Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acute Kidney Injury After Open Heart Surgery

Introduction: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a term used to describe when the kidney loses its function rapidly. And it’s associated with an increase in the level of serum creatinine by 0.5 to 1mg/dL. It can be diagnosed by a plethora of criteria such as the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) and the Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss, End-stage (RIFLE) criteria. Cardiac surgery-associated AKI (CSA-AKI) is the most prevalent complication in patients following cardiac surgery and is also linked to increased mortality and morbidity rates. In addition, exogenous and endogenous toxins, ischemia and reperfusion, inflammation, oxidative stress, metabolic factors, and neurohormonal activation may all play a role in the development of CSA-AKI. All these factors may be active at varying time intervals and with different degrees of intensity, or may function simultaneously. Methods: In late 2019, a retrospective study was conducted by reviewing the health data of patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), valvular repairs, and other open cardiac surgeries at the King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between November 2014 and June 2019. Information was obtained from the Hospital information system, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Of the 159 patients who underwent open-heart surgery at KAUH, 126 (79.2%) were male and 33 (20.8%) were female. Patients below 15 years of age and those with poor renal function prior to open cardiac surgery were excluded. The KDIGO criteria were used to diagnose AKI for our patients. Results: In this study, 34% of the patients experienced AKI after open cardiac surgery, and the most frequent risk factor encountered was diabetes mellitus (DM), which was present in 97 (61%) patients, followed by angina pectoris in 93 (58.5%) patients. Hypertension was identified in 85 (53.5%) and acute myocardial infarction in 82 (51.6%) patients. There were only two (1.3%) patients with known cases of chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD). Of the surgeries, 131 (82.4%) were classified as elective and 28 (17.6%) were urgent. Conclusion: The most common risk factor associated with AKI following open-heart surgery is DM, followed by angina pectoris. However, further studies are required to investigate all the cardiac procedures.
Metacognitive Strategies on Reading English Texts of Non-English Majored Students at Dong Nai Technology University, Vietnam: A Mixed Design

The goal of this study is to see if there is a link between the usage of metacognitive reading strategies by non-English major students and their reading comprehension performance. This research was conducted at Dong Nai Technology University with 70 students ranging in age from 19 to 22 years old. Both quantitative and qualitative data were used in the investigation. These students were asked to complete a TOEIC reading test to assess their reading ability, followed by the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) (Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002) to assess their metacognitive use. Semi-structured interviews with four high scorers and four low scorers from the sample were used to acquire qualitative data. The findings demonstrated that students' metacognitive reading strategy use is at a moderate level, and the most frequent and least frequent strategies that they used are Problem-solving and Global strategies, respectively. Additionally, it found that more proficient readers used metacognitive strategies more frequently, more successfully, and more appropriately than less proficient readers and vice versa. Some qualitative results were also mentioned. The results of the study have some implications for both teachers and students to employ appropriate metacognitive reading strategies in second language acquisition.
Spatial Dimension Of Ginzo River Response To Urbanization In Katsina Metropolis, Nigeria.

Morphological studies in semi-arid urbanizing watersheds reveal varying responses that describe rapid channel adjustment often with adverse economic and environmental consequences. This study assessed spatial dimension of Ginzo catchment response to urbanization in Katsina Metropolis, Nigeria. Morphometric parameters were obtained through direct field measurements while degree of urbanization in each of the three segments of the river channel was computed from satellite imagery of Katsina metropolis. Descriptive statistics like mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, percentages and line graphs were then used in the analysis of data generated from the field. The study revealed that channel width were lowest at the upstream (11.2m) and highest at the downstream section (28.9m). Moreover, mean channel depth were lowest at the midstream (0.34m), and highest at the downstream section (1.45m) while channel cross-sectional area were lowest at upstream (15.40m 2 ) and highest at the midstream (61.55m 2 ). The results indicate that channel segments respond differently to different level of urbanization. The study therefore, recommends integration of geomorphic knowledge in urban and water resources policy of Nigeria. These include the use of bio-engineering approach in channel management and review of environmental policies to control channel encroachment.
Evaluation and injury investigation of a finite element foot and ankle model for small female occupants

