Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Garlic Extract Reverses Ischemic Heart Disease in Female Rats Exposed to Combined Oral Contraceptive Pills

Background : Garlic is an herbal medicinal plant with several pharmacological properties used for the management of various ailments. However, its potential in the reversal of ischemic heart disease induced by combined oral contraceptive pills is not well reported. Objective : This study investigated the cardioprotective potential of aqueous garlic extract against cardiotoxicity induced by oral contraceptive pills. Methods: Forty-six rats were used for this study. Six were used to determine the lethal dose (LD 50 ), and 40 rats were divided randomly into 5 groups of 8 rats each. Group A received feed and distilled water. Group B received 0.6 mg/kg of oral contraceptive pills. Group C received 500 mg/kg of garlic extract. Group D received 0.6 mg/kg of oral contraceptive pills + 500 mg/kg garlic extract. Group E received 0.6 mg/kg of oral contraceptive pills + 700 mg/kg garlic extract. The animals were sacrificed, and blood and tissue samples were collected for biochemical and histological analysis. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS, and p values < 0.05 were considered significant. Results : The acute toxicity dose of combined oral contraceptive pills was 1.5 mg/kg for albino rats. Combined oral contraceptive pills induced ischemic necrosis as revealed by the photomicrographs, in addition to elevation of serum cardiac troponin-1, lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, and malondialdehyde levels. Treatment with garlic extract demonstrated significant reduction in cardiac troponin-1 (p = 0.000), lactate dehydrogenase (p = 0.002), creatine kinase (p = 0.001), and malondialdehyde (p = 0.001) levels, as well as restoration of the cardiac cytoarchitecture changes caused by the combined oral contraceptive pills. Conclusion : This study has demonstrated that aqueous garlic juice can reverse ischemic heart disease, lessen cytoarchitectural alterations of the heart caused by combined oral contraceptive pills, and thus ameliorate cardiac dysfunction.
First detection and molecular characterization of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in Namibia, Africa

Introduction The swine sector in Africa plays an important role in local economies, contributing to poverty alleviation and community subsistence. In addition, intensive farming is progressively becoming more important in the region. Therefore, any disease affecting swine populations can have detrimental effects on local communities. Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) is among the most important infectious diseases affecting swine worldwide, but information on its epidemiology in Africa is extremely limited. Material and methods In the present study, 147 healthy butchered pigs, originating from 15 Namibian intensive and rural farms were tested by RT-PCR and the ORF7 genes of positive samples were sequenced for further genetic characterization and phylogenetic analysis. Additionally, 55 warthogs were also evaluated using the same approach. Results Overall, 7 out of 147 pigs (4.76%) tested positive, all originating from 3 rural farms (with a within-herd detection frequency higher than 14%) characterized by strong epidemiological links. All industrial pig and warthog samples were negative. Sequence analysis revealed that all strains belonged to the Betaarterivirus suid1 species, previously known as PRRSV type I, and were likely imported from Europe at least 6 years ago, evolving independently thereafter. When and how the first introduction occurred could not be determined due to the absence of other African sequences for comparison. Discussion The present work provides the first detection and characterization of PRRSV molecular epidemiology in Namibia. Based on the present findings, the presence of the PPRSV appears marginal and limited to backyard farms. While biosecurity measures applied in industrial farms appear to be effective in preventing viral introduction, PRRSV circulation in rural settings still represents a potential threat, and considering the socio-economical implication of livestock diseases decreasing animal performances in rural areas, active monitoring should be encouraged to promptly act against emerging menaces and guarantee the welfare of local pig populations.
Analysis of Baseflow Trends Related to Upland Groundwater Pumping for Las Garzas, San Clemente, Potrero, and San Jose Creeks

