Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
AB0958 The relationship between the extensor tendon enthesis and the nail in distal interphalangeal joint disease in psoriatic arthritis: ultrasound study

It has been shown that there is an anatomical link between the distal interphalangeal joint (DIP) extensor tendon enthesitis and the nail changes in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) [1]. To evaluate the relationship between nail involvement and enthesopathy at DIP level in PsA patients using ultrasonography (US). We included patients with PsA. According to OMERACT, the following elemental lesions were dichotomously (presence/absence) evaluated on greyscale US assessment at extensor tendon insertion at distal phalanx of DIP joints: abnormally hypoechoic, enthesophytes, and erosions. We also measured the tendon thickness. Increased abnormal vascularization at entheseal level was also assessed using PD technique. We also performed an US assessment of the finger nails that included the study of morphological changes and measurement of the thickness of nail bed (NBT), nail plate (NPT) and adjacent skin (ST). We included 33 PsA patients (323 DIP). Eleven patients (34 %) presented psoriatic onychopathy (45 fingernails) with a mean NAPSI 7 (IQR (25,75)) [2 -18]. US study of the nails revealed dystrophy in 75 nails (23%). At patient level, the mean NPT, NBT and SK were 1.90±0.22, 0.38±0.09, and 2.33±0.62, respectively.None of the patients had clinical involvement of DIP.Using US, we examined 325 extensor tendon. The mean thickness of the tendon was 0.63mm ±0.1 mm. The tendon was abnormally hypoechoic in two fingers (0.61%). Erosions were present in 16 DIP (4.9%). We found enthesophytes in 82 DIP joints at insertion of extensor digitorum tendon (25.23%). We did not observe increased abnormal vascularization at entheseal level.At finger level, the extensor tendon thickness was higher in the presence of US nail dystrophy (0.70 mm vs 0.60, p=0.01). Erosions were more common in fingers with US nail involvement (14.6 % vs 1.9%, p=0.00). Osteophytes were present in 20% of fingers with US nail involvement and 26.3% of fingers without US nail involvement (p=0.166). The thickness of DIP digital extensor tendons was correlated with the NBT(r = 0.412, p = 0.00), the NPT (r = 0.310, p = 0.00), and the thickness of the adjacent skin (r = 0.509, p = 0.00). The presence of US nail dystrophy was associated with thicker extensor tendon and more erosions. The thickness of the tendon was correlated with the thickness of the nail parts.This might be explained by the close relationship between nail and enthesis and supports the theory of the enthesis as an extended organ beyond the tendon bony attachment. [1]Tan, A. L . et al (2006). Rheumatology, 46(2), 253–256.None declared
Evaluating the performance of feature selection techniques and machine learning algorithms on future residential water demand

The provision of potable water as a severe challenge has engaged many people worldwide. So, identifying influential factors in water demand forecasting (WDF) for the residential sector performs a vital role in water crisis management. Nowadays, long-term macro planning for vast geographic areas helps policymakers to achieve sustainable development goals. This study uses the same perspective to present a pattern for water consumption behavior and prediction. For this purpose, yearly residential water consumption data, along with climatic characteristics, and socioeconomic factors of rural areas of Isfahan, Iran are aggregated. The feature selection task is conducted on the collected data using various machine learning (ML) methods along with a novel approach, forward selection based on smoothness index (FSSmI). Posterior to selecting features influencing residential water demand (WD), the raw data are analyzed using regression techniques, including multiple linear regression, support vector regression, and random forest regression. The employed methods show an improvement in the feature selection procedure and coefficient of determination as a result of implementing the FSSmI method. Based on the results, the multiple linear regression and support vector regression gain 96 and 95% accuracy and less than 11 and 13% error respectively; it demonstrates the validity of forecasting methods.
Sinomenine Confers Protection Against Myocardial Ischemia Reperfusion Injury by Preventing Oxidative Stress, Cellular Apoptosis, and Inflammation

