Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Invasive Weed Xanthium italicum Significantly
Decreases Glycyrrhiza uralensis Yield and Severely
Reduces Its Medicinal Quality

Italian cocklebur ( Xanthium italicum Moretti) invades liquorice farmlands, but specific consequences of the invasion remain unclear. Therefore, in this study, we simulated soil fertility levels of liquorice farmlands and performed replacement experiments to compare the relative competition intensity between X. italicum and Chinese liquorice ( Glycyrrhiza uralensis ), and investigated the differences in the effects of planting patterns (monoculture and mixture) on the growth and reproduction of the two species. Under monoculture treatment, the growth of X. italicum was more than that of G. uralensis . Vegetative and reproductive growth of X. italicum was significantly increased under mixture culture treatment compared to that under monoculture treatment; however, growth and clonal reproduction ability of G. uralensis were significantly suppressed. The biomass and contents of secondary metabolites of G. uralensis were significantly decreased under mixed culture treatment, and rhizome development was completely inhibited after mixed planting with X. italicum . The differences in vegetative growth between the two plants became larger under mixed culture treatment. Therefore, X. italicum exhibited significantly higher competitiveness than G. uralensis when coexisting within a community, and the X. italicum exerted significantly negative effects on the growth, reproduction, nodule development, of materials
Immunomodulatory Properties of PI3K/AKT/mTOR and MAPK/MEK/ERK Inhibition Augment Response to Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Melanoma and Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Hyperactivation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR and MAPK/MEK/ERK signaling pathways is commonly observed in many cancers, including triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and melanoma. Moreover, the compensatory upregulation of the MAPK/MEK/ERK pathway has been associated with therapeutic resistance to targeted inhibition of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, and vice versa. The immune-modulatory effects of both PI3K and MAPK inhibition suggest that inhibition of these pathways might enhance response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). ICIs have become the standard-of-care for metastatic melanoma and are recently an option for TNBC when combined with chemotherapy, but alternative options are needed when resistance develops. In this review, we present the current mechanistic understandings, along with preclinical and clinical evidence, that outline the efficacy and safety profile of combinatorial or sequential treatments with PI3K inhibitors, MAPK inhibitors, and ICIs for treatment of malignant melanoma and metastatic TNBC. This approach may present a potential strategy to overcome resistance in patients who are a candidate for ICI therapy with tumors harboring either or both of these pathway-associated mutations.
Comparison of Inflammatory Markers in the Diagnosis of Metabolic Syndrome in Hemodialysis Patients: A Multicenter Observational Study

Objective The purpose of this study is to observe the correlation between high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in hemodialysis patients, determine its optimal cut-off point value, and compare the diagnostic ability of different inflammatory markers for MetS. Methods This cross-sectional study finally included 860 long-term hemodialysis patients (male 524, average age 61.5 years) from seven dialysis centers in Shanghai, China. The International Diabetes Federation metabolic syndrome guidelines were used to define MetS, including high waist circumference, elevated blood pressure, elevated fasting blood glucose, elevated triglycerides, and reduced HDL cholesterol. Serum hs-CRP was determined by the immunonephelometric assay. The association with MetS was observed according to the quartile of inflammatory markers, and then the optimal cut-off point value of the hs-CRP was determined by ROC analysis. Results The overall prevalence of MetS was 55.1% (46.6% in males and 68.5% in females). In the final logistic regression model, there was a significant, graded positive association between hs-CRP and MetS (p for trend = 0.010). The traditional inflammatory markers leukocytes, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were not associated with MetS. The results of the ROC analysis showed that the optimal cut point value of hs-CRP for the diagnosis of MetS was 1.58 mg/L. In the components of MetS and hs-CRP was significantly positively associated with high waist circumference, elevated TG and low HDL (p < 0.05). Conclusion The increase in hs-CRP concentration is significantly associated with the risk of MetS, and the diagnostic ability of hs-CRP for MetS is better than traditional inflammatory markers.
Advances in Biomedical Applications of Raman Microscopy and Data Processing: A Mini Review

