Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Additive Manufacturing for VADs and TAHs - a Review

Heart disease or Advanced/Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) is one of the serious causes of death. Due to availability of low volumes of donor hearts, there has been an ongoing development of Mechanical Circulatory Support (MCS): Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs) and total heart replacement by Total Artificial Hearts (TAHs) for over 60 years. MCS systems had seen three phases of advancement. The first generation were largely mechanical devices and had pulsatility in their action, but were highly cumbersome, unreliable due to fatigue cracks and required an external pneumatic power and control. Smaller and continuous flow devices are the second generation MCS devices. Because of compact sizing they were suitable for implantations and were more durable than the first generation devices. Problems like pump thrombosis drove the development of motors with levitating or hydrodynamic rotors, leading to the development of third generation devices. Manufacturing of these electromagnetic devices for implantation has to adhere to the constraints of compatibility, space and weight. With the advent of new biomaterials, additive manufacturing is reportedly playing a significant role. Additive manufacturing reported for electromagnetic and electronic components had yielded considerably good performance. This paper reviews materials in electrical and electronics and also in bio medical sector suitable for Additive Manufacturing. An attempt is made to identify the materials that may be suitable for VADs and TAHs and the challenges to use AM techniques that complement each other to create next generation integrated-VADs and integrated-TAHs.
Taxonomic Classification of Ants (Formicidae) from Images using Deep Learning

The well-documented, species-rich, and diverse group of ants (Formicidae) are important ecological bioindicators for species richness, ecosystem health, and biodiversity, but ant species identification is complex and requires specific knowledge. In the past few years, insect identification from images has seen increasing interest and success, with processing speed improving and costs lowering. Here we propose deep learning (in the form of a convolutional neural network (CNN)) to classify ants at species level using AntWeb images. We used an Inception-ResNet-V2-based CNN to classify ant images, and three shot types with 10,204 images for 97 species, in addition to a multi-view approach, for training and testing the CNN while also testing a worker-only set and an AntWeb protocol-deviant test set. Top 1 accuracy reached 62% - 81%, top 3 accuracy 80% - 92%, and genus accuracy 79% - 95% on species classification for different shot type approaches. The head shot type outperformed other shot type approaches. Genus accuracy was broadly similar to top 3 accuracy. Removing reproductives from the test data improved accuracy only slightly. Accuracy on AntWeb protocol-deviant data was very low. In addition, we make recommendations for future work concerning image threshold, distribution, and quality, multi-view approaches, metadata, and on protocols; potentially leading to higher accuracy with less computational effort.
Effect of hot aqueous extract of Rheum ribes roots on some hormonal and biochemical parameters in induced Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in local female rabbits

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of aqueous extract of R. ribes roots and metformin in treatment of induced PCOS. 40 adult female rabbits (1000-1600g) use in this study, 30 rabbits injected with TP (100mg/Kg) for 4 days consecutive and left 3 days for developing the syndrome. The female rabbits divided to four groups: C+ve group, C-ve group, G1 (R. ribes extract 300mg/Kg) and G2 (metformin group 20mg/Kg). Treatment period was 30 days. The hormonal and biochemical assays include: AMH, Testosterone, Insulin, HOMA-IR and Glucose levels. The results showed significant increase at P≥0.05 in levels of AMH, Testosterone, Insulin, HOMA-IR and Glucose in C+ve group compared to C-ve group while the treated groups (G1 and G2) showed significant decrease in a parameters compared with C+ve except Insulin levels in G2 which show non-significant difference compared to C-ve, C+ve and G1.
Study the effect of integrated disease management approach on germination, plant height and yield of potato and on severity of late blight of potato Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary.

