Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Membrane‐coated nanoparticles for direct recognition by T cells

The direct modulation of T cell responses is an emerging therapeutic strategy with the potential to modulate undesired immune responses including, autoimmune disease, and allogeneic cells transplantation. We have previously demonstrated that poly(lactide‐co‐glycolide) particles were able to modulate T cell responses indirectly through antigen‐presenting cells (APCs). In this report, we investigated the design of nanoparticles that can directly interact and modulate T cells by coating the membranes from APCs onto nanoparticles to form membrane‐coated nanoparticles (MCNPs). Proteins within the membranes of the APCs, such as Major Histocompatibility Complex class II and co‐stimulatory factors, were effectively transferred to the MCNP. Using alloreactive T cell models, MCNP derived from allogeneic dendritic cells were able to stimulate proliferation, which was not observed with membranes from syngeneic dendritic cells and influenced cytokine secretion. Furthermore, we investigated the engineering of the membranes either on the dendritic cells or postfabrication of MCNP. Engineered membranes could be to promote antigen‐specific responses, to differentially activate T cells, or to directly induce apoptosis. Collectively, MCNPs represent a tunable platform that can directly interact with and modulate T cell responses.
A Stochastic Model with Applications to Learning

A stochastic model designed for analyzing data with changing probabilities is presented. On each of a series of trials one of two alternatives occurs and the probabilities of occurrence are changed from time to time by events. Corresponding to each class of events is an operator which represents a linear transformation on the probabilities of the two alternatives. Cases of fixed event probabilities and of changing event probabilities are considered. Recurrence formulas for moments of the resulting distributions of probabilities are provided. These formulas are often tedious to apply, but for the first and second moments several bounds are provided; these bounds are relatively easy to compute. The problem of estimating the parameters of the model is discussed. No general solution is obtained but simplifying assumptions lead to interesting special cases for which detailed procedures of parameter estimation are presented. One such special case arises when there are two event operators which commute, implying that the operators have equal limit points or that one operator is the identity operator. The method of maximum likelihood is applied to this case. Another special case, which arises when the slope parameters of the two operators are equal, is discussed in Section 8. Applications of the model and estimation procedures to certain kinds of data on animal and human learning are described. The examples given are experiments on verbal learning, the avoidance training of dogs, the reward training of rats in a simple T-maze, and the behavior of human subjects in a two-choice situation.
Analytical validation and quality control/quality assurance practices for improved rigor and reproducibility of biochemical assays in orthopaedic research

Orthopaedic research, and biomedical research in general, has made enormous strides to develop treatments for conditions long thought to be inevitable or untreatable; however, there is growing concern about the quality of published research. Considerable efforts have been made to improve overall research quality, integrity, and rigor, including meaningful proposals focused on transparency of reporting, appropriate use of statistics, and reporting of negative results. However, we believe that there is another key component to rigor and reproducibility that is not discussed sufficiently—analytical validation and quality control (QC). In this commentary, we discuss QC and method validation principles and practices that are systematically applied in the clinical laboratory setting to verify and monitor the analytical performance of quantitative assays, and the utility of applying similar practices to biochemical assays in the orthopaedic research setting. This commentary includes (1) recommendations for validation and QC practices, including examples of assay performance limitations uncovered by validation experiments performed in our laboratory, and (2) a description of an ongoing QC program developed to monitor the ongoing performance of commonly used assays in our lab. We hope that this commentary and the examples presented here will be thought‐provoking and inspire further discussion and adaptation of analytical validation and QC procedures to advance our shared pursuit of high‐quality, rigorous, and reproducible orthopaedic research.
Extinction coefficients for a random dispersion of small stratified spheres and a random dispersion of their binary aggregates