Abstract Female occupants sustain high frequency of injury to the foot and ankle in motor vehicle crashes (MVCs). To investigate injury mechanisms, this study evaluated a finite element model of the foot and ankle of a small female occupant (F05). The model was validated in four loading conditions relevant to MVCs (axial rotation,dynamic inversion and eversion, dorsiflexion and axial impact) and scaling approaches were applied to available post-mortem human surrogate data to provide appropriate boundary conditions and experimental biofidelity targets. Compared to an average male model, the F05 model predicted more bony fractures in comparable dynamic loading conditions, consistent with field observations for female occupants in crash incidents. Further research is needed to improve model biofidelity and account for gender and age variations for female occupants. This model will be useful for understanding female-specific injury mechanisms and guiding the development of effective countermeasures in vehicle design.
Reagent-Free Immobilization of Industrial Lipases to Develop Lipolytic Membranes with Self-Cleaning Surfaces

Biocatalytic membrane reactors combine the highly efficient biotransformation capability of enzymes with the selective filtration performance of membrane filters. Common strategies to immobilize enzymes on polymeric membranes are based on chemical coupling reactions. Still, they are associated with drawbacks such as long reaction times, high costs, and the use of potentially toxic or hazardous reagents. In this study, a reagent-free immobilization method based on electron beam irradiation was investigated, which allows much faster, cleaner, and cheaper fabrication of enzyme membrane reactors. Two industrial lipase enzymes were coupled onto a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) flat sheet membrane to create self-cleaning surfaces. The response surface methodology (RSM) in the design-of-experiments approach was applied to investigate the effects of three numerical factors on enzyme activity, yielding a maximum activity of 823 ± 118 U m−2 (enzyme concentration: 8.4 g L−1, impregnation time: 5 min, irradiation dose: 80 kGy). The lipolytic membranes were used in fouling tests with olive oil (1 g L−1 in 2 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate), resulting in 100% regeneration of filtration performance after 3 h of self-cleaning in an aqueous buffer (pH 8, 37 °C). Reusability with three consecutive cycles demonstrates regeneration of 95%. Comprehensive membrane characterization was performed by determining enzyme kinetic parameters, permeance monitoring, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and zeta potential, as well as water contact angle measurements.
Efficient Personalized Speech Enhancement Through Self-Supervised Learning

This work presents self-supervised learning methods for monaural speaker-specific (i.e., personalized) speech enhancement models. While general-purpose models must broadly address many speakers, personalized models can adapt to a particular speaker's voice, expecting to solve a narrower problem. Hence, personalization can achieve more optimal performance in addition to reducing computational complexity. However, naive personalization methods can inconveniently require clean speech from the target user, e.g., due to subpar recording conditions. To this end, we pose personalization as either a zero-shot task, in which no clean speech of the target speaker is used, or a few-shot learning task, which is to minimize the duration of the clean speech used for transfer learning. With this paper, we propose self-supervised learning methods as a solution to both zero- and few-shot personalization tasks. The proposed methods learn the personalized speech features from unlabeled data (i.e., in-the-wild noisy recordings from the target user) rather than from the clean sources. We investigate three different self-supervised learning mechanisms. We set up a pseudo speech enhancement problem as a pretext task, which pretrains the models to estimate noisy speech as if it were the clean target. Contrastive learning and data purification methods regularize the loss function of the pseudo enhancement problem, overcoming the limitations of learning from unlabeled data. We assess our methods by personalizing the well-known ConvTasNet architecture to twenty different target speakers. The results show that self-supervision-based personalization improves the original ConvTasNet's enhancement quality with fewer model parameters and less clean data from the target user.
The Limits of Value Transparency in Machine Learning

