Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of High-Performance Size-Exclusion Chromatography for Characterization of Amylose Isolated from Diverse Botanical Sources

Amyloses were isolated from diverse botanical sources (apple, mango, maize, and potato), and they were studied in their molecular characteristics (amylose content, molar mass, and molecular weight) using high-performance size-exclusion chromatography as a repetitive and faster protocol. The amylose purity ranged between 85.6–92.6 %, in agreement with the λmax values (601–610 nm), showing that some impurities with molecules of higher molar mass (amylopectin) were present. The standard curve of pullulan showed a high regression coefficient (0.998) inside of the limits of molar mass of amylose. Chromatograms of amylose showed the presence of components of high molar mass with a principal peak that corresponds to amylose. Molar mass of amylose ranged between 1.2 and 8.5 × 105 g/mol with polydispersity values between 1.3–4.1, indicating a narrow range of molar mass distribution of the amyloses analyzed. The high-performance size-exclusion chromatography coupled with a refractive index methodology used in this study may be considered simple and rapid for molecular studies of amylose.
Curcumin Attenuates Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress-Induced Depressive-Like Behaviors via Restoring Changes in Oxidative Stress and the Activation of Nrf2 Signaling Pathway in Rats

Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that oxidative stress is associated with depression. Our present study aimed at investigating the antidepressant effect and the possible mechanisms of curcumin (CUR) in chronic unpredictable mild stress- (CUMS-) induced depression model in rats. After exposure to CUMS for four weeks, the rats showed depressive-like behavior, and the depressive-like behaviors in CUMS-treated rats were successfully corrected after administration of CUR. In addition, CUR could effectively decrease protein expression of oxidative stress markers (Nox2, 4-HNE, and MDA) and increase the activity of CAT. CUR treatment also reversed CUMS-induced inhibition of Nrf2-ARE signaling pathway, along with increasing the mRNA expression of NQO-1 and HO-1. Furthermore, the supplementation of CUR also increased the ratio of pCREB/CREB and synaptic-related protein (BDNF, PSD-95, and synaptophysin). In addition, CUR could effectively reverse CUMS-induced reduction of spine density and total dendritic length. In conclusion, the study revealed that CUR relieves depressive-like state through the mitigation of oxidative stress and the activation of Nrf2-ARE signaling pathway.
p130 And pRb in the Maintenance of Transient Quiescence of Mesenchymal Stem Cells

An effective regulation of quiescence plays a key role in the differentiation, plasticity, and prevention of stem cells from becoming malignant. The state of quiescence is being controlled by the pRb family proteins which show overlapping functions in cell cycle regulation; however, their roles in controlling the proliferation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) remain to be understood. This study investigated the regulation of transient quiescence using growth curves, proliferation assay, the cytometric evaluation of cell cycle, Western blotting, and the electromobility gel shift assay (EMSA) on synchronized MSCs of the C3H10Т1/2 and control cells with different statuses of pRb proteins. It has been found that functional steady-state level of p130 but not pRb plays a critical role for entering, exiting, and maintenance of transient quiescence in multipotent mesenchymal stem cells.
Comparative study of motor cortical excitability changes following anodal tDCS or high‐frequency tRNS in relation to stimulation duration

In this study, we investigate the capacity of two different non‐invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques (anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (anodal tDCS) and high‐frequency transcranial random noise stimulation (hf‐tRNS)) regarding the relationship between stimulation duration and their efficacy in inducing long‐lasting changes in motor cortical excitability.
Early and Ultraearly Administration of Tranexamic Acid in Traumatic Brain Injury: Our 8-Year-Long Clinical Experience

