Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sustained Acoustic Medicine Combined with A Diclofenac Ultrasound Coupling Patch for the Rapid Symptomatic Relief of Knee Osteoarthritis: Multi-Site Clinical Efficacy Study

Background: Sustained Acoustic Medicine (SAM) is an emerging, non-invasive, non-narcotic, home-use ultrasound therapy for the daily treatment of joint pain. The aim of this multi-site clinical study was to examine the efficacy of long-duration continuous ultrasound combined with a 1% diclofenac ultrasound gel patch in treating pain and improving function in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Methods: The Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) were followed. Thirty-two (32) patients (18-males, 14-females) 54 years of average age with moderate to severe knee pain and radiographically confirmed knee osteoarthritis (Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade II/III) were enrolled for treatment with the SAM device and diclofenac patch applied daily to the treated knee. SAM ultrasound (3 MHz, 0.132 W/cm2, 1.3 W) and 6 grams of 1% diclofenac were applied with a wearable device for 4 hours daily for 1 week, delivering 18,720 Joules of ultrasound energy per treatment. The primary outcome was the daily change in pain intensity using a numeric rating scale (NRS 0–10), which was assessed prior to intervention (baseline, day 1), before and after each daily treatment, and after 1 week of daily treatment (day 7). Rapid responders were classified as those patients exhibiting greater than a 1-point reduction in pain following the first treatment. Change in Western Ontario McMaster Osteoarthritis Questionnaire (WOMAC) score from baseline to day 7 was the secondary functional outcome measure. Additionally, a series of daily usability and user experience questions related to devising ease of use, functionality, safety, and effectiveness, were collected. Data were analyzed using t-tests and repeated measure ANOVAs. Results: The study had a 94% retention rate, and there were no adverse events or study-related complaints across 224 unique treatment sessions. Rapid responders included 75% of the study population. Patients exhibited a significant mean NRS pain reduction over the 7-day study of 2.06-points (50%) for all subjects (n=32, p<0.001) and 2.96-points (70%) for rapid responders (n=24, p<0.001). The WOMAC functional score significantly improved by 351 points for all subjects (n=32, p<0.001), and 510 points for rapid responders (n=24, p<0.001). Over 95% of patients found the device safe, effective and easy to use, and would continue treatment for their knee OA symptoms. Conclusion: Sustained Acoustic Medicine combined with 1% topical diclofenac rapidly reduced pain and improved function in patients with moderate to severe osteoarthritis-related knee pain. The clinical findings suggest that this treatment approach may be used as a conservative, non-invasive treatment option for patients with knee osteoarthritis. Additional research is warranted on non-weight bearing joints of the musculoskeletal system as well as different topical drugs that could benefit from improved localized delivery. Clinical Trial Registry Number: (NCT04391842).
Productivity of tomato hybrids due to the application of calcium silicate

Silicon is a beneficial nutrient for the growth and production of many plant species, including tomatoes. The objective was to evaluate the influence of calcium silicate on the morphophysiological characteristics of tomatoes and the absorption of silicon, calcium, and magnesium. The experiment was conducted in a protected environment from August to December 2017, in a random block design, in a 2 x 5 factor scheme, with four repetitions. The first factor consisted of two hybrids (Ivety and Natalia) and the second factor by doses of calcium silicate (0, 150, 300, 450 and 600 kg ha -1 ). The fruits were evaluated for number of fruits per plant, longitudinal and transversal diameter, average fruit mass, commercial, noncommercial, and total productivity. The plants were evaluated for number of leaves, stem diameter, plant length, leaf area, membrane integrity damage, lignin content, stem and leaves dry mass, silicon accumulation and content, calcium, and magnesium contents in the leaves and in tomato fruits. The morphometric characteristics of Ivety and Natalia tomato hybrids were not altered by increasing doses of calcium silicate. The increased doses of calcium silicate influenced the non-commercial productivity of the tomato fruits, showing a reduction of this with the increased doses. Calcium silicate influenced differently in each hybrid, and it is worth noting that these results may vary in terms of genetic material and cultivation environment.
Hydrogen peroxide as oxidant in bio-mimetic catalysis by manganese porphyrin: Theoretical DFT studies

