Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of blood pressure and blood glucose level among elderly with non-communicable disease

Due to increasing age, elderly are prone to non-communicable diseases (NCD), such as hypertension (HT) and diabetes mellitus (DM). Easy physical condition monitoring of people with HT and/or DM is by measuring their blood pressure (BP) and/or blood glucose level (BGL) periodically. This study aimed to compare and analyze the differences of BP and BGL among elderly with HT and/or DM in Bangkok and Surabaya. This cross-sectional study involved 100 and 96 elderly with HT and/or DM in communities of Bangkok and Surabaya respectively (n=196). There were three groups of samples which consisted of 60 DM, 68 HT, and 68 DM&HT cases. Instruments used were demography questionnaire, sphygmomanometer, and glucometer. Test of one-way ANOVA, Least Significant Difference (LSD), Kruskal-Wallis, and Mann-Whitney U were used for data analysis (α<.05). There was a significant difference of systolic and diastolic BP found between groups (p=.000 and p=.011 respectively), but no difference found between the groups of HT and DM&HT (p=.657 and p=.330 respectively). There was a significant difference of BGL found between groups (p=.002), but no difference found between the groups of HT and DM (p=.075) and between the groups of DM and DM&HT (p=.066). BP is significantly different between the group of HT and DM in term of systole and diastole, especially in elderly, but BGL is similar. The risk of being HT for elderly with DM is very high. Elderly with DM&HT have high BP and BGL similarly to those with single disease of HT or DM.
Enteropathogenic Yersinia spp. and Salmonella spp. in Swedish wild boars

Wild boars are reported as carriers of several zoonotic agents. The aims of this thesis was to investigate the presence of the foodborne enteropathogens Salmonella spp. , Yersinia (Y.) spp. and E. coli O157:H7 in Swedish wild boars, the influence of potential risk factors presumably associated with their occurrence, the presence of Yersinia spp. and Salmonella spp. in minced meat, and to establish a method for molecular epidemiological studies (MLVA). The thesis includes studies on lymphatic tissue and faeces from 178 wild boars and 32 samples of wild-boar minced meat. MLVA was evaluated on 254 isolates of Y. enterocolitica from several sources. Further, the wild boar populations were characterized with respect to four factors that possibly may be associated with the presence of enteropathogens in the wild boar. A PCR-based protocol for the detection of enteropathogenic Yersinia spp. and Salmonella spp. was developed and evaluated. The protocol offered the possibility to obtain molecular epidemiological data of Yersinia spp. by MLVA on enrichment broths. In total, 91 (51.1%) of the sampled wild boars carried the enteropathogens investigated and 46, 37 and 32 animals were PCR-positive for the presence of Y. enterocolitica, Y. pseudotuberculosis, and Salmonella spp. , respectively. The subsequent cultivation yielded a total of 28 isolates of Salmonella spp. , 10 isolates of Y. enterocolitica and 13 isolates of Y. pseudotuberculosis. None of the investigated risk factors were associated with the presence of these enteropathogens. However, a strong association between high levels of artificial feeding and high population densities was seen and the practice of leaving slaughter waste out in nature was found to be common among the hunters. In the new protocol, a positive selection for motile bacteria was used and seemed favourable in the detection of Y. enterocolitica and Salmonella spp. but not in the detection of Y. pseudotuberculosis. Further, MLVA performed directly on the enrichment broth seemed promising. MLVA on the isolates demonstrated a close resemblance between two human isolates and those obtained from domestic pigs whereas one rodent isolate was identical to that from pigs in the same farm. In conclusion, human enteropathogens are present in a majority of the Swedish wild boars which may be of concern for the public health. The findings warrants further surveillance on the enteropathogens present and the new protocol presented within this thesis may be useful to obtain molecular epidemiological data for future reference in e.g. outbreak investigations.
Driver Inattention During Vehicle Automation: How Does Driver Engagement Affect Resumption Of Control?

