Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association between Anthropometric indices and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors among Women with Primary Infertility

Background: Cardiometabolic risk factors are commonly associated with women with infertility. The study evaluated the association between anthropometric indices and cardiometabolic risk factors in women with primary infertility. Methods: Two-hundred and sixteen (216) women with primary infertility underwent simple anthropometric measurement including waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), body mass index (BMI), body adiposity index (BAI) and abdominal volume index (AVI). Blood pressure was assessed using an automated BP monitor and fasting blood samples were collected. Cardiometabolic risk factors were defined according to the NCEP-ATP III criteria. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve and logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate associations Results: The mean age of the study participants was 30.3 years and the median duration of infertility was 3.0 (2.0-4.0 interquartile range). The prevalence of hypertension was 22.2%. Metabolic syndrome, hyperglycemia, and dyslipidemia were presents among 23.1%, 32.4%, and 48.1%, respectively. BMI (between 25.8Kg/m2 and 28.0 Kg/m2), strongly predicted hyperglycemia, MetS, and dyslipidemia. Additionally, the range of optimal cut-off values of central obesity indices including WC (84.0cm to 90.0 cm), WHR (0.85-0.89 cm/cm), WHtR (0.52-0.61 cm/cm) and AVI (14.3 to 16.5) better predicted hyperglycaemia, MetS and dyslipidaemia. Only BMI and BAI were significant predictors of hypertension. Conclusion: Cardiometabolic risk factors including hypertension, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia and MetS are high among women with primary infertility. BMI proved superior in predicting cardiometabolic risk factors among primary infertile women.
Facile Synthesis of Au Nanoparticles Supported on TiO2 Inverse Opals with Biosensor

In this paper, a three-dimensional porous structure of TiO2 inverse opals loaded the large area gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was used as an advanced material for detection of L-cysteine and Avidin molecule concentrations. We think that functionalized gold nanoparticles combined with TiO2 inverse opals of low cost can couple out a characteristic reflection peak. After biomolecules were successively linked to the gold particles supported on TiO2 inverse opals, it is found that the peak position linearly red shifted with a change of avidin concentration. The lower limit of detection concentration can be up to 2x10−7M. This maybe provide a kind of biosensor for detecting biomolecules in the future.
Green Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles Coupled with Nucleic Acid Oxidation

Green synthesis of metal nanoparticles, especially gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), has attracted the great interest of scientists and engineers in the medical and pharmaceutical fields; thus, a variety of ecofriendly, energy- and cost-saving techniques have been developed. In this study, we found that cells of Leptothrix (iron-oxidizing bacteria) released extracellular RNA some of which could exist as a constituent of the cell-enclosing sheaths. As a part of studies of metal encrustation in the sheaths, here we show that RNA prepared from the Leptothrix cells can reduce Au(III) and spherical AuNPs eventually form when an aqueous HAuCl4 solution is added under ambient conditions. RNA and DNA of other organismal origins have the same ability. Of the nucleosides and nucleobases, only guanosine and guanine can form AuNPs. The DNA moiety, 2′-deoxyguanosine (dG) (used as a reference material), forms AuNPs when mixed with HAuCl4 solution, but 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) does not, indicating that AuNP format.
A Bootstrapping Method for Improving the Classification Performance in the P300 Speller

In this paper, a novel approach is presented to train classifiers in a speller based on P300 potentials. The method, based in bootstrapping, is a known strategy to generate new samples but rarely used in Neurosciences. The study first shows how the performance of the classification task (detecting P300 and Non-P300 classes) could be sub-optimal in the traditional approach. Then, a new method is proposed where the training set is resampled using bootstrapping. Each classifier is re-trained using balanced sub-groups of P300 and Non-P300 individual samples. Data were collected from 14 healthy subjects, using 16 electroencephalography channels. These were filtered in bandpass and decimated. Subsequently, four linear classifiers were trained, using first the traditional method and then the proposed one, with 1000, 2000 and 3000 samples per class. Results show an improvement in the accuracy and discrimination capacity of discriminative classifiers with the proposed method, maintaining the same statistical properties between the training and test data. In contrast, for generative classifiers, there is no significant difference in the results. Therefore, the proposed method is highly recommended to train discriminative classifiers in spell-based P300 potentials.
Melatonin Confers Heavy Metal Tolerance of a Dark Septate Endophyte (DSE) Exophiala Pisciphila Via Lowering Oxidative Stress and Heavy Metal Accumulation