Late blight of potato caused by Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary is one of the most serious diseases of potato. Several management practices have been adopted so for to minimize the disease. But in present investigation based on laboratory and glass house condition revealed that soil application and tuber seed dressing with bioformulation provided good protection against late blight and also stimulate the germination. The data showed that the plant height of potato was maximum in treatments T1(Soil application of FYM @ 125gm/pot +mushroom waste with T. harzianum @ 5gm/gm+tuber treatment with Azotobacter @ 5%+foliar spray with Ridomil @ 0.25%) with the value of 44.9 cm at 30 days age of plant. Tuber treatment with bio agents stimulated the germination per cent of the tuber. The Maximum germination per cent was noted in case of T1(Soil application of FYM @ 125gm/pot+mushroom waste with T. harzianum @ 5gm/kg+tuber treatment with Azotobacte r@5%+foliar spray with Ridomil@0.25%). Growth promoting effects of the soil amendment+ tuber treatment + foliar spray were also perceived. The fungicides and bio agents were found to increase the plant length over control. Foliar spray with the fungicides pathogenic inoculation protected the plants against infection resulting reduced disease severity. The minimum disease severity (10.66) was reported from treatments were given as treatment T1(Soil application of FYM 125gm/pot+ mushroom waste with T. harzianum 5gm/kg +tuber treatment with Azotobacter @5%+foliar spray Ridomil @ 0.25%) treated plants against 82.33% disease severity in case of control. The integrated effect o FYM+ mushroom waste as soil application bioformulation as tuber 51.67gm, and total weight of tuber 338.33gm, where trea tment was given as soil application of FYM @125gm/pot+ mushroom waste with T. harzianum @ 5gm/kg+tuber treatment with T. harzianum @5%+foliar spray with 665.02gm was recorded from treatment T1(Soil application of FYM 125gm/pot +mushroom waste T. harzianum @ 5gm/kg+tuber treatment with Azotobacter @ 5%+foliar spray with Ridomil @ 0.25%).
Cola nitida leaf phytochemicalsimprove liver function indices of mice infected with Plasmodium berghei (NK-65)

Derangement in liver function indices are among the classic clinical features of malaria infection and are responsible for significant morbidity and mortality. Colanitida leaf has been reported to possess antimalarial activity and also contain pharmacologically active phytochemicals including alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins and phenolics. This study evaluated the effects of these phytochemicals on liver function indices of Plasmodium berghei (NK-65) infected mice. For each phytochemical, 7 groups (A-G) of five mice each were used. Group A served as normal, groups B-F were inoculated with Plasmodium berghei; group B served as untreated control while groups C-F were treated with 20mg/Kg body weight of chloroquine and12.5, 25 and 50 mg/kg body weight of the different phytochemicals respectively. Group G was treated with 50mg/Kg body weight of the phytochemicals only without parasite inoculation thus serving as extract control. Treatment commenced 72hrs after inoculation and was done once orally for four consecutive days. A week after treatment, Liver function indices including total bilirubin, albumin, total protein, the transaminases and alkaline phosphatase were evaluated. Infection with Plasmodium berghei caused a progressive increase in total bilirubin level as well as the activities of AST, ALT, and ALP and a marked decrease in total protein and albumin. Treatment with all the phytochemical extracts improved liver function indices in a dose-dependent manner comparable to the normal group. These phytochemicals were all able to restore the Plasmodium breghei induced changes in liver function indices probably through parasite clearance and/or antioxidant activities. Thus, they can be a promising source of effective antimalarial drugs individually or in combined therapy.
Pemodelan Multi-Layer Multihop Routing Protocol Pada Jaringan Wireless Sensor Network

Seiring perkembangan jaman, kebutuhan untuk pertukaran dan penambangan informasi semakin meningkat. Tidak hanya bandwidth namun juga jalur yang baik dibutuhkan untuk menjembatani pengguna mendapatkan informasi yang dibutuhkan. Perangkat sensor telah menajadi salah satu piranti yang digunakan untuk menambang data, baik data yang dekat dengan tubuh manusia, atau jauh dari jangkauan manusia. Sebuah perangkat sensor cerdas yang umumnya kecil dengan daya terbatas, membutuhkan banyak penelitian untuk bisa memaksimalkan fungsinya. Routing protocol adalah salah satu jembatan untuk mengantarkan data dengan pilihan jalur terbaik dari node hingga sampai kepada pengguna. Banyak penelitian yang dilakukan untuk menghasilkan algoritme routing terbaik, dan semua itu untuk bisa menghasilkan routing protocol yang efektif mengantarkan paket hingga ke tujuan dan efisien dari segi penggunaan daya. Efisiensi energi adalah sesuatu yang penting dalam routing protocol wireless sensor network (WSN), dan hierarchical protocol adalah salah satu rujukan metode routing yang fokus terhadap permasalahan energi.
Evaluation of the suspending property of Khaya snegalensis gum in co-trimoxazole suspensions.