Analysis of Baseflow Trends Related to Upland Groundwater Pumping for Las Garzas, San Clemente, Potrero and San Jose Creeks by Zachary Croyle Master of Science in Coastal and Watershed Science and Policy California State University Monterey Bay, 2009 As Carmel River water supplies have become over-appropriated, new development projects have increasingly utilized groundwater from fractured rock aquifers found in the uplands of the Carmel River watershed. The Santa Lucia Preserve (SLP) is an example of a recent residential development project that has developed its water supply solely from upland fractured rock aquifers. The intensive use of groundwater by the SLP project has generated a great deal of concern because of the potential negative effects this may have by reducing dry season baseflows in Carmel River tributaries and San Jose Creek. Stream baseflows are critical in maintaining quality instream habitat for juvenile steelhead trout during the dry season (a listed species under the Endangered Species Act). This research aims to fill a demand for additional groundwater – surface water information by analyzing stream baseflows for declining trends associated with groundwater pumping by the SLP. This study used two complimentary multipleregression model comparison techniques to test for trend at study streams (Las Garzas, San Clemente, Potrero, and San Jose Creek, originating on SLP land) and undeveloped reference streams. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted to test the ability of the analysis methods to detect a simulated reduction in baseflow for records of different lengths (6, 7, 9, and 16 years, representing lengths of available records used in this research). Analysis results provided no substantial evidence to support the hypothesis that declining baseflow trends are occurring in any of the study streams. However, results of the sensitivity analysis revealed that records greater than 9 years are needed to unambiguously detect a trend in baseflow. The sensitivity analysis also revealed that even if a declining baseflow trend is occurring, it cannot be detected using records of 9 years or less. Given that most study streams had records of 9 years or less, declining trends in baseflows cannot presently be ruled out. The methods used in this research will likely be able to produce more useful and unequivocal results on baseflow trends in Carmel River tributaries and San Jose Creek as more streamflow data becomes available in the near future.
The pathogenesis of blepharospasm

Blepharospasm is a focal dystonia characterized by involuntary tetanic contractions of the orbicularis oculi muscle, which can lead to functional blindness and loss of independent living ability in severe cases. It usually occurs in adults, with a higher incidence rate in women than in men. The etiology and pathogenesis of this disease have not been elucidated to date, but it is traditionally believed to be related to the basal ganglia. Studies have also shown that this is related to the decreased activity of inhibitory neurons in the cerebral cortex caused by environmental factors and genetic predisposition. Increasingly, studies have focused on the imbalance in the regulation of neurotransmitters, including dopamine, serotonin, and acetylcholine, in blepharospasm. The onset of the disease is insidious, and the misdiagnosis rate is high based on history and clinical manifestations. This article reviews the etiology, epidemiological features, and pathogenesis of blepharospasm, to improve understanding of the disease by neurologists and ophthalmologists.
Trends on Aerogel-Based Biosensors for Medical Applications: An Overview

Aerogels are unique solid-state materials composed of interconnected 3D solid networks and a large number of air-filled pores. This structure leads to extended structural characteristics as well as physicochemical properties of the nanoscale building blocks to macroscale, and integrated typical features of aerogels, such as high porosity, large surface area, and low density, with specific properties of the various constituents. Due to their combination of excellent properties, aerogels attract much interest in various applications, ranging from medicine to construction. In recent decades, their potential was exploited in many aerogels’ materials, either organic, inorganic or hybrid. Considerable research efforts in recent years have been devoted to the development of aerogel-based biosensors and encouraging accomplishments have been achieved. In this work, recent (2018–2023) and ground-breaking advances in the preparation, classification, and physicochemical properties of aerogels and their sensing applications are presented. Different types of biosensors in which aerogels play a fundamental role are being explored and are collected in this manuscript. Moreover, the current challenges and some perspectives for the development of high-performance aerogel-based biosensors are summarized.
A Detailed Review on Host Overload Detection Techniques

Cloud computing (CC) is a famous paradigm which provides computing resources on request via internet. Despite its many benefits, such as scalability, cost savings, and flexibility, cloud computing is vulnerable to host overload, which occurs when a host is unable to handle the workload assigned to it. Host overload can lead to performance degradation and even system failure. Thus, to overcome this issues the host overload detection technique is used. Host overload detection refers to the process of identifying when a system or server is experiencing too much demand and is unable to handle the workload efficiently. Overload detection ensures the reliable and efficient operation of systems and applications, minimizing downtime, enhancing user experience, and reducing costs. So, there are plethora of techniques developed by the researchers for host overload detection. Thus, this article provides a detailed overview of the methods used for detecting overload in host for cloud, we have divided host overload detection techniques into three categories i.e. Static Utilization Threshold, Regression based and Adaptive Utilization Threshold based techniques. The strengths and weaknesses of each approach are analyzed, and the challenges and future directions in host overload detection are discussed.
Impact of a mobile health intervention based on multi-theory model of health behavior change on self-management in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer: protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Introduction Theoretical models of health behavior are important guides for disease prevention and detection, treatment and rehabilitation, and promotion and maintenance of physical and mental health, but there are no intervention studies related to differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) that use theoretical models of health as a guide. In this study, we used a microblogging platform as an intervention vehicle and mobile patient-doctor interactive health education as a means of intervention, with the aim of improving the health behaviors of DTC patients as well as the corresponding clinical outcomes. Methods This research project is a quantitative methodological study, and the trial will be a single-blind, single-center randomized controlled trial conducted at the Fourth Hospital of Harbin Medical University in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. The study subjects are patients over 18 years of age with differentiated thyroid cancer who were given radioactive iodine-131 therapy as well as endocrine therapy after radical surgery for thyroid cancer. The intervention group will receive MTM-mhealth, and the realization of health education will rely on the smart terminal WeChat platform. Routine discharge education will be given to the control group at discharge. The primary outcome will be change in thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) from baseline and at 3 and 6 months of follow-up, and secondary outcomes will include change in self-management behavior, social cognitive and psychological, and metabolic control. Discussion This study will explore a feasible mHealth intervention program applied to a population of DTC patients using the Multi-theory model of health behavior change (MTM) as a guide, with the aim of evaluating the MTM-based intervention program for clinical outcome improvement in DTC patients, as well as determining the effectiveness of the MTM-based intervention program in improving self-management skills in DTC patients. The results of this study will indicate the feasibility as well as the effectiveness of the application of health theoretical modeling combined with mHealth applications in disease prognostic health management models, and provide policy recommendations and technological translations for the development of mobility-based health management applications in the field of health management.
Load Balancing Algorithms and Their Impacts on Apache Kafka

