Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activation of angiotensin type 2 receptor attenuates testosterone-induced hypertension and uterine vascular resistance in pregnant rats†

Abstract Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-related hypertensive disorder with unclear mechanisms. While hypersensitivity to angiotensin II via vasoconstrictive angiotensin type-1 receptor (AT1R) is observed in preeclampsia, the importance of vasodilatory angiotensin type-2 receptor (AT2R) in the control of vascular dysfunction is less clear. We assessed whether AT1R, AT2R, and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression are altered in placental vessels of preeclamptic women and tested if ex vivo incubation with AT2R agonist Compound 21 (C21; 1 µM) could restore AT1R, AT2R, and eNOS balance. Further, using a rat model of gestational hypertension induced by elevated testosterone, we examined whether C21 (1 µg/kg/day, oral) could preserve AT1R and AT2R balance and improve blood pressure, uterine artery blood flow, and vascular function. Western blots revealed that AT1R protein level was higher while AT2R and eNOS protein were reduced in preeclamptic placental vessels, and AT2R agonist C21 decreased AT1R and increased AT2R and eNOS protein levels in preeclamptic vessels. In testosterone dams, blood pressure was higher, and uterine artery blood flow was reduced, and C21 treatment reversed these levels similar to those in controls dams. C21 attenuated the exaggerated Ang II contraction and improved endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation in uterine arteries of testosterone dams. These C21-mediated vascular effects were associated with decreased AT1R and increased AT2R and eNOS protein levels. C21 also increased serum nitrate/nitrite and bradykinin production in testosterone dams and attenuated the fetoplacental growth restriction. Thus, AT1R upregulation and AT2R downregulation are observed in preeclampsia and testosterone model, and increasing AT2R activity could help restore AT1R and AT2R balance and improve gestational vascular function. Summary sentence AT1R/AT2R balance is tilted toward vasoconstrictive AT1R in preeclampsia; restoring this balance using AT2R agonist mitigates vascular dysfunction in hypertensive pregnant rats, providing a new approach in managing gestational vascular dysfunction.
The presence of both HLA-DRB1[*]04:01 and HLA-B[*]15:01 increases the susceptibility to cranial and extracranial giant cell arteritis.

OBJECTIVES To determine if patients with the predominant extracranial large-vessel-vasculitis (LVV) pattern of giant cell arteritis (GCA) have a distinctive HLA-B association, different from that reported in biopsy-proven cranial GCA patients. In a further step we assessed if the combination of HLA-B and HLA-DRB1 alleles confers an increased risk for GCA susceptibility, either for the cranial and extracranial LVV phenotypes. METHODS A total of 184 patients with biopsy-proven cranial GCA, 105 with LVV-GCA and 486 healthy controls were included in our study. We compared HLA-B phenotype frequencies between the three groups. RESULTS HLA-B*15 phenotype was significantly increased in patients with classic cranial GCA compared to controls (14.7% versus 5.8%, respectively; p<0.01; OR [95% CI] =2.81 [1.54-5.11]). It was mainly due to the HLA-B*15:01 allele (12.5% versus 4.0%, respectively; p<0.01; OR [95% CI] =3.51 [1.77-6.99]) and remained statistically significant after Bonferroni correction. Similar HLA-B*15 association was observed in patients with the LVV-GCA (11.4% versus 5.8%, p=0.04, OR [95% CI] =2.11 [1.04-4.30]). This association was also mainly due to the HLA-B*15:01 allele (10.5% versus 4.0%, respectively; p=0.0054; OR [95% CI] =2.88 [1.19-6.59]). Noteworthy, the presence of HLA-B*15:01 together with HLA-DRB1*04:01 led to an increased risk of developing both cranial and extracranial LVV-GCA. CONCLUSIONS Susceptibility to GCA is strongly related to the HLA region, regardless of the clinical phenotype of expression of the disease.
Improved Protocol for the Three‐Component Biginelli Reactions and Biginelli‐Like Mannich Reactions of Carbamates, Aldehydes, and Ketones

