Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deep learning for knee osteoarthritis diagnosis and progression prediction from plain radiographs and clinical data

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common musculoskeletal disorder in the world, affecting hand, hip, and knee joints. At the final stage, OA leads to joint replacement, causing an immense burden at the individual and societal levels. Multiple risk factors that can lead to OA are known; however, the etiology of OA and the underlying mechanisms of OA progression are not currently known. OA is currently diagnosed by a clinical examination and, when necessary, confirmed by imaging – a radiographic evaluation. However, these conventional tools are not sensitive to detect the early stages of OA, which makes the development of preventive measures for further disease progression difficult. Therefore, there is a need for other methods that could allow for the early diagnosis of OA. As such, computer vision-based techniques provide quantitative biomarkers that allow for an automatic and systematic assessment of OA severity from images. In recent years, the rapid development of computer vision and machine learning methods have merged into a new field – deep learning (DL). DL allows for one to formulate the problems of computer vision and other fields in a machine learning fashion. In the medical field, DL has made a tremendous impact and allowed to approach for human-level decision-making accuracy in diagnostic and prognostic tasks compared with the traditional computer vision-based methods. The focus of this thesis is on the development of DL-based methods for fully automatic knee OA severity diagnosis and the prediction of its progression. Multiple new methods for localizing the region of interest, landmark localization, knee OA severity assessment, and OA progression prediction are proposed. The results exceeded the state-of-the-art or formed completely new benchmarks for the evaluation of diagnostic and predictive model performance in OA. The main conclusion is that DL yields excellent performance in the diagnostics of OA and in the prediction of its progression. All the source codes of all the developed methods and the annotations for some of the datasets have been made publicly available.
CDKs family -a glimpse into the past and present: from cell cycle control to current biological functions

Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are the catalytic subunits or protein kinases characterized by separate subunit “cyclin” that are essential for their enzymatic activity. CDKs play important roles in the control of cell cycle progression, cell division, neuronal function, epigenetic regulation, metabolism, stem cell renewal and transcription. However, they can accomplish some of these tasks independently, without binding with cyclin protein or kinase activity. Thus, so far, twenty different CDKs and cyclins have been reported in mammalian cells. The evolutionary expansion of the CDK family in mammals led to the division of CDKs into three cell-cycle-related subfamilies (Cdk1, Cdk4 and Cdk5) and five transcriptional subfamilies (Cdk7, Cdk8, Cdk9, Cdk11 and Cdk20). In this review, we summarizes that how CDKs are traditionally involve their latest revelations, their functional diversity beyond cell cycle regulation and their impact on development of disease in mammals.
Phenetic implications of structural features of the perennating phase in the life history of Porphyra and Bangia (Bangiophyceae, Rhodophyta)

Abstract A cytological survey of the vegetative cells of the microscopic and macroscopic phases of the life history of twenty species of the Bangiaceae in the Bangiophyceae has shown that these two stages differ in a number of structural characteristics. The microscopic conchocelis phase resembles Florideophyceae which may have three similar vegetative phases more closely than the macroscopic phase from which it arises. This indicates that the conchocelis may serve as a link between the two main groups of the red algae.
Correlation of vitamin D and Parathyroid hormone with insulin resistance in PCOS women

Objectives: To investigate the relation of 25, hydroxyvitamin D concentration and parathyroid hormone with insulin resistance in PCOS women. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 50 PCOS (Rotterdam’s criteria) women. Concentrations of 25, hydroxyvitamin D and PTH were measured along with serum levels of fasting sugar and insulin. The homeostasis model assessment index was used as the insulin resistance index. Results: Total prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (<20ng/ml) was found to be 84% while increased parathyroid hormone level was observed in 64%. There was significant negative correlation between vitamin D deficiency and HOMA-IR (r=-0.67, p<0.01). Positive association was found between increased PTH levels (normal levels: 13.938.3pg/ml) and HOMA-IR. Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency and high parathyroid levels are associated with glucose intolerance in PCOS women. Strong correlation between vitamin D deficiency and insulin resistance in PCOS women may suggest that normalization of vitamin D levels may correct insulin resistance.
N: 1110-5623 (Print) – 2090-0570 (Online) EFFECT OF ACUTE HEAT STRESS CONDITIONS ON EGG PRODUCTION, EGGSHELL QUALITY, INTESTINAL CALCIUM TRANSPORT AND CALBINDIN OF THE LAYING HENS