Introduction The most important result of head trauma, which can develop with a blunt or penetrating mechanism, is traumatic brain injury. Tranexamic acid (TXA) can be used safely in multiple trauma. Recent studies showed that TXA can be useful in management of intracerebral hemorrhage, especially in reducing the amount of bleeding. The TXA given in the first 3 hours has been shown to reduce mortality. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effectiveness of tranexamic acid used in patients with traumatic brain injury. Method Patients with trauma in the emergency room between January 2012 and January 2020 were screened in this retrospective study. The inclusion criteria were being over the age of 18 years, tranexamic acid administration in the emergency department, and traumatic brain injury on brain computerized tomography (CT) and control CT imaging after 6 hours. Results The number of study patients was 51. The median score of GCS was 12.00 (8.00–15.00). Subdural hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage were the most common findings on brain CT scans. In the group TXA treatment for less than 1 hour, the arrival MAP was low and the pulse was high (p=0.022 and p=0.030, respectively). All the patients were admitted with multiple trauma. None of the 51 patients had thrombotic complications and died due to head injury. Conclusion TXA appears to be a safe drug with few side effects in the short term in head injuries. According to our experience, it comes to mind earlier in multiple trauma, especially in head trauma with pelvic trauma.
Analysis of different effects in demodex diagnosis with different methods of pathology

Objective: To compare four different methods for pathogenic diagnosis of demodex mite in order to explore a simple,effective and reliable way that can be applied to epidemiological investigation and hospital outpatients.Methods: Four methods were used to detect demodex mite infection in the same group of people.Results:The infection rate of demodex was 38.88%,26.57%,7.75% and 18.47%,respectively by squeezing method,cellophane tape method,scraping method and examining plucked eyelashes,and the detection rate by the squeezing method was higher than that of the other 3 methods,which was of statistical differences(χ2=257.11,P0.01). Besides,the detection rates of the female was higher than that of male in the four methods,which was of statistical differences(χ2=33.52,10.36,4.79 and 11.00,respectively in the four above-mentioned methods(P0.01 and P0.05). Conclusion: The detection rate of demodex is the highest by Squeezing method.
Prevalence of Cattle Trypanosomosis and Apparent Density of Its Fly Vectors in Bambasi District of Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State, Western Ethiopia

Trypanosomosis is the most serious disease of cattle, which causes great socioeconomic losses in the country. Its socioeconomic impact is reflected on direct losses due to mortality, morbidity, and reduction in milk and meat production, abortion and stillbirth, and also costs associated with combat of the disease are direct losses. A cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the prevalence of cattle trypanosomosis, and the apparent density and distribution of its fly vectors in selected study areas. The methods employed during the study were buffy coat technique for parasitological study and deploying trap for the collection of tsetse flies. A total of 1512 flies were trapped, and among them, 1162 were tsetse flies while 350 were biting flies. Higher apparent density for tsetse fly (7.7 F/T/D) followed by Stomoxys (0.9 F/T/D), Tabanus (0.8 F/T/D), and Hematopota (0.6 F/T/D) was recorded. Out of 638 examined cattle, the overall prevalence of trypanosomosis in the study area was 9.1% (58/638). Out of positive cases, Trypanosoma congolense (7.7%) was the dominant trypanosome species followed by Trypanosoma vivax (0.9%), Trypanosoma brucei (0.2%), and mixed infection of Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma vivax (0.3%). There was no a significant difference (p > 0.05) in trypanosome infection between age, sex, and trypanosome species. The prevalence of trypanosomosis on the bases of body condition was 2.8% for poor, 5.5% for medium, and 0.8% for good body condition. The overall prevalence of anemia was (36.8%), and presence of anemia was higher in trypanosome positive animals (62.5%) than in negative animals (34.3%) which is statistically significant (p < 0.05, CI = 1.794–5.471). The overall mean packed cell volume (PCV) value for examined animals was 25.84 ± 0.252SE. Mean (PCV) of parasitaemic cattle (9.1%) was significantly (p < 0.05) lower than that of aparasitaemic cattle (90%). This survey showed that trypanosomosis is still a core problem for livestock production of the study area. Therefore, more attention should be given to the control of both the disease and its vectors.
Protective effect of tolvaptan against cyclophosphamide‐induced nephrotoxicity in rat models

