Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of electromagnetic field on body weight and blood indices in albino rats and the therapeutic action of vitamin C or E.

The present work investigated the effect of electromagnetic f ield (EMF) radiated from mobile telephones base stations with frequency equals 900 MHz on body weight, blood indices and some liver enzymes of albino rats after exposing them to the electromagnetic field for 2 weeks. This work focuses on the therapeutic action of vitamin C or E against harmful effects induced by electromagnetic field. Results showed that electromagnetic field exposure caused a significant decrease in a growth rate. Significant increase in the following blood indices: the white blood cell count (WBC) recording 19.80% as compared to control level, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and blood platelets count (PLT). And a significant decrease in red blood cell count (RBC), hemoglobin incidence (HB), hematocrit value, the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC). Serum aminotransferase (AST), alkaline aminotransferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase were significantly increased under electromagnetic field exposure. Signs of improvements in the body weight rate, the hematological parameters and the serum of liver enzymes were noticed during treatments with electromagnetic field in addition to vitamin C or E.
Tree-Ring Based Chronology of Landslides in the Shirakami Mountains, Japan

The N-Ohkawa landslide, and the southern section of the Ohkawa landslide, occurred during the snow-melt seasons of 1999 and 2006, respectively, in the Shirakami Mountains, Japan. This paper examines the response of trees in the Shirakami Mountains to landslides, and also investigates the spatio-temporal occurrence patterns of landslide events in the area. Dendrogeomorphological analysis was used to identify growth suppression and growth increase (GD) markers in tilted deciduous broadleaved trees and also to reveal the timing of the establishment of shade-intolerant tree species. Analysis of the GD markers detected in tree-ring width series revealed confirmatory evidence of landslide events that occurred in 1999 and 2006 and were observed by eyewitnesses, as well as signals from eight additional (previously unrecorded) landslide events during 1986–2005. Furthermore, shade-intolerant species were found to have become established on the N-Ohkawa and southern Ohkawa landslides, but with a lag of up to seven years following the landslide events causing the canopy opening.
Phenology of the ‘Hass’ avocado in the State of Mexico, Mexico

Avocado is the third most produced crop in the State of Mexico, with 11,296 ha, where the predominant variety is ‘Hass. ’ Due to a lack of knowledge about its development in different environments, its agronomic management is highly heterogeneous, since it is based on experiences in other states. The objective of this study was to analyze, describe and quantify the phenological development of ‘Hass’ avocado in three environments in the State of Mexico. The vegetative, flowering, root and fruit development of ‘Hass’ avocado was recorded during the 2011-2012 cycle. Two periods were distinguished for vegetative growth (December-April and October-November), flowering (December-February and August-October), harvest (November-February and August-October) and root growth (April-July and October-December). The vegetative growth (0.40 and 0.06 cm increase in shoot length and diameter, respectively) and root growth (36 and 24 g fresh weight and dry matter, respectively) were lower than fruit growth (70.1 mm increase in diameter) in Coatepec Harinas (temperate with andosol soil and isotherms from 14-18 °C). In contrast, the same growth measurements were higher in the localities with cambisol-luvisol soil and isotherms from 16-20 °C: Ixtapan del Oro (temperate/semi-warm, with 0.69 and 0.12 cm in shoot, and 56 and 48.8 g in root) and Temascaltepec (semi-warm, with 0.78 and 0.23 cm in shoot, and 69.3 and 31.3 g in root), but lower increases in fruit (59.4 and 56.6 mm, respectively). The phenological differences observed among environments will be useful for the technical management of the crop.
Gold nanoclusters as prospective carriers and detectors of pramipexole