One hundred and fifty Hy-line layer hens, 40 weeks of age were used to study the impact of hot climate on egg production, eggshell quality, intestinal calcium transport and calcium binding protein concentration of the laying hen. Birds were randomly allocated to two experimental groups equally, the 1 group, that served as a control, was reared at room temperature under thermoneutral condition which ambient temperature was 25±1oC, while the second group was subjected to 40±1oC for 5 days (4 hrours daily). Egg production, eggshell quality, serum concentrations of calcium, phosphorous, thyroid, aldosterone and estrogen hormones as well as acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase activities were estimated. Calcium binding protein concentration and the transport of radioactive calcium (Ca) across the duodenal were also measured. The results indicated that egg weight, hen-day egg production and eggshell quality were inversely related to high temperature peroids. Serum calcium, calcium binding protein, phosphrous and alkaline phosphatase values were significantly lowered in heat stressed birds. The highest values for serum acid phosphatase and duodenal calcium transport were recorded for heat-treated hens at the 5th days of heat stress period. Thyroid and estrogen hormones unlike aldosterone hormone concentrations declined under hot climates. In conclusion, the present study recommends avoiding exposure to heat stress conditions because of its negative impact on the level of blood calcium and intestinal calbindin-D28k and the consequent decrease in the egg production rate and the deterioration of the eggshell quality
Governing Private Security Companies

This chapter retraces how states as governors have weighed and rebalanced the imperatives of competence and control in utilizing private military and security companies (PMSCs) as intermediaries. It argues that the complex and varying competence requirements of governors, derived from both their operational deficits and their legitimacy concerns, as well as changes in the salience of these requirements, have shaped the levels and modes of control imposed on PMSCs. Focusing on the United States, the chapter explains the shifting control mechanisms applied in different periods: 1) the 1990s and early 2000s, 2) the mid-2000s to early 2010s, and 3) the recent years until 2018. Competence–control theory contributes to a deeper understanding of states’ problem with controlling PMSCs. More generally, the chapter highlights that politics and power are key to grasping the evolution of control mechanisms in indirect forms of governance.
Comparative Performance of Different Grades of Crossbred Cows on Military Farms in India

Abstract The production, mortality, and culling records for 1934–1955 of 1,500 cows of different levels of crossbreeding from nine Indian military farms were studied. The breeds were Holstein-Friesian and Ayrshire. In production characteristics, half-breds and five-eighths excelled all other grades, and performance of the two did not differ materially. Their yields were 2,200–3,000 kg as compared to 1,650–1,900 kg of the Sahiwals. The average merit decreased as the foreign blood deviated from half or five-eighths on either side. Mortality among five-eighths and half-bred female calves was less than 5% vs. 17% in three-fourths and over 32% in other grades. In adult females it was 2% per year for half-breds and over 7% for others. Culling among females before calving was 4 and 32%, respectively, for half-breds and thirty-one by thirty-two's. Half-bred cows completed, on an average, eight lactations as against an over-all average of four for crossbreds and also for Sahiwals. The rate of abnormal calvings was 7% among half-breds, as compared to 13% for crossbreds and 8% for Sahiwals.
Experimental effects of water stress on semi-arid Karoo seedlings: implications for field seedling survivorship

Abstract Very little is known about seedling establishment in the semi-arid Karoo of southern Africa. In a greenhouse study, we investigated the responses of seedlings of three shrub species to water stress by withholding water at different stages of seedling development. Mortality of the two Asteraceous species, Pteronia pallens and Osteospermum sinuatum was more rapid where seedlings were provided with water for longer periods before being subjected to water stress. Hardened seedlings, exposed to water stress at an earlier stage, survived the longest. These seedlings were the smallest with respect to root and shoot mass. Seedlings of the leaf succulent Ruschia spinosa were extremely hardy and after 400 days without water, approximately 80% of the seedlings were still alive. The last P. pallens seedling died 160 days after water had been withheld. Osteospermum sinuatum seedlings were the least tolerant to water stress and 100% mortality occurred within 120 days. These results are discussed in terms of microhabitat preferences of the seedlings in field situations.
Bioeconomic Analysis of Improved Diets for Lobster, Panulirus ornatus, Culture in Vietnam

Culture-based growout of tropical spiny lobster, Panulirus ornatus, is a nascent and unique industry that faces a number of challenges and opportunities. Of particular interest to this study is the imminent development of pelleted diets for lobster (probably within 3 yr) that will potentially reduce the industry's dependence on bycatch for feed (with benefits to wild stocks of fish and reduced downstream environmental impacts). The aim of this paper is to conduct a bioeconomic analysis of lobster growout farming in Vietnam and analyze the cost-effectiveness of potential manufactured feed diets for these farms. Growout lobster farming is found to be a high-cost and high-return industry, with a benefit cost ratio of approximately 1.44. Approximately 60% of the total costs are feed related, with the quantity of feed being the production parameter with the highest variability. Hence, reducing the cost and increasing the efficiency of feeding will have a significant impact on the level and variability of profit. It is expected that manufactured diets will improve the profitability by approximately 267 million VND/yr for an individual farmer (15,000 USD) and approximately 435 billion VND/yr for the industry (24 million USD). This is expected to double again if the diets have the added benefit of reducing mortality through the inclusion of vitamins and other additives.
Adult sexual dynamics in persons with the history of sexual abuse

