Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cystic Hydatid Disease in Children in Gorgan from 2014 to 2021

Background: Cystic hydatid disease is a serious human cestode infection caused by the larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus. Hydatidosis is an important health and economic problem in Iran. Objectives: This study aims to investigate clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, and imaging of hydatidosis in children. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted based on the information recorded in the files of patients hospitalized due to hydatidosis at the Taleghani Children's Hospital in Gorgan from 2014 to 2021. The data was analyzed with the help of SPSS software version 25, utilizing descriptive statistics and the chi-square test. Results: Out of 58,974 patients admitted to Taleghani Hospital during 2014 - 2021, the frequency of hydatidosis was 42 (0.071%) cases. The patients comprised 78.5% boys and 21.5% girls, with an average age of 8.5 years ranging from 3 to 17 years old. A significant statistical difference was seen between the sexes (P = 0.012). There was a history of close contact with animals in 76.2% of patients and 73.9% of children in the village. The frequency of the total cyst was 75, and the most common location of the cyst was in the liver (60%) in the right lobe of the liver (54.6%) and then in the lung (36%) in the RLL region (17.4%). Single cysts (57.1%), unifocal cysts (61.9%), and CE1 cysts (40%) had the highest frequency. The most common symptom of liver involvement was abdominal pain (59.5%) and chronic cough in lung cysts (45.2%). Cysts with a size of 5 - 10 cm had the highest frequency (52%), and most were hypoechoic (48%). Positive serology test was reported in 11 cases (26.2%) and positive pathology in 22 cases (52.4%). The chance of hydatidosis in boys was 2.5 times higher than in girls, and in rural areas, it was more than three times higher than in urban areas. Conclusions: In this study, hydatidosis was more common in village boys aged 3-9. The liver and lung involvement were common, which required surgery in most cases. Considering the high prevalence of this disease in Gorgan, it is necessary to design an intervention plan to reduce children's burden, and a multidisciplinary approach should be planned to reduce its mortality and morbidity among children.
FGF23 level in poultry chicken, a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction: In vertebrates fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) is a phosphate regulating hormone closely linked to calcium regulation by vitamin D and parathyroid hormone (PTH). Although phosphorus, calcium and vitamin D are important for poultry well-being, relatively little is known about their levels of FGF23. Our objective was to quantitatively estimate the blood FGF23 level in birds, and to examine its relationship to diet and blood levels of other components of phosphate and calcium homeostasis. Methods: A systematic search of Agricola, Embase and Medline identified 86 studies focused on FGF23 in birds, from which 12 manuscripts reporting data for 60 independent groups of chickens were included in the analysis. Results: FGF23 levels were 256 pg/ml (Confidence interval (CI): 215, 297) in broilers (39 datasets containing 435 birds), and 256 pg/ml (CI: 178, 339) in egg-laying hens (21 datasets containing 208 birds). FGF23 levels did not correlate with dietary phosphorus, calcium or vitamin D, or with plasma calcium or PTH. FGF23 levels demonstrated a trend to positively correlate with plasma phosphate and a strongly and positive correlation with plasma vitamin D. Discussion: This study provides normative estimates of FGF23 levels in poultry birds and new insights into the regulation of calcium and phosphate homeostasis.
The Analysis of the Foxp2 and ASCL1 Expression in Saffron-Treated Mice

Background & Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of saffron extract on the embryo development of mice. Materials & Methods: Pregnant NMRI mice were randomized into control and treatment groups at 25, 50, and 100 mg/Kg saffron doses. Saffron extract was administered to mice by gavage on days 7-12 of pregnancy. On the 17th day of pregnancy, the embryos were removed from the uterus and their weight and height measured. Moreover, their brain tissue has been evaluated histologically. Subsequently, the expression of the Foxp2 and Ascl1 genes in the brain tissue was assessed using the real-time PCR method. Results: All embryos were aborted in mothers that received 100 mg/Kg of saffron. At dose 50 mg/Kg, only embryos of a mother reached the end of pregnancy. Embryos treated with 25 mg/Kg saffron were significantly heavier than controls (P<0.05). Furthermore, the tail length was significantly shorter (P<0.05). Histological findings showed that there was no difference between the control and treated groups, and the brain tissue was well developed. Foxp2 and Ascl1 genes were significantly overexpressed in both the 25 and 50 mg/Kg treatment groups compared to the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that saffron extract can have significant effects in low concentrations (25 mg/kg) on the development of the mouse embryos as well as the expression of Foxp2 and Ascl1 genes.
The Association between Acetabulum Fractures and Subsequent Coxarthrosis in a Cohort of 77 Patients—A Retrospective Analysis of Predictors for Secondary Hip Osteoarthritis

