Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Cathinone Hydra: Increased Cathinone and caffeine adulteration in the English MDMA market after Brexit and COVID-19 lockdowns

Adulteration poses additional unknown risks to the health of people who use illicit drugs. In this study, we sought to determine the extent and nature of adulteration of ‘MDMA’ in circulation at English summer music festivals in 2021, following Brexit, COVID-19 lockdowns and various regulatory changes overseas. At three festivals in 2019 and 2021, 1648 surrendered substances were analysed with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and colourimetric reagents in a mobile laboratory as part of a harm reduction project. Form, mass, appearance and main psychoactive component were recorded. Analytical results were compared to a parallel self-report survey with 1124 attendees at the same events, as part of the annual English Festival Study. In 2019 and 2021, 417 and 377 samples strongly resembling MDMA (e.g. ecstasy tablets) were tested. Detection of MDMA in such samples decreased from 93% to 55% between the two years. Whilst virtually absent in 2019, synthetic cathinones and caffeine each constituted approximately one fifth of 2021 samples. 4-Chloromethcathinone (4-CMC), 3-methylmethcathinone (3-MMC) and N-ethylbutylone (eutylone) were the most prevalent cathinones detected. In both years, >35% of survey respondents reported use and/or intention to use MDMA on the fieldwork day; ≤1% reported cathinone or caffeine use, suggesting their consumption was predominantly unintentional. The sharp rise in synthetic cathinone prevalence in the summer 2021 UK market coincided with a unique combination of events including Brexit and the reopening of nightlife after 16 months of lockdowns, months ahead of other European nations. Echoing similar periods over the past decade, the cathinone hydra reared its head to satisfy the buoyant demand for MDMA at a time of scarcity, through substitution with substances legally obtainable in the Netherlands at the time of data collection. Alerts issued on social media led to >360,000 engagements, demonstrating extensive public engagement with illicit market monitoring and harm reduction advice.
A reflection of the lower rate of infectivity among comorbid conditions in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the main causes for death among people worldwide. There has been an increase in the incidence of drug-resistant TB. The effect of TB on various diseases has an impact on hematological parameters and it is an emerging problem in India. The impact of the medical condition on diabetes, hypothyroid, and retroviral disease (RVD) in multidrug resistance TB is investigated. The study highlights changes in hematological parameters in both genders. The study enrolled ( N = 271) patients with drug resistance attending the district government hospital. The study observed normocytic normochromic anemia ( n = 244) in most patients. Anemia was prevalent in female ( n = 68) patients. A statistical significance was observed in hemoglobin ( p < 0.0001 *** ), hematocrit ( p < 0.0001 *** ), red cell indices between male and female patients. The study reported the drug-resistant TB more in diabetes than in hypothyroid and RVD patients. The clinical conditions such as diabetes, hypothyroid, RVD in multidrug resistance TB established significant changes in cell counts of white cells ( p = 0.03 * ), monocytes ( p < 0.0002 *** ), and immature granulocytes ( p < 0.009 ** ). Monitoring anemia in TB is essential, and it is pertinent to monitor anemia in female patients as a prerequisite. The drug resistance TB worsened the hematological parameters compared to the comorbid conditions with drug resistance TB.
The Combined Use of Platelet-Rich Plasma Clot Releasate and Allogeneic Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells Rescue Glucocorticoid-Induced Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head