Background: The high antioxidant capacity of melatonin contributing to heavy metal tolerance for plants and animals is widely studied, while researches on microorganisms especially in filamentous fungi are rare. One typical dark septate endophyte (DSE), Exophiala pisciphila, showed significant resistance to heavy metals.Results: In this study, exogenous melatonin was verified to reduce heavy metal damage via relieving oxidative stress, activating antioxidant systems, and decreasing heavy metal accumulation in E. pisciphila. Melatonin biosynthesis enzyme genes were upregulated under heavy metal stress. Furthermore, the overexpression of E. pisciphila TDC1 (EpTDC1) and E. pisciphila ASMT1 (EpASMT1) responsible for melatonin biosynthesis in Escherichia coli and Arabidopsis thaliana, enhanced heavy metal stress tolerance for the two organisms by lowering the oxidative stress and reducing the Cd accumulation in the whole plants, especially in the roots.Conclusions: Our results indicate that melatonin confers heavy metal resistance in E. pisciphila by lowering oxidative stress and heavy metal accumulation.
Design, synthesis and biological activity of novel tacrine-isatin Schiff base hybrid derivatives

A series of novel tacrine-isatin Schiff base hybrid derivatives (7a-p) were designed, synthesized and evaluated as multi-target candidates against Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The biological assays indicated that most of these compounds displayed potent inhibitory activity toward acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) and specific selectivity for AChE over BuChE. It was also found that they act as excellent metal chelators. The compounds 7k and 7m were found to be good inhibitors of AChE-induced amyloid-beta (Aβ) aggregation. Most of the compounds inhibited AChE with the IC50 values, ranging from 0.42 nM to 79.66 nM. Amongst them, 7k, 7m and 7p, all with a 6 carbon linker between tacrine and isatin Schiff base exhibited the strongest inhibitory activity against AChE with IC50 values of 0.42 nM, 0.62 nM and 0.95 nM, respectively. They were 92-, 62and 41-fold more active than tacrine (IC50= 38.72 nM) toward AChE. Most of the compounds also showed a potent BuChE inhibition among which 7d with an IC50 value of 0.11 nM for BuChE is the most potent one (56-fold more potent than that of tacrine (IC50= 6.21 nM)). In addition, most compounds exhibited the highest metal chelating property. Kinetic and molecular modeling studies revealed that 7k is a mixed-type inhibitor, capable of binding to catalytic and peripheral site of AChE. Our findings make this hybrid scaffold an excellent candidate to modify current drugs in treating Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
Long non-coding RNA PVT1 promotes proliferation and migration of pulmonary smooth muscle cells in pulmonary arterial hypertension through miR-140-5p/Fxr1 axis

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a devastating disease and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are essential for PAH progression. Also, lncRNA plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) plays important roles in cell proliferation and migration, however, the effect of PVT1 on pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (HPASMCs) in PAH remains unknown. This study aimed to determine the role and underlying mechanisms of PVT1 in HPASMCs.Methods: The results demonstrated that the expression of PVT1 was upregulated in pulmonary arterial tissues and HPASMCs and was positively correlated with pulmonary arterial pressure.Results: Knockdown and overexpression of PVT1 suppressed and promoted HPASMCs proliferation and migration, respectively. Mechanical and functional studies revealed that PVT1 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA of miR-140-5p and their expressions were negatively correlated.Conclusions: Knockdown of PVT1 did not suppress proliferation and migration in HPASMCs transfected with the miR-140-5p inhibitor. Moreover, fragile X-related proteins 1 (Fxr1) was identified as the target gene of miR-140-5p. Downregulation of PVT1 decreased the level of Fxr1 while this inhibitory effect was reversed by the miR-140-5p inhibitor. In conclusion, the upregulation of PVT1 promoted proliferation and migration in HPASMCs though the miR-140-5p/Fxr1 signaling pathway, indicating PVT1 may serve as a promising diagnostic biomarker for PAH.
From Mineral Surfaces and Coreflood Experiments to Reservoir Implementations: Comprehensive Review of Low-Salinity Water Flooding (LSWF)

