Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Force Generation of the Hallux is More Sensitive to the Ankle and Metatarsophalangeal Joint Angle Than the Lesser Toes

Background: Because the structure of the hallux is independent of that of the lesser toes and it uses different muscles to move, the force generation characteristics of the hallux could be independent of those of the lesser toes. The purpose of this study is to clarify the torque–angle relationships in the first and second–fifth metatarsophalangeal joints (MTPJs). Methods: Ten healthy young men served as volunteers in this study. The maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) of the plantar-ﬂexion torques of the first and second–fifth MTPJs were measured at 0°, 15°, 30°, and 45° dorsiflexed positions of the MTPJs and 20° plantar-flexed, neutral, and 20° dorsiflexed positions of the ankle. The Friedman test and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test with a Holm correction was used for the ankle and MTPJ angles.Results: When the first MTPJ was 0° to DF30°, the MVC torque of the first MTPJ at DF20° of the ankle was higher than at PF20°of the ankle. On the other hand, no significant difference existed between the MVC torques of the second–fifth MTPJs at any ankle position. When the ankle was in a neutral position, the MVC of the first MTPJ torque increased as the MTPJ was dorsiflexed. However, the MVC torques of the second through fifth MTPJs did not significantly differ for the 15°, 30°, and 45° dorsiflexed positions of the MTPJ.Conclusion: The MVC torque of the first MTPJ is more sensitive to the MTPJ and ankle positions than the second–fifth MTPJs.
Downregulation of PLK4 Expression Induces Cellular Dormancy in Colorectal Cancer via Mesenchymal-to-epithelial Transition

Background: Reactivation of dormant tumor cells is a critical step in the recurrence of many cancers, including colorectal cancer (CRC). Polo-like kinases 4 (PLK4), a central regulator of the cell cycle and proliferation, is a validated oncogene in tumorigenesis. However, the roles of PLK4 in tumor cell dormancy and reactivation still need to be further explored.Methods: The expression level of PLK4 was determined by immunohistochemical staining, Western blotting (WB) and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). PLK4-dependent clinicopathological risk factors and the prognosis of CRC were characterized with 122 clinical samples. The roles of PLK4 in tumor cell dormancy, cell cycle progression, proliferation and invasion were determined by molecular and cell biology methods in vitro and in vivo.Results: The expression of PLK4 was dramatically increased in CRCs and positively correlated with aggressive tumor behavior and clinicopathological risk factors. Downregulation of PLK4 expression contributed to restoring phenotypically aggressive tumor cells to a quiescent state, and this transformation was likely regulated by mesenchymal-to-epithelial transformation (MET) progression in vitro and in vivo.Conclusions: This study elucidates the mechanisms involving PLK4 depletion in the induction and maintenance of CRC dormancy, which are very important in terms of both clinical significance and application value.
Reluctance to vaccinate: Reasons and solutions

WHO states that: “Vaccine hesitancy refers to delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite availability of vaccination services. Vaccine hesitancy is complex and context specific varying across time, place and vaccines. It includes factors such as complacency, convenience and confidence”. They have postulated some solutions, stating that “in most cases, interventions should be dialogue based and directly targeted to a specific under-vaccinated population group [2]”.
Some Studies on Phenotypic and Genotypic Characters of Small Colony Variants Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Dairy Cows Infected with Mastitis in Egypt