The aim of this study is to elucidate the geometry and electronic structure of various adducts that may be formed between manganese(III) (Mn(III)) porphyrin and hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide may interact with Mn(III) porphyrin either as H2O2 or, after dissociation, as OOH–. In the former, it may decompose into two hydroxo groups, which acquire OH– character or an oxo group (=O) and a water molecule. Therefore, the following systems are considered: MnP(H2O2)+, MnP(H2O2)(OH), MnP(OH)3, MnP(OH) 2+ , MnPO+, MnPO(OH), MnP(OOH), MnP(OOH)(OH)–, and the possible transformations between them are taken into account. The reported studies are performed within the Density Functional Theory (DFT) method with the GGA-BP functional. The geometry and electronic structures of the structures found along the studied reaction pathways are discussed in terms of interatomic distances, valence angles, Mulliken charges, and spin densities. It was found that different active oxygen species may be formed in the reaction betw.
Towards understanding the mechanisms of new particle formation 
in the Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract. To quantify the contribution of new particle formation (NPF) to ultrafine particle number and CCN budgets, one has to understand the mechanisms that govern NPF in different environments and its temporal extent. Here, we study NPF in Cyprus, an Eastern Mediterranean country located at the crossroads of three continents. We performed one-year continuous measurements of aerosol particles down to ~ 1 nm in diameter, for the first time in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) region. These measurements were complemented with trace gas data, meteorological variables and retroplume analysis. We show that NPF is a very frequent phenomenon at this site and has higher frequencies of occurrence during spring and autumn. NPF events were both of local and regional origin, and the local events occurred frequently during the month with the lowest NPF frequency. Some NPF events exhibited multiple onsets, while others exhibited particle apparent shrinkage in size. Additionally, NPF events were observed during the night-time and during episodes of high desert dust loadings. Particle formation rates and growth rates were comparable to those in urban environments, although our site is a rural one. Meteorological variables and trace gases played a role in explaining the intra-monthly variability of NPF events, but did not explain why summer month had the least NPF frequency. Similarly, pre-existing aerosol loading did not explain the observed seasonality. The month with the least NPF frequency were associated with higher H2SO4 concentrations but lower NOx concentration, which is an indicator of anthropogenic influence. Air masses arriving from the Middle East were not observed during these month, which could suggest that precursor vapors important for nucleation and growth are transported to our site from the Middle East. Further comprehensive measurements of precursor vapors are required to prove this hypothesis.
Dietary Sources and Nutrient Adequacy Potential of Local Foods among Children (6–23 Months) in Urban Slums of West Oromia (Ethiopia)

Background Identifying the combination of local foods that optimize nutrient intake is challenging. This study addressed how local foods could be rationally combined to provide basic nutritional needs, while limiting the use of commercial foods among children in Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional survey was carried out to estimate dietary intakes of 396 children (6–23 months of age) using 24-hour recall and WDR. Anthropometrics (weight and height) of the children was taken to calibrate energy and protein requirements to body sizes during ProPAN analysis. Model parameters were defined using dietary and market-survey data. ProPAN (2.0), SAS (9.2), and NutriSurvey for Windows were used for data analysis. Results Age-specific optimal combinations of local foods that achieve nutrient adequacy set by the WHO/FAO (≥70% RDA) for 9 nutrients were successfully generated. Overall, the percentage of children consuming ≥ EAR for most nutrients obtained from median servings was 54.3%, 89.9%, 61.8%, 12.9%, 85.6%, 79.7%, and 34.2% for energy, protein, iron, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium, respectively. The percentage of RDA was 46.3% for zinc, 56.7% for vitamin A, 24.3% for vitamin C, and 40% for calcium among infants (6–11 months), whereas the respective percentage of RDA was 78.1% for zinc, 100% for vitamin A, 43.3% for vitamin C, and 50% for calcium in older children (12–23 months of age). However, careful combination of local foods, slightly complimented by commercial foods, has shown substantial improvement in nutrient adequacy, ensuring ≥99% RDA for all target nutrients. Conclusions Careful combinations of local foods have the potential to achieve optimum dietary intakes of essential nutrients. However, minimal consideration of commercial foods has been inevitable, especially for infants aged 6–11 months.
Antimicrobial activity of essential oil from Psidium cattleianum Afzel. ex Sabine
 leaves

The search for natural sources to control microorganisms is of interest in food production. This study evaluated the chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil from Psidium cattleianum leaves. The essential oil was extracted by hydrodistillation, and identified by GC-MS. The predominant class of compounds was sesquiterpenes (47.6%) and the major compounds were trans-β-caryophyllene (14.7%), 1,8-cineole (11.7%) and ɣ-muurolene (5.6%). The antimicrobial activity was carried out by microdillution technique against eight fungi and eight bacteria. The minimum inhibitory concentration ranged from 0.17 to 11.25 mg mL-1 for fungi, and from 1.40 to 16.87 mg mL-1 for bacteria. The highest activities were against fungi Aspergillus fumigatus (ATCC 1022), Aspergillus ochraceus (ATCC 12066), Aspergillus versicolor (ATCC 11730), and Trichoderma viride (IAM 5061), and bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), Bacillus cereus (clinical isolate), and Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538) with potential to prevent foodborne diseases.
Bridging the Gap between 3D Navigation and Semantic Search. The INCEPTION platform

