Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CONTENT OF MINERAL ELEMENTS IN MILK AND HAIR OF COWS FROM ORGANIC FARMS

The value of the routine analyses, applied until present, of whole blood, serum and urine for bioelements is limited. The blood mineral level does not often correspond to the content of minerals in the whole body because the composition of plasma results from supplementation of deficiencies by different homeostatic mechanisms. Moreover, the blood concentration of bioelements is relatively low and depends on a current diet, therefore the diagnostic value of such analytical results may be fairly small. Studies have shown that the analysis of hair and nails are an appropriate alternative for blood and urine tests or for biopsy. Chemical treatments in agriculture, animal production and food processing introduce many food contaminants into the food chain. Organic methods in agriculture are safer and therefore very important. Nutrition based on organically produced foods and anthroposophic lifestyle can play an important role in health prophylaxis The objective of this study was to determine correlations between concentrations of 29 major and trace elements in cow’s milk and hair. The experimental material consisted of 33 cows of Polish Holstein-Fresian (HF) breed from three dairy organic farms. All the farms were located in one climatic zone and under similar soil conditions. The cows were kept in traditional tiedup barns. The feeding was traditional, with ration components given separately. The cows were grazed from May to October. Depending on pasture yield and availability of other feeds, the feeding ration was supplemented with hay, straw, silage and cereals. Samples of milk and hair for analyses of minerals were collected in September, i.e. during the pasture feeding. The hair was taken from the poll. The concentration of Ca, K, Mg, Na, P, S, B, Ba, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ge, I, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Se, Si, Sn, Sr, V, Zn, Al, As, Cd, Hg, Pb was determined. The content of toxic elements in milk was low and below the admissible level. The statistically significant positive correlations between concentration in milk and in hair were detected for such elements as Ba, Ge, Mo and Pb. In the case of major elements K and Mg and trace elements Al, As, Co, Fe, Hg, Se, Sr, positive correlations were observed but they were not statistically significant. Negative correlations occurred for such elements
Update on Thalassemia Treatment in Taiwan, Including Bone Marrow Transplantation, Chelation Therapy, and Cardiomyopathy Treatment Effects

Over the past few decades, Taiwan has seen striking improvements in the life expectancy of its 400 registered β-thalassemia major (β-TM) patients due mainly to adequate transfusion regimens and effective iron chelation therapy. Since 1995, Taiwanese citizens have enjoyed universal health care through National Health Insurance (NIH), receiving comprehensive treatment at minimal cost. In 1984, a national program for thalassemia prevention, control, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) was initiated. Recent data show 1- and 2-year event-free survival rates of 85 and 78%, respectively. Chelation agents like deferoxamine (DFO), deferiprone (L1) and deferasirox (DFRA) are available in Taiwan, and therapy is tailored to individuals based on drug availability and tissue distribution of iron load. Intensive chelation regimens combining L1 and DFO are recommended in patients with cardiac complications, while DFRA has been found to be effective in reducing serum ferritin, with acceptable side effects. Here, we report advances in thalassemia treatment in Taiwan and suggest treatment guidelines.
Residual tumour in the marginal resection after a complete transurethral resection is associated with local recurrence in Ta/T1 urinary bladder cancer

Abstract Objective. This study investigated the presence of residual tumour in the marginal resection (MR) after a complete transurethral resection (TURB) of Ta/T1 transitional urinary bladder cancer. The association between positive MR and recurrence was analysed. Material and methods. After macroscopically complete TURB, a marginal resection of 7 mm (corresponding to the diameter of the resection loop) was removed around the entire resection area. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to assess the influence of residual disease on recurrence. Results. In all, 94 patients with a median follow-up time of 36 months were included, and residual tumour in the MR was present in 24 (26%). The recurrence rates for all cases, for those with a tumour-positive and a tumour-free MR were 60 (64%), 20 (83%) and 40 (57%), respectively. Local recurrence was found in 14 (58%) of the patients with tumour presence in the MR compared to 13 (19%) of those with a tumour-free margin. A positive MR was significantly associated with overall recurrence (p < 0.001) and local recurrence (p = 0.001). Conclusion. Incomplete transurethral resection of bladder cancer is common, as demonstrated in 26% patients with positive MR. The presence of tumour in the MR may be a risk factor for recurrence, and particularly local recurrence.
Single channel speech enhancement using convolutional neural network

