Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Targeting Barriers to Care for Pregnant Women at Risk for Depression: Examining The Role of Stigma and the Feasibility of a Web-Based Depression Prevention Program

Expressed a lack of understanding of the purpose of individual practices or overall purpose of program; want more concrete examples of concepts, or advice on how to incorporate program into one’s life 25.0% 7.7% 11.8% Requirements Described confusion about program or study requirements 50.0% 7.7% 17.6%
Effect of filler and blending with SBR and NR on thermally induced crystallization of high-cis BR as evaluated by dynamic mechanical analysis

The effect of thermally induced crystallization of high-cis polybutadiene (BR) on dynamic mechanical spectra is analyzed under different heating and cooling conditions. It is studied how the addition of carbon black and the blending with styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and natural rubber (NR) is affecting the crystallization. For unfilled BR an increased heating rate after fast cooling delivers less crystallization demonstrating that crystal formation requires time. With rising carbon black (CB) loading, a pronounced increase of crystallization speed is found indicating that CB supports nucleation and growth of BR crystals. In BR/SBR blends, which are detected as a single phase in dynamic mechanical spectra, crystallization is reduced for low SBR amounts and seems to disappear totally for 50/50 blends. In blends of BR, SBR, and NR the filler distribution is determined by comparing the peak heights in the loss modulus G ″ of unfilled and filled compounds. The filler located in each phase is determined from the increase of the peak height corresponding to the respective phase. It is found that the filler is mainly located in the NR phase.
Nonstationary Control for T–S Fuzzy Markovian Switching Systems With Variable Quantization Density

This article concentrates on the nonstationary control for a class of nonlinear Markovian switching systems (MSSs) with the Tagaki–Sugeno (T–S) fuzzy model. By adopting variable quantization density, a more general type of T–S fuzzy MSSs is established, in which the varies performance demands can be satisfied in a more flexible way. The major benefit of the developed method lies that a multiple hierarchical structure strategy is developed concerning nonsynchronization among the original system, controller, and quantizer, which covers the reported asynchronous/synchronous mechanisms as special cases. On the basis of fuzzy-basis-dependent and mode-dependent Lyapunov function, some sufficient conditions are derived and controller gains are designed. Finally, the feasibility of the achieved result is verified by a practical example.
Successful treatment of cutaneous solid type adenocarcinoma with cryosurgery in a Pekingese dog

The aim of this study is to defined the treatment of cutaneous solid type adenocarcinoma in a Pekingese dog using cryotherapy. A 3.5 years old intact female Pekingese dog was referred to the small animal surgery clinic. The first neoplasm localization was dorsal to the vulva and the others were bilateral to the vulva. The shape of the nodules were circular. The nodule diameters were 1.8, 1.5, and 1.2 cm. In cross section, the nodules were whitish-yellow in colour, of solid consistency, and characterized by thickening of the skin. The probe-based cryosurgical system was used for cryoablation, using local anesthetic as the interface for uniform freezing. Based on histopathological features, the dog was diagnosed with solid type perianal adenocarcinoma. In conclusion, cryosurgery can be a potent alternate treatment for pleasant, nodular perianal cutaneous adenocarcinoma in animals, particularly those not suited for operation, or whose owners refuse to have them undergo operation.
Influence of spray drying conditions on the properties of whole goat milk

Abstract Goat milk is still an underexploited product, mainly due to technical hurdles. Conversion into powder by spray drying can ensure product quality and safety, but un-optimized processing causes losses on product value. Therefore, our work intended to study the effects of spray drying on goat milk powder using fundamental parameters. A set of 12 experiments were conducted by varying outlet temperature, and feed flow rate so different drying kinetics were tested. The process presented yields ranging from 41 to 62.5%, benefitting from lower relative humidity conditions. Also, drying gas relative humidity close to 1% in combination with smaller droplets produced powders with higher density, lower color alterations, and lower variations on the chemical content of the powdered milk. Finally, it is concluded that the feed flow rate is a critical process parameter because it influences droplet size and relative humidity.
Study of prevalence of depression and impact of depression in patients following acute myocardial infarction

