Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Leptospirosis and One Health Perspective

Zoonoses are primarily recognized as animal diseases that are transmitted to human beings through various routes. These diseases have a serious impact on public health as well as economy throughout the world. Leptospirosis is an emerging and re-emerging infectious zoonotic disease with global public health implications in terms of morbidity and mortality of humans and livestock. The disease can occur in sporadic as well as in epidemic forms. The source of infection is exogenous. Leptospirosis is a life threatening disease that causes 10.3 million cases and 58900 deaths each year worldwide. Rodents are considered the main reservoir of Leptospira. The contact of the skin with moist soil, water, and vegetation contaminated with urine of the infected animals and penetration of the organism to the skin, mucous membrane through abrasion, cut, and injury help in the transmission of the infection. Leptospirosis presents most important public health crisis that exists at the animals-humans-ecosystem interface. A strategic break in the relationship between the host-pathogen and their ecosystem could provide effective control of several possible zoonoses including leptospirosis. Global strategy to broaden interdisciplinary partnerships and coordination in all areas of health care for humans, livestock and the community is required.
Analyzing microsatellite instability and gene mutation in circulating cell-free DNA to monitor colorectal cancer progression

Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Detection of microsatellite instability (MSI) status and gene mutations may be useful for molecular targeted therapy. The liquid biopsy is a newly developed, non-invasive method for tumor diagnosis and monitoring. In this study, we evaluated the possible clinical value of liquid biopsy by analyzing MSI and gene mutation. Methods Next-generation sequencing (NGS) was used to analyze MSI and gene mutation in circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and tissue DNA extracted from 6 CRC patients’ plasma and matched primary tumor tissue (MPTT) samples, respectively. Results A total of 6 patients (4 male, 2 female) were included for analysis, whose stage ranges from stage I through stage III. NGS-based panel of 5 quasi-monomorphic microsatellite markers (MSI-NGS) BAT-25, BAT-26, NR21, NR24 as well as NR27, and 4 mismatch repair (MMR) genes (MSH2, MSH6, PMS2, MLH1) expressions assessed by immunohistochemistry (MMR-IHC) and NGS (MMR-NGS) were used to determine MSI status synergistically. Comprehensive analysis of NGS and IHC results showed that the overall incidences of MSI in plasma and MPTT samples from these patients were 1/6 and 2/6, respectively. 4 patients were defined as microsatellite stable (MSS) in both plasma and MPTT. In the above 6 patients, MSI-NGS detection in cfDNA accurately identified 1/2 of tissue high-level microsatellite instability (MSI-H) and 4/4 of tissue MSS for an overall accuracy of 5/6. Gene mutational profiles in these CRC patients’ plasma and MPTT samples were analyzed by NGS. Tumor-specific gene mutations were detected in 2/6 of plasma and 4/4 of MPTT samples. The two mutation-positive plasma samples were from CRC patients at stage IIb and stage IIIc. Conclusions Analyzing MSI and gene mutation might be a non-invasive supplementary way to reveal the molecular characteristics of CRC.
Effect of Substituting Corn with Cobs Treated with Combinations of Urea and Wood Ash on Chemical Composition and Gas Production Substrate

Effect of substituting corn with cobs treated with urea (25%) and wood ash (75%) on chemical composition and gas production substrate was determined. Corn was substituted with graded levels of treated cobs in the dietary ingredients and the treatments were: 100C = 100% corn, 66C34TC = 66% corn with 34% treated cobs, 34C66TC = 34% corn with 66% treated cobs and 100TC = 100% treated cobs. Samples were analyzed for dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), ash, crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL); they were then incubated in vitro for 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hrs. Results indicated that as corn is substituted with treated cobs, NDF, ADF and ADL also increased, however only the NDS for treatment 100C was reduced. The result of the truly degraded substrate (TDS) parameters also indicated that treatment 34C66TC had the highest TDS, gas production (GP), microbial mass production (MMP), efficiency of microbial mass production (EMMP) and partitioning factor (PF). In conclusion, 66% of treated cobs could replace corn in a complete diet without effects on measured parameters.
“Now I Get It!”: Eureka Experiences During the Acquisition of Mathematical Concepts

