Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wettability control on multiphase ﬂow in patterned microﬂuidics

Multiphase ﬂow in porous media is important in many natural and industrial processes, including geologic CO 2 sequestration, enhanced oil recovery, and water inﬁltration into soil. Although it is well known that the wetting properties of porous media can vary drastically depending on the type of media and pore ﬂuids, the effect of wettability on multiphase ﬂow continues to challenge our microscopic and macroscopic descriptions. Here, we study the impact of wettability on viscously unfavorable ﬂuid-ﬂuid displacement in disordered media by means of high-resolution imaging in microﬂuidic ﬂow cells patterned with vertical posts. By systematically varying the wettability of the ﬂow cell over a wide range of contact angles, we ﬁnd that increasing the substrate’s afﬁnity to the injected ﬂuid results in more efﬁcient displacement of the defending ﬂuid up to a critical wetting transition, beyond which the trend is reversed. We identify the pore-scale mechanisms—cooperative pore ﬁlling (increasing displacement efﬁciency) and corner ﬂow (decreasing displacement efﬁciency)—responsible for this macroscale behavior, and show that they rely on the inherent 3D nature of interfacial ﬂows, even in quasi-2D media. Our results demonstrate the powerful control of wettability on multiphase ﬂow in porous media, and show that the markedly different invasion protocols that emerge—from pore-ﬁlling to post-bridging—are determined by physical mechanisms that are missing from current pore-scale and continuum-scale descriptions. fabrication process and the experimental proce-dure in the
NON-ADHERENCE IN HYPPERTENSIVE PATIENTS OF PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN

: Introduction: Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Adherence to antihypertensive treatment plays an important role in controlling hypertension and reducing mortality and morbidity associated with cardiovascular events. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to determine the frequency of adherent patients among a sample of Peshawar ’ s population, awareness of hypertension in non-adherent patients and to demonstrate the factors responsible for non-adherence in hypertensive patients. Methodology: It was a quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional questionnaires based study carried out from 05-12-2013 to 18-03-2014. A convenient sample of 100 hypertensive patients (60 females & 40 males) was gathered from Hayatabad, Phase-4, Peshawar. To assess adherence, 8 item Morisky medication adherence scale was used, whereas, factors were reported via structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS v21 and Microsoft Excel 2013 was used for graphs. Results: In our study, 68% of the patients were non-adherent. The mean MMAS score was 5.33 (SD= ± 2.49). Overall awareness of hypertension in non-adherent patients regarding importance of medication use , skipping a dose affect BP, and about cause of hypertension was 95.6%, 60.3% and 91.2% respectively. Among demographic factors, only socioeconomic status was significantly associated with adherence (p=0.02). The top three medication related factors responsible for non-adherence were forgetfulness, (61.76%), symptomless (58.82%) and fear of addiction (51.47%). Conclusion: Different interventions at the level of families of hypertensive patients regarding reducing forgetfulness should be introduced. People should be educated to use the medicine continuously and about the fear of addiction to anti-hypertensive medication via mass media.
Probiotics Usage and Safety Concerns-A Review P Review

Probiotics use has gained popularity in recent years for the treatment of chronic as well as nonchronic diseases, however, the safety of such products and their adherence to protocols is still questionable. Recently many cases of secondary diseases like fungemia or Bacteremia have been reported in patients receiving probiotics as a supportive agent. The main concern of this review is to focus on safety perspectives of probiotics and rational use of such products. More so because the market is flooded with a variety of such products while the regulations pertaining to these are quite weak. Growing health concerns, complexity of diseases and health awareness has led to indiscriminate use of these products. Further the cost of these products being on higher side poses an additional burden on the overall economy of the treatment.
The Outcomes of Ampicillin plus Azithromycin to Prolong Latency Period in Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes between 24 and 33+6 Weeks of Gestation at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital

Objectives: To determine the success rate of ampicillin plus azithromycin to prolong the latency period in cases with preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM). Materials and Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted. Medical records of singleton pregnancies between 24 and 33+6 weeks of gestation who complicated with PPROM and received ampicillin and oral azithromycin to prolong the latency period at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital between January 2010 and December 2016 were reviewed. Prolonged latency period more than 48 hours was defined as success. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. Results: Eighty eight pregnancies were included in the study with mean ± standard deviation age of 30.4 ± 5.6 years and mean gestational age of 31.3 ± 2.5 weeks. The median of latency period was 96 hours (interquartile range 60-192 hours) and 76 cases (86.4%) reached more than 48 hours of latency period. Seven women (8.0%) complicated by chorioamnionitis with 1 case of maternal sepsis. Regarding neonatal outcomes, respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) complicated in 29 neonates (33.0%) and 12 cases (13.6%) needed ventilator. Forty eight cases (54.5%) found neonatal sepsis along with 3 (3.4%) neonatal deaths. Conclusion: Antibiotic regimen including ampicillin and azithromycin was effective to prolong latency period in most women presented with PPROM. However, one-third of the neonates complicated with RDS and neonatal sepsis was found in more than half of the cases. Further study is needed to identify regimens that may improve neonatal outcomes.
The analysis of the electrical characteristics and interface state densities of Re/n-type Si Schottky barrier diodes at room temperature

ABSTRACT The main electrical characteristics of current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements at room temperature of the Re/n-type Si Schottky barrier diodes prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method have been examined. The values of the basic electrical properties such as forward saturation current (Io), ideality factors (n), barrier heights (Фbo), rectification ratio (RR) and series resistances (RS) were obtained from I-V and C-V measurements using different calculation methods. At low voltages (V ≤ 0.3 V), the electrical conduction was formed to take place by thermionic emission, whereas at high voltages (V > 0.3 V), a space charge limited conduction mechanism was shown. Furthermore, the interface state densities (NSS) as a function of energy distribution (ESS- EV) was obtained from the I-V data by taking into account the bias dependence of the effective barrier height (Φb) for the Re/n-type Si Schottky barrier diodes.
Osorio, Juan G. and Sayin, Ridade and Kalbag, Arjun V. and Litster, James D. and Martinez-Marcos, Laura and Lamprou, Dimitrios A. and Halbert, Gavin W. (2016) Scaling of continuous twin screw wet

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C reactive protein and uterine artery Doppler ultrasonography in prediction of preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is one of the most common medical complications during pregnancy and a major cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. The aim of the study was to predict preeclampsia by means of C reactive protein and uterine artery Doppler ultrasonography. Maternal serum C reactive protein and uterine artery pulsatility index, resistance index, early diastolic notch were assessed in four hundred and thirty eight pregnant women at 16 to 20 weeks of gestation in Central Women’s Hospital, Yangon from 1 st March 2014 to 31 st October 2015. Thirty four cases (7.7%) developed preeclampsia. Pregnant women with preeclampsia had significantly higher level of mean C reactive protein (7.45 mg/L vs 2.9 mg/L, p = < 0.001), mean pulsatility index (1.54 vs 1.15, p = < 0.001) and mean resistance index (0.69 vs 0.58, p = 0.001) than normal pregnant women. In univariable regression analysis, there was a significant association between higher levels of C reactive protein (≥ 5 mg/L), pulsatility index (≥ 1.2), resistance index (≥ 0.58) and presence of early diastolic notch and development of preeclampsia. In multiple logistic regression analysis, only C reactive protein, pulsatility index and early diastolic notch were significantly related to development of preeclampsia. Receiver-operating characteristic curves were constructed for determining the cut off points and the area under curves were calculated for classifying the accuracy of diagnostic test. The best cut off points for predicting preeclampsia of C reactive protein, pulsatility index and resistance index were 4.4 mg/L (sensitivity of 79.41% and accuracy of 71.69%), 1.3 (sensitivity of 76.47% and accuracy of 68.95%) and 0.61 (sensitivity of 82.35% and accuracy of 58.22%) respectively. The area under the curves were 0.755, 0.769 and 0.717 for C reactive protein, mean pulsatility index and resistance index respectively. Combination of all markers had a better area under the curve (0.84). In conclusion, C reactive proteins, uterine artery Doppler ultrasonography are potentially useful as predictors of preeclampsia. In addition, combination of all markers had better predictive value than each marker in prediction of preeclampsia.
FIRST YEAR DENTAL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ABOUT EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT: EXPECTED VERSES ACTUAL PERCEPTIONS