Low-salinity water flooding (LSWF) is an emerging and inexpensive enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method. The technique hinges on the following concept: as salinity of injected water reduces, additional oil is recovered. However, LSWF remains emerging because its underlying mechanisms have been largely elusive, and the identified ones have been controversial. If properly investigated, smart water injection may contribute to harnessing both heavy-oil reservoirs, which account for nearly 80% of world’s petroleum reserves, and conventional light-to-medium oil reservoirs. This report presents a comprehensive review of low-salinity water injection as an EOR method, with a specific focus on consistencies or lack of them, that occurs primarily due to inadequate understanding of oil–brine and rock–oil–brine interactions. In presenting well-documented scientific information, we expect to apprise industry and academic researchers that LSWF warrants more-advanced research based on interdisciplinary approach (bridging th.
ATHOS: a dATabase of 48 3D Human virtual characters with non-emOtional facial expreSsion for virtual reality

An increasing number of studies in the Human and Social Sciences and Information and Communication Technologies and Sciences are conducted in virtual reality. Many of them use 3D human-like computer-generated characters in order to study social interactions in healthy participants, or the effect mental illness or neurological disorder on social cognition. However, free access to virtual characters is still not straightforward with often a lack of psychological evaluation of available characters. We present here the ATHOS database composed of 48 Caucasian male and female virtual characters with non-emotional facial expression available in the FBX file format. For each of them, we provide an evaluation in terms of valence, reliability, sympathy and sociability. Concerning these evaluations, inter-rater reliability analysis revealed a good degree of agreement among raters (between 0.85 and 0.98) and a cluster analysis highlighted a division of the virtual characters into three groups (low, medium and high evaluation scores). The ATHOS database of virtual characters, available in open access, can be used for many different purposes including the development of social immersive virtual environments, cognitive assessments or even rehabilitation programs in the health domain.
Growth of Capital Market in Nepal: Impact on Capitalization, GDP and NEPSE Index

Vol.Xi / Issue 11/ November 2020 / ISSN 2594-3243 (Print) The Saptagandaki Journal / Abstract The capital market plays an importance role in an economy and provides the opportunity to the investor for the mobilization and channelization of funds. Nepalese capital market is in growing and improving phase. The objective of this study is to analyze the evaluation of the existing status of the capital market in term of its composition of types of the capital market and to examine the impact of capital mobilization in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and to examine the contribution of capital market in financial resources and GDP. Besides, the study examines the share transaction in Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) and its impact on NEPSE Index. The study period of 2000/01 to 2018/19 has been used for study purposes. Through the use of descriptive research design, the trends of capital market development track after 2000/01 to present status has been presented. Secondary data are analyzed through the use of regression and other descriptive statists to convert the information into data. The result indicates that the ordinary shares in the primary capital market and market capitalization in the secondary market has significant contribution for the capital market in Nepal. Also, the study reveals that there is a significant and positive impact of capital mobilization on GDP and the number of share transactions on the NEPSE Index in the Nepalese capital market. Hence there is a significant contribution of the capital market for financial resources mobilization and GDP of Nepal. The study reports for modernization and systematization of the capital market need more optimal efforts from concerned stakeholders.
Impact of an Interprofessional, Longitudinal, Undergraduate Student-Initiated Home Visit Program Towards Interprofessional Education

