Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Novel gene therapy advances for treating primary immunodeficiency disorders – an update

Primary immunode ﬁ ciency diseases (PIDs) are a group of over 400 rare and diverse hereditary disorders that affect the immune system ’ s ability to combat infections. PIDs are caused by genetic mutations and are present from birth, as opposed to secondary immunode ﬁ ciency disorders, which are acquired later in life as a result of infections, medicines, or other medical issues [1] . Over the past three decades, signi ﬁ cant advancements in the technology and practices of gene therapy have been made. PIDs have been successfully treated with gene therapy on a large scale (Fig. 1). A working copy of the problematic gene is inserted or altered into the patient ’ s own Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs) in this innovative procedure. Gene therapy, in conjunction with hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), offers the potential to treat persons with PIDs. HCT entails supplying healthy donor HSCs that can grow into fully functioning immune cells in PID patients. During 1999 – 2000, was use of integrating gamma-retroviral vectors (murine derived) during the initial studies concerning gene therapy for PIDs. Clinical ef ﬁ ciency was shown by these studies in several instances. However, genotoxicity as well as lymphoproliferative disorders in various patients are caused by the vectors used in these studies. Thus, the most recent research use lentiviral vectors wherein enhancer elements of long terminal repeats (LTRs) could self-inactivate in reverse transcription [self-inactivating (SIN) vectors]. It has been seen that the safety pro ﬁ les of these SIN vectors are excellent and any genotoxicity of clinical signi ﬁ cance is not caused by these vectors [2] . Researchers are always working to enhance the safety and ef ﬁ cacy of vector systems to reduce possible dangers
Development and Validation of a Prognosis-Prediction Signature for Patients with Lung Adenocarcinoma Based on 11 Telomere-Related Genes.

BACKGROUND The occurrence and progression of lung cancer are correlated with telomeres and telomerase. Telomere length is reduced in the majority of tumors, including lung cancers. Telomere length variations have been associated with lung cancer risk and may serve as therapeutic targets as well as predictive biomarkers for lung cancer. Nevertheless, the effects of telomere-associated genes on lung cancer prognosis have not been thoroughly studied. We aim to investigate the relationship between telomere-associated genes and lung cancer prognosis. METHODS The Cancer Genome Atlas and Genotype-Tissue Expression databases were used as training sets to build a predictive model. Three integrated Gene Expression Omnibus datasets served as validation sets. Using cluster consistency analysis and regression with the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator, we developed a telomere-related gene risk signature (TMGsig) based on 11 overall survival-related genes (RBBP8, PLK1, DSG2, HOXA7, ANAPC4, CSNK1E, SYAP1, ALDOA, PHF1, MUTYH, and PGS1). RESULTS The results indicated a negative outcome for the high-risk score group. Immunological microenvironment and somatic mutations differed between the high- and low-risk groups. A statistically significant difference existed between the low-risk and high-risk groups in terms of the expression levels of B cells and CD4 cells, and the risk score was essentially inversely linked with immune cell expression. CONCLUSIONS TMGsig can predict outcomes in patients with lung adenocarcinoma.
Syringomyelia Is Associated with a Reduction in Spinal Canal Compliance, Venous Outflow Dilatation and Glymphatic Fluid Obstruction

The cause of the cystic dilatation of the cord found in syringomyelia has been a source of conjecture for a considerable time. Recent studies have shown that there is a reduction in craniospinal compliance in both childhood hydrocephalus and multiple sclerosis which leads to venous outflow dilatation. Both diseases are associated with glymphatic outflow obstruction. Venous dilatation will narrow the perivenous glymphatic outflow pathway and lead to an increase in glymphatic outflow resistance. Syringomyelia has been shown to be associated with reduced spinal canal compliance. This paper discusses the possibility that venous dilatation and obstructed glymphatic outflow within the cord may be behind the cystic dilatation found within syringomyelia.
Early Prediction of Nephropathy in Iraqi Patient with Diabetes Type II by Evaluating Some Relevant Biochemical Factors