Objective : To estimate the difference between students' expected and actual perceptions about their educational environment. Method : A prospective study was conducted in the College of Dentistry, University of Dammam, Saudi Arabia involving first year dental students of the academic year 2013-14. The students were asked to fill out two versions of the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM), one in the beginning (expected DREEM) and the other at the end (actual DREEM) of their academic session. The sum of students' responses (scored on a Likert scale ranging from 0 to 4) and a mean with standard deviation was calculated for every question. Then a mean for each of the five subscales of the expected and actual DREEM, and an overall score for the two versions of DREEM were estimated. Results : Fifty five students (response rate: 72%) including 25 males (45%) and 30 females (55%) filled out the DREEM questionnaire on both occasions. The total scores for the expected and actual DREEM questionnaires were 114.47 and 105.5 respectively, the difference between the two scores being statistically insignificant at P<0.05. There was no statistically significant difference between male and female students' perceptions in any of the five subscales of the expected and actual DREEM questionnaires. Conclusion : The overall results of the study illustrated a healthy educational environment in the College of Dentistry, University of Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Some problems areas were, however, identified that need to be addressed in future to further improve the quality of learning environment in the college.
Self-management for Adult Patients With Cancer

Cancer Self-care Self-management Symptom-management Background: Individuals with cancer are surviving long term, categorizing cancer as a chronic condition, and with it, numerous healthcare challenges. Symptoms, in particular, can be burdensome and occur from prediagnosis through many years after treatment. Symptom severity is inversely associated with functional status and quality of life.Objective: Management of these millions of survivors of cancer in a stressed healthcare system necessitates effective self-care strategies. The purpose of this integrative review is to evaluate intervention studies led by nurse principal investigators for self-care management in patients with cancer. Methods: PubMed, CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied health Literature), and the Cochrane Database were searched from January 2000 through August 2012. Search terms included ‘‘symptom management and cancer,’’ ‘‘self-management and cancer,’’ and ‘‘self-care and cancer. ’’ All articles for consideration included intervention studies with a nurse as the primary principal investigator. Results: Forty-six articles were included yielding 3 intervention areas of educational and/or counseling sessions, exercise, and complementary and alternative therapies. Outcomes were predominately symptom focused and often included functional status and quality of life. Few studies had objective measures. Overarching themes were mitigation, but not prevention or elimination of symptoms, and improved quality of life related to functional status. No one intervention was superior to another for any given outcome. Conclusions: Current interventions that direct patients in self-care management
Participatory software development via Living Labs: A case of Deajeon

Over the past few years in Korea (Republic of Korea), demands for welfare policies to prepare for an aging society and to secure a social security have been grown. Responding to the growing needs of people, Korea Government is running the research and development (R&D) projects using Information Technologies (eg. Software, IoT, AI, big data etc.) to make public services which resolve the social issues efficiently. The Living labs is considered as one of research and development methods, which aims to close the gap between technical and social innovation by enhancing collaboration between different relevant stakeholders (Kopp, Haider, & Preinesberger, 2017, p.61). Hence, NIPA (National IT Industry Promotion Agency) has tried applying the Living Labs on software development projects to make software solutions for local community. Compared to the conventional research and development projects, Living Labs has a slower pace spending more time and efforts on communication with relevant stakeholders (issue exploration, demand definition etc.), but it’s more effective way to reflect concrete demands of users on research and development projects.
AVNeo improves early haemodynamics in regurgitant bicuspid aortic valves compared to aortic valve repair