Cyclophosphamide (CP) is a chemotherapeutic agent which is extensively used in the treatment of multiple neoplastic and nonneoplastic diseases like breast cancer, lymphomas, systemic lupus erythematosus, and multiple sclerosis. Dose‐limiting side effects, mainly nephrotoxicity is a major problem hindering its use in the clinical practice. CP induces nephrogenic syndrome of inappropriate antidiuresis mostly via the activation of arginine vasopressin V2 receptors. Moreover, CP produces reactive metabolites which is responsible for augmentation of lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress. Tolvaptan (TOL) is a selective vasopressin V2 receptor antagonist used in the treatment of clinically significant hyponatremia, volume overload in heart failure, and liver cirrhosis with edema. The present study aimed to investigate the potential protective effect of TOL in CP‐induced nephrotoxicity. Twenty‐four adult male albino rats were randomly divided into four groups: the control group, TOL group that treated daily with tolvaptan (10 mg/kg/d, orally), CP group where CP was administered intraperitoneally 75 mg/kg on days 3, 4, 5, 19, 20, and 21 of study, and the CP + TOL group where animals were treated with TOL daily with (10 mg/kg/d, orally) for 22 days with concomitant administration of CP as described before. Coadministration of TOL with CP induces significant improvement in the level of urine volume, serum Na+, serum osmolarity, urinary creatinine, and free water clearance in addition to significant reduction of body weight, serum creatinine, urea, serum K+, blood pressure, urine osmolarity, and the fractional excretion of sodium as compared to CP‐treated group. In addition, coadministration of TOL significantly reduced MDA, the marker of lipid peroxidation, and different pro‐inflammatory cytokines. Histopathological changes showed improvement in the signs of nephrotoxicity with the coadministration of TOL. Also, co‐treatment with TOL significantly decreased the level of markers of apoptosis as caspase‐3 and Bax with increased expression of antiapoptotic Bcl‐2 in renal tissue as compared to CP‐treated group.
Tradition Mills' Picholine Olive Oil Physicochemical Characterization and Chemical Profiling across Different Cities in Morocco

This study aims to determine the quality of olive oils (Picholine variety) from the traditional oil mills in different Moroccan cities by means of physicochemical characterization and chemical compositions. All samples of olive oil were collected from traditional oil mills. Physicochemical analyses of free fatty acid (FFA), iodine value (IV), saponification value (SV), specific extinction at 232 and 270 (E232, E270), chlorophyll content, carotenoid content, fatty acids (FAs), and total phytosterols composition were performed with respect to the International Olive Council (IOC) standards. These oils were revealed to be rich in unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs): C18 : 1, C18 : 2, and C18 : 3, and that the total phytosterols content ranged between 142.68 and 208.72 mg per 100 g of oil. Also, the chlorophyll contents, for most of the studied samples, are less than 2 mg/kg, while the carotenoid content varied between 0.13 and 0.63 mg/kg. These results, along with the physicochemical assays, helped classify the oils studied into three categories: extra virgin, virgin, and ordinary virgin olive oils. These results confirm that the conditions under which olive oils are collected, pressed, and stored influence the quality of the oil produced. Therefore, there is a need to inform producers about the correct practices and techniques for storage, processing, and conservation of oils to better improve the quality of the final product.
Deep-learning-based enhanced optic-disc photography

Optic-disc photography (ODP) has proven to be very useful for optic nerve evaluation in glaucoma. In real clinical practice, however, limited patient cooperation, small pupils, or media opacities can limit the performance of ODP. The purpose of this study was to propose a deep-learning approach for increased resolution and improved legibility of ODP by contrast, color, and brightness compensation. Each high-resolution original ODP was transformed into two counterparts: (1) down-scaled ‘low-resolution ODPs’, and (2) ‘compensated high-resolution ODPs’ produced via enhancement of the visibility of the optic disc margin and surrounding retinal vessels using a customized image post-processing algorithm. Then, the differences between these two counterparts were directly learned through a super-resolution generative adversarial network (SR-GAN). Finally, by inputting the high-resolution ODPs into SR-GAN, 4-times-up-scaled and overall-color-and-brightness-transformed ‘enhanced ODPs’ could be obtained. General ophthalmologists were instructed (1) to assess each ODP’s image quality, and (2) to note any abnormal findings, at 1-month intervals. The image quality score for the enhanced ODPs was significantly higher than that for the original ODP, and the overall optic disc hemorrhage (DH)-detection accuracy was significantly higher with the enhanced ODPs. We expect that this novel deep-learning approach will be applied to various types of ophthalmic images.
Delay for Tuberculosis Treatment and Its Predictors among Adult Tuberculosis Patients at Debremarkos Town Public Health Facilities, North West Ethiopia

