Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A molecularly imprinted nanofilm‐based quartz crystal microbalance sensor for the real‐time detection of pirimicarb

This study aimed to prepare a novel quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor for the detection of pirimicarb. Pirimicarb‐imprinted poly (ethylene glycol dimethacrylate‐N‐metacryloyl‐(l)‐tryptophan methyl ester) [p (EGDMA‐MATrp)] nanofilm (MIP) on the gold surface of a QCM chip was synthesized using the molecular imprinting technique. A nonimprinted p (EGDMA‐MATrp) nanofilm (NIP) was also synthesized using the same experimental technique. The MIP and NIP nanofilms were characterized via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy, contact angle, atomic force microscopy, and an ellipsometer. A competitive adsorption experiment on the sensor was performed to display the selectivity of the nanofilm. An analysis of the QCM sensor showed that the MIP nanofilm exhibited high sensitivity and selectivity for pirimicarb determination. A liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry method was prepared and validated to determine the accuracy and precision of the QCM sensor. The accuracy and precision of both methods were determined by a comparison of six replicates at three different concentrations to tomato samples extracted by using a Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS) method. The limit of detection of the QCM sensor was found to be 0.028 nM. In conclusion, the QCM sensor showed good accuracy, with recovery percentages between 91 and 94%. Also, the pirimicarb‐imprinted QCM sensor exhibited a fast response time, reusability, high selectivity and sensitivity, and a low limit of detection. Therefore, it offers a serious alternative to the traditional analytical methods for pesticide detection in both natural sources and aqueous solutions.
Herbal medicine for idiopathic central precocious puberty

Background: Herbal medicine is widely used in East Asia to treat idiopathic central precocious puberty (ICPP). Most of the available clinical trials that investigated herbal medicine for ICPP have been included in this review. This systematic review will assess the efficacy and safety of herbal medicine for ICPP. Methods: Eleven databases, including Asian databases, will be searched for studies conducted through 2018. We will include randomized controlled trials assessing herbal medicine for ICPP. The risk of bias will be evaluated using the Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool, and confidence in the cumulative evidence will be evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation instrument. Ethics and dissemination: This systematic review will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and disseminated both electronically and in print. The review will be updated to inform and guide health care practices. Trial registration number: PROSPER 2018 CRD42018087988.
Semi-automatic segmentation of major aorto-pulmonary collateral arteries (MAPCAs) for image guided procedures

Manual segmentation of pre-operative volumetric dataset is generally time consuming and results are subject to large inter-user variabilities. Level-set methods have been proposed to improve segmentation consistency by finding interactively the segmentation boundaries with respect to some priors. However, in thin and elongated structures, such as major aorto-pulmonary collateral arteries (MAPCAs), edge-based level set methods might be subject to flooding whereas region-based level set methods may not be selective enough. The main contribution of this work is to propose a novel expert-guided technique for the segmentation of the aorta and of the attached MAPCAs that is resilient to flooding while keeping the localization properties of an edge-based level set method. In practice, a two stages approach is used. First, the aorta is delineated by using manually inserted seed points at key locations and an automatic segmentation algorithm. The latter includes an intensity likelihood term that prevents leakage of the contour in regions of weak image gradients. Second, the origins of the MAPCAs are identified by using another set of seed points, then the MAPCAs' segmentation boundaries are evolved while being constrained by the aorta segmentation. This prevents the aorta to interfere with the segmentation of the MAPCAs. Our preliminary results are promising and constitute an indication that an accurate segmentation of the aorta and MAPCAs can be obtained with reasonable amount of effort.
The role of citicoline in cognitive impairment: pharmacological characteristics, possible advantages, and doubts for an old drug with new perspectives