Abstract Transparency has been proposed as a way of handling value-ladenness in machine learning (ML). This article highlights limits to this strategy. I distinguish three kinds of transparency: epistemic transparency, retrospective value transparency, and prospective value transparency. This corresponds to different approaches to transparency in ML, including so-called explainable artificial intelligence and governance based on disclosing information about the design process. I discuss three sources of value-ladenness in ML—problem formulation, inductive risk, and specification gaming—and argue that retrospective value transparency is only well-suited for dealing with the first, while the third raises serious challenges even for prospective value transparency.
Catalytic Properties of Caseinolytic Protease Subunit of Plasmodium knowlesi and Its Inhibition by a Member of δ-Lactone, Hyptolide

The caseinolytic protease (Clp) system plays an essential role in the protein homeostasis of the malaria parasite, particularly at the stage of apicoplast development. The inhibition of this protein is known to have a lethal effect on the parasite and is therefore considered an interesting avenue for antimalaria drugs discovery. The catalytic activity of the Clp system is modulated by its proteolytic subunit (ClpP), which belongs to the serine protease family member and is therefore extensively studied for further inhibitors development. Among many inhibitors, the group of β-lactone is known to be a specific inhibitor for ClpP. Nevertheless, other groups of lactones have never been studied. This study aims to characterize the catalytic properties of ClpP of Plasmodium knowlesi (Pk-ClpP) and the inhibition properties of a δ-lactone hyptolide against this protein. Accordingly, a codon-optimized synthetic gene encoding Pk-ClpP was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) and purified under a single step of Ni2+-affinity chromatography, yielding a 2.20 mg from 1 L culture. Meanwhile, size-exclusion chromatography indicated that Pk-ClpP migrated primarily as homoheptameric with a size of 205 kDa. The specific activity of pure Pk-ClpP was 0.73 U µg−1, with a catalytic efficiency kcat/KM of 0.05 µM−1 s−1, with optimum temperature and pH of 50 °C and 7.0–7.5, respectively. Interestingly, hyptolide, a member of δ-lactone, was shown to inhibit Pk-ClpP with an IC50 value of 17.36 ± 1.44 nM. Structural homology modelling, secondary structure prediction, and far-UV CD spectra revealed that helical structures dominate this protein. In addition, the structural homology modeling showed that this protein forms a barrel-shaped homoheptamer. Docking simulation revealed that the inhibition was found to be a competitive inhibition in which hyptolide was able to dock into the catalytic site and block the substrate. The competitiveness of hyptolide is due to the higher binding affinity of this molecule than the substrate.
Weather, Climate, and Technology Adoption: An Application to Drought-Tolerant Corn in the United States

Crop farmers have few short-run options for reducing downside production risk from changes in drought frequency and intensity due to ongoing climate change. However, one recently available option is drought-tolerant (DT) varieties. We determine how recent drought exposure, drought risk, and other climatic features have influenced adoption of DT corn–a water-intensive crop of particular economic importance due to its large share of U.S. agricultural value. Our empirical analysis is motivated by a state-contingent economic framework that accommodates farmers’ beliefs about future drought based on objective drought risk and exposure. Using a representative sample of U.S. farmers’ fields, we implement a novel econometric method, spatial first differences, that can reduce concerns of omitted variables bias. We find that long-run temperatures and drought risk—rather than short-run drought exposure in recent prior years—led to increased adoption of DT corn varieties in 2016. Farmers are more likely to plant DT corn on highly erodible land and less likely to irrigate such varieties, consistent with the fact that the western Corn Belt was of major marketing focus during the early years of commercialization. JEL Codes: Q12, Q15, Q16, Q54
Automated Quantum Dots Purification via Solid Phase Extraction