Background: Depression has been found to be associated with cardiovascular diseases in various studies done in different parts of the world. Whether depression really develops after an attack of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in hospitalised patients was not evaluated in this region of our country prior to the current work. Aim: To evaluate the prevalence of depression and impact of depression in AMI patients during the period of hospitalisation. Materials and Methods: Patients were recruited for the study after fulfi lling the selection criteria and who had documented AMI within four to fi ve days of hospitalisation. Informed consent of the patient and ethical committee clearance was obtained. To collect data semi-structured interview schedule was used. Assamese versions of 21 self-report items Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and observer-rated 17 items Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) were administered to 50 AMI patients. Data were analysed with chi-square test, Pearson coeffi cient of correlation, and student t test wherever applicable. p-value<0.05 was considered test of signifi cance in this study. Result: Fifty cases of AMI were evaluated from August 2007 to July 2008. Thirty six per cent of AMI patients and 34% of AMI patients were found to have depression as per BDI and HAM-D scales respectively. Depression has an impact on duration of hospital stay signifi cantly (p<0.019) but not on gender difference (p=0.089). Correlation of mean scores of both HAM-D and BDI scales was done by Pearson coeffi cient of correlation and was found to be signifi cant at . 01 level. Conclusion: Depression was found to be high in AMI patients during the period of hospitalisation in both the depression rating scales and it has an impact on prognosis of the patients.
Investigation of phytonutrients in the treatment of cardio-metabolic disease

This thesis investigated the effect of different foods such as spices (green cardamom and black cardamom), vegetables (beetroot), cereal grains (purple maize), fruits (chokeberry and Queen Garnet plum) and bioactive molecules (sodium nitrate and cyanidin 3-glucoside) on risk factors for metabolic syndrome using a diet-induced obese rat model. Obesity, insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, atherogenic dyslipidaemia, hypertension and endothelial dysfunction are the major components of metabolic syndrome. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle including regular exercise together with a healthy and balanced diet has been recommended as the first-line of defence to prevent metabolic syndrome. However, with the growing prevalence of obesity worldwide, this complex disorder is considered to be a clinical challenge and an important public health concern. While current pharmaceutical drug therapies for obesity show some benefits, there are also multiple side effects. Hence, complementary and alternative therapies have become popular to reduce the incidence of metabolic syndrome with the aim of decreasing future health risks.
The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Styrax obassia (Styracaceae)

Abstract Styrax obassia Siebold & Zucc. is a distinct member of the family Styracaceae with fragrant and beautiful flowers. In this study, we determined the complete chloroplast (cp) genome sequence of S. obassia in an effort to provide genomic resources useful for promoting its conservation. The circular genome of S. obassia was 157,910 bp in size and contained two inverted repeat (IRa and IRb) regions of 26,051 bp, which were separated by a large single copy (LSC) region of 87,528 bp, and a small single copy (SSC) region of 18,280 bp. A total of 133 genes are encoded, including 88 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. The overall GC content of S. obassia genome is 36.97%. The phylogenetic analysis suggests that S. obassia is a sister species to Styrax suberifolius and Styrax zhejiangensis in Styracaceae.
An overview of suspected and acute poisoning in Mater Dei Hospital

Malta Medical Journal Volume 26 Issue 03 2014 Abstract An observational study was carried out to give a descriptive overview of acute poisoning in Mater Dei Hospital. The aim of the study was to investigate characteristics of patients with suspected acute poisoning by creating a database combining clinical and laboratory data. Clinical and laboratory data of 677 patients aged 14 years and over, presenting with suspected acute poisoning, over a nine month period in 2010 were gathered for analysis and graphical presentation. The peak age for males and females with acute poisoning was 20-29 years whilst another peak was observed for females in the 50-59 years group. Males predominated in the younger age groups (below 50 years). Out of 677 patients with suspected acute poisoning, 350/677 (52%) were diagnosed with acute poisoning and 327/677 (48%) were found to have an alternative diagnosis. The most common poison agents were prescription drugs, of which benzodiazepines and tricyclic antidepressants were the most common (43% and 20% respectively). Opiates were the most commonly detected (59%) drug of abuse and paracetamol was the most commonly ingested analgesic (36.6%). None of the patients died in the hospital. 21% (73/350) and 5% (19/350) of patients with confirmed poisoning required a monitored bed and intensive care respectively. The study demonstrated trends in patient characteristics, commonly used agents and outcomes of patients with acute poisoning in the local setting.
Constitutive and Cold Acclimation-Regulated Protein Expression Profiles of Scots Pine Seedlings Reveal Potential for Adaptive Capacity of Geographically Distant Populations

