Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dielectric and Microwave-absorbing Properties of the Carbon/Alumina/Silica Coating

The permittivity and microwave-absorbing properties of carbon black or carbon fiber filled alumina/ silica coating were investigated in X-band. The results indicate that both the real and imaginary part of the complex permittivity increase with the increasing content of carbon absorber. With the same content of carbon absorber, the coatings filled with carbon fiber show higher complex permittivity than the coatings filled with carbon black. As the absorber contents increase to 2wt%, the complex permittivity of the coatings decrease with the increase of fre- quency, which is so-called frequency-dependence dielectric response. The minimum reflection loss of the coatings shifts to low frequency region as their thickness increasing. The results of the microwave absorbing properties show that good microwave absorption ability (below −10 dB) can be obtained in the frequency range from 9.2 GHz to 12.4 GHz for the coating with 2wt% carbon black and 2 mm in thickness.
Caregivers' perception of oral health-related quality of life in a group of Nigerian children living with human immunodeficiency virus.

AIM This study examined the caregivers' perception of the effect of dental conditions on general well-being and family life of a group of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected Nigerian children. A secondary aim was to investigate correlations between the children's sociodemographic and health-related variables and caregivers' global ratings of oral health and well-being. Study Design A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted among parents/caregivers of 95 HIV-positive children receiving care at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. MATERIALS AND METHODS The "Parental-Caregivers Perception Questionnaire" which included measures of global ratings of oral health and well-being as well as effects of oral health on domains of oral symptoms, functional limitations, emotional well-being, and family well-being/parental distress was used. Assessment was based on the child's oral health within the preceding 3 months of the study. RESULTS The most affected subscale of the oral health-related quality of life was functional limitation followed by parental distress and then oral symptoms. Caregivers of older children were 2½ times more likely to view oral health as impacting their child's overall health (P = 0.034). Furthermore, caregivers of children who had not yet commenced antiretroviral therapy were 15% more likely to report oral symptoms (P = 0.024) and 11% were more likely to be distressed. STATISTICS Data entry, validation, and analysis were done using SPSS version 17.0. Findings were considered to be statistically significant when 95% confidence intervals were not overlapping. CONCLUSIONS According to caregivers' perceptions, oral symptoms, functional limitations, and parental distress outweighed emotional well-being in impacting a child's oral health quality of life. Oral health programs to improve the knowledge of caregivers on the importance of oral health in HIV-positive children are necessary for improvement in overall quality of life.
Metabolic Determinants of Electrical Failure in Ex-Vivo Canine Model of Cardiac Arrest: Evidence for the Protective Role of Inorganic Pyrophosphate

Rationale Deterioration of ventricular fibrillation (VF) into asystole or severe bradycardia (electrical failure) heralds a fatal outcome of cardiac arrest. The role of metabolism in the timing of electrical failure remains unknown. Objective To determine metabolic factors of early electrical failure in an Ex-vivo canine model of cardiac arrest (VF+global ischemia). Methods and Results Metabolomic screening was performed in left ventricular biopsies collected before and after 0.3, 2, 5, 10 and 20 min of VF and global ischemia. Electrical activity was monitored via plunge needle electrodes and pseudo-ECG. Four out of nine hearts exhibited electrical failure at 10.1±0.9 min (early-asys), while 5/9 hearts maintained VF for at least 19.7 min (late-asys). As compared to late-asys, early-asys hearts had more ADP, less phosphocreatine, and higher levels of lactate at some time points during VF/ischemia (all comparisons p<0.05). Pre-ischemic samples from late-asys hearts contained ∼25 times more inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi) than early-asys hearts. A mechanistic role of PPi in cardioprotection was then tested by monitoring mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨ) during 20 min of simulated-demand ischemia using potentiometric probe TMRM in rabbit adult ventricular myocytes incubated with PPi versus control group. Untreated myocytes experienced significant loss of ΔΨ while in the PPi-treated myocytes ΔΨ was relatively maintained throughout 20 min of simulated-demand ischemia as compared to control (p<0.05). Conclusions High tissue level of PPi may prevent ΔΨm loss and electrical failure at the early phase of ischemic stress. The link between the two protective effects may involve decreased rates of mitochondrial ATP hydrolysis and lactate accumulation.
Performance Validity Testing in Neuropsychology: Methods for Measurement Development and Maximizing Diagnostic Accuracy