Neural networks can be used to identify and remove noise from noisy speech spectrum (denoisisng autoencoders, DAEs). The DAEs are typically implemented using the fully-connected feed-forward topology. Usually one of the following possibilities is used as DA target: 1) Ideal frequency ratio mask, which is applied to noisy spectrum to estimate the clean speech spectrum (masking) or 2) Clean speech spectrum directly (mapping). Recent research in the area of automatic speech recognition shows that convolutional neural networks are very promising in speech modeling. In this paper we thus suggest, construct the DAs with the convolutional topology. We investigate the suitability of both above described target types and compare the results with the fully connected DAs. Our experiments indicate that mapping-based convolutional networks estimating log-power spectra achieve significant improvement over all competing topologies and target types. Performance gains of 8% in PESQ scores over the ideal ratio masking are observed. We also investigate the ability of DAEs to enhance speech of unseen language based on the language diversity of the training set. Our experiments suggest that training DAEs with language-diverse training sets does not yield any significant benefit for the task of speech enhancement.
Protection on Skin Aging Mediated by Antiapoptosis Effects of the Water Lily (Nymphaea Tetragona Georgi) via Reactive Oxygen Species Scavenging in Human Epidermal Keratinocytes

Aims: The water lily (WL) is found in Europe, Asia, and North America. WL reportedly has various pharmacological activities that improve the activities of daily life in humans. To our knowledge, no previous study has investigated about the aspect of protection on skin aging due to the mitochondria-mediated antiapoptosis effects of WL rhizome extract (WLRE) on human epidermal keratinocytes. Methods: Human epidermal keratinocytes cells were treated with WLRE (100, 200, and 400 μg/ml) for 1 h and then with ultraviolet radiation B (UVB) (50 mJ/cm2) for another 23 h. The levels of lactate dehydrogenase, reactive oxygen species (ROS), MitoTracker, caspase-3, and glutathione were analyzed spectrophotometrically. Also, the levels of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) family proteins were determined with immunohistochemistry or western blotting. Results: We investigated the protective effects of WLRE against UVB-induced mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. WLRE significantly and concentrations-dependently reduced UVB-induced apoptotic cytotoxicity. Furthermore, WLRE decreased ROS generation, mitochondrial dysfunction, Bcl-2-associated X protein levels, and cytochrome c release from mitochondria while increasing Bcl-2 protein levels as assessed. Moreover, WLRE inhibited caspase-3 activity and expression, indicating the inhibition of the apoptotic cascade, and induced increased levels of total glutathione, heme oxygenase 1, and radical-scavenging activity. Conclusion: Together, these results demonstrate that WLRE can protect human epidermal keratinocytes against UVB-induced mitochondria-mediated apoptosis by regulating ROS-eliminating pathways.
Thinking about Self-Efficacy

People’s perceptions of their capabilities for performance, or self-efficacy perceptions, are a cognitive mechanism underlying behavioral change. This article addresses three questions in the study of perceived self-efficacy: Do self-efficacy perceptions generalize across situations? Do affective states influence perceived self-efficacy? Do people have a singular level of perceived self-efficacy in any domain, or are there multiple aspects to self-efficacy perception? These questions are answered by analyzing the cognitive processes through which people appraise their efficacy for performance. The research reviewed indicates that (a) self-efficacy perceptions generalize across idiosyncratic sets of situations relating to schematic personal attributes; (b) induced negative mood does not reliably influence perceived self-efficacy but does raise performance standards, creating efficacy-standards discrepancies; (c) distinct aspects of selfefficacy appraisal can be organized by distinguishing between perceived self-efficacy for executing strategies and for attaining goals.
Secure multicarrier DS/SS with induced random flipping