Abstract OBJECTIVES Calcified or fibrotic cusps in patients with bicuspid aortic valves and aortic regurgitation complicate successful aortic valve (AV)-repair. Aortic valve neocuspidization (AVNeo) with autologous pericardium offers an alternative treatment to prosthetic valve replacement. We compared patients with regurgitant bicuspid valves undergoing AV-repair or AVNeo. METHODS We retrospectively analysed patients with regurgitant bicuspid valves undergoing AV-repair or AVNeo. We focused on residual regurgitation, pressure gradients and effective orifice area, determined preoperatively and at discharge. RESULTS AV-repair was performed in 61 patients (mean age: 43.2 ± 11.3 years) and AVNeo in 22 (45.7 ± 14.1). Prior to the operation patients of the AV-repair group showed severe regurgitation in 38 cases (62.3%) and moderate in 23 (37.6%); in the AVNeo group, all patients exhibited severe regurgitation. Postoperatively, 57 patients (93.4%) patients had no or mild regurgitation after AV-repair and 21 (95.4%) after AVNeo. In AVNeo-patients, peak (10.6 ± 3.1 mmHg vs 22.7 ± 11 mmHg, P< 0.001) and mean pressure gradients (5.9 ± 2 mmHg vs 13.8 ± 7.3 mmHg, P < 0.001) were significantly lower and the orifice area significantly larger (2.9 ± 0.8 cm2 vs 1.9 ± 0.7 cm2, P < 0.001) compared to repair. CONCLUSIONS Compared to AV-repair, patients AVNeo showed lower mean pressure gradients and larger orifice areas at discharge. The functional result was not different.
Protein palmitoylation in cancer: molecular functions and therapeutic potential

Protein S‐palmitoylation (hereinafter referred to as protein palmitoylation) is a reversible lipid posttranslational modification catalyzed by the zinc finger DHHC‐type containing (ZDHHC) protein family. The reverse reaction, depalmitoylation, is catalyzed by palmitoyl‐protein thioesterases (PPTs), including acyl‐protein thioesterases (APT1/2), palmitoyl protein thioesterases (PPT1/2), or alpha/beta hydrolase domain‐containing protein 17A/B/C (ABHD17A/B/C). Proteins encoded by several oncogenes and tumor suppressors are modified by palmitoylation, which enhances the hydrophobicity of specific protein subdomains, and can confer changes in protein stability, membrane localization, protein–protein interaction, and signal transduction. The importance for protein palmitoylation in tumorigenesis has just started to be elucidated in the past decade; palmitoylation appears to affect key aspects of cancer, including cancer cell proliferation and survival, cell invasion and metastasis, and antitumor immunity. Here we review the current literature on protein palmitoylation in the various cancer types, and discuss the potential of targeting of palmitoylation enzymes or palmitoylated proteins for tumor treatment.
Dominantly acting KIF5B variants with pleiotropic cellular consequences cause variable clinical phenotypes

Abstract Kinesins are motor proteins involved in microtubule (MT)-mediated intracellular transport. They contribute to key cellular processes, including intracellular trafficking, organelle dynamics and cell division. Pathogenic variants in kinesin-encoding genes underlie several human diseases characterized by an extremely variable clinical phenotype, ranging from isolated neurodevelopmental/neurodegenerative disorders to syndromic phenotypes belonging to a family of conditions collectively termed as ‘ciliopathies. ’ Among kinesins, kinesin-1 is the most abundant MT motor for transport of cargoes towards the plus end of MTs. Three kinesin-1 heavy chain isoforms exist in mammals. Different from KIF5A and KIF5C, which are specifically expressed in neurons and established to cause neurological diseases when mutated, KIF5B is an ubiquitous protein. Three de novo missense KIF5B variants were recently described in four subjects with a syndromic skeletal disorder characterized by kyphomelic dysplasia, hypotonia and DD/ID. Here, we report three dominantly acting KIF5B variants (p.Asn255del, p.Leu498Pro and p.Leu537Pro) resulting in a clinically wide phenotypic spectrum, ranging from dilated cardiomyopathy with adult-onset ophthalmoplegia and progressive skeletal myopathy to a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by severe hypotonia with or without seizures. In vitro and in vivo analyses provide evidence that the identified disease-associated KIF5B variants disrupt lysosomal, autophagosome and mitochondrial organization, and impact cilium biogenesis. All variants, and one of the previously reported missense changes, were shown to affect multiple developmental processes in zebrafish. These findings document pleiotropic consequences of aberrant KIF5B function on development and cell homeostasis, and expand the phenotypic spectrum resulting from altered kinesin-mediated processes.
A cross-sectional study on the incidence of retinal changes and its correlation with variables like blood pressure, liver function tests, kidney function tests, proteinuria, and pedal edema in patients of pregnancy-induced hypertension in a rural setting