In the first column in this 2-part series, Performance Validity Testing in Neuropsychology: Scientific Basis and Clinical Application—A Brief Review, the authors introduced performance validity tests (PVTs) and their function, provided a justification for why they are necessary, traced their ongoing endorsement by neuropsychological organizations, and described how they are used and interpreted by ever increasing numbers of clinical neuropsychologists. To enhance readers’ understanding of these measures, this second column briefly describes common detection strategies used in PVTs as well as the typical methods used to validate new PVTs and determine cut scores for valid/invalid determinations. We provide a discussion of the latest research demonstrating how neuropsychologists can combine multiple PVTs in a single battery to improve sensitivity/specificity to invalid responding. Finally, we discuss future directions for the research and application of PVTs.
Medial thalamic stroke and its impact on familiarity and recollection

Models of recognition memory have postulated that the mammillo-thalamic tract (MTT)/anterior thalamic nucleus (AN) complex would be critical for recollection while the Mediodorsal nucleus (MD) of the thalamus would support familiarity and indirectly also be involved in recollection (Aggleton et al., 2011). 12 patients with left thalamic stroke underwent a neuropsychological assessment, three verbal recognition memory tasks assessing familiarity and recollection each using different procedures and a high-resolution structural MRI. Patients showed poor recollection on all three tasks. In contrast, familiarity was spared in each task. No patient had significant AN lesions. Critically, a subset of 5 patients had lesions of the MD without lesions of the MTT. They also showed impaired recollection but preserved familiarity. Recollection is therefore impaired following MD damage, but familiarity is not. This suggests that models of familiarity, which assign a critical role to the MD, should be reappraised.
Multi-step prediction for influenza outbreak by an adjusted long short-term memory

Abstract Influenza results in approximately 3–5 million annual cases of severe illness and 250 000–500 000 deaths. We urgently need an accurate multi-step-ahead time-series forecasting model to help hospitals to perform dynamical assignments of beds to influenza patients for the annually varied influenza season, and aid pharmaceutical companies to formulate a flexible plan of manufacturing vaccine for the yearly different influenza vaccine. In this study, we utilised four different multi-step prediction algorithms in the long short-term memory (LSTM). The result showed that implementing multiple single-output prediction in a six-layer LSTM structure achieved the best accuracy. The mean absolute percentage errors from two- to 13-step-ahead prediction for the US influenza-like illness rates were all <15%, averagely 12.930%. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that LSTM has been applied and refined to perform multi-step-ahead prediction for influenza outbreaks. Hopefully, this modelling methodology can be applied in other countries and therefore help prevent and control influenza worldwide.
The Dispersivity of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (NMWTs) and Pressure-Sensitive Property of NMWTs Reinforced Cement Composite

The individual and/or combinatory impacts of two surfactants (polyoxyethylene nonyl phenyl ether 10 (Tx-100), Arabic gum powder (AG)) on the dispersivity of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (NMWTs) were firstly investigated and evaluated through naked and microstructures observation; hereafter, NMWTs with 1.0% loading were firstly dispersed in aqueous solution with surfactant ultrasonic dispersion process, and cast-mixed into cement matrix to fabricate 2 groups NMWTs reinforced cement composites (NMTRCs), associated with the plain reference. Wheatstone bridge configurations were simultaneously employed to obtain the resistances and the monoaxial stresses, to investigate the pressure-sensitive properties of these nanocomposites. Results with naked observation reveal that either Tx-100 or AG at some concentration has good dispersion effect on NMWTs, the blackness homogeneity and stability of NMWTs suspended solution could retain more than 15 d; yet microstructures results show that NMTRC with AG has more homogeneous dispersion impact and more compatible with cement hydration than that with Tx-100. Results related on the pressure-sensitive properties of NMTRCs demonstrate that, the fractional change in resistivity of NMTRC with AG linearly falls down by increment of applied pressure within elastic range, this good pressure-sensitive traits mainly contribute to the increasing chance of physical contacts, the denser of current chargers between NMWTs, and the shortened trend of the potential barrier widths between NMWTs and matrix by increment of pressure, after efficient dispersion with AG. Yet that of NMTRC with Tx-100 has not good linearity descending trend, but some exaggerate fluctuations, and that of the reference has also no any regular descending trend.
Nanocomposite Polymer Biomaterials for Tissue Repair of Bone and Cartilage: A Material Science Perspective

The design and fabrication of nanocomposite biomaterials for tissue engineering applications requires a fundamental understanding of the interactions between polymers, nanostructures, and cells Biology offers the best models for strategies on how to rationally design high-performance biomaterials with the properties of materials, such as bone, cartilage, nacre, or silk (Murphy and Mooney 2002; Gao et al 2003; Tang et al 2003; Mayer 2005; Lee and Spencer 2008) To translate our fundamental understanding of nature into products that are useful in a clinical setting, the chemical, physical, and biological properties of newly developed bio-nanocomposites need to be optimized to support, regulate, and influence long term cellular activities Although we can replicate some physical properties of natural biomaterials, reproducing the complexity and efficiency of natural tissue is challenging For example, the strength and stiffness of bone 24
Increased Insular Cortical Thickness Associated With Symptom Severity in Male Youths With Internet Gaming Disorder: A Surface-Based Morphometric Study

