Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strategic Plan For Societal Peace And Development In Islam

One of the good things that distinguish the modern society from the primitive one is the ability to plan for the future. This affects all aspects of human life. In today’s world, man plans for everything- his family, his cities and even the future of the world. Hence, today, one hears of family planning, development plan and strategic plan. The planning is purposely meant to enhance qualitative standard of living for all by setting specific goals to be achieved possibly within specific periods as well as step by step means of achieving those goals. It is in that spirit that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) both of which aimed at an effective system of global mobilization to achieve a set of imperative social priorities worldwide within specific periods were developed. Islam, which claims to address all issues on the one hand and also, claims to be a natural religion that is in tandem with human nature on the other hand amazingly also has within its structure, a strategic plan for everything! In this paper, Islam’s strategic plan for societal peace and development is examined with a view to drawing the attention of the world to it for the benefit of the human race on the one hand and on the other, to showcase the beauty of Islam as a civilized religion that envisioned man needs for all ages.
Preclinical Neonatal Rat Studies of Heparin-Binding EGF-Like Growth Factor in Protection of the Intestines From Necrotizing Enterocolitis

We have previously demonstrated that enterally administered heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor (HB-EGF) produced in Escherichia coli decreases the incidence and severity of intestinal injury in a neonatal rat model of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). In preparation for upcoming human clinical trials, large-scale production of HB-EGF according to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) has been successfully accomplished using a Pichia pastoris yeast system. The current studies used a neonatal rat model of NEC to elucidate several important preclinical characteristics of HB-EGF therapy. We found that enteral administration of HB-EGF (800 μg/kg/dose) four times a day effectively reduced the incidence and severity of NEC, that Pichia-derived HB-EGF was not significantly different from E. coli-derived HB-EGF in preventing NEC, that EGF was not superior to HB-EGF in preventing NEC, and that prophylactic administration of HB-EGF added to formula starting with the first feed or 12 h later significantly reduced the incidence of NEC, with no change in the incidence of NEC noted if HB-EGF was added to the formula starting 24, 48, or 72 h after birth. Thus, large-scale production of GMP-grade HB-EGF in Pichia pastoris yeast produces a biologically active molecule suitable for human clinical trials.
Machine learning techniques for power transformer insulation diagnosis

Power transformers are one of the most critical equipments in electricity network. A number of techniques such as dissolved gas analysis (DGA), polarization and depolarization currents (PDC) measurement and frequency domain spectroscopy (FDS) have been adopted across utilities for transformer insulation diagnosis. However, there are still considerable challenges remaining in interpreting measured data of these techniques. This paper develops machine learning algorithms, which utilise archived data for making insulation diagnosis on the transformer of interest. Analysis and interpretation of field test data are presented in the paper.
Oral capecitabine compared with intravenous fluorouracil plus leucovorin in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer: results of a large phase III study.

PURPOSE To compare the efficacy and safety of orally administered capecitabine (Xeloda; Roche Laboratories, Inc, Nutley, NJ), a novel fluoropyrimidine carbamate designed to mimic continuous fluorouracil (5-FU) infusion but with preferential activation at the tumor site, with that of intravenous (IV) 5-FU plus leucovorin (5-FU/LV) as first-line treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS We prospectively randomized 602 patients to treatment with capecitabine 1,250 mg/m(2) administered twice daily days 1 to 14 every 3 weeks, or to the 4-weekly Mayo Clinic regimen (5-FU/LV) until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. RESULTS The primary objective, to demonstrate at least equivalent response rates in the two treatment groups, was met. The overall response rate was 18.9% for capecitabine and 15.0% for 5-FU/LV. In the capecitabine and 5-FU/LV groups, respectively, median time to disease progression was 5.2 and 4.7 months (log-rank P =.65); median time to treatment failure was 4.2 and 4.0 months (log-rank P =.89); and median overall survival was 13.2 and 12.1 months (log-rank P =.33). The toxicity profiles of both treatments were typical of fluoropyrimidines. However, capecitabine led to significantly lower incidences (P <.00001) of stomatitis and alopecia, but a higher incidence of cutaneous hand-foot syndrome (P <.00001). Capecitabine also resulted in lower incidences (P <.00001) of grade 3/4 stomatitis and neutropenia, leading to a lower incidence of grade 3/4 neutropenic fever and sepsis. Only grade 3 hand-foot syndrome (P <.00001) and uncomplicated grade 3/4 hyperbilirubinemia (P <.0001) were reported more frequently with capecitabine. CONCLUSION Oral capecitabine achieved an at least equivalent efficacy compared with IV 5-FU/LV. Capecitabine demonstrated clinically meaningful safety advantages and the convenience of an oral agent.
Effects of laver extracts on adhesion, invasion, and migration in SK-Hep1 human hepatoma cancer cells

