Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perspectives of the Key Stakeholders of the Alignment and Integration of the SaudiMEDs Framework into the Saudi Medical Licensure Examination: A Qualitative Study

Purpose The purpose of the Saudi Medical Education Directives Framework (SaudiMEDs) is to assure the essential level of competencies for medical graduates, which should be reflected in the Saudi Medical Licensure Examination (SMLE). This study explored the opinions of key stakeholders of the alignment and integration of the SMLE’s blueprint and contents with the SaudiMEDs competency framework’s themes and domains. Participants and Methods This was a qualitative case study, using a purposive sampling technique. Ten participants participated in the study representing the main stakeholders. The participants were four deans, an assistant dean, two residents, and three interns of various colleges of medicine (COM). In-depth interviews were conducted through a semi-structured format, either online or in-person. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed according to the general guidelines of qualitative content analysis. Results Four major themes emerged from the data, including the current alignment practices of the COM, competencies enhanced through preparing according to the SMLE, the SaudiMEDs representation in the SMLE, and finally a roadmap to achieve optimum alignment between the SaudiMEDs and the SMLE. Conclusion The participants were knowledgeable about the SaudiMEDs and perceived the SMLE blueprint and contents to be partially aligned with the themes and domains of the SaudiMEDs competency framework. The responses suggested that additional effort is required to improve the current alignment to assess the competencies of COM graduates appropriately.
Simultaneous Classification of Both Mental Workload and Stress Level Suitable for an Online Passive Brain–Computer Interface

Research studies on EEG-based mental workload detection for a passive BCI generally focus on classifying cognitive states associated with the performance of tasks at different levels of difficulty, with no other aspects of the user’s mental state considered. However, in real-life situations, different aspects of the user’s state such as their cognitive (e.g., level of mental workload) and affective (e.g., level of stress/anxiety) states will often change simultaneously, and performance of a BCI system designed considering just one state may be unreliable. Moreover, multiple mental states may be relevant to the purposes of the BCI—for example both mental workload and stress level might be related to an aircraft pilot’s risk of error—and the simultaneous prediction of states may be critical in maximizing the practical effectiveness of real-life online BCI systems. In this study we investigated the feasibility of performing simultaneous classification of mental workload and stress level in an online passive BCI. We investigated both subject-specific and cross-subject classification approaches, the latter with and without the application of a transfer learning technique to align the distributions of data from the training and test subjects. Using cross-subject classification with transfer learning in a simulated online analysis, we obtained accuracies of 77.5 ± 6.9% and 84.1 ± 5.9%, across 18 participants for mental workload and stress level detection, respectively.
A Prospective Study of the Relationship Between Sleep Quality and Depression in Pregnancy

Objective Poor sleep and depression are common problems during pregnancy, but there has been little investigation into the association between them. This prospective study aims to examine the relationship between sleep quality and depression during pregnancy. Methods Pregnant women under 14 weeks’ gestation attending routine outpatient antenatal care in Singapore’s largest maternity hospital were recruited between 2012 and 2014. Women with multiple pregnancies and deemed at high risk of miscarriage were excluded. Six hundred and forty participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at the three trimesters during pregnancy. Results Mean PSQI score was highest in the third visit, suggesting poorer quality sleep in the late third trimester compared to other trimesters. 15.6% of participants at each time point fulfilled the criteria for antenatal depression according to the EPDS cut-off score > 14. PSQI scores were significantly correlated with EPDS scores, and also prospectively predicted EPDS scores in all three trimesters. Conclusion Sleep quality in Singaporean pregnant women was poorest in the third trimester, and was associated with the development of depressive symptoms. With more than 1 in 10 women having antenatal depression, interventions targeting sleep quality might be particularly beneficial.
Molecular Docking and Validation of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Targets against Geninthiocin

Antibiotic resistance has been a serious public health concern in recent years. Methicillin resistant “Staphylococcus aureus” (MRSA) is a superbug that causes life threatening infections of Humanity which is difficult to treat. Geninthiocin is a macrocyclic thiopeptide with a 35-membered core moiety, which was isolated from marine streptomyces sp. ICN19, which has proven potent activity against MRSA. Five target proteins PDB ID: 4YMX, 3ZDS, 3QLB, 4IEN and 1DXL were identified from MRSA for their presumptive action for Geninthiocin. In this study, we used molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation, in order to validate Geninthiocin’s potential target protein. Target proteins were subjected to ligand-protein docking studies. Based on their docking scores and Hydrogen bonding interactions, two possible proteins 4YMX and 3ZDS were further subjected to simulation strategies to validate the protein-drug interaction. Out of which, homogentisate1,2 dioxygenase turned out to be a possible drug target for Geninthiocin. The compound Geninthiocin could be developed as a potential inhibitor against the target protein homogentisate1,2-dioxygenase for exhibiting an effective antimicrobial activity.
Carbon sequestration is not inhibited by livestock grazing in Danish salt marshes