Glucocorticoid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is a refractory disease. The treatment options for ONFH, especially nonsurgical ones, merit further investigation. To evaluate the combinatorial therapeutic effects of platelet-rich plasma clot releasate (PRCR) and umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) on glucocorticoid-induced ONFH, a dexamethasone (DEX)-treated cell model and a high-dose methylprednisolone (MPS)-treated rat model were established. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was performed in vitro to determine the optimum dosage of PRCR for UC-MSC viability. The effects of PRCR, UC-MSCs, and PRCR + UC-MSCs on cell viability, apoptosis, migration, and differentiation capacities of DEX-treated bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVECs) were explored via Transwell assays. Western blotting was conducted to evaluate the expression levels of RUNX2, VEGF, caspase-3, and Bcl-2 in the coculture systems. Ultrasound-guided intra-articular PRCR, UC-MSCs, and PRCR + UC-MSC injections were performed on the ONFH model rats. Microcomputed tomography, histological and immunohistochemical analyses, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining were used to assess the therapeutic effects of PRCR and UC-MSCs on bone loss and necrosis induced by high-dose MPS. Results of this study revealed that the in vitro application of PRCR, UC-MSCs, and PRCR + UC-MSCs reversed the impaired proliferation and migration capacities and resisted apoptosis of BMSCs and HUVECs induced by DEX. Moreover, the PRCR and UC-MSC application significantly improved the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and alizarin red (ALR) staining of BMSCs and tube formation capacity of HUVECs and promoted the protein expression of RUNX2 in BMSCs and VEGF in HUVECs. Similarly, in the ONFH rat model, the intra-articular injection of UC-MSCs and PRCR improved the subchondral bone mass parameters; promoted the expression of ALP, RUNX2, and VEGF; suppressed osteoclast overactivity; and resisted cell apoptosis. The combination of PRCR and UC-MSCs shows promising therapeutic effects in treating glucocorticoid-induced ONFH. The current study provides important information on intra-articular therapy, paving the way for the clinical management of ONFH in the future.
Investigating Young Indonesian Lecturers: The Role of Money, Social Maturity and Stress in Reflecting Teaching Performance

This study aims to define the role of money, social maturity, and stress among young lecturers in Indonesia and their effect on teaching performance as educators. The population of this research was the young Indonesian lecturers actively teaching in university who were considered to have distinguished characters apart from their seniors. A questionnaire was spread to 13 public universities. The findings show that low social maturity escalates teaching performance. Meanwhile, lecturers' orientation on money does not affect teaching performance. Furthermore, stress has a positive effect on teaching performance. The unique fact is that the stress of the lecturers can be alleviated precisely by interacting with students in the class during the teaching and learning activities. Received: 11 November 2021 / Accepted: 28 February 2022 / Published: 5 May 2022
Planar Monopole Ultra-wideband Antennas with Difierent Radiator Shapes for Body-centric Wireless Networks

This paper is a further study on the performances of planar UWB monopole an- tennas using a radiator of difierent shapes such as triangle, rectangle, square, circle, annual ring, ellipse (both horizontal and vertical), pentagon and hexagon, for body-centric wireless networks. The planar antennas consist of a radiator and a microstrip-feed line on one side of the substrate and a ground plane on the other side. Previous simulation studies showed that the elliptical and hexagonal antennas appeared to have the best performances in terms of bandwidth, gain, e-- ciency and radiation pattern. Studies using measurements of these two antennas on a liquid-body phantom are presented in this paper. Results show that the elliptical antenna achieves a wide impedance bandwidth of 3.1{12GHz, an average peak gain of nearly 2.3dBi and good radiation patterns, making it a good candidate for UWB body-centric wireless networks. 1. INTRODUCTION Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology (1), with the advantages of low cost, low complexity, low spectral power density, high precision ranging, low interference and extremely high data rates, has attracted much attention (2{9). One of the most promising areas in UWB applications is body-centric wireless networks where various sensors are connected together by UWB devices which have to be low power, low-proflle and unobtrusive to the human body (10,11). Due to the presence of human body, the design of UWB antennas for body-centric wireless networks is complicated. Several fundamental requirements such as wide impedance bandwidth, small size and low proflle, good on- body propagation and radiation characteristics in the proximity of the body have to be fulfllled (10{ 15). The studies on planar UWB monopole antennas using a radiator of difierent shapes such as rectangle, square, circle, ellipse, pentagon and hexagon, for body-centric wireless networks using computer simulation were carried out in (16). Results showed that among all proposed antennas studied the elliptical and hexagonal antennas had the best performances for UWB body-centric wireless networks In this paper, further studies are carried out on the elliptical and hexagonal antennas by using measurements. The antennas are fabricated using FR-4 substrate placed on a body model and measured inside an echoic chamber. Results show that the antenna with an elliptical radiator appears to be the best choice for UWB body-centric wireless networks.
Stiffness of hard soils and soft rocks in engineering applications, Keynote Lecture