The laver (Porphyra tenera), red seaweed, has been reported to have anticancer activity, but little is known about its molecular mechanisms of action. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of laver extract on cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and metastasis in SK-Hep1 cells using migration and invasion assays. We also investigated the relationship of MMP-2/-9 and TIMP-1/-2 expression at both the protein and gene level in SK-Hep1 human hepatoma carcinoma cells after laver extract treatment. Laver extract inhibited cancer cell growth in a dose-dependent manner. In an invasion assay conducted in Transwell chambers, laver extract showed 19.6 and 27.2% inhibition of cancer cell at 200 and 400 μg/mL, respectively, compared to the control. The mRNA levels of both MMP-2 and MMP-9 were down-regulated by laver extract treatment in a dose-dependent manner. Laver extract, at 400 μg/mL, was inhibited by MMP-2 and MMP-9 expressions by 70.1 and 77.0%, respectively. An inverse relationship in the mRNA contents of MMP-2/-9 and TIMP-1/-2 expressions in SK-Hep1 cells was found by laver extract treatment. Our results demonstrate antimetastatic properties of laver extract in inhibiting the adhesion, invasion, and migration of SK-Hep1 human hepatoma cancer cells. Graphical Abstract Representative photographs show the invading cells laver extract-treated and untreated SK-Human hepatoma cells.
Optimal phase shifted method to reduce current ripples for parallel grid-connected voltage source inverter under unequal DC-link voltages

This paper proposes optimal switching period phase-shifted method for slave inverter to reduce grid current ripples in synchronized two parallel three-phase grid-connected voltage-source inverters (VSI). In parallel operation, a 180 degree phase shifted method generally takes of advantage of reducing grid current ripples in same DC-link voltage for each grid-connected VSI. However, in case of unequal DC-link voltage, the grid current ripples have increased using a 180 degree phase shifted method because a dwelling time between two inverters is changed by the different modulation index (MI) of each inverter. To overcome these drawbacks, the proposed method applies the phase angle for reducing grid current ripples to the slave inverter through the calculation of dwelling time. Using the proposed method, it is possible to increase the quality of grid current without any additional device or re-designing of the filter. The performances of the proposed phase-shifted method are studied via PSIM simulation.
"Bilateral Intra-Industry Trade in Country Characteristics Context: The Case Study of Trade of Bosnia and Herzegovina with Croatia"

Abstract: The paper focuses primarily on intra-industry trade (IIT) which is researched in the context of country-specific characteristics. A three-decade-long academic research of IIT phenomena suggests that IIT is likely to be more intensive and mostly of horizontal type between countries that are at a similar stage of economic development, with the same level of trade openness and with intensive and significantly liberalized mutual trade. Geographical proximity of countries, especially their common border, as well as their similarities in some non-economic characteristics such as history, culture, language, also contribute to IIT intensity. Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH) and Croatia match most of these criteria for intensive and increasing IIT. The aim of the research is to check aforementioned thesis on IIT on a case study of BH in its trade with Croatia over the period from 2003 till 2016. Research is focused on IIT characteristics – intensity, trend and structure, both at aggregate level (based on calculating corrected and uncorrected Grubel-Lloyd indices) and at division level of Standard International Trade Classification – SITC (based on calculating standard Grubel-Lloyd index and relative unit values of export and import). The research findings indicate a continuously rising, although lower than expected, intensity of IIT, taking into account similarities between given countries in comparison with other important trading partners of BH and taking into account a high level of data aggregation. In BH trade with Croatia inter-industry trade still prevails while high intensive IIT appears in a very low number of product groups, coupled with the dominance of vertical IIT. However,at the same time a growing trend and a significant increase of IIT intensity in trade with Croatia have been identified.
Prostate biopsy: will transperineal replace transrectal?

Contemporary data concerning the outcomes of transrectal biopsy are available from 1000 participants in the ProtecT study [2]. Fever was reported in 18% of men, and 1.3% of men were admitted to hospital. A fifth of men stated that having a further biopsy would be a moderate or major problem, largely because of pain and infective complications – an important statistic in view of the quoted 38% rebiopsy rate within 5 years. A recent focus group at our unit highlighted patient concerns with the uncertainties associated with transrectal biopsy: a negative result is commonly misleading and the misclassification of low-risk disease may lead to the undertreatment of a third of men or overtreatment of the remainder [3].
Distributed Instrumentation and Geographic Information System for Dolphins' Environment Assessment

