Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Robust and Auditable Data Access Control using CP-ABE for Multiple Attribute Authorities Cloud Storage System

Data access control is a challenging issue in public cloud storage systems. Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE) has been maintain as a assuring technique to provide flexible, fine-grained and secure data access control for cloud storage with honest-but-interested cloud servers. However, in the existing CP-ABE schemes, the single attribute authority must execute the time-consuming user authority verification and secret key sharing, and hence it results in single-point performance congestion when a CP-ABE scheme is maintain in large-scale cloud storage system. Users may be fastening in the waiting queue for a long period to obtain their secret keys, thereby resulting in low-efficiency of the system. Although multi-authority access control schemes have been proposed, these schemes still cannot overcome the drawbacks of single-point congestion and low efficiency, due to the fact that each of the authorities still indivally manages a disjoint attribute set.In this project, I proposed a novel heterogeneous framework to remove the problem of single-point performance congestion and provide a more efficient access control scheme with an auditing mechanism.
Storage and remobilization of water-soluble carbohydrates in stems of spring wheat

Grain yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) depends, in part, on carbohydrate reserves available in the stem. This study was conducted to determine the effects of water deficit during the post-jointing period on quantitative changes in water soluble carbohydrates (WSC; including simple sugars, starch, and fructans) in the stems of spring wheat. Cultivars Edwall and Waverly were planted in 1983 and 1984 at Spillman Agronomy Farm near Pullman, WA, at rates of 94 and 168 kg per ha in rows 30 and 15 cm apart, respectively, in both irrigated and nonirrigated treatments. Beginning at jointing, plants were harvested weekly. Stem material was dried, milled, digested with amyloglucosidase, and analyzed for WSC by iodometric titration. Results were similar for both varieties and both years. Anthesis and peak stem carbohydrate concentration occurred 4 to 7 d earlier in nonirrigated than irrigated plants; and physiological maturity of the grain occurred 6 to 14 days earlier. The concentration of WSC in stems increased to between 250 and 380 mg per g dry wt. at approximately equal to 10 to 14 d after anthesis and then declined to less than 50 mg per g dry wt. by physiological maturity of the grain. From the time of peak WSC content until physiological maturity in 1984, 959 to 1235 mg WSC were lost from the stems of irrigated plants but only 619 to 662 mg WSC were lost from stems of nonirrigated plants. The data indicate that stems are an important temporary storage site for reserve carbohydrates in both irrigated and nonirrigated plants.
Angiographic Applications for Modern Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

This thesis sought to explore contemporary applications of invasive coronary angiography in the era of advanced percutaneous coronary intervention. Firstly, it describes the development and validation of dedicated bifurcation quantitative coronary angiography algorithms, in order to facilitate their analysis in a harmonized, reliable and reproducible manner. Then it presents the use of bifurcation quantitative coronary angiography algorithms in clinical studies, in the context of large registries and randomized trials, and discusses the clinical relevance of angiographic measures. Finally, it explores the prognostic value of angiographic scoring systems such as the SYNTAX score, and derivative scores such as the Clinical SYNTAX score and the coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) SYNTAX score.
Evaluation of Dynamic Analysis Tools for Software Security

This article discusses the development of secure software by means of dynamic analysis tools. A secure software-based system should have security checks and balances integrated throughout its entire development lifecycle, including its deployment phase. Therefore, this article covers both using software security tools for testing code in development as well as monitoring code in deployment to ensure that it is operating securely. The security issues discussed in this article will be split into two categories – memory safety issues and input validation issues. Memory safety issues concern problems of unauthorized memory access such as buffer overflows, stack overflows, use-after-free, double-free, memory leaks, etc. Although not strictly a memory safety issue, concurrency issues, such as data races, will be considered as memory safety issues in this article. Input validation issues concern problems where untrusted input is directly passed to handlers which are designed to handle both data and commands. Examples of this include path traversal, SQL injection, command injection, JavaScript/HTML injection, etc. As a result of this significant difference between these two types of security vulnerabilities, two sets of tools are evaluated with one set focusing on memory safety issues and the other on input validation issues. This article explores the benefits and limitations of current software dynamic analysis tools by evaluating them against both the authors test cases as well as the OWASP Benchmark for Security Automation and proposes solutions for implementing secure software applications.
Species accumulation curves analysed by a class of null models discovered by Arrhenius

