Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MMED PROJECT The Clinical Profile of Takayasu Disease at Tygerberg Academic Hospital – a retrospective study

Takayasu’s arteritis (TA) is a disease of unknown etiology that causes chronic inflammation of the large blood vessels and usually involves the aorta and its branches. The inflammatory process initially leads to thickening of the arterial wall and may result in stenosis, occlusion, dilatation or aneurysm formation. Although TA occurs more commonly in certain regions such as Asia, it is a global disease. Currently, there is a dearth of information on this condition in African countries, including South Africa. Results: We have identified 50 patients meeting the ACR criteria for the diagnosis of TA. Data was drawn from the records of the Division of Rheumatology as well as the angiographic records of TA. This included patient demographics, mode of presentation, classification, co-morbidities, complications, clinical and laboratory features, radiological findings, drug therapy as well as outcomes. The cohort comprised 34 of mixed race, 12 black and 4 white patients. The mean age at diagnosis was 16-56 (28.2) years. The most common presention was hypertension, followed by CVA, heart failure, and syncope. Angiography revealed Type V (most of aorta) and Type I (aortic arch branches) lesions to be the most common and that stenosis was much more common than aneurysm formation. Two patients had concomitant antiphospholipid syndrome. Another two had concomitant internal jugular vein thrombosis. Six patients had significant mediastinal lymphadenopathy, only one of whom had TB. Corticosteroids and additional immunosuppressive therapy were used to control disease activity in most patients. Biological treatment was used in two patients. Surgical intervention consisted mainly of renal auto transplantation. Twelve percent of patients had repeated admissions, which included planned surgical intervention. We had two mortalities, both as a result of massive strokes. The mortality rate was 6%. Only 3 patients had active TB. Conclusion: The study revealed gender and age characteristics similar to previous studies, confirming that TA affects mainly young females. The mortality rate of 6% in this cohort is significantly lower than that of previous series. The unusual findings in this study were: Significant chest lymphadenopathy in 12% of the cases,the significantly lower percentage of active TB of only 6%, two cases of a rare finding of venous thrombosis as well as 2 cases of an uncommon finding in TA of antiphospholipid syndrome.
Regeneration Feasibility of Bentonite by Sodium Persulfate

Among natural materials, clays occupy a prominent position being low cost, available in abundance, environmentally friendly, and having good adsorption properties. Bentonite, which has strong affinity towards cationic dyes such as methylene blue (MB) is able to remove dye effectively. It is very economical if the spent adsorbent can be recovered and reused for many cycles. Hence, this study investigated the ability of sodium persulfate (Na2S2O8) (SPS) to regenerate bentonite loaded with MB. The modification of raw bentonite with SPS was also investigated. The results showed that after added with SPS, the bentonite and MB adsorbed and flocculated together to form large flocs that were firm and compact. The process adsorption and flocculation was very efficient and equilibrium was reached within one hour. However, the modification of raw bentonite may not be a good option as the flocs formed were loose and less compact. High water retention of the flocs would cause disposal issue during dewatering process. The flocculation mechanism of MB-loaded bentonite can be explained in macroscopic and microscopic level. In macroscopic level, charge neutralization and bridge formation are the main mechanism while in microscopic level, increase in interlayer spacing and extensive cation exchange with MB are the one that contribute to flocs formation. Besides that, dimerization and trimerization also contribute to total MB adsorption which also allow bigger flocs formed. However, the ability of SPS to degrade MB adsorbed to bentonite through oxidation process does remain uncertain. Instead of regeneration, flocculation of MB-loaded bentonite upon addition of SPS occurred to remove the dye effectively. For reusability study, the MB-loaded bentonite can be used up to 3 cycles with percentage removal of 95%. Hence, SPS, as a flocculation promoting agent can be further studied and investigated, to be used in large scale in colour wastewater treatment.
A push for public health: Effect of cycling on selected psychological variables among adolescents online video gamers

