Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Laminin-5 γ2 chain expression correlates with unfavorable prognosis in squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue

Introduction: Oral cavity and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma is the eighth most common cancer among men and fourteenth among women in the U.S. according to recent data. Oral and oropharyngeal cancers are the most common malignancies of the head and neck region and are well-known for their high rate of proliferation and nodal metastasis. Oral squamous cell carcinoma, the most frequent of all oral cancers, accounts for more than 90% of oral cancers. Laminin is an important constitutional element of the basement membrane. Laminin-5. The cleaved γ2 chains bind epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) on cancer cell surfaces and transmit intracellular signals that promote cell growth and mobility. Aim of the work: To evaluate Laminin-5 γ2 chain expression as a prognostic marker in squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue in Tobruk-Libya Patients, Materials, and Methods: The study group included 33 selected cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue, diagnosed at the Pathology department of Tobruk Medical Center, Libya, between 2013 and 2019. All patients were surgically treated and underwent complete surgical excision with a safety margin. The selection process was based on the histological criteria for the diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue and was classified into well-differentiated (grade I), moderately differentiated (grade II), and poorly differentiated (grade III). Other clinicopathological data (gender, age, tumor size, and lymph node metastasis) were extracted from medical files. All cases were studied by Laminin-5 γ2 immunohistochemical staining monoclonal antibodies expression. Results: The details of 33 patients selected for analyses are as follows. The mean age of the patients at initial surgery was 65.5 years (range, 48–83 years), and 23 were (69.7%) males and 10 (30.3%) were females. 18 cases of the tumors were well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (54.5%); 8 cases were moderate differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (24.2%) and 7 cases were poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (21.3%). Tumor size ranged between 6 and 22 mm, with a mean of 14 mm. Lymph nodes metastasis was present in 5 cases (15.2%) and 28 cases (84.8%) show no lymph nodes metastasis. Area percentage of laminin-5 γ2 expression in well-differentiated keratinized squamous cell carcinoma scored the highest levels (37.252 ± 16.870) followed by poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (14.466 ± 3.408) and finally moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (14.462 ± 3.827). The optic density of laminin-5 γ2 expression in poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma scored the highest levels (58.368 ± 4.027) followed by moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (44.734 ± 0.386) and finally well-differentiated keratinized squamous cell carcinoma (40.952 ± 8.844). Conclusion: Laminin-5 γ2 could be used as useful markers to detect the invasiveness of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.
Examining the Usefulness of Quality Scores for Generating Learning Object Recommendations in Repositories of Open Educational Resources

Open educational resources (OER) can contribute to democratize education by providing effective learning experiences with lower costs. Nevertheless, the massive amount of resources currently available in OER repositories makes it difficult for teachers and learners to find relevant and high-quality content, which is hindering OER use and adoption. Recommender systems that use data related to the pedagogical quality of the OER can help to overcome this problem. However, studies analyzing the usefulness of these data for generating OER recommendations are very limited and inconclusive. This article examines the usefulness of using pedagogical quality scores for generating OER recommendations in OER repositories by means of a user study that compares the following four different recommendation approaches: a traditional content-based recommendation technique, a quality-based non-personalized recommendation technique, a hybrid approach that combines the two previous techniques, and random recommendations. This user study involved 53 participants and 400 OER whose quality was evaluated by reviewers using the Learning Object Review Instrument (LORI). The main finding of this study is that pedagogical quality scores can enhance traditional content-based OER recommender systems by allowing them to recommend OER with more quality without detriment to relevance.
Posttranslational regulation of protein function and stability at the mitochondria and beyond

Approved: _____________________________________ Thesis Supervisor _____________________________________ Title and Department _____________________________________ Date 1 POSTTRANSLATIONAL REGULATION OF PROTEIN FUNCTION AND STABILITY AT THE MITOCHONDRIA AND BEYOND. by Shanna Katherine Nifoussi A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Pharmacology in the Graduate College of The University of Iowa
A Possible Tsunami Deposit Associated to the CE 1755 Lisbon Earthquake on the Western Coast of Portugal

The CE 1755 Lisbon tsunami was the largest historical tsunami to affect the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North Africa. This study presents the results obtained from the application of different sedimentological techniques (e.g., grain size, morphoscopy, microtextural analysis, geochemistry, radiocarbon dating) on sediments retrieved from the Alcabrichel River alluvial plain (of about 500 m far away from its mouth and approximatively 50 km northwest of Lisbon, Portugal). The results allowed the identification of a sandy layer that was associated with the CE 1755 tsunami. Furthermore, a new microtextural semi-quantitative classification was applied to enhance the identification of extreme marine inundation deposits. Based on sedimentological data, three different tsunami inundation phases were identified, including two inundations and a likely backwash. This innovative work offers physical evidence of the spatial presence of the CE 1755 tsunami event on the western coast of Europe. It also enables a reconstruction of tsunami inundation dynamics, with two flooding waves and an interspersed backwash.
Assessments of national tourism development in terms of sustainability and inclusiveness