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a complex disease, which affects many organs besides the pancreas such as the kidney, liver, brain and eye. Due to hyperglycemia at long periods and uncontrolled on diabetes with presence of other risk factors, diabetes complications could occurr. Diabetes complications include microvascular and macrovascular complications that target the kidneys. The aim of this study is to predict early fibrosis of the renal glomeruli and tubules by evaluating the levels of angiotensin-converting enzyme -2(ACE-2), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and some relevant biochemical factors in patients with type 2 diabetes. The study included 120 male and female ranging in age 30-65 years old, they were subdivided into three groups according to ACR criteria include normoalbuminuria, microalbuminuria, macroalbuminuria (30 patients for each group) and 30 healthy people served as the control group, who visited Baghdad Teaching Hospital / Medical City and Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital, at the period between December 2021 and May 2022. Lipid profile, FBS, urea levels were estimated using calorimetric techniques. ACE-2, CTGF levels were determined using the ELISA technique. The results showed significant differences between groups of patients and control group for (CTGF), (ACE-2) levels were found to be significant increase in patients’ groups than healthy control. Also, the results showed that both fasting blood sugar (FBS) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1C) were significantly increased in patients’ groups compared to healthy group. Furthermore, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) revealed high significant differences among all the studied groups, as well as albumin to creatinine ratio (ACR) which showed high significant differences among the three patients’ groups which represents the basic criteria for classification of patient groups. On the basis of the obtained results in this study, it can be concluded that each of ACE-2 and CTGF markers can be applied as early reliable prognosticated factors for detection disease progression.
Relationship between functional classification, upper extremity muscle strength, and agility in wheelchair rugby athletes

ABSTRACT This study aimed to compare the strength and agility of wheelchair rugby (WR) athletes with different functional classifications (FC) and describe the relationship between agility and upper extremity isometric muscle strength (IMS). A total of 10 WR athletes were analyzed, divided into two groups: Group 1 (G1): FC 0.5 and 1.0; and Group 2(G2): FC 1.5 to 2.5. IMS was evaluated by a dynamometer, and agility by a zig-zag test. Spearman’s correlation was used to describe the relationship between IMS and performance on the agility test. In contrast, the t-test was used to compare strength and agility between different FCs (p≤0.05). Shoulder extensor IMS was higher in G2 athletes (p=0.001; d=3.10), which were also more agile than G1 athletes (G1=23.66s>G2=17.55s; p=0.015; d=2.00). Both groups showed a correlation between bilateral shoulder extensor strength and agility (r=−0.721; p=0.019). Athletes with high FC scores are more agile than athletes with low scores and, therefore, have greater movement speed when performing WR tasks. Greater shoulder extensor muscle strength is associated with greater agility in WR athletes.
Bilingual attentional control: Evidence from the Partial Repetition Cost paradigm

The effects of bilingual language experience on cognitive control are still debated. A recent proposal is that being bilingual enhances attentional control. This is based on studies showing smaller effects of the nature of the preceding trial on the current trial in bilinguals (Grundy et al., 2017). However, performance on such tasks can also be accounted for by lower-level processes such as the binding and unbinding of stimulus and response features. The current study used a Partial Repetition Cost paradigm to explicitly test whether language experience can affect such processes. Results showed that bi- and monolinguals did not differ in their responses when the stimulus features were task-relevant. However, the bilinguals showed smaller partial repetition costs when the features were task-irrelevant. These findings suggest that language experience does not affect lower-level processes, and supports the view that bilinguals exhibit enhanced attentional disengagement.
Ultrasound image segmentation based on Transformer and U-Net with joint loss

Background Ultrasound image segmentation is challenging due to the low signal-to-noise ratio and poor quality of ultrasound images. With deep learning advancements, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been widely used for ultrasound image segmentation. However, due to the intrinsic locality of convolutional operations and the varying shapes of segmentation objects, segmentation methods based on CNNs still face challenges with accuracy and generalization. In addition, Transformer is a network architecture with self-attention mechanisms that performs well in the field of computer vision. Based on the characteristics of Transformer and CNNs, we propose a hybrid architecture based on Transformer and U-Net with joint loss for ultrasound image segmentation, referred to as TU-Net. Methods TU-Net is based on the encoder-decoder architecture and includes encoder, parallel attention mechanism and decoder modules. The encoder module is responsible for reducing dimensions and capturing different levels of feature information from ultrasound images; the parallel attention mechanism is responsible for capturing global and multiscale local feature information; and the decoder module is responsible for gradually recovering dimensions and delineating the boundaries of the segmentation target. Additionally, we adopt joint loss to optimize learning and improve segmentation accuracy. We use experiments on datasets of two types of ultrasound images to verify the proposed architecture. We use the Dice scores, precision, recall, Hausdorff distance (HD) and average symmetric surface distance (ASD) as evaluation metrics for segmentation performance. Results For the brachia plexus and fetal head ultrasound image datasets, TU-Net achieves mean Dice scores of 79.59% and 97.94%; precisions of 81.25% and 98.18%; recalls of 80.19% and 97.72%; HDs (mm) of 12.44 and 6.93; and ASDs (mm) of 4.29 and 2.97, respectively. Compared with those of the other six segmentation algorithms, the mean values of TU-Net increased by approximately 3.41%, 2.62%, 3.74%, 36.40% and 31.96% for the Dice score, precision, recall, HD and ASD, respectively.
IDENTIFYING AND MANAGING NATURAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC CONTAMINANTS IN AUSTRALIAN GROUNDWATERS IN NON-URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