Background Citicoline is able to potentiate neuroplasticity and is a natural precursor of phospholipid synthesis, or rather serves as a choline source in the metabolic pathways for biosynthesis of acetylcholine. Several studies have shown that it can have beneficial effects both in degenerative and in vascular cognitive decline. The aim of the present study was to review the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of this drug and its role in cognitive impairment according to the present medical literature. Methods A MEDLINE® search was made using the following key words: citicoline, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, elderly, cognitive impairment, vascular dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease. Recent studies on the possible role of citicoline in increasing sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) expression were assessed. Some personal studies were also considered, such as the VITA study and the IDEALE study. Results Administered by both oral and intravenous routes, citicoline is converted into two major circulating metabolites, cytidine and choline. It is metabolized in the gut wall and liver. Pharmacokinetic studies suggested that it is well absorbed and highly bioavailable with oral dosing. A number of studies have clearly shown the possible role of citicoline in cognitive impairment of diverse etiology. It can also modulate the activity/expression of some protein kinases involved in neuronal death and increases SIRT1 expression in the central nervous system. The VITA study and the IDEALE study suggested that both parenteral and oral citicoline are effective and safe. Other studies have clearly demonstrated citicoline’s effects on several cognitive domains. Conversely, some studies did not point out any evidence of efficacy of this drug. Conclusion Citicoline appears to be a promising agent to improve cognitive impairment, especially of vascular origin. In fact, so far it appears as a drug with the ability to promote “safe” neuroprotection, capable of enhancing endogenous protective. Large clinical trials are needed to confirm its benefits.
Comparison of Approximate Entropy Measure and Poincaré Plot Indexes for the Study of Gait Characteristics in the Elderly

Early identification of at-risk gait helps prevent falls and injuries. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between approximate entropy (ApEn) and Poincaré plot indexes of elderly gait patterns and to test whether ApEn could be used as a reliable gait identifier for falls-risk. Minimum foot clearance (MFC) data of 14 elderly and 10 elderly participants with a history of falls and balance problems were analyzed. The ApEn values of MFC were significantly correlated with Poincaré plot indexes of MFC in the healthy elderly group, whereas correlations were absent in the elderly fallers group. Mean ApEn in the fallers group (0.18±0.03) was significantly higher than that in the healthy group (0.13±0.13). The higher ApEn values in the fallers group might indicate increased irregularities in their gait patterns and a loss of gait control mechanism. Results are useful for the early diagnosis of common gait pathologies.
Electromagnetically coupled coplanar waveguide to stripline transition in LTCC technology

A coplanar waveguide-to-stripline signal transition based on electromagnetic coupling principle is presented in this paper. The signal transition is designed in low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology for integration in a 122 GHz radar System-in-Package (SiP) design. Simulation results of the signal transition, in back-to-back configuration, show an operational bandwidth of 114.5 to 132 GHz i.e. 14.2% relative bandwidth. A manufactured prototype of the signal transition was measured in the frequency range of 110 to 170 GHz using coplanar waveguide probes. The measured insertion loss S21 is < 2 dB from 120.5 to 135 GHz for the single-ended transition. X-ray images of the manufactured prototype are shown to highlight the manufacturing errors. The simulation model is modified on the basis of X-ray analysis and a good agreement between the modified simulation and the measurement result is achieved.
Fuzzy Rule Interpolation Methods and Fri Toolbox

FRI methods are less popular in the practical application domain. One possible reason is the missing common framework. There are many FRI methods developed independently, having different interpolation concepts and features. One trial for setting up a common FRI framework was the MATLAB FRI Toolbox, developed by Johanyak et. al. in 2006. The goals of this paper are divided as follows: firstly, to present a brief introduction of the FRI methods. Secondly, to introduce a brief description of the refreshed and extended version of the original FRI Toolbox. And thirdly, to use different unified numerical benchmark examples to evaluate and analyze the Fuzzy Rule Interpolation Techniques (FRI) (KH, KH Stabilized, MACI, IMUL, CRF, VKK, GM, FRIPOC, LESFRI, and SCALEMOVE), that will be classified and compared based on different features by following the abnormality and linearity conditions [15].
Survey on Automated Machine Learning