Objective: the aim of this study was to document the occurrence of THA after acetabulum surgery and examine the factors that predict its occurrence. Methods: This study included 77 consecutive patients who were admitted for acetabulum fracture surgery between 2012 and 2019. The inclusion criteria were acetabular fractures and indications for operative management. The exclusion criteria were acetabular fractures treated non-operatively, fractures requiring primary THA, and periprosthetic acetabular fractures. Data concerning demographics, date of injury, date of surgery, surgical approach, stabilization, and further reconstructive surgery were collected retrospectively. The number of patients who underwent THA and their risk factors were recorded. The minimum follow-up for each patient was 2 years of observation. A total of 77 patients with a mean age of 53 years were included. Results: At a mean follow-up of 2 years, THA was performed in 16 (20.8%) patients due to post-traumatic arthritis. An analysis of the surgical approaches showed that the Kocher–Langenbeck approach increased the risk of THA nearly 12 times compared with the ilioinguinal approach (p = 0.016). Furthermore, the duration of the waiting period for surgery significantly impacted the occurrence of THA, with each additional day leading to an 89% increase in the risk of prosthesis usage (p = 0.001). Conclusions: This study suggests that acetabular fractures may lead to post-traumatic hip osteoarthritis. The surgical approach and the waiting time for surgery are potential factors that may predict secondary hip osteoarthritis and the need for subsequent THA. However, further investigations should be performed to establish predictors for secondary hip osteoarthritis, and especially to determine the impact of the surgical approach.
Geochemical exploration guide for tantalum pegmatites

Geochemical and morphological characteristics of albite, K-feldspar, and white mica from pegmatites in Canada, South Africa, and Europe have been tested for their usefulness as exploration tools for discovering Ta pegmatites. The Ta-Cs relationship in coarse-grained early white mica turns out to be the most informative guide in the first stage of exploration for Ta pegmatites. Albitization of pegmatites often obliterates the primary zonal structure but increases the amounts of recoverable Ta oxides. Therefore, metasomatically albitized pegmatites with both evolved Ta and Cs contents have the most potential as exploration targets.
Federated Submodular Maximization With Differential Privacy

Submodular maximization is a fundamental problem in many Internet of Things applications, such as sensor placement, resource allocation, and mobile crowdsourcing. Despite being intensively studied over the last two decades, the problem of submodular maximization has not yet been considered in an emerging federated computation setting. In this article, we first comprehensively study federated submodular maximization, where a set of clients aims to cooperate in finding a set of items to maximize a monotone submodular function under the orchestration of a central server while providing strong privacy guarantees for their sensitive data. We consider the problem in a client-level differential privacy (DP) setting: the server is not necessarily trusted and the clients should perturb their results locally before sending them to the server. Specifically, we propose a novel approximation algorithm for federated submodular maximization by incorporating client-level DP mechanisms and decomposed function evaluations into the greedy algorithm, along with two heuristics to further reduce the privacy budget, computational cost, and communication overhead. Finally, we perform extensive experiments to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed algorithms.
Mainshock and aftershock analysis of the June 17, 1996, deep Flores Sea earthquake sequence: Implications for the mechanism of deep earthquakes and the tectonics of the Banda Sea