The paper presents the main outcomes and future development of the INCEPTION project, “Inclusive Cultural Heritage in Europe through 3D semantic modelling”, funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Work Programme Europe in a changing world – inclusive, innovative and reflective Societies (Call Reflective-7-2014, Advanced 3D modelling for accessing and understanding European cultural assets) and completed in May 2019. In particular, the key-targeted project achievement will be presented: a specific cloud-based platform conceived to accomplish the main objectives of accessing, understanding and strengthening European Cultural Heritage by means of enriched 3D models. The need for digital data interpretation, in addition to documentation, guided the overall process of the cross-disciplinary work methodology, based on new methods and tools for 3D surveying and H-BIM modelling, new approaches and methodologies for Cultural Heritage 3D data inclusive access and exploitation by means of the Platform.
An Evaluation of Wearable Inertial Sensor Configuration and Supervised Machine Learning Models for Automatic Punch Classification in Boxing

Machine learning is a powerful tool for data classification and has been used to classify movement data recorded by wearable inertial sensors in general living and sports. Inertial sensors can provide valuable biofeedback in combat sports such as boxing; however, the use of such technology has not had a global uptake. If simple inertial sensor configurations can be used to automatically classify strike type, then cumbersome tasks such as video labelling can be bypassed and the foundation for automated workload monitoring of combat sport athletes is set. This investigation evaluates the classification performance of six different supervised machine learning models (tuned and untuned) when using two simple inertial sensor configurations (configuration 1—inertial sensor worn on both wrists; configuration 2—inertial sensor worn on both wrists and third thoracic vertebrae [T3]). When trained on one athlete, strike prediction accuracy was good using both configurations (sensor configuration 1 mean overall accuracy: 0.90 ± 0.12; sensor configuration 2 mean overall accuracy: 0.87 ± 0.09). There was no significant statistical difference in prediction accuracy between both configurations and tuned and untuned models (p > 0.05). Moreover, there was no significant statistical difference in computational training time for tuned and untuned models (p > 0.05). For sensor configuration 1, a support vector machine (SVM) model with a Gaussian rbf kernel performed the best (accuracy = 0.96), for sensor configuration 2, a multi-layered perceptron neural network (MLP-NN) model performed the best (accuracy = 0.98). Wearable inertial sensors can be used to accurately classify strike-type in boxing pad work, this means that cumbersome tasks such as video and notational analysis can be bypassed. Additionally, automated workload and performance monitoring of athletes throughout training camp is possible. Future investigations will evaluate the performance of this algorithm on a greater sample size and test the influence of impact window-size on prediction accuracy. Additionally, supervised machine learning models should be trained on data collected during sparring to see if high accuracy holds in a competition setting. This can help move closer towards automatic scoring in boxing.
TOPSIS Decision on Approximate Pareto Fronts by Using Evolutionary Algorithms: Application to an Engineering Design Problem

A common technique used to solve multi-objective optimization problems consists of first generating the set of all Pareto-optimal solutions and then ranking and/or choosing the most interesting solution for a human decision maker (DM). Sometimes this technique is referred to as generate first–choose later. In this context, this paper proposes a two-stage methodology: a first stage using a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) to generate an approximate Pareto-optimal front of non-dominated solutions and a second stage, which uses the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) devoted to rank the potential solutions to be proposed to the DM. The novelty of this paper lies in the fact that it is not necessary to know the ideal and nadir solutions of the problem in the TOPSIS method in order to determine the ranking of solutions. To show the utility of the proposed methodology, several original experiments and comparisons between different recognized MOEAs were carried out on a welded beam engineering design benchmark problem. The problem was solved with two and three objectives and it is characterized by a lack of knowledge about ideal and nadir values.
Analyzing the Effectiveness of Training Programs of BCS Administration Academy: Prospects and Challenges

The specific objective of this study was to analyze the effectiveness and the challenges of the training programs imparted by BCSAA, a leading training institution for the BCS administration cadre officials in Bangladesh. The study is qualitative is nature that used data from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data was obtained by interviewing a total of 75 participants from 113th, 114th and 115th Law and Administration Course (LAC) using semi-structured questionnaire and phone in interview. While secondary data was obtained adopting content analysis technique through reviewing books, journal articles, e-resources, unpublished monographs and newspapers. Analyzing the data from both the sources, the study has found that the training program of LAC has been effective to a certain extent as it has helped its participants to achieve some core qualities relevant to their job performance. The findings of the study also suggest that due to the intervention of this training, trainees have improved their knowhow about land management, conducting mobile courts, magisterial duties, e-filing, e-mutation etc. Furthermore, the training has resulted in significant improvement of their communication skills particularly in English, presentation skills, public speaking and in few other areas of their professional needs. However, the respondents raised few concerns about certain aspects of the training which include absence of proper need assessment for training, heavy reliance on guest speakers, huge syllabus compared to the course duration, absence of e-library facilities in the academy, sessions being mostly lecture based, absence of refreshers training etc. Nonetheless, this study has come up with certain pragmatic recommendations drawing on the narratives from the respondents. BCSAA need to address these issues with utmost priority for making this training further effective.
BOUNDING MIDDLE PERIOD CEMETERY USE IN SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA, CHILE