Machine learning has become a vital part in many aspects of our daily life. However, building well performing machine learning applications requires highly specialized data scientists and domain experts. Automated machine learning (AutoML) aims to reduce the demand for data scientists by enabling domain experts to automatically build machine learning applications without extensive knowledge of statistics and machine learning. In this survey, we summarize the recent developments in academy and industry regarding AutoML. First, we introduce a holistic problem formulation. Next, approaches for solving various subproblems of AutoML are presented. Finally, we provide an extensive empirical evaluation of the presented approaches on synthetic and real data.
Reference-less Measure of Faithfulness for Grammatical Error Correction

We propose USim, a semantic measure for Grammatical Error Correction (that measures the semantic faithfulness of the output to the source, thereby complementing existing reference-less measures (RLMs) for measuring the output’s grammaticality. USim operates by comparing the semantic symbolic structure of the source and the correction, without relying on manually-curated references. Our experiments establish the validity of USim, by showing that the semantic structures can be consistently applied to ungrammatical text, that valid corrections obtain a high USim similarity score to the source, and that invalid corrections obtain a lower score.
The nature of the infrared counterpart and of the optical nebula associated with the Central Compact Object in Vela Jr.

The X-ray source CXO\, J085201.4$-$461753in the few kyr-old Vela Jr. supernova remnant (G266.2-1.2) belongs to the peculiar class of isolated neutron stars dubbed "Central Compact Objects" (CCOs). At variance with the other CCOs, which are only detected in the X-rays, \cxo\ has been possibly detected also at other wavelengths. In particular, a candidate near-infrared counterpart (H = 21.6 $\pm$0.1) was detected by the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in addition to a 6\arcsec-wide nebula detected in H$\alpha$, interpreted as a velocity-driven bow-shock. Here, we present new near-infrared and optical VLT observations of the candidate counterpart to \cxo\ and its nebula to confirm the proposed associations. Moreover, we used archival Chandra observations to measure for the first time the CXO\, J085201.4$-$461753 proper motion. The comparison between the two sets of near-infrared VLT images, taken 10.56 year apart, do not show evidence of proper motion for the candidate counterpart to CXO\, J085201.4$-$461753, expected from its 4\arcmin\ offset from the SNR geometrical centre, with a $3\sigma$ upper limit of $\sim 10$ mas yr$^{-1}$. This is much smaller than the expected proper motion of $\sim$50--100 mas yr$^{-1}$, which, in turn, is below the $3\sigma$ upper limit of $\sim$ 300 mas yr$^{-1}$ that we obtained with Chandra. At the same time, VLT spectroscopy resolved the nebula optical emission, which is dominated by the NII doublet at 6548 and 6584 A and not by H$\alpha$. To summarise, we conclude that the proposed near-infrared counterpart is likely unassociated with \cxo\ and that the nebula is not a velocity-driven bow-shock.
Evening types demonstrate reduced SSRI treatment efficacy

ABSTRACT Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have a profound effect on the circadian system's response to environmental light, which may impact treatment outcomes for patients depending on their habitual light exposure patterns. Here, we investigated the relationship between time-of-day preference, depressive symptoms and self-reported antidepressant treatment response. Evening types reported having taken a higher number of antidepressant medications in the previous 5 years and lower SSRI efficacy than morning types. While undergoing SSRI treatment, evening types also reported more depressive symptoms and suicidality. It is concluded that time-of-day preference may prove informative in predicting SSRI treatment responses.
Closing the loop for deep brain stimulation implants enables personalized healthcare for Parkinson's disease patients

DEEP brain stimulation implants have improved life quality for more than 70,000 patients world-wide with diseases like Parkinson's, essential tremor, or obsessive-compulsive disorder where pharmaceutical therapies alone could not offer sufficient relief. Still, optimization and monitoring relies heavily on regular clinical visits, putting a burden on patient's comfort and clinicians. Permanent monitoring and combination with other patient health signals could ultimately lead to a personalized closed-loop therapy with remote quality monitoring. This requires technological improvements on the DBS implants such as integration of recording capabilities for brain activity monitoring, active low-power electronics, rechargeable battery technology, and body sensor networks for integration with e.g. gait, speech, and other vital information sensors on the patient's body and a link to a telemedicine platform using mobile technologies.
EMBER: An Open Dataset for Training Static PE Malware Machine Learning Models