Abstract Many famous scientists have reported anecdotes where a new understanding occurred to them suddenly, in an unexpected flash. Do people generally experience such “Eureka” moments when learning science concepts? And if so, do these episodes truly vehicle sudden insights, or is this impression illusory? To address these questions, we developed a paradigm where participants were taught the mathematical concept of geodesic, which generalizes the common notion of straight line to straight trajectories drawn on curved surfaces. After studying lessons introducing this concept on the sphere, participants (N = 56) were tested on their understanding of geodesics on the sphere and on other surfaces. Our findings indicate that Eureka experiences are common when learning mathematics, with reports by 34 (61%) participants. Moreover, Eureka experiences proved an accurate description of participants’ learning, in two respects. First, Eureka experiences were associated with learning and generalization: the participants who reported experiencing Eurekas performed better at identifying counterintuitive geodesics on new surfaces. Second, and in line with the firstperson experience of a sudden insight, our findings suggest that the learning mechanisms responsible for Eureka experiences are inaccessible to reflective introspection. Specifically, reports of Eureka experiences and of participants’ confidence in their own understanding were associated with different profiles of performance, indicating that the mechanisms bringing about Eureka experiences and those informing reflective confidence were at least partially dissociated. Learning mathematical concepts thus appears to involve mechanisms that operate unconsciously, except when a key computational step is reached and a sudden insight breaks into consciousness.
Physicochemical interaction with faecal bacteria in characterisation of beach water quality, Gulf of Guinea, Ghana

Human activities such as industrial and agricultural waste discharges directly in the coastal areas increasingly contribute to pollution in coastal waters of Western Africa. The study employed physicochemical and faecal analysis to understand water pollution along the coast of Ghana. The physicochemical parameter such as temperature, salinity, electrical conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen concentration, dissolved oxygen saturation, total dissolved solids, and redox potential) were measured in situ while water samples were collected determination of total suspended solids, nutrients, chlorophyll-a, and faecal bacteria. The abundance of total coliforms (4061.6 ± 4159.14 CFU/100 ml water), Escherichia coli, and Enterococcus spp. varied significantly (p < 0.05) among the beaches. The high amount of faecal bacteria suggest microbial contamination, possible ecosystem, and health risks to water resource users. This baseline study provides evidence of coastal water contamination to improve beach water quality standards to ensure safe environmental health.
Interferograms plotted with reference change value (RCV) may facilitate the management of hemolyzed samples

Background The European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) Working Group for Preanalytical Phase (WG-PRE) have recommended an algorithm based on the reference change value (RCV) to evaluate hemolysis. We utilized this algorithm to analyze hemolysis-sensitive parameters. Methods Two tubes of blood were collected from each of the 10 participants, one of which was subjected to mechanical trauma while the other was centrifuged directly. Subsequently, the samples were diluted with the participant's hemolyzed sample to obtain the desired hemoglobin concentrations (0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 g/L). ALT, AST, K, LDH, T. Bil tests were performed using Beckman Coulter AU680 analyzer. The analytical and clinical cut-offs were based on the biological variation for the allowable imprecision and RCV. The algorithms could report the values directly below the analytical cut-off or those between the analytical and clinical cut-offs with comments. If the change was above the clinical cut-off, the test was rejected. The linear regression was used for interferograms, and the hemoglobin concentrations corresponding to cut-offs were calculated via the interferograms. Results The RCV was calculated as 29.6% for ALT. Therefore, ALT should be rejected in samples containing >5.9 g/L hemoglobin. The RCVs for AST, K, LDH, and T. Bil were calculated as 27.9%, 12.1%, 19.2%, and 61.2%, while the samples' hemoglobin concentrations for test rejection were 0.8, 1.6, 0.5, and 2.2 g/L, respectively. Conclusions Algorithms prepared with RCV could provide evidence-based results and objectively manage hemolyzed samples.
Villin expression in human tumors: a tissue microarray study on 14,398 tumors

