Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lymphatic filariasis in Zambia: A scoping review protocol

Background Zambia is among the countries making major progress in limiting cases of the neglected tropical disease lymphatic filariasis on the path to reaching global elimination targets. For this trend to continue, it is essential for strategies and policies targeting the disease in Zambia to be based on the most recent and relevant literature. The scope of research on lymphatic filariasis in the Zambian context is currently poorly understood. Therefore, this study describes a scoping review protocol which will be used to analyze the body of literature on lymphatic filariasis in Zambia. Methods The scoping review protocol was developed following the PRISMA reporting guidelines for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) and the JBI Scoping Review Methodology Group’s guidance on conducting scoping reviews. In consultation with a research librarian, these guidelines will be applied to a literature search of articles from peer-reviewed journals, or government and international regulatory bodies using PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane CENTRAL, WHO ICTRP, Pan African Clinical Trials Registry, and ClinicalTrials.gov. Each record will be screened at the abstract and full-text level by two independent reviewers, and results reported via summary statistics. Discussion Understanding the current state of research on lymphatic filariasis in Zambia will identify major knowledge and intervention gaps in this context, and serve as a source of information for surrounding countries in the region. As the disease prevalence drops, efforts for elimination will require carefully targeted strategies which can be informed from the literature identified in this protocol.
Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) over mountainous region of Cameron Highlands- Batang Padang Catchment of Malaysia

The Cameron Highland Batang Padang (CHBP) catchment situated on the main mountain range of Peninsular Malaysia is of large economical importance where currently a series of three dams (Sultan Abu Bakar, Jor and Mahang) exist in the development of water resources and hydropower. The prediction of the design storm rainfall values for different return periods including PMP values can be useful to review the adequacy of the current spillway capacities of these dams. In this paper estimates of the design storm rainfalls for various return periods and also the PMP values for rainfall stations in the CHBP catchment have been computed for the three different durations of 1, 3 & 5 days. The maximum values for 1 day, 3 days and 5 days PMP values are found to be 730.08mm, 966.17mm and 969.0mm respectively at Station number 4513033 Gunung Brinchang. The PMP values obtained were compared with previous study results undertaken by NAHRIM. However, the highest ratio of 1 day, 3 day and 5 day PMP to highest observed rainfall are found to be 2.30, 1.94 and 1.82 respectively. This shows that the ratio tend to decrease as the duration increase. Finally, the temporal pattern for 1 day, 3day and 5 days have been developed based on observed extreme rainfall at station 4513033 Gunung Brinchang for the generation of Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) in dam break analysis.
Remobilization of Highly Crystalline Felsic Magma by Injection of Mafic Magma: Constraints from the Middle Sixth Century Eruption at Haruna Volcano, Honshu, Japan

The latest eruption of Haruna volcano at Futatsudake took place in the middle of the sixth century, starting with a Plinian fall, followed by pyroclastic flows, and ending with lava dome formation. Gray pumices found in the first Plinian phase (lower fall) and the dome lavas are the products of mixing between felsic (andesitic) magma having 50 vol. % phenocrysts and mafic magma.The mafic magma was aphyric in the initial phase, whereas it was relatively phyric during the final phase.The aphyric magma is chemically equivalent to the melt part of the phyric mafic magma and probably resulted from the separation of phenocrysts at their storage depth of � 15 km. The major part of the felsic magma erupted as white pumice, without mixing and heating prior to the eruption, after the mixed magma (gray pumice) and heated felsic magma (white pumice) of the lower fall deposit. Although the mafic magma was injected into the felsic magma reservoir (at � 7 km depth), part of the product (lower fall ejecta) preceded eruption of the felsic reservoir magma, as a consequence of upward dragging by the convecting reservoir of felsic magma. The mafic magma injection made the nearly rigid felsic magma erupt, letting low-viscosity mixed and heated magmas open the conduit and vent. Indeed the lower fall white pumices preserve a record of syneruptive slow ascent of magma to 2 km depth, probably associated with conduit formation.
Frictional behavior and constitutive modeling of simulated fault gouge