This paper describes EMBER: a labeled benchmark dataset for training machine learning models to statically detect malicious Windows portable executable files. The dataset includes features extracted from 1.1M binary files: 900K training samples (300K malicious, 300K benign, 300K unlabeled) and 200K test samples (100K malicious, 100K benign). To accompany the dataset, we also release open source code for extracting features from additional binaries so that additional sample features can be appended to the dataset. This dataset fills a void in the information security machine learning community: a benign/malicious dataset that is large, open and general enough to cover several interesting use cases. We enumerate several use cases that we considered when structuring the dataset. Additionally, we demonstrate one use case wherein we compare a baseline gradient boosted decision tree model trained using LightGBM with default settings to MalConv, a recently published end-to-end (featureless) deep learning model for malware detection. Results show that even without hyper-parameter optimization, the baseline EMBER model outperforms MalConv. The authors hope that the dataset, code and baseline model provided by EMBER will help invigorate machine learning research for malware detection, in much the same way that benchmark datasets have advanced computer vision research.
Salt sensitivity is associated with insulin resistance, sympathetic overactivity, and decreased suppression of circulating renin activity in lean patients with essential hypertension.

BACKGROUND The mechanisms by which a derangement of glucose metabolism causes high blood pressure are not fully understood. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to clarify the relation between salt sensitivity of blood pressure and insulin resistance, which are important subcharacteristics of hypertension and impaired glucose metabolism, respectively. Effects on the renin-angiotensin and sympathetic nervous systems were also studied. DESIGN The state of glucose metabolism was assessed by a hyperinsulinemic euglycemic glucose clamp technique and a 75-g oral-glucose-tolerance test in 24 essential hypertensive patients who were lean and without diabetes or chronic kidney disease. The subjects were classified as salt-sensitive or salt-resistant on the basis of the difference (Delta mean blood pressure > or =5%) between 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring results on the seventh day of low-salt (34 mmol/d) and high-salt (252 mmol/d) diets. Urine and blood samples were collected for analyses. RESULTS There was a robust inverse relation between the glucose infusion rate (GIR) and the salt sensitivity index. The GIR correlated directly with the change in urinary sodium excretion and was inversely related to the change in hematocrit when the salt diet was changed from low to high, which is indicative of salt and fluid retention in salt-sensitive subjects. The GIR also showed an inverse correlation compared with the changes in urinary norepinephrine excretion, plasma renin activity, and plasma aldosterone concentration. CONCLUSIONS Salt sensitivity of blood pressure is strongly associated with insulin resistance in lean, essential hypertensive patients. Hyperinsulinemia, sympathetic overactivation, and reduced suppression of the renin-angiotensin system may play a role in this relation.
Low to moderate sugar-sweetened beverage consumption impairs glucose and lipid metabolism and promotes inflammation in healthy young men: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) have unfavorable effects on glucose and lipid metabolism if consumed in high quantities by obese subjects, but the effect of lower doses in normal-weight subjects is less clear. OBJECTIVE The aim was to investigate the effects of SSBs consumed in small to moderate quantities for 3 wk on LDL particle distribution and on other parameters of glucose and lipid metabolism as well as on inflammatory markers in healthy young men. DESIGN Twenty-nine subjects were studied in a prospective, randomized, controlled crossover trial. Six 3-wk interventions were assigned in random order as follows: 600 mL SSBs containing 1)40 g fructose/d [medium fructose (MF)], 2) 80 g fructose/d [high fructose (HF)], 3) 40 g glucose/d [medium glucose (MG)], 4) 80 g glucose/d [high glucose (HG)], 5) 80 g sucrose/d [high sucrose (HS)], or 6) dietary advice to consume low amounts of fructose. Outcome parameters were measured at baseline and after each intervention. RESULTS LDL particle size was reduced after HF by -0.51 nm (95% CI: -0.19, -0.82 nm) and after HS by -0.43 nm (95% CI: -0.12, -0.74; P < 0.05 for both). Similarly, a more atherogenic LDL subclass distribution was seen when fructose-containing SSBs were consumed (MF, HF, and HS: P < 0.05). Fasting glucose and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) increased significantly after all interventions (by 4-9% and 60-109%, respectively; P < 0.05); leptin increased during interventions with SSBs containing glucose only (MG and HG: P < 0.05). CONCLUSION The present data show potentially harmful effects of low to moderate consumption of SSBs on markers of cardiovascular risk such as LDL particles, fasting glucose, and hs-CRP within just 3 wk in healthy young men, which is of particular significance for young consumers. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01021969.
Homogeneous shear turbulence as a second-order cone program