Abstract Raman spectroscopy is a powerful, noninvasive, and non-contactual vibrational spectroscopic technique. As an optical surface scanning technique, it is capable of detecting endogenous biomolecules inside cells and tissues and used to detect changes in structure and composition during the dysplastic transformation of cellular components. A combination of Raman spectroscopy and microscopy has also been used to study biomolecular processes at the cellular level. Moreover, Raman microscopy may be used to diagnose diseases noninvasively because it offers features such as in vivo and ex vivo imaging, rapid spectral acquisition, superior molecular sensing, deeper depth profiling, and superior chemical sensitivity. Additionally, it has capabilities for 3D sectioning, non-label imaging, pharmacokinetics analysis, and in situ monitoring of diseases and drugs. Raman microscopy has been shown to be successful in biomedical applications because healthy tissues differ significantly from diseased tissues in terms of chemical composition. Furthermore, various tags have been examined for the identification, diagnosis, and control of disease development based on a fundamental understanding of chemical processes with Raman imaging and spectroscopic measurements. This article provides an overview of Raman microscopy in biomedical research and applications. An emphasis is placed on how Raman imaging has been applied to different biomedical domains, such as disease monitoring and medical diagnostics. Further, the article discusses technological developments, data processing, and emerging technologies such as machine learning, before concluding with a discussion of the potential uses of these methods.
Anti-Epileptic Drugs in Geriatric Neurosurgery: A Review of 669 Neurosurgical Cases

Background and Purpose Patients over the age of 75 are more likely to develop epilepsy than children under the age of 10. Patients of all ages are prescribed anti-epileptic drugs; however, those over the age of 65 are the most typically prescribed group. Methods This is a retrospective study of geriatric cases admitted to the Neurosurgery Department in Khoula Hospital from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2019. A medical records of 669 patients were identified. Patients’ demographics, risk factors, usage of anti-epileptic drug (AED), type of tumor, tumor location, neuro-vital signs diagnosis, Glasgow coma scale on arrival, treatment types, and length of stay (LOS) were recorded. Results The prevalence of AEDs use was 19%. Patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were found to have a higher rate of using AEDs (32.1%) followed by patients with oncological and vascular pathologies, respectively (30.1% and 21.6%). There was a significant relationship between the utilization of AEDs among different neurological diseases investigated (p<0.05). Patients who received surgical interventions were using AEDs much more than patients with conservative management (p=0.001). There was a significant difference in the LOS and the usage of AEDs. Added to that, the results signify a relationship between the intensive care unit (ICU) admission and the utilization of AEDs in which the majority of the patients who were not on AEDs were not admitted to the ICU (p<0.05). Phenytoin was the most commonly used AED among different neurosurgical pathologies in the present study (n=110). Conclusions AEDs are used as prophylaxis to prevent seizures before most neurosurgical procedures and were commonly prescribed in TBI patients. Phenytoin was found to be the commonest AEDs utilized among the different neurosurgical categories followed by levetiracetam.
Detection of Cyclospora, Microsporidia and Cryptosporidium by direct microscopy and PCR in stools specimens in Northwest, Iran

This study was designed to detect the presence of Cyclospora, Microsporidia and Cryptosporidium by several different methods. A total of 1825 fecal samples submitted to the Central Parasitology Laboratory of Tabriz were assessed by conventional methods of light microscopy, formalin-ether concentration technique, staining technique and PCR method. The frequency of Cryptosporidium was 0. 0%, 15%, 3% and 2% and Microsporidia was 0. 0%, 3%, 1% and 0% by methods of microscopy, formalin-ether concentration, staining and PCR, respectively. Cyclospora was not found in all the stool samples examined. The frequencies of these three protozoa in our study were less than our expectations. Lack of infection with Cyclospora can be good news for local health care providers. More investigations especially in at risk populations is needed for health policy making.
Paradoxical Effects of Teleworking on Workers’ Well-Being in the COVID-19 Context: A Comparison Between Different Public Administrations and the Private Sector

