Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HPLC-Based Purification and Isolation of Potent Anti-HIV and Latency Reversing Daphnane Diterpenes from the Medicinal Plant Gnidia sericocephala (Thymelaeaceae)

Despite the success of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), HIV persists in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) due to emerging drug resistance and insufficient drug accessibility. Furthermore, cART does not target latently-infected CD4+ T cells, which represent a major barrier to HIV eradication. The “shock and kill” therapeutic approach aims to reactivate provirus expression in latently-infected cells in the presence of cART and target virus-expressing cells for elimination. An attractive therapeutic prototype in LMICs would therefore be capable of simultaneously inhibiting viral replication and inducing latency reversal. Here we report that Gnidia sericocephala, which is used by traditional health practitioners in South Africa for HIV/AIDS management to supplement cART, contains at least four daphnane-type compounds (yuanhuacine A (1), yuanhuacine as part of a mixture (2), yuanhuajine (3), and gniditrin (4)) that inhibit viral replication and/or reverse HIV latency. For example, 1 and 2 inhibit HIV replication in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) by >80% at 0.08 µg/mL, while 1 further inhibits a subtype C virus in PBMC with a half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) of 0.03 µM without cytotoxicity. Both 1 and 2 also reverse HIV latency in vitro consistent with protein kinase C activation but at 16.7-fold lower concentrations than the control prostratin. Both 1 and 2 also reverse latency in primary CD4+ T cells from cART-suppressed donors with HIV similar to prostratin but at 6.7-fold lower concentrations. These results highlight G. sericocephala and components 1 and 2 as anti-HIV agents for improving cART efficacy and supporting HIV cure efforts in resource-limited regions.
Practical Application of Augmented/Mixed Reality Technologies in Surgery of Abdominal Cancer Patients

The technology of augmented and mixed reality (AR/MR) is useful in various areas of modern surgery. We considered the use of augmented and mixed reality technologies as a method of preoperative planning and intraoperative navigation in abdominal cancer patients. Practical use of AM/MR raises a range questions, which demand suitable solutions. The difficulties and obstacles we encountered in the practical use of AR/MR are presented, along with the ways we chose to overcome them. The most demonstrative case is covered in detail. The three-dimensional anatomical model obtained from the CT scan needed to be rigidly attached to the patient’s body, and therefore an invasive approach was developed, using an orthopedic pin fixed to the pelvic bones. The pin is used both similarly to an X-ray contrast marker and as a marker for augmented reality. This solution made it possible, not only to visualize the anatomical structures of the patient and the border zone of the tumor, but also to change the position of the patient during the operation. In addition, a noninvasive (skin-based) marking method was developed that allows the application of mixed and augmented reality during operation. Both techniques were used (8 clinical cases) for preoperative planning and intraoperative navigation, which allowed surgeons to verify the radicality of the operation, to have visual control of all anatomical structures near the zone of interest, and to reduce the time of surgical intervention, thereby reducing the complication rate and improving the rehabilitation period.
The Effects of Graded Protein Intake in Conjunction with Progressive Resistance Training on Skeletal Muscle Outcomes in Older Adults: A Preliminary Trial

Many studies have evaluated the effects of resistance training (RT) and protein intake to attenuate the age-related loss of skeletal muscle. However, the effects of graded protein intake with conjunctive RT in older adults are unclear. Older adults (n = 18) performed 10 weeks of whole-body RT with progressions to intensity and volume while consuming either a constant protein (CP) diet (0.8–1.0 g/kg/d) with no protein supplement or a graded protein (GP) diet progressing from 0.8 g/kg/d at week 1 to 2.2 g/kg/d at week 10 with a whey protein supplement. Data were collected prior to commencement of the RT protocol (PRE), after week 5 (MID), and after week 10 (POST). Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry derived lean/soft tissue mass, ultrasonography derived muscle thickness, and a proxy of muscle quality were taken at PRE and POST, while isokinetic dynamometry derived peak torque were taken at PRE, MID, and POST. This study demonstrated the feasibility of the RT protocol (attendance = 96%), and protein intake protocol (CP in range all weeks; GP deviation from prescribed = 7%). Peak torque, muscle quality scores, and appendicular lean/soft tissue mass demonstrated the main effects of time (p < 0.05) while no other main effects of time or group * time interactions were seen for any measure. In conclusion, RT improved appendicular lean/soft tissue mass, peak torque, and muscle quality, with no differential effects of graded or constant protein intake.
Engineering characteristics prioritisation in QFD using ordinal scales: a robustness analysis

