Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rapid and Versatile Biosensing of Liposome Encapsulation Efficiency Using Electrical Conductivity Sensor

Liposomes are prominent nanosystems for drug delivery, with potential extending beyond isolated drugs. Ethanol-aqueous plant extracts can be encapsulated within liposomes to protect bioactive compounds (secondary metabolites) from rapid oxidation and enable sustained release. Determining which compound classes are present in each extract and the encapsulation efficiency (EE) of these extracts in liposomes is crucial for nanocarrier functionality. This involves assessing the ratio of bioactive substances within liposomes to the total content. However, quantifying EE for non-isolated compounds poses challenges due to the need for advanced analytical equipment and biosensing approaches. This study introduces an innovative method for EE quantification, using a conductivity electrode (k = 0.842/cm) to establish an EE biosensing technology. By correlating dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential (ZP), and electrical conductivity (Cnd) data with the conductivity meter’s calibration curve, a robust relationship between the free extract concentration and Cnd (r2 ≥ 0.950) was established. Lavender-loaded liposomes demonstrated an EE of 56.33%, while wormwood and oregano formulations exhibited high EEs of 94.33% and 91.70%, respectively. In contrast, sage-loaded liposomes exhibited an inadequate EE, encapsulating only approximately 0.57% of the extract. The straightforward quantification of the free extract within liposome formulations, compared to more complex approaches, could facilitate EE determination and support future characterizations.
Evidence of Small Fungal Cysteine-Rich Proteins Acting as Biosurfactants and Self-Assembling into Large Fibers

Fungi produce surface-active proteins, among which hydrophobins are the most characterized and attractive also for their ability to form functional amyloids. Our most recent findings show that these abilities are shared with other classes of fungal proteins. Indeed, in this paper, we compared the characteristics of a class I hydrophobin (Vmh2 from Pleurotus ostreatus) and an unknown protein (named PAC3), extracted from the marine fungal strain Acremonium sclerotigenum, which does not belong to the same protein family based on its sequence features. They both proved to be good biosurfactants, stabilizing emulsions in several conditions (concentration, pH, and salinity) and decreasing surface tension to a comparable value to that of some synthetic surfactants. After that, we observed for both Vmh2 and PAC3 the formation of giant fibers without the need for harsh conditions or long incubation time, a remarkable ability herein reported for the first time.
Recent Advances in Bimetallic Nanoporous Gold Electrodes for Electrochemical Sensing

Bimetallic nanocomposites and nanoparticles have received tremendous interest recently because they often exhibit better properties than single-component materials. Improved electron transfer rates and the synergistic interactions between individual metals are two of the most beneficial attributes of these materials. In this review, we focus on bimetallic nanoporous gold (NPG) because of its importance in the field of electrochemical sensing coupled with the ease with which it can be made. NPG is a particularly important scaffold because of its unique properties, including biofouling resistance and ease of modification. In this review, several different methods to synthesize NPG, along with varying modification approaches are described. These include the use of ternary alloys, immersion–reduction (chemical, electrochemical, hybrid), co-electrodeposition–annealing, and under-potential deposition coupled with surface-limited redox replacement of NPG with different metal nanoparticles (e.g., Pt, Cu, Pd, Ni, Co, Fe, etc.). The review also describes the importance of fully characterizing these bimetallic nanocomposites and critically analyzing their structure, surface morphology, surface composition, and application in electrochemical sensing of chemical and biochemical species. The authors attempt to highlight the most recent and advanced techniques for designing non-enzymatic bimetallic electrochemical nanosensors. The review opens up a window for readers to obtain detailed knowledge about the formation and structure of bimetallic electrodes and their applications in electrochemical sensing.
Diabetic Gastroparesis and its Emerging Therapeutic Options: A Narrative Review of the Literature

