Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Curcumin’s Antioxidant Properties in Stable Coronary Artery Disease Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the most common intervention for coronary artery disease (CAD) with very low complications. High oxidative stress post-PCI is associated with further atherosclerosis progression. Curcumin, extracted from a specific type of herbs, exhibits anti-oxidant properties by acting as hydrogen and electron donor for superoxide radicals. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of curcumin’s antioxidant properties in reducing oxidative stress of post-PCI in stable CAD.METHODS: This study was a double-blind parallel randomized controlled trial among 50 stable CAD patients undergoing PCI in Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital and Jakarta Heart Center. The subjects received either 45 mg/day curcumin or placebo 7 days pre-PCI until 48 hours post-PCI. Reduced oxidative stress markers (decreased MDA or increased GSH) were measured in 3 phases (7 days pre-PCI, 24 hours post-PCI, 48 hours post-PCI). RESULTS: Curcumin group showed increased MDA from baseline to 24 hours (Δ1=0.01 vs. 0.03; p=0.3) and decreased MDA from baseline to 48 hours (Δ2=-0.06 vs. 0.03; p=0.9). While, curcumin group showed decreased GSH from baseline to 24 hours (Δ1=-49.7% vs. 12.2%; p=0.4) and from baseline to 48 hours (Δ2=-19.09% vs. 11.4%; p=0.6). However, no significant changes were found in malondialdehide (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) level after the intervention.CONCLUSION: The 45 mg/day curcumin supplementation from 7 days pre-PCI until 48 hours post-PCI had no significant antioxidant effect in stable CAD post-PCI.KEYWORDS: coronary artery disease, curcumin, antioxidant, percutaneous coronary intervention
A Study of Adenosine Deaminase Activity and its Isoenzymes in COPD Patients with Acute Exacerbations

Background: The activity of adenosine deaminase decreases in COPD patients and the level of adenosine increases. Decreasing ADA activity in COPD patients can play a significant role in the formation of pulmonary injury. Aim: The aim of this work was to evaluate the changes in serum total ADA level and its isoenzymes (ADA1 and ADA2) in COPD patients with acute exacerbations to determine the possible contribution of these enzymes in COPD. Subjects and Methods: This study was carried out on 60 subjects at Chest Department, Tanta University Hospitals and were divided into three equal groups: group I included 20 healthy non-smokers subjects as control group, group II included 20 asymptomatic smokers and group III included 20 COPD patients with acute exacerbations. Results: There was statistically significant decrease in the activity of ADA total and ADA isoenzyme (ADA1 and ADA2) in COPD patients compared with control group. A positive correlation between ventilatory functions of COPD patients and activity of ADA total and ADA isoenzyme. Conclusion: These data are strongly suggestive of the role of adenosine deaminase activity and its isoenzymes in formation of pulmonary injury in COPD.
Understanding the Changing Nature of Marine Cold‐Spells

Marine cold‐spell (MCS) metrics—such as frequency and intensity—are decreasing globally, while marine heatwave (MHW) metrics are increasing due to sea surface temperature (SST) warming. However, the concomitant changes in MHW and MCS metrics, and whether SST warming can similarly explain the decreasing MCS metrics remain unclear. Here, we provide a comparative global assessment of these changes based on satellite SST observations over 1982–2020. Across the globe, we find distinct differences in mean MHW and MCS metrics. Furthermore, decreasing trends in MCS metrics are not necessarily aligned with increasing trends in MHW metrics. While differences in intensity trends are mainly explained by SST variance trends, differences in trends of annual days are less clear. Overall, decreasing MCS days and intensities are found to be largely driven by warming SST, rather than SST variance changes. Therefore, it is expected that MCS days and intensity will continue diminishing under global warming.
The Effect of Self-Efficacy and Assertive on Students' Business Negotiation and Communication Skills in Vocational High Schools (VHS)

Communication and negotiation provide significant contribution to the success and achievement of an organization. This study aims to examine factors influencing students' negotiation and communication in the Online Business and Marketing Department of VHS. The data used a questionnaire of 426 respondents consisting of VHS students throughout Central Java, then processed using inferential statistical analysis with WARP PLS-SEM. The researchers obtain several findings, that is self-efficacy and assertive variables do not have significant contribution to the business communication variable. In contrast, self-efficacy and assertive variables have significant contribution to the negotiation variable. Similarly, both variables found have no indirect effect on the business communication variable. Eventually, this study finds that students' communication skills during their study go hand in hand with knowledge and attitudes.
Challenges and opportunities for collective action and unionization in local games industries

