Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Improved Marine Predators Algorithm With Fuzzy Entropy for Multi-Level Thresholding: Real World Example of COVID-19 CT Image Segmentation

Medical imaging techniques play a critical role in diagnosing diseases and patient healthcare. They help in treatment, diagnosis, and early detection. Image segmentation is one of the most important steps in processing medical images, and it has been widely used in many applications. Multi-level thresholding (MLT) is considered as one of the simplest and most effective image segmentation techniques. Traditional approaches apply histogram methods; however, these methods face some challenges. In recent years, swarm intelligence methods have been leveraged in MLT, which is considered an NP-hard problem. One of the main drawbacks of the SI methods is when searching for optimum solutions, and some may get stuck in local optima. This because during the run of SI methods, they create random sequences among different operators. In this study, we propose a hybrid SI based approach that combines the features of two SI methods, marine predators algorithm (MPA) and moth-? ame optimization (MFO). The proposed approach is called MPAMFO, in which, the MFO is utilized as a local search method for MPA to avoid trapping at local optima. The MPAMFO is proposed as an MLT approach for image segmentation, which showed excellent performance in all experiments. To test the performance of MPAMFO, two experiments were carried out. The first one is to segment ten natural gray-scale images. The second experiment tested the MPAMFO for a real-world application, such as CT images of COVID-19. Therefore, thirteen CT images were used to test the performance of MPAMFO. Furthermore, extensive comparisons with several SI methods have been implemented to examine the quality and the performance of the MPAMFO. Overall experimental results confirm that the MPAMFO is an efficient MLT approach that approved its superiority over other existing methods.
Ambient air pollution, meteorology, and COVID‐19 infection in Korea

The outbreak of novel pneumonia coronavirus disease has become a public health concern worldwide. Here, for the first time, the association between Korean meteorological factors and air pollutants and the COVID‐19 infection was investigated. Data of air pollutants, meteorological factors, and daily COVID‐19 confirmed cases of seven metropolitan cities and nine provinces were obtained from 3 February 2020 to 5 May 2020 during the first wave of pandemic across Korea. We applied the generalized additive model to investigate the temporal relationship. There was a significantly nonlinear association between daily temperature and COVID‐19 confirmed cases. Each 1°C increase in temperature was associated with 9% (lag 0‐14; OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.03‐1.15) increase of COVID‐19 confirmed cases when the temperature was below 8°C. A 0.01 ppm increase in NO2 (lag 0‐7, lag 0.14, and lag 0‐21) was significantly associated with increases of COVID‐19 confirmed cases, with ORs (95% CIs) of 1.13 (1.02‐1.25), 1.19 (1.09‐1.30), and 1.30 (1.19‐1.41), respectively. A 0.1 ppm increase in CO (lag 0‐21) was associated with the increase in COVID‐19 confirmed cases (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.04‐1.16). There was a positive association between per 0.001 ppm of SO2 concentration (lag 0, lag 0‐7, and lag 0‐14) and COVID‐19 confirmed cases, with ORs (95% CIs) of 1.13 (1.04‐1.22), 1.20 (1.11‐1.31), and 1.15 (1.07‐1.25), respectively. There were significantly temporal associations between temperature, NO2, CO, and SO2 concentrations and daily COVID‐19 confirmed cases in Korea.
AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

This empirical study examines the effects of emotional intelligence on transformational leadership and its importance in higher education institutions. Multivariate analysis in partial least square modelling was used to test the hypotheses and examine the intelligence and transformational leadership in academic leaders. Data was collected from 333 academic leaders from all faculties of 18 public universities in Peninsular Malaysia. Findings suggest that three out of the four leadership. Numerous studies reported a positive relationship between these constructs but methodology concerns could have possibly compromised findings, such as common method and smaller sample sizes, of control for related factors. intelligence and transformational leadership b among other steps to avoid methodological issues.
Dim light at night exacerbates stroke outcome