A mild, convenient, and improved method for the direct three-component Biginelli and Biginelli-like Mannich-type reactions of carbonyl compounds in the presence of inexpensive FeCl3⋅6 H2O and Me3SiCl as catalysts is described. Reactions performed with carbamates can be used to directly access N-protected β-amino carbonyl compounds in a single step.
Exercise for affect and enjoyment in overweight or obese males: a comparison of high-intensity interval training and moderate-intensity continuous training

ABSTRACT High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is effective for generating positive cardiovascular health and fitness benefits. This study compared HIIT and moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) for affective state and enjoyment in sedentary males with overweight or obesity. Twenty-eight participants performed stationary cycling for 6 weeks × 3 sessions/week. Participants were randomly allocated to HIIT (N=16) (10 × 1-minute intervals at ~90% peak heart rate) or MICT (N=12) (30 minutes at 65-75% peak heart rate). Affective state changes were assessed after 6-weeks training. Enjoyment and acute change in affect were assessed after individual training sessions. HIIT participants reported improved positive affect following 6 weeks training (∆ 3.6 ± 4.6, p = 0.007, effect size d = 0.70), without corresponding improvement in negative affect (p = 0.48, d = -0.19). MICT did not induce any improvement in positive affect (p = 0.56, d = 0.16) or negative affect (p = 0.23, d = -0.41). Enjoyment ratings were comparable for both exercise formats (HIIT: 4.4 ± 0.4 on a 7-point scale; MICT: 4.3 ± 0.3; p = 0.70, d = 0.15). Six weeks of HIIT induced improvement in positive affect in sedentary participants with overweight or obesity. Enjoyment of training was only slightly above neutral levels for both training formats. What’s already known about this topic? Exercise training can improve general affect however the optimal exercise characteristics for improving affect are unclear. Studies assessing the relative enjoyment of HIIT in comparison to MICT have largely been equivocal to date. What does this study add? HIIT can improve affective state in males with overweight or obesity. Six weeks of stationary cycling HIIT were rated as only mildly enjoyable, comparable to ratings for MICT.
Diagnostic yield of a bronchoalveolar lavage fluid galactomannan assay in patients with negative serum galactomannan results suspected to have invasive pulmonary aspergillosis

There are limited data in real clinical practice on the diagnostic value of a bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid galactomannan (GM) assay in patients with suspected invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) who had negative serum GM results. Thus, we investigated the diagnostic performance of a BAL GM assay in patients with negative serum GM assay results who were suspected to have IPA.
The Elucidation of Charge-Transfer-Induced Matrix Effects in Environmental Aerosols Via Real-Time Aerosol Mass Spectral Analysis of Individual Airborne Particles

Matrix effects in real-time aerosol mass spectrometry (RTAMS) were investigated using Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) obtained from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Suppression of major component ions by much less concentrated species was observed. Attempts were made to mimic the ion suppression using binary systems but were unsuccessful. Data are presented that suggest the origin of the matrix effect is charge transfer induced neutralization in the ablation plume.
1 THERMAL STABILIZATION OF PROBIOTICS BY ADSORPTION ONTO 1 POROUS STARCHES 2

8 Industrial processing factors, such as temperature, compromise the viability of probiotic 9 cells. Objective was to develop a system to thermally stabilize probiotic bacteria based on 10 porous starches and using biopolymers as coating materials (gelatinized starch, guar gum 11 and xanthan gum). Porous starches from corn and rice starches, having controlled number 12 and size of porous were used as supporting material. Scanning electron microscopy 13 confirmed the adsorption of the microorganism, leading microcapsules with corn starch but 14 aggregates with rice starch. Surface pores of rice starch increased the encapsulation yield 15 of rice starch around 10%, but that effect was not observed in porous corn starch. The 16 highest encapsulation yield was obtained with porous starches coated with gelatinized 17 starch, which ranged from 92-100%. Microencapsulates made with porous starches with 18 small pores, like the ones obtained with α-amylase, and coated with gelatinized starch 19 resulted in the highest thermal resistance at 55 oC. 20
Comparison of Nonlinear Models for Dry Matter Yield of Brachiaria Hybrid cv Cayman in Drought Season by Bootstrapping