This paper presents an investigation of the factional properties and stability of frictional sliding for simulated fault gouge. In these experiments we sheared gouge layers (quartz sand) under saturated drained conditions and at constant normal stress (50–190 MPa) between either rough steel surfaces or Westerly granite surfaces in a triaxial apparatus. Surface roughness (60 to 320 grit) and gouge layer thickness (0–4.0 mm) were varied in the experiments with granite samples. Porosity ϕ was monitored continuously during shear. Our measurements indicate that granular gouge exhibits strain hardening and net compaction for shear strains γ less than 0.5–1.0. For γ > 0.5–1.0, sliding occurs at approximately constant shear stress and net compaction from one load/unload cycle to the next ceases. Dilatancy occurs at 1/3 to 1/2 the shear stress required for sliding and d2ϕ/dγ2 becomes negative at about the peak stress in a given loading cycle, indicating the onset of shear localization. Oblique shear bands appear in the layers at γ = 1.3–1.5. Experiments with an initial gouge layer exhibit velocity strengthening (the coefficient of friction increases with slip velocity), and initially bare granite surfaces exhibit velocity weakening. The magnitude of velocity strengthening varies inversely with normal stress and directly with gouge thickness and surface roughness. In the gouge experiments the dilatancy rate dϕ/dγ also varies with slip rate. Using a simple energy balance to relate volume change and frictional resistance, we find quantitative agreement between the measured change in dilatancy rate and friction following changes in slip rate. This indicates that velocity strengthening within granular gouge is the result of dilatancy. The slip rate dependence of dϕ/dγ increases with gouge thickness and surface roughness, in agreement with the friction data. Our data therefore suggest that slip within unconsolidated granular material, such as some natural fault gouges, is inherently stable. The results thus provide an explanation for (1) the tendency of gouge accumulation to stabilize slip in laboratory samples, and (2) the tendency for aseismic slip within shallow (< 3–5 km) unconsolidated fault gouge and within unconsolidated sediments such as shallow alluvium and accretionary prisms.
BCI-Utility Metric for Asynchronous P300 Brain-Computer Interface Systems

The Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) was envisioned as an assistive technology option for people with severe movement impairments. The traditional synchronous event-related potential (ERP) BCI design uses a fixed communication speed and is vulnerable to variations in attention. Recent ERP BCI designs have added asynchronous features, including abstention and dynamic stopping, but it remains a open question of how to evaluate asynchronous BCI performance. In this work, we build on the BCI-Utility metric to create the first evaluation metric with special consideration of the asynchronous features of self-paced BCIs. This metric considers accuracy as all of the following three – probability of a correct selection when a selection was intended, probability of making a selection when a selection was intended, and probability of an abstention when an abstention was intended. Further, it considers the average time required for a selection when using dynamic stopping and the proportion of intended selections versus abstentions. We establish the validity of the derived metric via extensive simulations, and illustrate and discuss its practical usage on real-world BCI data. We describe the relative contribution of different inputs with plots of BCI-Utility curves under different parameter settings. Generally, the BCI-Utility metric increases as any of the accuracy values increase and decreases as the expected time for an intended selection increases. Furthermore, in many situations, we find shortening the expected time of an intended selection is the most effective way to improve the BCI-Utility, which necessitates the advancement of asynchronous BCI systems capable of accurate abstention and dynamic stopping.
Controls of subsurface temperature variability in a western boundary upwelling system

The mechanisms controlling subsurface temperature variability on the outer shelf in a western boundary upwelling system are quantified using observations from a mooring deployed off Cabo Frio, Brazil. Results from a multiple linear regression analysis reveal that, in addition to low‐frequency variations associated with the seasonal evolution of temperature, the dominant mechanisms controlling temperature variability are wind stress curl–driven upwelling, cross‐isobath transport, the proximity of the Brazil Current to the shelf break, and perhaps changes in the strength of tidal mixing associated with the spring‐neap cycle. The influence of the proximity of the Brazil Current decreases strongly with depth, being restricted to the top 80 m. Regression coefficients indicate that the relative contributions from the different forcings are roughly similar and that no single process has a dominant role explaining temperature variability near the shelf break. These suggest that successful modeling efforts in the region must adequately represent each of those processes.
Fluorescein staining of chloroplast starch granules in living plants