ABSTRACT Background Villin is a protein of the brush border of epithelial cells, which is used as an immunohistochemical marker for colorectal and gastrointestinal neoplasms. However, other tumor entities can also express villin. Methods To comprehensively determine villin expression, tissue microarrays containing 14,398 samples from 118 different tumor types as well as 608 samples of 76 different normal tissues were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Results Villin was found in 54 of 118 tumor categories, including 36 tumor categories with strong staining. Villin expression was frequent in colorectal (60-100%), upper gastrointestinal tract (61-100%), pancreatobiliary (25-86%), and renal tumors (≤18%) as well as in mucinous ovarian cancers (67%), yolk sac tumors (76%) and in neuroendocrine neoplasms (22-41%). Reduced villin expression was linked to advanced pT stage, lymph vessel invasion, and microsatellite instability (p ≤ 0.0006) in colorectal adenocarcinoma. Conclusion Our data support a high utility of villin immunohistochemistry for the identification of tumors with gastrointestinal, pancreatobiliary, and yolk sac tumor origin. However, considering that at least a weak villin positivity in some tumor cells occurred in 54 different tumor categories, villin immunohistochemistry should be applied as a part of a marker panel rather than as a stand-alone marker.
Intensification of the Production of 2-Ethyl-Hexyl Acrylate: Batch Kinetics and Reactive Distillation

Abstract The reaction of acrylic acid and 2-ethyl-1 hexanol was explored in this work with the intent of process intensification. In order to assess the effect of important parameters on the course of reaction, this work initially conducted batch reactor experiments. Reaction conditions in the batch reactor for a specific conversion (~ 30 %) were obtained. A kinetic model was then obtained through regression to arrive at a rate expression that is later used in process development. Experiments were performed in the reactive distillation (RD) environment in batch mode, which showed substantial increase in conversion (~ 80 %) indicating the applicability of RD. Further, this work performed simulation in the RD environment to assess process intensification. Simulations show that it is possible to obtain complete conversion of the acid.
Prediction of Incident Atrial Fibrillation in Chronic Kidney Disease: The Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort Study

Visual Abstract Background and objectives Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common in CKD and associated with poor kidney and cardiovascular outcomes. Prediction models developed using novel methods may be useful to identify patients with CKD at highest risk of incident AF. We compared a previously published prediction model with models developed using machine learning methods in a CKD population. Design, setting, participants, & measurements We studied 2766 participants in the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort study without prior AF with complete cardiac biomarker (N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide and high-sensitivity troponin T) and clinical data. We evaluated the utility of machine learning methods as well as a previously validated clinical prediction model (Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology [CHARGE]-AF, which included 11 predictors, using original and re-estimated coefficients) to predict incident AF. Discriminatory ability of each model was assessed using the ten-fold cross-validated C-index; calibration was evaluated graphically and with the Grønnesby and Borgan test. Results Mean (SD) age of participants was 57 (11) years, 55% were men, 38% were Black, and mean (SD) eGFR was 45 (15) ml/min per 1.73 m2; 259 incident AF events occurred during a median of 8 years of follow-up. The CHARGE-AF prediction equation using original and re-estimated coefficients had C-indices of 0.67 (95% confidence interval, 0.64 to 0.71) and 0.67 (95% confidence interval, 0.64 to 0.70), respectively. A likelihood-based boosting model using clinical variables only had a C-index of 0.67 (95% confidence interval, 0.64 to 0.70); adding N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide, high-sensitivity troponin T, or both biomarkers improved the C-index by 0.04, 0.01, and 0.04, respectively. In addition to N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide and high-sensitivity troponin T, the final model included age, non-Hispanic Black race/ethnicity, Hispanic race/ethnicity, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, myocardial infarction, peripheral vascular disease, use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blockers, calcium channel blockers, diuretics, height, and weight. Conclusions Using machine learning algorithms, a model that included 12 standard clinical variables and cardiac-specific biomarkers N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide and high-sensitivity troponin T had moderate discrimination for incident AF in a CKD population.
Development and Validation of a New RP-HPLC Analytical Method for the Simultaneous Determination of Luliconazole and Clobetasol Propionate in Synthetic Mixture