Quality function deployment (QFD) is a management tool used for the design of new products/services and the related production/supply processes. One of the goals of the method is to translate the customer requirements (CRs) into measurable engineering characteristics (ECs) of the new product/service and prioritise them, basing on their relationships with CRs and the related importances. To this purpose, the current scientific literature encompasses several alternative approaches (the most used is the independent scoring method – ISM), in most of which cardinal properties are arbitrarily attributed to data collected on ordinal scales. This paper describes and discusses a new approach based on ME-MCDM (multi expert/multiple criteria decision making) techniques, which do not require any debatable ordinal to cardinal conversion. The theoretical principles and the robustness of the method are presented and tested through some application examples related to a well-known case study reported in the scientific literature. [Received 5 May 2015; Revised 7 November 2017; Accepted 9 November 2017]
Exploiting the natural variation and inter-relationship among medium maturity pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan(L.) Millsp.] genotypes

The present investigation was conducted for character association and their causal effect of quantitatively inherited characters with 21 genotypes of pigeonpea. The genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation exhibited high for secondary branches per plant (21.07 and 21.94%, respectively), while low was found for days to maturity (3.71 and 3.82 %, respectively) and days to 50% flowering (4.82 and 5.25 %, respectively). Heritability coupled with genetic advance also observed high for secondary branches per plant (92.26 %). The seed yield showed highly significant and positive correlation with plant height (0.806 and 0.619) at both genotypic as well as phenotypic level, respectively. The path coefficient exhibited the highest positive direct effect of plant height (0.871) followed by primary branches per plant (0.423) and days to 50% flowering (0.171) on seed yield, at genotypic level. The highest positive direct effect on seed yield was exhibited by plant height (0.595) followed by primary branches per plant (0.235) and 100-seed weight (0.190), at phenotypic level. The genotypes viz., BAUPP 1610, AKTM 1637, BDN 716, ICPL 15072, WRG 327 and GJP 1820 were found promising in terms of yield and its attributing traits.
The assessment of changes in the long-term water balance in the Krupinica River basin for the period 1931–2020

The study is focused on the evaluation of changes in the hydrological balance of the Krupinica River basin to the Plášťovce station for the entire 90-year period as well as for the three 30-year subperiods 1931–1960, 1961–1990 and 1991–2020. In the first part of the study, the hydrological balance is processed in an annual step on the basis of measured series of average monthly flows from the Krupinica: Plášťovce; monthly precipitation totals on the Krupinica catchment area and average monthly temperatures in the catchment area. The hydrological balance in the monthly step was processed in the second part. Changes in water resources in the river basin over the three mentioned time subperiods were analyzed. The long-term annual precipitation total in the Krupinica River basin for the whole period was 660 mm, the annual runoff depth was 182 mm and the balance evaporation was 478 mm. A comparison of 30-year periods shows a significant decrease in the runoff of Krupinica – from 231 mm to 144 mm. This was even more pronounced in the runoff coefficient – it fell from 0.32 over 0.27 to 0.21 in the last period 1991–2020. In the third part, a simple regression relationship between runoff, precipitation and air temperature was derived to estimate the future development of the annual runoff from the basin. The relationship shows that a 100 mm decrease in precipitation in the Krupinica River basin will cause an average decrease of 52 mm in runoff. And an increase in the average annual temperature by 1°C in the Krupinica River basin results in a decrease in runoff of about 33.5 mm.
Transmission-Matrix Representation of Fin-Line Discontinuities

A general treatise of cascaded discontinuities in inhomogeneous waveguides is given and applied to finline circuits. A transmission matrix representation is superior to a scattering matrix representation as far as CPU time is concerned. The scattering matrix is, however, advantageous if the sum of the line lengths separating the discontinuities is large. Numerical examples are given in order to illustrate the effect of increasing the number of modes used to represent the field at both sides of the discontinuity.
Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of General Population of Pakistan towards COVID-19 and their Psychological Distress

The present study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practices of general population of Pakistan during COVID-19 pandemic, and their psychological distress. It was a cross sectional study. Data were collected via demographic datasheet, Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP), a 16-item questionnaire, and Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10). The sample comprised of 791 participants, including both genders and all age groups. Data were collected countrywide, through Google survey form during the months of April and May. Statistical analyses revealed that large percentage of respondents (82.93% and 71.30%) were confident about winning and controlling over COVID-19 situation. As the pandemic related preventive practices concern, a large majority showed compliance with precautionary strategies via wearing mask (84.57%) and restraining themselves from visiting crowded places (92.54 %). Analyses of t-test showed that female participants and people living in a nuclear family system reported more distress as compared to male participants and people living in a joint family system. Gender, age, and family system showed statistically significant relationships with psychological distress. It was concluded that until such time that any remedy to COVID-19 appears throughout the world, there is a need to focus on prevention and control methods. The people need to adopt strategic design of health promotion regarding COVID-19 for a successful health program. It was a preliminary study; more empirical studies are needed to explore and assess the nature and determinants of psychological issues of people during COVID-19 pandemic and psychotherapeutic interventions should be tailored accordingly.
Optimal management of plant nutrition in tomato (Lycopersicon esculent Mill) by using biologic, organic and inorganic fertilizers