This study examines workers’ well-being during the first lockdown by comparing teleworkers to on-site workers across the private sector and public administrations. Using a sample of workers (N = 471) collected online, we noted a positive association between telework and well-being. When sector is introduced, this relationship disappears, and public service workers display a higher level of well-being compared with health and social service workers. The impact of teleworking differs across sectors, highlighting the relevance of the contingent approach of human resource management (HRM). Nonetheless, our results indicated that teleworkers who prefer the segmentation of work–life boundaries display a lower level of well-being than those who prefer the integration of these boundaries. For HRM practitioners of all sectors, this finding is essential to remember after the pandemic because organizations should avoid imposing teleworking universally. Flexibility will be required to be inclusive and to preserve the well-being of all employees.
INDEPROP: Information-Preserving De-propagandization of News Articles (Student Abstract)

We propose INDEPROP, a novel Natural Language Processing (NLP) application for combating online disinformation by mitigating propaganda from news articles. INDEPROP (Information-Preserving De-propagandization) involves fine-grained propaganda detection and its removal while maintaining document level coherence, grammatical correctness and most importantly, preserving the news articles’ information content. We curate the first large-scale dataset of its kind consisting of around 1M tokens. We also propose a set of automatic evaluation metrics for the same and observe its high correlation with human judgment. Furthermore, we show that fine-tuning the existing propaganda detection systems on our dataset considerably improves their generalization to the test set.
In Silico Genomic and Metabolic Atlas of Limosilactobacillus reuteri DSM 20016: An Insight into Human Health

Probiotics are bacterial strains that are known to provide host health benefits. Limosilactobacillus reuteri is a well-documented lactic acid bacterium that has been cultured from numerous human sites. The strain investigated was L. reuteri DSM 20016, which has been found to produce useful metabolites. The strain was explored using genomic and proteomic tools, manual searches, and databases, including KEGG, STRING, BLAST Sequence Similarity Search, and UniProt. This study located over 200 key genes that were involved in human health benefit pathways. L. reuteri DSM 20016 has metabolic pathways to produce acetate, propionate, and lactate, and there is evidence of a pathway for butanoate production through a FASII mechanism. The bacterium produces histamine through the hdc operon, which may be able to suppress proinflammatory TNF, and the bacterium also has the ability to synthesize folate and riboflavin, although whether they are secreted is yet to be explored. The strain can bind to human Caco2 cells through srtA, mapA/cnb, msrB, and fbpA and can compete against enteric bacteria using reuterin, which is an antimicrobial that induces oxidative stress. The atlas could be used for designing metabolic engineering approaches to improve beneficial metabolite biosynthesis and better probiotic-based cures.
Non-LTE abundance corrections for late-type stars from 2000Å to 3microm. I. Na, Mg, and Al

Context. It is well known that cool star atmospheres depart from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). Making an accurate abun- dance determination requires taking those e ﬀ ects into account, but the necessary non-LTE (hereafter NLTE) calculations are often lacking. Aims. Our goal is to provide detailed estimates of NLTE e ﬀ ects for FGK type stars for all spectral lines from the ultraviolet (UV) to the near infrared (NIR) that are potentially useful as abundance diagnostics. The ﬁrst paper in this series focusses on the light elements Na, Mg, and Al. Methods. The code PySME was used to compute curves of growth for 2158 MARCS model atmospheres in the parameter range 3800 < T e ﬀ < 8000K, 0 . 0 < log( g ) < 5 . 5, and − 5 < [Fe / H] < + 0 . 5. Two microturbulence values, 1 and 2kms − 1 , and nine abundance points spanning − 1 < [X / Fe] < 1 for element X, are used to construct individual line curves of growth by calculating the equivalent widths of 35 Na lines, 134 Mg lines, and 34 Al lines. The lines were selected in the wavelength range between 2000Å and 3 µ m. Results. We demonstrate the power of the new grids with LTE and NLTE abundance analysis by means of equivalent width measure- ments of ﬁve benchmark stars; the Sun, Arcturus, HD84937, HD140283 and HD122563. For Na, the NLTE abundances are lower than in LTE and show markedly reduced line-to-line scatter in the metal-poor stars. For Mg, we conﬁrm previous reports of a signif- icant ∼ 0 . 25dex LTE ionisation imbalance in metal-poor stars that is only slightly improved in NLTE ( ∼ 0 . 18dex). LTE abundances based on MgII lines agree better with models of Galactic chemical evolution. For Al, NLTE calculations strongly reduce an ∼ 0 . 6dex ionisation imbalance seen in LTE for the metal-poor stars. The abundance corrections presented in this work are in good agreement with previous studies for the subset of lines that overlap, with the exception of strongly saturated lines. Conclusions. A consensus between di ﬀ erent abundance diagnostics is the most powerful tool available to stellar spectroscopists to assess the accuracy of the models. Here we report that NLTE abundance analysis in general leads to improved agreement, in particular for metal-poor stars. The residual scatter is believed to be caused mainly by unresolved blends and / or poor atomic data, with the notable exception of Mg, which calls for further investigation.
CRITICAL THINKING IN ELT: INDONESIAN TEACHERS’ UNDERSTANDING AND PRACTICE TEN YEARS DOEN THE TRACK

