Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Promising Therapeutic Efficacy of Trigonella- foenum graecum and Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Skeletal Muscle Atrophy in Experimental Rat Model

Skeletal muscle plasticity is maintained by various ways to regulate cell and protein turnover. When muscle atrophy occurs, proteolytic cascades are activated, resulting in the removal of organelles and contractile proteins, leading to myofibrillar shrinkage and great loss of the total muscle mass. This is linked to improper diagnosis in several diseases such as myopathies and muscular dystrophies, systemic disorders, and many catabolic diseases. The present study was carried out to evaluate the powerful mitigatory ability of Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) and/or Trigonella foenum-graecum Linn. (Tfg) against simvastatin induced muscular atrophy model in experimental rats. A total number of 50 rats were divided mainly into 2 groups; the first group served as the normal control group (con.) (n=10) and was allowed to take normal saline via oral gavage tube. While the remaining 40 rats were subjected to simvastatin to induce muscular atrophy at a dose of 80 mg/kg b.wt. , after 46 days, the 40 rats were divided into 4 groups (n=10): (1): Muscular atrophy group (MA) served as a positive control group and sacrificed by the end of the 46 days, (2): (MA+Tfg) which were treated with Tfg only (500mg/day.),(3): (MA + BM-MSCS) each rat received a single dose of 0.5 ml phosphate-buffered saline as a vehicle of stem cells injected into the tail vein and (4): received co-treatment of (Tfg+ BM-MSCS). All the groups' compromised rats were sacrificed after 30 days of the different treatments. In order to figure out muscle atrophy and the treatment efficacy serum biomarkers CK and Troponin, oxidative stress, apoptosis, and inflammatory markers were also determined, molecular investigations of atrogin-1, FoxO-3, mTOR, C-miR-486, and PAX3 were carried out accompanied to histopathological analysis using hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) stain. Tfg and/or BM-MSCs showed gradual improvement in most of the parameters confirmed by the histopathological determinations, confirming the present scientific team's assumption that Tfg and BM-MSCs have a promising therapeutic role in the treatment of muscular atrophy, which needs more studies and investigations.
Validation of Continuous Monitoring System for Epileptic Users in Outpatient Settings

Epilepsy is a chronic disease with a significant social impact, given that the patients and their families often live conditioned by the possibility of an epileptic seizure and its possible consequences, such as accidents, injuries, or even sudden unexplained death. In this context, ambulatory monitoring allows the collection of biomedical data about the patients’ health, thus gaining more knowledge about the physiological state and daily activities of each patient in a more personalized manner. For this reason, this article proposes a novel monitoring system composed of different sensors capable of synchronously recording electrocardiogram (ECG), photoplethysmogram (PPG), and ear electroencephalogram (EEG) signals and storing them for further processing and analysis in a microSD card. This system can be used in a static and/or ambulatory way, providing information about the health state through features extracted from the ear EEG signal and the calculation of the heart rate variability (HRV) and pulse travel time (PTT). The different applied processing techniques to improve the quality of these signals are described in this work. A novel algorithm used to compute HRV and PTT robustly and accurately in ambulatory settings is also described. The developed device has also been validated and compared with other commercial systems obtaining similar results. In this way, based on the quality of the obtained signals and the low variability of the computed parameters, even in ambulatory conditions, the developed device can potentially serve as a support tool for clinical decision-taking stages.
Spectroscopic Investigations of Optical Bandgap and Search for Reaction Mechanism Chemistry Due to γ-Rays Irradiated PMMA Polymer

Radiation damage and the product formation chemistry in Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) due to γ-irradiation have been studied by SEM, XRD, FTIR, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Co-60 gamma source with a dose rate of 1.707 kGy/hr has been used for irradiation to a total 570 kGy dose. No significant changes in morphology upon such irradiation. Crystallinity decreases at a lower dose and then increases for a higher dose. Crosslinking dominates at lower doses, and chain scission overwhelms at higher doses in the irradiated polymer. Two isosbestic points are formed, and the absorption maxima shift towards a higher wavelength. The optical bandgap energy decreases with the addition of radiation dose. A new FTIR peak at 1638 cm-1 appeared, suggesting the formation of an unsaturation center in the irradiated polymer. Up to a dose of 409 kGy, FTIR absorption peak intensity increases and decreases with further irradiation.
Faktor-Faktor Yang Mempengaruhi Firm Value Pada Perusahaan Manufaktur Di BEI