The increase in global population movement and the development of tourism are connected with the development of transport and other infrastructures. Therefore, funds flow and capital migration increase, while it is possible to accumulate funds with the help of tourism, as well as to increase the GDP of countries, infrastructure and climate of which are attractive for tourists. Two hypotheses about the impact of tourisms on the environment are confirmed: positive and negative effects. A new approach of a “solidarity tourism” as a specific type of inclusive tourism, which is a process of cooperation between various participants of a tourism industry, is proposed. Solidarity tourism means that rural households, which are not fully involved in tourism services once get the opportunity to intensify their activities in this industry by focusing their service on people with special needs. In this case, a “double benefit” in a context of inclusiveness is achieved: on the one hand, an employment and income from tourism are provided in the rural households as a continuation and diversification of agricultural activity, and, on the other hand, quality tourism services are provided for those with special needs. The inclusiveness of tourism services in Ukraine is more connected with the inclusion of a wide range of rural households in the tourism field than with an accessibility of such services for those with special needs and disabilities. Institutional household sector exceeded the non –financial corporation sector in temporary accommodation and catering provision. Rural tourism becomes more widespread as a kind of economic activity mostly for households, located in environmentally friendly areas. However, Ukraine is among outsiders in terms of tourism due to a range of recent events that creates not very attractive image of the country, imperfection of legislation, the lack of effective actions of the government and insufficient desire to invest in tourism development. This article analyzes macroeconomic performances of rural tourism in the country, the level of the interest of population and communities in creation of a favorable tourism atmosphere. Several recreation points are estimated according to the proposed indicator of the investment attractiveness for tourism and the relevant conclusions are grounded. It was found that there is an ecological depletion of natural resources in Ukraine and no proper funds are invested in their recovery. This situation threatens the ecosystem, preservation of ethno cultural values and the development of tourism potential. At the same time, the meaning of environmental protection and the creation of environmentally friendly places for tourism become more important in the developed countries. There is no government support for the environmentally friendly tourism in Ukraine. Rural households provide hospitality services and improve environmental quality of them by investing their own funds.
Passive evaporative coolers for postharvest storage of fruit and vegetables: Where to best deploy them and how well do they perform

Passive evaporative coolers have a huge potential to help smallholder farmers to preserve their fresh fruit and vegetables longer after harvest. However, we could benefit from more transparent information on where evaporative coolers perform sufficiently well to extend the postharvest life of the fresh produce significantly. Unsatisfactory evaporative cooler performance is a potential cause for farmers' limited adoption of this technology to reduce food losses. Our objective is to present easy-to-use tools that help to better scope regions with the best potential for direct passive evaporative coolers and for effectively deploying it. This information should help avoid installing evaporative coolers in areas with environmental conditions that only induce a temperature depression of a few degrees Celsius. Concretely, we developed design charts of the achievable temperature depression by evaporative cooling based on the local air temperature and humidity. We quantified for apple, banana, mango, and tomato the resulting additional days in postharvest life gained by storing the produce in an evaporative cooler. For these fruits, the gain in postharvest life using passive cooling is roughly 2–15 days for temperate climates with an ambient temperature of 20°C and a humidity of 50%. We present geographical maps of India, Nigeria, and the entire world at a 30 km resolution that answer how much evaporative cooling can maximally decrease the produce temperature and extend postharvest life for banana fruit. We found that passive evaporative cooling could induce up to a 7-day gain in postharvest life. We make these maps available online. We also quantify how well evaporative coolers perform concerning reducing the temperature and how they should be sized. Our results will facilitate installing evaporative coolers only in suitable regions. Our data also show in which months the cooler can be operated with the best performance. We thereby help avoid disillusion and loss of trust in the technology with smallholder farmers, policymakers, farmers, or farmer cooperatives. Further catalyzing the implementation of small-scale evaporative coolers can bring farmers significant gains in postharvest life, reduce food losses, and increase revenues.
The complete mitochondrial genome of Homatula pycnolepis (Teleostei, Cypriniformes) in Lantsang River and its phylogenetic analysis