ABSTRACT The San Pedro de Atacama oases, located in northern Chile’s hyperarid Atacama Desert, have been occupied for at least 3000 years. Here, we examine cemetery use in the oases, with emphasis on the Middle Period (ca. AD 400–1000). By modeling of a large corpus (n=243) of radiocarbon dates, over 90% of which are direct AMS assays of human bone collagen, we attempt to establish a temporal framework by which to explore the establishment of formalized social inequality in this period. Modeling of these dates at three locally defined scales (all ayllus, inter-ayllu, and intra-ayllu) permit heretofore unavailable insights into the chronological and spatial dimensions of life and mortuary activity in the oases and allow us to better contextualize patterns of social inequality during the dynamic Middle Period. The results of this modeling indicate two distinct peaks of occupation during the Middle Period in San Pedro and document significant temporal variability in cemetery use patterns on both inter- and intra-ayllu scales. These results stress the importance of local social and environmental factors to the occupation of the oases and provide crucial chronological structure for future archaeological and bioarchaeological research in the region.
Thiadiazole: An amazing anticancer moeity

Cancer is a general name for a group of more than 100 diseases in which cells belonging to a part of the body, begin uncontrolled proliferation. Nowadays, cancer is an important public health problem in all countries. For decades, conventional chemotherapy has been the most common type of anticancer pharmacotherapy. Cancer chemotherapy has been one of the major advances in the field of medicine in the last few decades. However, drugs administered for chemotherapy have a narrow therapeutic index and therefore, there is a high incidence of unwanted side effects. Thiadiazole is a five-membered ring system that has gained prominence by exhibiting a wide variety of biological activities. It has interesting pharmacophores that display a broad spectrum biological activity. The lower toxicity and in vivo stability of 1,3,4-thiadiazole nucleus are attributed to its aromaticity. Thiadiazole has exhibited potential antiglaucoma, antiinflammatory, antitumor, antiulcer, antibacterial, antiviral, analgesic, antiepileptic, antifungal and radioprotective activities. In this review article antitumor activity of various thiadiazole derivatives has been discussed.
STABILITY INDICATING METHOD DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION FOR THE SIMULTANEOUS ESTIMATION OF LEDIPASVIR AND SOFOSBUVIR IN BULK DRUG BY USING RP-HPLC

A new, simple, precise, accurate, and reproducible RP-HPLC for stability-indicating method development and validation of Ledipasvir and Sofosbuvir in bulk form. Separation ofLedipasvir and Sofosbuvir was successfully achieved Dona Zorbax C8, 250 X4.6mm, 5µm or equivalent in an isocratic mode utilizing 0.1% OPA: Methanol (45:55) at a flow rate of 1.0mL/min and the eluate was monitored at 238nm, with a retention time of 3.303 and 7.303minutes for Ledipasvir and Sofosbuvir respectively. The method was validated and their response was found to be linear in the drug concentration range of 45µg/ml to135 µg/ml for Ledipasvirand 200µg/ml to 600 µg/ml for and Sofosbuvir. The values of the correlation coefficient were found to 0.999 for Ledipasvirand 1 for Sofosbuvir respectively. The LOQ for Ledipasvirwere found to be 0.695 respectively. The LOQ for Sofosbuvir was found to be 2.2063 respectively. This method was found to be a good percentage recovery for Ledipasvir and Sofosbuvirwere found to be 100 and 100 respectively indicates that the proposed method is highly accurate. The specificity of the method shows a good correlation between retention times of standard with the sample so, the method specifically determines the analyte in the sample without interference from the excipients of tablet dosage forms. The method was extensively validated according to ICH guidelines for Linearity, Accuracy, Precession, Specificity, and Robustness.
Nonstationary extreme value analysis for event attribution combining climate models and observations

Abstract. We develop an extension of the statistical approach by Ribes et al. ( 2020 ) , which was designed for Gaussian variables, for generalized extreme value (GEV) distributions. We fit nonstationary GEV distributions to extremely hot temperatures from an ensemble of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP) models. In order to select a common statistical model, we discuss which GEV parameters have to be nonstationary and which do not. Our tests suggest that the location and scale parameters of GEV distributions should be considered nonstationary. Then, a multimodel distribution is constructed and constrained by observations using a Bayesian method. The new method is applied to the July 2019 French heat wave. Our results show that both the probability and the intensity of that event have increased significantly in response to human influence. Remarkably, we find that the heat wave considered might not have been possible without climate change. Our results also suggest that combining model data with observations can improve the description of hot temperature distribution.