The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of profitability, leverage, and firm size on firm value. This research uses secondary data which is financial information from the financial statements and annual report of the company. The research sample used 72 manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during the period 2016-2018. Statistical analysis which is performed using multiple regression analysis to test the hypothesis. The results of this analysis indicate that profitability has negative effect on firm value, while leverage and firm size has no effect on firm value.
Hydrogeochemistry Characteristics of Groundwater in the Nandong Karst Water System, China

The hydrogeochemical characteristics of groundwater are an important element in the study of the spatial and temporal variation of groundwater resources, which is crucial to water resources utilization, ecological environmental protection, and human development. Water samples were collected at eight observation of Nandong Karst Water System (NKWS) sites in each month of 2019, and the main ions and isotopes of the water samples were examined. The hydrogeochemistry characteristics of groundwater and its differences with surface water were explored by using the methods of multivariate statistics, Gibbs model. Results showed that the water chemistry types of groundwater were mainly HCO3–Ca and HCO3–Ca·Mg. The analysis of hydrogen and oxygen isotope showed that the initial recharge source of surface water and groundwater were atmospheric precipitation, and the measured hydrogen and oxygen isotopes of surface water were heavier due to the strong evaporation effect. The natural and anthropogenic processes contributed to the chemical composition of surface water and groundwater in the study area. However, the main factor affecting the quality of surface water and groundwater was the input of anthropogenic contaminants. In terms of natural factors, the main chemical ions of surface water and groundwater were mainly controlled by water-rock action originating from weathering and hydrolysis of rocks and soils. Ca2+, Mg2+, and HCO3− mainly originated from natural dissolution of carbonate rocks. K+, Na+, SO42−, and Cl− were partly from atmospheric precipitation. For human activities, Na+ and Cl− were partly from domestic water for local residents. SO42− in surface water mainly came from mining. NO3− in groundwater mainly came from chemical fertilizers, and NO3− in surface water were mainly from human waste and domestic sewage.
Engineering The Scattering, Refraction and Polarization Of Microwaves Using Huygens Surfaces

Engineering The Scattering, Refraction and Polarization Of Microwaves Using Huygens Surfaces Michael Selvanayagam Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Electrical Engineering University of Toronto 2016 An electric and a magnetic dipole that are superimposed and orthogonal to each other have interesting properties where the dipoles can be designed to radiate into one half of space only. Such a configuration is referred to as a Huygens source. Both active and passive configurations of Huygens sources exist. Active configurations consist of antennas while passive configurations consist of scatterers engineered to have induced electric and magnetic dipole moments. Here, the properties of arrays of passive and active Huygens sources are investigated. These arrays are referred to as Huygens surfaces. These surfaces are interesting because they can be designed to implement, thin, low-profile devices which is desirable for current RF/microwave hardware. The design of active and passive Huygens surfaces is investigated for three specific applications in the microwave frequency range; scattering, refraction and polarization. For the problem of scattering, active Huygens surfaces are investigated to implement a cloak which suppresses scattering from an object in all directions. Both theoretical and experimental aspects are examined and limitations and possible workarounds of active cloaking are briefly discussed. On the problem of refraction, the synthesis and analysis of a passive Huygens surface to refract a plane wave is discussed for the application of thin microwave lenses. Equivalent circuit models and the implementation of these Huygens surfaces are also discussed. Finally for polarization control, the design of passive Huygens surfaces is examined from theoretical, numerical and measurement perspectives to demonstrate polarization manipulation. Passive Huygens surfaces are constructed to perform polarization conversion and chiral polarization effects (circular birefringence). This idea of implementing chiral surfaces is further examined by looking at the design and measurement of surfaces consisting of an electric response only.
The Impact of Life Trauma on Mental Health and Suicidal Behavior: A Study from Portuguese Language Countries

Several studies report the incidence of traumatic experiences in community and clinical samples, and substantial research demonstrates the impact of traumatic events on mental health and suicidal behavior, but this area remains unexplored in the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLC). Thus, this study aims to (1) describe traumatic experiences, mental health levels and suicidal behavior among individuals from Portugal, Brazil and African Countries with Portuguese as an Official Language (ACPOL); (2) assess correlations between traumatic experiences and mental health and suicidal behavior; and (3) assess the impact of exposure to a traumatic event on mental health and suicidal behavior. The measurement instruments included a sociodemographic questionnaire, Brief Trauma Questionnaire, Brief Symptoms Inventory-18, and the Portuguese version of the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised. ACPOL participants reported greater impact of war, Portuguese participants reported greater impact of disasters, and Brazilian participants reported greater impact of psychological and sexual abuse, assault, and death of a family member. Brazilian participants showed the worst levels of mental health and suicidal thoughts. Strong correlations were found between traumatic experiences and mental health levels and suicidal behavior. Traumatic experiences contributed to the explanation of mental health levels and probability of committing suicide.
Printability and Cell Viability in Extrusion-Based Bioprinting from Experimental, Computational, and Machine Learning Views