Aim: To develop new selective and sensitive reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) approach for the quantification of antifungal drug Luliconazole integrate with corticosteroid drug Clobetasol Propionate in a synthetic mixture. Methods: The method was validated to achieve International Conference Harmonization (ICH) requirements. Chromatographic separation was carried out by isocratic technique on a reversed-phase Inertsil C18 column (5 µm, 250mm x 4.6mm i.d with the mixture of Acetonitrile: Water pH adjusted with H3PO4 (60: 40) and UV detection at 264 nm. The compounds were eluted at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min with an injection volume of 20μL. Results: The calibration curves were linear (r2 > 0.999) over the concentration range 10-200 μg/mLfor Luliconazole and 5-100 μg/mL for Clobetasol Propionate. The average retention times for Luliconazole and Clobetasol Propionate were 3.16 and 6.94 min, respectively. The % RSD for the proposed method was found to be less than %2. The % recovery was found to between 99.22-99.48% for the developed method. Conclusion: The developed method is simple, rapid, precise, and accurate and hence was successfully applied for the determination of Luliconazole and Clobetasol Propionate in a synthetic mixture.
Influence Function and Bootstrap Methods of Estimating the Standard Errors of the Estimators of Mixture Exponential Distribution Parameter

This work estimated the standard error of the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and the robust estimators of the exponential mixture parameter (θ) using the influence function and the bootstrap approaches. Mixture exponential random samples of sizes 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, and 100 were generated using 3 mixture exponential models at 2%, 5% and 10% contamination levels. The selected estimators namely: mean, median, alpha-trimmed mean, Huber M-estimate and their standard errors (Tn ) were estimated using the two approaches at the indicated sample sizes and contamination levels. The results were compared using the coefficient of variation, confidence interval and the asymptotic relative efficiency of Tn in order to find out which approach yields the more reliable, precise and efficient estimate of Tn. The results of the analysis show that the two approaches do not equally perform at all conditions. From the results, the bootstrap method was found to be more reliable and efficient method of estimating the standard error of the arithmetic mean at all sample sizes and contamination levels. In estimating the standard error of the median, the influence function method was found to be more effective especially when the sample size is small and yet contamination is high. The influence function based approach yielded more reliable, precise and efficient estimates of the standard errors of the alpha-trimmed mean and the Huber M-estimate for all sample sizes and levels of contamination although the reliability of the bootstrap method improved better as sample size increased to 50 and above. All simulations and analysis were carried out in R programming language.
Influence of thickness and deposition angle on structural and optical properties of manganese oxide thin films

Manganese oxide thin films were produced on glass substrates by resistive evaporation at room temperature. The layers with different thickness (30 and 90 nm) at different deposition angles (0 and 40°) were prepared by electron gun evaporation method under ultra-high vacuum condition. After deposition of pure manganese oxide thin films a post-annealing process was used in a uniform oxygen flow of 300 (sccm) and at 500 K annealing temperature. Optical transmittance and reflectance of the layers were measured in the wavelength of 350–850 nm by a spectrophotometer. Kramers–Kronig relations were used to calculate the optical constants. The influence of oxygen flow and annealing temperature on optical properties is investigated. It was found that film thickness and deposition angle plays a significant role on the nanostructures as well as optical properties of layers and cause major variations in behavior of thin manganese oxide films. The physical properties of materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), FE-SEM, AFM, EDAX, and UV-VIS techniques.
The impact of pRAP vectors on plant genetic transformation and pathogenesis studies including an analysis of BRI1-ASSOCIATED RECEPTOR KINASE 1 (BAK1)-mediated resistance