The suspending property of Khaya senegalensis (Family Meliaceae) gum in Co-trimoxazole suspension was evaluated. The gum obtained from plants grown in Zaria town of northern Nigeria was processed using standard procedures and its physicochemical properties such as solubility, water sorption, pH and rheology w ere determined. The gum was used to formulate 4.8% w/v co-trimoxazole suspension in concentrations of 0.2-5 . 0% w/v. Acacia senegal gum was used as a standard for comparison. The sedimentation rates, sedimentation volume, ease of redispersibility and viscosity of the suspension were studied over a period of 8 weeks. Other properties evaluated were drug release profile and particle size distribution of formulated suspensions to detect crystal growth. The results show that the sedimentation rate (4x10G cm/sec), sedimentation volume (50ml), degree of flocculation (1.52) and viscosity (118.8 m.pas) at 50 r.p.m are values obtained for the suspension containing 0.2%w/v khaya gum after 28 days period of storage. Particle size analysis as an exception, the values of all other parameters obtained for the suspensions containing equivalent concentrations of acacia gum were lower. The suspensions were stable, pourable and redispersible with no evidence of crystal growth. The mean particle size of the drug was 3.5 micrometer. The suspension met the pharmacopoeial requirement for drug release. On the basis of these findings, khaya gum may find application as suspending agent at 0.2%w/v concentrations.
Spatiotemporal variation in fire occurrence in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, between 2003 and 2016

ABSTRACT Wildland fires can be responsible for negative impacts on the environment, causing damage to the fauna and flora and increasing the release of greenhouse gases. In the state of Amazonas, wildland fires represent a risk for biodiversity conservation, since more than 95% of the state is covered by Amazon rainforest, one of the largest and most biodiverse tropical forests of the world. This study aimed to analyze the spatiotemporal variation of fire occurrence from 2003 to 2016 in the state of Amazonas, based on data from the AQUA satellite processed by the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research, using the “Collection 5” detection algorithm. The correlation between fire incidence versus anthropogenic and climatic variables was also tested. A significant uptrend was observed in the number of hot spots recorded over the years. About 83% of the wildland fires occurred during the months of August, September and October. The variables that correlated significantly with the number of hot spots for each municipality were deforested area, pasture area, agricultural area, municipality area and mean annual rainfall. The municipality with the highest number of hot spots detected was Lábrea, while Careiro da Várzea presented the highest incidence per km2. The southern and eastern regions of the state were the areas most affected by fire during the analyzed period. The results from this study emphasize the need for implementation of public policies aimed to reduce deforestation and wildland fires in the state, thus ensuring the conservation of the Amazon rainforest and its biodiversity.
Insights into the molecular mechanism behind solubilization of amyloidogenic polyglutamine‐containing peptides

Synthetic peptides are widely used to understand the protein misfolding and aggregation observed in a diverse group of diseases called systemic amyloidosis and neurodegenerative disorders. The preparation of monomeric solutions of the aggregation‐prone peptides is necessary for achieving a mechanistic understanding efficiently, without compromising any critical step. This study describes novel approaches and mechanisms behind the conversion of otherwise insoluble/sparingly soluble peptides to soluble monomers by trifluoroacetic acid and hexafluoroisopropanol. Although the pretreatment with these solvents results in more or less similar monomers, the mechanism followed to achieve this differs with the solvent. Data show that these solvents aid in the solubility by disrupting the extensive intramolecular and/or intermolecular H‐bond network present in the insoluble peptides.
Are pulp consumers effective seed dispersers? Tests with a large‐seeded tropical relict tree

