP2, NF-H, NCAM, ND1, TAU, ENO2, GABA, and NeuN as well as down- and upregulation of MSC and neuronal genes, respectively. The present study showed marked differences between the MSCs from different sources in response to the transdifferentiation protocol used here. These results may contribute to identifying the best source of MSCs for potential cell replacement therapies.
Emergency department network under disaster conditions: The case of possible major Istanbul earthquake

Abstract Emergency departments (EDs) provide health care services to people in need of urgent care. Their role is remarkable when extraordinary events that affect the public, such as earthquakes, occur. In this paper, we present a hybrid framework to evaluate earthquake preparedness of EDs in cities. Our hybrid framework uses artificial neural networks (ANNs) to estimate number of casualties and discrete event simulation (DES) to analyse the effect of surge in patient demand in EDs, after an earthquake happens. At the core of our framework, Earthquake Time Emergency Department Network Simulation Model (ET-EDNETSIM) resides which can simulate patient movements in a network of multiple and coordinated EDs. With the design of simulation experiments, different resource levels and sharing rules between EDs can be evaluated. We demonstrated our framework in a network of five EDs located in a region of which is estimated to have the highest injury rate after an earthquake in Istanbul, Turkey. Results of our study contributed to the planning for expected earthquake in Istanbul. Simulating a network of EDs extends the individual ED studies in the literature and furthermore, our hybrid framework can help increase earthquake preparedness in cities around the world. On the methodological side, the use of ANN, which is a member of machine learning (ML) algorithms family, in our hybrid framework also shows the close links between ML and DES.
Communication is key: at-risk families’ perspectives on follow-up in New Jersey’s early hearing detection and intervention program

ABSTRACT Babies whose families possess multiple marginalized identities are at-risk for being late or lost to follow-up although there is a universal effort to screen and treat hearing loss in babies as part of state Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs. Lack of timely follow-up puts young children at risk for delays in language acquisition, social skills, cognitive development, and school success. This qualitative study explored barriers to follow-up audiological care in at-risk families in New Jersey. Using thematic analysis, this research uncovered two major findings: 1) communication normalizes failed screenings, and 2) parents need clearer and more in-depth information. Health care social workers are well-suited to address these challenges due to their training in integrated social work practice, which can help them understand the complex interplay between individuals and their environments. In doing so social workers can improve access to needed services and promote health equity.
Motion-based object segmentation in video sequences

To make artificial intelligence “see” the world is a primary step to making computers “learn”. Currently, videos are the most common visual resources for robots or artificial intelligence. This research focuses on interpreting the meaningless pixels into semantically meaningful objects. This thesis addresses making computers learn objects from videos automatically based on their motions. Results have shown that this approach can determine the moving objects in short video sequences (2 seconds), no matter how long it has been moving. The learned objects are effective for further recognizing the same objects in different videos. Further research is needed in order to be able to apply the same processes on longer video sequences and scenes that are more complicated.
Factors Affecting the Plagiarism Behavior of Faculties in Maharashtra

The study aims to determine the impact of awareness, knowledge, and attitude toward plagiarism on the plagiarism activity of college teachers in Maharashtra State, India. Two hundred seventy-two college teachers within Maharashtra State, India, participated in the survey. The study used purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The college teachers have a reasonable awareness and moderate knowledge of plagiarism. The college teachers bore a positive attitude toward plagiarism. The results of multiple regression analysis showed a significant influence of all three independent variables on the plagiarism activities of college teachers. Attitude towards plagiarism was forecasted as the highest predictor of plagiarism activities of college teachers, followed by knowledge of plagiarism.
Exploring how received gratitude and apologies meet a benefactor’s psychological needs of face and competence

In Japan, when a beneficiary receives benefits from a benefactor, it is not unusual for the beneficiary to use apologies to express gratitude. However, literature has not fully investigated how received gratitude and apologies impact Japanese benefactors’ perceptions. This experimental study examined how received gratitude and apologies influenced 671 Japanese participants’ (benefactors) negative and positive face as well as their self-efficacy. The results showed that the participants who received a message with gratitude or both gratitude and apologies perceived that their negative and positive face were less threatened than those in a control condition. Contrary to literature, those who received gratitude did not have high levels of self-efficacy. However, their self-efficacy was high after they received apologies only when they put more effort into helping a beneficiary. This study revealed unique roles of gratitude and apologies in meeting various psychological needs of Japanese.
Knowledge and practices about health among Quilombola men: contributions to health care