Several important factors are discussed for evaluating the stiffness at relatively small strains of hard soils and soft rocks to be used in predicting the deformation of ground and the displacements of structures. This stiffness is controlled by many factors such as (1) strain- and stress state-dependency of stiffness; (2) inherent and induced anisotropy and heterogeneity; (3) strain and stress histories; (4) stress path, shear mode, strain rate, repeated loading and drainage conditions; (5) accuracy of strain measurements in laboratory tests; and (6) sample disturbance. The issue of discontinuities in hard rock masses is not discussed. It is shown that when the effects of these factors are properly taken into account, the stiffness values evaluated by various field and laboratory tests and those obtained by the back-analyses of full-scale field behaviour are comparable to each other fairly well. The deformations at strains less than about 0.001 % are essentially elastic. The elastic stiffness at these small strains obtained from laboratory static (cyclic and monotonic loading) tests agree well with the corresponding values obtained from laboratory dynamic tests and also field seismic surveys. It is shown that the in-situ stiffness of hard soils and soft rocks under static and dynamic working loads can be accurately estimated based on elastic deformation moduli obtained from field seismic surveys if the effects of the above-mentioned factors are taken into account. Several case records of large construction projects are also presented, including case records of bridge foundations on sedimentary mudstone (Rainbow Bridge) and on sedimentary sandstone and gravel (Akashi Strait Suspension Bridge). For the covering abstract, see IRRD 892179.
Mutation Load in Sunflower Inversions Is Negatively Correlated with Inversion Heterozygosity

Abstract Recombination is critical both for accelerating adaptation and purging deleterious mutations. Chromosomal inversions can act as recombination modifiers that suppress local recombination in heterozygotes and thus, under some conditions, are predicted to accumulate such mutations. In this study, we investigated patterns of recombination, transposable element abundance, and coding sequence evolution across the genomes of 1,445 individuals from three sunflower species, as well as within nine inversions segregating within species. We also analyzed the effects of inversion genotypes on 87 phenotypic traits to test for overdominance. We found significant negative correlations of long terminal repeat retrotransposon abundance and deleterious mutations with recombination rates across the genome in all three species. However, we failed to detect an increase in these features in the inversions, except for a modest increase in the proportion of stop codon mutations in several very large or rare inversions. Consistent with this finding, there was little evidence of overdominance of inversions in phenotypes that may relate to fitness. On the other hand, significantly greater load was observed for inversions in populations polymorphic for a given inversion compared to populations monomorphic for one of the arrangements, suggesting that the local state of inversion polymorphism affects deleterious load. These seemingly contradictory results can be explained by the low frequency of inversion heterozygotes in wild sunflower populations, apparently due to divergent selection and associated geographic structure. Inversions contributing to local adaptation represent ideal recombination modifiers, acting to facilitate adaptive divergence with gene flow, while largely escaping the accumulation of deleterious mutations.
RELATIONSHIP CONNECTING CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATION SCORES IN MATHEMATICS IN SOUTH-WEST NIGERIA COLLEGES OF EDUCATION