ABSTRACTIt has been over a decade since the Ministry of Education and Culture in Indonesia mandated teachers to foster critical thinking; however, studies document that in Indonesia, students’ critical thinking still lags behind other countries. This condition led us to investigate teachers’ understanding of critical thinking as they hold the central role in promoting it. This qualitative research survey involved 64 English language teachers who had signed up for a webinar about critical thinking. The respondents varied in terms of gender, educational background, and teaching experience. The questionnaire was distributed online, and their participation in filling out the questionnaire was voluntary. Questions were divided into two categories: the respondents’ demographic data, including gender, educational background, and teaching context. The second category focused on teachers’ understanding of critical thinking and its implementation in the classroom context. The study found that teachers do not yet have comprehensive knowledge about critical thinking, and this is reflected in their teaching practice and assessment of students’ critical thinking. Interestingly, the study revealed that only a few teachers realized that their difficulties in promoting critical thinking might derive from their limited understanding about the notion.ABSTRAKSudah lebih dari satu dekade sejak Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan di Indonesia mengamanatkan guru untuk meningkatkan kemampuan berpikir kritis; namun, beberapa studi mendokumentasikan bahwa di Indonesia, tingkat kemampuan berpikir kritis siswa masih tertinggal dari negara lain. Kondisi ini mendorong Kami untuk meneliti pemahaman guru tentang berpikir kritis mengingat guru memegang peran penting sentral dalam mempromosikannya. Survei penelitian kualitatif ini melibatkan 64 guru bahasa Inggris yang telah mendaftar untuk webinar tentang berpikir kritis. Responden bervariasi dalam hal jenis kelamin, latar belakang pendidikan, dan pengalaman mengajar. Kuesioner disebarkan secara online, dan partisipasi mereka dalam mengisi kuesioner bersifat sukarela. Pertanyaan dibagi menjadi dua kategori: data demografi responden, termasuk jenis kelamin, latar belakang pendidikan, dan konteks pengajaran. Kategori kedua berfokus pada pemahaman guru tentang berpikir kritis dan implementasinya dalam konteks kelas. Studi ini menemukan bahwa guru belum memiliki pengetahuan yang komprehensif tentang berpikir kritis, dan hal ini tercermin dalam praktik mengajar mereka serta dalam menilai kemampuan berpikir kritis siswa. Salah satu temuan menarik dari penelitian ini adalah hanya sedikit guru yang menyadari bahwa kesulitan mereka dalam mempromosikan berpikir kritis pada siswa kemungkinan besar dikarenakan pemahaman mereka yang terbatas tentang konsep berpikir kritis tersebut.
Radio-Frequency Energy Harvesting Systems for GSM and WiFi Bands

Energy harvesting (EH) circuits are expected to be key modules for future battery-constrained electronic devices such as mobile phones and wearable devices. Radio-frequency (RF) harvesting is one of the promising EH technologies, which converts RF signals into direct-current (DC) voltage. This paper proposed an efficient design for the voltage doubler subsystem for an RF-EH module using different types of Schottky diodes, namely HSMS-2822, HSMS-2850, and HSMS-286B. Greinacher voltage doubler circuits for multi-bands including 915 MHz (GSM), (2.4, and 5.2) GHz (WI-FI) bands are scrutinized. Up to 10 stages of Schottky diode voltage doubler circuits are investigated, where the performance is evaluated using Agilent ADS software. The results showed that the HSMS-286B Schottky diode reveals a better performance with GSM band sources, while HSMS-2850 is the Optimum choice for the WI-FI band.
Combination of Hough Transform and Neural Network on recognizing mathematical symbols