To help resolve issues of non-realizability and restriction to homogeneity faced by analytical theories of turbulence, we explore three-dimensional homogeneous shear turbulence of incompressible Newtonian fluids via optimal control and convex optimization. The framework is composed of multi-point spatial correlations of velocity and pressure fluctuations up to the degenerate fourth order, their evolution equations and constraints. The integral of trace of the second order correlations is argued as the objective functional to be maximized. The sources of the constraints are discussed like the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality and the non-negativity of variance of products (NNVP). Two models are defined: the second-order model uses the contracted and degenerate third order correlations as control variables; the third-order model takes the degenerate fourth order correlations as control variables. Both are second-order cone programs. Computation of large-scale and huge-scale and link to big data are noted. The exponential growth rates of the asymptotic states are bounded from above by zero. The steady state of the second-order model is solved. Three finite macro length scales are predicted beyond which the two-point correlations are negligible. The predicted values of the anisotropy tensor are consistent with experimental data qualitatively (concerning the relative numerical order of the diagonal components), albeit with large quantitative differences attributed to the non-enforceability of NNVP within the model. Compared with DNS data, the predicted second order correlation functions contain flawed features of local minima too large in magnitude or present spuriously. The third-order model is expected to improve predictions, owing to its ability to include constraints from NNVP and its formulation in an enlarged control variable space. It is yet open how to solve this huge-scale problem.
Selenium-Rich Ricegrass Juice Improves Antioxidant Properties and Nitric Oxide Inhibition in Macrophage Cells

Ricegrass juice (Oryza sativa L.) was introduced as a functional food as the consumption of sprouts or seedlings has been claimed to provide high nutritive value. Selenium (Se) is a trace mineral that plays a key role in the human antioxidation scheme. Supplementation of Se into plants is one strategy to enhance plant bioactivities, and the consumption of Se plant foods may confer superior health benefits. In this study, ricegrass juice extract was analyzed for its major phenolic components. The effect of ricegrass juice extracts bio-fortified with 0, 10 and 40 mg Se/L named as RG0, RG10, and RG40, respectively, were investigated for a percentage of cell viability, changes of endogenous antioxidant enzymes, lipid peroxidation, and nitric oxide inhibition in RAW264.7 macrophage cells. Flavone glycosides, namely chrysoeriol arabinosyl arabinoside derivatives, were found to be the foremost bioactive components in ricegrass juice extract indicated by UHPLC-MS. The results of cell culture assessment revealed that RG40 showed an ability to promote macrophage cell proliferation at low concentration. Ricegrass juice extract in all treatments possessed the ability to reduce malondialdehyde content, which may be regarded as the bioactivity of phenolic compounds. Moreover, Se also played a role in this effect since RG40 showed the greatest ability via increasing the level of GPx enzyme. It was also discovered that phenolic compounds in the extracts played a role in inhibiting nitric oxide in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells. Furthermore, RG40 expressed significantly higher NO inhibition properties at IC50 118.76 µg/mL compared to RG0 and RG10, at 147.02 and 147.73 µg/mL, respectively. Se bio-fortified ricegrass juice could be considered as a new potent functional food that can lower the risk of oxidative stress and chronic inflammation diseases.