Dolphins' environment assessment is an activity able to contribute to the reduction of their mortality especially in regions with a reduced number of individuals such as on the Sado Estuary area. Optimized field distributed instrumentation for water quality parameter measurement and underwater acoustic sound measurement provides important data that can be used for advanced data analysis of dolphins' environment. The purpose of the paper is to report the work developed in the areas of distributed instrumentation and geographic information systems for dolphins' environment assessment. The architecture of the overall system is based on primary monitoring nodes with embedded servers that receive data from multi-parameter water quality sensing units, from a GPS unit and from a hydrophone. The received data is wireless transmitted to a PC based base unit where an advanced processing block and the geographic information system (GIS) are implemented assuring on-line environment assessment through dynamic web pages. GIS's database capabilities assure that postprocessing tasks such as dolphin's sound recognition or water quality data mapping can be easily implemented.
Predicting the severity of joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis; the contribution of genetic factors

Background The severity of radiologic progression is variable between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Recently, several genetic severity variants have been identified and were replicated, these belong to 12 loci. This study determined the contribution of the identified genetic factors to the explained variance in radiologic progression and whether genetic factors, in addition to traditional risk factors, improve the accuracy of predicting the severity of radiologic progression. Methods 426 early RA patients with yearly radiologic follow-up were studied. The main outcome measure was the progression in Sharp-van der Heijde score (SHS) over 6 years, assessed as continuous outcome or categorised in no/little, moderate or severe progression. Assessed were improved fit of a linear mixed model analysis on serial radiographs, R2 using linear regression analyses, C-statistic and the net proportion of patients that was additionally correctly classified when adding genetic risk factors to a model consisting of traditional risk factors. Results The genetic factors together explained 12–18%. When added to a model including traditional factors and treatment effects, the genetic factors additionally explained 3–7% of the variance (p value R2change=0.056). The percentage of patients that was correctly classified increased from 56% to 62%; the net proportion of correct reclassifications 6% (95% CI 3 to 10%). The C-statistic increased from 0.78 to 0.82. Sensitivity analyses using imputation of missing radiographs yielded comparable results. Conclusions Genetic risk factors together explained 12–18% of the variance in radiologic progression. Adding genetic factors improved the predictive accuracy, but 38% of the patients were still incorrectly classified, limiting the value for use in clinical practice.
Vertebrate host protective immunity drives genetic diversity and antigenic polymorphism in Schistosoma mansoni

Schistosomes are gonochoric blood parasites with a complex life cycle responsible for a disease of considerable medical and veterinary importance in tropical and subtropical regions. Understanding the evolution of schistosome genetic diversity is clearly of fundamental importance to interpreting schistosomiasis epidemiology and disease transmission patterns of this parasite. In this article, we investigated the putative role of the host immune system in the selection of male genetic diversity. We demonstrated the link between genetic dissimilarity and the protective effect among male worms. We then compared the proteomes of three male clones with different genotypes and differing by their capacity to protect against reinfection. The identified differences correspond mainly to antigens known or supposed to be involved in the induction of protective immunity. These results underline the role played by host immune system in the selection of schistosome genetic diversity that is linked to antigenic diversity. We discuss the evolutionary consequences in the context of schistosome infection.
Native language factors affecting use of vocalic cues to final consonant voicing in English.

Preceding vocalic information can cue final consonant voicing for native English speakers. This study examines subjects' use of two vocalic cues, vocalic duration, and F1 offset frequency, as a function of two native language factors, experience with final stop consonants, and experience with phonemic vowel length. Native speakers of English are compared to native speakers of Japanese and Mandarin Chinese who are learning English as a second language. Experiment 1 measured the F1 offset frequency and vocalic duration in productions of "pod" and "pot. " Experiment 2 assessed identification of natural tokens of "pod" and "pot" with and without closure segments and bursts. Experiment 3 assessed categorization of synthetic "pod"-"pot" stimuli that systematically manipulated vocalic duration and F1 offset frequency. Native speakers of English showed the strongest implementation of and sensitivity to vocalic duration, Mandarin speakers showed significantly weaker effects, and Japanese speakers fell in between. Group-related differences in use of F1 offset frequency were smaller, and much clearer in the case of production than perception. It is hypothesized that a lack of experience with final consonants penalizes use of vocalic cues among the Japanese and Mandarin subjects, in general. The advantage of the Japanese subjects for use of vocalic duration further suggests a facilitation effect of experience with phonemic vowel length.
Combined BRAF and MEK inhibition in melanoma with BRAF V600 mutations.