This driving simulator study, conducted as part of the EC-funded AdaptIVe project, investigated the effect of level of distraction during automation (Level 2 SAE) on drivers’ ability to assess automation uncertainty and react to a potential collision scenario. Drivers’ attention to the road was varied during automation in one of two driving screen manipulation conditions: occlusion by light fog and occlusion by heavy fog. Vehicle-based measures, drivers’ eye movements and response profiles to events after an automation uncertainty period were measured during a highly automated drive containing one of these manipulations, and compared to manual driving. In two of seven uncertainty events, a lead vehicle braked, causing a critical situation. Drivers' reactions to these critical events were compared in a between-subjects design, where the driving scene was manipulated for 1.5 minutes. Results showed that, during automation, drivers’ response profile to a potential collision scenario was less controlled and more aggressive immediately after the transition, compared to when they were in manual control. With respect to screen manipulation in particular, drivers in the heavy fog condition collided with the lead vehicle more often and also had a lower minimum headway compared to those in the light fog condition.
Genomic Instability in Kidney Cancer: Etiologies and Treatment Opportunities

Genomic instability is a hallmark of cancer, allowing for cancer initiation, proliferation, and progression through the accumulation of driver mutations. This instability seen in cancer arises due to a variety of factors in the cancer cell itself as well as in the cell’s environment, including endogenous and exogenous stressors leading to DNA damage in the setting of deficiency in DNA damage response (DDR). While genomic instability is beneficial to cancer cell growth and survival, it also creates targetable vulnerabilities in the cell. Kidney cancer displays low to moderate genomic instability, yet does not have frequent mutations in canonical DDR genes and is not typically responsive to DNA damaging therapies. In this review, the etiology of genomic instability in kidney cancer, with a primary focus on clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) histology, is discussed; and, pre-clinical data supporting the use of agents targeting DDR in ccRCC is summarized with associated progress towards clinical applications.
The Effect of Vitamin C Giving on the Degree of Leucocyte Infiltration and Edema Alveolar in Increasing the Level of Arterial Oxygen in White Rats (Rattus Norvegicus) Having Pulmonary Contusion

Lung contusion is the most common cases diagnosed at intrathoracic injury resulting from blunt trauma. Lung contusion usually caused excessive reactive oxygen species production, a condition that will trigger lipid peroxidase that will cause damage to the cell membrane and cell lysis. Vitamin C as an antioxidant will act as a ROS scavenger to prevent lipid peroxidase. The aim of this research is to examine the effectiveness of vitamin C to increase the level of arterial blood oxygen and explain its pathomechanism. The research used experimental method conducted in the white rats (Rattus norvegicus). Study groups were divided into three groups, i.e.control group (CG, n=9), Lung contusion (LC, n=9), and pulmonary contusion given vitamin C (VC, n=9). For the experimental group, thoracic blunt trauma model was made by dropping the cylindrical iron load with the weight of (0.25 kg) on stainless steel pipe of the right hemithorax from the height of 80 cm (E = 1.96 J). For the VC group, the vitamin C of 200 mg/kg was injected 15 minutes after the intraperitoneal trauma. For 24 hours after the treatment, the examination of the blood gas analysis and pulmonary biopsy was conducted to find out oxygenation status and histopathological examination.The result of the analysis indicates that the pulmonary contusion given vitamin C has better arterial PaO2 value than the pulmonary group without being given vitamin C (p = 0,019). This is caused by the decrease of leucocyte infiltration degree (p = 0.011) and alveolar oedema (p = 0,050). Vitamin C has influence as an antioxidant towards changes in leukocyte infiltration rate, alveolar edema, and blood artery oxygen level at Sprague Dawley white rat (Rattus norvegicus) suffered from lung contusion.
Aberrant MHC class II antigen presentation is linked to expansion of the activated T cell compartment in B-CLL