The games industry has seen a burst of new interest in the prospect of unionization. The efforts of organizations like Game Workers Unite have attracted much favorable coverage in the enthusiast and trade industry press, increasing awareness amongst videogame audiences of the difficult working conditions facing professional game developers. However, often missing from these discussions is an articulation of what unionization would look like for the significant number of game developers working in precarious conditions in small, often informal teams. The fragmented nature of contemporary gamework presents challenges in aggregating worker power similar to those found in other fields of creative or precarious work and entrepreneurial careers, where contingent work is typically organized around piecemeal, project–based funding arrangements. In this paper we draw from empirical research with Australian game developers to identify a number of barriers to unionization posed by small-scale game production. We also identify how within these same circumstances, novel and alternative forms of solidarity and collective action are beginning to emerge. The article ultimately argues that any successful attempt to unionize videogame workers will need to both account for, and take advantage of, the complex situation of small-scale videogame production in local contexts.
Duplex Pulse Frequency Modulation Mode Controlled Series Resonant High Voltage converter for X-Ray Power Generator

A variety of high voltage DC power supplies employing the high frequency inverter are difficult to achieve soft switching considering a quick response and no overshoot response under the wide load variation ranges which are used in medical-use x-ray high voltage generator from 20kV to 150kV in the output voltage and from 0.5mA to 1250mA, respectively The authors develops soft switching high voltage DC power supply designed for x-ray power generator applications, which uses series resonant inverter circuit topology with a multistage voltage multiplier instead of a conventional high voltage diode rectifier connected to the second-side of a high-voltage transformer with a large turn ratio A constant on-time dual mode frequency control scheme operating under a principle of zero-current soft switching commutation is described. Introducing the multistage voltage multiplier, the secondary transformer turn-numbers and stray capacitance of high-voltage transformer is effective to be greatly reduced It is proved that the proposed high-voltage converter topology with dual mode frequency modulation mode control scheme is able to be the transient response and steady-state performance in high-voltage x-ray tube load The effectiveness of this high voltage converter is evaluated and discussed on the basis of simulation analysis and observed data in experiment.
Dysphagia Management and Outcomes in Elderly Stroke Patients with Malnutrition Risk: Results from Chinese Stroke Center Alliance

Purpose To investigate the effectiveness of dysphagia screening and subsequent swallowing rehabilitation in elderly stroke patients with malnutrition risk. Patients and Methods Based on the Chinese Stroke Center Alliance (CSCA) from August 1, 2015 to July 21, 2019, we compared the in-hospital adverse outcomes among stroke patients (including ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, and subarachnoid hemorrhage) over 70 years old with and without dysphagia screening. The primary outcome was in-hospital all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes were the composite endpoint of discharge against medical advice (DAMA) or in-hospital death. Results Among 365,530 stroke patients ≥ 70 years old with malnutrition risk in the CSCA, documented dysphagia screening was performed for 288,764 (79.0%) participants. Of these, 41,482 (14.37%) patients had dysphagia, and 33,548 (80.87%) patients received swallowing rehabilitation. A total of 1,694 (0.46%) patients experienced in-hospital death. After adjustment for traditional risk factors, dysphagia screening was associated with a low risk of all-cause mortality in stroke patients [adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 0.75, 95% confidence interval (CI):0.65–0.87]. Compared to patients with dysphagia who did not receive swallowing rehabilitation, patients reveiving swallowing rehabilitation had a reduced risk of in-hospital death (aOR:0.39, 95% CI: 0.33–0.46). Additionally, dysphagia screening had a lower risk for the composite endpoint of DAMA or in-hospital death (aOR:0.83,95% CI: 0.80–0.87), as did subsequent swallowing rehabilitation (aOR:0.43,95% CI: 0.40–0.47). Similar results were observed in the sensitivity analysis through inverse probability of treatment weighting, propensity score matching, and excluding patients without National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores. A similar association was observed between dysphagia management and adverse clinical outcomes in ischemic stroke and intracranial hemorrhage patients. Conclusion Dysphagia screening and swallowing rehabilitation were associated with a reduced risk of in-hospital death and composite outcome of DAMA or in-hospital death for stroke patients with malnutrition risk. Future research should concentrate on improving the quality of medical care for dysphagia management to improve patients’ outcomes.
Process quality recheck for Gamma quality characteristic from supplier products: a case study on radio-frequency power

Quality fraud seriously damages the right-to-known of customers. Therefore, it is necessary for customers to recheck the process quality level declared by suppliers, which is often measured by process capability indices (PCIs). However, there exist two practical problems when rechecking PCIs based on a quality characteristic (QC). First, QC data often do not follow normal distributions. Second, to enhance the market competitiveness, the supplier usually conducts a full inspection and eliminates the non-conforming items before selling them, which causes the QC data to be truncated. To overcome these problems, motivated by the radio-frequency (RF) power output data, this paper proposes a two-phase process capability recheck method, including data-filling and generalised p-value (GE-P) test. The novel data-filling method integrates the quantile-filling (QA) and bias-correction closed-form (BC) estimator for Gamma distributions, and simulation results show it performs better than the traditional methods on unbiasedness and consistency. Based on the filling pseudo-complete data, GE-P is adopted to complete the recheck by testing whether the process capability reaches the supplier declared level. Numerical analysis indicates it performs well on two types of errors. Finally, a real case study on the motivating example is presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.
A new metric scale for measuring trust towards holographic intelligent agents