Pramipexole (PPX) is known in the treatment of Parkinson's disease and restless legs syndrome. We carried out a theoretical investigation on pramipexole–Au cluster interactions for the applications of drug delivery and detection. Three AuN clusters with sizes N = 6, 8 and 20 were used as reactant models to simulate the metallic nanostructured surfaces. Quantum chemical computations were performed in both gas phase and aqueous environments using density functional theory (DFT) with the PBE functional and the cc-pVDZ-PP/cc-pVTZ basis set. The PPX drug is mainly adsorbed on gold clusters via its nitrogen atom of the thiazole ring with binding energies of ca. −22 to −28 kcal mol−1 in vacuum and ca. −18 to −24 kcal mol−1 in aqueous solution. In addition to such Au–N covalent bonding, the metal–drug interactions are further stabilized by electrostatic effects, namely hydrogen-bond NH⋯Au contributions. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of PPX adsorbed on the Au surfaces and its desorption process were also examined. In comparison to Au8, both Au6 and Au20 clusters undergo a shorter recovery time and a larger change of energy gap, being possibly conducive to electrical conversion, thus signaling for detection of the drug. A chemical enhancement mechanism for SERS procedure was again established in view of the formation of nonconventional hydrogen interactions Au⋯H–N. The binding of PPX to a gold cluster is expected to be reversible and triggered by the presence of cysteine residues in protein matrices or lower-shifted alteration of environment pH. These findings would encourage either further theoretical probes to reach more accurate views on the efficiency of pramipexole–Au interactions, or experimental attempts to build appropriate gold nanostructures for practical trials, harnessing their potentiality for applications.
Soil Organic Carbon: Relating the Walkley-Black Wet Oxidation Method to Loss on Ignition and Clay Content

Accurate estimation of soil organic carbon (SOC) is needed in many fields of science including ecology, soil science and global climate change. Loss on ignition method (LOI) of estimating SOC has been proposed as rapid, accurate and cheap method but it has some limitations. Walkley-Black method is also widely used. For this study, 12 soil samples from 0-15 cm depth were collected from four sites of the Crop Plantation Section of the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, KNUST. The amount of SOC (%) estimated by LOI and W-B methods, and clay content were used to develop simple and multiple linear regression equations to describe their relationships. The highest estimate of SOC (3.28%) was produced by Loss on ignition method, whereas W-B gave lower estimates with 1.35% being the highest produced by this method. The coefficient of determination, R 2 , for the equations ranged from 0.35 to 0.84. Very weak relationship was observed between LOI and W-B as evidenced by R 2 value of 0.35. The clay content had a strong positive correlation (r = 0.70, p < 0.001) with LOI and gave R 2
Retarded Crystallization in Polyamide/Layered Silicates Nanocomposites caused by an Immobilized Interphase

The interphase between the inorganic filler and the polymer matrix is considered as one of the most important parameters for inorganic/polymer nanocomposites. In nanocomposites based on semicrystalline polymers we have to take into account two, often immobilized, interphases. One is existing between the polymer crystals and the amorphous part of the polymer and another one between the inorganic filler and the polymer matrix. The fraction of immobilized interphases, the rigid amorphous fraction (RAF), is available from specific heat capacity at the glass transition region of the nanocomposites. Assuming a certain constant amount of RAF around the individual lamellar crystals, which is available from the pure semicrystalline polymer, we determined the RAF related to the inorganic nanofiller. For the polyamide 6/layered silicate nanocomposites studied the RAF due to the filler reached more than 25% of the polymer fraction. The existence of a RAF around the nanofiller finally explains the observed reduced cry.
Aluminium-bearing strunzite derived from jahnsite at the Hagendorf-Süd pegmatite, Germany

Abstract Aluminium-bearing strunzite, [Mn0.65Fe0. 26Zn0.08Mg0. 01]2+[Fe1.50Al0. 50]3+(PO4)2(OH)2·6H2O, occurs as fibrous aggregates in a crystallographically oriented association with jahnsite on altered zwieselite samples from the phosphate pegmatite at Hagendorf Süd, Bavaria, Germany. Synchrotron X-ray data were collected from a 3 μm diameter fibre and refined in space group P1̄ to R1 = 0.054 for 1484 observed reflections. The refinement confirmed the results of chemical analyses which showed that one quarter of the trivalent iron in the strunzite crystals is replaced by aluminium. The paragenesis revealed by scanning electron microscopy, in combination with chemical analyses and a crystal-chemical comparison of the strunzite and jahnsite structures, are consistent with strunzite being formed from jahnsite by selective leaching of (100) metal-phosphate layers containing large divalent Ca and Mn atoms.
Modality Disentangled Discriminator for Text-to-Image Synthesis