Sinomenine (SIN), an alkaloid extracted from the root of S. acutum. sinomenine, has been shown to have antiarrhythmic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory effects in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) ex vivo. In this study, we investigated the cardioprotective effects of SIN in an in vivo mouse model of MIRI. Adult male C57BL/6J mice received SIN (80 mg/kg) for 5 days and underwent 30 min of percutaneous occlusion of the left anterior descending artery (LAD) followed by 24 h of reperfusion. Results showed that pretreatment with SIN significantly reduced myocardial infarct size and concentrations of markers of cardiac injury and improved left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) and shortening fraction (FS) in MIRI mice. The SIN pretreatment prevented the MIRI-induced decrease in the expression levels of Bcl-2, increase in the expression levels of caspase-3, caspase-9, and Bax, and increase in the number of TUNEL-positive cells in ischemic heart tissue. It was also found that pretreatment with SIN prevented the MIRI-induced oxidative stress imbalance in ischemic heart tissue, as shown by the increase in total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and glutathione (GSH) and the decrease in malondialdehyde (MDA), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and dihydroethidium (DHE) density. Further studies showed that the stimulus of cardiac ischemia/reperfusion caused a remarkable increase in the expression levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) mRNA in ischemic heart tissue, which was effectively prevented by pretreatment with SIN. These results demonstrate that SIN can attenuate MIRI-induced cardiac injury in vivo by preventing oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis.
Robotic Versus Laparoscopic Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer: A Mega Meta-Analysis

Background Laparoscopic gastrectomy and robotic gastrectomy are the most widely adopted treatment of choice for gastric cancer. To systematically assess the safety and effectiveness of robotic gastrectomy for gastric cancer, we carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis on short-term and long-term outcomes of robotic gastrectomy. Methods In order to find relevant studies on the efficacy and safety of robotic gastrectomy (RG) and laparoscopic gastrectomy (LG) in the treatment of gastric cancer, numerous medical databases including PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Library, Embase, Google Scholar, and China Journal Full-text Database (CNKI) were consulted, and Chinese and English studies on the efficacy and safety of RG and LG in the treatment of gastric cancer published from 2012 to 2022 were screened according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, and a meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.4 software. Results The meta-analysis inlcuded 48 literatures, with 20,151 gastric cancer patients, including 6,175 in the RG group and 13,976 in the LG group, respectively. Results of our meta-analysis showed that RG group had prololonged operative time (WMD = 35.72, 95% CI = 28.59–42.86, P < 0.05) (RG: mean ± SD = 258.69 min ± 32.98; LG: mean ± SD = 221.85 min ± 31.18), reduced blood loss (WMD = −21.93, 95% CI = −28.94 to −14.91, P < 0.05) (RG: mean ± SD = 105.22 ml ± 62.79; LG: mean ± SD = 127.34 ml ± 79.62), higher number of harvested lymph nodes (WMD = 2.81, 95% CI = 1.99–3.63, P < 0.05) (RG: mean ± SD = 35.88 ± 4.14; LG: mean ± SD = 32.73 ± 4.67), time to first postoperative food intake shortened (WMD = −0.20, 95% CI = −0.29 to −0.10, P < 0.05) (RG: mean ± SD = 4.5 d ± 1.94; LG: mean ± SD = 4.7 d ± 1.54), and lower length of postoperative hospital stay (WMD = −0.54, 95% CI = −0.83 to −0.24, P < 0.05) (RG: mean ± SD = 8.91 d ± 6.13; LG: mean ± SD = 9.61 d ± 7.74) in comparison to the LG group. While the other variables, for example, time to first postoperative flatus, postoperative complications, proximal and distal mar gin, R0 resection rate, mortality rate, conversion rate, and 3-year overall survival rate were all found to be statistically similar at P > 0.05. Conclusions In the treatment of gastric cancer, robotic gastrectomy is a safe and effective procedure that has both short- and long-term effects. To properly evaluate the advantages of robotic surgery in gastric cancer, more randomised controlled studies with rigorous research methodologies are needed.
TNF-α, VEGF, and Procalcitonin Levels Dynamic Changes During Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