With the rising increase in Internet-usage, Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has gained massive attention worldwide. However, detailed cerebral morphological changes remain unclear in youths with IGD. In the current study, our aim was to investigate cortical morphology and further explore the relationship between the cortical morphology and symptom severity in male youths with IGD. Forty-eight male youths with IGD and 32 age- and education-matched normal controls received magnetic resonance imaging scans. We employed a recently proposed surface-based morphometric approach for the measurement of cortical thickness (CT). We found that youths with IGD showed increased CT in the bilateral insulae and the right inferior temporal gyrus. Moreover, significantly decreased CT were found in several brain areas in youths with IGD, including the bilateral banks of the superior temporal sulci, the right inferior parietal cortex, the right precuneus, the right precentral gyrus, and the left middle temporal gyrus. Additionally, youths with IGD demonstrated a significantly positive correlation between the left insular CT and symptom severity. Our data provide evidence for the finding of abnormal CT in distributed cerebral areas and support the notion that altered structural abnormalities observed in substance addiction are also manifested in IGD. Such information extends current knowledge about IGD-related brain reorganization and could help future efforts in identifying the role of insula in the disorder.
Glycosaminoglycans and Proteoglycans

In this editorial to MDPI Pharmaceuticals special issue “Glycosaminoglycans and Proteoglycans” we describe in outline the common structural features of glycosaminoglycans and the characteristics of proteoglycans, including the intracellular proteoglycan, serglycin, cell-surface proteoglycans, like syndecans and glypicans, and the extracellular matrix proteoglycans, like aggrecan, perlecan, and small leucine-rich proteoglycans. The context in which the pharmaceutical uses of glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans are presented in this special issue is given at the very end.
Trachoma and Relative Poverty: A Case-Control Study

Background Trachoma is widely considered a disease of poverty. Although there are many epidemiological studies linking trachoma to factors normally associated with poverty, formal quantitative data linking trachoma to household economic poverty within endemic communities is very limited. Methodology/Principal Findings Two hundred people with trachomatous trichiasis were recruited through community-based screening in Amhara Region, Ethiopia. These were individually matched by age and gender to 200 controls without trichiasis, selected randomly from the same sub-village as the case. Household economic poverty was measured through (a) A broad set of asset-based wealth indicators and relative household economic poverty determined by principal component analysis (PCA, (b) Self-rated wealth, and (c) Peer-rated wealth. Activity participation data were collected using a modified ‘Stylised Activity List’ developed for the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Survey. Trichiasis cases were more likely to belong to poorer households by all measures: asset-based analysis (OR = 2.79; 95%CI: 2.06–3.78; p<0.0001), self-rated wealth (OR, 4.41, 95%CI, 2.75–7.07; p<0.0001) and peer-rated wealth (OR, 8.22, 95% CI, 4.59–14.72; p<0.0001). Cases had less access to latrines (57% v 76.5%, p = <0.0001) and higher person-to-room density (4.0 v 3.31; P = 0.0204) than the controls. Compared to controls, cases were significantly less likely to participate in economically productive activities regardless of visual impairment and other health problems, more likely to report difficulty in performing activities and more likely to receive assistance in performing productive activities. Conclusions/Significance This study demonstrated a strong association between trachomatous trichiasis and relative poverty, suggesting a bidirectional causative relationship possibly may exist between poverty and trachoma. Implementation of the full SAFE strategy in the context of general improvements might lead to a virtuous cycle of improving health and wealth. Trachoma is a good proxy of inequality within communities and it could be used to target and evaluate interventions for health and poverty alleviation.
Identification of Uncultured Bacterial Species from Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and CANDIDATUS Saccharibacteria as Candidate Cellulose Utilizers from the Rumen of Beef Cows