For secure transmissions, we consider direct sequence/spread spectrum (DS/SS) systems where pseudo-random (PN) sequences are used for spreading. To generate PN sequences, linear feedback shift registers (LFSRs) are employed, which are also used to generate keystreams in stream ciphers. For steam ciphers that use LFSRs, there are known attacks including correlation attacks that can regenerate keystreams. Since those attacks can also be used to regenerate spreading sequences, in this paper, in order to mitigate this problem, we consider induced random (chip) flipping of spreading sequences. While perturbed spreading sequences make correlation attacks infeasible, a legitimate receiver also suffers from random flipping. To take advantage of known spreading sequences for good performances, the maximum likelihood (ML) detection can be used, which is, however, computationally prohibitive as the complexity grows exponentially with the processing gain. To avoid this difficulty, we derive an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to perform the ML detection with low computational complexity in this paper.
Individually tailored toxicity-based 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide (FEC) therapy of metastatic breast cancer

Chemotherapy dosing only based on body surface area (BSA) results in marked pharmacokinetic and toxicity variations, which may result in an inferior outcome for some patients. A toxicity-based dosing schedule for individually tailored treatment with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) supported 5-fluorouracil (F), epirubicin (E) and cyclophosphamide (C) (dFEC) was developed and studied in patients with metastatic breast cancer with the purpose to determine its efficiency and toxicity. Twenty-six women, median age 48 years, were included and the individual E and C doses were tailored stepwise based on the recorded hematological toxicity. Twenty-one patients (81%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 66% to 96%) had an objective response, including six complete responses (23%; CI, 7%–39%). At median follow-up of 113 months, the median time to progression and median overall survival were 14 and 36 months, respectively. The delivered dose intensity was high but varied substantially between patients (ranges F 126–202, E 14.4–36.0, C 160–510 mg/m2/w). The dominating grade III/IV toxicity was nausea (12% of patients) and febrile neutropenia (31% of patients). The tailored and dose-escalated FEC was highly active and feasible in metastatic breast cancer and may provide a pragmatic way of overcoming the shortcomings of standard BSA-based dosing.
Influence tactics and objectives in upward, downward, and lateral influence attempts.

Two studies were conducted to replicate and extend previous exploratory research by Kipnis, Schmidt, and Wilkinson (1980) on influence tactics and objectives in organizations. A new questionnaire was developed that included measures of important influence tactics and objectives omitted in the earlier research. Whereas the earlier research used only agent self-reports of influence behavior, the present research used both agent and target reports. Differences in downward, lateral, and upward influence attempts were replicated more for data from agents than for data from targets. Direction of influence had a stronger effect on influence objectives than on influence tactics. Despite some differences due to data source and direction of influence, the relative frequency of use for the 8 influence tactics was remarkably similar across conditions. Consultation and rational persuasion were the tactics used most frequently, regardless of the direction of influence.
Description and life-cycle of Taenia lynciscapreoli sp. n. (Cestoda, Cyclophyllidea)

Abstract A new species of tapeworm, Taenia lynciscapreoli sp. n. (Cestoda, Cyclophyllidea), is described from the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), the main definitive host, and the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus and Capreolus pygargus), the main intermediate hosts, from Finland and Russia (Siberia and the Russian Far East). The new species was found once also in the wolf (Canis lupus) and the Eurasian elk/moose (Alces alces), representing accidental definitive and intermediate hosts, respectively. The conspecificity of adult specimens and metacestodes of Taenia lynciscapreoli sp. n. in various host species and regions, and their distinction from related species of Taenia, was confirmed by partial nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene. Morphologically, Taenia lynciscapreoli sp. n. can be separated unambiguously from all other species of Taenia by the shape of its large rostellar hooks, particularly the characteristically short, wide and strongly curved blade. If the large rostellar hooks are missing, Taenia lynciscapreoli may be separated from related species by a combination of morphological features of mature proglottids. It is suggested that Taenia lynciscapreoli has been present in published materials concerning the tapeworms of Lynx lynx and Lynx pardinus in Europe, but has been misidentified as Taenia pisiformis (Bloch, 1780). Taenia lynciscapreoli sp. n. has not been found in lynx outside the range of roe deer, suggesting a transmission pathway based on a specific predator–prey relationship. The present study applies a novel, simple approach to compare qualitative interspecific differences in the shape of rostellar hooks.
Spectral and Temporal Responses of Trunk Extensor Electromyography to an Isometric Endurance Test