The extinction coefficient of a low-density dispersion of scatterers has been calculated for the case of small stratified spheres and for that of their binary aggregates. Several cases of stratification have been considered as well as the case of spheres with a diffuse surface. The most interesting result is found for 50-A spheres with a metallic coating, i.e., a dramatic shift of the resonance peaks as a function of the thickness of the coating. This suggests that by a suitable choice of the thickness of the coating one could in principle obtain a selective extinction in a large range of frequencies, although this effect might be attenuated when a considerable percentage of the spheres aggregates.
Implementation of Active Knowledge Sharing Strategy to Improve Fikih Learning Outcomes

A good teacher is one who always has innovation and variety in teaching in order to achieve good learning outcomes. Fikih learning in the class one intensive F is less than optimal, as we know the average value limit in this Boarding School is 4.9 but class 1 is intensive f only achieved a score of 4.48, there are 26 students out of 38 students who have not graduated or 68.42 % and only 12 students who have graduated or 31.57 %. This is because the teacher's teaching strategy is monotonous. Based on this problem the research want to discuss about Active Knowledge Sharing learning strategy to teach fikih lesson.1. For knowing enhancement liveliness study student KMI class 1 intensive F in fikih lesson, 2. For knowing enhancement results, study KMI class 1 intensif in fikih lesson. This type of study is called Classroom Action Research (CAR). By following Kurt Lewin's model. Classroom Action Research is implemented in 2 cycles: planning, implementation, observation, and reflection. Research results are 1. Implementing an Active Knowledge Sharing strategy can increase learning results, and 2. Active students. In the first cycle, the results of liveliness among students reached 77.27%, then increased in the second cycle by 79.15%. Learning outcomes in the first cycle reached 84.84%, and in the second cycle increased by 93.93%. Based on this study.
Polysaccharide-Based Nanomedicines Targeting Lung Cancer

A primary illness that accounts for a significant portion of fatalities worldwide is cancer. Among the main malignancies, lung cancer is recognised as the most chronic kind of cancer around the globe. Radiation treatment, surgery, and chemotherapy are some medical procedures used in the traditional care of lung cancer. However, these methods lack selectivity and damage nearby healthy cells. Several polysaccharide-based nanomaterials have been created to transport chemotherapeutics to reduce harmful and adverse side effects and improve response during anti-tumour reactions. To address these drawbacks, a class of naturally occurring polymers called polysaccharides have special physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. They can interact with the immune system to induce a better immunological response. Furthermore, because of the flexibility of their structures, it is possible to create multifunctional nanocomposites with excellent stability and bioavailability for the delivery of medicines to tumour tissues. This study seeks to present new views on the use of polysaccharide-based chemotherapeutics and to highlight current developments in polysaccharide-based nanomedicines for lung cancer.
Modification of the colour of dessert strawberries subjected to pulse electric field

The article presents the results of the impact of the pulsed electric field (PEF) on the modification of strawberry colour. The study concerned dessert strawberries. The electric field intensity of 5 kV/cm and 10 kV/cm was used. The CIELab system was used to assess the colour. It was shown that at the intensity of 5 kV/cm, the red component in the colour of the fruit increased by 19% in relation to the fruit not treated with PEF. This is important in the context of the content of the health-promoting anthocyanin pigments of pelargodnidin-3-glucosides, which give strawberries a red colour. The modification of strawberries with the use of an electric field also reduced the brightness of the color by 16.1%. Streszczenie
Ethane and acetylene abundances in the Jovian atmosphere

New observations of Jupiter in the 755--850 cm/sup -1/ spectral range have been used in conjunction wth radiative-transfer calculations to obtain mixing ratios of ethane and acetylene. The monochromatic absorption coefficient of the central Q branch of the . nu. /sub 9/ fundamental of ethane was measured in the laboratory. The largest mixing ratios for the region above the Jovian tropopause consistent with the observations are (n (C/sub 2/H/sub 6/))/(n (H/sub 2/))=3 x 10/sup -5/ and (n (C/sub 2/H/sub 2/))/(n (H/sub 2/))< or =7.5 x 10/sup -8/. (AIP)
Sample size determination: A practical guide for health researchers