Abstract Optimal plant nutrition is one of the accurate solutions to meet the demands of population growth and food in the future. In order to study the effect of different fertilizers on the responses of tomato plant, a greenhouse experiment was conducted as a factorial arrangement based on a completely randomized design with three replications. The applied treatments were inorganic fertilizers [control (F0), custom application (F1), optimal application based on soil test (F2), commercial fertilizer Rutter AA (F3), and F2 + application of nitrogen, phosphorus, zinc, and silicon at the double amount of optimal recommendation (F4)], organic and biologic treatments [control (BF0), a mixture of two types of PGPR (BF1), the mixture of three mycorrhizal fungi (BF2), vermicompost (BF3) and the biologic package including vermicompost, PGPR, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (BF4)]. The results showed that the maximum increase in shoot and root dry weight was recorded in the interaction effect between F4, BF4, and BF3. The highest significant increase in the concentration of zinc and silicon in shoots was observed in F4, BF4, and BF3 treatments compared to the control. The use of F2-BF3 and F2-BF4 resulted in a significant increase in the soil microbial population. Also, the application of F2, BF3, and BF4 significantly increased the soil microbial respiration rate compared to the control. In general, it is concluded that BF4 and BF3 treatments have high efficiency in improving plant growth and nutritional status when they were used separately and simultaneously with the studied fertilizers.
Reactivity beyond contamination. An integrative literature review of video studies in educational research

ABSTRACT The growing interest in video research and new technologies for recording human interaction has stirred debates about intrusiveness and ‘reactivity’ understood as researcher-derived changes in subjects. In addition to a plethora of concepts referring to such effects in extant literature, different ontological and epistemological positions provide contrasting frameworks for interpreting and deciding on methodological guidelines. In this article we discuss these elements, that we have called ‘meta-methodological’, from the standpoints of experimental research, social-constructivism and scientific realism. We combine conceptual analysis and a literature review of video-studies in teaching in order to identify both possible traces of contesting beliefs and to provide a glance at different aspects of ‘reactivity’ that needs to be systematized in the ongoing debates. Whereas the methodological literature underline the importance of such effects, these are rarely reported in the reviewed video studies. Moreover, reactivity is seen as a minor problem in the latter, and we found few instances that validated the effects on the field and on the empirical conclusions. Our article ask for more transparency in field researchers’ judgment about reactivity and mitigating measures.
Perceived Social Support as Predictor of Peripartum Mental Illness in Gilgit, Pakistan

This study was conducted to assess perceived social support as predictor of peripartum mental illness in Gilgit region of Pakistan. Peripartum mental illness was defined as antenatal and postnatal depression and anxiety while significant other’s support, family’s support, and friends’ support constituted the concept of perceived social support. Research data were collected from 250 women of ages between 20 and 48 years (M = 28.02 & SD = 5.57) grouped into five categories: first trimester, second trimester, third trimester, four weeks postpartum, and one year postpartum. Participants’ perceived social support, depression, and anxiety were assessed using Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Questionnaire (Akhtar, et al., 2010), Patient Health Questionnaire (Ahmad, et al., 2018), and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (Ahmad, et al., 2018). Kruskal-Wallis test results indicated that there were insignificant differences in all levels of depression and anxiety across five categories. Depression and anxiety were significantly and negatively correlated with significant other’s and family’s support. Women’s occupation was significantly associated with both depression and anxiety; age was significantly correlated only with depression; while living area and monthly income were significantly associated with anxiety. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that after controlling the effect of demographic variables only family’s support out of the three main variables of social support made significant and independent contribution to women’s depression and anxiety.
Short-Term Effects of PM10, NO2, SO2 and O3 on Cardio-Respiratory Mortality in Cape Town, South Africa, 2006–2015

Background: The health effect of air pollution is rarely quantified in Africa, and this is evident in global systematic reviews and multi-city studies which only includes South Africa. Methods: A time-series analysis was conducted on daily mortality (cardiovascular (CVD) and respiratory diseases (RD)) and air pollution from 2006–2015 for the city of Cape Town. We fitted single- and multi-pollutant models to test the independent effects of particulate matter (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and ozone (O3) from co-pollutants. Results: daily average concentrations per interquartile range (IQR) increase of 16.4 µg/m3 PM10, 10.7 µg/m3 NO2, 6 µg/m3 SO2 and 15.6 µg/m3 O3 lag 0–1 were positively associated with CVD, with an increased risk of 2.4% (95% CI: 0.9–3.9%), 2.2 (95% CI: 0.4–4.1%), 1.4% (95% CI: 0–2.8%) and 2.5% (95% CI: 0.2–4.8%), respectively. For RD, only NO2 showed a significant positive association with a 4.5% (95% CI: 1.4–7.6%) increase per IQR. In multi-pollutant models, associations of NO2 with RD remained unchanged when adjusted for PM10 and SO2 but was weakened for O3. In CVD, O3 estimates were insensitive to other pollutants showing an increased risk. Interestingly, CVD and RD lag structures of PM10, showed significant acute effect with evidence of mortality displacement. Conclusion: The findings suggest that air pollution is associated with mortality, and exposure to PM10 advances the death of frail population.
Optimization of Alfalfa-Based Mixed Cropping with Winter Wheat and Ryegrass in Terms of Forage Yield and Quality Traits