| In veterinary medicine, the small colony variants (SCVs) S.aureus was ignored, but recently the interest in its analysis has been increased because it causes chronic infections with difficulty in laboratory isolation and identification. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of S. aureus SCVs and their mastitis prevalence in dairy cows, as well as the protein profile discrepancy between parent strains of S.aureus and S.aureus SCVs. A total number of 130 milk samples were collected and examined from commercial Friesian-Holstein dairy herds in Egypt. Of the examined milk samples chronic subclinical mastitic milk samples constituted 58.46%, while clinical mastitis milk samples were 9.23%. S.aureus SCVs were only isolated from chronic subclinical samples with percentage of 23.68%. In order to distinguish between S.aureus parent strains and S.aureus SCVs, Phenotypic characters such as, growth rate, colony size, Mannitol fermentation, hemolysis, rabbit plasma coagulation and catalase test were examined. In addition the isolated Staphylococcus species were investigated using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique to approve the isolation of SCVs S. aureus. In addition protein profile between parent strains of S.aureus and SCVs have been tested and evaluated. The results showed the significance of SCVs S.aureus in herd health, as a result of difficulty of its diagnosis, the percentage of SCVs infection may be increased, so more attention should be paid for the investigation of observed colony morphologies. Isolates of SCVs S.aureus should be subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing with a protocol for treatment as they showed higher resistance against many antibiotics when compared with parent strains of S.aureus; this study suggests that Ciprofloxacin, Enrofloxacin and rifampin can be used for treatment of SCVs S.aureus.
End-to-End Deep Multi-Modal Physiological Authentication With Smartbands

The number of fitness tracker users increases every day. Most of the applications require authentication to protect privacy-preserving operations. Biometrics such as face images have been used widely as login tokens, but they have privacy issues. Moreover, occlusions like face masks used for COVID may reduce their effectiveness. Smartbands can track heart rate, movements, and electrodermal activities. They have been widely used for health-related applications. The use of smartbands for authentication is in the exploratory stage. Physiological signals gathered from smartbands may be used to create a multi-modal and multi-sensor authentication system. The popularity of smartbands enables us to deploy new applications without a need to buy additional hardware. In this study, we explore the multi-modal physiological biometrics with end-to-end deep learning and feature-based traditional systems. We collected multi-modal physiological data of 80 people for five days using modern smartbands. We applied a deep learning approach to the multi-modal physiological data and used feature-based traditional machine learning classifiers. The CNN-LSTM model achieved a 9.31% equal error rate and outperformed other models in terms of authentication performance.
Impact of Heating Systems on Air and Litter Quality in Broiler Houses, Performance, Behavior, and Immunity in Broiler Chickens

| Achieving optimum thermoneutral zone in broiler houses provokes enhanced performance, productivity, and welfare. The influence of different heating systems on microclimatic air quality, litter abiotic, performance, behavior, some carcass characteristics, intestinal microbiota, E. coli & Salmonella isolation, immunoglobulin concentrations, and cortisol levels in broilers was studied. Two hundred one-day-old female Ross ® 308 broilers were divided into four groups (50 each) in four independent rooms (G1, G2, G3, and G4) supplied with gas-operated, halogen, oil, and portable air conditioner heaters, respectively. A total of 1520 samples including 200 litter, 200 air, 160 sera, 160 intestinal swabs, 160 breast muscles, and 640 organ samples including liver, spleen, heart, and bursa of Fabricius were collected. The results revealed highly significant declines (P < 0.01) of carbon dioxide and ammonia concentrations, litter pH and moisture percentages, feed conversions, water intakes, locomotion & panting behaviors, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, urea, creatinine, total bacterial and Enterobacteriaceae counts, E. coli and Salmonella isolation and counts, and cortisol levels, as well as, highly significant increases (P < 0.01) of weight gains, performance indices, live weights, feeding & resting behaviors, carcass and organs weights, total protein, albumin, and immunoglobulin concentrations in broilers raised with oil and portable air conditioner heaters rather than those reared with a gas-operated torch and halogen heaters. The study concluded that using an advanced and clean source of heat as oil or air conditioner heaters can meet the broiler’s microclimatic requirements without representing a source of stress on birds.
Modelling the influence of frequency in a low pressure capacitively coupled hydrogen discharge

This paper investigates the dependence of plasma density and self-bias voltage with excitation frequency (13.56-40.68 MHz) using a two-dimensional (2D) fluid model in a low pressure (300 mTorr) radio frequency (RF) capacitively coupled hydrogen discharge. A comparison with experimental results reveals that the model predicts the correct trends of density and self-bias voltage variation with driving frequency.
Sustainable Tourism in Ski Resorts of Europe and The World