The separation of colloidal nanocrystals from their original synthesis medium is an essential process step towards their application, however, the costs on a preparative scale are still a constraint. A new combination of approaches for the purification of hydrophobic Quantum Dots is presented, resulting in an efficient scalable process in regard to time and solvent consumption, using common laboratory equipment and low-cost materials. The procedure is based on a combination of solvent-induced adhesion and solid phase extraction. The platform allows the transition from manual handling towards automation, yielding an overall purification performance similar to one conventional batch precipitation/centrifugation step, which was investigated by thermogravimetry and gas chromatography. The distinct miscibility gaps between surfactants used as nanoparticle capping agents, original and extraction medium are clarified by their phase diagrams, which confirmed the outcome of the flow chemistry process. Furthermore, the solubility behavior of the Quantum Dots is put into context with the Hansen solubility parameters framework to reasonably decide upon appropriate solvent types.
An Electronic Force Sensor for Medical Jet Injection

In medical jet injection, a narrow fluid drug stream is propelled at high velocity into skin without a needle. Previous studies have shown that the volume delivered is highly dependent on a number of factors. This paper details the development of an electronic force sensor for medical jet injection and shows that the normal contact force exerted on the tissue by the nozzle is an additional factor affecting volume delivered. Using this sensor, we measure the forces at the nozzle tip in the normal direction with a sensitivity of 18 μN, calibrated over a range from 1 N to 8 N with a mean absolute error of 8 mN, and a maximum overload of 300 N. We further measure forces at the nozzle tip in the lateral direction with a sensitivity of 8 μN, calibrated over a range from 0.1 N to 7 N, with a mean absolute error of 101 mN for lateral contact force magnitude and 1.60 deg for lateral contact force direction. Experimental validation confirms that the force sensor does not adversely affect the accuracy and precision of ejected volume from the jet injector. We use this setup to examine the effect of normal contact force on volume delivered into postmortem porcine tissue. Experimental results demonstrate that volume delivered with normal contact force between 4 N and 8 N is significantly more accurate and precise compared to volume delivered with normal contact force between 0 N and 3.9 N.
Absorption and Tissue Distribution of Folate Forms in Rats: Indications for Specific Folate Form Supplementation during Pregnancy

Food fortification and folic acid supplementation during pregnancy have been implemented as strategies to prevent fetal malformations during pregnancy. However, with the emergence of conditions where folate metabolism and transport are disrupted, such as folate receptor alpha autoantibody (FRαAb)-induced folate deficiency, it is critical to find a folate form that is effective and safe for pharmacologic dosing for prolonged periods. Therefore, in this study, we explored the absorption and tissue distribution of folic acid (PGA), 5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate (MTHF), l-folinic acid (levofolinate), and d,l-folinic acid (Leucovorin) in adult rats. During absorption, all forms are converted to MTHF while some unconverted folate form is transported into the blood, especially PGA. The study confirms the rapid distribution of absorbed folate to the placenta and fetus. FRαAb administered, also accumulates rapidly in the placenta and blocks folate transport to the fetus and high folate concentrations are needed to circumvent or overcome the blocking of FRα. In the presence of FRαAb, both Leucovorin and levofolinate are absorbed and distributed to tissues better than the other forms. However, only 50% of the leucovorin is metabolically active whereas levofolinate is fully active and generates higher tetrahydrofolate (THF). Because levofolinate can readily incorporate into the folate cycle without needing methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) and methionine synthase (MS) in the first pass and is relatively stable, it should be the folate form of choice during pregnancy, other disorders where large daily doses of folate are needed, and food fortification.
The Effect of Pregnancy and Inflammatory Bowel Disease on the Pharmacokinetics of Drugs Related to Inflammatory Bowel Disease—A Systematic Literature Review

