Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
N-acetylcysteine ameliorates nitrosative stress on radiation-inducible damage in rat liver.

PURPOSE The present study was designed to investigate the potential radioprotective effects of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on radiation-induced nitrosative stress caused by gamma irradiation (single dose, 6 Gy) in rat liver. METHODS The rats (n=40) were divided randomly and equally into 4 groups: Control (C), Radiation (R), R+NAC (received irradiation and 1,000 mg/kg of NAC) and R+WR-2721 (received irradiation and 200 mg/kg of WR-2721). Liver tissue of each animal was harvested and utilized for 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) detection using high-performance liquid chromatography- ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) system. RESULTS In the R rats, 3-NT levels significantly increased when compared to those of the C rats (p<0.05). There were no significant differences in the 3-NT levels among R+NAC and R+WR-2721 rats. Histologically examined liver tissue samples showed no obvious differences. CONCLUSION The present study suggests that irradiation has a negative effect on the cellular proteins by enhancing 3-NT formation. The prophylactic use of NAC seems to reduce the nitrosative damage during radiotherapy.
More cooperative, or more uncooperative: decision-making after subliminal priming with emotional faces

Is subliminal priming able to affect people's choices and decision-making? The prisoners' dilemma is a canonical example of a game analyzed that shows why two individuals might not cooperate each other, even if it appears that it is in their best interest to do so. In the regular version of the prisoner's dilemma game, collaboration is dominated by betrayal, and as a result, the only possible outcome of the game is for both prisoners to betray the other. Regardless of what the other prisoner chooses one will always gain a greater payoff by betraying the other. Because betrayal is always more beneficial than cooperation, all objective prisoners would seemingly betray the other. This study examined whether subliminal emotional faces influence human's decision-making in the repeated prisoners' dilemma. In this study, subliminal emotional face was the independent variable. According to different emotional valence (happy, neutral or angry) and different present way of emotional faces (a transparent figure, or a backward masking face), the independent variable has 7 levels. So, 84 undergraduates were randomly divided into seven groups, participants in each group were subliminally primed with one kind of unseen face, after which they completed pre-designed negotiations task. The results showed that whatever the way to show subliminal emotional faces: by a transparent figure, or backward masking, both affected human's decision-making. Under the influence of different ways to present subliminal faces, participants choose their own behavior more cooperative or more uncooperative. These findings contribute to subliminal perception research on decision-making and the implications for this study are discussed.
Why Transcription Factor Binding Sites Are Ten Nucleotides Long

Gene expression is controlled primarily by transcription factors, whose DNA binding sites are typically 10 nt long. We develop a population-genetic model to understand how the length and information content of such binding sites evolve. Our analysis is based on an inherent trade-off between specificity, which is greater in long binding sites, and robustness to mutation, which is greater in short binding sites. The evolutionary stable distribution of binding site lengths predicted by the model agrees with the empirical distribution (5–31 nt, with mean 9.9 nt for eukaryotes), and it is remarkably robust to variation in the underlying parameters of population size, mutation rate, number of transcription factor targets, and strength of selection for proper binding and selection against improper binding. In a systematic data set of eukaryotic and prokaryotic transcription factors we also uncover strong relationships between the length of a binding site and its information content per nucleotide, as well as between the number of targets a transcription factor regulates and the information content in its binding sites. Our analysis explains these features as well as the remarkable conservation of binding site characteristics across diverse taxa.
Soil resources and topography shape local tree community structure in tropical forests

Both habitat filtering and dispersal limitation influence the compositional structure of forest communities, but previous studies examining the relative contributions of these processes with variation partitioning have primarily used topography to represent the influence of the environment. Here, we bring together data on both topography and soil resource variation within eight large (24–50 ha) tropical forest plots, and use variation partitioning to decompose community compositional variation into fractions explained by spatial, soil resource and topographic variables. Both soil resources and topography account for significant and approximately equal variation in tree community composition (9–34% and 5–29%, respectively), and all environmental variables together explain 13–39% of compositional variation within a plot. A large fraction of variation (19–37%) was spatially structured, yet unexplained by the environment, suggesting an important role for dispersal processes and unmeasured environmental variables. For the majority of sites, adding soil resource variables to topography nearly doubled the inferred role of habitat filtering, accounting for variation in compositional structure that would previously have been attributable to dispersal. Our results, illustrated using a new graphical depiction of community structure within these plots, demonstrate the importance of small-scale environmental variation in shaping local community structure in diverse tropical forests around the globe.
Metamerism-based shading illusion

