Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transcutaneous Electrical Acustimulation Improves Irritable Bowel Syndrome With Constipation by Accelerating Colon Transit and Reducing Rectal Sensation Using Autonomic Mechanisms

INTRODUCTION: Slow colon transit and visceral hypersensitivity are recognized as major pathophysiological mechanisms in irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C). However, there is a lack of therapies targeting both abdominal pain and colonic motility. This study was designed to investigate the long-term effects and possible mechanisms of transcutaneous electrical acustimulation (TEA) in patients with IBS-C. METHODS: Fifty-two patients with IBS-C were randomized into 2 groups: daily TEA for 4 weeks (n = 26) and daily sham-TEA for 4 weeks (n = 26). The number of complete spontaneous bowel movements per week (CSBMs/week, primary outcome), Irritable Bowel Syndrome Severity Scoring System, Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life, visual analog scale (VAS) pain score, colonic transit time, and anorectal physiology were evaluated before treatment and at the end of the treatment. Colonic transit was assessed with radiopaque markers. Electrocardiograms were recorded for assessing autonomic functions. RESULTS: (i) TEA improved constipation and abdominal pain. After the treatment, the number of CSBMs/week during the last week in the TEA group was higher than that in the sham-TEA group (3.5 ± 1.6 vs 2.3 ± 0.6, P = 0.002). Similar effects were also noted in the visual analog scale pain score (P = 0.002) and Irritable Bowel Syndrome Severity Scoring System score (P = 0.025). In addition, there was a significant improvement in the quality of life of patients with constipation. The Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life total score was significantly decreased in the TEA group (P = 0.004). (ii) Compared with sham-TEA, TEA improved colon transit (P = 0.002) and increased the threshold of rectal sensation (desire to defecate, P = 0.004; maximum tolerability, P < 0.001). (iii) TEA increased vagal activity, compared with sham-TEA (P < 0.05); at the end of the treatment, the vagal activity was significantly correlated with colon transit and the CSBMs/week. DISCUSSION: TEA improves constipation and symptoms of IBS by accelerating colon transit and reducing rectal sensation, possibly mediated by using the autonomic mechanisms.
Corridor safety evaluation in a developing country using a survey based approach

ABSTRACT Road traffic crashes are a major cause of concern in Saudi Arabia. Although the general view of the design and quality of Saudi Arabia's road network meets global standards, there is not enough in-depth analysis of crash locations and contributing factors and their relationship with user characteristics or behaviors. This study aims to investigate, analyze, and examine the safety problems on a main corridor in the Eastern Province and then suggest treatments to enhance the safety and explore the crash-risk factors associated with crashes on that corridor. A multiple survey approach was used to collect data from road users and experts. The survey addresses traffic safety issues and user behaviors on the corridor. To achieve the study aims, one-way analysis, two-way contingency table analysis, and structural equation modeling were applied. The results showed a need for adequate shoulders along the corridor, and the markings, signs, and signal timing should be reevaluated. In addition, greater restrictions on the use of mobile phones while driving are needed. Also television and radio programs are recommended for traffic awareness as reported by participants. Lastly, it showed that the multiple survey approach can be very useful when crash and geometric data are not available or incomplete.
New Insights into Amino-Functionalization of Magnetic Nanoplatelets with Silanes and Phosphonates

Magnetic nanoplatelets (NPLs) based on barium hexaferrite (BaFe12O19) are suitable for many applications because of their uniaxial magneto-crystalline anisotropy. Novel materials, such as ferroic liquids, magneto-optic composites, and contrast agents for medical diagnostics, were developed by specific surface functionalization of the barium hexaferrite NPLs. Our aim was to amino-functionalize the NPLs’ surfaces towards new materials and applications. The amino-functionalization of oxide surfaces is challenging and has not yet been reported for barium hexaferrite NPLs. We selected two amine ligands with two different anchoring groups: an amino-silane and an amino-phosphonate. We studied the effect of the anchoring group, backbone structure, and processing conditions on the formation of the respective surface coatings. The core and coated NPLs were examined with transmission electron microscopy, and their room-temperature magnetic properties were measured. The formation of coatings was followed by electrokinetic measurements, infrared and mass spectroscopies, and thermogravimetric analysis. The most efficient amino-functionalization was enabled by (i) amino-silanization of the NPLs precoated with amorphous silica with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane and (ii) slow addition of amino-phosphonate (i.e., sodium alendronate) to the acidified NPL suspension at 80 °C.
Enhanced Task-Aware Spatial Disentanglement Head for Oil Tanks Detection in High-Resolution Optical Imagery

