Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Disruption of Pituitary Gonadotrope Activity in Male Rats After Short- or Long-Term High-Fat Diets Is Not Associated With Pituitary Inflammation

Overnutrition is associated with the activation of inflammatory pathways in metabolically linked organs and an early hypothalamic inflammation is now known to disrupt the central control of metabolic function. Because we demonstrated that fatty acids (FA) target the pituitary and affect gonadotropin synthesis, we asked whether overnutrition induces pituitary inflammation that may contribute to obesity-associated disorders in the control of reproduction. We analyzed pituitary inflammation and hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis in male rats fed a short- (4 weeks) or long-term (20 weeks) high-fat diet. The effect of diet enrichment with the ω3 polyunsaturated FA, DHA, was also analyzed. After only 4 weeks and before weight gain of rats, high-fat diet caused a significant decrease in pituitary gonadotropin and hypothalamic GnRH transcript levels despite unchanged testosterone and inhibin B levels. Contrasting with the hypothalamus, there was no concomitant increases in gene expression of pituitary inflammatory mediators and even a reduction of prototypical cytokines such as interleukin-1β and TNF-α. No inflammation was still detected in the pituitary after 20 weeks although gonadotropin transcripts and circulating levels were still altered. Gonadotropins were the only pituitary hormones remaining affected at this stage of the regimen, underlying a differential susceptibility of pituitary lineages to metabolic disorders. DHA enrichment of the diet did not prevent alterations of gonadotrope activity due to either a long- or a short-term high-fat diet although it blocked early hypothalamic inflammation and attenuated several metabolic effects. Taken together, our findings suggest that high-fat diet-induced defects in gonadotrope activity in male rats occurred despite a lack of pituitary inflammation.
Experimental investigation of multiphase flow: Mass transfer and fluid flow in Taylor-Couette reactor and velocity field of train of particles in a square duct

Multiphase flow systems occur in a variety of industrial applications and are prevalent in nature. The focus of this dissertation is on experimental investigation of such flows in laboratory scale setups for the purpose of better understanding the fundamentals, validation of numerical simulations and models, and derivation of correlations for practical applications. Two major types of flow were studied including a gas-liquid two phase flow inside a Taylor-Couette vortex reactor and a solid-liquid flow of water flow around a train of solid spherical particles inside a square duct. For the Taylor-Couette system, characterization of mass transfer from gas into liquid phase was the main focus. In addition, the size and shape of the bubbles were measured and observed in order to quantify the mass transfer coefficient. This was followed up with the study of the effect of interfacial tension on the system using ethyl alcohol as a surfactant. The duct flow around a train of particles was studied in order to enable observation of the interaction between arrangements of particles and the flow field. The velocity field data from Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) experiments served as a validation case for ParticleResolved Direct Numerical Simulation (PR-DNS). The number of spheres in the train arrangement was varied as well as their distance. The work performed for the two different setups are separately introduced in the following.
A Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Nutritional Supplementation on Osteoarthritis Symptoms

Conflicting evidence exists concerning the effects of nutrient intake in osteoarthritis (OA). A systematic literature review and meta-analysis were performed using PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library up to November 2021 to assess the effects of nutrients on pain, stiffness, function, quality of life, and inflammation markers. We obtained 52 references including 50 on knee OA. Twelve studies compared 724 curcumin patients and 714 controls. Using the standardized mean difference, improvement was significant with regard to pain and function in the curcumin group compared to placebo, but not with active treatment (i.e., nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, chondroitin, or paracetamol). Three studies assessed the effects of ginger on OA symptoms in 166 patients compared to 164 placebo controls. Pain was the only clinical parameter that significantly decreased. Vitamin D supplementation caused a significant decrease in pain and function. Omega-3 and vitamin E caused no changes in OA parameters. Herbal formulations effects were significant only for stiffness compared to placebo, but not with active treatment. A significant decrease in inflammatory markers was found, especially with ginger. Thus, curcumin and ginger supplementation can have a favorable impact on knee OA symptoms. Other studies are needed to better assess the effects of omega-3 and vitamin D.
Febrile Neutropenia Duration Is Associated with the Severity of Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis in Pediatric Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Recipients