Arrhenius is mainly given credit for his discovery of the log-log relationship between number of species and area, but in 1921 he invented the technique of analysing the data with a null model. This achievement, which Arrhenius explicitly stated was more important than the empirical species-area relationship, has been overlooked in the scientific literature. We suggest here that analysis of large communities should be done by a successive addition of predefined subsets of samples. Plotting the resulting accumulation curves in a common diagram usually will reveal heterogeneity between subsamples. We believe that this is a general feature of a counting process, (over space or time), that keeps record of new objects being generated by an unobservable process. We show this by two nonbiological time series: examination scores at the University of Oslo and stock prices on the Oslo stock market. We then apply these ideas to the analysis of the nested accumulation plots obtained from two unusually large community samples, the benthos of the Norwegian continental shelf and of marine areas of Hong Kong. Discontinuities in the accumulation curves can be explained by changes in habitat heterogeneity. These changes may be interpreted as variations in the parameter values in the class of null models discovered by Arrhenius. By selecting appropriate parameter values, the observed accumulation curves (calculated by an analytical expression giving exact values) can be approximated by null curves. This procedure makes it possible to identifying the major factors responsible for the shape of the curves in the accumulation plots.
Study of endometrial carcinoma by using contrast-enhanced ultrasound

Objective To observe the enhancement pattern and time-intensity curve of endometrial carcinomas by using contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS). Methods Altogether 30 endometrial carcinomas were evaluated with real-time gray-scale CEUS, using pulse inversion harmonies technique. The enhancement patterns were observed. Twenty tumors were compared for the size between traditional ultrasound and CEUS. In 21 cases, the parameters of time-intenaity curve were compared between the endometrial lesion and un-involved myometrium. Results The contrast agent arrived at the feeding vessels firstly and then branched into the endometrial tumors. All of the endometrial tumors were enhanced completely except for the necrosis area. In 73.3 % (22/30) of cases, the tumors washed out earlier than the un-involved myometrium. By using CEUS 76. 7% (23/30) of cases showed the feeding vessels of tumor. 43.3% (13/30) of cases showed more clearly than traditional ultrasound in tumor base, position and boundary. The mean enhancement sizes of tumor were bigger than the size showed by traditional ultrasound in 85% of cases by (0. 62±0.50)cm. More than 90% cases showed the tumors start to enhance and wash-out earlier than or at the same time as myometrium. The arrival time and peak time of cancer group were significantly earlier than myometrium group. The peak intensity, enhancement intensity and the rising rate of the tumor group were significantly higher than those of the myometrium group. Conclusions There are some characteristic points in CEUS of endometrial carcinomas. CEUS can provide richer information in tumor imaging than traditional ultrasound and has certain clinical value. Key words: Ultrasonography; Microbubbles; Endometrial neoplasms; Time-intensity curve
Can Clinical Measures of Postoperative Binocular Function Predict the Long-Term Stability of Postoperative Alignment in Intermittent Exotropia?

Purpose To evaluate whether clinical measures of postoperative binocular functions could predict the long-term stability of postoperative ocular alignment in children with intermittent exotropia. Methods A retrospective study was performed in thirty-nine children (median: 7 years) who have been surgically treated from intermittent exotropia without overcorrection (less than 10 prism diopters [pd] of exodeviation at 1 month postoperatively). Angles of deviation and binocular functions were measured preoperatively and at 1 month, 6 months, and the final follow-up visit (≥24 months) postoperatively. We examined the relationships between postoperative drift (change of ocular alignment) and binocular functions (sensory fusion, fusional convergence amplitude, and stereoacuity). Results The surgical success rate (esophoria/tropia ≤5 pd to exophoria/tropia ≤10 pd) dropped to 76.9% at 6 months after surgery and to 53.8% at individuals' last visit (mean: 37 months). The mean exodrift was 7.7 ± 9.2 pd from the postoperative month 1 to the final visit (p < 0.001) on distance fixation. Distance stereoacuity, central fusion, and fusional convergence amplitude significantly improved following surgery (p < 0.05). However, no significant correlation was found between their binocular functions measured at the beginning of each follow-up period and the postoperative drift (all p > 0.13). Conclusion Our findings suggest that the clinical measures of sensory fusion, fusional convergence amplitude, and stereoacuity cannot serve as a robust predictor for the long-term stability of postoperative ocular alignment in patients who underwent successful surgery without overcorrection at 1 month postoperatively.
Presence of Segmented Flavivirus Infections in North America

Identifying viruses in synanthropic animals is necessary for understanding the origin of many viruses that can infect human hosts and developing strategies to prevent new zoonotic infections. The white-footed mouse, Peromyscus leucopus, is one of the most abundant rodent species in the northeastern United States. We characterized the serum virome of 978 free-ranging P. leucopus mice caught in Pennsylvania. We identified many new viruses belonging to 26 different virus families. Among these viruses was a highly divergent segmented flavivirus whose genetic relatives were recently identified in ticks, mosquitoes, and vertebrates, including febrile humans. This novel flavi-like segmented virus was found in rodents and shares ˂70% aa identity with known viruses in the highly conserved region of the viral polymerase. Our data will enable researchers to develop molecular reagents to further characterize this virus and its relatives infecting other hosts and to curtail their spread, if necessary.
Treatment with metformin prevents myocardial ischemia–reperfusion injury via STEAP4 signaling pathway