The dynamics of biomass accumulation at different seasons of the year is of vital importance in the production of a forage species. In this study nonlinear models (logistic and gompertz) to describe growth dynamics of plants based on dry matter yield of Brachiaria hybrid Cayman at different interval between cuts in drought season were used. Results for logistic and gompertz model showed an excellent fit to the data set of accumulated dry matter with a R2 close to 1.0. In the dry season the best fitted model to estimate the cumulative dry matter yield was gompertz model. It is possible suggest logistic model use in drought conditions. The empirical distribution of the estimated intrinsic growth rate (K) was symmetric and leptokurtic for the logistic and gompertz model in the intervals (-0.0141; 0.2071 Kg MS ha-1) and -0.00086; 0.724986 Kg MS ha-1), respectively and the empirical distribution of the asymptotic accumulated dry matter yield (B) was asymmetric for the logistic and gompertz models in the intervals (4373; 16980 Kg MS ha-1) and (9840; 26654 Kg MS ha-1), respectively. The empirical distribution of these two parameters reflects the fact that the accumulated dry matter production of this grass is strongly related to the distribution of rainfall, especially in the tropical dry forest. The nitrogen fertilization, interval between cuts, intrinsic growth rate of B. hybrid Cayman as well as other factors affect this species development determine dry matter yield sustainability.
Diabetes mellitus in Tuberculosis Oxidative Stress in Sickle Cell Anaemia Childhood Diabetic Ketoacidosis Haemostatis in Hypertension Research and Publication Ethics Prostate Carcinoma Bone scan in Breast Cancer Exercise and Basal Insulin levels Rheumatic Heart Diseases Paediatric Cytopathology

Background: Cytopathology offers a rapid diagnosis of suspicious lesions, aiding prompt clinical judgment. The extent of the cytopathologic practice is variable, thus justifying the need to assess the frequency of its use in health care centres in resource-challenged settings. Objectives: To assess the frequency of use of cytopathology services, the demographic features of the patients and the various diagnostic outcomes. Methods: The study was a retrospective analysis of 17 years’ records; including parameters like the basic demographics and cytomorphologic diagnoses in paediatric practice. Data was sought from histopathology department registers and cytopathologic request forms for patients in the age range of 0-15 years. Results: The total number of the paediatric cytologic specimen was 930 constituting 12.3% of all cytologic specimens received in the study period. The mean age was 8.0 years with a range of 1 day to 15 years. There were 537/930 (57.7%) males and 378/930 (40.6%) females with a male-to-female ratio of 1.4:1. The specimens were obtained by fine-needle aspiration cytology in 596/930 (64.1%) cases or smears of exfoliative specimens in 334/930 (35.9%) cases. Most of the samples were obtained from children in 6 10 years age group. The commonest clinical indication for the cytology was “suspected malignancy” comprising 370/930 (39.8%) cases. The most frequent cytopathological diagnosis was “positive for malignancy”, accounting for 232/930 (24.9%) cases. Conclusion: Cytopathology practice in a resource-poor setting remains a useful tool in the preliminary evaluation of lesions.
Industrial Energy Load Profile Forecasting under Enhanced Time of Use Tariff (ETOU) using Artificial Neural Network

The demand response program involves consumers to mitigate peak demand and reducing global CO2 emission. In sustaining this effort, energy provider such as Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) in Peninsular Malaysia has introduced Enhance Time of Use (ETOU) tariff. However, since 2015, small numbers join the ETOU program due to less confidence in managing their energy consumption profile. Thus, this study provides an optimum forecasting load profile model for TOU and ETOU tariffs using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). An industry's average energy profile has been used as a case study, while the forecasting technique has been conducted to find the optimum energy load profile congruently. The load shifting technique has been adopted under ETOU tariff price while integrating to the ANN procedure. A significant comparison in terms of cost reduction between TOU and ETOU electricity tariffs has been made. In contrast, ANN performance results in searching for the best-shifted load profile have been analyzed accordingly. From the proposed method, the total electricity cost saving has been founded to be saved for about 7.9% monthly. It is hoped that this work will benefit the energy authority and consumers in future action, respectively. Keywords—Time of use; artificial neural network; energy forecasting; load profile
Adversarial poisoning and inverse poisoning against deep learning

