Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association between Urinary Aflatoxin (AFM1) and Dietary Intake among Adults in Hulu Langat District, Selangor, Malaysia

Aflatoxin is a food contaminant and its exposure through the diet is frequent and ubiquitous. A long-term dietary aflatoxin exposure has been linked to the development of liver cancer in populations with high prevalence of aflatoxin contamination in foods. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the association between urinary aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), a biomarker of aflatoxin exposure, with the dietary intake among adults in Hulu Langat district, Selangor, Malaysia. Certain food products have higher potential for aflatoxin contamination and these were listed in a Food Frequency Questionnaire, which was given to all study participants. This allowed us to record consumption rates for each food product listed. Concomitantly, urine samples were collected, from adults in selected areas in Hulu Langat district, for the measurement of AFM1 levels using an ELISA kit. Of the 444 urine samples collected and tested, 199 were positive for AFM1, with 37 of them exceeding the limit of detection (LOD) of 0.64 ng/mL. Cereal products showed the highest consumption level among all food groups, with an average intake of 512.54 g per day. Chi-square analysis showed that consumption of eggs (X2 = 4.77, p = 0.03) and dairy products (X2 = 19.36, p < 0.01) had significant associations with urinary AFM1 but both food groups were having a phi and Cramer’s V value that less than 0.3, which indicated that the association between these food groups’ consumption and AFM1 level in urine was weak.
Biochemical, hematological, and hormonal profile of rats orally administered methanol stem bark extract of Napoleona vogelii Hook and Planch (Lecythidaceae)

Abstract Napoleona vogelii is used in traditional medicine for the management of stomach aches, ulcer, and cancers. This study was conducted to investigate the subchronic toxicological effect of methanol stem bark extract of N. vogelii on biochemical, hematological, and hormonal profile of male and female rats. Forty rats of both sexes were randomly divided into four groups of 10 rats each and were administered 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg of the extract p.o. for 90 d. Ten milliliter per kilogram of distilled water p.o. was administered to control rats. On hematological assessment, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration was significantly (p < 0.01) increased at 400 mg/kg compared to control. Biochemical assessment showed a significant increase (p < 0.05) in levels of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase at 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively, compared to control. Hormonal assessment of male rats revealed a significantly (p < 0.0001) reduced level of testosterone at all treatment doses compared to control while estradiol was significantly (p < 0.05) reduced at 100 mg/kg, but significantly (p < 0.0001) increased at 200 and 400 mg/kg respectively compared to control in female rats. Findings from this study demonstrate that N. vogelli is relatively safe on oral acute exposure but may possess the potential to cause hepatic dysfunction and infertility in male rats by perturbations of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis while conversely enhancing fertility in female rats on subchronic administration.
Leptin induces oxidative stress in human endothelial cells

Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) express functional receptors to leptin, the product of the ob gene. As human obesity is associated with atherosclerosis and hyperleptinemia, we investigated whether leptin, in addition to its angiogenic properties, exerts atherogenic effects through the generation of oxidative stress in endothelial cells. In HUVEC leptin increased the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), as assessed by the oxidation of 2′,7′‐ dichlorodihydrofluorescein, in a time‐ and concentration‐dependent manner. In addition, leptin activated the NH2‐terminal c‐Jun kinase/stress‐activated protein kinase pathway as demonstrated by enhanced JNK activity and AP‐1 DNA binding. Both effects were sensitive to antioxidant treatment with N‐acetylcysteine. NF‐κB, another redox‐sensitive transcription factor, was also activated by leptin stimulation in an oxidant‐dependent manner. Finally, activation of both AP‐1 and NF‐κB was associated with an enhanced expression of the monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1 in HUVEC. These findings demonstrate that ROS are second messengers involved in leptin‐induced signaling in endothelial cells. Thus, chronic oxidative stress in endothelial cells under hyperleptinemia may activate atherogenic processes and contribute to the development of vascular pathology. —Bouloumié, A. , Marumo, T. , Lafontan, M. , Busse, R. Leptin induces oxidative stress in human endothelial cells. FASEB J. 13, 1231–1238 (1999)
Changing the Game of Software Security