Sexuality is most natural and healthy when it is part of an emotionally genuine relationship, not even as its central part but rather as an upgrade of the intimacy of two people who are mutually loyal, committed, loving and respectful. However, if an individual was sexually abused in childhood, they may have suffered the severest consequences of sexual abuse trauma in the area of sexuality, and their experience of sexuality will be completely different from those who were not sexually abused. The article first describes what children learn about sex if they have been sexually abused, as this experience is very much related to the most common behaviours and experiences in adult sexuality. Then we present a theoretical overview of research on sexuality in adults who suffered childhood sexual abuse. The theory will be supplemented and supported by the statements of individuals who have been attending a therapeutic group for the sexually abused in childhood for two years. The statements quoted in the article refer to the period prior to the therapeutic process. Clinical experience shows that, until the victim has resolved the trauma of sexual abuse, the dynamics between the offender and the victim during childhood abuse is most often very similar to the dynamics of the abused with their partner, even in their sexual life.
An unusual spirometric shape that you must not forget

A 37-year-old woman, who is a mother of a 5-year-old girl, presented to our outpatient pulmonary clinic because of cough and yellowish expectorate for 20 days. She was a former smoker of 10 cigarettes a day for 20 years (10 pack-years) and worked as agricultural day labourer. Since the age of 25 years, the patient reported one or two episodes of lower respiratory tract infection (LTRI) during the winter months that resolved within a few days of antibiotic and mucolytic treatment. The persistence of cough and expectorate of the last LTRI let the general practitioner to seek a respiratory specialist respiratory consultation with spirometry.
INTERACTIONS BETWEEN DEVELOPING CITRUS FRUITS AND THEIR SUPPORTIVE VASCULAR SYSTEM

The developing fruit is a strong sink, which demands large amounts of assimilates. A correlation between grapefruit (Citrus Paradisi Macf., var. Marsh seedless) fruit size and its pedicel cross sectional area (CSA) can be demonstrated, suggesting a close interaction between them. The presence of fruits seems to determine the developmental pattern of the vascular tissues within the branches on which the fruits are borne. The pedicel normally terminates its diametric growth prior to the linear phase of fruit growth. Fruit thinning (90%) and trunk girdling, performed in order to minimize carbohydrate limitations, result in dramatic increases in fruit growth rate and pedicel CSA. Partial girdling of the pedicel causes a transient decrease in fruit growth. An increase in specific mass transport (SMT) through the existing vascular routes is the immediate response, due to the instantaneous upsurge of carbohydrate supply to individual fruit. Nevertheless, the rapid development of new vascular tissues has been the major factor responsible for the long term enhancement, or recovery, of fruit growth, suggesting that limitation in transport capacity does occur. The cause and effect relationships between fruit and vascular development are discussed.
Sustaining productivity of a Vertisol at Warra, Queensland, with fertilisers, no-tillage or legumes. 3. Effects of nitrate accumulated in fertilised soil on crop response and profitability

Unreliable rainfall during the crop growing season leads to a variable use of applied fertiliser nitrogen (N) by the crop, which may leave substantial fertiliser N residue in the soil. Residual effects of fertiliser N (0-150 kg/ha) applied to a succession of wheat crops over the period 1987-94 were studied in terms of increased crop returns ($A/ha) from fertiliser application and increased soil mineral N for the subsequent crop. In spite of the unreliability of wheat responses to applied N in this region, increases in financial returns over this sequence of crops suggest that a strategy of routine N application to wheat was highly profitable on this fertility-depleted soil. When increases in returns from 1 fertiliser application were summed over successive crops, financial returns generally increased with increasing rate of N applied up to the highest N rate (100 or 150 kg/ha). When N was applied to each successive crop, financial returns were similarly increased but applications >50 kg/ha were less profitable than rates 2t/ha) in 1989 and 1990. Consequently, low levels (46-63 kg/ha) of soil mineral N were apparently carried over for crops in 1989 and 1990 even where 75 kg N/ha was applied to the preceding crop. Subsequent recovery of financial losses, incurred in years of water deficit, made the routine application of 75 kg N/ha to fertility-depleted soils of this region profitable.
DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF DATA CLASSIFICATION WITH CONTROL OF SAFETY SCHEMES

— Effective and efficient safety of control system statistics, in terms of both operational difficulty and cost, involves that the types of data used in the system be recognized and classified according to their importance in operating the control system safety. Lastly, the practical execution particulars has defined that will run the level of safety stated by the security profile. The method it has presented in this research paper considers both the criticality of the statistics to the usual processes of the control system and exclusive features of a control system. The goal is a description of a practice for emerging an efficient, effective safety scheme for process control statistics. Our aim is to certify suitable levels of data safety while minimizing influence on the control system processes.
Underlying structures of risk response measures among small and medium contractors in South Africa