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the underlying mechanism of metformin in reducing myocardial apoptosis and improving mitochondrial function in rats and H9c2 cells subjected to myocardial ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) or hypoxia–reoxygenation (H/R) injuries, respectively. Methods: Following pretreatment with metformin, male Sprague–Dawley rats were used to establish an I/R model in vivo. Serum creatinine kinase-MB and cardiac troponin T levels were examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Infarct size and apoptosis were measured by triphenyl tetrazolium chloride staining and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling assay. Pathological changes were evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin staining. H9c2 cells were used to establish an H/R model in vitro. Cell apoptosis and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) were examined by flow cytometry and Rhodamine 123. The expression levels of six-transmembrane epithelial antigen of prostate 4 (STEAP4), B-cell lymphoma 2, Bcl-2-associated X protein, and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase in both myocardial tissues and H9c2 cells were determined by western blotting. Results: We found that metformin decreased infarct size, increased STEAP4 expression, mitigated myocardial apoptosis, and increased MMP when the models were subjected to H/R or I/R injuries. However, STEAP4 knockdown significantly abrogated the beneficial effect of metformin. Conclusion: We further demonstrated the protective effect of metformin on cardiomyocytes, which might be at least partly attributable to the upregulation of STEAP4. Therefore, STEAP4 might be a new target to decrease apoptosis and rescue mitochondrial function in myocardial I/R injury.
Epigenetic Modifications due to Environment, Ageing, Nutrition, and Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and Their Effects on the Endocrine System

The epigenome of an individual can be altered by endogenous hormones, environment, age, diet, and exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), and the effects of these modifications can be seen across generations. Epigenetic modifications to the genome can alter the phenotype of the individual without altering the DNA sequence itself. Epigenetic modifications include DNA methylation, histone modification, and aberrant microRNA (miRNA) expression; they begin during germ cell development and embryogenesis and continue until death. Hormone modulation occurs during the ageing process due to epigenetic modifications. Maternal overnutrition or undernutrition can affect the epigenome of the fetus, and the effects can be seen throughout life. Furthermore, maternal care during the childhood of the offspring can lead to different phenotypes seen in adulthood. Diseases controlled by the endocrine system, such as obesity and diabetes, as well as infertility in females can be associated with epigenetic changes. Not only can these phenotypes be seen in F1, but also some chemical effects can be passed through the germline and have effects transgenerationally, and the phenotypes are seen in F3. The following literature review expands upon these topics and discusses the state of the science related to epigenetic effects of age, diet, and EDCs on the endocrine system.
IMPACT OF OBESITY IN CHILDREN WITH ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA FROM THE COMMUNITY

Goals. To evaluate the impact of Obesity on Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) in the pediatric population that has passed the breastfeeding period. Population and methods. Study carried out in the Institute of Tropical Medicine (IMT) of Paraguay in which the cases with NAC in children and adolescents between 2 and 15 years, hospitalized between 2009 and 2013, will be analyzed. The diagnosis of NAC was based on the presence of Febrile respiratory symptomatology and condensation image in the thorax Rx. In each case the presence of fever, tachypnea, runs, chest pain, oxygen saturation (SatO2), laboratorial data (leukocytocyte and platelet count, hemoglobin, liver function), presence of pleural effusion, oxygen requirement (O2) are evaluated. supplementary, need for admission to intensive care unit (ICU), need for mechanical ventilation (ARM), days of hospitalization, and mortality. The weight in kilograms and the height in centimeters were measured. The body mass index was calculated with the formula of BMI = Weight / Size2. The nutritional status is based on the age and agreement of the charts of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the United States (year 2006). The groups of obese and eutrophic patients were compared. Results We analyzed 231 patients between 2 and 15 years old, of which 143 (62%) corresponded to children from 2 to 5 years old and 88 (38%) from 5 to 15 years old. Forty (17%) were obese and 160 (70%) were eutrophic. No difference was found in the presentation of fever (p = 0.9), runs (p = 0.06), chest pain (p = 1). Tachypnea showed a difference in favor of eutrophics (p <0.01). SatO2 <94% in the obese was higher (p <0.05). Regarding the labor data, the GPT values were higher in the obese patients (p <0.05) and the eutrophic ones are published more frequently in the pleural frame (p <0.01). No differences were found in the frequency of use of oxygen therapy (p = 0.7), admission to the ICU (p = 0.3), need for ARM (p = 1) and in the days of hospitalization between both groups. Similarly, there was no difference in mortality: 0/40 vs 4/160 (p = 0.58). Conclusion. The prevalence of obesity is higher than in official records. The clinical presentation and evolution of CAP in obese patients was not found to differ significantly from what is observed in eutrophic patients. However, obese patients with CAP have lower values of SatO2 on admission than eutrophic patients, as an expression of lower gas exchange. In addition, obesity has not been associated with differences in the leukocyte response and Hb levels compared with eutrophic patients, although it has been found higher values of GPT, probably related to liver involvement in obesity. Finally, the Diciembre 2018 Rev. Inst. Med. Trop 2018;13(2)10-21 10.18004/imt/201813210-21 12 length of hospital stay, the frequency of admission to the ICU and mortality were similar in both groups
Overexpression of MicroRNA-16 Alleviates Atherosclerosis by Inhibition of Inflammatory Pathways