For a large part of the world population, software increasingly touches all aspects of life. Clearly there are societal and business benefits to be gained, but the pervasiveness of software also presents unprecedented risk. The lack of capable people to either analyze existing or safely create new software paired with the sheer volume and accelerating pace of software development lends to automated approaches to address this risk. The Cyber Grand Challenge presented an opportunity to advance the state of the art and science in autonomous reasoning in software security. The culmination of this contest presented seven fully autonomous systems vying against each other hacking and defending previously unseen computer software, ultimately making sense of zero-day attacks, entirely without any human assistance. This collection of works presents many aspects of autonomous software security from differing perspectives. The authors detail solution approaches as well as evidence of the challenges that remain. As with many aspects of computing, while much has been accomplished software security, much work remains.
Healing of Osteochondral Defects Implanted with Biomimetic Scaffolds of Poly(ε-Caprolactone)/Hydroxyapatite and Glycidyl-Methacrylate-Modified Hyaluronic Acid in a Minipig

Articular cartilage is a structure lack of vascular distribution. Once the cartilage is injured or diseased, it is unable to regenerate by itself. Surgical treatments do not effectively heal defects in articular cartilage. Tissue engineering is the most potential solution to this problem. In this study, methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(ε-caprolactone) (mPEG-PCL) and hydroxyapatite at a weight ratio of 2:1 were mixed via fused deposition modeling (FDM) layer by layer to form a solid scaffold. The scaffolds were further infiltrated with glycidyl methacrylate hyaluronic acid loading with 10 ng/mL of Transforming Growth Factor-β1 and photo cross-linked on top of the scaffolds. An in vivo test was performed on the knees of Lanyu miniature pigs for a period of 12 months. The healing process of the osteochondral defects was followed by computer tomography (CT). The defect was fully covered with regenerated tissues in the control pig, while different tissues were grown in the defect of knee of the experimental pig. In the gross anatomy of the cross section, the scaffold remained in the subchondral location, while surface cartilage was regenerated. The cross section of the knees of both the control and experimental pigs were subjected to hematoxylin and eosin staining. The cartilage of the knee in the experimental pig was partially matured, e.g., few chondrocyte cells were enclosed in the lacunae. In the knee of the control pig, the defect was fully grown with fibrocartilage. In another in vivo experiment in a rabbit and a pig, the composite of the TGF-β1-loaded hydrogel and scaffolds was found to regenerate hyaline cartilage. However, scaffolds that remain in the subchondral lesion potentially delay the healing process. Therefore, the structural design of the scaffold should be reconsidered to match the regeneration process of both cartilage and subchondral bone.
Optimization of Message Encryption for Real-Time Applications in Embedded Systems

Today, security can no longer be treated as a secondary issue in embedded and cyber-physical systems. Therefore, one of the main challenges in these domains is the design of secure embedded systems under stringent resource constraints and real-time requirements. However, there exists an inherent trade-off between the security protection provided and the amount of resources allocated for this purpose. That is, the more the amount of resources used for security, the higher the security, but the fewer the number of applications which can be run on the platform and meet their timing requirements. This trade-off is of high importance since embedded systems are often highly resource constrained. In this paper, we propose an efficient solution to maximize confidentiality, while also guaranteeing the timing requirements of real-time applications on shared platforms.
Potential Drug-Drug Interactions among Patients prescriptions collected from Medicine Out-patient Setting