Trust is an essential attitude in social relationships, but it also mediates our approach to certain technology. The definition of interpersonal trust, however, is too wide to expound our understanding of how trust impedes such interaction with technology, and the lack of an applicable quantifiable model in particular presents an obstacle to our quest of building reliable, trusted, and intelligent holographic agents. In this paper, we therefore develop a novel metric scale to measure trust. We identify, select, and refine over a hundred items related to trust, check their precision and validity with the help of a judges panel, and select polarising items that are able to bring out the distinctive characteristics regarding people’s trust towards intelligent agents. Our findings indicate that an assessment of trust involves looking at the user’s belief about the agent’s competence, integrity, benevolence, and compassion, which drive the attitude of trust, influenced by the user’s general propensity to trust. Trust then drives intention to engage and ultimately engagement, which, if successful, results in the establishment of a trust relationship with the agent. While we propose an item-response scale for measuring this model of trust, we also add our deliberations on how elements of it could be replaced with alternative means that possibly offer more immediacy than self-inspection, discussing in particular alternatives for measuring elements of compassion, competence, and social relationships.
Interpretable deep learning for the prediction of ICU admission likelihood and mortality of COVID-19 patients

The global healthcare system is being overburdened by an increasing number of COVID-19 patients. Physicians are having difficulty allocating resources and focusing their attention on high-risk patients, partly due to the difficulty in identifying high-risk patients early. COVID-19 hospitalizations require specialized treatment capabilities and can cause a burden on healthcare resources. Estimating future hospitalization of COVID-19 patients is, therefore, crucial to saving lives. In this paper, an interpretable deep learning model is developed to predict intensive care unit (ICU) admission and mortality of COVID-19 patients. The study comprised of patients from the Stony Brook University Hospital, with patient information such as demographics, comorbidities, symptoms, vital signs, and laboratory tests recorded. The top three predictors of ICU admission were ferritin, diarrhoea, and alamine aminotransferase, and the top predictors for mortality were COPD, ferritin, and myalgia. The proposed model predicted ICU admission with an AUC score of 88.3% and predicted mortality with an AUC score of 96.3%. The proposed model was evaluated against existing model in the literature which achieved an AUC of 72.8% in predicting ICU admission and achieved an AUC of 84.4% in predicting mortality. It can clearly be seen that the model proposed in this paper shows superiority over existing models. The proposed model has the potential to provide tools to frontline doctors to help classify patients in time-bound and resource-limited scenarios.
The diffusion of climate change adaptation policy

Adapting to some level of climate change has become unavoidable. However, there is surprisingly limited systematic knowledge about whether and how adaptation policies have diffused and could diffuse in the future. Most existing adaptation studies do not explicitly examine policy diffusion, which is a form of interdependent policy‐making among jurisdictions at the same or across different levels of governance. To address this gap, we offer a new interpretation and assessment of the extensive adaptation policy literature through a policy diffusion perspective; we pay specific attention to diffusion drivers and barriers, motivations, mechanisms, outputs, and outcomes. We assess the extent to which four motivations and related mechanisms of policy diffusion—interests (linked with learning and competition), rights and duties (tied to coercion), ideology, and recognition (both connected with emulation)—are conceptually and empirically associated with adaptation. We also engage with adaptation policy characteristics, contextual conditions (e.g., problem severity) and different channels of adaptation policy diffusion (e.g., transnational networks). We demonstrate that adaptation policy diffusion can be associated with different mechanisms, yet many of them remain remarkably understudied. So are the effects of adaptation policy diffusion in terms of changes in vulnerability and resilience. We thus identify manifold avenues for future research, and provide insights for practitioners who may hope to leverage diffusion mechanisms to enhance their adaptation efforts.
ANALYSIS OF WATER PERFORMANCE OF COATING MORTARS INCORPORATED WITH TIRE RUBBER

This paper analyzed the behavior of mixed mortars incorporated with rubber from the tire retreading process, based on partial sand substitution. The content of rubber incorporation in the mortars was 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% by volume. The different granulometries of rubber were denominated as thick (passed through a sieve # 1.19 mm) and fine (passed through a sieve # 0.60 mm). Tests were performed to evaluate water retention, capillary absorption, drying, immersion absorption, water vapor permeability, and permeability to water under pressure. The results showed that the fine rubber was distinguished by its higher retention of water at the contents of 15% and 20%, lower absorption via both capillary and immersion, higher drying capacity, higher permeability to water vapor, and lower permeability to water under pressure.
Associations among the anterior maxillary dental arch form, alveolar bone thickness, and the sagittal root position of the maxillary central incisors in relation to immediate implant placement: A cone-beam computed tomography analysis