Circadian rhythms are endogenous biological cycles that synchronize physiology and behaviour to promote optimal function. These ~24‐hr internal rhythms are set to precisely 24 hr daily by exposure to the sun. However, the prevalence of night‐time lighting has the potential to dysregulate these biological functions. Hospital patients may be particularly vulnerable to the consequences of light at night because of their compromised physiological state. A mouse model of stroke (middle cerebral artery occlusion; MCAO) was used to test the hypothesis that exposure to dim light at night impairs responses to a major insult. Stroke lesion size was substantially larger among animals housed in dLAN after reperfusion than animals maintained in dark nights. Mice housed in dLAN for three days after the stroke displayed increased post‐stroke anxiety‐like behaviour. Overall, dLAN amplified pro‐inflammatory pathways in the CNS, which may have exacerbated neuronal damage. Our results suggest that exposure to LAN is detrimental to stroke recovery.
Sublethal toxicity of two insect growth regulators on Habrobracon hebetor (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) under laboratory conditions

The sublethal effects of lufenuron and lufenuron + fenoxycarb were tested on the adult stage of the parasitoid wasp Habrobracon hebetor under laboratory conditions. Bioassay tests were carried out in the incubator at a temperature of 26 ± 1 °C, relative humidity of 65 ± 10% and photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D). Exposure cages were used for the experiments. Tests were conducted in three replications. Young female wasps were exposed to the residues of the pesticides’ sublethal concentrations (LC25) after 1, 24, 48 and 72 h, and then their mortalities were recorded. Results showed that both insecticide treatments had significant differences compared to the control, but not between themselves (df = 1, F = 29.21, α < .0001). It was also revealed that the time between insecticides application and H. hebetor release would significantly affect the survival of searching parasitoids (df = 3, F = 237.01, α < .0001). In this regard, the releasing programme should be postponed for at least 24 h after using these insect growth regulators.
Effect of holistic relapse prevention intervention among individuals with alcohol dependence: a prospective study at a mental health care setting in India

Abstract Present study examined effectiveness of Integrative Body Mind Spirit (I-BMS) intervention among individuals with alcohol dependence. A 2-group single blind RCT design was used, comparing I-BMS to treatment as usual (TAU) on drinking and psychological outcomes. One hundred participants diagnosed with alcohol dependent syndrome were randomly assigned to receive 7 sessions of I-BMS or TAU. Measurements done by a registered nurse who was blinded to the experimental design used standardized questionnaire on wellbeing, readiness to change, craving, quantity and frequency of drinking before and up to 6 months after the intervention. With respect to the within group effects, the I-BMS group demonstrated significant improvement in all outcome measures with large effect size. Compared to TAU, I-BMS participants showed lesser relapse rates and quantity of drinking at 3-month follow-up, reduction in craving and drinking days at 2-month follow-up. At 6 months follow-up, participants in I-BMS group reported significant improvement in wellbeing and motivation compared to TAU. Results of binary logistic regression showed that number of previous attempts and living in urban area positively predicted participant’s relapse possibility at 6-month follow-up. Results suggest that I-BMS is worthy of further efficacy testing. In conclusion, it is feasible to implement I-BMS intervention for individuals with alcohol dependence.
Impact of cut to crush delay and bio-chemical changes in sugarcane

In the present era of economic liberalization, sugar has become an important commodity for human consumption as well as trade. The global importance of this versatile sweetner could be judged by the fact that its consumption is expected to go much high upto 2020 AD as compared to the present level. Sugarcane plant, once detached from ground loses its machinery to synthesize sucrose. Thus a well ripened harvested crop may lose its sugar within a few days, which tends to increase further due to high ambient temperature. These loses tend to increase during processing, especially in those units where hygienic conditions are rather unsatisfactory. The post harvest sugar lose is one of the most vexing problems of sugar industry and has attracted widespread attention in the recent years. A study was carried out to examine the effect of staling h on three early and three mid-late maturing varieties in view of biochemical changes occurred in staled cane juice from 0 h - 96 h. The ambient temperature ranged around 40- 420C. TSS, sucrose, purity coefficient, dextran, proteins, free amino acid contents, acid and neutral invertases were assayed. The sucrose content rapidly deteriorated after 24 h staling. The invert sugar and dextran content increased rapidly after 48 h. free amino acid contents increased rapidly up to 72 h. Free amino acid contents were higher in early group of varieties than mid-late group of varieties. Findings indicated that both the group of varieties fastly deteriorated sucrose content after 24 h. Higher dextran formation was observed after 48 h in most of the early varieties due to higher concentration of sucrose thereby TSS increased during staling periods. It may be inferred that the early maturing varieties should be crushed within 24 h and mid-late maturing varieties within 48 h after harvest under high ambient temperature. Mid-late maturing varieties showed lower values of dextran, free amino acid content, protein and invertase activities. Therefore, these varieties were found capable in retaining quality characters up to longer durations after harvest. It has also been observed that mid-late varieties having lower sucrose content than early varieties deteriorated less during staling. In the cane juice of early maturing varieties, where sucrose and brix values were higher than mid-late, produced relatively higher invertase activities, dextran, free amino acid content and proteins in the late staling h possibly due to higher microbial infestation.
Assessment of pearl millet performance to early and late planting opportunities and fertilizer application models in Makurdi, Nigeria