Objective: To identify and evaluate the frequency, severity, mechanism and common pairs of drug-drug interactions (DDIs) in prescriptions by consultants in medicine outpatient department. Methods: This cross sectional descriptive study was done by Pharmacology department of Bahria University Medical & Dental College (BUMDC) in medicine outpatient department (OPD) of a private hospital in Karachi from December 2015 to January 2016. A total of 220 prescriptions written by consultants were collected. Medications given with patient's diagnosis were recorded. Drugs were analyzed for interactions by utilizing Medscape drug interaction checker, drugs.com checker and stockley`s drug interactions index. Two hundred eleven prescriptions were selected while remaining were excluded from the study because of unavailability of the prescribed drugs in the drug interaction checkers. Results: In 211 prescriptions, two common diagnoses were diabetes mellitus (28.43%) and hypertension (27.96%). A total of 978 medications were given. Mean number of medications per prescription was 4.6. A total of 369 drug-drug interactions were identified in 211 prescriptions (175%). They were serious 4.33%, significant 66.12% and minor 29.53%. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions were 37.94% and 51.21% respectively while 10.84% had unknown mechanism. Number wise common pairs of DDIs were Omeprazole-Losartan (S), Gabapentine- Acetaminophen (M), Losartan-Diclofenac (S). Conclusion: The frequency of DDIs is found to be too high in prescriptions of consultants from medicine OPD of a private hospital in Karachi. Significant drug-drug interactions were more and mostly caused by Pharmacodynamic mechanism. Number wise evaluation showed three common pairs of drugs involved in interactions.
Development of Accurate BSIM4 Noise Parameters for CMOS 0.13-µm Transistors in Below 3-GHz LNA Application

Accurate transistor thermal noise model is crucial in IC design as it allows accurate selection of transistors for specific frequency application. The accuracy of the model is represented by the similarity between the simulated and the measured noise parameters (NPs). This work was based on a problem faced by a foundry concerning the dissimilarities between the measured and simulated NPs, especially minimum noise figure (NFmin) for frequencies below 3 GHz.
A Services Routing Based Caching Scheme for Cloud Assisted CRNs

With the emergence of Internet of Things, the number of connected devices has been dramatically increasing, causing severe spectrum shortage problem. To fully explore the spectrum resources, big data, and cloud computing can be employed by cognitive radio networks, to make efficient use of various sensing results from different sensing sources. However, the massive growth of sensing data brings tremendous load pressure on the data center, resulting in long service response time and poor Quality of Experience. Edge computing and fog computing deal with these issues by placing computation resources at the network edge. However, compared with the data center, the capabilities at edge servers are limited. Therefore, a services routing-based caching scheme (SRCS) is proposed, which can greatly lighten the load on the data center and maintain the advantages of global intelligent computing of traditional cloud computing. Specifically, SRCS first introduces the concept of transmitting service flow. At the edge layer, data are converted to service flow by network hardware and software, thus achieving the network architecture centered on service computing. Then, SRCS proposes a service routing based on service similarity, transmits similar services through the same path, and service data are fused on the path to minimize transmission load. Moreover, SRCS caches services in content routers (CRs). When the service is requested again, CRs are used as service providers to return data, thus achieving the nearest access to the content. Both theoretical analysis and experiment results demonstrate that comparing existing schemes, SRCS improves service response time by 13.67%–51.15%, reduces transmitting data amount by 23.62%–30.3%, and makes energy consumption more balanced.
Flexible diodes for radio frequency (RF) electronics: a materials perspective

Over the last decade, there has been increasing interest in transferring the research advances in radiofrequency (RF) rectifiers, the quintessential element of the chip in the RF identification (RFID) tags, obtained on rigid substrates onto plastic (flexible) substrates. The growing demand for flexible RFID tags, wireless communications applications and wireless energy harvesting systems that can be produced at a low-cost is a key driver for this technology push. In this topical review, we summarise recent progress and status of flexible RF diodes and rectifying circuits, with specific focus on materials and device processing aspects. To this end, different families of materials (e.g. flexible silicon, metal oxides, organic and carbon nanomaterials), manufacturing processes (e.g. vacuum and solution processing) and device architectures (diodes and transistors) are compared. Although emphasis is placed on performance, functionality, mechanical flexibility and operating stability, the various bottlenecks associated with each technology are also addressed. Finally, we present our outlook on the commercialisation potential and on the positioning of each material class in the RF electronics landscape based on the findings summarised herein. It is beyond doubt that the field of flexible high and ultra-high frequency rectifiers and electronics as a whole will continue to be an active area of research over the coming years.
Design of a Temperature-Aware Low-Voltage SRAM With Self-Adjustable Sensing Margin Enhancement for High-Temperature Applications up to 300 °C