Although sample size calculations play an essential role in health research, published research often fails to report sample size selection. This study aims to explain the importance of sample size calculation and to provide considerations for determining sample size in a simplified manner. Approaches to sample size calculation according to study design are presented with examples in health research. For sample size estimation, researchers need to (1) provide information regarding the statistical analysis to be applied, (2) determine acceptable precision levels, (3) decide on study power, (4) specify the confidence level, and (5) determine the magnitude of practical significance differences (effect size). Most importantly, research team members need to engage in an open and realistic dialog on the appropriateness of the calculated sample size for the research question(s), available data records, research timeline, and cost. This study aims to further inform researchers and health practitioners interested in quantitative research, so as to improve their knowledge of sample size calculation.
A note on conjugate distributions for copulas

A family of conjugated distributions for a given type of copulas is defined in this paper. Those copulas can be written as a mixture of d‐dimensional parameter exponential functions. The generalized Farlie–Gumbel–Morgenstern copula is an example of this representation. This family is used to illustrate the estimation technique with real data. Also, the applicability of Bayesian predictive approach is shown in an education policy issue by defining goals for the number of students per class that leads to improve their performance at school. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Clinical Features and Management of Umbilical Endometriosis: A 30 Years’ Monocentric Retrospective Study

Introduction: Umbilical endometriosis (UE) is defined as the presence of endometrial-like tissue within the umbilicus and represents around 0.5–1% of all cases of endometriosis. UE is classified into primary or secondary UE. In this retrospective study, we aimed to assess symptoms, signs, recurrence rate of treated lesions, psychological wellbeing and health-related quality of life in women with UE. Material and methods: We retrospectively reviewed all cases of women diagnosed with UE in the period 1990–2021 in our center. Post-operative recurrence of UE was considered as the reappearance of the umbilical endometriotic lesion, or as the recurrence of local symptoms in the absence of a well-defined anatomical recurrence of the umbilical lesion. Moreover, participants were invited to fill in standardized questionnaires on their health conditions. Results: A total of 55 women with histologically proven UE were assessed in our center during the study period. At time of diagnosis, local catamenial pain and swelling were reported by 51% and 53.2% of women, respectively. A total of 46.8% of women reported catamenial umbilical bleeding. Concomitant non-umbilical endometriosis was identified in 66% of cases. As regards the treatment of UE, 83.6% of women underwent an en-bloc excision with histological confirmation of UE. During the follow-up period, 37 women (67.3%) agreed to undergo a re-evaluation. Recurrence of either umbilical symptoms, or umbilical nodule, was observed in 27% of patients, 11% of which did not receive post-operative hormonal therapy. Specifically, a recurrence of the umbilical endometriotic lesion was observed only in two women. Among the 37 women which we were able to contact for follow-up, 83.8% were satisfied with the treatment they had received. Conclusions: The high rate of patient satisfaction confirmed that surgical excision should be considered the gold standard treatment for umbilical endometriosis. Future studies should investigate the role of post-operative hormonal therapy, particularly in reducing the risk of symptom recurrence.
Simultaneous Coded Plane-Wave Imaging Using an Advanced Ultrasound Forward Model