Extrusion bioprinting is an emerging technology to apply biomaterials precisely with living cells (referred to as bioink) layer by layer to create three-dimensional (3D) functional constructs for tissue engineering. Printability and cell viability are two critical issues in the extrusion bioprinting process; printability refers to the capacity to form and maintain reproducible 3D structure and cell viability characterizes the amount or percentage of survival cells during printing. Research reveals that both printability and cell viability can be affected by various parameters associated with the construct design, bioinks, and bioprinting process. This paper briefly reviews the literature with the aim to identify the affecting parameters and highlight the methods or strategies for rigorously determining or optimizing them for improved printability and cell viability. This paper presents the review and discussion mainly from experimental, computational, and machine learning (ML) views, given their promising in this field. It is envisioned that ML will be a powerful tool to advance bioprinting for tissue engineering.
Rapid Determination of Mixed Pesticide Residues on Apple Surfaces by Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

Chlorpyrifos (CPF) and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) are insecticides and herbicides which has been widely used on farms. However, CPF and 2,4-D residues on corps can bring high risks to human health. Accurate detection of pesticide residues is important for controlling health risks caused by CPF and 2,4-D. Therefore, we developed a fast, sensitive, economical, and lossless surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-based method for pesticide detection. It can rapidly and simultaneously determine the CPF and 2,4-D mixed pesticide residues on an apple surface at a minimum of 0.001 mg L−1 concentration, which is far below the pesticide residue standard in China and the EU. The limits of detection reach down to 1.28 × 10−9 mol L−1 for CPF and 2.47 × 10−10 mol L−1 for 2,4-D. The limits of quantification are 4.27 × 10−9 mol L−1 and 8.23 × 10−10 mol L−1 for CPF and 2,4-D. This method has a great potential for the accurate detection of pesticide residues, and may be applied to other fields of agricultural products and food industry.
Integration of Microscopic Big Traffic Data in Simulation-Based Safety Analysis

The main objectives of this study were to explore different vehicle detection systems, focusing on the most widely deployed infrastructure-based sensing technologies. This project used traffic data from two point-based over-roadway detection systems, namely the Microwave Vehicle Detection System (MVDS) and the Video Image Processing (VIP) system, and data from a segment-based probe-vehicle system, the Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) system, to conduct operation and safety evaluations. Applications of these types of data for efficiency and safety evaluation, and simulation, were investigated. To achieve the proposed objectives, several tasks were carried out. Task 1: Identify and collect continuous measurements of traffic conditions at different levels: segment-based, point-based, and vehicle based; Task 2: Validate the use of different microscopic data sources; Task 3: Measure traffic efficiency: congestion measurement and travel time reliability in real-time; Task 4: Evaluate traffic safety: relationship between traffic flow (speed, flow, density, congestion) and crash occurrence, crash precursors in real-time; Task 5: Simulate traffic flow under adverse weather conditions in microsimulation. Real-time traffic data (combined as needed with weather data) could be used to tune traffic flow under different conditions in micro-simulation; Task 6: Investigate the use of video-based data; Task 7: Develop a simulation model using video-based parameters; Task 8: Use the new simulation model to investigate dilemma zone decisions at signalized intersections.
The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction in the Relationship between FWAs and Turnover Intentions

The problem of employee turnover has been investigated in recent years because more and more countries and organizations are faced with the lack of an adequate labor force. The new generation of employees (Y and Z generations), contemporary political, social, and economic challenges, and the COVID-19 pandemic have raised new issues in human resource management (HRM), especially concerning turnover intentions. In such situations, companies need to create working conditions that will attract, motivate, and retain employees. One possible response is the usage of flexible working arrangements (FWAs) as a more flexible way of organizing traditional jobs and working positions; these arrangements allow employees more possibilities to maintain work–life balance. The main aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between FWAs and turnover intentions of employees, and the mediating effect of job satisfaction. The theoretical research is based on the literature review. The empirical part of the paper is based on the analysis of a sample of 219 employees from organizations in Serbia. The authors used descriptive statistics and the PLS-SEM method to investigate proposed relations. The results pointed to the positive effects of FWAs and job satisfaction on turnover intentions. In addition, there is an indirect effect of FWAs on turnover intentions through job satisfaction. FWAs may contribute to increasing job satisfaction and, in turn, job satisfaction contributes to decreasing turnover intentions. Job satisfaction mediates this relationship, and employees that are offered FWAs may experience a lower level of turnover intentions when they are satisfied on the job.
Sensorial and physicochemical characterisation of snack bar with gum arabic
(Acacia seyal) addition

Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, and hypertension have rapidly increased. The scenario is due to unhealthy eating habits and unhealthy foods with high fat and oil, and high sugar on the market. A snack bar is one of the most suitable products as ready-to-eat food. It would be an ideal healthy food due to consumer demand for fast-growing natural foods. The application of Gum Arabic to confectionaries (snack bars) in the food industry is still low. Gum Arabic produced by the stem and branches of Acacia seyal has an excellent functional value of dietary fibre and the potential as an effective source in the formulation of a high fibre GA snack bar. This study was conducted to evaluate the sensorial and physicochemical characteristics of GA snack bar formulation with different concentrations of Gum Arabic of 10%, 20%, and 30%. Sensory analysis was conducted by using an acceptance test which is a 5-point hedonic scale. The attribute consists of colour, appearance, hardness, crispness, taste, and overall acceptance. For physicochemical properties, the colour, texture (i.e., hardness and crispness), pH, total soluble solid, water activity, moisture, crude protein, crude fat, crude ash, crude fibre, carbohydrate, and calorie determination are included. However, the value of a*, b* and protein were significantly (p<0.05) decreased with increasing the Gum Arabic concentrations. Besides, there was a significant difference in all attributes for sensory evaluation except for appearance. In conclusion, the addition of Gum Arabic up to 30% into the GA snack bar caused significantly (p<0.05) increased the lightness (L*), texture, total soluble solid, water activity, moisture, crude fat, crude ash, crude fibre, carbohydrate as well as calories.
In-Service Falcon Lightning Strike Events

This paper focuses on the lightning events encountered by Falcons fleet (F900, F2000 and F7X) during a 10 years period, between the 1st January 2003 and 12th July 2013. During this period, 164 lightning strikes have been collected in a database which provides an interesting feedback. A considerable amount of researches have been accomplished during last decades to highlight the mechanisms whereby aircrafts are struck by lightning. Strike occurrence data, principally for commercial aircrafts, have been collected for many years. However, much less data is available for smaller aircrafts like private jets. Are these statistics gathered consistent with Dassault Aviation in-flight lightning events experience? In a first part, this study will be focused on the analysis of Falcon lightning events as a function of the following parameters: Flight hours and cycles ; Type of Falcon ; Altitude ; Flight path (climbing, cruise or descent) The different factors which may influence the lightning strike rate will be highlighted and compared to data gathered until now. Moreover, dedicated analysis will be performed on the zone 3, where an attachment of the lightning channel is unlikely. In a second part, a lightning attachment points mapping will be established. The aim is to highlight lightning strike areas with higher probability of encountering attachment or sweeping phenomenon and correlate these observations with standard aircrafts zoning and computations performed by ONERA.
Safety and Efficacy of Submuscular Implantation With Resterilized Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device in Patients With Device Infection: A Retrospective Observational Study in Taiwan

Abstract Background Reuse of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) can reduce the cost of using these expensive devices. However, whether resterilized CIEDs will increase the risk of reinfection in patients with previous device infection remains unknown. The aim of the present study is to compare the reinfection rates in patients who had initial CIED infection and underwent reimplantation of resterilized CIEDs or new devices. Methods Data from patients with initial CIED infection who received debridement of the infected pocket and underwent reimplantation of new or resterilized CIEDs at MacKay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, between January 2014 and June 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Patient characteristics, relapse rates of infection, and potential contributing factors to the infection risk were examined. Results Twenty-seven patients with initial CIED infection and reimplanted new CIEDs (n = 11) or resterilized CIEDs (n = 16) were included. During the 2-year follow-up, there were 1 (9.1%) and 2 (12.5%) infection relapses in the new and resterilized CIED groups, respectively. No relapse occurred for either group if the lead was completely removed or cut short. The median duration between debridement and device reimplantation in patients with infection relapse vs patients without relapse was 97 vs 4.5 days for all included patients, and 97 vs 2 days and 50.5 vs 5.5 days for the new and resterilized CIED groups, respectively. Conclusions Subpectoral reimplanting of resterilized CIEDs in patients with previous device infection is safe and efficacious. With delicate debridement and complete extraction of the leads, the CIED pocket infection relapse risk can be greatly decreased.