BACKGROUND: The variety of traumatic brain injury (TBI) creates difficulty in evaluating its level and the clinical outcome correctly. This study aimed to analyze the level variations and dynamic of serum biomarkers, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and procalcitonin (PCT) in response to severe TBI.METHODS: Intravenous blood samples were collected from 20 TBI subjects at different time points: 0, 12, 24, and 48 hours. The serum levels of TNF-α, VEGF, and PCT were measured using specific monoclonal antibodies by quantitative sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: In 0, 12, 24, and 48 hours, the serum levels were significantly higher for TNF-α (p<0.0001), VEGF (p<0.0001) and PCT (p<0.0001) compared to the healthy control. In comparison to admission time point, TNF-α had elevated significantly (p<0.001) at 24 hours. PCT showed a significant increase after 48 hours (p<0.02) and VEGF showed no significant differences. Comparing the 3 biomarkers dynamic changes at 0, 12 and 24 hours, PCT level showed to be lower than VEGF and TNF-α levels, while VEGF level showed to be higher than PCT and TNF-α levels. However after 48 hours, PCT level (0.25 ng/mL) had elevated more than VEGF (0.21 ng/mL) and TNF- α (0.18 ng/mL) levels.CONCLUSION: Monitoring PCT in comparison to VEGF and TNF-α can be used to assist the progress of severe TBI, since PCT level progressive changes were associated with time increase.KEYWORDS: trauma, TNF-α, VEGF, PCT, Glasgow Coma Scale
CFD Flow Analysis and Optimization of Exhaust Muffler

: Silencer is an integral part of the exhaust system. The silencer serves the function of noise and vibration reduction. The exhaust gases in the combustion chamber which are at temperatures of around 1200K are released to the atmosphere at around 323K. Temperature reduction takes place efficiently as the flue gases flow through the exhaust system. In this study, flow analysis is carried out on various geometries and the geometries are checked for the pressure drop and temperature drop based on which the optimum geometry having minimum pressure drop and maximum temperature drop across the flow is selected and considered suitable. The entire flow analysis is done using ANSYS Fluent 18.0. Various Geometry combinations are used considering the minimum pressure drop. These geometries are analysed for flow considering Standard Air, Air as Ideal gas and Real gas as the fluid material for each of the geometries. For all the load cases the geometry which is having minimum pressure drop and maximum temperature drop is considered suitable for structural analysis.
Marginal Bone Level Evaluation of Fixed Partial Dental Prostheses Using Preformed Stock versus CAD/CAM Customized Abutments

Background: The maintenance of marginal bone levels around dental implants is an important criterion for evaluating the success of implants. Although computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) customized abutments (CAs) provide more flexible solutions, compared with the original preformed stock abutments (PAs), there are dimensional tolerances and underlying drawbacks in the production of CAD/CAM CAs, which may change the tightness and seamless connection between fixtures and abutments set by the manufacturer and then affect the long-term stability of the abutments. This study aimed to examine the change in both mesial and distal bone levels using digital periapical radiographs to evaluate the difference between CAD/CAM CAs and original PAs.Material and methods: Radiographs were taken before delivery; after functional loading for 1 month; and after 3, 6, and 12 months; and the vertical marginal bone levels (vMBLs) of both the mesial and distal surrounding implant bones were measured. All data are presented as means ± standard errors and were analyzed using Student’s t-test. A p-value < 0.05 was judged to represent a significant difference. Results: A total of 57 implants in 50 patients were divided into 22 CAD/CAM CAs and 35 original stock abutments. The PAs appeared to have a more stable bone level. By contrast, the amount of bone level change in the CAs was higher than that in the PAs. The change in the vMBL of the CAs was significantly more than that of the PAs after functional loading for 1 month (p = 0.006), 3 months (p = 0.013), 6 months (p = 0.014), and 12 months (p = 0.002). In contrast, the distal marginal bone level was lower than the mesial marginal bone level in any period. Nevertheless, the bone levels of the CAs and PAs in any period were comparable with no significant difference. Conclusions: Significant differences were found between the mesial and distal bone levels in the PAs. The CAD/CAM CAs showed a significantly greater bone level change than the original stock abutments after functional loading.
Prognostic Significance of Fibrotic Focus and Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Breast Cancer According to Molecular Subtypes

