Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Use of Transabdominal Ultrasound in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Transabdominal ultrasound (TAUS) is useful in all aspects of lesion screening, monitoring activity, or treating/diagnosing any related complications of inflammatory bowel disease. Its ability to screen or diagnose complications is almost the same as that of other methods, such as CT or MRI. Moreover, its noninvasiveness makes it a first-line examination method. A TAUS image depicting ulcerative colitis will show large intestinal wall thickening that is continuous from the rectum, which is mainly due to mucosal layer thickening, while for Crohn’s disease, a TAUS image is characterized by a diversity in the areas affected, distribution, and layer structure. Indicators of activity monitoring include wall thickness, wall structure, and vascular tests that use Doppler ultrasound or contrast agents. While all of these have been reported to be useful, at this time, no single parameter has been established as superior to others; therefore, a comprehensive evaluation of these parameters is justified. In addition, evaluating the elasticity of lesions using elastography is particularly useful for distinguishing between fibrous and inflammatory stenoses. However, the lack of objectivity is the biggest drawback of using ultrasound. Standardizing and popularizing the ultrasound process will be necessary, including scanning methods, equipment settings, and image analysis.
Community Pharmacy Services in Malanje City, Angola: A Survey of Practices, Facilities, Equipment, and Staff

A community pharmacy, also known as a retail pharmacy, is the most common type of pharmacy that allows the public access to their medications and advice about their health. The conditions existing in the community pharmacy, as well as the qualification of the staff who work there, are fundamental for the compliance of good pharmacy practices. Objective: To assess the practices, facilities, equipment, and personnel of community pharmacies in the Municipality of Malanje. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study with a quantitative and qualitative approach. Through a simple random sampling technique, 20 pharmacies were selected from a universe of 73 reported by official authorities. Results: no pharmacist was acting in the local pharmacies, and their activity was supported by other professionals, particularly intermediate nursing technicians (57%). Most pharmacies were in the peri-urban area, and their functional areas, equipment, and utilities were not in accordance with Angolan law. In addition, the distribution of some drugs that are not over-the-counter was observed. Conclusion: community pharmacies in Malanje develop their activity in disregard of the law, constituting a considerable weakness that affects the observance of pharmacy service standards.
Corporate Social Responsibility for the Development of Village-Owned Enterprises: Legal Opportunities and Challenges

The enactment of Government Regulation No. 11 of 2021 (“PP 11/2021”) following the passage of the Job Creation Law emphasizes the role of Village-Owned Enterprises (Badan Usaha Milik Desa—”BUM Desa”) in Indonesia’s economic and development strategy. Successful BUM Desa are viewed as supporting village economic independence. Since the passage of the Village Law and the subsequent investment in BUM Desa, there has been extensive analysis of the challenges and opportunities offered by this strategy. One of those lessons relates to the sustainability of on-going use of public funds (in particular the Dana Desa) for BUM Desa. Given these questions, there is a need to further assess opportunities for BUM Desa to access alternative sources of funds, such as those provided through Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) programs of the private sector. This paper aims to examine the potential of companies CSR program to support BUM Desa and the legal opportunities and challenges for the implementation. The analysis of this paper is based on a normative research method supported by qualitative interviews with 2 (two) BUM Desa in North Sumatera. Based on the discussion, the paper found that CSR practice in building partnership with UMKM has the potential to be a similar means for developing BUM Desa and the law has provided the legal basis for the involvement of companies (SOE or Non-SOE) to support BUM Desa through CSR program in various forms. Financial support for BUM Desa through companies CSR program can be either in the form of equity participation, soft loan or non-binding aid or support (such as grants or other forms). In practice, many companies have channelled their CSR to BUM Desa. PP 11/2021 provides more option for CSR distribution scheme for BUM Desa. Companies can choose the method that best suits them or the best interest of the village and BUM Desa. The CSR program for BUM Desa must be designed in a targeted and strategic manner so that it can be effective and not just a donation. Moreover, the usage of CSR programs for funding BUM Desa, in particular where it involves the contribution of funds or acquisition of assets, needs to be managed with accountability as laid out by law.
Wor(l)d-GAN: Toward Natural-Language-Based PCG in Minecraft

This article presents Wor(l)d-GAN, a method to perform data-driven procedural content generation via machine learning in Minecraft from a single example. Based on a 3-D generative adversarial network (GAN) architecture, we are able to create arbitrarily sized world snippets from a given sample. Our method applies dense representations used in natural language processing in two ways. First, we propose block2vec representations based on word2vec. Second, we use the pretrained large language model bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT) to generate representations directly from the token names. These representations make Wor(l)d-GAN independent of the number of different blocks, which can vary a lot in Minecraft, and enable the generation of larger levels. We evaluate our approach on creations from the community as well as structures generated with the Minecraft World Generator under several metrics. Wor(l)d-GAN enables its users to generate Minecraft worlds based on parts of their creations.
Granulation process analysis technologies and potential applications in traditional Chinese medicine