Eﬃcient attacks for both adversarial poisoning and adversarial inverse poisoning have recently been found on frozen deep feature plus support vector machine. But, new experiments show that such attacks only works for poisoning. But,suchattacks is completely ineﬃcient for inverse poisoning when targeting deep networks as stochastic training provides a natural defense. However, new attacks are presented to overcome this defense. This way, this paper shows that adversarial poisoning and inverse poisoning are possible against straightforward deep network.
The Long-Run Effects of Sports Club Vouchers for Primary School Children

Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the twenty-first century. While small-scale experiments change behaviors among adults in the short run, we know little about the effectiveness of large-scale policies or the longer-run impacts. To nudge primary school children into a long-term habit of exercising, the German state of Saxony distributed sports club membership vouchers among all 33,000 third graders in 2009. In 2018, we carried out a register-based survey to evaluate the policy. Even after a decade, awareness of the voucher program was significantly higher in the treatment group. We also find that youth received and redeemed the vouchers. However, we do not find significant short- or long-term effects on sports club membership, physical activity, overweightness, or motor skills. Apparently, membership vouchers for children are not a strong enough policy tool to overcome barriers to exercise regularly. (JEL H75, I12, I18, I21, I28, J13, Z21)
Partial Correlation Analysis of Association between Subjective Well-Being and Ecological Footprint

A spatial-temporal panel dataset was collected from 101 countries during 2006–2016. Using partial correlation (PC) and ordinary correlation (OR) analyses, this research examines the relationship between ecological footprint (EF) and subjective well-being (SWB) to measure environmental impacts on people’s happiness. Gross domestic product (GDP), urbanization rate (UR), literacy rate (LR), youth life expectancy (YLE), wage and salaried workers (WSW), political stability (PS), voice accountability (VA) are regarded as control variables. Total bio-capacity (TBC), ecological crop-land footprints (ECL), ecological grazing-land footprint (EGL), and ecological built-up land footprint (EBL) have significant positive influences on SWB, but ecological fish-land (EFL) has significant negative influences on SWB. Ecological carbon footprint (ECF) is significantly negatively related to SWB in developed countries. An increase in the amount of EF factors is associated with a country’s degree of development. Political social–economic impacts on SWB disguised environmental contribution on SWB, especially CBF impacts on SWB. The use of PC in examining the association between SWB and EF helps bridge a knowledge gap and facilitate a better understanding of happiness.
Going the Extra Mile: Perceived Self-Efficacy, Family-Work Enrichment, Promotion Focus, and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour

Drawing on control theory, this paper moves closer to understanding the individual antecedents of employee citizenship behaviours. It explores the combined effect of three antecedents – job self-efficacy, family-work enrichment, and promotion focus – on service delivery organisational citizenship behaviour. Moderated Hierarchical Regression Modelling is performed on a sample of 198 call centre employees. The findings show a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between job self-efficacy and service delivery organisational citizenship behaviour for those employees who experience family-work enrichment. The results also confirm the three-way interaction of job self-efficacy, family- -work enrichment, and promotion focus as joint predictors of citizenship behaviour. Theoretical implications are outlined along with practical steps for employers motivated to encourage citizenship behaviours in their teams, departments and sectors.
New bio-composites based on short fibre reinforced hydroxypropylcellulose films

The present work deals with the preparation and the characterisation of solid films, having thickness between 15 and 40 μm, prepared with hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) and different amounts of commercial cellulose fibres (0; 0.5; 10 and 15% w/w) (system A) and with 1,4-butyl diisocyanate (BDI), as a cross-linking agent (system B). Before the preparation of these films, the surface energy of cellulose fibres, as such and after purification with different solvents, was determined by Inverse Gas Chromatography (IGC), which gave the values of dispersive energy and acid-base properties of their surfaces. The tensile and photo-elastic properties of the solid films obtained were studied. There were no significant changes in Young's modulus between the two systems. However, as expected, the values of the elongation and those of the fracture stress were systematically higher for system B in comparison with system A. The same trend was found for the birefringence, measured at the same elongation values for the films obtained from both systems.
, STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AND OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE: THE MODERATING EFFECT OF BOARD INDEPENDENCE