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the association between fibrotic focus (FF) and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and to determine the prognostic significance of FF and TILs in the breast according to its molecular subtypes.Methods: The study included patients who underwent surgical treatment for breast cancer, for whom tissue samples were available. FF within the tumor and TILs in breast cancer tissues were evaluated. Clinicopathological characteristics were reviewed from medical records.Results: FF and TILs were present in 31.3% and 81.7% of the patients, respectively. FF and TILs showed a positive correlation. FF were significantly associated with tumor size, lymphovascular invasion, regional lymph node metastasis, and tumor stage. TILs were significantly associated with menopausal status, histologic grade, tubule formation, nuclear grade, mitosis, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpression, molecular subtype of breast cancer, and the number of cluster of differentiation 8+ T cells. In TIL-positive cases, FF were significantly associated with tumor size, regional lymph node metastasis, extranodal extension, lymphovascular invasion, tumor stage, recurrence-free survival, and overall survival (OS). Based on HER2 overexpression status, TILs were significantly associated with tumor size, tumor necrosis, histologic grade, estrogen receptor status, and epidermal growth factor receptor expression in HER2-negative breast cancer. Further, in HER2-negative breast cancer, OS and recurrence-free survival were significantly associated with FF. The OS of FF-positive patients was significantly shorter than that of FF-negative patients.Conclusion: Our study showed an association between FF and TIL levels in breast cancer, indicating that FF are associated with poor prognostic factors for breast cancer and poor OS, and that TILs are associated with HER2 overexpression. However, further studies are needed to elucidate the interactions between FF and TILs in breast cancer.
Associations between Circulating SELENOP Level and Disorders of Glucose and Lipid Metabolism: A Meta-Analysis

Selenoprotein P (SELENOP) is an extracellular antioxidant, selenium transporter, and hepatokine interfering with glucose and lipid metabolism. To study the association between the circulating SELENOP concentration and glucose and lipid metabolic diseases (GLMDs), including gestational diabetes (GD), metabolic syndrome (MetS), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes, as well as the individual markers, a meta-analysis was conducted by searching multiple databases from their establishment through March 2022 and including 27 articles published between October 2010 and May 2021, involving 4033 participants. Participants with GLMDs had higher levels of SELENOP than those without GLMDs (standardized mean difference = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.16 to 1.51), and the SELENOP levels were positively correlated with the markers of GLMDs (pooled effect size = 0.09, 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.15). Subgroup analyses showed that the SELENOP concentrations were higher in women with GD and lower in individuals with MetS than their counterparts, respectively. Moreover, SELENOP was positively correlated with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, but not with the other markers of GLMDs. Thus, the heterogenicity derived from diseases or disease markers should be carefully considered while interpreting the overall positive association between SELENOP and GLMDs. Studies with a larger sample size and advanced design are warranted to confirm these findings.
Energy Recovery and Utilization Efficiency Improvement for Motor-Driven System Using Dynamic Energy Distribution Method