Simple Summary Febrile neutropenia is a common complication in pediatric patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Its genesis is often attributed to infections; however, a specific cause frequently cannot be defined. We hypothesize that the composition of the intestinal flora may contribute to the genesis of the neutropenic fever. We analyzed the microbial composition of stool samples from pediatric patients from three European centers and assessed the relationship with the duration of the fever during neutropenia. We found that a more stable composition of the microbiota during the transplantation course is associated with a shorter duration of fever. Moreover, patients with a higher duration of fever presented higher levels of Collinsella, Megasphaera, Prevotella, Roseburia, Eggerthella and Akkermansia in the stool. Abstract Febrile neutropenia (FN) is a common complication in pediatric patients receiving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Frequently, a precise cause cannot be identified, and many factors can contribute to its genesis. Gut microbiota (GM) has been recently linked to many transplant-related complications, and may also play a role in the pathogenesis of FN. Here, we conducted a longitudinal study in pediatric patients receiving HSCT from three centers in Europe profiling their GM during the transplant course, particularly at FN onset. We found that a more stable GM configuration over time is associated with a shorter duration of fever. Moreover, patients with longer lasting fever exhibited higher pre-HSCT levels of Collinsella, Megasphaera, Prevotella and Roseburia and increased proportions of Eggerthella and Akkermansia at the engraftment. These results suggest a possible association of the GM with the genesis and course of FN. Data seem consistent with previous reports on the relationship of a so-called “healthy” GM and the reduction of transplant complications. To our knowledge, this is the first report in the pediatric HSCT setting. Future studies are warranted to define the underling biological mechanisms and possible clinical implications.
Metabolites and Biomarker Compounds of Neurodegenerative Diseases in Cerebrospinal Fluid

Despite recent advances in diagnostic procedures for neurological disorders, it is still difficult to definitively diagnose some neurodegenerative diseases without neuropathological examination of autopsied brain tissue. As pathological processes in the brain are frequently reflected in the components of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), CSF samples are sometimes useful for diagnosis. After CSF is secreted from the choroid plexus epithelial cells in the ventricles, some flows in the brain, some is mixed with intracerebral interstitial fluid, and some is excreted through two major drainage pathways, i.e., the intravascular periarterial drainage pathway and the glymphatic system. Accordingly, substances produced by metabolic and pathological processes in the brain may be detectable in CSF. Many papers have reported changes in the concentration of substances in the CSF of patients with metabolic and neurological disorders, some of which can be useful biomarkers of the disorders. In this paper, we show the significance of glucose- and neurotransmitter-related CSF metabolites, considering their transporters in the choroid plexus; summarize the reported candidates of CSF biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases, including amyloid-β, tau, α-synuclein, microRNAs, and mitochondrial DNA; and evaluate their potential as efficient diagnostic tools.
Efficient and Effective Similar Subtrajectory Search: A Spatial-aware Comprehension Approach

Although many applications take subtrajectories as basic units for analysis, there is little research on the similar subtrajectory search problem aiming to return a portion of a trajectory (i.e., subtrajectory), which is the most similar to a query trajectory. We find that in some special cases, when a grid-based metric is used, this problem can be formulated as a reading comprehension problem, which has been studied extensively in the field of natural language processing (NLP). By this formulation, we can obtain faster models with better performance than existing methods. However, due to the difference between natural language and trajectory (e.g., spatial relationship), it is impossible to directly apply NLP models to this problem. Therefore, we propose a Similar Subtrajectory Search with a Graph Neural Networks framework. This framework contains four modules including a spatial-aware grid embedding module, a trajectory embedding module, a query-context trajectory fusion module, and a span prediction module. Specifically, in the spatial-aware grid embedding module, the spatial-based grid adjacency is constructed and delivered to the graph neural network to learn spatial-aware grid embedding. The trajectory embedding module aims to model the sequential information of trajectories. The purpose of the query-context trajectory fusion module is to fuse the information of the query trajectory to each grid of the context trajectories. Finally, the span prediction module aims to predict the start and the end of a subtrajectory for the context trajectory, which is the most similar to the query trajectory. We conduct comprehensive experiments on two real world datasets, where the proposed framework outperforms the state-of-the-art baselines consistently and significantly.
Perioperative Nutritional Support: A Review of Current Literature

