Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quinoline- and Isoindoline-Integrated Polycyclic Compounds as Antioxidant, and Antidiabetic Agents Targeting the Dual Inhibition of α-Glycosidase and α-Amylase Enzymes

Novel analogs of quinoline and isoindoline containing various heterocycles, such as tetrazole, triazole, pyrazole, and pyridine, were synthesized and characterized using FT-IR, NMR, and mass spectroscopy, and their antioxidant and antidiabetic activities were investigated. The previously synthesized compound 1 was utilized in conjugation with ketone-bearing tetrazole and isoindoline-1,3-dione to synthesize Schiff’s bases 2 and 3. Furthermore, hydrazide 1 was treated with aryledines to provide pyrazoles 4a–c. Compound 5 was obtained by treating 1 with potassium thiocyanate, which was then cyclized in a basic solution to afford triazole 6. On the other hand, pyridine derivatives 7a–d and 8a–d were synthesized using 2-(4-acetylphenyl)isoindoline-1,3-dione via a one-pot condensation reaction with aryl aldehydes and active methylene compounds. From the antioxidant and antidiabetic studies, compound 7d showed significant antioxidant activity with an EC50 = 0.65, 0.52, and 0.93 mM in the free radical scavenging assays (DPPH, ABTS, and superoxide anion radicals). It also displayed noteworthy inhibitory activity against both enzymes α-glycosidase (IC50: 0.07 mM) and α-amylase (0.21 mM) compared to acarbose (0.09 mM α-glycosidase and 0.25 mM for α-amylase), and higher than in the other compounds. During in silico assays, compound 7d exhibited favorable binding affinities towards both α-glycosidase (−10.9 kcal/mol) and α-amylase (−9.0 kcal/mol) compared to acarbose (−8.6 kcal/mol for α-glycosidase and −6.0 kcal/mol for α-amylase). The stability of 7d was demonstrated by molecular dynamics simulations and estimations of the binding free energy throughout the simulation session (100 ns).
Expanding the Technology Acceptance Model to Examine Internet Banking Adoption in Tunisia Country

This paper aims to empirically examine the factors that affect the adoption of Internet banking in Tunisia. In order to explain the factors, this paper extends the "Technology Acceptance Model" by adding additional external factors such as security and privacy, self efficacy, social influence, and awareness of services and its benefits. The findings of the study suggests that the security and privacy, self efficacy, social influence, and awareness of services and its benefits have significant effects on the perceived usefulness PU, perceived ease of use PEOU and attitude toward Internet banking acceptance. Age and education have also significant impact on the attitude towards the likelihood of adopting online banking. These findings may provide for banks useful guidelines for developing Internet banking services and for marketing Internet banking.
Prior e-Learning experience and perceived learning outcomes in an undergraduate e-learning course.

This paper reports the findings of research into the effect of E-learning experience on students’ perceived learning outcomes. The research examines perceived learning outcomes in terms of effectiveness, amount and productivity of learning in an E-learning context. The participants were undergraduate course students at Tamk University of Applied Sciences in Tampere, Finland. The results were interpreted using a quantitative and exploratory research approach. The results suggest that a priori E-learning experience significantly correlates with perceived learning outcomes. This occurs only in a direct fashion and, surprisingly, not through any intermediary process variables in contrast to the findings in the learning model developed by Biggs and Moore. Specific recommendations for practitioners are also provided, and the implications for educators are discussed. Finally suggestions for further research on E-learning are provided.
Computer-aided Optical Plasma Postprocessing Applied on Model Spark Gaps

Spark gaps are used as surge protective devices (SPD class 1) for low voltage grids protection against surge currents and overvoltages. For practical research of the narrow gap plasma of spark gaps, high-speed camera recordings are used in modified transparent test models. In this test setup, current densities of 1010 A/m2 are generated. In order to optimize and automate the evaluation process of camera recordings, an image analysis tool is developed further in this contribution. After basic image improvement and segmentation, this research optimizes a detection algorithm for plasma location and distribution. As a result, the known plasma distribution gives access to significantly more information about the plasma behaviour and the spatial distribution of radiation.
Effects of Mixed Baculovirus Infections in Biological Control: A Comprehensive Historical and Technical Analysis