One of the largest (Mw = 7.8) deep earthquakes (595 km) in recorded history occurred beneath the Flores Sea on June 17, 1996. We analyze broadband body waveforms to determine the seismic source characteristics of this important earthquake. The source time function has a small initial subevent (5 s duration) followed by three major subevents with a total source duration of 29 s. Directivity analysis indicates an unilateral rupture to the east-southeast with a subhorizontal rupture length of 75 km. A time-independent moment tensor (TIMT) inversion gives a total seismic moment of 5.4×1020 N m ( Mw = 7.8). A time-dependent moment tensor (TDMT) inversion indicates rupture on a near-vertical fault (strike of 130°, dip of 80°SW, rake of −166°) during the first 5 s, releasing 8% of the seismic moment. The major part of the moment was released along a shallower dipping plane (strike of ∼100°, dip of ∼55°, rake of ∼−45°). This change of faulting geometry may imply that the rupture initiated at a structural, thermal, or phase boundary of high stress concentration and then triggered the major moment release along a regional weak zone. The mainshock produced at least 23 (mb>2.9) aftershocks within the first 3 days. Seventeen of the largest aftershocks were located using the Joint Hypocenter Determination algorithm. The aftershocks define a plane dipping antithetically to the dip of the subducting slab with lateral and depth dimensions of 145 km and 76 km, respectively. The aftershock locations correlate with the southeast striking nodal plane of the moment tensor mechanism.
Prenatal dexamethasone exposure affects mandibular bone and tooth development in rats

Prenatal corticosteroids exposure is associated with important adverse effects on fetuses development. In this study histomorphometric evaluation of the mandibular bone and mandibular first molar from fetuses exposed to exogenous glucocorticoid in the final period of pregnancy was performed. For this study, six female rats were housed with two male rats for 8 days. The pregnant rats were assigned into two groups (n=3 each): control group and dexamethasone group. The dexamethasone received 0.2 mg.kg-1.day-1 water-soluble dexamethasone dose daily diluted in the drinking water from day 14-19 of pregnancy. In the 20th day of gestation, rats were sacrificed and the fetuses were obtained by cesarean derivation. The weight of each fetus was recorded and then were euthanized and the head was fixed in 10% phosphate-buffered formalin. Selected samples were evaluated by light microscopy, and the following measurements were recorded: the perimeter of mandibular bone, Meckel's cartilage and tooth germ; buccolingual length, vertical distance, anteroposterior distance and area of the tooth germ, by the Image J program. There was statistical significance difference with regarding birth weight, mandible perimeter, tooth germ vertical distance and buccolingual distance; area of dental germ and germ perimeter were lower in the dexamethasone versus control. There was no statistical significance difference on Meckel's cartilage perimeter and anteroposterior distance of tooth germ between groups. In conclusion, prenatal exposure to excess dexamethasone impairs mandibular bone and tooth development.
The Role of SCM practices in
Competitive Advantage and Firm Performance: A Mediating Role of Supply Chain
Innovation and TQM

The present study aimed to propose a theoretical framework that elucidates the impact of supply chain management (SCM) practices on the competitive advantage and performance of firms while considering the mediating effects of supply chain innovation and total quality management (TQM). This research article employed a descriptive correlational methodology based on a questionnaire, complemented by structural equation modelling. The study involved the participation of 279 individuals, including managers, assistants, and supply chain experts from small and medium-sized enterprises. The study findings suggest that SCM practices significantly influence TQM, supply chain innovation, competitive advantage, and firm performance. Additionally, TQM has a significant effect on supply chain innovation, competitive advantage, and firm performance. Similarly, supply chain innovation has a positive and significant impact on competitive advantage and firm performance. Furthermore, the positive and significant mediating role of supply chain innovation and TQM in the effect of SCM practices on competitive advantage and firm performance was observed. Therefore, it can be concluded that SCM practices enhance firm performance and competitive advantage through the improvement of supply chain innovation and TQM.
Gram–Charlier approach for anharmonic atomic displacements in inorganic solids: A review