Background Our previous study demonstrated that the expression of miR-16 was downregulated in the cell and animal models of atherosclerosis (AS), a main contributor to coronary artery disease (CAD). Overexpression of miR-16 inhibited the formation of foam cells by exerting anti-inflammatory roles. These findings indicated miR-16 may be an anti-atherogenic and CAD miRNA. The goal of this study was to further validate the expression of miR-16 in CAD patients and explore its therapeutic roles in an AS animal model. Methods A total of 40 CAD patients and 40 non-CAD people were prospectively registered in our study. The AS model was established in ApoE-/- mice fed a high-fat diet. The model mice were randomly treated with miR-16 agomiR (n = 10) or miR-negative control (n = 10). Hematoxylin-eosin staining was conducted for histopathological examination in thoracic aorta samples. ELISA and immunohistochemistry were performed to determine the expression levels of inflammatory factors (IL-6, TNF-α, MCP-1, IL-1β, IL-10, and TGF-β). qRT-PCR and western blotting were carried out to detect the mRNA and protein expression levels of PDCD4, miR-16, and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway-related genes. Results Compared with the normal control, miR-16 was downregulated in the plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cell of CAD patients, and its expression level was negatively associated with IL-6 and the severity of CAD evaluated by the Gensini score, but positively related with IL-10. Injection of miR-16 agomiR in ApoE-/- mice reduced the formation of atherosclerotic plaque and suppressed the accumulation of proinflammatory factors (IL-6, TNF-α, MCP-1, and IL-1β) in the plasma and tissues but promoted the secretion of anti-inflammatory factors (IL-10 and TGF-β). Mechanism analysis showed overexpression of miR-16 might downregulate target mRNA PDCD4 and then activate p38 and ERK1/2, but inactivate the JNK pathway. Conclusions Our findings suggest miR-16 may be a potential diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for atherosclerotic CAD.
Strategies to Increase Peer Support Specialists’ Capacity to Use Digital Technology in the Era of COVID-19: Pre-Post Study

Background Prior to the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), telemental health to support mental health services was primarily designed for individuals with professional clinical degrees, such as psychologists, psychiatrists, registered nurses, and licensed clinical social workers. For the first the time in history, peer support specialists are offering Medicaid-reimbursable telemental health services during the COVID-19 crisis; however, little effort has been made to train peer support specialists on telehealth practice and delivery. Objective The aim of this study was to explore the impact of the Digital Peer Support Certification on peer support specialists’ capacity to use digital peer support technology. Methods The Digital Peer Support Certification was co-produced with peer support specialists and included an education and simulation training session, synchronous and asynchronous support services, and audit and feedback. Participants included 9 certified peer support specialists between the ages of 25 and 54 years (mean 39 years) who were employed as peer support specialists for 1 to 11 years (mean 4.25 years) and had access to a work-funded smartphone device and data plan. A pre-post design was implemented to examine the impact of the Digital Peer Support Certification on peer support specialists’ capacity to use technology over a 3-month timeframe. Data were collected at baseline, 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months. Results Overall, an upward trend in peer support specialists’ capacity to offer digital peer support occurred during the 3-month certification period. Conclusions The Digital Peer Support Certification shows promising evidence of increasing the capacity of peer support specialists to use specific digital peer support technology features. Our findings also highlighted that this capacity was less likely to increase with training alone and that a combinational knowledge translation approach that includes both training and management will be more successful.
Vitamin E as an Adjuvant Treatment for Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Adults: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease. It is characterized by a variety of pathologies, ranging from benign fatty liver to extensive fibrosis and even hepatocellular cancer. Among the several potential risk factors, insulin resistance and increased oxidative stress are the most important. Vitamin E is an antioxidant with a potential to be used as a treatment for NAFLD. Therefore, we carried out a structured systematic review of all RCTs conducted between 2010 and January 2020. After screening, eight RCTs were included. Our systematic review showed that vitamin E has clinical utility in improving biochemical (ALT and AST levels) and histological abnormalities in NAFLD (hepatic steatosis and lobular inflammation). However, vitamin E does not seem to have significant effects on liver fibrosis. Still, vitamin E has the potential to be used as an adjuvant for the treatment of NAFLD, and its use in clinical practice should be advocated.