Assessment of time of planting and fertilizer application models on Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) performance was studied at the Teaching and Research Farm of the University of Agriculture Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. The experiment was made of ten (10) fertilizer models and two (2) planting dates. The study was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. Soil properties were determined prior to experimentation. Seed yield and panicle length were taken at harvest. The result indicates that early planting gave significantly (< 0.05) higher leaf area, plant height and grain yield than the late planted opportunity. Application of 60:30:30 kg NPK/ha alone gave higher seed yield of 1516.5 and 1250.0 kg/ha in 2008 and 2009, respectively than other treatments. The yield obtained however, was not statistically different from application of 40:20:20 kg NPK/ha + 3 t/ha of PM. Early planting of millet and application of 60:30:30 kg/ha or 40:20:20 kg NPK/ha + 3 t/ha of PM is hereby recommended for millet production in Makurdi, Nigeria. Key words: Pearl millet, yield, organic manure, inorganic fertilizer, panicle length.
Diffusible Signal Factors Act through AraC-Type Transcriptional Regulators as Chemical Cues To Repress Virulence of Enteric Pathogens

Successful colonization by enteric pathogens is contingent upon effective interactions with the host and the resident microbiota. These pathogens thus respond to and integrate myriad signals to control virulence. Long-chain fatty acids repress the virulence of the important enteric pathogens Salmonella enterica and Vibrio cholerae by repressing AraC-type transcriptional regulators in pathogenicity islands. While several fatty acids are known to be repressive, we show here that cis-2-unsaturated fatty acids, a rare chemical class used as diffusible signal factors (DSFs), are highly potent inhibitors of virulence functions. ABSTRACT Successful colonization by enteric pathogens is contingent upon effective interactions with the host and the resident microbiota. These pathogens thus respond to and integrate myriad signals to control virulence. Long-chain fatty acids repress the virulence of the important enteric pathogens Salmonella enterica and Vibrio cholerae by repressing AraC-type transcriptional regulators in pathogenicity islands. While several fatty acids are known to be repressive, we show here that cis-2-unsaturated fatty acids, a rare chemical class used as diffusible signal factors (DSFs), are highly potent inhibitors of virulence functions. We found that DSFs repressed virulence gene expression of enteric pathogens by interacting with transcriptional regulators of the AraC family. In Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, DSFs repress the activity of HilD, an AraC-type activator essential to the induction of epithelial cell invasion, by both preventing its interaction with target DNA and inducing its rapid degradation by Lon protease. cis-2-Hexadecenoic acid (c2-HDA), a DSF produced by Xylella fastidiosa, was the most potent among those tested, repressing the HilD-dependent transcriptional regulator hilA and the type III secretion effector sopB >200- and 68-fold, respectively. Further, c2-HDA attenuated the transcription of the ToxT-dependent cholera toxin synthesis genes of V. cholerae. c2-HDA significantly repressed invasion gene expression by Salmonella in the murine colitis model, indicating that the HilD-dependent signaling pathway functions within the complex milieu of the animal intestine. These data argue that enteric pathogens respond to DSFs as interspecies signals to identify appropriate niches in the gut for virulence activation, which could be exploited to control the virulence of enteric pathogens.
Life challenges and resilience: the role of perceived personality continuity

