Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Medicinal plants research in Pakistan.

Out of about 258,650 species of higher plants reported from the world; more than 10% are used to cure ailing communities. Beside many known drugs (e.g.tubocurarine, reserpine, aspirin and morphine etc) are discovered based on traditional knowledge. Majority of the people in Pakistan rely on medicinal plants to find treatment for their minor, even in some cases major diseases. Some wild plants are now being commonly used e.g. Ephedra, Artimisia, St. John’s wort,Hippophae beside some that have been domesticated e.g. Garlic, Ginseng and Cumin etc. There is a local market system (Pansara) specifically dealing with medicinal plants business in Pakistan and several plants are exported. Plants having active constituents are used to treat various ailments in both human and animal. In most instances, certain plant species are considered specific for a particular illness but occasionally they have mixed usage. Women, followed by children, are identified as the principal collectors of medicinal plants. Due to over-collection, several species have gone extinct in the Hindukush-Himalayan regions. Local collectors, vendors, herbal drug dealers and others are the ones who threaten the flora of Pakistan contribute (though unknowingly) to the extinction of some and bringing others to the brink of extinction. Though medicinal plants from wild are important source of income for local communities, but if not properly managed, this may lead to the destruction of habitat and in return extinction of species. There is therefore, a need to find ways to harvest medicinal plants sustainably from the wild, train local collectors (in proper collection techniques, train the people in growing medicinal plants, and remove some of the middlemen from the trading chain. In the present article, an effort was made to review the status of medicinal plants research in Pakistan. Key words: Medicinal plants of Pakistan, research and development, conservational issues, marketing, problems and prospects.
Bioinformatic Analysis of Potential Biomarkers for Spinal Cord–injured Patients with Intractable Neuropathic Pain

Background: Neuropathic pain is one of the common complications after spinal cord injury (SCI), affecting individuals’ quality of life. The molecular mechanism for neuropathic pain after SCI is still unclear. We aimed to discover potential genes and microRNAs (miRNAs) related to neuropathic pain by the bioinformatics method. Methods: Microarray data of GSE69901 were obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Peripheral blood samples from individuals with or without neuropathic pain after SCI were collected. Twelve samples from individuals with neuropathic pain and 13 samples from individuals without pain as controls were included in the downloaded microarray. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the neuropathic pain group and the control group were detected using the GEO2R online tool. Functional enrichment analysis of DEGs was performed using the DAVID database. Protein-protein interaction network was constructed from the STRING database. MiRNAs targeting these DEGs were obtained from the miRNet database. A merged miRNA-DEG network was constructed and analyzed with Cytoscape software. Results: In total, 1134 DEGs were identified between individuals with or without neuropathic pain (case and control), and 454 biological processes were enriched. We identified 4 targeted miRNAs, including mir-204-5p, mir-519d-3p, mir-20b-5p, mir-6838-5p, which may be potential biomarkers for SCI patients. Conclusion: Protein modification and regulation of the biological process of the central nervous system may be a risk factor in SCI. Certain genes and miRNAs may be potential biomarkers for the prediction of and potential targets for the prevention and treatment of neuropathic pain after SCI.
Decreased muscle mass and increased central adiposity are independently related to mortality in older men.

BACKGROUND Aging is associated with significant changes in body composition. Body mass index (BMI; in kg/m(2)) is not an accurate indicator of overweight and obesity in the elderly. OBJECTIVE We examined the relation between other anthropometric indexes of body composition (both muscle mass and body fat) and all-cause mortality in men aged 60-79 y. DESIGN The study was a prospective study of 4107 men aged 60-79 y with no diagnosis of heart failure and who were followed for a mean period of 6 y, during which time there were 713 deaths. RESULTS Underweight men (BMI < 18.5) had exceptionally high mortality rates. After the exclusion of these men, increased adiposity [BMI, waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-hip ratio] showed little relation with mortality after adjustment for lifestyle characteristics. Muscle mass [indicated by midarm muscle circumference (MAMC)] was significantly and inversely associated with mortality. After adjustment for MAMC, obesity markers, particularly high WC (>102 cm) and waist-to-hip ratio (top quartile), were associated with increased mortality. A composite measure of MAMC and WC most effectively predicted mortality. Men with low WC (</=102 cm) and above-median muscle mass showed the lowest mortality risk. Men with WC > 102 cm and above-median muscle mass showed significantly increased mortality [age-adjusted relative risk: 1.36; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.74), and this increased to 1.55 (95% CI: 1.01, 2.39) in those with WC > 102 and low MAMC. CONCLUSION The findings suggest that the combined use of both WC and MAMC provides simple measures of body composition to assess mortality risk in older men.
Effect of High Heat Input On CTOD Property of the Thick Steel Plate For Offshore Engineering