The trend of water rights being sold or moved to higher value and environmental uses, in addition to development of high value horticultural industries, has seen increasing exploitation of groundwater. In many cases, aquifers are clearly being exploited beyond their sustainable yield and, in some instances, poor agricultural land management practices are creating groundwater contamination risks. Groundwater surveys conducted across 15 major agricultural regions in Australia indicate that groundwater contaminants are usually below guideline levels established by NHRMC/ARMCANZ and ANZECC. In a few cases concentrations of nitrate and faecal coliforms have been measured above guideline levels, whilst pesticides have also been detected. However, temporal and spatial variability of contaminants in aquifers complicates the overall picture. Naturally occurring elements, such as arsenic and fluoride, have also been found in groundwaters at concentrations exceeding guideline values. Salinity, both natural and resulting from land use changes, is also a significant problem in terms of groundwater quality in many of the drier regions of Australia and similarly in coastal margins. This paper outlines the quality of our groundwater resources and highlights some of the potential contamination threats and their consequences for the environment, the community and the quality of our agricultural production.
Bacterial bloodstream infection in critically ill patients with COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study

Background: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), have a high risk of developing bloodstream infections (BSIs). However, the characteristics of and risk factors for BSIs in these patients remain unclear. Objective: We aimed to identify prevalent causative pathogens of BSI and related factors in critically ill patients with COVID-19. Design: This was a single-center, retrospective cohort study. Methods: We analyzed the clinical characteristics and outcomes of 201 ICU patients with COVID-19. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with BSI occurrence. Furthermore, we identified the primary causative pathogens of BSIs. The study outcomes were death or ICU discharge. Results: Among the 201 included patients, 43 (21.4%) patients developed BSI. The mortality rate was non-significantly higher in the BSI group than in the BSI group (65.1% versus 58.9%, p = 0.487). There were significant between-group differences in the obesity prevalence and sex distribution, but not corticosteroid usage. BSI occurrence was significantly associated with duration of mechanical ventilation (MV), presence of ventilator-associated pneumonia, use of neuromuscular blocking agents, length of stay in ICU (ICU LOS), high body mass index (BMI), and male sex. The main causative pathogens were Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Enterococcus faecalis. Multi-drug-resistant pathogens were found in 87% of cases. Regardless of the origin, the common risk factors for BSI were ICU LOS and MV duration. All BSIs were acquired within the hospital setting, with ≈60% of the cases being primary BSIs. A small proportion of the BSI cases were catheter-related (four cases, 6.2%). Ventilator-associated pneumonia and urinary tract infections were present in 25% and 9.4% of the BSI cases, respectively. On average, the first positive blood culture appeared ≈11.4 (±9.7) days after ICU admission. Conclusion: Elucidating the risk factors for and common pathogens of BSI can inform prompt management and prevention of BSIs.
TEACHING ENGLISH DURING THE PANDEMIC: BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to massive publications indexed in various databases, which provide platforms for research communities, including teachers and researchers, to disseminate their experiences during the pandemic. This paper employed bibliometric analysis to investigate the keywords “teaching English in the pandemic” in the Scopus database to determine how the research is produced. This research used Vos Viewer to analyze the co-authorship and co-occurrences of the keywords from the bibliographic information downloaded from the Scopus database by limiting its search to 2020-2022 under the scope of social sciences and humanities. From the 444 documents eligible for the review, this paper indicates two main points: (1) the co-authorship of research publication has been equally distributed and produced through collaboration despite ample opportunities for joint research among organizations, and (2) the co-occurrences of the keywords show three major research trends during the COVID-19 pandemic: pedagogical best practices, pedagogical experience, and pedagogical strategies. This paper exemplifies how knowledge and publications are generated within a certain field, enabling the research community to foster collaboration and produce articles that incorporate pertinent keywords currently under discussion.
Political (In)correctness and the Cancel-Culture Attitude: The Case of Religious Sectarian Language After the Arab Spring