Task-aware spatial disentanglement (TSD) head could decouple classification and regression from the spatial dimension by using deformable pooling. However, the effect of deformable pooling decreases when the intersection over union (IoU) of the positive sample increases as the deformable pooling destroys the learned region of interest’s (RoI) pooling feature. Besides, deformable pooling is to find the useful area of an object to predict the object in a proposal, so deformable pooling is not suitable to some extent for negative samples as deformable pooling will find the useful area of an object to predict that there is no object in negative samples. We propose an enhanced TSD (ETSD), which adds an auxiliary branch with IoU-based loss weight. The auxiliary branch has double identical structure heads to separate parameters for classification and regression and uses the RoI’s pooling features as an input to train classification and prediction directly. The loss weight of the auxiliary branch will be doubled for negative samples and increased gradually for positive samples according to the IoU. Double heads in the auxiliary branch make the RoI’s pooling feature get optimal feedback in backpropagation. The increase in the loss weights of the auxiliary branch will allow the model to enhance the training of the RoI’s pooling feature. The more accurate the RoI’s pooling feature, the more accurate the deformable pooling features learned from the RoI’s pooling feature. We performed detailed ablation studies on the oil tank dataset extracted from Detection in Optical Remote sensing images (DIOR).
Comparative study of the phytochemical and antibacterial activity of leaf extracts of Euphorbia heterophylla and Vitellaria paradoxa

A comparative study was carried out to determine the phytochemical components and Euphorbia heterophylla antibacterial activity as well as Vitellaria paradoxa leaf crude extracts on four enteric organisms, namely: Proteus vulgaris, Salmonella Typhi, Shigella flexneri , and Escherichia coli. The clinical isolates of the enteric organisms were subjected to test of antimicrobial susceptibility using technique of agar diffusion. Phytochemistry of the E. heterophylla crude extracts exposed the presence of more phenolics, phlobatannins, tannins and cardiac glycosides than V. paradoxa , which revealed the presence of more steroids. All crude E. heterophylla extracts produced high clear inhibition zones, compared to the V. paradoxa counterpart at concentration ranging from 50 to 200 mg/ml. In vivo antimicrobial assay discovered that the mice treated with the crude methanolic E. heterophylla extracts, after being infected with the test organisms, survived and showed no pathological effects as compared to the V. paradoxa counterpart, which showed 20% pathological effects. E. heterophylla crude extract could be a possible source for the diseases treatment associated with enteric organisms such as P. vulgaris, S. Typhi, S. flexneri, as well as E. coli . Additional studies should be directed towards isolation as well as characterisation of the active compound in the crude extracts. heterophylla ; EHML-Methanolic leaf extract of Euphorbia heterophylla ; EHAL-Aqueous leaf extract of Euphorbia heterophylla ; EHPL-Petroleum ether leaf extract of Euphorbia heterophylla; EHCS-Chloroform stem extract of Euphorbia heterophylla ; EHMS- Methanolic stem extract of Euphorbia heterophylla ; EHAS-Aqueous stem extract of Euphorbia heterophylla; EHPS-Petroleum ether stem extract of Euphorbia heterophylla; EHCR-Chloroform root extract of Euphorbia heterophylla ; EHMR-Methanolic root extract of Euphorbia heterophylla ; EHAR-Aqueous root extract of Euphorbia heterophylla EHPR- ether root extract of Euphorbia heterophyll. extract of Euphorbia heterophylla ; EHAL-Aqueous leaf extract of Euphorbia heterophylla ; EHPL-Petroleum ether leaf extract of Euphorbia heterophylla; EHCS-Chloroform stem extract of Euphorbia heterophylla ; EHMS-Methanolic stem extract of Euphorbia heterophylla ; EHAS-Aqueous stem extract of Euphorbia heterophylla; EHPS-Petroleum ether stem extract of Euphorbia heterophylla; EHCR-Chloroform root extract of Euphorbia heterophylla ; EHMR-Methanolic root extract of Euphorbia heterophylla ; EHAR-Aqueous root extract of Euphorbia heterophylla ; EHPR-Petroleum ether root extract of Euphorbia heterophyll.
Physics-informed neural networks for solving the Boltzmann equation of the electron velocity distribution function in weakly ionized plasmas

The equilibrium electron velocity distribution function (EVDF) and electron transport coefficient in weakly ionized plasmas under crossed DC uniform electric and magnetic fields are calculated via the Boltzmann equation (BE) using physics-informed neural networks (PINNs). The latent solution of the BE is represented by an artificial neural network, and then the neural network is trained to respect the BE. By leveraging automatic differentiation, no mesh generation in velocity space is required, allowing us to calculate the three-dimensional EVDF properly with 0.01% of memory capacity required for the conventional mesh-based method. The EVDF and electron transport coefficients in SF6 calculated from the PINNs are benchmarked by comparing with those calculated from the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). In most cases, the relative difference between the electron transport coefficient calculated from the PINNs and MCS is found to be within 1%.
Inquiry of the Practice of Leadership in Chengguan: A Study Based on the Ethnographic Research of Z City