Forage has a significant association with animal nutrition because it is an essential part of milk and meat production in the livestock industry. Thus, for the production of high-quality forage, cereal–legume mixed cropping is an efficient method for meat and milk production in the livestock sector. In a two-year experiment between 2020 and 2021, the forage yield, nutritional compositions, amino acid profile, and forage quality were evaluated in the mixed cropping of winter wheat and ryegrass with alfalfa. In this study, a split-plot design with a randomized block design was employed with three sampling replicates. Cultivars were harvested at three maturity stages, namely, flowering, milk, and soft dough, depending on the wheat growth stage. The experimental results show that wheat 2 (Baomai 9)–alfalfa and ryegrass–alfalfa mixed cropping produced higher fresh biomass output than mono-cropping of wheat and ryegrass harvested at the flowering stage. Furthermore, the dry matter (DM) percentage range increased from 20.18% to 36.39%. By contrast, crude protein, crude fiber, neutral detergent fiber, and acid detergent fiber were higher at the flowering stage than at other harvesting stages with DM values of 14.28%, 34.12%, 55.06%, and 32.55%, respectively. Ryegrass–alfalfa mixing yielded higher values of mineral compositions, and T5 (Baomai 9–alfalfa) generally achieved more extraordinary amino acid compositions. The results demonstrate that wheat and ryegrass with alfalfa mixed cropping, and harvesting at the flowering period produces high-quality forage. Additionally, mixed cropping with alfalfa remarkably affected forage quality parameters, while mixed cropping of wheat cultivar 2 (Baomai 9) and alfalfa obtained the highest dry matter intake, digestible dry matter, relative feed value, total digestible nutrient, relative forage quality, and quality index values of 2.56, 68.54, 136.49, 60.50, 127.41, and 1.69, respectively. Thus, the mixed-cropping of wheat and ryegrass with alfalfa forage is recommended for its maximized quality forage production and nutritional values in livestock feedstuff.
Comparative study of “Phoenix” reflectarray phase-shifting cells

This paper presents a fair comparison between four different " Phoenix " phase-shifting cells that can be found in the literature. This comparison is mainly based on the frequency dispersion and on the bandwidth where the maximum differential phase shift is less than 90°. Then, an alternative " Phoenix " unit-cell of reduced size offering an enhanced bandwidth is proposed.
Shared Satisfaction among Residents Living in Multiracial Neighborhoods

Multiracial neighborhood integration has become more common in U.S. metropolitan areas over the past three decades. This article takes up the question: are residents satisfied living in multiracial neighborhoods? Traditional theories of racial change predict low levels of satisfaction in these neighborhoods, while newer studies question that prediction. The article uses data representing all residents of multiracial neighborhoods in the Washington, DC, area to study neighborhood satisfaction in multiracial neighborhoods. The analysis finds evidence of shared satisfaction among residents regardless of race: large and equal shares of each racial group were satisfied. White residents were less satisfied than white residents of neighborhoods elsewhere in the metropolitan region, but were unlikely to perceive neighborhood decline. The shared satisfaction among residents of all races and the lack of racial antipathy to change among white residents suggests that multiracial neighborhoods offer sites to promote racial equity.
Glycaemic Control in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: What Is the Role for the Novel Antidiabetic Agents? A Comprehensive Review of Basic Science and Clinical Data

Coronary artery disease (CAD) remains one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and revascularization through percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) significantly improves survival. In this setting, poor glycaemic control, regardless of diabetes, has been associated with increased incidence of peri-procedural and long-term complications and worse prognosis. Novel antidiabetic agents have represented a paradigm shift in managing patients with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. However, limited data are reported so far in patients undergoing coronary stenting. This review intends to provide an overview of the biological mechanisms underlying hyperglycaemia-induced vascular damage and the contrasting actions of new antidiabetic drugs. We summarize existing evidence on the effects of these drugs in the setting of PCI, addressing pre-clinical and clinical studies and drug-drug interactions with antiplatelet agents, thus highlighting new opportunities for optimal long-term management of these patients.