Climate change has created a need for solutions that can counteract greenhouse gas emissions. One is the expansion and maintenance of natural carbon (C)‐sequestration habitats, such as forests and coastal and marine vegetated ecosystems, socalled “blue carbon ecosystems” including salt marshes, which represent large and long‐term C‐storage potential. While salt marsh blue carbon is gaining international attention, Baltic and Nordic salt marshes have been neglected in the blue carbon context. Here, we quantified C‐stocks and C‐sequestration rates in grazed and nongrazed sites of three Danish salt marshes, and evaluated whether grazing livestock, the standard management to increase biodiversity of the marshes, affect C‐stocks and sequestration rates. The aboveground biomass and vegetation height in nongrazed salt marshes were significantly larger than for grazed salt marshes, but this did not lead to significantly enhanced overall sediment‐ or C‐accumulation rates. Detailed model analyses of sediment profiles even indicated significantly higher C‐densities in surface layers at grazed sites. Averaged C‐densities, C‐stocks (top 43 cm sediment) and sequestration rates estimated from 210Pb profiles ranged 0.011–0.022 g C cm−3, 4228–8178 g C m−2, and 17–45 g C m−2 yr−1, respectively, with the latter being low in the global context. While this pioneering study for the Baltic and Nordic regions showed a neutral to positive effect of grazing on C‐sequestration, there is a need to explore the overall C‐footprint of this practice, including effects on net greenhouse gas emissions and coastal defense capacity, and define blue carbon management strategies for salt marshes to maximize their climate change mitigation and adaptation capacity while supporting biodiversity.
Implantoplasty Improves Clinical Parameters over a 2-Year Follow-Up: A Case Series

Background and Objectives: Peri-implantitis treatment is still undefined. Regenerative treatment is expensive and technically demanding due to the need to handle biomaterials, membranes and different methodologies of decontamination. Resective treatment and implantoplasty might be a viable solution. This case series presents a 24 month retrospective observational study of 10 peri-implantitis patients treated with implantoplasty. Materials and Methods: In the present case series, 10 peri-implantitis patients (20 implants) were treated with a resective approach and implantoplasty. Previous to implantoplasty, all patients underwent non-surgical treatment. This surgery consisted in a full-thickness flap and implant surface exposure. The exposed non-osseointegrated implant body was submitted to implantoplasty. The flap was apically repositioned and sutured. Patients were accompanied for 24 months. Results: The mean initial probing depth (PD) (PD = 5.37 ± 0.86 mm), bleeding on probing (BoP = 0.12 ± 0.06%) and suppuration (Sup = 0.01 ± 0.01%) decreased significantly at the 12 month evaluation (PD = 2.90 ± 0.39 mm; BoP = 0.01 ± 0.01% and Sup = 0.00 ± 0.00%). Between the 12 and 24 month evaluations, there were no significant clinical changes (PD = 2.85 ± 0.45 mm; BoP = 0.01 ± 0.01% and Sup = 0.00 ± 0.00%). Mucosal recession (MR) had a significant increase between the baseline and the first 12 months (0.69 ± 0.99 mm vs. 1.96 ± 1.33 mm), but there were no significant changes between the 12th and 24th month (1.94 ± 1.48 mm). The success rate was 100% without implant fracture or loss. Conclusions: Resective surgery and implantoplasty might be a valid option in some specific peri-implantitis cases. Properly designed clinical trials are needed to confirm this possibility.
Tryptophan Metabolism Is Associated with BMI and Adipose Tissue Mass and Linked to Metabolic Disease in Pediatric Obesity