Offline printed mathematical symbol recognition is a particularly difficult task. Recognizing mathematical symbols is one stage within the overall system for recognition of mathematical documents. We describe many experiments using MultiLayer Perceptron (MLP), Hough Transform (HT), k Nearest Neighbors (kNN) and structural Freeman chain code, to enhance symbol recognition of printed mathematics. First, we investigate the use of a MLP based method. Second, we compare the performance of a proposal neural structural method, named HT-MLPs, on symbols that initial MLP usually confuses. The inclusion of HT in MLP reduces symbol confusion rate by 21% and improves recognition rates from 72% to 93%. To improve the efficiency of the proposed method, we compare it to KNN then to Freeman code based methods, commonly used in pattern recognition. While analyzing results, we show that HT-MLP always gives a lower mean confusion and rejection and higher success rates than the others solutions.
Role of single nucleotide polymorphisms of the HSD3B1 gene (rs6203 and rs33937873) in the prediction of prostate cancer risk

3-β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 (HSD3B1) is shown to affect dihydrotestosterone level in prostatic tissue which is a risk factor for prostate cancer (PC). The present study aimed to determine whether rs33937873 (G313A) and rs6203 (C338T) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in HSD3B1 gene was a potential risk factor for PC susceptibility and can predict the recurrence of PC in Egyptian patients. A total of 186 Egyptian patients were selected with incident primary PC and compared with 180 age healthy controls. The frequencies and the main effect of rs33937873 and rs6203 in HSD3B1 were compared and investigated between the patients and control using genotyping technique and statistical analysis. The mutant GA genotype of G313A in rs33937873 SNP was considered as an independent risk for PC in the multivariate regression analysis [odds ratio (OR)=2.7, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.2-5.5, P=0.01] together with positive history of hypertension (HTN) (OR=6.2, 95% CI: 3.2-12.1, P=0.0001) and begin prostatic hyperplasia (BPH; OR=8.9, 95% CI: 4.5-17.5, P=0.0001). Conversely, in rs6203 (C338T), C allele is considered as major risk allele in the development of PC (OR=1.8, 95% CI: 1.3-2.4, P=0.0003). The univariate logistic regression analyses indicated that CC genotype of rs6203 was a PC risk factor (OR=1.9, 95% CI: 1.3-2.9, P=0.002). In addition, the frequency of the A-C haplotype established by rs33937873-rs6203 was also significantly higher for PC (P=0.013). The predication of PC recurrence was associated only with positive family history (OR=7.7, 95% CI: 2.3-25.9, P=0.001) and not for The G313A and C338T SNPs. These results suggested that the two HSD3B1 polymorphisms rs33937873 and rs6203 may modify the risk of PC, particularly among patients with HTN and history of BPH, suggesting them as prominent future markers for prediction of PC risk.
A novel USH2A gene mutation in a family with retinitis pigmentosa: A case report

We report a novel variant of the USH2A gene in a family affected by retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Genomic DNA was obtained from a 55-year-old woman (the proband) with night blindness who was diagnosed with non-syndromic RP. We identified the compound heterozygous variants c.8559-2A>G and c.151A>T (p.Ile51Phe) in the USH2A gene as the underlying cause in the proband; the former variant, instead of the latter variant, has been reported in the literature. The proband’s mother carried the c.151A>T variant, while her father and daughter carried the c.8559-2A>G variant. In this family, the proband and her mother developed RP; however, her father and daughter did not develop the disease. Although in silico tools predicted that c.151A>T is benign, segregation analysis suggested that this variant could be potentially harmful. The identification of c.151A>T (p.Ile51Phe) variant is a novel finding, and this variant might be a potentially harmful variant of USH2A gene. This finding also further expands the mutation spectrum of this gene in the Chinese population.