BACKGROUND Resistance to therapy with BRAF kinase inhibitors is associated with reactivation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. To address this problem, we conducted a phase 1 and 2 trial of combined treatment with dabrafenib, a selective BRAF inhibitor, and trametinib, a selective MAPK kinase (MEK) inhibitor. METHODS In this open-label study involving 247 patients with metastatic melanoma and BRAF V600 mutations, we evaluated the pharmacokinetic activity and safety of oral dabrafenib (75 or 150 mg twice daily) and trametinib (1, 1.5, or 2 mg daily) in 85 patients and then randomly assigned 162 patients to receive combination therapy with dabrafenib (150 mg) plus trametinib (1 or 2 mg) or dabrafenib monotherapy. The primary end points were the incidence of cutaneous squamous-cell carcinoma, survival free of melanoma progression, and response. Secondary end points were overall survival and pharmacokinetic activity. RESULTS Dose-limiting toxic effects were infrequently observed in patients receiving combination therapy with 150 mg of dabrafenib and 2 mg of trametinib (combination 150/2). Cutaneous squamous-cell carcinoma was seen in 7% of patients receiving combination 150/2 and in 19% receiving monotherapy (P=0.09), whereas pyrexia was more common in the combination 150/2 group than in the monotherapy group (71% vs. 26%). Median progression-free survival in the combination 150/2 group was 9.4 months, as compared with 5.8 months in the monotherapy group (hazard ratio for progression or death, 0.39; 95% confidence interval, 0.25 to 0.62; P<0.001). The rate of complete or partial response with combination 150/2 therapy was 76%, as compared with 54% with monotherapy (P=0.03). CONCLUSIONS Dabrafenib and trametinib were safely combined at full monotherapy doses. The rate of pyrexia was increased with combination therapy, whereas the rate of proliferative skin lesions was nonsignificantly reduced. Progression-free survival was significantly improved. (Funded by GlaxoSmithKline; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01072175.).
Immune response and epitope mapping of a candidate hiv‐1 p17 vaccine hgp30

A thirty amino acid synthetic peptide (HGP30) representing the conserved region of HIV‐1 p17 induced high titer antibodies to the native pl7 in rabbits. This immune sera neutralized HIV‐1 replication in cell culture and one of the high titer antisera also inhibited CD4‐dependent cell fusion. Pepscan analysis with overlapping nonapeptides derived from the sequence of HIV‐1 pl7 identified the sequence (KE) ALDKIEE (EQ) as the major antibody binding site. Sera of 9% of AIDS patients (7/76) and 18% of HIV‐1 seropositive healthy homosexuals (40/223) were positive for HGP30 antibodies. Decline in HIV‐1 pl7 antibodies has been shown to be related to disease progression in both children and adults, suggesting that HIV‐1 pl7 antibodies may be protective. Hence, a synthetic HIV‐1 pl7 peptide, representing the immunodominant epitope, could be useful as a candidate vaccine for immunization of HIV‐1 seronegative or seropositive healthy homosexuals.
The effects of slack resources on firm performance and innovation in the Korean pharmaceutical industry

ABSTRACT Organizational slack is intentionally held and managed by corporate firms today. However, there is no consensus on the effects of slack resources on organizations. Accordingly, this study examined the effects of organizational slack resources on firm performance of Korean pharmaceutical companies. Specifically, we classified slack resources into available slack, recoverable slack, and potential slack and verified the relationship between each slack and firm performance. For the empirical analysis, we used the six-year panel data of 53 listed pharmaceutical companies in Korea from 2010 to 2015 and used the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) regression model considering the issues of heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation in the panel data. The results indicated that recoverable slack had a negative effect on firm performance. The results also indicated that available slack and potential slack had inverted U-shaped relationships with firm performance. We discuss the implications of the study’s findings for the effects of slack resources on firm performance.
Major terpenoids from Telekia speciosa flowers and their cytotoxic activity in vitro

Abstract In addition to known constituents of Telekia speciosa, an acetone extract from ray florets of the plant yielded: 5,5ʹ-dibutoxy-2,2ʹ-bifuran (1), 5,5ʹ-diisobutoxy-2,2ʹ-bifuran (2), α-tocopherol (3), β-tocopherol (4), loliolide palmitate (5), a mixture of calenduladiol esters - 16β-hydroxylupeol-3-O-palmitate (7) and 16β-hydroxylupeol-3-O-myristate (8), 1-epiinuviscolide (12), inuviscolide (13), 3-epiisotelekin (16), 4α-hydroxy-9β,10β-epoxy-1β(H)-11(13)-guaien-8α,12-olide (17), 4α-hydroxy-1β(H)-9(10),11(13)-guaiadien-8α,12-olide (18), loliolide (19) and 4β,10β-dihydroxy-1α(H),5α(H)-11(13)-guaien-8α,12-olide (20). Calenduladiol esters and asperilin (14) were the major constituents of the extract. Their cytotoxic effect on human normal prostate epithelial cells (PNT-2), human prostate carcinoma cell lines, human skin fibroblasts (HSF) and human melanoma cell lines was examined in vitro. Triterpene esters showed no cytotoxicity against nearly all cell lines tested, except for Du145 prostate carcinoma cells (IC50 – 62.0 μΜ). Asperilin displayed activity against the cell lines under study, especially against three tested lines of melanomas (A375, IC50 – 17.6 μΜ, WM793, IC50 – 28.2 μΜ and Hs 294T, IC50 – 29.5 μΜ).