Since the beginning of the practice of surgery, the reduction of postoperative complications and early recovery have been two of the fundamental pillars that have driven the improvement of surgical techniques and perioperative management. Despite great advances in these fields, the rationalization of antibiotic prophylaxis, and other important innovations, postoperative recovery (especially in elderly patients, oncological pathology or digestive or head and neck surgery) is tortuous. This can be explained by several reasons, among which, malnutrition has a major role. Perioperative nutritional support, included within the ERAS (Enhanced Recovery After Surgery) protocol, has proven to be a main element and a critical step to achieve better surgical results. Starting with the preoperative nutritional assessment and treatment in elective surgery, we can improve nutritional status using oral supplements and immunomodulatory formulas. If we add early nutritional support in the postoperative scenario, we are able to significantly reduce infectious complications, need for intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital stay, costs, and mortality. Throughout this review, we will review the latest developments and the available literature.
Factors Impacting Retention and Success of Undergraduate Engineering Students

Factors impacting student persistence in engineering were examined to assess the impact of a long-term student success initiative for freshman students at a large urban university. Institutional data, classroom observations, faculty interviews and assessments were utilized to determine probable causal factors interacting in predicting student persistence for the first two years of university engineering, and persistence to graduation. Results show that classroom observations as measured by the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) instrument and faculty attitudes towards student-centered instruction as measured by the Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI) instrument were closely related. It was generally found that teachercentered instructors had lower RTOP scores while student-centered instructors had higher RTOP scores. In the second area of student persistence, the first result was that, of the roughly 50% of students that departed from engineering prior to graduation, 85% of them did so within the first two years while only 15% left in the last two to four years. It was also found that the impact of first time freshman's first mathematics class on persistence and graduation was dramatic. For first-time-freshman students with A or B in a math course above calculus I, 80% persisted to graduation, while students whose first math course was calculus I had 65% persistence to graduation and for students whose first math course was below the level of calculus I had only 35% persistence to graduation. For students at any level who withdrew or received a grade of C or lower, their chances of graduating from engineering were less than 20%. The third area was co-curricular student support programs, experiences, and activities such as Undergraduate Teaching Assistants, Tutoring Center, Supplemental Instruction, and Student Residential Communities; and co-curricular experiences include Undergraduate Research, E2 Freshman Camps, and Professional Societies. The impact of these support programs was shown using an interrupted time series analysis. Persistence growth rates grew from about . 98 per year prior to success programs being instituted to 1.6 per year following institution of the reforms. This occurred in spite of the fact that first-time freshman enrollments more than doubled over the studied period. Overall, the results to date indicate that there is a strong need for faculty professional development to shift pedagogy more toward student-centered learning, entering students need to be calculus ready and the students would likely benefit from more effective teaching in early math courses, and finally co-curricular activities appear to improve students' sense of belongingness as well as helping develop students' engineering professional identity.
FE Modelling and Simulation of the Size Effect of RC T-Beams Strengthened in Shear with Externally Bonded FRP Fabrics

The objective of this study is to conduct a finite-element (FE) numerical study to assess the effect of size on the shear resistance of reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened in shear with externally bonded carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (EB-CFRP). Although a few experimental studies have been done, there is still a lack of FE studies that consider the size effect. Experimental tests are time-consuming and costly and cannot capture all the complex and interacting parameters. In recent years, advanced numerical models and constitutive laws have been developed to predict the response of laboratory tests, particularly for issues related to shear resistance of RC beams, namely, the brittle response of concrete in shear and the failure modes of the interface layer between concrete and EB-CFRP (debonding and delamination). Numerical models have progressed in recent years and can now capture the interfacial shear stress along the bond and the strain profile along the fibres and the normalized main diagonal shear cracks. This paper presents the results of a nonlinear FE numerical study on nine RC beams strengthened in shear using EB-CFRP composites that were tested in the laboratory under three series, each containing three sizes of geometrically similar RC beams (small, medium, and large). The results reveal that numerical studies can predict experimental results with good accuracy. They also confirm that the shear strength of concrete and the contribution of CFRP to shear resistance decrease as the size of beams increases.
Petri-Net-Based Model Checking for Privacy-Critical Multiagent Systems