This paper presents an 8-Kbit low-power SRAM for high-temperature (up to 300°C) applications. For reliable low-voltage operation, we employed a decoupled 8T SRAM cell structure. To minimize the performance variations caused by the wide operating temperate range, supply voltage was selected in the near-threshold region. A temperature-aware bitline sensing margin enhancement technique is proposed to mitigate the impact of significantly increased bitline leakage on bitline swing and sensing window. A temperature-tracking control circuit generates bias voltage for optimal pull-up current for realizing the proposed enhancement technique. Test chips were fabricated in a commercial 5 V, 1.0 μm SOI technology. Test chip measurement demonstrates successful operation down to 2 V at 300°C. The average energy of 0.94 pJ was achieved at 2 V and 300°C.
In Vivo Imaging of the Retina, Choroid, and Optic Nerve Head in Guinea Pigs

ABSTRACT Purpose: Guinea pigs are increasingly being used as a model of myopia, and may also represent a novel model of glaucoma. Here, optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging was performed in guinea pigs. In vivo measurements of retinal, choroidal, and optic nerve head parameters were compared with histology, and repeatability and interocular variations were assessed. Methods: OCT imaging and histology were performed on adult guinea pigs (n = 9). Using a custom program in MATLAB, total retina, ganglion cell/nerve fiber layer (GC/NFL), outer retina, and choroid thicknesses were determined. Additionally, Bruch’s membrane opening (BMO) area and diameter, and minimum rim width were calculated. Intraobserver, interocular, and intersession coefficients of variation (CV) and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were assessed. Results: Retina, GC/NFL, outer retina and choroid thicknesses from in vivo OCT imaging were 147.7 ± 5.8 μm, 59.2 ± 4.5 μm, 72.4 ± 2.4 μm, and 64.8 ± 11.6 μm, respectively. Interocular CV ranged from 1.8% to 11% (paired t-test, p = 0.16 to 0.81), and intersession CV ranged from 1.1% to 5.6% (p = 0.12 to 0.82), with the choroid showing the greatest variability. BMO area was 0.192 ± 0.023 mm2, and diameter was 493.79 ± 31.89 μm, with intersession CV of 3.3% and 1.7%, respectively. Hyper reflective retinal layers in OCT correlated with plexiform and RPE layers in histology. Conclusion: In vivo OCT imaging and quantification of guinea pig retina and optic nerve head parameters were repeatable and similar between eyes of the same animal. In vivo visibility of retinal cell layers correlated well with histological images. Abbreviations: optic nerve head (ONH), retinal ganglion cell (RGC), spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), enhanced depth imaging (EDI), minimum rim width (MRW), hematoxylin and eosin (H & E)
Visual Analysis of Complex Networks for Business Intelligence with Gephi

Platforms which combine data mining algorithms and interactive visualizations play a key role in the discovery process from complex networks data, e.g. Web and Online Social Networks data. Here we illustrate the use of Gephi, an open source software for networks visual exploration, for the visual analysis of Business Intelligence data modeled as complex networks.
Deep learning based atrial fibrillation detection using wearable photoplethysmography sensor

Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) is one of the most common cardia arrhythmia and can potentially progress to serious illness. Early detection and prevention of AFib can bring huge benefits to AFib affected population. With the gain in popularity of wearable devices such as smartwatches, it is possible to utilize the devices build-in photo-plethysmography (PPG) sensor and computational power to provide a portable, non-intrusive and low-cost solution for AFib monitoring and detection to general population. However, utilizing signal data collected from wearable device is challenging due to various types of noise affecting the signal quality. We cope with this challenge by proposing an end-to-end deep learning AFib detection system that can filter out poor quality signals and make reliable predictions. Our models achieves over 95% AUC in quality assessment task and over 99% AUC in AFib detection task while having a reasonable size.
Dose-Dependent New Bone Formation by Extracorporeal Shock Wave Application on the Intact Femur of Rabbits