Apache Kafka is a distributed data streaming platform that is widely adopted in the industry. Producers introduce messages to Kafka server nodes, and consumers fetch interested messages in real time. In Kafka, the loads of nodes that serve streaming traffic may be imbalanced because some traffic is relatively popular, resulting in load imbalance. Balancing loads among nodes enables producers and consumers to avoid performance bottleneck, shortening the latencies of sending and receiving their messages and thus improving quality of service. Partitions are the fundamental entities that serve loads in Kafka and are responsible for hosting message payloads. Kafka provides a built-in load balancer that addresses load imbalance. The built-in load balancer distributes partitions evenly to the system, which is not designed to deal with load imbalance due to the heterogeneity of loads. The state-of-the-art load balancer released by LinkedIn, namely, Cruise Control (CC), complements the Kafka built-in load balancer. The performance quality of CC is sensitive and highly depends on the ordering of performance metric constraints. We propose Yet Another (YA) load balancer for Kafka, aiming to achieve simplicity and robustness for the average case. We compare YA with the Kafka built-in load balancer and CC in a real cluster environment. Performance results validate our findings and indicate that load balancers based on gathered performance metrics can effectively reduce the end-to-end delay perceived by streaming applications up to a ratio of approximately 20. CC and our proposed load balancer clearly outperform the Kafka built-in load balancer, yet while our proposed load balancer is comparable to CC, it is more robust.
Large-Disturbance Stability Analysis of Flexible Interconnected System of Distribution Areas Considering Load-Balancing

With the proposal of the “dual-carbon” target and the rapid development of distributed generation technology, distribution areas (DAs) are faced with the problems of difficult to expand capacity, difficult to consume distributed generation, unable to effectively use the remaining capacity of each DA, etc. The flexible interconnection system (FIS) has gradually become a solution to improve the power supply level of DAs. To fully utilize the advantages of the flexible power flow control of FIS, a $v_{\mathrm {{dc}}}-P_{\mathrm {{grid}}}$ droop control strategy is proposed, which takes into account load balancing. This strategy balances the AC source output of each DA during normal operation. Subsequently, a simplified circuit model of the system is developed, and the stability of the system is analyzed under large disturbances when a constant power load is connected to the DC bus, using the mixed potential function theory. The stability criteria of the system is obtained, and verified by the real-time hardware-in-loop (HIL) tests.
The Relationship Between Personality Factors, Vocational Identity and Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy

Context: Adolescence is the training ground for adult life. In a relatively short period, the adolescent will undergo a metamorphosis. During the high school years, the majority of adolescents move from persistent dependence to true independence, from logical thinking to abstract, complex and hypothetical thinking, from impulsivity to consideration and from a diffuse feeling about one's own person to a reasonably defined self-identity. Adolescent's vocational identity formation during high school is an extremely important process in vocational and career counseling, because it helps them to make rational choices regarding the choice of a career gaining an increased level of career maturity. Methods: The present study had as participants 300 Romanian teenagers which belong to the following paths of studies/profiles: formal sciences (specializations: Mathematics-informatics and Natural Sciences), services (specializations: Economics, trade, tourism and food) and humanities (specialization: Philology). The tools used in the adolescent evaluation process were Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy-Short Form Scale (CDMSE-SF), the Vocational Identity Status Assessment (VISA) and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI-3). Results: After the interpretation of the obtained results, the following aspects were demonstrated: The identity status career commitment correlates with the personality traits - neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience and conscientiousness, and regarding the career decision-making self-efficacy it correlates with the self-evaluation process, obtaining information about self and professions, setting goals, career planning and the problem-solving process. Identity status identification with career commitment correlates with personality traits - extraversion, openness to experience and conscientiousness, and from the perspective of the career decision-making self-efficacy, it correlates with the process of self-evaluation, obtaining information about self and professions, setting goals, solving problems and career planning. The identity status career commitment flexibility correlates with the personality traits neuroticism and conscientiousness, and from the perspective of the career decision-making self-efficacy it correlates with the problem-solving process. Identity status career self-doubt correlates positively with the personality trait neuroticism and negatively with conscientiousness, the process of self-evaluation, obtaining information about self and professions, setting goals, career planning and problem solving. Conclusion: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between vocational identity, personality factors and career decision-making self-efficacy. The results demonstrated that certain personality traits, respectively certain components of career decision-making self-efficacy are predictors for the adolescent's vocational identity formation.
Optimizing Setup Configuration of a Collaborative Robot Arm-Based Bimanual Haptic Display for Enhanced Performance

A bimanual haptic display supporting the full range of human arm motion and providing a sufficient haptic feedback force/torque is essential for achieving human-like manipulation in remote or virtual environments. This letter proposes the use of redundant collaborative robot arms as a bimanual haptic display and introduces an optimization scheme to determine its optimal setup configuration. The scheme considers factors including human arm workspace coverage, redundancy, renderable haptic feedback force/torque, and potential collisions with a human arm. The proposed optimization scheme is applied to the Panda and iiwa 7 robot arms and the results are compared to the setup configurations of NimbRo and German Aerospace Center (DLR) HUG. The optimized setup configurations with the proposed scheme were observed to outperform the existing setup configurations.
Design and implementation of smart integrated hybrid Solar-Darrieus wind turbine system for in-house power generation

This paper presents the design and development of an integrated hybrid Solar-Darrieus wind turbine system for renewable power generation. The Darrieus wind turbine's performance is meticulously assessed using the SG6043 airfoil, determined through Q-blade simulation, and validated via comprehensive CFD simulations. The study identifies SG6043 as the optimal airfoil, surpassing alternatives. CFD simulations yield specific coefficients of power (0.2366) and moment (0.0288). The paper also introduces a hybrid prototype, showcasing of 10 W photovoltaic module and improved turbine performance with the SG6043 airfoil. The focus extends to an optimized hybrid PV solar-wind system seamlessly integrated with IoT technology for remote monitoring. Addressing weather challenges, the research suggests blade shape optimizations via Q-blade and an IoT-based solution leveraging the ESP32 Wi-Fi module. Theoretical results project electrical energy generation ranging from 0.88 kW on March 14, 2023, to 0.06 kW on February 20, 2023. Darrieus wind turbines, experiencing increased blade drag, require less lift to operate. Experimental and theoretical results converge well, affirming the model's reasonable assumptions. Beyond advancing renewable energy technologies, this research sets the stage for future investigations aimed at enhancing the efficiency and capabilities of hybrid wind-solar PV systems.
Gut Biogeography Accentuates Sex-Related Differences in the Murine Microbiome

Recent studies have highlighted the influence of factors such as sex and sex-linked hormones on microbiome composition, raising concerns about the generalizability of findings. Here, we explore whether gut geography, specifically the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract (GI), contributes to sex-linked microbiome differences in mice. We collected microbial samples throughout the length of the GI from male and female C57B6/J mice at 6- and 8-weeks old, and conducted 16S rRNA sequencing. Our findings revealed significant sex-related differences, with Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 more abundant in the male colon, while females exhibited higher levels of Dubosiella newyorkensis across all organs at 6 weeks. We also observed decreased Shannon alpha diversity in the small intestine compared to the lower GI, and this diversity decreased further at 8 weeks. Interestingly, our results suggest that age mitigates sex-related, but not gut geography-related differences in beta diversity, with implications for experimental outcomes and treatment strategies. This study underscores the dynamic nature of microbial diversity, influenced by sex, age, and GI localization, emphasizing the need for a more comprehensive understanding of microbiome dynamics in experimental research and clinical interventions.