The ability of ruminants to utilize cellulosic biomass is a result of the metabolic activities of symbiotic microbial communities that reside in the rumen. To gain further insight into this complex microbial ecosystem, a selection-based batch culturing approach was used to identify candidate cellulose-utilizing bacterial consortia. Prior to culturing with cellulose, rumen contents sampled from three beef cows maintained on a forage diet shared 252 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs), accounting for 41.6–50.0% of bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences in their respective samples. Despite this high level of overlap, only one OTU was enriched in cellulose-supplemented cultures from all rumen samples. Otherwise, each set of replicate cellulose supplemented cultures originating from a sampled rumen environment was found to have a distinct bacterial composition. Two of the seven most enriched OTUs were closely matched to well-established rumen cellulose utilizers (Ruminococcus flavefaciens and Fibrobacter succinogenes), while the others did not show high nucleotide sequence identity to currently defined bacterial species. The latter were affiliated to Prevotella (1 OTU), Ruminococcaceae (3 OTUs), and the candidate phylum Saccharibacteria (1 OTU), respectively. While further investigations will be necessary to elucidate the metabolic function(s) of each enriched OTU, these results together further support cellulose utilization as a ruminal metabolic trait shared across vast phylogenetic distances, and that the rumen is an environment conducive to the selection of a broad range of microbial adaptations for the digestion of plant structural polysaccharides.
A clinicoradiographic comparison of the effects of platelet-rich fibrin gel and platelet-rich fibrin membrane as scaffolds in the apexification treatment of young permanent teeth

Aims: This triple blinded clinical trial was undertaken to check whether Platelet rich firin in its membrane form is as reliable as when it is in the gel form. Settings and Design: Triple blinded randomized clinical trial. Methods and Material: 20 patients in PRF gel group and 20 patients in PRF membrane group selected after randomization and considering inclusion and exclusion criteria were taken up for this study. The samples were clinically and radiographically evaluated for success. Results and Conclusions: Regenerative endodontics with PRF membrane is easier and less time consuming. They have similar clinical success.PRF gel gave a better radiographic success in 12 months period.
Antagonism of apomorphine-enhanced startle by alpha 1-adrenergic antagonists.

The present study investigated the possible involvement of central noradrenergic neurons in mediating the excitatory effect of the dopamine agonist apomorphine on the acoustic startle response in rats. Experiment 1 assessed the effects of intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of adrenergic antagonists on apomorphine-enhanced startle. The excitation of startle produced by apomorphine (1.0-3.0 mg/kg i.p.) was blocked by the alpha 1-adrenergic antagonists prazosin (0.03-1.0 mg/kg) and WB-4101 (1.0 mg/kg). Prazosin was very potent in this regard, having an ED50 of 0.03 mg/kg. Blockade of beta-adrenergic receptors with propranolol (20 mg/kg) or blockade of peripheral alpha-adrenergic receptors with phentolamine (10 mg/kg) failed to alter the effect of apomorphine. Prazosin did not block the enhancement of startle produced by other drugs (5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine, strychnine), nor did it alter the entry of apomorphine into the brain. The alpha 1-adrenergic antagonists piperoxane (0.03 mg/kg), yohimbine (0.03 mg/kg) or RX781094 (0.07 mg/kg) markedly potentiated apomorphine excitation. These data indicated that specific blockade of central alpha 1-adrenergic receptors prevents apomorphine-enhanced startle. In contrast to the effects of alpha 1-adrenergic antagonists, Experiment 2 found that other drugs that produce an acute (clonidine, 0.040 mg/kg) or chronic (intraventricular 6-hydroxydopamine, 2 X 200 micrograms; DSP4, 50 mg/kg i.p.) disruption of noradrenergic transmission failed to affect apomorphine excitation. Thus, the ability of alpha 1-adrenergic antagonists to block apomorphine's excitation of startle cannot be explained by a simple dopamine-norepinephrine interaction. Alternative hypothesis are discussed.
Graphene-based nanocomposites for structural and functional applications: using 2-dimensional materials in a 3-dimensional world

Graphene-based composites are currently the only application of graphene already commercialized on a large scale. However, the performance of such products is not comparable to that of pristine graphene sheets, measured at the nanoscale, which easily outperform well-established materials such as steel, silicon, or copper. A key reason for this difference in properties is that it is not yet fully understood how two-dimensional (2D) -based composites work at the nanoscale level and, more importantly, what is the ultimate performance (mechanical, electrical, etc.) that can be achieved when they are included in a bulk material. In the first year of the ramp-up phase of the Flagship, the ‘Nanocomposites’ work package has studied how to improve the processing, interaction, and performance of graphene and related materials (GRMs) in three-dimensional (3D) composites. This article offers a quick overview of some of the main results obtained within this rapidly evolving field.
The effect of lung deformation on the spatial distribution of pulmonary blood flow

Pulmonary perfusion measurement using magnetic resonance imaging combined with deformable image registration enabled us to quantify the change in the spatial distribution of pulmonary perfusion at different lung volumes. The current study elucidated the effects of tidal volume lung inflation [functional residual capacity (FRC) + 500 ml and FRC + 1 litre] on the change in pulmonary perfusion distribution. Changes in hydrostatic pressure distribution as well as transmural pressure distribution due to the change in lung height with tidal volume inflation are probably bigger contributors to the redistribution of pulmonary perfusion than the changes in pulmonary vasculature resistance caused by lung tissue stretch.