Abstract Chloroplast starch granules (cpSGs) store energy harvested through photosynthesis in plants, and cpSG dynamics have important roles in plant energy metabolism and stress responses. To date, cpSGs have been visualized using several methods, such as iodine staining; however, no method can be used to specifically visualize cpSGs in living cells from various plant species. Here, we report a simple method to visualize cpSGs in living plant cells in various species by staining with fluorescein, a commonly used fluorescent dye. We show that fluorescein is taken up into chloroplasts and interacts with cpSGs similarly to iodine. Fluorescein also interacts with refined starch in vitro. Using a fluorescein derivative for ultrabright cpSG imaging, we produced high-quality 3D reconstructions of cpSGs and evaluated their accumulation in multiple plant species. As fluorescein is well known and readily purchasable, our fluorescein-based staining method should contribute to all research regarding starch.
Automated detection and classification for craters based on geometric matching

Crater detection and classification are critical elements for planetary mission preparations and landing site selection. This paper presents a methodology for the automated detection and matching of craters on images of planetary surface such as Moon, Mars and asteroids. For craters usually are bowl shaped depression, craters can be figured as circles or circular arc during landing phase. Based on the hypothesis that detected crater edges is related to craters in a template by translation, rotation and scaling, the proposed matching method use circles to fitting craters edge, and align circular arc edges from the image of the target body with circular features contained in a model. The approach includes edge detection, edge grouping, reference point detection and geometric circle model matching. Finally we simulate planetary surface to test the reasonableness and effectiveness of the proposed method.
Use of PD-1 blockade in refractory/relapsed natural killer T-cell lymphomas: a systematic review and synthesis of case reports

Abstract Natural killer/T-cell lymphoma (NK/T-cellL) is an aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma with limited treatment options for patients who experience disease progression or recurrence after second-line treatment. The use of new therapies, such as pembrolizumab, which involves immune checkpoint blockade mechanisms, is proposed. This systematic review followed the MOSE guidelines and searched PUBMED/MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Scopus databases. Fourteen articles were found, reporting on the use of pembrolizumab anti PD-1 in NK/T-cellL patients. The objective response rate was 84.50%, with disease-free survival ranging from two to 48 months. The complete response rate was 61.6%, and the quality of the reported studies was evaluated to be of high and moderate confidence bias levels in case reports and high bias in clinical trials. Pembrolizumab and others anti PD-1 are treatment options for refractory/recurrent NK/T-cellL, regardless of PD-L1 expression, with good short- and long-term results and low adverse events.
Synergistic correlation between host angiogenin and dengue virus replication

ABSTRACT DENV infection poses a major health concern globally and the pathophysiology relies heavily on host-cellular machinery. Although virus replication relies heavily on the host, the mechanistic details of DENV–host interaction is not fully characterized yet. Here, we are focusing on characterizing the mechanistic basis of virus-induced stress on the host cell. Specifically, we aim to characterize the role of the stress modulator ribonuclease Angiogenin during DENV infection. Our results suggested that the levels of Angiogenin are up-regulated in DENV-infected cells and the levels increase proportionately with DENV replication. Our efforts to knockdown Angiogenin using siRNA were unsuccessful in DENV-infected cells but not in mock-infected control. To further investigate the modulation between DENV replication and Angiogenin, we treated Huh7 cells with Ivermectin prior to DENV infection. Our results suggest a significant reduction in DENV replication specifically at the later stages as a consequence of Ivermectin treatment. Interestingly, Angiogenin levels were also found to be decreased proportionately. Our results suggest that Angiogenin modulation during DENV infection is important for DENV replication and pathogenesis.
Identification of formononetin as the active compound of CR‐SR in hepatocellular carcinoma treatment: An integrated approach combining network pharmacology and weighted gene co‐expression networks