Background Interprofessional (IP) practice is an essential aspect of healthcare to meet the challenges of an aging population. Tri-Generational HomeCare (TriGen) is an undergraduate student-initiated, longitudinal, IP home visit program focused on older patients with frequent hospital readmissions. Methods Teams comprising healthcare undergraduates and secondary school (SS) students performed home visits for frequently admitted patients (three or more visits in past six months) on a fortnightly basis over a period of six months. They were supported and trained by healthcare professionals from Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH), a regional healthcare system, and North West Community Development Council (NWCDC), a social service organisation. A multimethod approach was used, with the administration of Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) pre- and post-intervention, and gathering post-intervention quantitative and qualitative feedback. Results 80.1% of 226 undergraduate participants from 2015 to 2018 enrolled in the study. There was a significant decrease in RIPLS total score from a mean of 80.3 pre-intervention to 79.0 post-intervention with a mean difference of 1.3 (-2.5 – -0.089, p = 0.035). Subscale analysis revealed a significant increase in the subscale “Roles and Responsibility” with a mean difference of 0.46 (0.14–0.77, p < 0.01). There was no significant change in the subscale “Teamwork” and a significant decrease in the subscale “Professional Identity” with a mean difference of -0.14 (-2.1– -0.77, p < 0.01). This was discordant to the participants’ feedback. 91.6% of respondents agreed they could “better appreciate the importance of IP collaboration (IPC) in the care of patients”. Qualitative analysis revealed takeaways including learning from and teaching one another, understanding one’s own role and the role of other healthcare professionals, appreciating teamwork and developing friendship with undergraduates from other professions. Conclusion We demonstrated the feasibility of an IP, longitudinal, undergraduate-initiated home visit program that may improve attitudes towards one’s role and responsibilities in IP care for future IPC.
BURNING VELOCITY AND LOWER FLAMMABILITY LIMITS OF HYBRID MIXTURES CONTAINING COMBUSTIBLE DUST AND FLAMMABLE GAS

xiv List of Symbols and Abbreviations Used . xv Acknowledgements . xxi Chapter
Smart Surfaces: Magnetically Switchable Light Diffraction through Actuation of Superparamagnetic Plate‐Like Microrods by Dynamic Magnetic Stray Field Landscapes

This work reports on a remotely controllable, all‐magnetic reflective diffraction grating‐like optical element for electromagnetic waves in the visible spectrum. The switchable grating is realized by the unique interplay between nanostructured superparamagnetic plate‐like microrods and a magnetic stray field landscape generated by an engineered magnetic stripe domain pattern superimposed by a small external magnetic field. It is shown that the purposeful design of local magnetic field sources in such a continuous thin‐film system enables a precise manipulation of the microrod alignment and, hence, dynamic control of the corresponding grating constant. It is demonstrated that the magnetic grating can be turned on and off due to disappearance of the engineered domain pattern when magnetically saturated. Moreover, the grating constant can be dynamically changed between two states when applying an AC external magnetic field. The experimental findings are corroborated by a theoretical model based on a quantitative description of the involved forces among the microrods and between microrods and substrate, respectively. These results therefore serve as a basis for smart surfaces with switchable diffraction properties on demand upon remote control.
NO Gas Sensor Based on Surface Photovoltage System Fabricated by Self-Ordered Hexagonal Mesoporous Silicate Film

The first reported NO gas sensor based on a surface photovoltage (SPV) semiconductor device system is fabricated with a metal/SiO2 (self-ordered hexagonal mesoporous)/Si3N4/SiO2/Si structure (MIS). A size controlled silicate mesoporous film is successfully synthesized by spin coating on a Si3N4/SiO2/Si silicon wafer using poly(ethylene oxide)–poly(propylene oxide)–poly(ethylene oxide) (Pluronic P123=EO20PO70EO20) triblock copolymers as a template. The characteristics of the mesoporous films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The sensing properties of the self-ordered hexagonal mesoporous SPV system have been investigated by repeated exposure to NO gas and air. The changes in the average value and phase of the AC photocurrent (Iph) have been observed after exposure of the films to 100 ppm NO gas. The response of the alternative photocurrent results from the physical adsorption and chemical interaction between detected NO gases and the self-ordered hexagonal mesoporous film.
A surface acoustic wave response detection method for passive wireless torque sensor