Purpose This study evaluated the associations of the dental arch form, age-sex groups, and sagittal root position (SRP) with alveolar bone thickness of the maxillary central incisors using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images. Materials and Methods CBCT images of 280 patients were categorized based on the dental arch form and age-sex groups. From these patients, 560 sagittal CBCT images of the maxillary central incisors were examined to measure the labial and palatal bone thickness at the apex level and the palatal bone at the mid-root level, according to the SRP classification. The chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and multiple linear regression were used for statistical analyses. Results Significant differences were found in alveolar bone thickness depending on the arch form and SRP at the apex level. The square dental arch form and class I SRP showed the highest bone thickness at both levels of the palatal aspect. The taper dental arch form and class II SRP presented the highest bone thickness at the apex level of the labial aspect. No association was found between the dental arch form and SRP. Elderly women showed a significant association with thinner alveolar bone. Age-sex group, the dental arch form, and SRP had significant associations with alveolar bone thickness at the apex level. Conclusion The patient’s age-sex group, dental arch form, and SRP were associated with alveolar bone thickness around the maxillary central incisors with varying magnitudes. Therefore, clinicians should take these factors into account when planning immediate implant placement.
Association between Dietary Diversity Changes and Cognitive Impairment among Older People: Findings from a Nationwide Cohort Study

Background: Little is known about the role of dietary diversity changes in affecting cognitive function among older people. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the associations between dietary diversity scores (DDS) changes with cognitive impairment among older adults in a large prospective cohort. Methods: Cognitive function was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination questionnaire at baseline and follow-up. A total of 9726 participants without Parkinson’s disease, dementia, or cognitive impairment were enrolled at baseline. Nine food groups were collected using simplified FFQ at baseline and follow-up surveys. Then nine food groups change patterns and DDS change patterns (overall, plant-based and animal-based) were assessed. The associations of above DDS changes patterns with subsequent cognitive impairment were evaluated. A multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate HRs and 95%CIs. Results: We documented 2805 cognitive impairments during 52,325 person-years of follow-up. Compared to high-to-high overall DDS change patterns, the multivariable adjusted HRs (95%CI) for high-to-medium, medium-to-medium, medium-to-low, low-to-medium and low-to-low DDS change patterns were 1.33 (1.12–1.57), 1.11 (0.94–1.32), 1.61 (1.39–1.86), 2.00 (1.66–2.40), 2.30 (1.90–2.78) and 2.80 (2.23–3.53), respectively. Compared with participants with stable DDS change pattern, those who in large improvement of DDS had a 13% lower risk of cognitive impairment (HRs, 0.87; 95%CI: 0.78–0.98). The associations of plant-based DDS, animal-based DDS, or nine food groups DDS change patterns with cognitive impairment were in a similar direction to the main result. Conclusions: Protective associations between maintaining high DDS and a reduced risk of cognitive impairment were observed. In contrast, lowering or maintaining a lower DDS increases the risk of cognitive impairment.
Aberrant Intrinsic Neural Networks Strength in Individuals with "Smartphone Addiction": An MRI Data Fusion Study

Objectives: Excessive smartphone use, sometimes also referred to as “smartphone addiction”, has increasingly attracted neuroscientific interest due to its similarities with other behavioral addictions, particularly internet gaming disorder. Little is known so far about the neural mechanisms underlying smartphone addiction. Here, we explored interrelationships between brain structure and function to specify neurobiological correlates of smartphone addiction on a neural system level. Methods: Gray matter volume and intrinsic neural activity was investigated in individuals with smartphone addiction (n = 20) compared to controls (n = 24), using multimodal magnetic resonance imaging and multivariate data fusion techniques, i.e., parallel Independent Component Analysis. Results: The joint analysis of both data modalities explored shared information between gray matter volume and intrinsic neural activity which were not revealed by previous modality-specific approaches. Two amplitude of low frequency fluctuations-based independent neural systems significantly differed between individuals with smartphone addiction and controls. A medial/dorsolateral prefrontal system exhibited lower functional network strength lower in smartphone addiction vs. controls, whereas the opposite pattern was detected in a parietal cortical/cerebellar system. Neural network strength was significantly related to duration of smartphone use and sleep difficulties. Conclusions: We show modality-specific associations of the brain’s resting-state activity with distinct and shared smartphone addiction symptom dimensions. In particular, the data suggest contributions of aberrant prefrontal and parietal neural network strength as a possible signature of deficient executive control in smartphone addiction.