Study Design. This study investigated the effect of trunk extensor muscle location on the spectral and temporal electromyographic activity of the muscles during a fatiguing isometric extension of the torso against gravity. Objectives. To determine the spectral responses of the trunk extensor muscles at more locations than have been studied previously, to determine if fatigue in the knee flexors limits this test, and to quantify the recruitment patterns of the trunk extensor muscles in a group of healthy subjects. Summary of Background Data. Isometric endurance tests appear to have more value than strength tests in predicting the occurrence of low back pain. Electromyographic activity of trunk extensor muscles during these tests may provide clues to the etiology of neuromuscular‐based low back pain. Spectral electromyographic measures appear to be successful discriminators between low back pain patient and normal populations, although which muscles provide the best information is unclear. Likewise, the recruitment patterns of the trunk extensors during fatiguing isometric tasks is not well quantified. Methods. Ten healthy men performed an isometric trunk endurance test. Surface electromyography was recorded from the erector spinae medially and laterally at vertebral levels of L1 and L3, medially at L5, and from the biceps femoris and gastrocnemius. Spectral parameters were calculated from the Fast Fourier Transform, and temporal parameters were calculated from the root mean square of the raw data. Linear regression was used to determine their responses as a function of time. Results. There was a significant effect of vertebral level and medial‐lateral location on the initial median frequency and linear slope of the median frequency regressions. No significant evidence of fatigue in the lower extremities was observed. For most subjects, the temporal response of the surface electromyography was parabolic (concave‐down), peaking at 30–50% of the endurance time. Conclusion. Establishment of which muscle locations provide the best information and knowledge of the recruitment patterns are essential for the development of clinical diagnostic procedures and rehabilitation protocols.
Heart rate variability in athletes: relationship with central and peripheral performance.

PURPOSE To investigate relationships between heart rate variability (HRV) and peripheral and central performance measures, 17 cross-country (X-C) skiers and seven canoeists were studied before and after a training period of 7 months. METHODS For the skiers and canoeists respectively, leg and arm peak torque (Tq), time to peak torque (TiTq), and total work (Wrk) were measured in an isokinetic dynamometer. Maximal oxygen uptakes (VO(2max)) were obtained from treadmill tests. Power spectral analysis of HRV was performed on electrocardiographic recordings in the resting supine position and after a tilt to yield power in the low-frequency (0.04--0.15 Hz) and high-frequency (0.15--0.45 Hz) components of HRV. RESULTS The change in normalized LF-variability in standing (Delta LFnT) correlated (P < 0.01) with the changes in TiTq (r = 0.63), max lactate (r = -0.63), and VO(2max) (r = -0.53). The change in absolute LFT was inversely correlated with the change in Tq. Subjects who improved VO(2max) were characterized by consistently higher high-frequency and total HRV than subjects with deteriorated aerobic capacity (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION The results suggest that improved measures of both peripheral and central (aerobic) work capacities were associated with a reduction of low-frequency HRV in the tilted position. High-frequency and total HRV did not change in proportion with changes in muscle performance or aerobic capacity, but the ability to further improve VO(2max) with training in these already fit subjects seemed to depend on their average levels of these HRV measures, interpreted to reflect parasympathetic activity.
Intelligent MultiPoint Relays Selection