Baculoviruses are insect-specific DNA viruses that have been exploited as bioinsecticides for the control of agricultural and forest pests around the world. Mixed infections with two different baculoviruses have been found in nature, infecting the same host. They have been studied to understand the biology of virus interactions, their effects on susceptible insects, and their insecticidal implications. In this work, we summarize and analyze the in vivo baculovirus co-infections reported in the literature, mainly focusing on pest biocontrol applications. We discuss the most common terms used to describe the effects of mixed infections, such as synergism, neutralism, and antagonism, and how to determine them based on host mortality. Frequently, baculovirus co-infections found in nature are caused by a combination of a nucleopolyhedrovirus and a granulovirus. Studies performed with mixed infections indicated that viral dose, larval stage, or the presence of synergistic factors in baculovirus occlusion bodies are important for the type of virus interaction. We also enumerate and discuss technical aspects to take into account in studies on mixed infections, such as statistical procedures, quantification of viral inocula, the selection of instars, and molecular methodologies for an appropriate analysis of baculovirus interaction. Several experimental infections using two different baculoviruses demonstrated increased viral mortality or a synergistic effect on the target larvae compared to single infections. This can be exploited to improve the baculovirus-killing properties of commercial formulations. In this work, we offer a current overview of baculovirus interactions in vivo and discuss their potential applications in pest control strategies.
Conditionally Active, pH-Sensitive Immunoregulatory Antibodies Targeting VISTA and CTLA-4 Lead an Emerging Class of Cancer Therapeutics

Immune checkpoints and other immunoregulatory targets can be difficult to precisely target due to expression on non-tumor immune cells critical to maintaining immune homeostasis in healthy tissues. On-target/off-tumor binding of therapeutics results in significant pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic problems. Target-mediated drug disposition (TMDD) significantly limits effective intratumoral drug levels and adversely affects anti-tumor efficacy. Target engagement outside the tumor environment may lead to severe immune-related adverse events (irAEs), resulting in a narrowing of the therapeutic window, sub-optimal dosing, or cessation of drug development altogether. Overcoming these challenges has become tractable through recent advances in antibody engineering and screening approaches. Here, we review the discovery and development of conditionally active antibodies with minimal binding to target at physiologic pH but high-affinity target binding at the low pH of the tumor microenvironment by focusing on the discovery and improved properties of pH-dependent mAbs targeting two T cell checkpoints, VISTA and CTLA-4.
Application of Laughter Therapy for the Quality of Life of the Elderly: Literature Review

Introduction: The quality of life of the elderly is influenced by two important aspects, namely education and health where around 24% of 100 elderly experience health problems, where aging in the elderly causes a decrease in the body's reserve capacity and an increased risk of disease. One of the therapies that can be used to improve the quality of life of the elderly is namely laughter therapy which is useful in relieving disease symptoms, such as fatigue so as to improve the quality of life of the elderly. Objective: This study aims to identify the laughter therapy application that provides information about concepts and relevant data related to the topic of using laughter therapy in fulfilling the quality of life of the elderly. Method: The design of this study is using a literature review of articles using the search engine database of PubMed, SpringerLink, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar and Wiley Online Library using PRISMA flowchart. Results: The results are showed from this study are that five articles met both the criteria of inclusion and exclusion. After being given by laughter therapy intervention, have a positive impact on reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety which can affect survival in old age related with elderly’s quality of life. Conclusion: This study could conclude that using laughter therapy could increase quality of life of the elderly during aging process included to every aspect such as psychological, physical, social and environmental adaptation.
Hearing, seeing, and feeling speech: the neurophysiological correlates of trimodal speech perception

Introduction To perceive speech, our brains process information from different sensory modalities. Previous electroencephalography (EEG) research has established that audio-visual information provides an advantage compared to auditory-only information during early auditory processing. In addition, behavioral research showed that auditory speech perception is not only enhanced by visual information but also by tactile information, transmitted by puffs of air arriving at the skin and aligned with speech. The current EEG study aimed to investigate whether the behavioral benefits of bimodal audio-aerotactile and trimodal audio-visual-aerotactile speech presentation are reflected in cortical auditory event-related neurophysiological responses. Methods To examine the influence of multimodal information on speech perception, 20 listeners conducted a two-alternative forced-choice syllable identification task at three different signal-to-noise levels. Results Behavioral results showed increased syllable identification accuracy when auditory information was complemented with visual information, but did not show the same effect for the addition of tactile information. Similarly, EEG results showed an amplitude suppression for the auditory N1 and P2 event-related potentials for the audio-visual and audio-visual-aerotactile modalities compared to auditory and audio-aerotactile presentations of the syllable/pa/. No statistically significant difference was present between audio-aerotactile and auditory-only modalities. Discussion Current findings are consistent with past EEG research showing a visually induced amplitude suppression during early auditory processing. In addition, the significant neurophysiological effect of audio-visual but not audio-aerotactile presentation is in line with the large benefit of visual information but comparatively much smaller effect of aerotactile information on auditory speech perception previously identified in behavioral research.
Inter-Breath-Hold Geometric and Dosimetric Variations in Organs at Risk during Pancreatic Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy: Implications for Adaptive Radiation Therapy