Abstract Homatula pycnolepis is a small-sized benthopelagic fish species in the family Nemacheilidae, superfamily Cobitidea. In this study, the entire mitogenome sequence of the H. pycnolepis has been sequenced by using sanger sequencing method. The circular mitochondrial genome was 16,570 bp in length and contained of 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, an origin of light-strand replication (OL), and one displacement loop locus (D-loop). The overall base composition was 30.1% A, 26.4% T, 26.8% C, and 16.7% G with 56.6% AT content. Most genes were encoded on the heavy strand except for ND6 and eight tRNA genes. There were 11 regions of gene overlaps totaling 29 bp and 7 intergenic spacer regions totaling 37 bp. Its structure type was similar to the mitogenome of Cobitidea fishes. Phylogenetic analysis with 33 complete mitogenomes of Cobitidea and 2 Macrognathus fishes in the family of Mastacembelidae suggested that Homatula species clustered as one monophyletic clade and Homatula was closely related to Schistura. Mitogenome information from this study could be a useful basis for conservation and phylogenetics of this species.
Seeking “protective” and “harmful” immune genes during chronic HIV-1 infection by transcriptome analysis

Abstract Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals exhibit remarkable transcriptomic variation. Transcriptome analyses of antiretroviral therapy (ART)-free chronically infected HIV-1 patients with different clinical outcomes are likely to aid the development of vaccine and immune therapies. Here, we performed microarray analyses on whole-blood derived RNA from 89 ART-free HIV-1-infected individuals from 2 cohorts. The differentially expressed genes were analyzed between long-term non-progressors, viremic non-progressors and typical progressors, and between elite controllers and non-elite controllers among the long-term non-progressors. Several genes related to T-cell growth, proliferation and differentiation and antiapoptosis were upregulated, whereas interferon-stimulated genes and inflammatory genes were significantly downregulated in long-term non-progressors and viremic non-progressors. The observations above were further confirmed in the set of 261 genes that correlated with disease progression during a 5-year follow-up, which included 51 genes significantly associated with slower disease progression, and 210 genes associated with aggressive disease progression. Overall, our data suggest that it is vital to maintain the homeostasis of the immune system when mounting antiviral immune responses. Immune therapeutics able to reconstruct immune homeostasis are likely to be required for immune reconstitution in the context of ART, such as the administration of interleukin-7, healthy allogenic CD4+ T cells (providing CD4+ T-cell growth factors), or Tregs.
Native distribution characteristics rather than functional traits explain preadaptation of invasive species to high‐UV‐B environments

Alien species successfully colonize new ranges if they encounter favourable environmental conditions there and possess traits that match new challenges. Climate‐matching approaches comparing native and exotic ranges mostly consider temperature and precipitation niches of alien species, but have largely ignored UV‐B radiation. UV‐B fundamentally differs between hemispheres, with much higher levels at southern than at northern latitudes. Consequently, UV‐B might act at the global scale and present a so far neglected filter that species need to overcome when invading high‐UV‐B environments.
An Intact Cell Bioluminescence-Based Assay for the Simple and Rapid Diagnosis of Urinary Tract Infection

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common infections, accounting for a substantial portion of outpatient hospital and clinic visits. Standard diagnosis of UTI by culture and sensitivity can take at least 48 h, and improper diagnosis can lead to an increase in antibiotic resistance following therapy. To address these shortcomings, rapid bioluminescence assays were developed and evaluated for the detection of UTI using intact, viable cells of Photobacterium mandapamensis USTCMS 1132 or previously lyophilized cells of Photobacterium leiognathi ATCC 33981™. Two platform technologies—tube bioluminescence extinction technology urine (TuBETUr) and cellphone-based UTI bioluminescence extinction technology (CUBET)—were developed and standardized using artificial urine to detect four commonly isolated UTI pathogens—namely, Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans. Besides detection, these assays could also provide information regarding pathogen concentration/level, helping guide treatment decisions. These technologies were able to detect microbes associated with UTI at less than 105 CFU/mL, which is usually the lower cut-off limit for a positive UTI diagnosis. Among the 29 positive UTI samples yielding 105–106 CFU/mL pathogen concentrations, a total of 29 urine specimens were correctly detected by TuBETUr as UTI-positive based on an 1119 s detection window. Similarly, the rapid CUBET method was able to discriminate UTIs from normal samples with high confidence (p ≤ 0.0001), using single-pot conditions and cell phone-based monitoring. These technologies could potentially address the need for point-of-care UTI detection while reducing the possibility of antibiotic resistance associated with misdiagnosed cases of urinary tract infections, especially in low-resource environments.
Practitioners’ Awareness of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Practices within Interprofessional Healthcare Teams in Institutions