The hybrid energy storage system with the battery as the main energy source and the supercapacitor as the auxiliary energy source has been widely applied in the motor-driven system. However, the uncoordinated distribution of energy between energy storage units would cause unnecessary energy loss in the system. The energy recovery and utilization efficiency of the system needs to be further improved. In this paper, a power tracking control strategy considering total energy loss is proposed. The energy flow path of the motoring or generating process is investigated. The energy loss prediction models of the battery, the supercapacitor and the bidirectional DC/DC converter are established, respectively. Afterward, the objective optimization control function is deduced from the perspective of the minimum comprehensive energy loss. Dynamic power distribution ratios are obtained under the constraints. The superiorities of the supercapacitor are fully utilized and the dynamic supply-demand power balance is maintained. The results of simulations and experiments verify that energy recovery and utilization efficiency of the system is increased by 26.4% using the proposed control strategy in one running cycle.
Fabric defect detection based on transfer learning and improved Faster R-CNN

Fabric defect detection is an important quality inspection process in the textile industry. A fabric defect detection system based on transfer learning and an improved Faster R-CNN is proposed to solve the problems of low detection accuracy, general convergence ability, and poor detection effect for small target defects in existing fabric defect detection algorithms. The pre-trained weights on the big dataset Imagenet are first extracted for transfer learning. Images are then input into the improved Faster R-CNN network, while the ResNet50 and ROI Align are used to replace the original VGG16 feature extraction network structure and a region of interest (ROI) pooling layer to avoid the problems of region mismatch caused by two quantizations from ROI pooling. The region proposal network (RPN) is combined with the multi-scale feature pyramid FPN to generate candidate regions with richer semantic information and project them onto the feature map to obtain the corresponding feature matrix. Cascaded modules are integrated and different IoU thresholds are used for each level to distinguish positive and negative samples. Finally, the softmax classifier is adopted to identify the image and obtain the predictions. The experimental results show that the detection accuracy and convergence ability of the improved Faster R-CNN are greatly enhanced compared with the current mainstream models, which provides a reference for future fabric defect detection methods.
Insights into intercellular receptor-ligand binding kinetics in cell communication

Cell-cell communication is crucial for cells to sense, respond and adapt to environmental cues and stimuli. The intercellular communication process, which involves multiple length scales, is mediated by the specific binding of membrane-anchored receptors and ligands. Gaining insight into two-dimensional receptor-ligand binding kinetics is of great significance for understanding numerous physiological and pathological processes, and stimulating new strategies in drug design and discovery. To this end, extensive studies have been performed to illuminate the underlying mechanisms that control intercellular receptor-ligand binding kinetics via experiment, theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. It has been well established that the cellular microenvironment where the receptor-ligand interaction occurs plays a vital role. In this review, we focus on the advances regarding the regulatory effects of three factors including 1) protein-membrane interaction, 2) biomechanical force, and 3) bioelectric microenvironment to summarize the relevant experimental observations, underlying mechanisms, as well as their biomedical significances and applications. Meanwhile, we introduce modeling methods together with experiment technologies developed for dealing with issues at different scales. We also outline future directions to advance the field and highlight that building up systematic understandings for the coupling effects of these regulatory factors can greatly help pharmaceutical development.
Development of Fibre-Reinforced Cementitious Mortar with Mineral Wool and Coconut Fibre

Globally, as human population and industries grow, so does the creation of agricultural, industrial, and demolition waste. When these wastes are not properly recycled, reused, or disposed of, they pose a threat to the environment. The importance of this study lies in the beneficial use of coconut fibre and mineral wool in the form of fibres in cement mortar production. This study examines the use of coconut and mineral wool fibres in the production of fibre-reinforced mortar. Five different mortar mixtures were prepared, having one control mortar along with four fibre-reinforced mortars. The control mortar is denoted as CM while 1% and 1.5% of mineral wool are incorporated into this mortar mix and denoted as RMM-1.0 and RMM-1.5, respectively. Additionally, the mortar sample configurations contain 1% and 1.5% coconut fibers, designated as RCM-1.0 and RCM-1.5. These samples were subjected to different strength and durability tests to determine their suitability for use in mortar production. The testing findings show that mortar containing 1.5% mineral wool has better compared flexural strength and durability properties. The investigation results will form part of the database for the efficient utilization of natural and waste fibres in the construction and building sectors.