Fracture toughness of the steel plate is an important factor for the integrity of offshore structures. Among the various parameters for the evaluation of fracture toughness, CTOD has been widely used in the offshore engineering within the welding heat input range of 0.7~4.5 kJ/mm. Recently there were several efforts to expand the heat input range into the higher value in order to improve the productivity in constructing the offshore structures1, 2). However, it was reported that it was difficult to obtain the proper CTOD value at the heat input higher than 10kJ/mm. Therefore, in this study, the effect of heat input on the CTOD value for the thick steel plate within the range of heat input from 7 to 55 kJ/mm. Special interest was focused on HAZ CTOD values at the heat input higher than 10 kJ/mm to improve that property.
An overview of diversified reinforcement on aluminum metal matrix composites: Tribological aspects

Aluminum metal matrix composites have found applications in manufacturing of various components such as piston, cylinder block, and brake drum, in which wear and friction are important phenomenon. This paper presents an overview of diversified reinforcement on aluminum metal matrix composites in terms of tribological aspects. A comprehensive literature review is carried out on aluminum metal matrix composites based on individual reinforcement and multiple reinforcements including various product applications. The research review is summarized in form of tribology wheel for aluminum metal matrix composites, which encompass fields involved in tribology, fabrication processes/parameters, reinforcement(s) and matrix contribution, tribological testing parameter, statistical analytical technique, and product application areas of AMCs. The tribology wheel becomes helpful in selecting parameters with possible permutation and combination for further improvement of tribological properties. Finally, comments are addressed regarding the future work on tribological aspects of aluminum metal matrix composites.
Polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) for baby bottles: a comprehensive assessment on polymer-related non-intentionally added substances (NIAS)

ABSTRACT Polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) is a new material for the production of baby bottles. PPSU is a polyether plastic formally composed of bisphenol S (BPS) and 4,4ʹ-dihydroxybiphenyl (DHBP), which both have slight endocrine activities in in vitro tests. So far, little is known about the presence and the release of potentially hazardous substances from PPSU baby bottles. In this study, we present a three-step approach for the analysis of PPSU starting with polymer characterisation in terms of chemical structure, total oligomer content and hydrolytic stability. Second is the determination of extractables focussing on monomers, monomer derivatives, linear and cyclic oligomers below 1000 Da and residual solvent. Third is a risk assessment on migration-related substances in accordance to European Union plastics regulation no. 10/2011 based on triplicate consecutive migration experiments using official milk simulant 50% ethanol. We analysed five types of PPSU baby bottles from different brands as well as corresponding raw materials from different manufacturers by various analytical techniques (high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-diode array detector /fluorescence detector/Corona/electrospray ionisation-MS, HPLC-size exclusion chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), 1H-NMR). We found significant variations of PPSU materials from different producers with regard to polymer and oligomer chain end groups (methoxylation, chlorination), while total oligomer content below 1000 Da was similar (mean about 0.48%). BPS was not detected above 0.3 mg/kg polymer in any PPSU sample. Residual DHBP content ranged between 1.7 and 15.5 mg/kg polymer. The most common oligomer in all PPSU samples was the cyclic tetramer (about 1200 mg/kg polymer), which is the only cyclic compound below 1000 Da. Residual solvent, sulfolane, was determined to a maximum of 1300 mg/kg polymer. In migration tests, we detected exceedances of neither specific migration limits for listed substances nor of thresholds of toxicological concern for non-listed substances (monomer derivatives, oligomers). Based on our analytical results, no concerns exist regarding migration of polymer-related substances from PPSU baby bottles. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Geographic Variations in Arthritis Prevalence, Health-Related Characteristics, and Management — United States, 2015