Simple Summary Deep-inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) techniques are widely used for motion management during CT simulation and treatment delivery, with the underlying assumption of minimal inter-breath-hold variation in organ-at-risk (OAR) geometry. Using a unique dataset from 20 patients, this study presents a novel investigation of the OAR geometric variation between multiple DIBH CT scans in pancreatic cancer stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), and discusses implications for plan accuracy and OAR toxicity. We demonstrated significant dosimetric variation in abdominal OARs during pancreatic SBRT from inter-breath-hold geometric variation. Modern adaptive radiation therapy (ART) techniques with real-time OAR tracking may be able to reduce these uncertainties. Abstract Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death, with nearly 60,000 cases each year and less than a 10% 5-year overall survival rate. Radiation therapy (RT) is highly beneficial as a local-regional anticancer treatment. As anatomical variation is of great concern, motion management techniques, such as DIBH, are commonly used to minimize OARs toxicities; however, the variability between DIBHs has not been well studied. Here, we present an unprecedented systematic analysis of patients’ anatomical reproducibility over multiple DIBH motion-management technique uses for pancreatic cancer RT. We used data from 20 patients; four DIBH scans were available for each patient to design 80 SBRT plans. Our results demonstrated that (i) there is considerable variation in OAR geometry and dose between same-subject DIBH scans; (ii) the RT plan designed for one scan may not be directly applicable to another scan; (iii) the RT treatment designed using a DIBH simulation CT results in different dosimetry in the DIBH treatment delivery; and (iv) this confirms the importance of adaptive radiation therapy (ART), such as MR-Linacs, for pancreatic RT delivery. The ART treatment delivery technique can account for anatomical variation between referenced and scheduled plans, and thus avoid toxicities of OARs because of anatomical variations between DIBH patient setups.
Effect of Marinating in Dairy-Fermented Products and Sous-Vide Cooking on the Protein Profile and Sensory Quality of Pork Longissimus Muscle

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of marinating (3 or 6 days) in kefir (KE), yogurt (YO) and buttermilk (BM) and sous-vide cooking (SV) at 60 or 80 °C on changes in the protein profile of pork in relation to its sensory quality. In the marinated raw meat, an increased share of some fractions of myofibrillar and cytoskeletal proteins and calpains were found. The greatest degradation of proteins, regardless of time, was caused by marinating in YO and KE and cooking SV at 80 °C. The lowest processing losses were in samples marinated in KE and YO and cooked SV at 60 °C, with marinating time having no significant effect. The odor, flavor, tenderness and juiciness of meat marinated in BM was better than in KE and YO. Meat marinated and cooked SV at 60 °C was rated better by the panelists. Changes in proteins significantly affect the formation of meat texture, tenderness and juiciness, which confirms the correlations. This is also reflected in the sensory evaluation. During the process of marinating and cooking meat, protein degradation should be taken into account, which can be a good tool for shaping the sensory quality of cooked pork.
SPOCK: Reverse Packet Traversal for Deadlock Recovery

Editor’s notes: In this article, the authors leverage a probe-based deadlock detection system and propose a deadlock recovery mechanism for interconnection networks. —Mahdi Nikdast, Colorado State University, USA —Miquel Moreto, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain —Masoumeh (Azin) Ebrahimi, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden —Sujay Deb, IIIT Delhi, India
Perceptions of Barriers to Using Opioid Analgesics: A Mixed Methods Study

Background: Availability and accessibility of opioids are a worldwide problem. In low-resource settings, such as Ethiopia, access to opioids is either limited or nonexistent and legally restricted in health care settings. This study aimed to identify barriers for the availability and accessibility of opioids in Ethiopian rural and regional health care settings. Methods: A mixed-method case study design was used. A total of 220 nurses from primary, secondary, and tertiary health care settings were invited to participate in a survey of knowledge and practice. For the qualitative interview, 38 participants were recruited from educational facilities, health services, and the community across a region. Results: Barriers in availability and accessibility of opioid analgesics were expressing pain considered as a sign of weakness, lack of knowledge, side effect concerns about prescribing morphine, only doctors being authorized to prescribe morphine, lack of foreign currency to import morphine ingredients, and inequity in accessing morphine in hospitals and none in rural health care settings. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that opioids, particularly morphine, were not consistently available and accessible to all patients in need. Health professionals lacked knowledge about opioids. Strengthening the existing pain-free initiatives and improving the type, dose, and supply of morphine could help reduce needless suffering and enhance access to essential pain medicines for those in need.
Induction therapy with ipilimumab and nivolumab followed by consolidative chemoradiation as organ-sparing treatment in urothelial bladder cancer: study protocol of the INDIBLADE trial