This paper presents an effective surface acoustic wave (SAW) response detection method for the passive wireless SAW torque sensor to improve the measurement accuracy. An analysis was conducted on the relationship between the response energy-entropy and the bandwidth of SAW resonator (SAWR). A self-correlation method was modified to suppress the blurred white noise and highlight the attenuation characteristic of wireless SAW response. The SAW response was detected according to both the variation and the duration of energy-entropy ascension of an acquired RF signal. Numerical simulation results showed that the SAW response can be detected even when the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is 6dB. The proposed SAW response detection method was evaluated with several experiments at different conditions. The SAW response can be well distinguished from the sinusoidal signal and the noise. The performance of the SAW torque measurement system incorporating the detection method was tested. The obtained repeatability error .
Potential Using of Molecular Characterization and Structure of The Gut Bacterial Community for Postmortem Interval Estimation in Sprague Dawley Rats

Once the body dies, the inherent microbes of the host begin to break down from the inside and play a key role thereafter. It is hypothesized that after the death certain rectal microbes would change during the decomposition course in the body. This study aimed to investigate the probable shift in the composition of the rectal flora at different time intervals up to 15 days after death and to explore bacterial taxa important for estimating the time of death. At the phylum level, Proteobacteria and Firmicutes showed major shifts, when checked at 11 different intervals, and emerged at most of the postmortem intervals. At the species level, Enterococcus faecalis and Proteus mirabilis existed at most postmortem intervals; the former showed a downward trend after day 5 postmortem, while the latter showed an upward trend. There were obvious differences in bacterial community structure and richness at the phylum, genus, and species levels during the decomposition of the corpse of rats. The phylum, genus, and species taxa richness decreased initially and then increased significantly. The turning point came on day 9 when genus, rather than phylum or species, contained the most information for estimating the time of death. We constructed a prediction model using genus taxon data from high-throughput sequencing, which explained 87.2% of the time since the first sampling within 1 h. Seven bacteria, namely Enterococcus, Proteus, Lactobacillus, unidentified Clostridiales, Vagococcus, unidentified Corynebacteriaceae, and unidentified Enterobacteriaceae, were included in this model. The above-mentioned bacteria showed a promising future for estimating the shortest time of death and results of current study were agreeing with the proposed hypothesis.
Herpes Infections in Suspected Cases of Yellow Fever in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

In the battle to quickly identify potential yellow fever arbovirus outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, active syndromic surveillance of acute febrile jaundice patients across the country is a powerful tool. However, patients who test negative for yellow fever virus infection are too often left without a diagnosis. By retroactively screening samples for other potential viral infections, we can both try to find sources of patient disease and gain information on how commonly they may occur and co-occur. Several human arboviruses have previously been identified, but there remain many other viral families that could be responsible for acute febrile jaundice. Here, we assessed the prevalence of human herpes viruses (HHVs) in these acute febrile jaundice disease samples. Total viral DNA was extracted from serum of 451 patients with acute febrile jaundice. We used real-time quantitative PCR to test all specimens for cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex virus (HSV), human herpes virus type 6 (HHV-6) and varicella-zoster virus (VZV). We found 21.3% had active HHV replication (13.1%, 2.4%, 6.2% and 2.4% were positive for CMV, HSV, HHV-6 and VZV, respectively), and that nearly half (45.8%) of these infections were characterized by co-infection either among HHVs or between HHVs and other viral infection, sometimes associated with acute febrile jaundice previously identified. Our results show that the role of HHV primary infection or reactivation in contributing to acute febrile jaundice disease identified through the yellow fever surveillance program should be routinely considered in diagnosing these patients.