ABSTRACT Objective: to analyze health knowledge and practices among Quilombola men. Methods: a qualitative, descriptive study, carried out with 40 men from two Quilombola communities in Santa Izabel do Pará, state of Pará, Brazil. Individual interviews were carried out using a semi-structured script. Text corpus was subjected to analysis with Interface de R pour les Analyses Multidimensionnelles de Textes et de Questionnaires 0.6, alpha 3, through Descending Hierarchical Classification. Results: among participants, eight (20.00%) were aged 55 to 59 years. 382 text segments were identified, with 299 (78.27%) being used, generating five lexical classes, which made up two subcorpora. The classes were organized into four thematic axes, covering knowledge about health and practices to prevent and solve health problems. Final considerations: men highlighted popular/traditional wisdom permeated by biomedical knowledge, translating their understanding of how to act to remain or become healthy.
Improved prediction of the response duration to MAPK inhibitors in patients with advanced melanoma using baseline genomic data and machine learning algorithms

Purpose: Baseline genomic data have not demonstrated signifi cant value for predicting the response to MAPK inhibitors (MAPKi) in patients with BRAF V600 -mutated melanoma. We used machine learning algorithms and pre-processed genomic data to test whether they could contain useful information to improve the progression-free survival (PFS) prediction. Experimental design: This exploratory analysis compared the predictive performance of a dataset that contained clinical features alone and supplemented with baseline genomic data. Whole and partial exon sequencing data from four cohorts of patients with BRAF V600 -mutated melanoma treated with MAPKi were used: two cohorts as training/evaluation set (n = 111) and two as validation set (n = 73). Genomic data were pre-processed using three strategies to generate eight different genomic datasets. Several machine learning algorithms and one statistical algorithm were employed to predict PFS. The performance of these survival models was assessed using the concordance index, time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and Brier score. Results: The cross-validated model performance improved when pre-processed genomic data, such as mutation rates, were added to the clinical features. In the validation dataset, the best model with genomic data outperformed the best model with clinical features alone. The trend towards improved prediction with baseline genomic data was maintained when data were censored according to the two clinical setting scenarios (duration of clinical benefi t and progression before 12 months). Conclusion: In our models, baseline genomic data improved the prediction of response duration and could be incorporated into the development of predictive models of response pattern to MAPKi in melanoma.
Mucosal and systemic immune responses after a single intranasal dose of nanoparticle and spore-based subunit vaccines in mice with pre-existing lung mycobacterial immunity

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global health threat that claims more than one million lives annually. With a quarter of the global population harbouring latent TB, post-exposure vaccination aimed at high-risk populations that could develop active TB disease would be of great public health benefit. Mucosal vaccination is an attractive approach for a predominantly lung disease like TB because it elicits both local and systemic immunity. However, the immunological consequence of mucosal immunisation in the presence of existing lung immunity remains largely unexplored. Using a mycobacterial pre-exposure mouse model, we assessed whether pre-existing mucosal and systemic immune responses can be boosted and/or qualitatively altered by intranasal administration of spore- and nanoparticle-based subunit vaccines. Analysis of lung T cell responses revealed an increasing trend in the frequency of important CD4 and CD8 T cell subsets, and T effector memory cells with a Th1 cytokine (IFNγ and TNFα) signature among immunised mice. Additionally, significantly greater antigen specific Th1, Th17 and IL-10 responses, and antigen-induced T cell proliferation were seen from the spleens of immunised mice. Measurement of antigen-specific IgG and IgA from blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid also revealed enhanced systemic and local humoral immune responses among immunised animals. Lastly, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) obtained from the TB-endemic country of Mozambique show that individuals with LTBI showed significantly greater CD4 T cell reactivity to the vaccine candidate as compared to healthy controls. These results support further testing of Spore-FP1 and Nano-FP1 as post-exposure TB vaccines.
Panel Examination of the impact of economic growth on Carbon Emissions—Case of 15 emerging and advanced economies