Due to ethical and practical reasons, a knowledge gap exists on the pharmacokinetics (PK) of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-related drugs in pregnant women with IBD. Before evidence-based dosing can be proposed, insight into the PK has to be gained to optimize drug therapy for both mother and fetus. This systematic review aimed to describe the effect of pregnancy and IBD on the PK of drugs used for IBD. One aminosalicylate study, two thiopurine studies and twelve studies with biologicals were included. Most drugs within these groups presented data over multiple moments before, during and after pregnancy, except for mesalazine, ustekinumab and golimumab. The studies for mesalazine, ustekinumab and golimumab did not provide enough data to demonstrate an effect of pregnancy on concentration and PK parameters. Therefore, no evidence-based dosing advice was given. The 6-thioguanine nucleotide levels decreased during pregnancy to 61% compared to pre-pregnancy levels. The potentially toxic metabolite 6-methylmercaptopurine (6-MMP) increased to maximal 209% of the pre-pregnancy levels. Although the PK of the thiopurines changed throughout pregnancy, no evidence-based dosing advice was provided. One study suggested that caution should be exercised when the thiopurine dose is adjusted, due to shunting 6-MMP levels. For the biologicals, infliximab levels increased, adalimumab stayed relatively stable and vedolizumab levels tended to decrease during pregnancy. Although the PK of the biologicals changed throughout pregnancy, no evidence-based dosing advice for biologicals was provided. Other drugs retrieved from the literature search were mesalazine, ustekinumab and golimumab. We conclude that limited studies have been performed on PK parameters during pregnancy for drugs used in IBD. Therefore, more extensive research to determine the values of PK parameters is warranted. After gathering the PK data, evidence-based dosing regimens can be developed.
Kontribusi Self Efficacy dan Motivasi Kerja Terhadap Peningkatan Kinerja Karyawan Pada PT. BPR Bank Jombang (Perseroda)

Setiap perusahaan dimotivasi oleh keinginan untuk memberikan layanan yang lebih baik dengan menjalankan operasi yang efektif dan efisien. Di musim pandemi yang terjadi seperti sekarang ini, banyak dari masyarakat yang enggan untuk menabung di bank maupun kredit dikarenakan kondisi ekonomi yang sedang tidak stabil. Kondisi seperti ini diduga dapat menurunkan kepercayaan diri karyawan untuk mendapatkan nasabah baru maka dari itu penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui seberapa baik pengaruh self-efficacy (X1) dan motivasi kerja (X2) terhadap kinerja karyawan dalam pekerjaannya. 43 orang mengikuti penelitian ini. Mereka semua bekerja di bagian pemasaran dan bisnis PT. BPR Bank Jombang (Perseroda). Penelitian ini menggunakan strategi sampel jenuh untuk memperoleh data, sedangkan PLS atau Partial Least Square digunakan sebagai metode analitik. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian tersebut, karyawan yang memiliki kepercayaan pada PT. BPR Bank Jombang (Perseroda) lebih baik dalam pekerjaannya. Sebagai hasil dari peningkatan motivasi, kinerja karyawan di PT. BPR Bank Jombang (Perseroda) sudah sangat berkembang.
Comparing the Diagnostic Value of Four Dementia Tests in the Amnestic and Healthy Elderly

Introduction: This study aimed to compare the diagnostic value of four questionnaires for the diagnosis of neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) in the elderly. Methods: In this project, people older than 60 years who lived in Tehran were investigated. A total of 99 literate cases were enrolled in the study, and four questionnaires, including functional assessment staging tool (FAST), abbreviated mental test score (AMTS), mini-mental state examination (MMSE), and modified Persian test of elderly for assessment of cognition and executive function (PEACE) were completed for them. They were then referred to a neuropsychiatrist, and the status of their cognition and neurobehavior was determined. The specialists were blinded to the results of the tests. Results: Of the 99 participants studied, 39 cases were healthy, eight cases had mild Alzheimer’s disease, 38 had amnesic MCI, five cases had secondary dementia, and nine cases had mixed vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The area under the ROC curve for distinguishing the healthy group from the rest of the population was 0.692, 0.629, 0.734, and 0.751 for the FAST, AMTS, MMSE, and NBCSS questionnaires, respectively. Conclusion: MMSE and NBCSS tests had better diagnostic power than the other two tests to distinguish the healthy group from the rest of the population.