Several plant species in the Neotropics bear large, fleshy fruits that suggest adaptation to endozoochorous seed dispersal by large vertebrates. Many of these plants occur in areas where large vertebrates are no longer present; consequently, their seeds are dispersed by pulp consumers; small vertebrates that only ingest the pulp reward because they are uncapable of swallowing the fruits whole. Few studies have examined the role of these pulp consumers on the regeneration of large‐fruited/seeded plants. Here, we assessed seed disperser effectiveness (SDE) and context‐dependence in SDE of pulp consumers of Pouteria splendens, a large‐seeded tree, considered a tropical relict in Mediterranean Chile. We found that P. splendens fruits are consumed by six species of non‐flying vertebrates; four of which act as dispersers with very low effectiveness. Low SDE resulted from the quantitative, rather than the qualitative component, specifically from low visitation rates. Most seeds remained under P. splendens trees, either from being dispersed there or because they were not dispersed at all. However, both emergence and establishment probabilities were higher under conspecific plants than in other habitats, suggesting no negative density‐dependent effects on P. splendens recruitment. Although the absence of more effective dispersers does not seem to affect local recruitment probabilities, it results in the absence of long‐distance dispersal, further isolating the remnant P. splendens populations. Finally, although pulp consumers have very low disperser effectiveness, the key functional role of these species is to remove the fleshy pulp from P. splendens’ seed as its presence significantly reduces germination probability.
Do human ‘life history strategies’ exist?

Interest in incorporating life history research from evolutionary biology into the human sciences has grown rapidly in recent years. Two core features of this research have the potential to prove valuable in strengthening theoretical frameworks in the health and social sciences: the idea that these is a fundamental trade-off between reproduction and health; and that environmental influences are important in determining individual life histories. For example, the idea that mortality risk in the environment shifts individuals along a ‘fast-slow continuum’ of ‘life history strategy’ is now popular in the evolutionary human sciences. In biology, ‘fast’ life history strategists prioritise reproduction over health so that individuals grow quickly, reproduce early and often, and suffer a rapid deterioration in health and relatively early death; ‘slow’ strategists start reproducing later, have fewer offspring, and die at an older age. Evolutionary human scientists tend to assume that, along with these life history outcomes, several behavioural traits, such as parenting, mating and risk-taking behaviour and, in the most expansive version, a whole suite of psychological and personality traits also cluster together into ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ life histories. Here, I review the different approaches to life history strategies from evolutionary anthropologists, developmental psychologists and evolutionary psychologists, in order to assess the theoretical and empirical evidence for human ‘life history strategies’. While there is precedent in biology for the argument that some behavioural traits, notably risk-taking behaviour, may be linked in predictable ways with life history outcomes, there is relatively little theoretical or empirical justification for including a very wide range of behavioural traits in a ‘life history strategy’. Given the diversity and lack of consistency in this human life history literature, I then make recommendations for improving its usefulness: 1) greater clarity over terminology, so that a distinction is made between life history outcomes such as age at maturity, first birth and death, and behavioural traits which may be associated with life history outcomes but are not life history traits themselves; 2) more empirical data on linkages between life history traits, behavioural traits and the environment, including the underlying mechanisms which generate these linkages; 3) more empirical work on life history strategies in a much broader range of populations than has so far been studied. Such a research programme on human life history has the potential to produce valuable insights for the health and social sciences, not least because of its interest in environmental influences on health, reproduction and behaviour.
A review of the crag lizards (Genus Pseudocordylus ) of Natal

While studying at the University of Natal in 1962, I took the opportunity of examining all the specimens of Pseudocordylus in the Natal Museum, Durban Museum and the Natal University Museum. Three weekends were spent in the Cathedral Peak area of the Drakensberg and 48 specimens of Pseudocordylus, representing three species, were collected. At the Transvaal Museum, I examined the type series of P.s. transvaalensis and P. spinosus, well as as the 'paratypes' of P. langi. After studying most of the available Natal material, it is now possible to distinguish four local forms: Pseudocordylus spinosus FitzSimons Pseudocordylus subviridis sub viridis (A. Smith) Pseudocordylus subviridis transvaalensis FitzSimons Pseudocordylus langi Loveridge. It has been decided to restrict the scope of this paper to the Natal forms as there is at present insufficient material from the northern Cape Province to make a comprehensive generic revision possible.
Context Based Entity Graph Convolutional Network for Multi-hop Reading Comprehension