Although attention has been given to the measures used to respond to risk in the construction industry (CI), there is limited literature that scrutinizes underlying structures of risk response measures (RRMs) especially among small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study, therefore, presents findings from an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of RRMs. A positivist paradigm was adopted to collect empirical raw data from 181 conveniently sampled respondents in Gauteng, South Africa (SA), using a structured questionnaire. The results support the extant literature and empirically established the structural composition of risk response by two constructs. The construct with emerged measures was termed trailing measures while the one with popular measures was termed leading measures of risk response. However, the study yielded a two-factor model with all the six items supposed to measure risk response. Based on the results obtained, it seems that risk avoidance and risk mitigation are reliable measures for measuring risk response. This study could thus serve as a reference for the accurate measurement of risk response and for the development of agreed responses for each risk, including an appropriate strategy and specific responses to implement the chosen strategy. The study was limited to the CI and to a lesser extent, construction SMEs in Gauteng; hence the findings cannot be generalized to all SMEs in SA.
Assessing the effects of haematophagous ectoparasites on the health of nestling birds: haematocrit vs haemoglobin levels in House Wrens parasitized by blow fly larvae

We compared haematocrits and blood haemoglobin concentrations of nestling House Wrens Troglodytes aedon in nests with relatively large numbers of haematophagous larvae of the blow fly Protocalliphora parorum (>6.4 large larvae/nestling) and nests in which exposure to larvae was severely reduced or eliminated (0–2.0 larvae/nestling). Heavily parasitized nestlings showed no reduction in haematocrit levels but a significant 28% reduction in haemoglobin levels. Previous research on avian response to chronic blood loss suggests that parasitized nestlings may show normal volumes of red blood cells as a result of a rapid production of new cells in response to blood loss and, additionally, as a result of swelling of individual cells left in the bloodstream after parasite feeding. Rapid erythropoiesis places high numbers of haemoglobin-poor, immature cells into the bloodstream which would explain the reduced haemoglobin levels of parasitized nestlings. Our results refute the conclusion that larval feeding has “little direct effect” on nestling wrens in this parasite–host system, drawn earlier by Johnson and Albrecht (1993) based on examination of haematocrits alone. Our results also strongly suggest that researchers wanting to measure effects of blood-feeding parasites on birds measure haemoglobin levels, not haematocrits.
Loan Strategies to Small and Medium Size Enterprises: An Analysis of Determining Factors of “Subsidiary Banks” in the Cameroonian Context

This paper proposes to present an overview of determining factors of the granting of loan to Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMSE) by the subsidiaries of multinational banks in Cameroon. The analysis of the data collected following interviews with banking employees conducted in accordance with the method of thematic content analysis reveals that two categories of factors play a major role in the decision of the banker: parameters relating to the characteristics of the SMSE applying for a loan and elements specific to the context of study. The combination of these factors contributes to the reinforcement of the already transactional attitude of these subsidiary banks in the area of experimentation of the study.
Assessment of Two Trichogramma Species for the Control of Tuta absoluta in North African Tomato Greenhouses

In this study we compared the efficiency of two Trichogramma (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) species, the indigenous T. euproctidis Girault and the cosmopolitan T. achaeae Nagaraja & Nagarkatti, for the biological control of the tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). Three release doses (25, 50 and 75 parasitoids/m2) for each species were tested in a two-year experiment (growing seasons: 2011/2012 and 2012/2013), in protected tomato cultivations in Egypt. The results show that both Trichogramma species were significantly efficient, especially at higher doses, in keeping down T. absoluta mines during both experimentation years. Although no significant differences were found between the efficiency of the two species, the inclusion into Egyptian integrated and biological T. absoluta management programmes of the autochthonous species, T. euproctidis, might be preferred for its adaptation to Egyptian environmental conditions and for its expected lower non-target effect on the local fauna.
DESIGNING TECHNOLOGY-ASSISTED LESSON MATERIALS FOR ESP NURSING STUDENTS BY USING TPACK

Abstract. The main purposes of this research is to design technology-assisted lesson materials for nursing students by using TPACK. English for Specific Purposes (henceforth, ESP) for nursing students focuses on preparing students to use English in their academic field and support their professions in their future career as a nurse. Conducted in one of private health science schools in Yogyakarta, this research employed Research and Development (henceforth, RD this was revealed through the results of the needs analysis conducted at the beginning of the research. Secondly, the technological tools implemented by using TPACK framework seem to empower the students during the learning process; they got more confident in engaging the classroom activities and participated more actively in class. The results of this research will provide insight for ESP teachers in designing technology assisted lesson materials and instructional activities by using TPACK framework. Moreover, ESP teachers might consider to implement TPACK framework to build blended learning environment in facilitating student learning.