Abstract Objectives Self-functioning, one aspect of mental health, is positive in later life. Although experiencing challenges may disrupt mental health, internal resources can foster resilience. This study examines how the frequency of recent challenges relates to current self-functioning. Perceived personality continuity, one's sense of maintaining their trait personality, is investigated as an internal resource. Method Participants (N = 99 young adults, 88 older adults) reported all challenging events experienced in the last six years. Perceived personality continuity over the same time was assessed. Multi-measurement of current self-functioning included self-concept clarity, self-esteem, and self-acceptance. Results Older adults reported higher self-concept clarity and self-esteem; young adults reported higher self-acceptance. Experiencing more challenges related to lower self-concept clarity and self-esteem across age groups, with a stronger negative link to self-esteem for young adults. Perceived personality continuity partially mediated relations between: (i) challenges and self-concept clarity, and (ii) challenges and self-esteem. Perceived personality continuity mediated positive self-functioning for older adults only. Conclusion A late life strength, older adults report higher self-functioning overall. Challenges negatively relate to self-functioning across age groups, but younger adults’ self-esteem is more vulnerable. When having faced challenges, older adults' perceived personality continuity is critical to positive current self-functioning.
Electron availability in CO2, CO and H2 mixtures constrains flux distribution, energy management and product formation in Clostridium ljungdahlii

Acetogens such as Clostridium ljungdahlii can play a crucial role reducing the human CO2 footprint by converting industrial emissions containing CO2, CO and H2 into valuable products such as organic acids or alcohols. The quantitative understanding of cellular metabolism is a prerequisite to exploit the bacterial endowments and to fine‐tune the cells by applying metabolic engineering tools. Studying the three gas mixtures CO2 + H2, CO and CO + CO2 + H2 (syngas) by continuously gassed batch cultivation experiments and applying flux balance analysis, we identified CO as the preferred carbon and electron source for growth and producing alcohols. However, the total yield of moles of carbon (mol‐C) per electrons consumed was almost identical in all setups which underlines electron availability as the main factor influencing product formation. The Wood–Ljungdahl pathway (WLP) showed high flexibility by serving as the key NAD+ provider for CO2 + H2, whereas this function was strongly compensated by the transhydrogenase‐like Nfn complex when CO was metabolized. Availability of reduced ferredoxin (Fdred) can be considered as a key determinant of metabolic control. Oxidation of CO via carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH) is the main route of Fdred formation when CO is used as substrate, whereas Fdred is mainly regenerated via the methyl branch of WLP and the Nfn complex utilizing CO2 + H2. Consequently, doubled growth rates, highest ATP formation rates and highest amounts of reduced products (ethanol, 2,3‐butanediol) were observed when CO was the sole carbon and electron source.
The role of statins in the management of delirium: Recent advances.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE Delirium is a clinical syndrome characterized by a temporary organic mental disorder, as well as abnormal attention and cognition. It is a very common, serious, and costly disease with high misdiagnosis and death/disability rates, especially for older patients after surgery. Several factors, such as systemic neuroinflammation, neurotransmitters, cerebral hypoperfusion and microthrombosis, contribute to the progress of delirium; however, the exact pathophysiologic mechanisms are not well known. Therefore, there are no specific therapeutic approaches that can treat delirium effectively. Statins, as inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, have been identified as potential medications for the treatment of delirium because they can significantly reduce the incidence of delirium. The major objective of current review is to summarize recent advances in the understanding of the effects and mechanisms of statins on delirium. CONCLUSION In basic research, statins can alleviate delirium via attenuation of neuroinflammation, neurotransmitters, cerebral hypoperfusion, and microthrombosis, which may highlight their potential clinical application for the treatment of delirium. Despite this, the clinical effects of statins still provoke debate.
A Meta-Analysis Evaluating the Incidence of Bleeding Events With Intravenous Defibrotide Treatment Outside the Veno-Occlusive Disease/Sinusoidal Obstruction Syndrome Setting