In the quest for higher acquisition rates of ultrasound images, the simultaneous emission of encoded waves has the potential to overcome the trade-off between acquisition time and image quality. However, the lack of fully orthogonal codes has led to the use of forward models and inverse problem approaches to estimate the imaged medium. Nonetheless, due to some simplifying assumptions on which these models rely, the previously stated trade-off still appears in these acquisition/reconstruction schemes. In this paper, a forward model for ultrasound wave propagation inside a scattering medium is developed for the simultaneous coded emission of plane waves. The tissue reflectivity function of the imaged medium is estimated by solving an ℓ1-regularized version of the corresponding inverse problem. The proposed method is evaluated in silico and in vitro. We demonstrate that this method outperforms the conventional technique that consists of successive emissions of plane waves, reconstruction using delay and sum (DAS), and coherent compounding. In silico, the ability to separate close scatterers is improved by a factor of four in the axial direction and by a factor of 2.5 in the lateral direction. In vitro, the spatial resolution at −6 dB is decreased by a factor of seven. These results suggest that the proposed method could be a valuable tool, particularly for ultrasound imaging of sparse mediums such as in ultrasound localization microscopy.
LES Analysis of the Aerodynamic Surface Properties for Turbulent Flows over Building Arrays with Various Geometries

AbstractThis paper describes aerodynamic roughness properties for turbulent flows over various building arrays that represent realistic urban surface geometries. First, building morphological characteristics such as roughness density λf and building height variability Vh, defined respectively as the ratio of total frontal area of roughness elements to the total surface area and the ratio of standard deviation in building height to the average building height of the study site, were investigated. Next, large-eddy simulations (LESs) of turbulent flows over building arrays were performed with various surface geometries characterized by a wide range of values for both λf and Vh, based on this building morphological analysis. Third, aerodynamic roughness parameters such as roughness length z0 and drag coefficient were evaluated for the central Tokyo area from the values of z0 and Vh using the LES results. The values of z0 and as a function of both λf and Vh were comparable to those found in earlier studies. Th.
Radiological Assessment in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) Patients According to MUC5B Polymorphism

The MUC5B rs35705950 mutant T allele is the strongest genetic risk factor for familial and sporadic IPF. We sought to determine whether MUC5B genotype influences radiological patterns of IPF at diagnosis, as well as their change over time, in patients on antifibrotic therapy. Among eighty-eight IPF patients, previously genotyped for MUC5B rs35705950, we considered seventy-eight patients who were evaluated for radiological quantification of the following features both at treatment initiation (HRCT1) and after 1 year (HRCT2): ground glass opacities (AS), reticulations (IS) and honeycombing (HC). Of the evaluated patients, 69% carried at least one copy of the T allele (TT/TG). Carriers of the T allele displayed similar FVC loss in the first year of treatment as GG carriers, but overall survival at the end of follow-up was longer in the TT/TG group, compared to the GG group. In the GG group, both the AS and HC increased significantly, whereas in the TT/TG group only HC increased over the first year of treatment. MUC5B rs35705950 GG carriers are associated with increased ground glass and honeycombing extent over time and worse survival than T allele carriers. Longitudinal HRCT may help define the prognostic role of the MUC5B rs35705950 genotype.
Influence of Gac aril, yeast, and sugar in high-quality sandwich bread making

Research was conducted to develop a sandwich bread with added Gac aril. Effects of Gac aril (5, 7, and 9%), added sugar content (8.6, 10.3, and 12%), and instant dry yeast used (0.3, 0.4, and 0.5%) to bread quality and sensory value of the products were performed. The relationship between the dependent variables such as β-carotene, lycopene, and volume expansion and three independent variables including Gac aril, sugar and dry yeast content was analyzed using multiple regression analysis. It was observed that the optimum responses of β -carotene, lycopene, and volume expansion were determined as 14.78 µ g/g, 59.14 µ g/g, and 5.3 times, respectively. To achieve those optimal values, the optimization conditions of various input variables, the percentage of Gac aril, sugar, and dried yeast were found to be 8.55%, 9.76%, and 0.5%, respectively, which, on confirmation, showed a high quality sandwich bread. The optimal parameters were also verified. Sensory evaluation showed that the sandwich bread prepared with 8.55% and 9% Gac aril gave a higher acceptance score than the lesser content and control sample. Preference mapping also showed more than 80% of the participants loved these products.
The PAU camera and the PAU survey at the William Herschel Telescope