Diabetic gastroparesis (DG) is one of the many complications of diabetes mellitus (DM). Even though this condition surfaces years after uncontrolled disease, it affects the quality of life in several ways and causes significant morbidity. Common symptoms experienced by the patients include postprandial nausea, vomiting, abdominal fullness, and pain. Strict glycemic control is essential to evade the effects of DG. The purpose of this review article is to briefly study the pathophysiology, clinical features, diagnostic modalities, and the effects of DG on different aspects of life. Furthermore, it also focuses on the emerging treatment modalities for DG. Tradipitant and relamorelin are two such treatment options that are gaining noteworthy recognition and are discussed in detail in this review article. As observed through various clinical trials, these drugs help alleviate symptoms like nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and bloating in patients suffering from DG, thereby targeting the most common and bothersome symptoms of the disease. This leads to an improvement in the quality of life, making it a reliable treatment option for this disease. But while pharmacological intervention is vital, psychological support and lifestyle changes are equally important and are the reason why a multidisciplinary approach is required for the treatment of DG.
Enhancing Driving Experience and Safety through ChatGPT in Vehicle Systems

This paper explores the integration of ChatGPT into vehicle systems to enhance driving experiences and safety. ChatGPT's versatile applications span from personalized driver assistance during extended journeys to optimizing energy management in electric vehicles (EVs), improving fuel efficiency, and promoting compliance with road laws through rerouting. It serves as a shadow CPU, contributing to fault tolerance, and aids in vehicle architecture design. By recording driver inputs and crucial information for warranty claims, ChatGPT ensures accurate data capture. It recommends maintenance schedules based on comprehensive parameter analysis and diagnoses complex issues arising from subsystem interactions. In the pursuit of transparency, ChatGPT promotes open-source initiatives to address vehicle problems collaboratively. It integrates with extended reality (XR) to enhance user interfaces in autonomous systems, ensuring real-time information delivery. Moreover, ChatGPT plays a pivotal role in maintaining safety in autonomous vehicles and robots by identifying hazards and initiating corrective actions. Through its multifaceted applications, ChatGPT transforms vehicular systems into safer, more efficient, and user-centric entities.
Pharmacological Therapy in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: A Narrative Review of the Past 90 Years

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases had their first peak in incidence in countries in North America, Europe, and Oceania and are currently experiencing a new acceleration in incidence, especially in Latin America and Asia. Despite technological advances, 90 years after the development of the first molecule for the treatment of IBD, we still do not have drugs that promote disease remission in a generalized way. We carried out a narrative review on therapeutic advances in the treatment of IBD, the mechanisms of action, and the challenges facing the therapeutic goals in the treatment of IBD. Salicylates are still used in the treatment of Ulcerative Colitis. Corticosteroids have an indication restricted to the period of therapeutic induction due to frequent adverse events, while technologies with less systemic action have been developed. Most immunomodulators showed a late onset of action, requiring a differentiated initial strategy to control the disease. New therapeutic perspectives emerged with biological therapy, initially with anti-TNF, followed by anti-integrins and anti-interleukins. Despite the different mechanisms of action, there are similarities between the general rates of effectiveness. These similar results were also evidenced in JAK inhibitors and S1p modulators, the last therapeutic classes approved for the treatment of IBD.
TOWARD THE END OF THE CORPORATE SOCIAL PERFORMANCE – CORPORATE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE DEBATE

The purpose of this document is to present the way forward to finalize the debate related to the link between Corporate Social Performance – Corporate Financial Performance. The discussion and proposal of 7 elements were developed that allow proposing a new methodological path for the development of empirical investigations that seek to explain the link between the Corporate Social Performance – Corporate Financial Performance. After the theoretical review, it was found that the most relevant changes were associated with the level of maturity of the Corporate Social Performance, micro-foundations approach, mediating variables, structural equation models, primary sources, and delimitation of the short, medium, and long term on the analysis.
Application of the method of measuring deformation parameters under mechanical action on concrete beams using a fiber Bragg grating