Text-to-image (T2I) synthesis aims at generating photo-realistic images from text descriptions, which is a particularly important task in bridging vision and language. Each generated image consists of two parts: the content part related to the text and the style part irrelevant to the text. The existing discriminator does not distinguish between the content part and the style part. This not only precludes the T2I synthesis models from generating the content part effectively but also makes it difficult to manipulate the style of the generated image. In this paper, we propose a modality disentangled discriminator that distinguishes between the content part and the style part at a specific layer. Specifically, we enforce the early layers of a certain number in the discriminator to become the disentangled representation extractor through two losses. The extracted common representation for the content part can make the discriminator more effective for capturing the text-image correlation, while the extracted modality-specific representation for the style part can be directly transferred to other images. The combination of these two representations can also improve the quality of the generated images. Our proposed discriminator is used to substitute the discriminator of each stage in the representative model AttnGAN and the SOTA model DM-GAN. Extensive experiments are conducted on three widely used datasets, i.e. CUB, Oxford-102, and COCO, for the T2I synthesis task, demonstrating the superior performance of the modality disentangled discriminator over the base models. Code for DM-GAN with our modality disentangled discriminator is available at https://github.com/FangxiangFeng/DM-GAN-MDD.
Physical Activity Behavior Comparisons Between Adults With and Without Type 1 Diabetes

Physical activity (PA) is a widely accepted strategy to manage chronic diseases like type 1 diabetes; however, unique PA barriers likely result in lower PA levels among person(s) with type 1 diabetes (PWT1D), compared to person(s) without type 1 diabetes (PWOT1D). The integrated theory of health behavior change (ITHBC) (i.e., knowledge/beliefs, self-regulation, and self-management) provides a helpful framework for understanding PA and other health behaviors. This research aimed to determine differences in PA between adult PWT1D and PWOT1D, and characterize their PA-related behaviors using the ITHBC. Participants (N = 90; 86.7% female, 90% white) were recruited via social media and university listserv to complete an online questionnaire. Questions addressed demographics, anthropometrics, diabetes status, and PA-related behaviors. Participants were matched for race, gender, age, and body mass index. PA and related behaviors were compared between PWT1D and PWOT1D using independent samples t-tests and chi-square-tests. No significant differences were found between PWT1D and PWOT1D for weekly minutes of moderateor vigorous-aerobic PA, or weekly days of musclestrengthening PA (p > 0.05). Fifty-one percent of PWT1D and 53.3% of PWOT1D reported enough activity to meet PA guidelines. Almost twice as many PWT1D meeting PA guidelines reported using goal setting, a self-regulation behavior, compared to those who did not meet guidelines (82.6% versus 45.5%, p = 0.009). Targeting PA-related behaviors within ITHBC constructs may help reinforce or influence PA behaviors. These findings can inform future behavior change interventions with PWT1D that focus on educational practices for type 1 diabetes educators or healthcare providers for PWT1D so they can better aid patients.
Vitamin D Supplementation during Pregnancy- A Double Blinded Randomized, Controlled, Dose-Comparison, Trial in Pakistan

Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy is a public health problem in Pakistan, and prevalent among most women of reproductive age in the country. Vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy is suggested to prevent adverse pregnancy outcomes and prevent vitamin D deficiency in both the mother and her newborn. However, there remains uncertainty surrounding the appropriate and safe dose for vitamin D supplementation in pregnant women who experience deficiency. We conducted a double-blinded, randomized, controlled, dose-comparison trial aimed to evaluate the relationship between different doses of vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes among women in a maternity hospital of the Aga Khan University (AKU) in Karachi, Pakistan. Pregnant women (n=350) in their first trimester were recruited and randomized to three treatment groups of vitamin D supplementation: 4,000 IU/day (Group A; n=120), 2,000 IU/day (Group B; n=115), or 400 IU/day (Group C – control; n=115). Deficiency in serum vitamin D (serum 25OHD <20ng/mL) at baseline was prevalent in more than 95% of women in each group. Participants in group A had the lowest vitamin D deficiency at endline and in newborns (endline: 75.9%; neonatal: 64.9%), followed by group B (endline: 84.9%; neonatal: 73.7%) and then the control group (endline: 90.2%; neonatal: 91.8%). Vitamin D deficiency was significantly lower in group A than group C (p=0.006) for women at endline, and lower in both group A and group B than the control group (p=0.001) in neonates. There were no adverse events attributable to vitamin D supplementation in all groups. Our study concluded that vitamin D supplementation with 4000 IU/day is safe and effective in reducing the risk of maternal and neonatal vitamin D deficiency.
Simultaneous Determination of Fexofenadine Hydrochloride and Montelukast Sodium Using New Pencil Graphite Electrode in Their Pure, Synthetic Mixtures, and Combined Dosage Form