Metamerism is a phenomenon where two objects recognized as having different colors under one light are also recognized as having the same color under another light. This research proposes technology for actualizing artistic illusion that exploits metamerism. Specifically, the purpose of the research relates to automatic calculation of blending ratios of oil paints that cause metamerism to occur under specific light sources. It entails metamerism occurring between four types of object colors under two types of light sources. This enables us to create false shading where the observer recognizes the 2D oil painting as if it is a 3D object with plausible shading.
Utilization of Spent Coffee Grounds for Bioelectricity Generation in Sediment Microbial Fuel Cells

This study examined the utilization of spent coffee grounds with different aqueous extraction methods for the bioelectricity generation from coastal benthic sediment through a sediment microbial fuel cell (SMFC) system. Different methods for the aqueous extraction of SCGs were evaluated, including rinsing and drying of the SCG (SMFC-CRD), immersion, rinsing and drying (SMFC-CRID), drying alone (SMFC-CD), and untreated SCG (SMFC-C). The caffeine concentration in the SCG was significantly reduced using pretreatments, with SMFC-CRID achieving the lowest concentration of 0.021 ± 0.001 mg/g. SMFC-CRD contributed to the generation of the highest current density of 213.7 mA/m2 during closed-circuit operation and exhibited the highest power density of 96.9 mW/m2 in the polarization test, due to the suitable caffeine content of 0.275 ± 0.001 mg/g in the SCG. This study could provide a cost-effective method for reusing SCGs (i.e., 128 g) while generating bioelectricity as an alternative energy source. These results suggest that pretreatment with SCGs is essential for achieving optimal power density and reducing the caffeine concentration in the SMFC system.
Contention-free periodic message scheduler medium access control in wireless sensor/actuator networks

This paper presents a time division multiple access medium access control protocol for wireless sensor/actuator networks implemented with a contention-free message scheduler. A message scheduler is used to determine which message has access to the medium at any time. A set of messages is contention-free if only one message is ready at a time. Otherwise, some other criterion such as priority must be used to resolve contention. In this case, the message scheduler at each node in the network must schedule all messages in order to resolve contention. If the schedule is contention-free however, then each node only schedules the messages that interest it. The key contribution of our contention-free scheduler protocol is scalability. Large wireless sensor/actuator networks may contain hundreds of nodes exchanging thousands of messages. Due to resource constraints it is infeasible that each node schedule every message. Our protocol scales by optimizing each node to schedule only the messages it is interested in.
Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors of the Stomach in Children and Young Adults: A Clinicopathologic, Immunohistochemical, and Molecular Genetic Study of 44 Cases With Long-Term Follow-Up and Review of the Literature

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs), specific KIT- or PDFGRA-signaling driven mesenchymal tumors, are rare in children and young adults, and their clinicopathologic and molecular genetic profile is incompletely understood. In this study, we analyzed 44 gastric GISTs occurring by the age of 21 years. There were 32 females and 12 males, youngest of whom were a 5-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl. All but 1 of 25 patients under the age of 16 were girls. The patients most commonly received medical attention because of chronic, insidious gastrointestinal bleeding with anemia, less commonly with acute GI bleeding. Only 1 patient had Carney triad with pulmonary chondroma. None of the patients had family members with GIST. The tumors measured from 1.5 to 24 cm (median, 5.6 cm). A total of 21 tumors with specified location were in the antrum and 8 were in the gastric body. Histologically, 26 tumors were composed of epithelioid cells, 12 of spindle cells, and 6 of combination thereof. Mitotic activity varied form 0 to 65/50 HPF (median, 5/50). All but one of the 24 tumors tested were KIT-positive, and 20 were CD34-positive. Eleven patients developed liver or abdominal metastases, and 6 of them died of tumor surviving 5.5 to 35.5 years (median, 16 years) after the first surgery; three of these tumors had a low mitotic activity and size <10 cm. Twenty-one patients were alive with no evidence for disease 7 to 41 years (median, 17 years) after the first surgery. None of the 13 tumors examined (7 of them 8- to 16-year-old females) had KIT exon 9, 11, 13, or 17 or PDGFRA exon 12 or 18 mutation as typically seen in adult GISTs. Gastric GISTs in children have mainly epithelioid morphology, often occur in antrum, and have a somewhat unpredictable but slow course of disease. Their pathogenesis may differ from that of adult GISTs because no KIT or PDGFRA mutations were found; connection with Carney triad seems infrequent despite demographic and histologic similarities.
All-Digital Holographic Tool for Mode Excitation and Analysis in Optical Fibers