In order to study the patterns of deformation and change of concrete structures, studies of the fiber Bragg lattice in the form of a measuring sensor were carried out. Fiber optic sensors have several advantages: small size, resistance to electromagnetic interference, high sensitivity, wide range, simple structure, high reaction rate, corrosion resistance, geometrically versatile and resistant to external influences. This work is related to the development of the characteristics and behavior of strain sensors acting on a fiber Bragg lattice using computer modeling. The work focuses on the analysis of the operational characteristics and behavior of strain sensors acting on the fiber Bragg lattice. The sensor is used to measure the deformation of an object whose resistance varies depending on the applied force. This is shown by an example of how a fiber Bragg lattice can demonstrate strain sensors. In the work, a simulation was carried out using a computer program to simulate the operation of a fiber Bragg lattice deformation sensor. When measuring the deformation, calculations with the Young's modulus formulas were used for a more accurate calculation of the data. When measured, the wavelength left from 1662 nm to 1666 nm, as well as a constant temperature from 20 °C to 40 °C. The results show the following, the values of the Young's modulus are 23.25 Pa, the Poisson's ratio is 0.167 br, the modulus of elasticity at shear is 9.96444 Pa. And in this regard, the results of this work show: the first is that changes in the magnitude, position and shape of the deformation can reflect the dynamic evolutionary process of deformation during bending on the structure. The following is the deformation curve has a good corresponding relationship with the change in the applied pressure, which shows software modeling in different types of deformation. The conclusion shows that the technology of monitoring fiber-Bragg lattice sensors has a good effect on internal deformation and control of mechanical stresses during model tests; it provides new methods and monitoring tools for model tests
Optimal DoS Attack on Multi-Channel Cyber-Physical Systems: A Stackelberg Game Analysis

In this commentary, optimal denial-of-service (DoS) attack strategies on multi-channel cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are considered, which focus on energy allocation on communication channels. For simplicity, a Stackelberg game between one defender and one attacker is constructed. Compared with the existing literature, which mainly pay attention to static equilibrium, the dynamic process of the game is also exhibited in this paper, which fills the gap in the demonstration of dynamic decision-making between both players of the game. In the solution of Stackelberg equilibrium, a self-adaptive particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm with Sigmoid-like update function is applied to cope with the nonlinearity of the reward function with faster convergence and wider adaptability. Besides, to acquire better performance of both sides to allocate energy, an online computation algorithm is proposed for dynamic Stackelberg game. Finally, numerical examples are provided to illustrate similarities between theoretic static equilibrium and optimal strategies obtained by Monte Carlo simulations.
Forestry applications of airborne laser scanning : concepts and case studies

1. Introduction to forest applications of airborne laser scanning Jari Vauhkonen et al.- PART I - Methodological issues. - 2. Laser pulse interaction with forest canopy - geometric and radiometric issues Andreas Roncat et al.- 3. Full-waveform airborne laser scanning systems and their possibilities in forest applications Markus Hollaus et al.- 4. Integrating airborne laser scanning with data from global navigation satellite systems and optical sensors Ruben Valbuena. - 5. Segmentation of forest to tree objects Barbara Koch et al.- 6. The semi-individual tree crown approach Johannes Breidenbach, Rasmus Astrup. - 7. Tree species recognition based on airborne laser scanning and complementary data sources Jari Vauhkonen et al.- 8. Estimation of biomass components by airborne laser scanning Sorin C. Popescu, Marius Hauglin. - 9. Predicting tree diameter distributions Matti Maltamo, Terje Gobakken. - 10. A model-based approach for the recovery of forest attributes using airborne laser scanning data Lauri Mehtatalo et al.- PART II - Forest inventory applications. - 11. Area-based inventory in Norway - from innovation to an operational reality Erik Naesset. - 12. Species specific management inventory in Finland Matti Maltamo, Petteri Packalen. - 13. Inventory of forest plantations Jari Vauhkonen et al.- 14. Using airborne laser scanning data to support forest sample surveys Ronald E. McRoberts et al.- 15. Modeling and estimating change Ronald E. McRoberts et al.- 16. Valuation of airborne laser scanning based forest information Annika Kangas et al.- PART III - Ecological applications. - 17. Assessing habitats and organism-habitat relationships by airborne laser scanning Ross A. Hill et al.- 18. Assessing biodiversity by airborne laser scanning Jorg Muller, Kerri Vierling. - 19. Assessing dead wood by airborne laser scanning Matti Maltamo et al.- 20. Estimation of canopy cover, gap fraction and leaf area index with airborne laser scanning Lauri Korhonen, Felix Morsdorf. - 21. Canopy gap detection and analysis with airborne laser scanning Benoit St-Onge et al.- 22. Applications of airborne laser scanning in forest fuel assessment and fire prevention John Gajardo et al.- Index.
The Properties of Exosomes Derived from Mesenchymal Stem Cells Preconditioned with L-Ascorbic Acid and Cobalt (II) Chloride