This study investigated political correctness/incorrectness and the cancel culture attitudes in relation to sectarian language that has been prevalent on Arabic media since the onset of the Arab Spring in 2011, based on an examination of expressions describing religious sects such as Sunni, Shiites, Salafists, Muslim Brothers, Jihadists, Alawites, Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah and Wahabis; the new lexical coinages introduced by Arab media that reflect hate speech and hostile sentiments against the religious sects that users oppose; Arab college students and instructors’ attitudes towards the different religious sects. The data analysis was based on a sample of sectarian expressions collected and surveys with a sample of students and faculty to find out their religious sectarian sentiments and whether they are tolerant or hostile. The data were analyzed according to the definition of “political correctness/incorrectness” and the “cancel culture” concept. Results showed political incorrectness in the language used by some mainstream media, and social media users, which offends particular religious sects in the Arab society, or treats them differently. The political incorrectness that has prevailed since the Arab Spring reflects discord, tensions, and internal divisions in some Arab societies. It is threatening equality, citizenship, and domestic peace. It is creating conflicts and friction among people supporting and those opposing them. The descriptions yielded by the sample of college students and faculty are characterized by prejudice, hatred, hostility, intolerance, and contempt of the religious sect(s) they oppose. The data collected from the media also shows cancel-culture attitudes as some members of certain religious sects, such as the Muslim Brothers, have been subject to detention, estrangement, animosity, banning from political activities, or forced displacement. Some have immigrated to other countries such as Turkey, Qatar, and Europe. Recommendations for abolishing political incorrectness and the cancel culture attitudes, creating conformity and carefully avoiding forms of expression or actions that exclude, marginalize, or insult people belonging to certain religious sects are given.
Acceptance and Perception toward Using Digital Technology in the Classroom among Students and Teachers in Ogun State, Nigeria

Digital technology has been recognized as a powerful tool in teaching and learning Mathematics. Proper usage of digital technology would enhance students’ and teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom setting. This study investigated the acceptance and perception of using digital technology in the classroom among students and teachers in reference to Ogun in Nigeria. The study used a survey-type descriptive research design. Three hundred and sixty (360) respondents consisting of three hundred (300) students and sixty (60) teachers made up the sample for this study. In the investigation, a Multi-stage Sampling Technique was adopted. In the first stage, the researchers selected ten (10) secondary schools in Ogun State with digital technology facilities using the Purposive Sampling Technique. In the second stage, the researchers selected six (6) teachers and thirty (30) pupils from each of the selected schools using the Simple Randomly Sampling Technique. The instrument for data collection was titled “Acceptance and Perception on Digital Technology Questionnaire”. (APDTQ) Using Cronbach's alpha, the instrument's reliability was assessed, and a reliability coefficient of 0.82 was calculated. The content validity was ascertained by the preparation of the table of specifications. Four research questions were answered. Data collected were analyzed using the descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation, and percentages. Results of the findings showed that both teachers and students had favorable opinions on the usage of digital technology in the classroom, although students were shown to be more perceptive than teachers. Additionally, the study's findings indicated that both teachers and students highly embrace the use of digital technology in the teaching and learning of mathematics. It was recommended, among others, that additional knowledge about using digital technology in the classroom should be given to teachers and students.
INFLUENCE OF SOWING DATE AND IRRIGATION LEVELS ON GROWTH AND GRAIN YIELD OF WHEAT

A field study was conducted during 1999-2000, at the Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, to determine the influence of sowing date and irrigation levels on the growth and yield of wheat. Both 15 November sowing and increasing level of irrigation (6 irrigations) enhanced leaf area index and dry matter accumulation over 15 December sowing and lower levels (0, 2 or 4 irrigations) of irrigation. The higher grain yield (5486 kg ha") in IS November sowing was due to increase in yield components as compared to 15 December sowing, and this response was significantly greater with 6 irrigations than less irrigations or nil irrigation. The results suggest that there is a considerable scope to exploit the yield potential of wheat in the irrigated areas of Pakistan.
New radiolarian species from Late Jurassic chert-terrigenous deposits of the Taukha Terrane, Southern Sikhote-Alin

Abstract Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous well preserved radiolarians are obtained from the Taukha Terrane in the southern Sikhote-Alin, Russia. The Taukha Terrane consists of three tectono-stratigraphic units, the Erdagou, Gorbousha and Skalistorechenka units. Three new species (Stichocapsa (? ) pseudoconvexa, Sethocapsa taukhaensis and Cinguloturris primorika) are described from Late Jurassic chertterrigenous sequences of the Gorbousha Unit cropping out in the Roudnaya River and Koreyskaya River areas, and their stratigraphic ranges are made precise.
Slab detachment in laterally varying subduction zones: 3‐D numerical modeling

Understanding the three‐dimensional (3‐D) dynamics of subduction‐collision systems is a longstanding challenge in geodynamics. We investigate the impact of slab detachment in collision systems that are subjected to along‐trench variations. High‐resolution thermomechanical numerical models, encompassing experimentally derived flow laws and a pseudo free surface, are employed to unravel lithospheric and topographic evolutions. First, we consider coeval subduction of adjacent continental and oceanic lithospheres (SCO). This configuration yields to two‐stage slab detachment during collision, topographic buildup and extrusion, variable along‐trench convergence rates, and associated trench deformation. The second setting considers a convergent margin, which is laterally limited by a transform boundary (STB). Such collisional system is affected by a single slab detachment, little trench deformation, and moderately confined upper plate topography. The effect of initial thermal slab age on SCO and STB models are explored. Similarities with natural analogs along the Arabia‐Eurasia collision are discussed.