Chengguan, the Urban Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau, has been criticized for its dismal public image and poor job performance. Based on an ethnographic case study in Z City, we analyzed the type of leadership that results in passive work performance in Chengguan, and we examined whether any leadership style can be used to improve Chengguan's image and performance. We developed a new leadership ontology of CNP (Cognition–Normalization–Performance) on this foundation, and ethnographic research was conducted in three phases: leader's cognition, followers' normalization, and organization performance. Several implications were drawn. Leader selection should be cautious and can be improved by studying the leader's traits and behavior. This is done by investigating candidates' leadership career paths, trait characteristics, motive profiles, and other qualities. It is useful to change leaders by strengthening followers' unity and cohesion by setting up a labor union, youth federation, women's federation, and other groups. A leader should be selected among individuals who have completed leadership training as opposed to appointing one from outside the organization. On the one hand, the superior should help to improve the leadership environment (context), supervise problems in the organization's operation and performance, and track changes over time. On the other hand, the leader can also provide the followers with a flexible and adaptive place of work.
Initial Displacement and Stress Distribution of Upper Central Incisor Extrusion with Clear Aligners and Various Shapes of Composite Attachments Using the Finite Element Method

A clear aligner is an esthetic and more comfortable option for patients who need orthodontic treatment. However, some types of tooth movement, such as extrusion, are difficult with this tool. Therefore, composite attachments have been suggested to improve tooth movement. This study aims to evaluate the initial displacement and stress distribution during upper central incisor extrusion using the conventional composite attachments. Maxillary models with the upper teeth, clear aligners, and composite attachments placed on the labial surface of the upper right central incisor were constructed. Four models were created to simulate upper central incisor extrusion: (1) without any composite attachment; (2) rectangular beveled attachment; (3) ellipsoid attachment; and (4) horizontal rectangular attachment. Clear aligners were designed to perform upper central incisor extrusion. The constructed models were analyzed using the finite element method. Initial displacement and stress distribution were analyzed. Output analysis found that the upper right central incisor in the model with a horizontal rectangular attachment had the greatest extrusive movement, followed by the model with ellipsoid attachment and the model with beveled attachment. Maximum compressive stress was seen at the cervical region of the composite attachment. Composite attachments including horizontal rectangular attachment, ellipsoid attachment, and rectangular beveled attachment can be used to perform upper central incisor extrusion.
Lessons Learned and Future Actions: Modifying a Stroke Specific Self-Management Program

Background Self-management programs have been shown to be effective at providing support to individuals who want to manage chronic health conditions independently. It has been shown that adapting self-management programs for different diagnostic groups, such as stroke, is essential. Objective To report modifications made during trial implementation, the barriers identified during the delivery of an evidence based, stroke-specific self-management program and minor data (including strategies made) from a small cohort of stroke survivors with multiple chronic conditions. Methods Prospective type III hybrid implementation-effectiveness trial for stroke survivors, with chronic conditions, living in the community, and interested in self-management. Modifications were reported by the following: (1) researcher reflections (2) barriers to implementation and (3) strategies used to address the barrier using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) guidelines from field notes. Results Twenty-five individuals consented (42% of eligible sample) at the time of acute stroke and five were interested in continuing at the 3-month call. Multiple barriers to implementation were identified, resulting in modifications. For example, before the group sessions began, the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated changes to the intervention delivery. The protocol was modified to an online mode of delivery. In total, there were seven modifications made. Conclusions The CFIR was a facilitative tool to report barriers and strategies and emphasized the importance of comprehensive reporting. The modifications to the study were an essential first step to address the research climate and needs of this stroke cohort. Next steps include continued research with a larger cohort to implement effective strategies and answer the clinical question of effectiveness of the adapted and modified intervention.
Magneto-Optical Imaging of Arbitrarily Distributed Defects in Welds under Combined Magnetic Field

Using the traditional magneto-optical detection methods, micro-weld defects parallel with the magnetic field direction may be overlooked. In order to overcome this, a non-destructive testing method based on magneto-optical imaging under a vertical combined magnetic field (VCMF) is proposed. To demonstrate this, the experimental results of the magneto-optical imaging of weld defects excited by a vertical combined magnetic field (VCMF) or parallel combined magnetic field (PCMF) are compared with those of traditional magnetic fields (constant magnetic field (CMF), alternating magnetic field (AMF), and rotating magnetic field (RMF)). It is found that the magneto-optical imaging under a VCMF can accurately detect weld defects of any shape and distribution. In addition, the center difference method is used to eliminate the influence of noise on the defect contour extraction of magneto-optical images, and the active contour of weld defects in the magneto-optical images is extracted. The results show that many noises can be identifiedby the robustness of the level set method, operating in low-pass filtering, so that much information that is usually lost can be retained.
Method for producing neopentyl glycol