All thermal vibrations of atoms are in fact anharmonic – this is the underlying reason for the manifestation of many physical properties of solids, primarily its thermal expansion. By now, over three decades have passed from the seminal works of Kuhs [Kuhs Statistical description of multimodal atomic probability densities. Acta Crystallogr A. 1983;39:148–158.Kuhs Lead Article Generalized Atomic Displacements in Crystallographic Structure Analysis. Acta Cryst. 1992;A48:80–98. Kuhs The Anharmonic Temperature Factor in Crystallographic Structure Analysis. Aust J Phys. 1988;41:369], and ‘anharmonic’ approaches are now widely used for the description of thermal displacements of the atoms. Experimental data for studies of this phenomenon can be acquired from targeted diffraction experiments, and in this mini review, we analyse the current state of this area, mostly for the inorganic structures. The modern crystallographic hardware and software permits to correct the description of anharmonicity for the objects whereof one or two decades ago this phenomenon was either neglected or beyond the power of data processing. In general, the asphericity of electron density distribution is not necessarily caused by anharmonic motions; another possible reason is the displacement of valence electrons due to the formation of chemical bonds. We analyse the hitherto reported examples of anharmonic description of thermal motions; this phenomenon is most pronounced for univalent cations (like alkalis, silver, copper and thallium) and anions (halides). We also present the new Anharmonicity program suite which permits to determine the maxima of distribution of probability density.
New microplanktonic biostratigraphy and depositional sequences across the Middle–Late Eocene and Oligocene boundaries in eastern Jordan

The first detailed calcareous nannofossil and planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphic and integrated lithofacies analyses of the Eocene–Oligocene transition at the Qa’ Faydat ad Dahikiya area in the Eastern Desert of Jordan, on the border with Saudi Arabia, is presented. Three calcareous nannofossil zones namely: Discoaster saipanensis (NP17), Chiasmolithus oamaruensis (NP18) and Ericsonia subdisticha (NP21), and three planktonic foraminiferal zones: upper part of Truncorotaloides rohri (E13), Globigerinatheka semiinvoluta (E14) and Cassigerinella chipolensis/Pseudohastigerina micra (O1) are identified. Calcareous nannofossil bioevents recorded in the present study show numerous discrepancies with the Standard biostratigraphic zonal schemes to detect the Middle/Upper Eocene boundary (e.g. the highest occurrences (HOs) of Chiasmolithus solitus, C. grandis, and lowest occurrences (LOs) of C. oamaruensis, Isthmolithus recurvus are not considered reliable markers for global correlation). The Middle/Upper Eocene boundary occurs in the current study above the extinctions of large muricate planktonic foraminifera (large Acarinina and Truncorotaloides spp.) which coincide within the equivalent calcareous nannofossil NP18 Zone. These microplanktonic bioevents seem to constitute more reliable markers for the base of the Upper Eocene in different provinces. The uppermost portion of the Middle Eocene is characterized by an observed drop in faunal content and, most likely, primarily denotes the effect of the major fall in eustatic sea level. A major unconformity (disconformity) marked by a mineralized hardground representing a lowstand is recorded in the present study at the Eocene–Oligocene transition that reveals an unexpected ca. 2.1 Myr duration, separating Eocene (NP18/E14 zones) from Oligocene (NP21/O1 zones). Furthermore, the microfossil turnover associated with a rapid decline of the microfossil assemblages shows a distinct drop in diversity and abundance towards the Eocene/Oligocene unconformity and is associated with a sharp lithological break marked, at the base, by a mineralized hardground representing a major sequence boundary. These bioevents, depositional sequences and the depositional hiatus correlate well with different parts of the Arabian and African plates, but the magnitude of the faunal break differs from place to place as a result of intraplate deformation during the regional Oligocene regression of Neo-Tethys on the northern Arabian Plate. The presence of the Lower Oligocene shallow-marine calcareous planktonic assemblages in the study area indicate that communication between the eastern and western provinces of the western Neo-Tethys region still existed at this time.
Gonadotropin Versus Gonadotropin/Letrozole Protocol in Previously Failed Antagonist Cycles in Patients with Low Prognosis