Defibrotide is approved to treat hepatic veno-occlusive disease/sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (VOD/SOS) with renal/pulmonary dysfunction following hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in adult and pediatric patients in the United States, and to treat severe hepatic VOD/SOS post-HCT in adult and pediatric patients aged >1 month in the European Union. The defibrotide prescribing information warns that defibrotide may increase bleeding risk in VOD/SOS patients. To broaden our understanding of the incidence of bleeding with defibrotide, we performed a meta-analysis of the published literature of defibrotide use outside of the post-HCT VOD/SOS setting. Of 1857 records identified, 125 reported on defibrotide; 23 contained data on bleeding events. The estimated overall incidence of bleeding events was 1% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0%-2%) and 8% (95% CI: 3%-14%) in studies using intravenous defibrotide and studies with controls, respectively. The risk ratio for bleeding events with intravenous defibrotide versus controls was 0.36 (95% CI: 0.24-0.52; P < .00001) among studies with data on intravenous defibrotide and controls. This meta-analysis of defibrotide use outside of the post-HCT VOD/SOS setting suggests that the incidence of bleeding with defibrotide is lower than controls.
Identifying and treating ROBO1-ve /DOCK1+ve prostate cancer: An aggressive cancer subtype prevalent in African American patients.

BACKGROUND There is a need to develop novel therapies which could be beneficial to patients with prostate cancer (CaP) including those who are predisposed to poor outcome, such as African-Americans. This study investigates the role of ROBO1-pathway in predicting outcome and race-based disparity in patients with CaP. METHODS AND RESULTS Aided by RNA sequencing-based DECIPHER-testing and immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis of tumors we show that ROBO1 is lost during the progressive stages of CaP, a prevalent feature in African-Americans. We show that the loss of ROBO1 predicts high-risk of recurrence, metastasis and poor outcome of androgen-deprivation therapy in radical prostatectomy-treated patients. These data identified an aggressive ROBO1deficient /DOCK1+ve sub-class of CaP. Combined genetic and IHC data showed that ROBO1 loss is accompanied by DOCK1/Rac1 elevation in grade-III/IV primary-tumors and Mets. We observed that the hypermethylation of ROBO1-promoter contributes to loss of expression that is highly prevalent in African-Americans. Because of limitations in restoring ROBO1 function, we asked if targeting the DOCK1 could be an ideal strategy to inhibit progression or treat ROBO1deficient metastatic-CaP. We tested the pharmacological efficacy of CPYPP, a selective inhibitor of DOCK1 under in vitro and in vivo conditions. Using ROBO1-ve and ROBO1+ve CaP models, we determined the median effective concentration of CPYPP for growth. DOCK1-inhibitor treatment significantly decreased the (a) Rac1-GTP/β-catenin activity, (b) transmigration of ROBO1deficient cells across endothelial lining, and (c) metastatic spread of ROBO1deficient cells through the vasculature of transgenicfl Zebrafish model. CONCLUSION We suggest that ROBO1 status forms as predictive biomarker of outcome in high-risk populations such as African-Americans and DOCK1-targeting therapy has a clinical potential for treating metastatic-CaP.
Feeding of the tintinnid ciliate Favella taraikaensis on the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense and the fate of prey toxins

To establish the fate of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins in planktonic foodwebs, feeding activities of the planktonic ciliate Favella taraikaensis on the PSP-producing alga Alexandrium tamarense were examined in laboratory experiments and the toxin content in the ciliates was quantified by fluorometric high-performance liquid chromatography. In six experiments, F. taraikaensis actively fed on A. tamarense and grew rapidly. The maximum specific growth and ingestion rates of F. taraikaensis on a diet of A. tamarense (>300 cells ml−1) ranged from 0.7 day−1 to 1.5 day−1 and from 3.1 cells individual−1 h−1 to 5.8 cells individual−1 h−1 respectively. The PSP toxin content in F. taraikaensis grown on A. tamarense was low and the individual toxin content of F. taraikaensis was lower than the cellular toxin content of A. tamarense. The PSP toxins of A. tamarense were therefore scarcely accumulated within F. taraikaensis during the feeding process.