The present invention obtains the hydroxypivalic aldehyde by adding formaldehyde to isobutyraldehyde in the presence of a tertiary alkylamine as a catalyst, then, in overpressure temperature and 30~120kPa of 125 to 180 ° C. , the active by gas-phase hydrogenation of a copper chromite catalyst containing barium factors and manganese, it relates to a continuous process for making neopentyl glycol.
Evidence on impacts of automated vehicles on traffic flow efficiency and emissions: Systematic review

Despite high expectations of driving automation improving road trafﬁc, its practical implications on trafﬁc ﬂow and emissions are not yet deﬁnite. This study systematically reviewed literature on practical impacts of non-connected automation of passenger cars on motorway trafﬁc efﬁciency. A conceptual framework showed the importance of understanding interactions between vehicles, both human-driven and automated, but they are not yet sufﬁciently known and reproduced by trafﬁc models. Field studies have focused on equipped vehicles. Simulation studies have used different models and assumptions, narrow ﬂeet compositions and road layouts, and covered the theoretical potential in ideal conditions rather than likely impacts in practice. Simulations with automated vehicle time gaps below 1.2 s have found throughput increases, but recent ﬁeld experiments and simulations using commercial ACC vehicles indicate decreased trafﬁc ﬂow efﬁciency with increasing trafﬁc volumes and penetration rates. Concluding implications for real trafﬁc from available data is challenging. While beneﬁts are possible for equipped vehicles in low trafﬁc, results suggest negative implications for throughput and emissions at higher trafﬁc volumes. Importantly, more differentiated discussion on the impacts of automated vehicles on trafﬁc ﬂow is needed, considering also the practical implications, such as tradeoffs with safety goals, if beneﬁts are to be achieved.
The applications of cerium oxide nanoform and its ecotoxicity in the aquatic environment: an updated insight

The widespread usage of nanotechnology in many essential products has raised concerns about the possible release of nanoparticles (NPs) into aquatic habitats. Cerium dioxide (CeO2) has gained the most interest in the worldwide nanotechnology industry of all types of Ce minerals owing to its beneficial uses in a wide range of industry practices such as catalysts, sunscreens, fuel additives, fuel cells, and biomedicine. Besides, it was realized that CeO2 nanoparticles (n-CeO2) have multi-enzyme synthesized properties that create various biological impacts, such as effectively antioxidant towards almost all irritant intracellular reactive oxygen species. Lately, it was discovered that a large amount of n-CeO2 from untreated industrial waste could be released into the aquatic environment and affect all living organisms. In addition, the physical/chemical characteristics, fate, and bioavailability of nanomaterials in the aquatic environment were discovered to be related to the synthesis technique. Thus, there are intended needs in identifying the optimal technique of synthesized CeO2 nanoparticles in order to assess their beneficial use or their potential ecotoxicological impacts on aquatic organisms and humans. Therefore, this review sheds light on the possible threats of n-CeO2 to aquatic creatures as well as its synthesized techniques. Also, it discusses the possible mechanism of n-CeO2 toxicity as well as their potential benefits in the aquaculture industry.
Consensus and Diversity in the Management of Varicocele for Male Infertility: Results of a Global Practice Survey and Comparison with Guidelines and Recommendations

Purpose Varicocele is a common problem among infertile men. Varicocele repair (VR) is frequently performed to improve semen parameters and the chances of pregnancy. However, there is a lack of consensus about the diagnosis, indications for VR and its outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore global practice patterns on the management of varicocele in the context of male infertility. Materials and Methods Sixty practicing urologists/andrologists from 23 countries contributed 382 multiple-choice-questions pertaining to varicocele management. These were condensed into an online questionnaire that was forwarded to clinicians involved in male infertility management through direct invitation. The results were analyzed for disagreement and agreement in practice patterns and, compared with the latest guidelines of international professional societies (American Urological Association [AUA], American Society for Reproductive Medicine [ASRM], and European Association of Urology [EAU]), and with evidence emerging from recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Additionally, an expert opinion on each topic was provided based on the consensus of 16 experts in the field. Results The questionnaire was answered by 574 clinicians from 59 countries. The majority of respondents were urologists/uro-andrologists. A wide diversity of opinion was seen in every aspect of varicocele diagnosis, indications for repair, choice of technique, management of sub-clinical varicocele and the role of VR in azoospermia. A significant proportion of the responses were at odds with the recommendations of AUA, ASRM, and EAU. A large number of clinical situations were identified where no guidelines are available. Conclusions This study is the largest global survey performed to date on the clinical management of varicocele for male infertility. It demonstrates: 1) a wide disagreement in the approach to varicocele management, 2) large gaps in the clinical practice guidelines from professional societies, and 3) the need for further studies on several aspects of varicocele management in infertile men.