: A specific feature of ski tourism is its dependence on climatic conditions so that activities on snow can be realized. Understanding the impact of tourism developments would help the sustainability of tourism management. Sustainability can be viewed from several aspects, the two most often considered being economic and environmental sustainability. This paper presents an overview of sustainable practices in ski resorts in Europe and the world. The aim is to present sustainable practices and to compare different ways of solving the problem of climate change, i.e. the application of adaptation strategies. Ski resorts differ in terms of resources, altitude, and geographical location. Thus, different sustainable practices are needed. The main problems that disrupt the sustainability of the destination are the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere as a consequence of mass tourism movements in the form of transport to the mountain and on the mountain, then insufficient snow at lower altitudes during the winter months. Also, deforestation, changing landscapes and disrupting the functioning of ecosystems due to the need to develop ski resorts in the form of infrastructure projects. A sustainable way of managing ski resorts should enable the smooth flow of the winter tourism season, without disturbing the ecosystem and the natural environment. The working wrote a document entitled: Guidelines for innovation in Alpine tourism destinations. This report covered the current challenges and expected future scenarios for the mentioned destinations. They were assisted in this by tourism, sustainability and destination management experts who represent and implement sustainable practices.
Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) Incidence with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Mapping for Stroke Prevention Interventions

Objectives: GIS mapping as a public health tool has been increasingly applied to chronic disease control. While evaluating TIA incidence from an existing regional stroke registry in Ludhiana city, India, we aim to apply the innovative concept of regional TIA GIS mapping for planning targeted stroke prevention interventions. Methods: TIA patient data was obtained from hospitals, scan centers and general practitioners from March 2010 to March 2013 using WHO-Stroke STEPS based surveillance as part of establishing a population-based stroke registry in Ludhiana city. From this registry, patients with TIA (diagnosed by MRI image-based stroke rule-out, or clinically) were chosen and data analyzed. Results: A total of 138 TIA patients were included in the final analysis. The annual TIA incidence rate for Ludhiana city was 7.13/100,000 (95% confidence interval: 5.52 to 8.74) for 2012-2013. Mean age was 58.5 ± 13.9 years (range: 22-88 years) and 87 (63%) were men. Majority of the TIA cases had anterior circulation TIAs. Hypertension (87.4%) was the most common risk factor. Using Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, high TIA incidence was seen in central, western, and southern parts and clustering of TIA cumulative incidence was seen in the central part of Ludhiana city. Conclusion: Incidence rate of TIA was lower than that expected from a low- and middle-income country (LMIC). TIA GIS mapping, looking at regional localization, can be a novel option for developing targeted, cost-effective stroke prevention programs.
Exogenous melatonin on Physiological and Yield Traits of Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) under Salt Stress

The present investigation to evaluate the impact of melatonin on physiological, biochemical characters and yield potential of cassava under salt stress condition. The present study was carried out in cassava variety Sree Athulya with nine treatments under 120mM NaCl salt stress condition. Different treatments viz., sett treatment and foliar application of 100 ppm melatonin was done at 30 and 60 DAP of the crop growth. Control (salt stress + no melatonin) and absolute control (no stress and melatonin) also maintained for comparison purpose. The salt stress of 120 mM NaCl was imposed from day one to120 days. Observations done on 45, 75 and 135 days after planting revealed that foliar spray of 100 ppm melatonin at 30 days after planting recorded percent increase of 33.56 in photosynthetic rate, 37.28 in stomatal conductance, 13.60 in transpiration rate and sett treatment plus foliar spray at 30 and 60 days after planting showed maximum osmotic adjustment, osmotic potential, proline (16.54 %) and soluble protein content (10.32 %). The melatonin treated plants are efficient in producing higher yield than untreated one under salt stress.
X-ray study on polymorphism of ilvaite, HCaFe22+Fe3+O2[Si2O7]