Extracellular vesicles including exosomes, are produced by cells for intracellular communication. Preconditioning of parental cells influences exosome properties. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of L-ascorbic acid (LAA) and cobalt (II) chloride (CoCl2) on human Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cell (hWJ-MSC)-derived exosomes and their ability to promote stem cell differentiation into chondrocytes. The cells were isolated from the umbilical cord and characterized according to the criteria for mesenchymal stem cell. The cells were cultured in a serum-free medium containing LAA and CoCl2. Cell-produced exosomes were isolated and characterized. hWJ-MSCs can grow in serum-free medium containing LAA and CoCl2. Exosomes derived from hWJ-MSCs had a round morphology, particle size within the exosome range, CD 63 expression, and the capacity to be internalized by cells. The production of exosomes by hWJ-MSCs was enhanced by LAA treatment. LAA and CoCl2 promoted stem cell differentiation into chondrocytes, as indicated by the production of collagen type II and glycosaminoglycans. LAA and CoCl2 affect the properties of MSC-derived exosomes. LAA induces cells to produce exosomes in greater quantities, which have the potential to promote chondrogenic differentiation of stem cells.
Past is prologue: a synthesis of state forest management activities and hardwood ecosystem experiment pre-treatment results

Disturbance plays an important role in forest development processes. Present-day forest condition can be viewed as the cumulative result of various historical disturbance events; therefore, an understanding of disturbance history is important when describing overall forest condition. Pre-treatment studies of the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment (HEE) have described various ecological and social aspects of portions of two State Forests in south-central Indiana that serve as the study area for the HEE. This paper describes the timber harvesting history for the HEE study area and how this history relates to HEE studies and current forest condition. Additionally, pre-treatment results of HEE studies are discussed in the context of past state forest management activities to highlight important emerging issues in state forest management that could be addressed by future HEE research.
Estimation de canal à évanouissements plats dans les transmissions sans fils à relais multibonds