The obesity epidemic has contributed to an escalating prevalence of metabolic diseases in children. Overnutrition leads to increased tryptophan uptake and availability. An association between the induction of the tryptophan catabolic pathway via indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) activity and obesity-related inflammation has been observed. This study aimed to investigate the impact of pediatric obesity on tryptophan metabolism and the potential relationship with metabolic disease. In this prospective cohort study, plasma kynurenine, tryptophan, and serotonin levels were measured by ELISA, and IDO activity was estimated by calculating the kynurenine/tryptophan ratio in a clinically characterized population with severe obesity (BMI ≥ 97th percentile) aged 9 to 19 (n = 125). IDO activity and its product kynurenine correlated with BMI z-score and body fat mass, whereas concentrations of serotonin, the alternative tryptophan metabolite, negatively correlated with these measures of adiposity. Kynurenine and tryptophan, but not serotonin levels, were associated with disturbed glucose metabolism. Tryptophan concentrations negatively correlated with adiponectin and were significantly higher in prediabetes and metabolically unhealthy obesity. In conclusion, BMI and body fat mass were associated with increased tryptophan catabolism via the kynurenine pathway and decreased serotonin production in children and adolescents with severe obesity. The resulting elevated kynurenine levels may contribute to metabolic disease in obesity.
Spatiotemporal Associations between Local Safety Level Index and COVID-19 Infection Risks across Capital Regions in South Korea

This study aims to provide an improved understanding of the local-level spatiotemporal evolution of COVID-19 spread across capital regions of South Korea during the second and third waves of the pandemic (August 2020~June 2021). To explain transmission, we rely upon the local safety level indices along with latent influences from the spatial alignment of municipalities and their serial (temporal) correlation. Utilizing a flexible hierarchical Bayesian model as an analytic operational framework, we exploit the modified BYM (BYM2) model with the Penalized Complexity (PC) priors to account for latent effects (unobserved heterogeneity). The outcome reveals that a municipality with higher population density is likely to have an elevated infection risk, whereas one with good preparedness for infectious disease tends to have a reduction in risk. Furthermore, we identify that including spatial and temporal correlations into the modeling framework significantly improves the performance and explanatory power, justifying our adoption of latent effects. Based on these findings, we present the dynamic evolution of COVID-19 across the Seoul Capital Area (SCA), which helps us verify unique patterns of disease spread as well as regions of elevated risk for further policy intervention and for supporting informed decision making for responding to infectious diseases.
Fostering green innovation for corporate competitive advantages in big data era: the role of institutional benefits

ABSTRACT With severe environmental degradations around the world, green innovation is currently considered an important initiative to promote firms’ competitive advantages. It is critically important to identify the drivers and the mechanisms for promoting corporate green innovation conjugating unprecedented technology progress. Employing a questionnaire survey of Chinese manufacturing firms, we proposed and tested a holistic framework for comprehending the role of big data and external institutions on corporate green innovation and competitive advantage. Based on a moderated mediation analysis, the empirical results showed that both formal (e.g. government support) and informal (e.g. social legitimacy) institutions positively influenced corporate competitive advantage. Green innovation acted as a mediator in the relationship between external institutions and competitive advantage. The adoption of big data and predictive analytics positively moderated this mediation effect. These findings not only exhibit that the power from external institutions could forcefully drive firms to initiate green innovation, but also discover the role of big data in conquering technological challenges and attaining competitive advantage.
Prenatal stress programs behavioral pattern separation in adult mice

Stress is an unavoidable condition in human life. Stressful events experienced during development, including in utero, have been suggested as one major pathophysiological mechanism for developing vulnerability towards neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders in adulthood. One cardinal feature of such disorders is impaired cognitive ability, which may in part rely on abnormal structure and function of the hippocampus. In the hippocampus, the dentate gyrus is a site of continuous neurogenesis, a process that has been recently implicated in spatial pattern separation, a cognitive phenomenon that serves to reduce the degree of overlap in the incoming information to facilitate its storage with minimal interference. We previously reported that adult neurogenesis is altered by prenatal stress allowing us to hypothesize that prenatal stress may possibly lead to impairment in pattern separation. To test this hypothesis, both control (C) and prenatally stressed (PS) adult mice were tested for metric and contextual discrimination abilities. We report for the first time that prenatal stress impairs pattern separation process, a deficit that may underlie their cognitive alterations and that may result in defective behaviors reminiscent of psychiatric illness such as post‐traumatic stress disorder.
Critical Thinking Development in the ESP Course for Engineering Students Based on Bloom’s Taxonomy