In patients with B-CLL, T cells show immune dysfunction towards malignant B cells which may contribute to the pathobiology of B-CLL. Oligo/monoclonal expansion of the CD4+ and CD8+ T cells point to an antigen-dependent mechanism. For this reason, we investigated MHC class II antigen presentation in B-CLL. B-CLL cells showed ubiquitous expression of MHC class II that did not vary from healthy controls. B-CLL cells however showed a disturbed expression of HLA-DM and HLA-DO, the editors of the MHC class II antigenic peptide repertoire. The perturbed DM/DO balance altered the peptide repertoire, as it was related to a reduced expression of the self-peptide CLIP at the plasma membrane. The T cell compartment in the B-CLL patients was significantly decreased in naïve CD4+ and CD8+ subsets in favor of increased effector populations. In addition, the activated T cell populations (HLA-DR+CD38+) were increased in both CD4+ and CD8+. The percentage of activated T cells correlated with the amount of CLIP expression. Thus, in B-CLL a relatively increase in HLA-DM and a concomitant change in the MHC class II peptide repertoire of the malignant B cells is related to ongoing T cell activation. Perturbed MHC class II antigen presentation in B-CLL may thus be a new factor in the immune dysfunction and pathobiology of B-CLL.
Trials Evaluating Ticagrelor in Cardiovascular Disease: Will It ReignSupreme in the Anti-Platelet World?

Ticagrelor and prasugrel are newer and stronger platelet P2Y12 receptor antagonists than their predecessor clopidogrel. Clopidogrel is a pro-drug requiring a 2-step hepatic activation processes. Speed of activation varies according to the cytochrome P-450 2C19 allele [1,2]. Ticagrelor is a direct non-thienopyridine P2Y12 antagonist producing equal or stronger inhibition of the P2Y12 receptor even when compared to the newer thienopyridine prasugrel [3].
Title Nonlinear backstepping design of robust adaptive modulation controller for TCSC

In this paper, a nonlinear robust adaptive modulation controller (RAMC) for thyristor controlled series capacitor (TCSC) in interconnected power systems is developed. The controller drives centers of inertial of different areas (COIs) to maintain synchronous operation based on the dynamic COI signals obtained from the wide area measurement system (WAMS). The overall system model is established using COI coordinates. The control law of the RAMC is then derived using the backstepping method, and not only is it adaptive to unknown parameters such as damping coefficients of generators, but also robust to uncertain disturbances and model errors. Computer simulation results illustrate that the proposed controllers can improve system dynamic more effectively when compared with conventional linear controllers.
Risk Disclosures, Governance and Ownership: Evidence from German Non-Listed Firms

This paper is the first to investigate risk disclosures by German non-listed firms in relation to key attributes of governance and ownership. Based on manual content analysis of risk disclosures by 100 firms in the manufacturing sector we employ univariate tests and multivariate regressions to examine the characteristics and determinants of risk disclosures, respectively. Results suggest that non-listed firms provide fewer risk disclosures but follow similar patterns in respect to the composition of risk disclosures as compared to prior evidence on German listed firms. Consistent with agency theory, the volume of risk disclosures is positively associated with the existence and size of a supervisory board and the use of a Big-4 auditor while negatively associated with concentrated ownership in subsidiaries or family firms. Our findings contribute to limited evidence on risk and discretionary disclosures by non-listed firms.
Title Random Forests for Global and Regional Crop Yield Predictions Permalink

Accurate predictions of crop yield are critical for developing effective agricultural and food policies at the regional and global scales. We evaluated a machine-learning method, Random Forests (RF), for its ability to predict crop yield responses to climate and biophysical variables at global and regional scales in wheat, maize, and potato in comparison with multiple linear regressions (MLR) serving as a benchmark. We used crop yield data from various sources and regions for model training and testing: 1) gridded global wheat grain yield, 2) maize grain yield from US counties over thirty years, and 3) potato tuber and maize silage yield from the northeastern seaboard region. RF was found highly capable of predicting crop yields and outperformed MLR benchmarks in all performance statistics that were compared. For example, the root mean square errors (RMSE) ranged between 6 and 14% of the average observed yield with RF models in all test cases whereas these values ranged from 14% to 49% for MLR models. Our results show that RF is an effective and versatile machine-learning method for crop yield predictions at regional and global scales for its high accuracy and precision, ease of use, and utility in data analysis. RF may result in a loss of accuracy when predicting the extreme ends or responses beyond the boundaries of the training data.
Blunts Endotoxin-Induced MuRF 1 and Atrogin-1 Upregulation in Skeletal Muscle by Modulating NF-κ B and Akt / FoxO 1 Pathway