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a life‐threatening disease for which there is no cure. Traditional Chinese medicine is a treasure trove of Medicinals that has been used for thousands of years. In China, the traditional herb pair, Curcumae Rhizoma and Sparganii Rhizoma (CR‐SR) represent a classic herbal combination used for the treatment of HCC. However, the drug targets and pharmacological mechanism of action of CR‐SR in the treatment of HCC are unclear. To address this, we screened the active components and drug targets of CR‐SR from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP) database and a high‐throughput experiment‐ and reference‐guided database of traditional Chinese medicines (HERB database). Combined with the weighted co‐expression network analysis of dataset GSE76427, we constructed an active component‐target‐disease regulatory network. It was found that CR‐SR's active components for HCC treatment included trans‐gondoic acid, beta‐sitosterol, stigmasterol, hederagenin, and formononetin. These compounds specifically targeted the genes Estrogen Receptor 1 (ESR1), Cyclin A2 (CCNA2), Checkpoint Kinase 1 (CHEK1), and Nuclear Receptor Coactivator 2 (NCOA2). ESR1, CCNA2, and CHEK1 genes showed significant differences in survival prognosis, expression levels, and statistical significance during the pathological stage. Moreover, their high affinity for formononetin was determined through molecular docking analysis. Cell assays and high‐throughput sequencing were performed to reveal that the inhibitory effect of formononetin on HepG2 cell proliferation was related to hepatocyte metabolism and cell cycle regulation‐related pathways. This study provides insights into potential HCC treatments.
Topography and penetration of the Greenland Ice Sheet measured with Airborne SAR Interferometry

A digital elevation model (DEM) of the Geikie ice cap in East Greenland has been generated from interferometric C‐band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data acquired with the airborne EMISAR system. GPS surveyed radar reflectors and an airborne laser altimeter supplemented the experiment. The accuracy of the SAR DEM is about 1.5m. The mean difference between the laser heights and the SAR heights changes from 0 m in the soaked zone to a maximum of 13 m in the percolation zone. This is explained by the fact that the snow in the soaked zone contains liquid water which attenuates the radar signals, while the transparency of the firn in the percolation zone makes volume scattering dominate at the higher elevations. For the first time, the effective penetration has been measured directly as the difference between the interferometric heights and reference heights obtained with GPS and laser altimetry.
Recognition and perception of emotions in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy

Perception and recognition of emotions are fundamental prerequisites of human life. Patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) may have emotional and behavioral impairments that might influence socially desirable interactions. We aimed to investigate perception and recognition of emotions in patients with JME by means of neuropsychological tests and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Endurance Exercise Performance Is Reduced after 6-h Dives at 1.35 ATA When Breathing 100% Oxygen Compared with Air

ABSTRACT Introduction Long-duration dives on consecutive days reduces muscular performance, potentially affecting military personnel. However, a paucity of data exists on how breathing gases affect endurance performance. This study examined the influence of long-duration diving with different breathing gases on aerobic endurance and handgrip performance. Methods Twenty-three military divers completed a single 6-h dive (single dive [SD]) and five 6-h dives over consecutive days (dive week [DW]) with 30-min cycling intervals using air (AIR, n = 13) or 100% oxygen (OXY, n = 10). Before and after SD and DW, subjects completed a maximum handgrip strength test, a handgrip endurance test at 40% maximal strength, and a time to exhaustion run. Results Handgrip endurance decreased after DW in OXY (SD, 1.9 ± 0.0 vs 1.4 ± 0.3 min) compared with AIR (1.8 ± 0.0 vs 1.8 ± 0.2 min) (P < 0.001). Run time decreased after SD (Pre, 20.7 ± 10.4 min; Post, 16.6 ± 7.6 min; P = 0.039) and DW (Pre, 21.6 ± 9.0 min; Post, 11.2 ± 4.0 min; P < 0.001) in OXY and after overall diving in AIR (Pre, 26.5 ± 10.2 min; Post, 22.3 ± 7.5 min; P = 0.025). V̇O2 decreased after diving only in AIR (Pre, 42.6 ± 3.4 mL·kg−1⋅min−1; Post, 40.4 ± 3.7 mL·kg−1⋅min−1; P = 0.010). There were no other significant effects. Conclusions Breathing 100% oxygen during long-duration dives on consecutive days may exacerbate decreases in aerobic endurance and impairs handgrip endurance compared with air. Additional research is needed to elucidate mechanisms of action and possible mitigation strategies.
Safety and accuracy of neonatal continuous glucose monitoring