This paper discusses the importance of critical thinking within the ESP engineering course, and it shows possibilities for improving knowledge practice and skills, as well as for developing students’ communicative abilities. In this regard, and as for the needs of students, the author has applied Bloom’s taxonomy of critical thinking in order to develop students’ ability to think and apply it in a specific professional (engineering) context. By the end of the course students should be able to provide an overview of the engineering field, apply knowledge to real life situations, ask questions and seek answers about a particular topic, develop engineering communication skills, communicate effectively, orally (speaking and listening) and in written form (writing and reading), work collaboratively with their classmates in order to maximize their own learning, and develop critical thinking skills (understand, analyze and interpret related information).
Assessment of Agro-Morphological Variability in a Durum Wheat Collection Maintained in the Moroccan Gene Bank

Durum wheat is one of the most important cereal crops in Morocco. The development of high-yielding varieties of durum wheat is one of the major goals of breeding programs in Morocco. Crop genetic diversity should play an essential role in this context. The objective of this study was to assess the genetic variation among 280 durum wheat accessions conserved at the Moroccan Gene Bank by using twelve agro-morphological characters. All accessions are planted in field conditions and arranged in augmented design. The results showed a large variability among the durum wheat accessions. Analysis of variance demonstrated significant to highly significant differentiation between the accessions for the most traits. The number of plants at the emergence stage, the biomass of the plant at the flowering stage, the chlorophyll content, and the number of spikes showed high genetic advance coupled with high heritability (broad sense). Moreover, highly significant coefficients of correlation were revealed between agro-morphological characters offering the possibility of direct or indirect selection. The first two axes of the principal component analysis explained 45% of the total variation and showed that Moroccan landraces and North American cultivars shared similar morphological characters. However, Moroccan cultivars have shown better agronomic characters. This important agro-morphological variation should be utilized as a gene pool in durum wheat improvement to develop novel varieties with high productivity and the best quality.
Alfa and beta diversity of thrips (Thysanoptera) and biological control agents in chrysanthemum flowers (Chrysanthemum sp.) of two ecoregions in Jujuy province, Argentina

The objectives of this study are to identify thrips and their biological controllers, to analyze their abundance in three flower opening stages stages of chrysanthemum crops, and to determine alpha and beta diversity in two ecoregions of Jujuy province (Argentina). The study was carried out in the Chaco ecoregion (ECH) in October and November 2016, and in the Prepuna ecoregion (EP) in February and March 2018. On each date, six replicates of five flowers were excised in the stages: flower bud , semi-open flower and open flower. Diversity profiles and rank-abundance curves were built, and Jaccard's coefficient of similarity was applied. The diversity profiles showed significant differences in thrips communities. In the ECH, 15 thrips species were identified; the dominant and permanent species were Microcephalothrips abdominalis (Crawford) and Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande). Five species were recorded in the EP, although Frankliniella gemina Bagnall and Thrips tabaci Lindeman on their own represented 78% of the total abundance. In the ECH, 20 entomophagous species/morphospecies were recognized, and 19 in the EP; antocorids were dominant in both ecoregions. The thrips and the entomophagous communities of chrysanthemum flowers were different (34%) between the ecoregions studied.
Effects of Ride Motion on the Speed and Accuracy of In-Vehicle Pointing Tasks

Terrain-induced vibration of a moving vehicle adversely affects the ability to quickly and accurately perform in-vehicle pointing tasks by altering the planned fingertip trajectory. The relationship between movement speed and accuracy is a result of the combined use of visual and somatosensory feedbacks which are used to discern movement deviations and make necessary compensatory movements. Participants (N=20) performed three-dimensional rapid pointing tasks under stationary and ride motion conditions to three touchpanel displays. Ride motion contributed to increased reaction and movement times and increased endpoint variability. Trajectory deviations were correlated to the principal direction of vehicle acceleration. Reaches orthogonal to the dominant vehicle acceleration exhibited larger endpoint variability, and reaches to the elevated touchpanel resulted in the largest variability across all motion conditions. Principal axes of endpoint ellipses were along the on-axis and off-axis directions of fingertip movement.
Efficiently Handling Process Overruns and Underruns in Real-Time Embedded Systems

Methods for handling process underruns and overruns when scheduling a set of real-time processes increase both system utilization and robustness in the presence of inaccurate estimates of the worst-case computations of real-time processes. In this paper, we present a method that efficiently re-computes latest start times for real time processes during run-time in the event that a real-time process is preempted or has completed (or overrun). The method effectively identifies which process latest start times will be affected by the preemption or completion of a process. Hence the method is able to effectively reduce real-time system overhead by selectively re-computing latest start times for the specific processes whose latest start times are changed by a process preemption or completion, as opposed to indiscriminately re-computing latest start times for all the processes.Copyright © 2015 by ASME