The crystal structure of the monoclinic form of ilvaite has been investigated. A crystal from Tsumo, Japan, was characterized by space group P2Ja, with a = 13.009(1) A, b = 8.8008(3) A, c = 5.8589(2) A, β = 90.324(9)°, whereas a crystal from Techukhe, Siberia, had P2Ja, a = 13.013(3)A, b = 8.8197(6)Â, c = 5.8424(5) Α, β = 90.03(1)°. In the structure, the octahedra formed by oxygen atoms about Fe(ll) and those about Fe(12) are alternately linked together, sharing edges to form a chain of octahedra parallel to c. The monoclinic symmetry of ilvaite is characterized by ordering of Fe + and Fe + which are distributed over these two Fe sites with a ratio of 1:1. The atomic contents in the Fe(ll) site, estimated from mean F e ( l l ) 0 length, are: Tsumo ilvaite 0.85Fe and 0.15Fe, and Techukhe ilvaite 0.53 Fe + and 0.47 Fe + . From these atomic occupancies, the order parameter, σ, of Tsumo ilvaite is calculated to be 75 %, while that of Techukhe ilvaite 6 %. From the two cases of monoclinic ilvaites, a relation between β and a has been deduced; the result permits predicting β » 90.45° for an ilvaite crystal having σ = 100 %. The orthorhombic form of ilvaite may be defined as a form of ilvaite having σ = 0.
Frequency-Diverse Metamaterial Cavity Antenna for Microwave Coincidence Imaging

A frequency-diverse metamaterial cavity antenna (FDMCA) that can be used for the microwave coincidence imaging is proposed in this letter. The proposed FDMCA is a slot antenna array excited by a metamaterial-based cavity, which can generate diverse radiation patterns at different frequencies. The average electric-field variation (AEV) is introduced to forecast the correlation coefficients of radiation patterns generated by the antenna. The lower the correlation coefficients are, the better the quality of the reconstructed image is. To verify the validity of the AEV and the superiority of the FDMCA, a disordered-structure-based cavity antenna (DSCA) and a lumpy-floor-based cavity antenna (LFCA) are also presented for comparison. Performances of the FDMCA, including the reflection coefficient, the radiation efficiency, and the correlation coefficients, are evaluated too. Microwave coincidence imaging experiments using the DSCA, LFCA, and FDMCA are carried out under the same condition and the target image can be reconstructed with high quality. The comparison of different imaging results illustrates the feasibility and superiority of the FDMCA. All results are validated through the simulations and measurements.
Outstanding Low Temperature Thermoelectric Power Factor from Completely Organic Thin Films Enabled by Multidimensional Conjugated Nanomaterials

In an effort to create a paintable/printable thermoelectric material, comprised exclusively of organic components, polyaniline (PANi), graphene, and double‐walled nanotube (DWNT) are alternately deposited from aqueous solutions using the layer‐by‐layer assembly technique. Graphene and DWNT are stabilized with an intrinsically conductive polymer, poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). An 80 quadlayer thin film (≈1 μm thick), comprised of a PANi/graphene‐PEDOT:PSS/PANi/DWNT‐PEDOT:PSS repeating sequence, exhibits unprecedented electrical conductivity (σ ≈ 1.9 × 105 S m−1) and Seebeck coefficient (S ≈ 120 μV K−1) for a completely organic material. These two values yield a thermoelectric power factor (PF = S 2 σ −1) of 2710 μW m−1 K−2, which is the highest value ever reported for a completely organic material and among the highest for any material measured at room temperature. These outstanding properties are attributed to the highly ordered structure in the multilayer assembly. This water‐based thermoelectric nanocomposite is competitive with the best inorganic semiconductors (e.g., bismuth telluride) at room temperature and can be applied as a coating to any flexible surface (e.g., fibers in clothing). For the first time, there is a real opportunity to harness waste heat from unconventional sources, such as body heat, to power devices in an environmentally‐friendly way.
A review on impact of water pollution on freshwater fish species and their aquatic environment