Geographically distant Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) populations are adapted to specific photoperiods and temperature gradients, and markedly vary in the timing of growth patterns and adaptive traits. To understand the variability of adaptive capacity within species, molecular mechanisms that govern the physiological aspects of phenotypic plasticity should be addressed. Protein expression analysis is capable of depicting molecular events closely linked to phenotype formation. Therefore, in this study, we used comparative proteomics analysis to differentiate Scots pine genotypes originating from geographically distant populations in Europe, which show distinct growth and cold adaptation phenotypes. Needles were collected from 3-month-old seedlings originating from populations in Spain, Lithuania and Finland. Under active growth-promoting conditions and upon acclimation treatment, 65 and 53 differentially expressed proteins were identified, respectively. Constitutive protein expression differences detected during active growth were associated with cell metabolism and stress response, and conveyed a population-specific adaptation to the distinct climatic conditions. Acclimation-induced protein expression patterns suggested the presence of a similar cold adaptation mechanism among the populations. Variation of adaptive capacity among the genotypes was potentially represented by a constitutive low level of expression of the Ser/Thr-protein phosphatase, the negative regulator of the adaptive response. Also, overall less pronounced acclimation-induced response in seedlings from the Spanish population was observed. Thus, our study demonstrates that comparative proteomic analysis of young conifer seedlings is capable of providing insights into adaptation processes at the cellular level, which could help to infer variability of adaptive capacity within the plant species.
Analysis of Interference Management in Heterogeneous Cellular Networks in the Presence of Wideband Jammers

In heterogeneous cellular networks, small base stations (SBSs) in the coverage area of macro base station (MBS) cause significant inter-cell-interference (ICI). Intentional jamming interference (JI), caused by wideband jammers (WBJs), further worsens the uplink (UL) communications in the MBS coverage edge area. This letter investigates uniform and clustered WBJs’ deployment scenarios, denoted by C1 and C2, respectively. We employ decoupled association (DeCA) and reverse frequency allocation (RFA) to mitigate both JI and ICI. Results indicate that C2 is more disruptive than C1, and that a significant UL coverage improvement can be achieved by using DeCA along with RFA.
Optical Performance Modeling and Analysis of a Tensile Ganged Heliostat Concept

Designs of conventional heliostats have been varied to reduce cost, improve optical performance or both. In one case, reflective mirror area on heliostats has been increased with the goal of reducing the number of pedestals and drives and consequently reducing the cost on those components. The larger reflective areas, however, increase torques due to larger mirror weights and wind loads. Higher cost heavy-duty motors and drives must be used, which negatively impact any economic gains. To improve on optical performance, the opposite may be true where the mirror reflective areas are reduced for better control of the heliostat pointing and tracking. For smaller heliostats, gravity and wind loads are reduced, but many more heliostats must be added to provide sufficient solar flux to the receiver. For conventional heliostats, there seems to be no clear cost advantage of one heliostat design over other designs. The advantage of ganged heliostats is the pedestal and tracking motors are shared between multiple heliostats, thus can significantly reduce the cost on those components. In this paper, a new concept of cable-suspended tensile ganged heliostats is introduced, preliminary analysis is performed for optical performance and incorporated into a 10 MW conceptual power tower plant where it was compared to the performance of a baseline plant with a conventional radially staggered heliostat field. The baseline plant uses conventional heliostats and the layout optimized in System Advisor Model (SAM) tool. The ganged heliostats are suspended on two guide cables. The cables are attached to rotations arms which are anchored to end posts. The layout was optimized offline and then transferred to SAM for performance evaluation. In the initial modeling of the tensile ganged heliostats for a 10 MW power tower plant, equal heliostat spacing along the guide cables was assumed, which as suspected leads to high shading and blocking losses. The goal was then to optimize the heliostat spacing such that annual shading and blocking losses are minimized. After adjusting the spacing on tensile ganged heliostats for minimal blocking losses, the annual block/shading efficiency was greater than 90% and annual optical efficiency of the field became comparable to the conventional field at slightly above 60%.
CSF1R inhibition by a small molecule inhibitor affects hematopoiesis and the function of macrophages

Colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) inhibition has been proposed as a method for microglia depletion, with the assumption that it does not affect peripheral immune cells. Here, we show that CSF1R inhibition by PLX5622 indeed affects the myeloid and lymphoid compartments, causes long-term changes in bone marrow-derived macrophages by suppressing their IL-1β, CD68 and phagocytosis, but not CD208, following exposure to endotoxin, and also reduces the population of tissue resident macrophages of peritoneum, lung, liver, but not spleen. Thus, small molecule CSF1R inhibition is not restricted to microglia only, but rather causes strong effects on circulating and tissue macrophages that perdure long after cessation of the treatment. Given that peripheral monocytes repopulate the CNS after CSF1R inhibition, these changes may have practical implications on relevant experimental data.
Characterizing the transmission and identifying the control strategy for COVID-19 through epidemiological modeling