A procedure for the multiplexing and demultiplexing of modes in optical fibers with digital holograms is presented. By using a spatial light modulator (SLM) to encode a digital hologram, the desired complex field is shaped and injected into the fiber. The SLM's ability to rapidly refresh the encoded transmission function enables one to excite pure single modes, as well as arbitrary coherent mode superpositions, in real-time. The modes from the output of the fiber are subsequently demultipexed by applying a correlation filter for modal decomposition, thus allowing for an all-digital-hologram approach to modal analysis of fibers. The working principle is tested using conventional step-index large mode area fibers being excited with higher-order single modes and superpositions.
Functional Significance of Shade‐Induced Leaf Senescence in Dense Canopies: An Experimental Test Using Transgenic Tobacco

Canopy photosynthesis models have predicted an optimal leaf area index (LAI; leaf area per unit surface area) and leaf nitrogen distribution at which whole‐plant carbon gain per unit N is maximized. In this study we experimentally tested these models, using transgenic PSAG12‐IPT tobacco (SAG; Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants with delayed leaf senescence and therefore a greater LAI and more uniform N distribution than the wild type (WT). In a competition experiment, the increased density of surrounding WT plants caused a greater reduction in dry mass of mature SAG target plants than in that of WT target plants, indicating negative effects of delayed leaf senescence on performance at high canopy density. Vegetative SAG plants achieved a lower calculated daily carbon gain than competing WT plants because the former retained leaves with a negative carbon gain in the shaded, lower part of the canopy. Sensitivity analyses showed that the carbon gain of SAG plants would increase if these lower leaves were shed and the N reallocated from these leaves were used to form additional leaf area at the canopy top. This strategy, which is adopted by the WT, is most advantageous because it results in the shading of competing neighbors.
Analisis Neologisme: COVID-19 di Negara Brunei Darussalam

Corona virus disease 2019 atau COVID-19, penjarakan sosial, pengesanan kontak dan kuarantin merupakan kata-kata baharu dicipta atau diguna semula ini sering didengar dan digunakan sejak penularan wabak COVID-19. Kata-kata neologisme ini dibentuk sesuai dengan keperluan konteks semasa agar difahami khalayak ramai. Sidang akhbar, siaran akhbar dan media sosial berperanan penting dalam menyampaikan laporan berkenaan COVID-19 dan secara tidak langsung memperkenalkan kata-kata berbentuk neologisme. Oleh itu, kajian ini akan meneliti jenis-jenis pembentukan neologisme dan aspek-aspek linguistik yang terlibat dengan berfokuskan pada leksikal-kesikal yang berkaitan COVID-19 di negara Brunei Darussalam (NBD). Sejumlah 86 leksikal telah dikumpulkan dari siaran akbar Kementerian Kesihatan, Kementerian Hal Ehwal Ugama dan Twitter. Dua objektif yang ingin dicapai, iaitu (i) mengenal pasti jenis-jenis proses pembentukan neologisme COVID-19 dalam konteks NBD dan (ii) mengenal pasti proses pembentukan neologisme akibat pengaruh COVID-19 di NBD. Teori Krishnamurthy (2010) digunakan untuk meneliti proses pembentukan neologisme, iaitu (i) word formation (pembentukan kata), (ii) borrowing (peminjaman) dan (iii) lexical deviation (penyimpangan leksikal). Dapatan kajian memperlihatkan bahawa leksikal yang dikumpulkan mengalami ketiga-tiga pembentukan neologisme tersebut.
Divestment of foreign direct investment and domestic investment in developing countries agriculture

Divestment of foreign direct investment has accompanied foreign direct investment. The literature on the interface of foreign direct investment and domestic investment in the agricultural sector is limited. None of these addressed the effect of agricultural foreign divestment on agricultural domestic investment. This paper filled this gap by assessing the direction and extent of the effect of agricultural foreign divestment on agricultural domestic investment in developing countries. The panel data of 50 countries, covering 1995 to 2020 and making up 619 observations, was fitted to fixed and random effects as well as generalised estimation equation estimators. We found agricultural foreign divestment crowded out agricultural domestic investment in developing countries. Economic managers in developing countries must work towards strong macroeconomic indicators, as these have collateral benefits for enhancing agricultural domestic investment.
Novel HCN2 Mutation Contributes to Febrile Seizures by Shifting the Channel's Kinetics in a Temperature-Dependent Manner

Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channel-mediated currents, known as I h, are involved in the control of rhythmic activity in neuronal circuits and in determining neuronal properties including the resting membrane potential. Recent studies have shown that HCN channels play a role in seizure susceptibility and in absence and limbic epilepsy including temporal lobe epilepsy following long febrile seizures (FS). This study focused on the potential contributions of abnormalities in the HCN2 isoform and their role in FS. A novel heterozygous missense mutation in HCN2 exon 1 leading to p.S126L was identified in two unrelated patients with FS. The mutation was inherited from the mother who had suffered from FS in a pedigree. To determine the effect of this substitution we conducted whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology. We found that mutant channels had elevated sensitivity to temperature. More specifically, they displayed faster kinetics at higher temperature. Kinetic shift by change of temperature sensitivity rather than the shift of voltage dependence led to increased availability of I h in conditions promoting FS. Responses to cyclic AMP did not differ between wildtype and mutant channels. Thus, mutant HCN2 channels cause significant cAMP-independent enhanced availability of I h during high temperatures, which may contribute to hyperthermia-induced neuronal hyperexcitability in some individuals with FS.
Aid and Migration: An Analysis of the Impact of Progresa on the Timing and Size of Labour Migration

This paper models the short and medium-run impact of aid on migration, considering alternatively the effect of unconditional and conditional cash transfers to financially constrained households. Data from the evaluation of a Mexican development program, Progresa, are used to estimate the effect of the potential grant size on migration. The empirical analysis is consistent with model prediction. It shows that the program is associated with an increase in international migration, which is also a positive function of size of potential transfer. The grant may loosen financial constraints. At the same time, fine-tuned conditional grants targeting prospective migrants (in the form of secondary school subsidies) reduce the short-term migration probability. As regards medium-term migration, secondary school beneficiaries are not more likely to migrate than the control group after they complete the subsidised education cycle.
Constructing a Secure Point-to-Point Wireless Environment by Integrating Diffie-Hellman PKDS RSA and Stream Ciphering for Users Known to Each Other

Recently, wireless communication has been popularly used in our everyday life. However, its security is a crucial work since messages are broadcasted via wireless channels through which hackers can intercept the massages and then know the contents of the messages. That is why security has been one of the most important issues in wireless communication studies. Encrypting messages to ciphertext is one of the methods to solve this problem. But, it also causes another problem, i.e., how to safely and confidentially encrypt and deliver security keys so that hackers have to spend a very long time before they can decrypt the ciphertext. In this paper, we proposed an authentication approach, called the secure point-to-point encryption method (SePem for short), which integrates RSA, Diffie-Hellman PKDS and a stream cipher technique to provide users with a highly secure point-topoint wireless network without requiring a CA. According to the security analysis of this study, the SePem can efficiently and securely protect a wireless environment. Our simulation results show that the performance of this method can meet users’ communication needs.
Diversity of uropathogens and their antibiotic resistance among diabetic patients presented to MTI-Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar

Objective: Our objective was to quantify the number of various bacteria that frequently cause UTI in diabetes patients as well as to gauge their susceptibility and resistance to antibiotics. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Internal Medicine Ward of Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan from June 2021 to December 2021, Patients with confirmed diabetes were included in the study; however, participants receiving antimicrobial medications for a maximum of 14 days were excluded from the study. Resistance of Escherichia coli, Candida, Pseudomonas, E. faecalis, Klebsiella, P. mirabilis and Staphylococcus was asssessed using ciprofloxac, ceftazidime and meropenem. Results: The findings highlighted the the prevalence of Escherichia coli in 38.8% of patients, Candida in 19% of patients, Enterococcus faecalis in 11.8% of patients, Pseudomonas in 10%, Klebsiella in 9.5% patients, Proteus mirabilis 6.2% patients and Staphylococcus was found in 5.2% patients. According to the overall sensitivity and resistance of antibiotics in microorganisms, Meropenem showed 89.6% sensitivity and 10.4% resistance. Ciprofloxacin showed 38.9% sensitivity and 61.1% resistance and ceftazidime showed 22.7 sensitivity and 77.3% resistance. Conclusion: UTIs were very common in diabetes patients, and Escherichia coli was the most common uropathogen found. Compared to male patients, more female patients had infections. The uropathogens showed a significant degree of resistance to ceftizidime and ciprofloxacin. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40. 5.8275 How to cite this: Masood A, Bilal M, Badshah S, Khan Y. Diversity of uropathogens and their antibiotic resistance among diabetic patients presented to MTI-Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar. Pak J Med Sci. 2024;40(5):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40. 5.8275 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.