Problem/Condition Doctor-diagnosed arthritis is a common chronic condition affecting an estimated 23% (54 million) of adults in the United States, greatly influencing quality of life and costing approximately $300 billion annually. The geographic variations in arthritis prevalence, health-related characteristics, and management among states and territories are unknown. Therefore, public health professionals need to understand arthritis in their areas to target dissemination of evidence-based interventions that reduce arthritis morbidity. Reporting Period 2015. Description of System The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System is an annual, random-digit–dialed landline and cellular telephone survey of noninstitutionalized adults aged ≥18 years residing in the United States. Self-reported data are collected from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Unadjusted and age-standardized prevalences of arthritis, arthritis health-related characteristics, and arthritis management were calculated. County-level estimates were calculated using a validated statistical modeling method. Results In 2015, in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, median age-standardized prevalence of arthritis was 23.0% (range: 17.2%–33.6%). Modeled prevalence of arthritis varied considerably by county (range: 11.2%–42.7%). In 13 states that administered the arthritis management module, among adults with arthritis, the age-standardized median percentage of participation in a self-management education course was 14.5% (range: 9.1%–19.0%), being told by a health care provider to engage in physical activity or exercise was 58.5% (range: 52.3%–61.9%), and being told to lose weight to manage arthritis symptoms (if overweight or obese) was 44.5% (range: 35.1%–53.2%). Respondents with arthritis who lived in the quartile of states with the highest prevalences of arthritis had the highest percentages of negative health-related characteristics (i.e., arthritis-attributable activity limitations, arthritis-attributable severe joint pain, and arthritis-attributable social participation restriction; ≥14 physically unhealthy days during the past 30 days; ≥14 mentally unhealthy days during the past 30 days; obesity; and leisure-time physical inactivity) and the lowest percentage of leisure-time walking. Interpretation The prevalence, health-related characteristics, and management of arthritis varied substantially across states. The modeled prevalence of arthritis varied considerably by county. Public Health Action The findings highlight notable geographic variability in prevalence, health-related characteristics, and management of arthritis. Targeted use of evidence-based interventions that focus on physical activity and self-management education can reduce pain and improve function and quality of life for adults with arthritis and thus might reduce these geographic disparities.
The road not taken : Secure asymmetry and deployability for decoy routing systems

Censorship circumvention is often characterized as an arms race between a nation-state censor and the developers of censorship resistance systems. Decoy routing systems offer a solution to censorship resistance that has the potential to tilt this arms race in the favour of the censorship resistor. Decoy routing uses real connections to unblocked, overt sites to deliver censored content to users. It aims to make connections to censored content indistinguishable from connections to uncensored sites. This is achieved by employing the help of Internet Service Providers or Autonomous Systems (ASes) that own routers in the middle of the network. However, the deployment of decoy routers has yet to reach fruition. Obstacles to deployment such as the heavy requirements on routers that deploy decoy router relay stations, and possible effects on the quality of service for existing costumers that pass through these routers have deterred potential participants from deploying existing systems. Furthermore, connections from clients to overt sites often follow different paths in the upstream and downstream direction, hampering most existing designs. Although decoy routing systems that lessen the burden on participating routers and accommodate asymmetric flows have been proposed, these arguably more deployable systems suffer from security vulnerabilities that put their users at risk of discovery. In this paper, we propose two different techniques for supporting route asymmetry in previously symmetric decoy routing systems. The resulting asymmetric solutions are more secure than previous asymmetric proposals and provide an option for tiered deployment, allowing more cautious ASes to deploy a lightweight, non-blocking relay station that aids in defending against routing-capable adversaries. We also provide an experimental evaluation of relay station performance on off-the-shelf hardware and additional security improvements to recently proposed systems.
Recalibration of Analytics Workflows

As business decisions and strategies become more and more automated, real-time, and data-driven, enterprises need to create, manage and execute end-to-end analytics workflows that process increasing data volumes, from new heterogeneous data sources, on specialized processing engines. Workflows become more complex and time-consuming to design and execute, since they span a variety of systems and the amount of data being processed grows. Therefore, it becomes increasingly difficult to debug workflows in order to handle errors, as well as adjust the workflow design and calibrate task parameters for applications that perform exploratory data analysis. Towards this end, the workflowmanagement system should provide recalibrationmethods i.e. methods to monitor and to influence workflow processing at runtime. We demonstrate novel manual and automatic recalibration techniques for analytics workflows, on real use cases and data from the telecommunication domain and web analytics, but also on synthetic use cases and data.
Designing an Intelligent Rehabilitation Wheelchair Vehicle System Using Neural Network-based Torque Control Algorithm

This paper proposes a novel intelligent wheelchair vehicle system that enables upper limb exercises, lower limb standing exercises and rehabilitation training in a daily life. The proposed system, which can be used to prevent at least the degeneration of body movements and further atrophy of musculoskeletal system functions, considers the characteristics and mobility of the old and the disabled. Its main purpose is to help the old and the disabled perform their daily activities as much as they can, minimizing the extent of secondary disabilities. In other words, the system will provide the old and the disabled with regular and quantitative rehabilitation exercises and diagnosis using the wheelchair-based upper/lower limb rehabilitation vehicle system and then verify their effectiveness. The system comprises an electric wheelchair, a biometric module to identify individual characteristics, and an upper/lower limb rehabilitation vehicle. In this paper the design and configuration of the developed vehicle is described, and its operation method is presented. Moreover, to verify the tracking performance of the proposed system, dangerous situations according to biosignal changes occurring during the rehabilitation exercise of a non-disabled examinee are analyzed and the performance of the upper/lower limb rehabilitation exercise function depending on muscle strength is evaluated through a neural network algorithm.
Trust in Japanese Interfirm Relations: Institutional Sanctions Matter