This study primarily purposes to empirically examine the impact of stakeholder engagement mechanism in the form of professional shareholders on the corporate social responsibility (hereafter CSR) disclosure and how the previous nexus is shaped and moderated by the level of board independence within a dynamic framework. An agency theory framework is adopted to understand the extent to which professional shareholders, such as government, institutional, and foreign influence the firm’s CSR reporting. To the best of our knowledge, most of the prior empirical studies in CSR field have not yet provided a profound analysis of the moderating effect of board independence on the relationship between ownership structure and CSR disclosure. Hence, working on this sensitive issue merits our attention and deserves our recognition. Due to endogeneity bias, our reported results vary in their significance level across the three econometrics models; pooled OLS, fixed-effects, and system GMM. The findings unveiled that the effect of government, institutional, and foreign investors on CSR disclosure is more positive under conditions of the high level of board independence. The study sheds new light onto the paradoxical empirical findings of the prior research that has tried to link ownership structure to CSR disclosure directly by analyzing the significant role of independent directors on the aforementioned nexus. Further, the study pays rigorous attention to provide multidimensional insights for responsible parties to support the notion of stakeholder engagement mechanism beyond the current boundaries.
Adsorption of hexavalent chromium by polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based activated carbon fibers from aqueous solution

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based activated carbon fibers (PAC400 and PAC600) were prepared by heating Zn(NO3)2 pretreated-PAN at 400 °C and 600 °C for the removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution. Formation of PAC400 and PAC600 was confirmed by FTIR and XPS. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) imaging of PAC400 and PAC600 revealed the formation of nearly spherical agglomerated particles. The conditions for adsorption of Cr(VI) onto PAC400 and PAC600 had been optimized and kinetics and isotherm studies were performed. Although the adsorption took place in the range of pH (2–6), pH 3 was found to be most suitable. The adsorption data fitted well with the pseudo-second-order rate model and Langmuir isotherm model. PAC600 showed much greater ability in the adsorption of Cr(VI) than PAC400, and Qmax were calculated to be 187.79 mg g−1 and 136.87 mg g−1 based on the Langmuir model, respectively. Desorption experiments showed PAC600 and PAC400 can be regenerated and reused. The adsorption process for the removal of Cr(VI) was governed by the ionic interaction between protonated amine groups of PAC and HCrO4− ions.
Opportunistic Premise Plumbing Pathogens. A Potential Health Risk in Water Mist Systems Used as a Cooling Intervention

Water mist systems (WMS) are used for evaporative cooling in public areas. The health risks associated with their colonization by opportunistic premise plumbing pathogens (OPPPs) is not well understood. To advance the understanding of the potential health risk of OPPPs in WMS, biofilm, water and bioaerosol samples (n = 90) from ten (10) WMS in Australia were collected and analyzed by culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods to detect the occurrence of five representative OPPPs: Legionella pneumophila, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Mycobacterium avium, Naegleria fowleri and Acanthamoeba. P. aeruginosa (44%, n = 90) occurred more frequently in samples, followed by L. pneumophila serogroup (Sg) 2–14 (18%, n = 90) and L. pneumophila Sg 1 (6%, n = 90). A negative correlation between OPPP occurrence and residual free chlorine was observed except with Acanthamoeba, rs (30) = 0.067, p > 0.05. All detected OPPPs were positively correlated with total dissolved solids (TDS) except with Acanthamoeba. Biofilms contained higher concentrations of L. pneumophila Sg 2–14 (1000–3000 CFU/mL) than water samples (0–100 CFU/mL). This study suggests that WMS can be colonized by OPPPs and are a potential health risk if OPPP contaminated aerosols get released into ambient atmospheres.
Molecular dynamics simulation of silica liquid and glass

A molecular dynamic computer simulation of the cooling of liquid silica to form an amorphous solid (glassy) phase was performed using the potential of Tsuneyuki, Tsukuda, Aoki, and Matsui, which was found to be consistent with the structure of several crystalline phases of silica. In the simulations, at low temperatures the atoms formed an almost perfect random tetrahedral network, and on subsequent annealing the material formed a perfect network, with each silicon having four oxygen neighbors and each oxygen having two silicon neighbors. The simulated material at low temperatures has a structure that is in close agreement with experimental neutron scattering measurements on amorphous silica. Several properties of the material were calculated and compared with experiment, and the nature of the ‘‘inherent structure’’ of the material as a function of temperature was investigated. The potential of Tsuneyuki et al. provides an excellent model for amorphous silica as well as crystalline silica.