Background Delay in the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis exacerbates the disease and clinical outcomes. It further enhances transmission of the infection in the society as well as increased the severity of the illness and raised rate of mortality. Objectives The major goal of this study is to determine the magnitude of delays in tuberculosis treatment and factors affecting tuberculosis treatment among adult tuberculosis patients at Debremarkos town, North West Ethiopia, 2018. Methods Institution-based cross-sectional study design was employed. Systematically selected 300 adult TB patients were recruited to the study. The study was conducted at Debremarkos town public health facilities from March 1 to April 30, 2018. Logistic regression models were fitted to identify the predicting variables and control confounder's of the outcome variables. P value ≤ 0.05 with 95% CI was considered as an indicator for the presence of statistically significant association. The result revealed that the median total delay was 23 days (IQR: 19-28 days). The median patient and health system delays were 20 days (IQR: 15-20 days) and 4 days (IQR: 3-5 days), respectively. Tuberculosis patients living in a rural area were 1.14 times more likely to delay for the TB treatment (AOR: 1.141, 95% CI (1.106, 2.608)). Patients who were unable to read and write have almost two times a chance of being delayed (AOR: 2.350, 95% CI (1.630, 2.608)). Monthly income of patients has found another predictor for delay; patients with low monthly income were about six times more likely to delay for TB treatment (AOR: 6.375, 95% CI: (1.733, 23.440)). Those TB patients who had visiting traditional healers before arrival to health facilities were about 2.7 times more likely to delay for TB treatment(AOR: 2.795, 95% CI (1.898, 8.693)). Conclusion and Recommendation. The significant proportion of delays in tuberculosis treatment was found in this study. Living in the rural area, unable to read and write, lower monthly income, and visiting traditional healers were found independent predictors of TB treatment delay. The regional and zonal health administrator shall design various awareness creation mechanisms to educate the public about timely initiation of tuberculosis treatment.
An Extensive Knowledge Mapping Review of Measurement and Validity in Language Assessment and SLA Research

This study set out to investigate intellectual domains as well as the use of measurement and validation methods in language assessment research and second language acquisition (SLA) published in English in peer-reviewed journals. Using Scopus, we created two datasets: (i) a dataset of core journals consisting of 1,561 articles published in four language assessment journals, and (ii) a dataset of general journals consisting of 3,175 articles on language assessment published in the top journals of SLA and applied linguistics. We applied document co-citation analysis to detect thematically distinct research clusters. Next, we coded citing papers in each cluster based on an analytical framework for measurement and validation. We found that the focus of the core journals was more exclusively on reading and listening comprehension assessment (primary), facets of speaking and writing performance such as raters and validation (secondary), as well as feedback, corpus linguistics, and washback (tertiary). By contrast, the primary focus of assessment research in the general journals was on vocabulary, oral proficiency, essay writing, grammar, and reading. The secondary focus was on affective schemata, awareness, memory, language proficiency, explicit vs. implicit language knowledge, language or semantic awareness, and semantic complexity. With the exception of language proficiency, this second area of focus was absent in the core journals. It was further found that the majority of citing publications in the two datasets did not carry out inference-based validation on their instruments before using them. More research is needed to determine what motivates authors to select and investigate a topic, how thoroughly they cite past research, and what internal (within a field) and external (between fields) factors lead to the sustainability of a Research Topic in language assessment.
Non-pharmaceutical interventions for containment, mitigation and suppression of COVID-19 infection