: Multi-hop reading comprehension poses new challenge on machine reading comprehension tasks which requires reasoning between multiple documents. In this paper, we propose a graph-based model called Context based Entity Graph Convolutional Network (CEG). In order to take full advantage of context information, on the one hand we apply multi-granularity encodings for entity which capture rich context information, on the other hand we extract surrounding context of entity to enrich entity encoding. The surrounding context of entity will further be utilized by Memory Network to support graph reasoning. Experimental evaluation shows CEG achieves competitive performance on the QAngaroo WIKIHOP dataset, and the following ablation test demonstrates our proposed context extraction modules are effective in multi-hop reading comprehension.
Topical econazole delivery using liposomal gel

The possibility of using liposomal systems to facilitate permeation of econazole was investigated in order to reduce the side effects and enhance the accumulation of the drug at the administration site. The econazole (2% w/w) liposomal suspension was prepared from egg phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol via the ethanol injection technique. The liposomal econazole gel (1% drug and gel, w/w) was prepared by incorporating econazole liposomal suspension into the equivalent weight of Carbopol 934 gel (2% w/w) base. The encapsulation efficiency of econazole in liposomes was optimised to over 90% and the mean size of the liposomes was 521 ± 64 nm. The liposomal gel controlled econazole release in vitro compared with the liposomal suspension. The accumulated permeation percentages of econazole into the receptor medium (Pm) were small (< 5%) for 1% (w/w) of econazole in the econazole liposomal suspension, liposomal econazole gel and the Daktarin PS cream through mice skin. The cumulative percentages within the skin (Ps) of the econazole liposomal suspension (37.2 ± 0.4%) and liposomal econazole gel (26.9 ± 5.3%) were higher than that of the Daktarin PS cream (11.4 ± 3.1%) 24 h after application. The liposomal gel proved capable of enhancing drug accumulation at the administration site and retained the drug in mice skin. Liposomes may, therefore, be useful vehicles for topical drug delivery in the treatment of various skin diseases.
El efecto de los aminoglucósidos sobre la transferencia horizontal de genes en Klebsiella pneumoniae

Las bacterias resistentes a antibioticos representan un riesgo global para la salud publica. La transfer-encia horizontal de genes, que permite el intercambio de material genetico en bacterias, tiene un papel importante en la adquisicion de genes de resistencia. En este trabajo se evaluo el efecto de concentra-ciones subletales de antibioticos en la transferencia de plasmidos por conjugacion y transformacion en el patogeno oportunista Klebsiella pneumoniae. Aunque esta bacteria no es naturalmente competente, mostro capacidad para adquirir ADN extracelular de diversos plasmidos con muy baja frecuencia, la cual aumento al incubar celulas con los antibioticos aminoglucosidos amikacina y gentamicina. La transferencia por conjugacion, que se hizo con un aislamiento clinico portador del plasmido pNDM-1, tambien aumento en presencia de concentraciones subletales de antibioticos. Un analisis de RNA- Seq evidencio la expresion diferencial de varios genes al incubar celulas en presencia de concentraciones subletales de amikacina, lo que indica cambios metabolicos, regulatorios y a nivel de componentes de la envoltura celular. Estos resultados revelan que la incubacion en concentraciones subletales de algu-nos aminoglucosidos, en particular la amikacina, pueden alterar las propiedades celulares y promover la transferencia de elementos geneticos portadores de resistencias en K. pneumoniae, lo cual tiene relevancia para entender la diseminacion de genes de resistencia en este patogeno humano.
Physico-Chemical Study of the Neolithic Ceramics of the Region of Oran (Northwest Algeria)

Neolithic sites in Oran are rich in ceramic pottery. Microscopic and chemical analysis of products is closely linked to the subsequent development of the main analytical methods: optical microscopy and X-ray fluorescence. This study learns more about the mineralogical constituents of some caves pottery shards, ceramic typology of the Oran region, likely from the basic raw material (common clay, various types of regolith, silty loams, rarely marl), knowledge of the nature of intentionally added degreasers and characterized geological and archaeological context, also combined with the microscopic study of thin pottery blades met these requirements allowing us to showcase the progress of these ancient societies.