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, originating from Wuhan, China in early December, has infected more than 70,000 people in China and other countries and has caused more than 2,000 deaths. As the disease continues to spread, the biomedical society urgently began identifying effective approaches to prevent further outbreaks. Through rigorous epidemiological analysis, we characterized the fast transmission of COVID-19 with a basic reproductive number 5.6 and proved a sole zoonotic source to originate in Wuhan. No changes in transmission have been noted across generations. By evaluating different control strategies through predictive modeling and Monte carlo simulations, a comprehensive quarantine in hospitals and quarantine stations has been found to be the most effective approach. Government action to immediately enforce this quarantine is highly recommended.
Role of nuclear morphometry in cervicovaginal Papanicolaou smears and its utility in diagnosing cervical lesions

Background: Pap smears are considered as the primary diagnostic modality in detecting the premalignant lesions and Carcinoma cervix. Cellular changes due to infections, drugs, hormonal fluctuations mimic pre-malignant conditions which results in false negative results. Hence nuclear features are very important for diagnosing dysplastic cells. The nuclear parameters like Area, Perimeter, Maximum diameter, Radius and Nuclear compactness are important to determine dysplastic cell by morphometric analysis which increase the sensitivity of the results of Pap smears. Objectives: (1) To study the conventional Pap smears findings of biopsy proven cases of Low grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion (LSIL), High grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion (HSIL) and Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC). (2) To study the nuclear morphometric parameters using Image J software and correlate the findings of Pap smear cytology with the nuclear morphometric parameters. Methodology: 125 cases were selected retrospectively which were screened by Routine pap smears and diagnosed as LSIL (25 cases), HSIL (25 cases), Squamous cell carcinoma (25 cases) and Normal Pap smears (50 cases) were included as control. Representative areas of the smear were selected and digital images were produced by a camera on the microscope using 40x objective and the images were analyzed through Image J Software developed by National Institute of Health, USA. Around 50 nuclei/smear were analyzed and measurements of nuclear parameters like Nuclear Area, Perimeter, Maximum diameter, Radius and Compactness (perimeter/area) were made on the cell images in a precise manner. Results: The size of neoplastic nuclei were larger than normal nuclei. More than the enlargement, anisonucleosis was found to be a better indicator of neoplasia. Conclusion: Nuclear morphometry can be used as a diagnostic tool in differentiating between the premalignant and malignant lesions of cervix.
A Lightweight Privacy-Preserving Fair Meeting Location Determination Scheme

Equipped with mobile devices, people relied on location-based services (LBSs) can expediently and reasonably organize their activities. But location information may disclose people’s sensitive information, such as interests and health status. Besides, the limited resources of mobile devices restrict the further development of LBSs. In this article, aiming at the fair meeting position determination service, we design a lightweight privacy-preserving solution. In our scheme, mobile users only need to submit service requests. A cloud server and a location services provider are responsible for service response, where the cloud server achieves most of the calculation, and the location services provider determines the fair meeting location based on the computational results of the cloud server and broadcasts it to mobile users. The proposed scheme adopts homomorphic encryptions and random permutation methods to preserve the location privacy of mobile users. The security analyses show that the proposed scheme is privacy preserving under our defined threat models. Besides, the presented solution only needs to calculate $n$ Euclidean distances, and hence, our scheme has linear computation and communication complexity.
Investment-Timing and the Threat of Disruption

An incumbent firm needs to determine how to best manage the risk of the arrival of a disruptive technology. The numerous actions available to the incumbent firm indicates a complex real-options model of investment is required. This thesis investigates the behaviour of an incumbent firm, with assets-in-place, when they have access to an investment opportunity. The incumbent must not only choose when to invest in the opportunity, but also the optimal structure with which to compete against a new entrant who also has this investment opportunity. In order to delay competition in the market the incumbent can elect to permanently abandon the innovative option rather than seek to compete with the new entrant. The assets-in-place contributes significant value to the incumbent and by delaying the competition effect, the incumbent can reduce the cannibalization of assets-in-place. This is despite the fact that the incumbent can attempt to profitably invest in the innovation before the entrant. Clearly the assets-in-place provide a benefit to firm value for the incumbent, but act as a burden for the growth option’s development. Should consumer preferences begin to favour the innovation, then the decision to abandon the growth option loses its value. The incumbent in this instance does not care that they may accelerate the entrant’s investment as they can still profitably preempt the entrant. In a competitive market, when the incumbent efficiently produces the innovation at no extra cost compared to an independent firm, the incumbent will elect to internalise, rather than spin off, the growth option. When the incumbent produces the innovation at a higher cost, than other market participants, they will spin off the growth option instead of internalising. When consumers favour the innovation, the incumbent becomes indifferent between spinning off and internalising the growth option as the objective functions in both cases converge to maximising the value of the growth option.