Abstract Background: The best scientific evidence is required to design effective Non-pharmaceutical interventions to help policymakers to contain COVID-19. Aim: To describe which Non-pharmaceutical interventions used different countries and a when they use them. It also explores how Non-pharmaceutical interventions impact the number of cases, the mortality, and the capacity of health systems. Methods: We consulted eight web pages of transnational organizations, 17 of international media, 99 of government institutions in the 19 countries included, and besides, we included nine studies (out of 34 identified) that met inclusion criteria. Result: Some countries are focused on establishing travel restrictions, isolation of identified cases, and high-risk people. Others have a combination of mandatory quarantine and other drastic social distancing measures. The timing to implement the interventions varied from the first fifteen days after detecting the first case to more than 30 days. The effectiveness of isolated non-pharmaceutical interventions may be limited, but combined interventions have shown to be effective in reducing the transmissibility of the disease, the collapse of health care services, and mortality. When the number of new cases has been controlled, it is necessary to maintain social distancing measures, self-isolation, and contact tracing for several months. The policy decision-making in this time should be aimed to optimize the opportunities of saving lives, reducing the collapse of health services, and minimizing the economic and social impact over the general population, but principally over the most vulnerable. The timing of implementing and lifting interventions could have a substantial effect on those objectives.
Fabrication of Multilayered Nanofiber Scaffolds with a Highly Aligned Nanofiber Yarn for Anisotropic Tissue Regeneration

Nanofibrous scaffolds were widely studied to construct scaffold for various fields of tissue engineering due to their ability to mimic a native extracellular matrix (ECM). However, generally, an electrospun nanofiber exhibited a two-dimensional (2D) membrane form with a densely packed structure, which inhibited the formation of a bulk tissue in a three-dimensional (3D) structure. The appearance of a nanofiber yarn (NFY) made it possible to further process the electrospun nanofiber into the desired fabric for specific tissue regeneration. Here, poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) NFYs composed of a highly aligned nanofiber were prepared via a dual-nozzle electrospinning setup. Afterward, a noobing technique was applied to fabricate multilayered scaffolds with three orthogonal sets of PLLA NFYs, without interlacing them. Thus the constituent NFYs of the fabric were free of any crimp, apart from the binding yarn, which was used to maintain the integrity of the noobing scaffold. Remarkably, the highly aligned PLLA NFY expressed strengthened mechanical properties than that of a random film, which also promoted the cell adhesion on the NFY scaffold with unidirectional topography and less spreading bodies. In vitro experiments indicated that cells cultured on a noobing NFY scaffold showed a higher proliferation rate during long culture period. The controllable pore structure formed by the vertically arrayed NFY could allow the cell to penetrate through the thickness of the 3D scaffold, distributed uniformly in each layer. The topographic clues guided the orientation of H9C2 cells, forming tissues on different layers in two perpendicular directions. With NFY as the building blocks, noobing and/or 3D weaving methods could be applied in the fabrication of more complex 3D scaffolds applied in anisotropic tissues or organs regeneration.
Caching behavior in free-ranging White-breasted Nuthatches: the effects of social dominance

Using five mated pairs of free-ranging White-breasted Nuthatches Sitta carolinensis, I examined whether the social dominance of the male nuthatch over the female affects the caching behavior of each individual of the pair. I allowed each bird of a mated pair in five deciduous woodlots in central Ohio to scatterhoard 30 mealworms Tenebrio sp. For each caching trip, I recorded data on 10 variables describing cache site characteristics and social context. I compared niche overlap and niche breadth values to determine the degree of sex-specific caching behavior. Nuthatches typically cached food items in bark crevices on the trunks of large, highly rugose trees. Both male and female nuthatches selected trees for cache placement that had higher than average rugosity. Departure directions from the food source differed significantly between the sexes when the male cached first. Males used the trunks of trees as a substrate for caching significantly more often than did females. By utilizing a broader caching niche, the females may have reduced interference competition from their mate, and thus may have compensated for their socially subordinate status.