Introduction Studies that assessed the efficacy of pre-operative immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) in locally advanced urothelial cancer of the bladder showed encouraging pathological complete response rates, suggesting that a bladder-sparing approach may be a viable option in a subset of patients. Chemoradiation is an alternative for radical cystectomy with similar oncological outcomes, but is still mainly used in selected patients with organ-confined tumors or patients ineligible to undergo radical cystectomy. We propose to sequentially administer ICB and chemoradiation to patients with (locally advanced) muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Methods The INDIBLADE trial is an investigator-initiated, single-arm, multicenter phase 2 trial. Fifty patients with cT2-4aN0-2M0 urothelial bladder cancer will be treated with ipilimumab 3 mg/kg on day 1, ipilimumab 3 mg/kg plus nivolumab 1 mg/kg on day 22, and nivolumab 3 mg/kg on day 43 followed by chemoradiation. The primary endpoint is the bladder-intact event-free survival (BI-EFS). Events include: local or distant recurrence, salvage cystectomy, death and switch to platinum-based chemotherapy. We will also evaluate the potential of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging of the bladder to identify non-responders, and we will assess the clearance of circulating tumor DNA as a biomarker for ICB treatment response. Discussion This is the first trial in which the efficacy of induction combination ICB followed by chemoradiation is being evaluated to provide bladder-preservation in patients with (locally advanced) urothelial bladder cancer. Clinical Trial Registration The INDIBLADE trial was registered on clinicaltrials.gov on January 21, 2022 (NCT05200988).
The Pleistocene settlement of the rim of the Indian Ocean

Recent hypotheses on the early expansion of early modern humans out of Africa have emphasised the coastal route, crossing the Red Sea, following the coast of Arabia, India and eventually reaching insular SE Asia and Australia. Given the ca. 50,000 BP dates for these sites, a date of ca. 80,000 BP has been proposed for the preliminary move out of Africa. Indeed, this has been linked with the explosion of Mount Toba at this period. However, there is a striking lack of direct archaeological evidence for the greater part of this route; explanations for this lacuna are varied but none are wholly satisfactory. Nonetheless, there seems to be an array of linguistic, cultural and genetic evidence that links together relic populations throughout this area. The paper proposes that the Malagasy Vazimba, the Sri Lankan Vedda, the Andamanese, perhaps the Shom Pen of the Nicobar Islands, the Negritos of SE Asia all provide evidence for this early expansion. Recent proposals for features common to the languages of Africa and the Pacific will be considered in the light of this model. Roger Blench. Settlement of the rim of the Indian Ocean
Prevalence and Risk Factors of Tinnitus Among University Students

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of tinnitus and other associated risk factors among students from the University of Jordan. Methods and Design: This cross-sectional study included 1,302 students (785 females and 517 males; aged 17–30 years old) attending the University of Jordan. All participants completed a tinnitus survey that included questions concerning the presence of tinnitus and its characteristics, exposure to recreational noise, and smoking habits. Tinnitus discomfort was measured using an Arabic Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: The overall prevalence of tinnitus (continuous or intermittent) was 21.2% among participants, with females having 13.9% prevalence and males having 7.3%. Pearson’s Chi-square test revealed a significant association between tinnitus and the influence of the various risk factors (x2=102.09, df=4, p<0.001). In addition, tinnitus was more likely to be associated with noise exposure (29%) and smoking (15%), and less likely to be related to seasonal allergies and gender. The results of the VAS indicated that only 5% of the students reported that their tinnitus was extremely uncomfortable. Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, the prevalence of tinnitus among university students who participated in this study was 21.2%. Furthermore, our results showed that exposure to recreational noise and smoking were associated with the presence of tinnitus.
An Adaptive Biomimetic Ant Colony Optimization With 6G Integration for IoT Network Communication

With the advent of the sixth-generation (6G) network and the expanding realm of the Internet of Things (IoT), the challenge of optimizing network communication within these rapidly evolving landscapes has become paramount. This article explores the domain of biomimetic algorithms, recognizing their potential as sophisticated solutions in these complex and transient environments. We introduce an innovative framework that enhances network communication by adapting intelligently to the rapidly changing IoT landscape and emerging 6G network infrastructure. Specifically, we present a method that leverages and extends the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm in a manner uniquely suited to the challenges posed by the integration of IoT and 6G technologies. This enhanced algorithm incorporates a dynamic pheromone evaporation mechanism, a specialized module for multi-objective optimization, and a seamless integration of reinforcement learning principles. Together, these elements contribute to the increased robustness and efficacy of the algorithm, providing a powerful solution to the intricate problem of routing within the high-frequency, high-capacity environment of 6G networks, accommodating a diverse array of IoT devices. This methodological synthesis establishes a holistic strategy with the potential to revolutionize network optimization, laying the groundwork for future advances in wireless communication technology.