The Physics of the Accelerating Universe (PAU) is a project whose main goal is the study of dark energy. For this purpose, a new large field of view camera (the PAU Camera, PAUCam) is being built. PAUCam is designed to carry out a wide area imaging survey with narrow and broad band filters spanning the optical wavelength range. The PAU Camera is now at an advance stage of construction. PAUCam will be mounted at the prime focus of the William Herschel Telescope. With the current WHT corrector, it will cover a 1 degree diameter field of view. PAUCam mounts eighteen 2k×4k Hamamatsu fully depleted CCDs, with high quantum efficiency up to 1 μm. Filter trays are placed in front of the CCDs with a technologically challenging system of moving filter trays inside the cryostat. The PAU Camera will use a new set of 42 narrow band filters ranging from ~4400 to ~8600 angstroms complemented with six standard broad-band filters, ugrizY. With PAUCam at the WHT we will carry out a cosmological imaging survey in both narrow and broad band filters that will perform as a low resolution spectroscopic survey. With the current survey strategy, we will obtain accurate photometric redshifts for galaxies down to iAB~22.5 detecting also galaxies down to iAB~24 with less precision in redshift. With this data set we will obtain competitive constraints in cosmological parameters using both weak lensing and galaxy clustering as main observational probes.
The nexus of carbon dioxide emissions, economic growth, and urbanization in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has implemented its ambitious and comprehensive national strategy, i.e., Saudi Vision 2030, to achieve major economic, social, and environmental objectives. The main aim of this paper is to study the Granger causality relationships between economic growth, environmental degradation, and urbanization in Saudi Arabia over the period from 1985 to 2019. At first, Augmented Dicky-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron (PP) tests were applied in order to check the stationarity of the panel time-series data. Since the data were of mixed order of integration I(0) and I(1), the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) framework was employed to perform the statistical analysis. Then, the short- and long-run relationships were evaluated using the bounds test for cointegration applied on the Error Correction Models (ECMs) for GDP, CO2 emissions, and urbanization as the dependent variables. Furthermore, the direction and significance of causality were estimated in the ARDL/ECM framework. In addition, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis was examined for the sample data. To assess the generalization capability of the findings in this study, robustness and diagnostic tests were applied. In the long-run, the empirical findings indicate that 1% increase in economic growth Granger caused 0.15% increase in CO2 emissions and 0.006% decrease in urbanization. Whereas 1% increase in urbanization Granger caused 2.5% increase in the economic growth. In the short-run, a unidirectional causal relationship existed from economic growth to both CO2 emissions and urbanization with 1% increase in GDP Granger caused 0.3% and 0.004% increases in CO2 emissions and urbanization, respectively. Finally, policy recommendations were presented in light of the Saudi Vision 2030.
Patterns in biofilms: From contour undulations to fold focussing

Morphologies of soft materials in growth, swelling or drying have been extensively studied recently. Shape modifications occur as the size varies transforming ordinary spheres, cylinders and thin plates into more or less complex objects. Here we consider the genesis of biofilm patterns when a simple disc containing initially bacteria with moderate adhesion to a rigid substrate grows according to very simple rules. The initial circular geometry is lost during the growth expansion, contour undulations and buckling appear, ultimately a rather regular periodic focussing of folds repartition emerges. We theoretically predict these morphological instabilities as bifurcations of solutions in elasticity, characterized by typical driving parameters established here. The substrate plays a critical role limiting the geometry of the possible modes of instabilities and anisotropic growth, adhesion and toughness compete to eventually give rise to wrinkling, buckling or both. Additionally, due to the substrate, we show that the ordinary buckling modes, vertical deviation of thin films, are not observed in practice and a competitive pattern with self-focussing of folds can be found analytically. These patterns are reminiscent of the blisters of delamination in material sciences and explain recent observations of bacteria biofilms. The model presented here is purely analytical, is based on a neo-Hookean elastic energy, and can be extended without difficulties and applied to polymer materials.