Cette these traite de l'estimation d'un canal de communication radio-mobile multi-bond. La communication entre l'emetteur et le recepteur est ainsi faite par l'intermediaire de relais (de type « Amplify and-Forward ») en serie. Les differents elements (emetteurs, relais, recepteurs) peuvent etre fixes ou mobiles. Chaque lien de communication (chaque bond) est modelise par un canal de Rayleigh a evanouissements plats, avec un spectre Doppler issu de deux environnements possibles de diffusion : en deux dimensions (2D, amenant le spectre en U de Jakes), ou en trois dimensions (3D, amenant un spectre Doppler plat). L'objectif majeur de la these est l'estimation dynamique du canal global issue de la cascade des differents liens. A cette fin, la cascade de canaux est approchee par une modele auto-regressif du premier ordre (AR (1)), et l'estimation est realisee a l'aide d'un algorithme standard, le filtre de Kalman. La methode couramment utilisee dans la litterature pour fixer le parametre du modele AR(1) est basee sur un critere de « correlation matching » (CM). Cependant, nous montrons que pour des canaux a variations lentes, un autre critere base sur la minimisation de la variance asymptotique (MAV) de la sortie du filtre de Kalman est plus approprie. Pour les deux criteres, CM et MAV, cette these donne une justification analytique en fournissant des formules approchees de la variance d'estimation par le filtre de Kalman, ainsi que du reglage optimal du parametre du modele AR(1). Ces formules analytiques sont donnees en fonctions des frequences Doppler et du rapport signal sur bruit, pour les environnements de diffusion 2D et 3D, quel que soit le nombre et le type de bonds (fixe-mobile ou mobile-mobile). Les resultats de simulations montrent un gain considerable en termes de l'erreur quadratique moyenne (MSE) de l'estimateur de canal bien regle, en particulier pour le scenario le plus courant de canal a evanouissements lents.
Association of PCSK1 and PPARG1 Allelic Variants with Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome in Mexican Adults

Metabolic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome, are among the most important public health challenges worldwide. Metabolic diseases are classified as multifactorial diseases in which genetic variants such as single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may play an important role. The present study aimed to identify associations linking allelic variants of the PCSK1, TMEM18, GPX5, ZPR1, ZBTB16, and PPARG1 genes with anthropometric and biochemical traits and metabolic diseases (obesity or metabolic syndrome) in an adult population from northwestern Mexico. Methods: Blood samples were collected from 523 subjects, including 247 with normal weight, 276 with obesity, and 147 with metabolic syndrome. Anthropometric and biochemical characteristics were recorded, and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped by real-time PCR. Results: PCSK1 was significantly (p < 0.05) associated with BMI, weight, and waist-to-hip ratio; TMEM18 was significantly associated with systolic blood pressure and triglyceride levels; GPX5 was significantly associated with HDL cholesterol levels. In addition, PCSK1 was associated with obesity (p = 1.0 × 10−4) and metabolic syndrome (p = 3.0 × 10−3), whereas PPARG1 was associated with obesity (p = 0.044). Conclusions: The associations found in this study, mainly between allelic variants of PCSK1 and metabolic traits, obesity, and metabolic syndrome, may represent a risk for developing metabolic diseases in adult subjects from northwestern Mexico.
A diagnostic test accuracy study investigating GP clinical impression and brief cognitive assessments for dementia in primary care, compared to specialised assessment

Background Many health systems are interested in increasing the number of uncomplicated and typical dementia diagnoses that are made in primary care, but the comparative accuracy of tests is unknown. Objective Calculate diagnostic accuracy of brief cognitive tests in primary care Design We did a diagnostic test accuracy study in general practice, in people over 70 years who had consulted their GP with cognitive symptoms but had no prior diagnosis of dementia. The reference standard was specialist assessment, adjudicated for difficult cases, according to ICD-10. We assessed 16 index tests at a research clinic, and additionally analysed referring GPs clinical judgement. Results 240 participants had a median age of 80 years, of whom 126 were men and 132 had dementia. Sensitivity of individual tests at the recommended thresholds ranged from 56% for GP judgement (specificity 89%) to 100% for MoCA (specificity 16%). Specificity of individual tests ranged from 4% for Sniffin’ sticks (sensitivity 100%) to 91% for TUG (sensitivity 23%). The 95% centile of test duration in people with dementia ranged from 3 minutes for 6CIT and TAC, to 16 minutes for MoCA. Combining tests with GP judgement increased test specificity and decreased sensitivity: e.g., MoCA with GP Judgement had specificity 87% and sensitivity 55%. Conclusions Using GP judgement to inform selection of tests was an efficient strategy. Using IQCODE in people who GPs judge as having dementia and 6CIT in people who GPs judge as having no dementia, would be a time-efficient and accurate diagnostic assessment.