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this research was to explore practitioners’ awareness of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), broadly, and Music Therapy (MT) activity, specifically, within their healthcare institutions. The goal of this was to better evaluate their level of knowledge and understand their recommending practices of these modalities within their roles as interdisciplinary healthcare team (IDHT) members in those institutions for optimization of patient care decision-making. DESIGN A quantitative, descriptive, exploratory and cross-sectional research design was used to measure practitioners’ awareness of CAM and MT in their healthcare institution utilizing a principal investigator-created valid and reliable tool entitled the “Global Complementary/Alternative and Music Therapy Assessment (GCAMTA). " SETTING/LOCATION Data were collected electronically using various social media platforms and from several professional healthcare associations. SUBJECTS A sample of 499 healthcare practitioners participated. RESULTS Solo/group practitioners of small, private practices revealed high awareness (82-94%) of institutional CAM being provided and recommended as opposed to practitioners in larger institutions. Almost half of practitioners (48%) in larger hospital institutions are unaware if CAM is being recommended to patients. Although practitioners have positive or neutral overall impressions of MT, 83% of practitioners do not recommend MT in their current practice. Results of the Chi-Square Analysis were significant; practitioners in smaller, private practices are more aware of their institutional CAM as opposed to practitioners in larger hospital settings (p
Design of Device to Monitor Asthma Severity Using Mainstream Technology while Administering Medication

A CO2 measuring device is proposed based on a mainstream technique which would be able to classify the asthmatic condition while administering the medication to the patients. A SprintIR CO2 sensor is used for extracting CO2 concentration from the patient. In order to provide medication to the patient, a nebulizer is used that was combined together with the CO2 measuring device which is designed by the 3D computer-aided design (CAD) software where the design is printed using 3D printing machine. The device uses a facemask to channel the gases where it measures the types of conditions which are ‘No Asthma’, ‘Mild Asthma’ and ‘Severe Asthma’. The preliminary test results for 9 asthmatic patients and 10 non-asthmatic individuals shows that the device can measure their conditions successfully. Meanwhile, it can also deliver medication to the patients if the condition is ‘Severe Asthma’.
What Is the Recommended Dose of Physical Activity in the Treatment of Depression in Adults? A Protocol for a Systematic Review

The accurate measurement of physical activity (PA) in adults with depression is critical to identify important health consequences and determinants of this behavior. This study aimed to propose a protocol for a systematic review investigating the recommended dose of PA in the treatment of depression in adults aged 18 to 65 years. Additionally, we intend to examine the effect of PA interventions on the prevalence of depression. This protocol for a systematic review has been submitted in the Prospective International Register submitted in Register of Systematic Reviews of PROSPERO and is being prepared in accordance with the Declaration of Preferential Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Protocols. This protocol provides justification and planned methods for a systematic review to examine the respective dose of PA and how interventions have a beneficial impact on adults with depression.
Comparative aging studies on a single wire proportional chamber

In order to extend previous studies and test additional variables playing a role in the aging processes, a single wire proportional chamber was specially designed. In this contribution, the author will present the result of two types of tests performed on this single wire proportional chamber. During the first test, the single wire proportional chamber was irradiated with X-rays and alpha particles with the same hit rate until the same collected charge (1.4 mC/cm) was reached. Nevertheless the performance loss during the x-ray irradiation was larger, traces of polymers were found on the wire only in the case of alpha irradiation. The second test was performed irradiating the single wire proportional chamber with alphas and X-rays, but this time with the same anodic current i.e. very different hit rate. The irradiation continued until the wire chamber lost about half of the initial gas gain. In the case of alpha irradiation the integrated charge needed for the goal was lower with respect to the one needed during the x-ray radiation: 9.5 and 33.0 mC/cm, respectively. However, the electron microscope analysis revealed, once again, a large polymer deposit on the alpha irradiated wire while no deposit was found on the X-ray irradiated one.
An empirical comparison of commercial and open‐source web vulnerability scanners

Web vulnerability scanners (WVSs) are tools that can detect security vulnerabilities in web services. Although both commercial and open‐source WVSs exist, their vulnerability detection capability and performance vary. In this article, we report on a comparative study to determine the vulnerability detection capabilities of eight WVSs (both open and commercial) using two vulnerable web applications: WebGoat and Damn vulnerable web application. The eight WVSs studied were: Acunetix; HP WebInspect; IBM AppScan; OWASP ZAP; Skipfish; Arachni; Vega; and Iron WASP. The performance was evaluated using multiple evaluation metrics: precision; recall; Youden index; OWASP web benchmark evaluation; and the web application security scanner evaluation criteria. The experimental results show that, while the commercial scanners are effective in detecting security vulnerabilities, some open‐source scanners (such as ZAP and Skipfish) can also be effective. In summary, this study recommends improving the vulnerability detection capabilities of both the open‐source and commercial scanners to enhance code coverage and the detection rate, and to reduce the number of false‐positives.