Trust is a critical component of interfirm relations, and scholars have pointed to Japan as an environment where trusting relationships flourish. In looking for environmental characteristics important for enabling and sustaining trust in Japan, we propose that a critical role is played by a combination of institutional and societal sanctions. Examination of Japanese subcontracting practices allows an elaboration of these sanctions and their interplay. We recommend further focus on sanctions in exploring interfirm trust issues.
Locomotion-Related Population Cortical Ca2+ Transients in Freely Behaving Mice

Locomotion involves complex neural activity throughout different cortical and subcortical networks. The primary motor cortex (M1) receives a variety of projections from different brain regions and is responsible for executing movements. The primary visual cortex (V1) receives external visual stimuli and plays an important role in guiding locomotion. Understanding how exactly the M1 and the V1 are involved in locomotion requires recording the neural activities in these areas in freely moving animals. Here, we used an optical fiber-based method for the real-time monitoring of neuronal population activities in freely moving mice. We combined the bulk loading of a synthetic Ca2+ indicator and the optical fiber-based Ca2+ recordings of neuronal activities. An optical fiber 200 μm in diameter can detect the coherent activity of a subpopulation of neurons. In layer 5 of the M1 and V1, we showed that population Ca2+ transients reliably occurred preceding the impending locomotion. Interestingly, the M1 Ca2+ transients started ~100 ms earlier than that in V1. Furthermore, the population Ca2+ transients were robustly correlated with head movements. Thus, our work provides a simple but efficient approach for monitoring the cortical Ca2+ activity of a local cluster of neurons during locomotion in freely moving animals.
Fronthaul Compression and Precoding Design for C-RANs Over Ergodic Fading Channels

This paper investigates the joint design of fronthaul compression and precoding for the downlink of cloud radio access networks (C-RANs). In a C-RAN, a central unit (CU) controls a cluster of radio units (RUs) through low-latency fronthaul links. Most previous works on the design of fronthaul compression and precoding assume constant channels and instantaneous channel state information (CSI) at the CU. This paper, in contrast, concentrates on a more practical scenario with block-ergodic channels and considers either instantaneous or stochastic CSI at the CU. Moreover, the analysis encompasses two types of CU-RU functional splits at the physical layer, which we refer to as compression-after-precoding (CAP) and compression-before-precoding (CBP). With the CAP approach, which is the standard C-RAN solution, all baseband processing is done at the CU. With the CBP scheme, channel encoding and precoding are instead performed at the RUs: The CU does not perform precoding but rather forwards separately the information messages of a subset of mobile stations (MSs) along with the compressed precoding matrices to each RU. Optimization algorithms over fronthaul compression and precoding for both CAP and CBP are proposed, which are based on a stochastic successive upper bound minimization (SSUM) approach. Numerical results yield insights into the optimal RU-CU functional split for C-RANs. As a general conclusion, the relative advantages of the two functional splits depend on the interplay between the enhanced interference management abilities of CAP, particularly for dense networks, and the lower fronthaul requirements of CBP in terms of precoding information overhead, particularly for large coherence periods and with stochastic, rather than instantaneous, CSI.
Multiscale Currents Observed by MMS in the Flow Braking Region

We present characteristics of current layers in the off‐equatorial near‐Earth plasma sheet boundary observed with high time‐resolution measurements from the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission during an intense substorm associated with multiple dipolarizations. The four Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft, separated by distances of about 50 km, were located in the southern hemisphere in the dusk portion of a substorm current wedge. They observed fast flow disturbances (up to about 500 km/s), most intense in the dawn‐dusk direction. Field‐aligned currents were observed initially within the expanding plasma sheet, where the flow and field disturbances showed the distinct pattern expected in the braking region of localized flows. Subsequently, intense thin field‐aligned current layers were detected at the inner boundary of equatorward moving flux tubes together with Earthward streaming hot ions. Intense Hall current layers were found adjacent to the field‐aligned currents. In particular, we found a Hall current structure in the vicinity of the Earthward streaming ion jet that consisted of mixed ion components, that is, hot unmagnetized ions, cold E × B drifting ions, and magnetized electrons. Our observations show that both the near‐Earth plasma jet diversion and the thin Hall current layers formed around the reconnection jet boundary are the sites where diversion of the perpendicular currents take place that contribute to the observed field‐aligned current pattern as predicted by simulations of reconnection jets. Hence, multiscale structure of flow braking is preserved in the field‐aligned currents in the off‐equatorial plasma sheet and is also translated to ionosphere to become a part of the substorm field‐aligned current system.