ABSTRACT Crop improvement can be facilitated through efficient gene transfer, leading to pRAP plasmid development. Comparative hairy root transformation results from 24 previously published articles examining 29,756 roots show a 70% transformation efficiency. Average gene overexpression was 11.24-fold and −3.84-fold in RNAi roots. New studies show Glycine max BRI1-ASSOCIATED RECEPTOR KINASE 1 (BAK1) overexpression leads to a 67% decrease in Heterodera glycines parasitism while BAK1-1 RNAi led to a 4.8-fold increase in parasitism. The results show pathogen associated molecular pattern triggered immunity (PTI) functions in the G. max-H. glycines pathosystem during defense. Consequently, the pRAP vectors have applicability for studying basic biology and defense in other agricultural plants including Manihot esculenta (cassava), Zea mays (maize), Oryza sativa (rice), Triticum aestivum (wheat), Sorghum bicolor (sorghum), Brassica rapa (rape seed), Solanum tuberosum (potato), Solanum lycopersicum (tomato), Elaes guineensis (oil palm), Saccharum officinalis (sugarcane) and Beta vulgaris (sugar beet) since each have BAK1 homologs.
Teleconnection patterns in the Southern Hemisphere represented by ECMWF and NCEP S2S project models and influences on South America precipitation

Precipitation predictions in the sub‐seasonal timescale are very important for several sectors such as agriculture and energy in regions of South America that are very much affected by precipitation extremes, both excess and lack of rain. The aim of the present study is to investigate the ability of two S2S project models (ECMWF and NCEP) to detect the Southern Hemisphere teleconnections in model hindcasts and the associated anomalous precipitation over South America. The period of analyses is 1999–2010 for the austral summer season (December–January–February). Both models represented adequately the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) pattern in predictions up to 4 weeks ahead and the Pacific South America (PSA) pattern up to 3 weeks. Atmospheric variables of observed extreme cases of SAM were well predicted by the two models, 2 and 3 weeks in advance. The models predicted well atmospheric variables in observed extreme cases of PSA, 2 weeks in advance and with less intensity in the third week. Precipitation anomaly signals associated with these modes were well predicted 2 weeks in advance, although with different intensities. The good ability of the models hindcast in predicting teleconnection patterns and precipitation anomalies over South America provides more confidence to use predictions at sub‐seasonal timescale.
Effect of increased levels of dietary α-linolenic acid on the n-3 PUFA bioavailability and oxidative stress in rat

Abstract We investigated the impact of increased alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) dietary levels on its plasma bioavailability and its bioconversion in n-3 long chain poly unsaturated fatty acids during a 60-d kinetics and the oxidative stress potentially associated. Rats were submitted to a normolipidic diet providing 0, 3, 10 and 24% ALA of dietary lipids for 0, 15, 30 and 60 days. The lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress (nitric oxide (NO) contents and catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), gluthation peroxidase (GPx) activities) were studied in the liver and plasma. When the diet was deprived in n-3 PUFAs, ALA, (eicosanoic acid) EPA and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) levels decreased in all lipid fractions of plasma and in red blood cell (RBC) lipids. The addition of ALA in the diet linearly improves its bioavailability and its bioconversion in EPA (R²=0.98). By providing 10 to 24% ALA in dietary lipids (LA/ALA, 1·6 and 5·5 respectively), ALA and EPA were more broadly packaged in all lipid fractions (triglyceride (TAG), cholesterol ester (CE) and free fatty acids (FFA)) of plasma from 15 to 30 days timeframe. Only 3% ALA was sufficient to promote the maximal bioconversion of ALA in DHA in phospholipid (PL) and TAG fractions. Additionally, the improvement of ALA bioconversion in EPA and DHA did not impact the oxidative stress markers and limiting lipid peroxidation. To conclude, this study demonstrated that in rat, 10% ALA in the lipid diet for 15–30 days promotes its bioavailability and its bioconversion and allowed the greatest levels in plasma and RBCs.