Computation tree logic of knowledge (CTLK) can be used to specify many properties related to privacy of multiagent systems (MASs). Our previous work defined knowledge-oriented Petri nets (KPNs) to formally describe both the interacting/collaborating process of multiagents and their epistemic evolutions. Our KPN-based verification of CTLK required to obtain all reachable states, the transition relation of all states, and the equivalence relations of all states with respect to knowledge, which resulted in a serious state explosion problem and thus only fit some small-scale systems. This article adopts reduced ordered binary decision diagram (ROBDD) to deal with this problem. Especially, the ROBDD technique is used to encode and store all reachable states but not to encode and store any transition relation or equivalence relation. However, when verifying a CTLK formula, the transition relation and equivalence relation of some states must be known. To solve this problem, we design the related algorithms to compute only those required relations and prove their correctness. We design the related model checking algorithms and develop a tool. A number of experiments are done by using a famous benchmark about the privacy problem of MAS: the dining cryptographers protocol (DCP), and the results illustrate the advantages of our methods. For example, our tool running with a general PC spends less than 14 h to verify the DCP with 1200 cryptographers, which involves about 101080 states and two CTLK formulas with more than 6000 atomic propositions and more than 3600 operators. This represents a significant advance in the field of model checking.
Urbanisation and SME growth in a developing economy: Implications for policy

This paper sought to examine the challenges and government support for urban small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Zimbabwe and offer policy direction for further development of the sector. Previous studies that explored challenges facing the urban SMEs in Zimbabwe paid little attention to government support and policy strategies to develop the sector further (Chigwenya & Mudzengerere, 2013; Thebe & Ncube, 2015). This study intends to fill this gap. Using a qualitative research design, we gathered data from 25 purposively sampled SMEs through in-depth interviews. Data were analysed using content analysis. Results revealed that urban SMEs face several challenges, including access to finance, lack of technical and management skills, and stringent government regulations. Although the government implemented some policies to support SMEs, these measures were inadequate. The government should set aside more resources to support the sector, including SMEs clustering and establishing more business incubation centres to facilitate technology and skills transfer. The government should also strike a balance between the regulatory laws of the sector and its development to achieve sustained growth. More importantly, the government’s urban plans should incorporate the pressing demands of climate change in building inclusive, resilient, and sustainable cities of the future. The study proposed areas for future research
Effect of Steering Supply Chain Processes Outsourcing on the Performance of Manufacturing Firms in Kenya

This study sought to examine the effect of steering supply chain processes outsourcing on the performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. This study adopted a cross sectional survey research design. The population for this study was all the manufacturing firms in Kenya. The target population for this study was all the manufacturing firms operating in Nairobi’s Industrial Area. The sampling frame for this study was all the manufacturing firms operating in Nairobi’s industrial area. Records indicate that there were 358 firms operating in this area. Simple random sampling was adopted for this study in selecting the respondents. With respect to the effect on the performance improvement of the firm planning outsourcing has the most causal effect, followed by budgeting, monitoring and finally the outsourcing of coordination has the least effect on the improvement of the performance. This study concludes that the outsourcing of steering processes has a significant effect on the improvement of supply chain performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya.
Establishing an individualized model of conversion from normal cognition to Alzheimer's disease after 4 years, based on cognitive, brain morphology and neuropsychiatric characteristics

The impact of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) on cognitive performance has been reported, and this impact was better defined in the aging population. Yet the potential of using the impact of NPS on brain and cognitive performance in a longitudinal setting, as prediction of conversion – have remained questionable. This study proposes to establish a predictive model of conversion to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) based on current cognitive performance, NPS and their associations with brain morphology.
Market Segmentation and the Cost of Capital in International Equity Markets

While theoretical models predict a decrease in the cost of capital from depositary receipt offerings, the economic benefits of this liberalization have been difficult to quantify. Using a sample of 126 firms from 32 countries, we document a significant decline of 42% in the cost of capital. In addition, we show the decline is driven by the ability of U.S. investors to span the foreign security prior to cross-listing. Our findings support the hypothesis that financial market liberalizations have significant economic benefits.
VLE Surveys - A longitudinal perspective between March 2001 and March 2003 for Higher Education in the United Kingdom

A workpiece to be treated by using glow discharge is mounted in a container which contains a corresponding gas or gas mixture. The container and the workpiece are respectively connected to different terminals of an electrical source, and the resulting electrical potential gradient produces ions which are accelerated for a bombardment of the exterior surface of the workpiece for hardening the exterior surface area thereof. In order to measure an equivalent of the temperature of the workpiece, a thermal sensor element is mounted within a testpiece in heat-conducting relationship therewith. The sensor element is operative for generating a signal in dependence upon the temperature detected. Wires are connected with the sensor element for conducting the detected signal from the sensor element towards the exterior of the container. These wires are located remotely from the field so as to prevent undesirable electrical interference between the field and the detected signal. The testpiece is mounted on the inside wall of the container and is connected to the negative terminal of the source so as to be treated by glow discharge, too.