This paper introduces a new electrochemical approach for the concomitant determination of fexofenadine hydrochloride and montelukast sodium by constructing three new graphite electrodes coated with a polymeric membrane. The first electrode was constructed using ammonium molybdate reagent as an ion pair with fexofenadine cation for the determination of fexofenadine drug, the second electrode was constructed using cobalt nitrate as an ion pair with montelukast anion for the determination of montelukast drug, the third electrode was prepared by incorporating the two previously mention ion pairs in the same graphite sensor, which make this sensor sensitive to each fexofenadine and montelukast drug. The coating material was a polymeric film comprises of Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC), Di-butyl phthalate as a plasticizer (DBP), ion pairs of drugs with previously mentioned reagents. The electrodes showed a Nernstian response with a mean calibration graph slopes of [58.97, 28.43, (59.048 , 28,643 )] mv.decade-1 for the three pencil electrodes respectively. The electrodes work effectively over pH range (2-4.5) for fexofenadine hydrochloride and (5-9.5) for montelukast sodium. The influence of the proposed interfering species was negligible. The effectiveness of the electrodes continued in a period of time (45-69) days. The suggested sensors demonstrated useful analytical features for the determination of both drugs in bulk powder, in laboratory prepared mixtures and their combined dosage form. We have validated the method in accordance with ICH protocol.
Artemisia Annua Ethanolic Extract Mitigated Small Intestinal Lesions in Hamsters Infected With Giardia Lamblia Possibly Through Modulation of Mucosal Immunity

Giardiasis is a worldwide health problem caused by Giardia lamblia. Unfortunately, G. lamblia developed drug resistance against commonly used therapeutic agents. Artemisia annua (A. annua) derivatives showed therapeutic efficacy against a number of parasitic infestations. Here, we aimed to elucidate the effect of A. annua on giardiasis-induced small intestinal changes in hamsters. Thirty-two hamsters were divided into 4 groups. GI: Uninfected, GII: infected with G. lamblia cysts and untreated, GIII: infected and treated with metronidazole, served as a positive control, and GIV: infected and treated with the A. annua ethanolic extract. The efficacy of the extract was assessed by trophozoite counts, serum cytokine levels and histopathology. Infection of gerbils with G. lamblia cysts significantly decreased serum nitrite, while increased serum IL-6, INF-γ and TNF-α. Additionally, G. lamblia increased intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL) while reduced villus heights, goblet cell (GC) number and muscularis externa (ME) thickness. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that G. lamblia increased inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and caspase-3 expression. In contrast, treating infected animals with A. annua significantly reduced the mean trophozoite counts, serum nitrite, IL-6, INF-γ, TNF-α levels and IEL numbers while increased villus heights, GC numbers and ME thickness. Moreover, A. annua reversed giardiasis-induced changes in iNOS and caspase-3 expression. In conclusion; we showed clearly that A. annua extract reduced the severity and morphological changes of giardiasis possibly through modulation of nitric oxide production and mucosal immunity. These effects were comparable to effects of metronidazole. Therefore, we assume that A. annua extracts could be used as adjuvant therapy during treatment of giardiasis.
Cell Morphology and Improved Heat Resistance of Microcellular Poly(l-lactide) Foam via Introducing Stereocomplex Crystallites of PLA