In today's world, there are numerous urgent global challenges that require our attention, prominent among those issues is the need to address climate change. Due to this, governments around the world have united in support of initiatives such as the Sustainable Development Goals, which seek to achieve a harmonious balance between development and the protection of the environment. The pivotal roles that environmental conservation measures, technical progress, and contemporary industrial strategies play are essential for the economic expansion of developing and industrialized countries in lowering CO2 emissions. Therefore, this study suggests that expanding green growth through the consumption of renewable energy is an effective strategy to mitigate CO2 emissions and achieve sustainable development, thus improving the contribution to environmental quality. Consequently, this research explores the long-term relationship between per capita CO2 emissions and economic development in 15 industrialized and developing countries with data spanning from 1991 to 2019. The present study employs PMG-ARDL estimation technique to rigorously examine the research objectives. The result shows that in the long run, both FDI and quadratic GDP significantly and negatively influence carbon emissions in industrialized nations. However, the other elements have a substantial positive and negative impact on climate change. The result also showed that increasing FDI reduces carbon emissions in industrialized countries. However, the opposite is true for emerging ones. Additionally, the findings of this article indicate that there is a considerable positive correlation between the use of fossil fuels and the progression of climate change in both developed and developing nations. Therefore, the findings of this research provide credence and legitimacy to the notion of the Kuznets curve when viewed and compared in the context of both emerging and developed economies.
High-Permittivity Dielectric Half-Loop Yagi-Uda Antenna With End-Fire Radiation

In this paper, a kind of half-loop Yagi-Uda antenna made of high-permittivity dielectric is proposed to realize end-fire radiation. As two typical materials with high permittivity, low-loss zirconia ceramic and liquid pure water are here employed for the proposed antenna to attain high radiation efficiency and support the characteristic of pattern reconfigurability, respectively. The thin dielectric waveguide with high permittivity is here used as the metal wire of conventional wire antennas, due to its traveling-wave radiation under TM01 mode. The different radiation characteristics of the electrically small loop and full-wave loop antennas are discussed. And the dielectric large half-loop antenna with ground plane and bi-directional radiation is utilized to form a Yagi-Uda array for desired end-fire radiation. Moreover, circular loop elements are subsequently transformed into rectangular shape to reduce the profile of antenna and a comparison between the conventional metal Yagi-Uda antenna and the proposed dielectric one is provided. It is found that the dielectric parasitic element could play a more flexible role. Both ceramic and pure-water antenna prototypes are fabricated and tested. Measured results match the simulated ones well, which validates the predicted antenna performance.
The effects of physiological and injurious hydrostatic pressure on murine ex vivo articular and growth plate cartilage explants: an RNAseq study

Introduction Chondrocytes are continuously exposed to loads placed upon them. Physiological loads are pivotal to the maintenance of articular cartilage health, while abnormal loads contribute to pathological joint degradation. Similarly, the growth plate cartilage is subject to various loads during growth and development. Due to the high-water content of cartilage, hydrostatic pressure is considered one of the main biomechanical influencers on chondrocytes and has been shown to play an important role in the mechano-regulation of cartilage. Methods Herein, we conducted RNAseq analysis of ex vivo hip cap (articular), and metatarsal (growth plate) cartilage cultures subjected to physiological (5 MPa) and injurious (50 MPa) hydrostatic pressure, using the Illumina platform (n = 4 replicates). Results Several hundreds of genes were shown to be differentially modulated by hydrostatic pressure, with the majority of these changes evidenced in hip cap cartilage cultures (375 significantly upregulated and 322 downregulated in 5 MPa versus control; 1022 upregulated and 724 downregulated in 50 MPa versus control). Conversely, fewer genes were differentially affected by hydrostatic pressure in the metatarsal cultures (5 significantly upregulated and 23 downregulated in 5 MPa versus control; 7 significantly upregulated and 19 downregulated in 50 MPa versus control). Using Gene Ontology annotations for Biological Processes, in the hip cap data we identified a number of pathways that were modulated by both physiological and injurious hydrostatic pressure. Pathways upregulated in response to 50 MPa versus control, included those involved in the generation of precursor metabolites and cellular respiration. Biological processes that were downregulated in this tissue included ossification, connective tissue development, and chondrocyte differentiation. Discussion Collectively our data highlights the divergent chondrocyte phenotypes in articular and growth plate cartilage. Further, we show that the magnitude of hydrostatic pressure application has distinct effects on gene expression and biological processes in hip cap cartilage explants. Finally, we identified differential expression of a number of genes that have previously been identified as osteoarthritis risk genes, including Ctsk, and Chadl. Together these data may provide potential genetic targets for future investigations in osteoarthritis research and novel therapeutics.