Abstract Pharmaceutical production is changing from batch production to continuous production, during which granulation is one of the most important unit operations. The quality of mass-produced products is traditionally guaranteed by conducting off-line testing, which cannot meet the demand of continuous production for real-time monitoring of critical process parameters and critical quality attributes (CQAs) of the pharmaceutical granulation technology. Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed process analytical technology (PAT) in 2004, many PAT tools have been developed to monitor the granulation process and provide information regarding the granulation operation conditions and endpoint determination. In this article, we review the recent research and application of two PAT modes in the granulation process, namely, single CQA and multi-CQA PAT, with the aim to provide references for comprehensively improving the technological level of the pharmaceutical granulation process. Furthermore, the potential applications in traditional Chinese Medicine are discussed.
Wait, What? The Consequences of Not Disclosing Feedback-Stimulating Information

Recent evidence suggests that managers use voluntary CAPEX guidance to stimulate market feedback by incentivizing informed trading in their stock prices. We show that this “feedback disclosure” is associated with a decrease in informed trading in nondisclosing ﬁrms. The decrease of informed trading is pronounced in unexpected nondisclosure, consistent with the interpretation that traders perceive nondisclosure as indicating low gains from informed trading. The reduction in informed trading is associated with a reduction in investment- q sensitivity and future performance for nondisclosing ﬁrms. Overall, we document a novel link between managers’ strategic disclosure decisions and real eﬀects. feedback-intended disclosure on nondisclosing ﬁrms. We highlight signiﬁcant feedback implications, where nondisclosing ﬁrms in which their ability to learn from implications by considering a nondisclosing ﬁrm’s investment decisions and future operating proﬁtability. The reduction in informed trading of nondisclosing ﬁrms is associated with a reduction in investment- q sensitivity, and future proﬁtability. Overall, our ﬁndings are in line with the interpretation that nondisclosing managers’ are able to extract less valuable information from their stock price when the market is expecting CAPEX guidance to be released. Overall, our paper provides novel evidence regarding the interaction between voluntary disclosure and the feedback channel. In particular, we highlight that unexpectedly nondisclosing ﬁrms suﬀer a reduction of informed trading, negatively aﬀecting investment and future performance.
On Structural and Safety Properties of Head-to-Tail String Stability in Mixed Platoons

The interaction between automated and human-driven vehicles in mixed (human/automated) platoons is far from understood. To study this interaction, the notion of head-to-tail string stability was proposed in the literature. Head-to-tail string stability is an extension of the standard string stability concept where, instead of asking every vehicle to achieve string stability, a lack of string stability is allowed due to human drivers, provided it can be suitably compensated by automated vehicles sparsely inserted in the platoon. This work introduces a theoretical framework for the problem of head-to-tail string stability of mixed platoons: it discusses a suitable vehicle-following human driver model to study mixed platoons, and it gives a reduced-order design strategy for head-to-tail string stability only depending on three gains. The work further discusses the safety limitations of the head-to-tail string stability notion, and it shows that safety improvements can be attained by an appropriate reduced-order design strategy only depending on two additional gains. To validate the effectiveness of the design, linear and nonlinear simulations show that the string stability/safety trade-offs of the proposed reduced-order design are comparable with those resulting from full-order designs.
Adaptive Practical Optimal Time-Varying Formation Tracking Control for Disturbed High-Order Multi-Agent Systems

The adaptive practical optimal time-varying formation tracking problems of the disturbed high-order multi-agent systems with a noncooperative leader are considered. Different from the former achievements, the effects of the leader’s unknown control input and followers’ external disturbances are both considered in the optimal time-varying formation tracking issues. Firstly, an adaptive practical optimal time-varying formation tracking protocol is proposed. The extended state observers and adaptive neural networks are introduced to estimate the integrated uncertainty and value function for the adaptive protocol, respectively. Then, an algorithm is presented to determine the control parameters for the adaptive optimal protocol and neural networks weights update laws. Thirdly, the stability and the optimal formation tracking property are analyzed for the closed loop disturbed high-order multi-agent system. Finally, the numerical simulation results are presented for revealing the effectiveness of the obtained theoretical methods.
Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitors May Increase While Active Vitamin D May Decrease the Risk of Severe Pneumonia in SARS-CoV-2 Infected Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease on Maintenance Hemodialysis