Alpha melanocyte stimulating hormone (αMSH) has been shown to have anti-inflammatory and anticachectic actions. We hypothesized that αMSH administration could attenuate the effect of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on the skeletal muscle through modifications in IGF-Akt-FoxO1 pathway, or/and in serum corticosterone. Adult male Wistar rats were injected with LPS and/or αMSH. αMSH administration reduced LPS-induced increase in liver TNFα and serum nitrites as well as NF-κB activation in skeletal muscle. In contrast, αMSH was not able to prevent the stimulatory effect of LPS on serum concentration of ACTH and corticosterone. LPS decreased serum levels of IGF-I and IGFBP3 and their expression in the liver (P < 0.01). However IGFBP3 expression in the gastrocnemius was increased by LPS. Treatment with αMSH prevented the effects of LPS on IGFBP3 but not on IGF-I. In the gastrocnemius αMSH blocked LPS-induced decrease in pAkt as well as the increase in pNF-κB(p65), FoxO1, atrogin1, and MuRF1 levels. These results suggest that αMSH blunts skeletal muscle response to endotoxin by downregulating atrogenes and FoxO1 at least in part by controlling NF-κB activation and Akt signalling, but not through modifications in the secretion of corticosterone or IGF-I.
Does stress hyperglycemia affect mortality? Acute myocardial infarction – case control study

Introduction We aimed to investigate the effect of stress (acute) hyperglycemia in patients with acute coronary syndrome who had not been previously diagnosed with diabetes mellitus (DM) on the prognosis of the disease in terms of mortality. Material and methods Patients who were admitted to the Adana Numune Training and Research Hospital Emergency Service Clinic between August 2010 and August 2013 and whose plasma blood glucose level was over 140 mg/dl at the time of admission but were not previously diagnosed with DM, who were over the age of 18 and considered to have acute myocardial infarction were included. Results A total of 259 patients whose data were fully attainable were included in the study. 80.3% (n = 208) of the patients were male and 19.7% (n = 41) were female. Non-ST elevation myocardial infarction was found in 71.6%, ST elevation myocardial infarction was found in 28.4% of the patients with stress hyperglycemia. It was determined that 10.1% of patients with stress-related hyperglycemia and 1.3% of patients without stress-related hyperglycemia had died. Conclusions The plasma blood glucose level at presentation of patients diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction at the emergency room is associated with early in-hospital mortality.
Consumer Preference for Eggs from Enhanced Animal Welfare Production System: A Stated Choice Analysis

The first choice experiment investigated consumer preferences for different housing systems, while the second investigated consumer preferences for attributes of a housing system. Each choice experiment had two information treatments. In both treatments, a description of each housing system was provided, while in the second treatment, there was additional information regarding the consequences (in terms of effect on birds) of each housing systems based on scientific research. The results indicate that Canadian consumers are willing to pay a premium for eggs from free run and free range systems, but not for eggs from enriched cage systems. There are also positive marginal WTPs for cage-free, outdoor access, access to nests box, perches, scratching pads and more space. In both choice experiment, the WTP for enhanced animal welfare attributes are lower in treatment 2 (with additional information) than treatment 1. Consumer preference for outdoor access is quite consistent across two choice experiments.
Relationship between Investors Sentiment Index with Free Float Index in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE)