The preparation of poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) foam with well-defined cell structure and high heat resistance is critical to broaden its applications. In this study, the stereocomplex crystallites (SC) with higher melting point and heat stability were introduced into PLLA foam by melt blending the PLLA with different amounts of poly(d-lactic acid) (PDLA). The crystal structures of pure PLLA and PLLA/PDLA blends formed during the blending and molding process were compared. It was found that no obvious crystallization was detected in pure PLLA, while SC formed in PLLA/PDLA blends. Crystal structure and morphology evolution of PLLA and PLLA/PDLA during the CO2 saturation and foaming process were investigated by combination of DSC, WAXD, FTIR, and SEM techniques. The results suggested SC had a higher melting peak, higher thermal stability, and smaller crystal domain size in relation to the homocrystal of PLLA, and it did not further develop with the CO2 saturation and the foaming processes, while the CO2 satur.
Inflammation-mediated Phenoconversion: A Potential Threat to COVID-19 Pharmacotherapy

One of the important hallmarks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the existence of severe inflammatory responses. Many reports indicated that inflammatory mediators might suppress the biological functions of some drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters, and therefore result in a transient mismatch between their genotype and phenotype expressions, a phenomenon which is called phenoconversion. The incidence might be clinically relevant to the COVID-19 patients with comorbidities. The patients are treated with multiple drugs that are prone to be altered pharmacokinetically by inflammation-mediated phenoconversion, leading to the modification of their effectiveness and safety. In this review, we discuss the regulation of inflammatory responses during COVID-19 infection and the evidence as well as potential mechanisms of inflammation-mediated phenoconversion. We also provide possible clinical implications of such phenoconversion events as a potential threat in the management of COVID-19 patients.
The Effect of Addition of ZrO2 to Fe2O3 for Hydrogen Production by Chemical Looping

In this paper, a synthetic mixture of ZrO2 and Fe2O3 was prepared by coprecipitation for use in chemical looping and hydrogen production. Cycling experiments in a fluidized bed showed that a material composed of 30 mol % ZrO2 and 70 mol % Fe2O3 was capable of producing hydrogen with a consistent yield of 90 mol % of the stoichiometric amount over 20 cycles of reduction and oxidation at 1123 K. Here, the iron oxide was subjected to cycles consisting of nearly 100% reduction to Fe followed by reoxidation (with steam or CO2 and then air) to Fe2O3. There was no contamination by CO of the hydrogen produced, at a lower detection limit of 500 ppm, when the conversion of Fe3O4 to Fe was kept below 90 mol %. A preliminary investigation of the reaction kinetics confirmed that the ZrO2 support does not inhibit rates of reaction compared with those observed with iron oxide alone.
The Internal Consistency Reliability and Construct Validity of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity (Modified Short-Form) among 8- to 14-year-old Churchgoers in Australia

This study examines the psychometric properties of a modified short form of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity. While the original seven-item short form contained two negatively voiced items, this modified form contains only one negatively voiced item, in order to improve the performance of the instrument among younger participants. Data provided by 10,084 young churchgoers between the ages of 8 and 14 years support the internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the instrument across the age range and commend the instrument for further use in research among this age group.
Digital Entrepreneurship in Indonesia: A Human Capital Perspective

Digital technology has become a new economic and social force, reshaping traditional business models, strategies, structures, and processes. This is a challenge for human capital to develop continuously in this dynamic era; one of the solutions is digital entrepreneurship. Digital entrepreneurship focuses on creating new ventures and transforming existing businesses by developing novel digital technologies or novel usage. Further, digital technology has also enabled the growth of the sharing economy, linking owners and users, and disrupting the previous dualism of businesses and customers. This paper provides a novel contribution regarding the emerging concept of Digital Entrepreneurship. Based on a qualitative literature review and interview with university staff, lecturers, and students in four large public and private universities in West Java and DIY Province, an interpretative framework for Digital Entrepreneurship has been proposed, which comprises of the following components: motivation (the rationale for the adoption of digital technology for academic entrepreneurship), stakeholders (the stakeholders involved through digital technology to achieve the academic entrepreneurship goal), process (the processes of academic entrepreneurship supported by digital technologies), and business form (the emerging forms of digital academic entrepreneurship). This research also shows several alternative government policies to improve digital entrepreneurship in the academic environment.