In MANETs, routing protocols are needed to ensure reliable communications between nodes. They are classified in three categories according to how they establish the routes between any two distanced nodes. There are reactive, proactive or hybrid protocols. The OLSR (Optimized Link State Routing) belongs to the proactive category in which the relays are used to reduce the number of retransmitter nodes and hence to avoid the network flooding with the control traffic. Therefore, it is very important to ensure the maximum reliability for the selected relays in order to increase the performance of the network. In this article, to achieve this goal, we propose an intelligent new method based on dynamic selection of the MPR (MultiPoint Relay) sets construction process. According to constraints related to the nodes environment, we select from many strategies the one that it is the more suitable for being elected as MPR. In this article, two enhanced versions of the OLSR protocol are proposed. In the first one, we use the nodes mobility degree of the neighborhood to select the more suitable MPR. In the second one, we use the quantity of transiting traffic per node. In addition, extensive and rigorous simulations are made by a discrete event simulator to evaluate the efficiency of our approach. Key-Words: Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANET), Mobility, MultiPoint Relay (MPR), OLSR Routing protocol.
Building a better butterfly: the multiplexed metabutterfly

Multistage networks are important in a wide variety of applications. Expander-based networks, such as multibutterflies, are a tremendous improvement over traditional butterflies in both fault and congestion tolerance. However, multibutterflies cost at least twice as much in chips and wiring as butterflies. It is also impossible to build large multibutterflies due to their wiring complexity. We show that we can build an expander-based network that has comparable cost to a butterfly with the same number of endpoints, yet has substantially better fault and congestion performance. Specifically, we introduce a hierarchical construction that dramatically reduces wiring complexity and makes large expanders buildable. We are able to exploit the hierarchical structure to find large numbers of logical wires to multiplex over a smaller number of physical wires. Since many of the wires in an expander-based network are used to provide alternate paths, not useful bandwidth, substantial multiplexing can be done without significantly degrading performance. We present simulation results to support our conclusions. In comparing a butterfly with the comparable 2-to-1 multiplexed metabutterfly, we found that the metabutterfly performed better by nearly a factor of two on random traffic and greater than a factor five on worst-case traffic. <<ETX>>
Whole genome assembly, annotation and bioinformatics analysis of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain UCMB5113"

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain UCMB5113 is a Gram negative rhizo-bacterium, that produces antimicrobial compounds and induce plant basal defense with unknown genetic mechanism that suppress soil-borne plants and pathogens. Paired-end reads of length 75 bp with insert size of ~230 bp were sequenced from the genome of UCMB5113 by Illumina multiplex technology. Reference-guided assembly of the paired-end reads was performed using Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42 as reference sequence which was found to be closely related to UCMB5113 strain. A draft of UCMB5113 genome obtained after mapping the reads with reference sequence containing 4,169 genes excluding 90 tRNA and 29 rRNA genes. The draft genome of UCMB5113 harbors cluster of genes, which were found in B. amyloliquefaciens FZB42 and involved in synthesis of secondary metabolites like surfactin, fengycin, bacillomycinD, bacillibactin, and bacilysin, by pathways not involving ribosomes. Initial analysis reveals that UCMB5113 genome lacks an operon NRS involved in synthesis of putative secondary metabolite. The determination of draft genome sequence of UCMB5113 provided very basic analysis of set of genes involved in plant bacterium interaction and plant growth and protection. Further analysis is required to understand the genetic mechanism of interaction and protection mediated by CMB5113.
Data Fusion for Software Remodularization

Software refactoring aims at optimizing software modularization by improving internal software structure without altering its external behavior. There exists various approaches for suggesting refactoring opportunities, based on different sources of information, e.g., structural, semantic, and historical. In this paper, we propose a data fusion model to combine different sources of information in order to identify refactoring opportunities and we instantiate it to support Move Class refactoring. We report the results of our validation conducted on four software systems and we show that our proposal improves the modularization quality by 29% and that our tool is able to provide meaningful recommendations for move class refactoring. Specifically, more than 70% of the recommendations were considered meaningful from the developers' point of view.