Background: Whereas various molecular working mechanisms of shock waves have been demonstrated, no study has assessed in detail the influence of varying energy flux densities (EFD) on new bone formation in vivo. Methods: Thirty Chinchilla bastard rabbits were randomly assigned to 5 groups (EFD 0.0, 0.35, 0.5, 0.9 and 1.2 mJ/mm2) and treated with extracorporeal shock waves at the distal femoral region (1,500 pulses; 1 Hz frequency). To investigate new bone formation, animals were injected with oxytetracycline at days 5–9 after shock wave application and sacrificed on day 10. Histological sections of all animals were examined using broad-band epifluorescent illumination, contact microradiography and Giemsa-Eosin staining. Results: Application of shock waves induced new bone formation beginning with 0.5 mJ/mm2 EFD and increasing with 0.9 mJ/mm2 and 1.2 mJ/mm2. The latter EFD resulted in new bone formation also on the dorsal cortical bone; cortical fractures and periosteal detachment also occurred. Conclusion: Here, for the first time, a threshold level is presented for new bone formation after applying shock waves to intact bone in vivo. The findings of this study are of considerable significance for preventing unwanted side effects in new approaches in the clinical application of shock waves.
Bilateral Teleoperation of Multiple Robots Under Scheduling Communication

In this paper, bilateral teleoperation of multiple slaves coupled to a single master under scheduling communication is investigated. The sampled-data transmission between the master and the multiple slaves is fulfilled over a delayed communication network, and at each sampling instant, only one slave is allowed to transmit its current information to the master side according to some scheduling protocols. To achieve the master–slave synchronization, round-robin (RR) scheduling protocol and try-once-discard (TOD) scheduling protocol are employed, respectively. By designing a scheduling-communication-based controller, some sufficient stability criteria related to the controller gain matrices, sampling intervals, and communication delays are obtained for the closed-loop teleoperation system under the RR and TOD scheduling protocols, respectively. Finally, simulation studies are given to validate the effectiveness of the proposed results.
Phrase Translation Probabilities with ITG Priors and Smoothing as Learning Objective

The conditional phrase translation probabilities constitute the principal components of phrase-based machine translation systems. These probabilities are estimated using a heuristic method that does not seem to optimize any reasonable objective function of the word-aligned, parallel training corpus. Earlier efforts on devising a better understood estimator either do not scale to reasonably sized training data, or lead to deteriorating performance. In this paper we explore a new approach based on three ingredients (1) A generative model with a prior over latent segmentations derived from Inversion Transduction Grammar (ITG), (2) A phrase table containing all phrase pairs without length limit, and (3) Smoothing as learning objective using a novel Maximum-A-Posteriori version of Deleted Estimation working with Expectation-Maximization. Where others conclude that latent segmentations lead to overfitting and deteriorating performance, we show here that these three ingredients give performance equivalent to the heuristic method on reasonably sized training data.
Urban optical wireless communication networks: the main challenges and possible solutions

Urban optical wireless communication (UOWC) is rapidly gaining popularity as an effective means of transferring data at high rates over short distances. The UOWC terminal includes an optical transmitter and a receiver positioned, for example, on high-rise buildings separated by several hundred meters. Light beams propagating through the atmosphere carry the information from the transmitter to the receiver. UOWC boasts many advantages over its rivals. Notably, UOWC facilitates rapidly deployable, lightweight, high-capacity communication without licensing fees and tariffs. However, UOWC still faces many challenges, including how to improve communication performance in adverse weather conditions or during building sway. We present and evaluate some of the exciting new research approaches that have been suggested to deal with these issues, including optimization of telescope gain, new technologies for pointing systems, and solutions at the network level.