Hypoglycemia is a significant problem for all neonates and requires minimally invasive and reliable monitoring. The primary objective of this study was to verify the safety and accuracy of the continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) of full‐term neonates using Freestyle Libre, a flash glucose monitoring (FGM) device.
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy impact on outcomes in immediate breast reconstruction with latissimus dorsi flap and silicone implant

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCH) has demonstrated efficacy in downsizing tumors and facilitating less extensive surgery. However, immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) after NCH has raised concerns regarding higher complication rates. This study evaluates the impact of NCH on outcomes following IBR with a latissimus dorsi flap and implant (LDI) after mastectomy.
Growth arrest specific protein 6 alleviated white matter injury after experimental ischemic stroke

Ischemic white matter injury leads to long-term neurological deficits and lacks effective medication. Growth arrest specific protein 6 (Gas6) clears myelin debris, which is hypothesized to promote white matter integrity in experimental stroke models. By the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) stroke model, we observed that Gas6 reduced infarcted volume and behavior deficits 4 weeks after MCAO. Compared with control mice, Gas6-treatment mice represented higher FA values in the ipsilateral external capsules by MRI DTI scan. The SMI32/MBP ratio of the ipsilateral cortex and striatum was profoundly alleviated by Gas6 administration. Gas6-treatment group manifested thicker myelin sheaths than the control group by electron microscopy. We observed that Gas6 mainly promoted OPC maturation, which was closely related to microglia. Mechanically, Gas6 accelerated microglia-mediated myelin debris clearance and cholesterol transport protein expression (abca1, abcg1, apoc1, apoe) in vivo and in vitro, accordingly less myelin debris and lipid deposited in Gas6 treated stroke mice. HX531 (RXR inhibitor) administration mitigated the functions of Gas6 in speeding up debris clearance and cholesterol transport protein expression. Generally, we concluded that Gas6 cleared myelin debris and promoted cholesterol transportation protein expression through activating RXR, which could be one critical mechanism contributing to white matter repair after stroke.
Kernel Reinforcement Learning-Assisted Adaptive Decoder Facilitates Stable and Continuous Brain Control Tasks

Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMIs) assist paralyzed people to brain control (BC) the neuro-prosthesis continuously moving in space. During the BC process, the subject imagines the movement of the real limb and adapts the brain activity according to the sensory feedback. The neural adaptation in the closed-loop control results in complex and changing brain signals. Simultaneously, the decoder interprets the time-varying functional mapping between neural activity and continuous trajectory. It is crucial and challenging to accurately and adaptively track the mapping to help the subject accomplish the BC task with a stable performance. Existing Kalman Filter (KF) based decoders achieve continuous trajectory control by linearly interpreting neural firing observations into self-evolving prosthetic states. However, the linear neural-state mapping might not accurately reflect the movement intention of the subject. In this paper, we propose a novel method that allows subjects to achieve continuous brain control efficiently and stably. The proposed method incorporates a kernel reinforcement learning method into a state-observation model to decode the nonlinearly neural observation into a continuous trajectory state. The state transition function ensures the continuity of the prosthetic state. The kernel reinforcement learning allows the quick adaptation of the nonlinear neural-movement mapping during the BC process. The proposed method is tested in an online brain control reaching task for rats. Compared with KF, our method achieved more successful trials, faster response time, shorter inter-trial time, and remained stable over days. These results demonstrate that the proposed method is an efficient tool to assist subjects in brain control tasks.