Purpose: Pregnancy-induced hypertension is a multisystem disorder that occurs after 20 weeks of pregnancy usually in primigravidas and is characterised by proteinuria, pedal edema, hypertension, and abnormal liver and kidney function tests. Since there exists a close relationship between retinal, cerebral, and renal vessels, fundoscopy gives the opportunity of observing the changes in the vascular tree. Methods: We conducted a study on 203 pregnant females over a period of 1.5 years in the rural population of North India. We recorded the baseline data from the patient files, including the biochemical investigations, and conducted a fundoscopic examination of all patients included in the study, and correlation of various variables was established. Results: Out of 203 patients (403 eyes), 60% were primigravidas of mean age 25.71 ± 4.46 years with the mean duration of pregnancy being 36 weeks. The mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure were160 and 101 mmHg, respectively. There was no significant correlation was seen of proteinuria with eclampsia and the fundus findings. But there was a significant correlation between proteinuria and pedal edema and between the fundus findings and deranged LFT and KFT values. Relationship between the variables was calculated by using Chi-square and Fisher's exact test. A P value < 0.05 was taken as significant. Conclusion: Hypertension in pregnancy is the major concern of public health issue worldwide. With proper understanding of the correlating factors such as fundus changes which are directly correlated with whole bo dy vascular changes, which might affect the fetal growth, we can easily predict the outcome and can take appropriate actions as early as possible.
Visual outcomes of toxic optic neuropathy secondary to Ethambutol: A retrospective observational study from India, an endemic country

Purpose: Ethambutol (EMB) is one of the first-line drugs used for treating tuberculosis. Vision loss due to optic nerve toxicity is a well-known potential side effect of the drug. Our aim was to evaluate the clinical features and visual outcomes of patients with EMB optic neuropathy (EON). Methods: A retrospective, observational, single-center study of all patients who were diagnosed to have EON during January 2017–December 2019 was done. All these patients were screened in the Department of Neuro-ophthalmology at a referral tertiary eye care institution in India. Clinical features, visual outcomes, and neuroimaging findings of these patients were analyzed. Results: Two hundred and fifty-six eyes of 128 patients were included. Of these, 73 were male and 55 were female. Mean age was 50.55 ± 15 years. Mean visual acuity at presentation was 1.12 ± 0.45 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR). One hundred and forty three eyes had normal optic disk on presentation, 111 had disk pallor, and two eyes had disk edema. The most common field defect was central/paracentral scotoma (26.2%) followed by temporal defects (24.6%). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain and orbit showed optic nerve signals in 19.6% and chiasmal signals in 5.2%. At the final follow-up, a ≥2-line vision improvement was noted in 161 eyes (62.9%), which was statistically significant. Conclusion: Multiple prognostic factors were analyzed to predict the visual recovery of EON. We observed that patients presenting with visual acuity worse than 6/60 had poor visual outcome and long duration of follow-up showed better visual recovery, proving the possibility of a gradual recovery pattern of EON. Interestingly, we found in our study that the chances of favorable visual outcome were directly proportionate to early diagnosis and cessation of EMB.