The group most at risk of death due to COVID-19 are patients on maintenance hemodialysis (HD). The study aims to describe the clinical course of the early phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection and find predictors of the development of COVID-19 severe pneumonia in this population. This is a case series of HD nonvaccinated patients with COVID-19 stratified into mild pneumonia and severe pneumonia group according to the chest computed tomography (CT) pneumonia total severity score (TSS) on admission. Epidemiological, demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were obtained from hospital records. 85 HD patients with a mean age of 69.74 (13.19) years and dialysis vintage of 38 (14–84) months were included. On admission, 29.14% of patients had no symptoms, 70.59% reported fatigue followed by fever—44.71%, shortness of breath—40.0%, and cough—30.59%. 20% of the patients had finger oxygen saturation less than 90%. In 28.81% of patients, pulmonary parenchyma was involved in at least 25%. The factors associated with severe pneumonia include fever, low oxygen saturation and arterial partial pressure of oxygen, increased C-reactive protein and ferritin serum levels, low blood count of lymphocytes as well as chronic treatment with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors; while the chronic active vitamin D treatment was associated with mild pneumonia. In conclusion, even though nearly one-third of the patients were completely asymptomatic, while the remaining usually reported only single symptoms, a large percentage of them had extensive inflammatory changes at diagnosis with SARS-CoV-2 infection. We identified potential predictors of severe pneumonia, which might help individualize pharmacological treatment and improve clinical outcomes.
Postharvest Ultraviolet Radiation in Fruit and Vegetables: Applications and Factors Modulating Its Efficacy on Bioactive Compounds and Microbial Growth

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation has been considered a deleterious agent that living organisms must avoid. However, many of the acclimation changes elicited by UV induce a wide range of positive effects in plant physiology through the elicitation of secondary antioxidant metabolites and natural defenses. Therefore, this fact has changed the original UV conception as a germicide and potentially damaging agent, leading to the concept that it is worthy of application in harvested commodities to take advantage of its beneficial responses. Four decades have already passed since postharvest UV radiation applications began to be studied. During this time, UV treatments have been successfully evaluated for different purposes, including the selection of raw materials, the control of postharvest diseases and human pathogens, the elicitation of nutraceutical compounds, the modulation of ripening and senescence, and the induction of cross-stress tolerance. Besides the microbicide use of UV radiation, the effect that has received most attention is the elicitation of bioactive compounds as a defense mechanism. UV treatments have been shown to induce the accumulation of phytochemicals, including ascorbic acid, carotenoids, glucosinolates, and, more frequently, phenolic compounds. The nature and extent of this elicitation have been reported to depend on several factors, including the product type, maturity, cultivar, UV spectral region, dose, intensity, and radiation exposure pattern. Even though in recent years we have greatly increased our understanding of UV technology, some major issues still need to be addressed. These include defining the operational conditions to maximize UV radiation efficacy, reducing treatment times, and ensuring even radiation exposure, especially under realistic processing conditions. This will make UV treatments move beyond their status as an emerging technology and boost their adoption by industry.
Detection of Aortic Valve Opening and Estimation of Pre-Ejection Period in Forcecardiography Recordings

Forcecardiography (FCG) is a novel technique that measures the local forces induced on the chest wall by the mechanical activity of the heart. Specific piezoresistive or piezoelectric force sensors are placed on subjects’ thorax to measure these very small forces. The FCG signal can be divided into three components: low-frequency FCG, high-frequency FCG (HF-FCG) and heart sound FCG. HF-FCG has been shown to share a high similarity with the Seismocardiogram (SCG), which is commonly acquired via small accelerometers and is mainly used to locate specific fiducial markers corresponding to essential events of the cardiac cycle (e.g., heart valves opening and closure, peaks of blood flow). However, HF-FCG has not yet been demonstrated to provide the timings of these markers with reasonable accuracy. This study addresses the detection of the aortic valve opening (AO) marker in FCG signals. To this aim, simultaneous recordings from FCG and SCG sensors were acquired, together with Electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings, from a few healthy subjects at rest, both during quiet breathing and apnea. The AO markers were located in both SCG and FCG signals to obtain pre-ejection periods (PEP) estimates, which were compared via statistical analyses. The PEPs estimated from FCG and SCG showed a strong linear relationship (r > 0.95) with a practically unit slope, and 95% of their differences were found to be distributed within ± 4.6 ms around small biases of approximately 1 ms, corresponding to percentage differences lower than 5% of the mean measured PEP. These preliminary results suggest that FCG can provide accurate AO timings and PEP estimates.
Job Satisfaction: The Factors That Influence It and Its Impact on Turnover Intention