Nigeria Colleges of Education have been conducting regular and steady internal assessments in order to determine the progress of learning and strengths of students achievement via continuous assessment. This study correlate the performance of internal assessment termed continuous assessment with the final assessment scores called semester examination in Mathematics courses in Colleges of Education in South-west, Nigeria. Ten public colleges of education in south-west, Nigeria comprising of four federal colleges of Education and six state Colleges of Education were randomly sampled for the study. The instruments were pilot tested and the reliability indices attained were r=0.87, r=0.91, r=0.92 and r=0.90 using Crombach Alpha statistical instrument. Researcher-designed questionnaire and the last three years results in Mathematics courses were the instruments that were employed for the collections of data. Three research questions and two hypotheses were formulated and guided the study. The results showed that there was no significant relationship between continuous assessment and final examination grade scores of students in mathematics based on gender. However, there was significant relationship between continuous assessment and final examination grade scores of students in mathematics based on institution ownership. Among others, it was recommended that high premium should be given to continuous assessments irrespective of students’ gender and institution ownership. Also, intensive seminar should be conducted for lecturers in Nigerian colleges of education on the relevance and impact of continuous assessment in determining students’ academic strengths and progress for making better decision.
Nano-Sized Extracellular Vesicles Secreted from GATA-4 Modified Mesenchymal Stem Cells Promote Angiogenesis by Delivering Let-7 miRNAs

We demonstrated previously that extracellular vesicles (EVs) released from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) play a critical role in angiogenesis. Here, we examine whether this pro-angiogenic efficacy is enhanced in EVs derived from MSCs overexpressing GATA-4 (MSCGATA−4). Methods and Results. EVs were isolated from MSCGATA-4 (EVGATA-4) and control MSCs transduced with an empty vector (EVnull). EVs from both cell types were of the same size and displayed similar molecular markers. Compared with EVnull, EVGATA-4 increased both a tube-like structure formation and spheroid-based sprouting of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). The EVGATA-4 increased the numbers of CD31-positive cells and hemoglobin content inside Matrigel plugs subcutaneously transplanted into mice for 2 weeks. Moreover, EVGATA-4 encapsulated higher levels of let-7 family miRs compared to EVnull. The transfer of exosomal let-7 miRs into HUVECs was recorded with an accompanied down-regulation of thrombospondin-1 (THBS1) expression, a major endogenous angiogenesis inhibitor. The loss-and-gain of function studies of let-7 miRs showed that let-7f knockdown significantly decreased EVGATA-4-mediated vascularization inside Matrigel plugs. In contrast, let-7f overexpression promoted HUVEC migration and tube formation. Conclusion. Our results indicate that EVs derived from genetically modified MSCs with GATA-4 overexpression had increased pro-angiogenic capacity due to the delivery of let-7 miRs that targeted THBS1 in endothelial cells.
Improving OpenStreetMap missing building detection using few‐shot transfer learning in sub‐Saharan Africa

OpenStreetMap (OSM) has been intensively used to support humanitarian aid activities, especially in the Global South. Its data availability in the Global South has been greatly improved via recent humanitarian mapping campaigns. However, large rural areas are still incompletely mapped. The timely provision of map data is often essential for the work of humanitarian actors in the case of disaster preparation or disaster response. Therefore, it has become a vital challenge to boost the speed and efficiency of existing humanitarian mapping workflows. We address this challenge by proposing a novel few‐shot transfer learning (FSTL) method to improve the accuracy of OSM missing building detection. We trained two popular object detection models (i.e., Faster R‐CNN and SSD) in a training area in Tanzania and transferred the model to target areas in Cameroon and Mozambique. The FSTL method significantly improved the base model performance even with only one training shot. Moreover, we successfully produced a grid‐based OSM missing building map (DeepVGI) of 10 m spatial resolution with over 96% overall accuracy (ACC) and 0.85 Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC) in both Cameroon and Mozambique. Such maps show great potential to assess and estimate the overall completeness of OSM buildings to support humanitarian mapping activities, especially in places where other (e.g., buildings, roads) datasets are not available.
Modelling Water Absorption Kinetics of Abrohemaa, Omankwa, and Akposoe Maize Varieties