Objective: Letrozole is an aromatase inhibitor which has been used for ovulation induction. Our aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of adding letrozole to gonadotropins in the early follicular phase of gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist (GnRH-a) protocol in patients with poor ovarian response who had failed in the preceding GnRH-a cycle. Materials and Method: Ninety-eight patients with poor ovarian response who had previously failed GnRH-a cycle were included. Patients (n; 58) who were treated with letrozole plus gonadotropins (LzGA) were compared with patients (n; 40) who received gonadotropins (GT). The number of total oocytes retrieved, the number of MII oocytes and fertilized oocytes, fertilization and implantation ratios, the rate of cycle cancellation as well as clinical pregnancy and live birth rates Results: The LzGA group had a significantly shorter duration of GnRH-a stimulation and higher progesterone level at trigger day (p=0.005, p=0.049 respectively). Although letrozole administration demonstrated lower estradiol levels at trigger day and the total dose of gonadotropins used were lower in LzGA group, this was statistically non-significant (p=0.13, p=0.13 respectively). Conclusion: Adding letrozole to gonadotropins in GnRH-a protocol in patients with poor prognosis did not improve pregnancy outcomes. But it seems to decrease IVF costs by reducing the GnRH-antagonist and gonadotropin dosage.
Rhythmic Sedimentation in a Mixed Tide and Wave Deposit, Hazel Patch Sandstone (Pennsylvanian), Eastern Kentucky Coal Field

ABSTRACT The Hazel Patch sandstone is an informal unit of the lower Middle Pennsylvanian Breathitt Formation, which is locally dominated by facies containing alternating sand and shale layers, or rhythmic bedding. Three types of rhythmites are defined. Cyclic rhythmites show a sinusoidal vertical stacking trend of thickening and thinning laminae, amalgamated rhythmites show partially or possibly cyclic trends that have been reworked or erosively truncated by overlying formsets, and noncyclic rhythmites show only random thickness distribution and no evidence of original cyclicity. Lower in the sandstone, noncyclic rhythmites are associated with swaly to quasi-planar bedding, even bedding, and ripples with rounded crests, and are inferred to have formed in response to storm waves and combined flows. Higher in the sandstone, noncyclic, amalgamated, and cyclic rhythmites are present in association with herringbone stratification and pinstripe laminae, and are inferred to have formed under the influence of tidal currents. Cyclic tidal rhythmites are present near the base of a shallow channel deposit. These rhythmites contain sandstone-shale couplets indicative of presumed diurnal tides, 11-12 laminae cycles indicative of neap-spring tidal sedimentation, and 25-27 laminae cycles indicative of lunar monthly sedimentation. Upward and laterally within the channel trunc tion of neap-cycle laminae by spring-cycle ripples, and a loss of continuous clay drapes in amalgamated rhythmites, led to preservation of only monthly or greater depositional cycles. Vertical facies trends in the sandstone are interpreted to indicate upward shallowing from a wave-influenced outer estuarine or shallow shelf environment to an intertidal sand flat to an exposed low-lying coast upon which peats accumulated. The fact that cyclic rhythmites were preserved only in a shallow channel, stratigraphically near the middle of the mail may indicate that accommodation space and a medial estuarine position with little wave reworking and bioturbation controlled the preservation of the various orders of cycles.
Deep-Learning-Based Robust Channel Estimation for MIMO IoT Systems

When the second-order statistics of channel and noise, such as their covariance matrices, are not exactly known, the acquisition of accurate channel state information (CSI) for a wireless propagation environment becomes quite challenging. In this article, we tackle the problem of robust channel estimation for multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO)-aided Internet of Things (IoT) systems in the presence of uncertainties in the channel and noise covariance matrices. Our goal is to minimize the mean square error (MSE) of the channel estimation under the channel and noise covariance uncertainties by jointly optimizing the channel estimator and pilot signal, which is however highly nonconvex and mathematically intractable. To effectively and intelligently cope with this issue, we exploit a deep learning (DL) technique and propose a novel network architecture with two modules, namely, the pilot optimizer and channel predictor, both of which are designed by neural networks with their own local connections and weight sharings. Moreover, a novel and effective training strategy for the proposed DL model is devised in a self-supervised manner, in which samples obtained by properly compensated channel and noise covariance matrices are utilized to overcome any adverse impacts of the underlying uncertainties on the channel estimation. Through extensive numerical results simulated in realistic propagation environments, we substantiate the superior performance and effectiveness of the proposed scheme.