This study is conducted to examine two issues: First, to examine the work environment factors that influence job satisfaction among executive level employees in the public sector organizations in Malaysia; second, to examine the effect of job satisfaction on turnover intention. The data of this study have been collected through survey. The respondents are 212 executive level employees. The data have been analyzed using a structural equation modeling technique. In summary, there are five work environment factors that influence job satisfaction among executive level employees in this context. The factors include perceived organizational support, training, coworker support, participative leadership style and work stress. In addition, this study provides empirical evidence about the role of job satisfaction as a factor that can decrease turnover intention, especially among executive level employees in the public sector organizations in Malaysia.
Experiences of Mothers Who Care for Adults with Profound Intellectual Disabilities. Qualitative Study

The purpose of this qualitative study was to evaluate the motherhood experience when caring for adult children with profound intellectual disabilities. The study was conducted in Poland with a group of 34 mothers. Data was collected and the qualitative methodology was applied, using in-depth narrative interviews. The results of the research indicated that these experiences also include various critical events; experiences that became part of the motherhood to which the women attributed personal meaning. The study results suggest the need for state reform measures to support mothers of adults with profound intellectual disabilities and at the same time, for many families.
Anomalous Dynamics in Macromolecular Liquids

Macromolecular liquids display short-time anomalous behaviors in disagreement with conventional single-molecule mean-field theories. In this study, we analyze the behavior of the simplest but most realistic macromolecular system that displays anomalous dynamics, i.e., a melt of short homopolymer chains, starting from molecular dynamics simulation trajectories. Our study sheds some light on the microscopic molecular mechanisms responsible for the observed anomalous behavior. The relevance of the correlation hole, a unique property of polymer liquids, in relation to the observed subdiffusive dynamics, naturally emerges from the analysis of the van Hove distribution functions and other properties.
The Influence of Atrial Fibrillation on In-Hospital Mortality in People with Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia: An Observational, Sex-Stratified Study

(1) Background: The study aimed to analyze the influence of atrial fibrillation (AF) prior to hospital admission (“prevalent”) and new-onset AF diagnosed during hospital admission (“incident”) on in-hospital mortality (IHM) in women and men who developed hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) in Spain (2016–2019). (2) Methods: We used the Spanish Register of Specialized Care-Basic Minimum Database. (3) Results: We analyzed 38,814 cases of HAP (34.6% women; 13.5% ventilator-associated). Prevalent AF was coded in 19.9% (n = 7742), and incident AF in 5.5% (n = 2136) of HAP. Crude IHM was significantly higher for prevalent AF (34.22% vs. 27.35%, p < 0.001) and for incident AF (35.81% vs. 28.31%, p < 0.001) compared to no AF. After propensity score matching, IHM among women and men with prevalent AF was higher than among women and men with no AF (among women, 32.89% vs. 30.11%, p = 0.021; among men, 35.05% vs. 32.46%, p = 0.008). Similarly, IHM among women and men with incident AF was higher than among women and men with no AF (among women, 36.23% vs. 29.90%, p = 0.013; among men, 35.62% vs. 30.47%; p = 0.003). Sex was associated with a higher IHM only in people with incident AF (for female, OR = 1.21; 95% CI: 1.01–1.57). (4) Conclusions: Both prevalent and incident AF were associated with higher IHM in people who developed HAP. Female sex was associated with a higher IHM in incident AF.
Efficacy of AutoPulse for Mechanical Chest Compression in Patients with Shock-Resistant Ventricular Fibrillation

Introduction: Sudden cardiac arrest is one of the most common causes of death. In cases of shock-resistant ventricular fibrillation, immediate transport of patients to the hospital is essential and made possible with use of devices for mechanical chest compression. Objectives: The efficacy of AutoPulse in patients with shock-resistant ventricular fibrillation was studied. Methods: This is a multicentre observational study on a population of 480,000, with 192 reported cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The study included patients with shock-resistant ventricular fibrillation defined as cardiac arrest secondary to ventricular fibrillation requiring ≥3 consecutive shocks. Eventually, 18 patients met the study criteria. Results: The mean duration of resuscitation was 48.4±43 min, 55% of patients were handed over to the laboratory while still in cardiac arrest, 83.3% of them underwent angiography and, in 93.3% of them, infarction was confirmed. Coronary intervention was continued during mechanical resuscitation in 50.0% of patients, 60% of patients survived the procedure, and 27.8% of the patients survived. Conclusions: Resistant ventricular fibrillation suggests high likelihood of a coronary component to the cardiac arrest. AutoPulse is helpful in conducting resuscitation, allowing the time to arrival at hospital to be reduced.