The study investigated the effect of temperature and variety on water absorption kinetics of three Ghanaian maize varieties (Abrohemaa, Omankwa, and Akposoe) during soaking and also to generate the required moisture diffusivity data for the varieties. The study employed a gravimetric method at four different temperatures of , and . Varying soaking temperature affected the water absorption rates and behaviours of the varieties and that soaking was reduced by increasing the soaking water temperature. The differences in rate of water absorption by the varieties could be attributed to kernel characteristics such as physiochemical and nutritional composition. The Fick’s diffusion law satisfactorily predicted the absorption kinetics of the varieties at all temperatures and that variety and temperature were the most important factors controlling water absorption rate of the maize kernel. The moisture diffusivities of the kernels varied in the order of Abrohemaa Omankwa Akposoe and increased as the soaking temperature increases with values ranging from for Akposoe, for Omankwa and for Abrohemaa. The Arrhenius equation was able to describe the effects of temperature on the diffusion coefficient with activation energy values of for Abrohemaa and for both Akposoe and Omankwa. The study investigated the effect of temperature and variety on water absorption kinetics of three Ghanaian maize varieties (Abrohemaa, Omankwa, and Akposoe) during soaking and also to generate the required moisture diffusivity data for the varieties. The study employed a gravimetric method at four different temperatures of , and . Varying soaking temperature affected the water absorption rates and behaviours of the varieties and that soaking was reduced by increasing the soaking water temperature. The differences in rate of water absorption by the varieties could be attributed to kernel characteristics such as physiochemical and nutritional composition. The Fick’s diffusion law satisfactorily predicted the absorption kinetics of the varieties at all temperatures and that variety and temperature were the most important factors controlling water absorption rate of the maize kernel. The moisture diffusivities of the kernels varied in the order of Abrohemaa Omankwa Akposoe and increased as the soaking temperature increases with values ranging from for Akposoe, for Omankwa and for Abrohemaa. The Arrhenius equation was able to describe the effects of temperature on the diffusion coefficient with activation energy values of for Abrohemaa and for both Akposoe and Omankwa.
The Chimeric Adenovirus (Ad5/35) Expressing Engineered Spike Protein Confers Immunity against SARS-CoV-2 in Mice and Non-Human Primates

Several COVID-19 platforms have been licensed across the world thus far, but vaccine platform research that can lead to effective antigen delivery is still ongoing. Here, we constructed AdCLD-CoV19 that could modulate humoral immunity by harboring SARS-CoV-2 antigens onto a chimeric adenovirus 5/35 platform that was effective in cellular immunity. By replacing the S1/S2 furin cleavage sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) protein mounted on AdCLD-CoV19 with the linker sequence, high antigen expression was confirmed in various cell lines. The high levels of antigen expression contributed to antigen-specific antibody activity in mice and non-human primates (NHPs) with a single vaccination of AdCLD-CoV19. Furthermore, the adenovirus-induced Th1 immune response was specifically raised for the S protein, and these immune responses protected the NHP against live viruses. While AdCLD-CoV19 maintained neutralizing antibody activity against various SARS-CoV-2 variants, it was reduced to single vaccination for β and ο variants, and the reduced neutralizing antibody activity was restored with booster shots. Hence, AdCLD-CoV19 can prevent SARS-CoV-2 with a single vaccination, and the new vaccine administration strategy that responds to various variants can maintain the efficacy of the vaccine.
Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage during the Shutdown for COVID-19

The aim was to evaluate hospitalization rates for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) within an interdisciplinary multicenter neurovascular network (NVN) during the shutdown for the COVID-19 pandemic along with its modifiable risk factors. In this multicenter study, admission rates for SAH were compared for the period of the shutdown for the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany (calendar weeks (cw) 12 to 16, 2020), the periods before (cw 6–11) and after the shutdown (cw 17–21 and 22–26, 2020), as well as with the corresponding cw in the years 2015–2019. Data on all-cause and pre-hospital mortality within the area of the NVN were retrieved from the Department of Health, and the responsible emergency medical services. Data on known triggers for systemic inflammation, e.g., respiratory viruses and air pollution, were analyzed. Hospitalizations for SAH decreased during the shutdown period to one-tenth within the multicenter NVN. There was a substantial decrease in acute respiratory illness rates, and of air pollution during the shutdown period. The implementation of public health measures, e.g., contact restrictions and increased personal hygiene during the shutdown, might positively influence modifiable risk factors, e.g., systemic inflammation, leading to a decrease in the incidence of SAH.