The process of being affected of the investors in decision making from their sentiment has been considered in many recent researches in the field of the financial assets pricing. Some authors suggest that shifts in investor sentiment may in some instances better explain short-term movement in asset prices than any other set of fundamental factors. The present study tries to investigate the relation between the investors sentiment index and Free Float index in Tehran Stock Exchange Market. This paper, an index was used in order to measure the available data on sentiment of the investors in facing the risks in a 142-month period (2001 – 2014) in Tehran Stock Exchange. The used index can reveal and present the situation of the Iranian capital Market in terms of the Investors Sentiments. The results obtained from the present study reveal a positive and significant relation between the investors’ sentiment Index of the Tehran Exchange Free Float Index (TEFIX); and also by using from Granger Causality Test, it was revealed that there is a mutual causality relation between the investors’ sentiment Index of the TEFIX.
Insectivorous bat assemblage in the hill dipterocarp forest of Temengor Forest Reserve, Peninsular Malaysia

Bat diversity in the hill forests of Peninsular Malaysia is often poorly studied due to reasons such as rough terrain and accessibility. Temengor is a 148 870 ha forest reserve that is well known for its rich biodiversity, but is constantly facing pressure from poaching, expansion of the timber industry and land development. In this study, we describe the insectivorous bat diversity of Temengor’s hill dipterocarp forest. We captured 20 insectivorous bat species, most of which were forest specialists and compared our results to a previous study done in the lower regions of the Temengor forest. The species composition clearly shows that while cavernicolous bats dominated the lower regions, the hill regions were dominated by tree/foliage roosting species. These distinct species communities suggest that the large area of continuous forest in Temengor should be a conservation priority.
Performance Analysis of Manufacturing Systems Using Deterministic and Stochastic Petri Nets

Most of manufacturing industries in our country practice the traditional production systems. Effective management of the steady state operation is no longer enough to ensure the survival,let alone the successof an organization. The performance of the operations has to be improved continually in all its aspects, and it is driven by the quest for increased productivity, flexibility and continuously changing competitive environment.The increasing global character of market for goods and services,is stimulated by the factors like improvements in transport, data communication systems, and primarily the automation of manufacturing operations. These features need for continuous performance analysis and improvement of manufacturing systems. Therefore, the key to stay at the apex of global competition is to meet the dynamically changing need of customers. Manufacturing systems performance analysis using Petri Nets(PN) is one of the promising tools employed for assessing. PN models are now common place within the sphere of performance modeling of manufacturing systems due to reasons like graphical and precise representation of system activities and models at various levels of detail and ability to capture the existence of concurrency,parallelism,resource constraints and process dependencies accurately. This paper, focuses on analyzing the performance of the manufacturing process of pars metal, one of the manufacturing industries in the country, using PN so as to evaluate various performance parameters such as utilization rate of machines, bottleneck detection, cycle time,and throughput rate of system under consideration and providing solutions and recommendations for the pitfalls and ramification for attaining the optimum productivity.
Winning Streaks in Sports and the Misperception of Momentum

There is an almost universal belief by athletes, sports fans and media observers that momentum is an important force in sports contests. Terms such as winning streaks, the hot hand in basketball shooting, and batting slumps in baseball are pan of the lexicon of sports and are examples of perceived momentum. Prior research has demonstrated that athletes perceive that momentum exists, but evidence of the effect of momentum on performance within individual athletic contests has proved elusive. This research extends that exploration by looking for momentum over a season. Actual winning and losing streaks for the 28 major league baseball teams and the 29 National Basketball Association teams were compared to streaks that would have occurred under the assumption that game outcome is independent of the outcome of the most recent previous games. The chi-square goodness-of-fit test showed a very close fit of actual streaks to expected streaks under the independence assumption, with none of the ten chi-square probabilities approaching the customary . 05 significance levet Also, the Wald-Wolfowitz runs test for randomness produced only Steam season observations out of 86 with significance levels =< . 05. The results suggest that sports participants and observers place an unjustified importance on momentum as a causal factor in outcomes of sport contests.