Freshwater is a chief natural resource used for various types of activities in our daily life i.e. for drinking as well as different developmental purposes. An increase in pollution level leads to instability in our natural environment and harm both the physical systems and living organisms dwelling in the ecosystem. Various harmful substances present in polluted water bodies in the form of insecticide, pesticides, heavy metals, mills waste, and crude oil are frequently released into the aquatic ecosystem. When a large amount of these pollutants is released into any water body, causes an acute effect by rapid highscale mortalities of aquatic organisms. Minor levels of pollutant discharge result in an accumulation of the contaminants in the body composition of fish species. Water pollution effects are classified into acute and chronic effects, which suppress immune-response, reduction of metabolism, harm to gills, and epithelial layer in the fish species. Some of the diseases caused by the pollutant include fin rot, tail rot, gill disease, damage hepatic tissues, and also causes ulceration. This chapter aims to reviews the various types of impacts caused by water pollution on the health of fish species and their ecosystem.
High-Resolution Land Cover Mapping Through Learning With Noise Correction

High-resolution land cover mapping over large areas is a challenging task due to the lack of high-quality labels. A potential solution is to leverage the existing knowledge contained in the freely available lower-resolution land cover products. However, the relatively low resolution and low accuracy of the products lead to numerous inaccurate labels, which harms the performance of the neural network. This article addresses the challenge by jointly optimizing the network parameters and correcting the noisy labels with a novel online noise correction approach and a synergistic noise correction loss. By incorporating the information entropy as a measurement to determine the probable correct labels, the proposed noise correction approach learns to make effective correction of the noisy labels during training and eventually boosts the performance with a training set containing less noisy labels. Experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively correct the noisy labels and reduce their negative impact on network training. By employing the proposed method, we produce a refined high-resolution (3-m) land cover map from a lower-resolution (10-m) product in China and improve the accuracy from 74.96% (10-m) to 81.32% (3-m). Such an approach that can effectively learn from noisy data sets leads to many potential opportunities for using and magnifying existing knowledge and results.
The role of NLRP3 in the prognosis and immune infiltrates of skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM)

Background Skin cutaneous melanoma is one of the most aggressive types of cancers worldwide. Therefore, the identification of skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM) biomarkers is of great importance. NLRP3 inflammasome complex nodelike receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) is one of the most characteristic inflammasomes belonging to the NLR protein family. This is the first time to use TCGA data to study NLRP3 expression in SKCM patients and its prognostic value, potential biological function, and impact on the immune system. Methods The expression of NLRP3 in SKCM was analyzed by Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA). We assessed the impact of NLRP3 on SKCM patient survival through the survival module and then downloaded the SKCM data set from TCGA. Logistic regression was used to analyze the correlation between clinical data and NLRP3 expression. Univariate survival rate and multivariate Cox analysis were used to compare several clinical features and survival rates. We also used CIBERSORT to investigate the association between NLRP3 and cancer immune infiltration. We used TIMER to investigate NLRP3 expression and collection of immune infiltration levels in SKCM, as well as cumulative survival in SKCM. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed using the TCGA dataset. Besides, data from The Human Protein Atlas (HPA) was used to validate the results. Results Univariate Logistic regression analysis showed that increased NLRP3 expression was significantly correlated with age, stage, and tumor status. Specifically, NLRP3 expression level had significant positive correlations with infiltrating levels of B cell, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, Macrophages, Neutrophils, and DCs in SKCM. GSEA revealed that NLRP3 was closely correlated with pathways in cancer. HPA showed that in tumor tissues, NLRP3 had higher levels of expression compared to normal tissues. Conclusions The discovery of NLRP3 as a new biomarker of SKCM helps to elucidate how changes in the immune environment promote the occurrence of cutaneous melanoma. Further analysis suggested that NLRP3 might be a predictor of SKCM prognosis.