Video gaming is a popular leisure activity among adolescents. Video gaming is known to have some benefits such as improving focus, multitasking and working memory, but it may also come with costs when it is used heavily. The degree of addictive video game use has been found to be related to personality traits such as depression, anxiety stress and aggression and low self-esteem in players, affecting them both psychologically and physically. Studies proved that aggression and anxiety were particularly prominent among adolescents addicted to electronic gaming and aerobic exercise is found to be worth encouraging for anxiety disorders. A growing body of evidence indicates that regular aerobic exercise improves psychological as well as physical health. Previous studies have confirmed that cycling can increase positive emotions and improve behavioral pattern. In this study the investigator analyze the effect of cycling on psychological variables such as stress and aggression. For the purpose of the study sixty subjects (N= 60) were randomly assigned to either experimental group or control group (mean age 17.7 ± 1.8 years). The experimental group (n=30) underwent outdoor cycling training programme for a period of sixteen weeks, whereas the control group (n=30) maintained their regular routine activities. The training load was gradually increased up to 10% per week. The subjects of both the group were tested their anxiety and aggression 24 hours before and after the period of experimentation. Data was collected from each subject before and after the training. The data was statistically analyzed by using analysis of covariance and data was analyzed in SPSS statistical computer package. To find out the significant difference between groups ANOVA was used. The results of the study showed that there was significant difference among the adjusted post-test mean of experimental group and control group.
Deaths due to Lightning Strikes: A Retrospective Study of a Ten-year Period (2007-2017)

Address for Correspondence/Yazışma Adresi: Halil İlhan Aydoğdu MD. , The Ministry of Justice Council of Forensic Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey E-mail: ilhanaydogdu@gmail.com ORCID ID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5625-673X DOI: 10.17986/blm.1457 Adli Tıp Bülteni 2021;26(1):33-39 Received/Geliş tarihi: 02.07. 2020 Accepted/Kabul tarihi: 26.08. 2020 Objective: Lightning is a major reason for weather-related deaths and injuries. The risk of being struck by lightning is higher for those who work outdoors. Methods: In this retrospective study, 19 lightning-related deaths between 2007 and 2017, which were obtained from the archives of Council of Forensic Medicine Trabzon Group Chairmanship, were evaluated. Results: The age range of the cases was between 8 and 75 years and 15 of them were male. Nine of the cases were a shepherd. The number of the cases went to the top in June with nine cases and 17 of the decedents were found in outdoor spaces. On the external examinations of eight cases (42%), there was a Lichtenberg figure. The electrical entrance regions were the head and neck in 10 cases (53%). Bleeding, contusions and lacerations, especially in the lungs and brain, were considered to be due to the blast effect of the lightning. Subepidermal/suprabasal dissociation, spindle appearance in epithelial cells of epidermis and dermal appendages, intraepidermal vesicles and collagen denaturation were detected in microscopic examinations. Conclusion: Lightning is an airborne event that may cause death in outdoor environments. After a lightning strike, a Lichtenberg figure can be seen on external examination, and macroscopic bleeding in the lungs and brain can be observed on internal examination. It will be beneficial to provide basic awareness training on lightning strike risks for the whole society, especially for shepherds and agricultural workers, to reduce the deaths due to lightning strikes, the exact death causes of which can be determined through autopsies.
“BLOCK CHAIN IN PRIVACYPRESERVATION OF RECORDS IN EDUCATION -A CURRENT RESEARCH TREND”

Nowadays, Block chain is one of the most promising application areas in the field of privacy protection where its scope of applications can almost be limited. The use of the Block series in the field of education is currently of great interest to researchers and scientists, and is the focus of our study. In the age of data security and strict compliance: it has become crucial for education Institutes to store and share their information with other institutes. The main objective of this research is to highlight the existing privacy issues in educational data and use block chain as a solution to resolve these issues. This paper identifies and analyzes relevant books, research papers and articles to determine their classification in the field of education, to find the best ways to use the Block chain in education, and to determine its current and future use. We have adopted a systematic literature review approach. This survey paper describes various techniques for privacy preservation and block chain as a solution to share data securely.
The Effect Of Networked-Based Inquiry Model On 21st-Century Skills

This study aims to examine the effect of the Networked-based Inquiry Model on students‘ 21st-Century Skills in physics learning. This study used a nonequivalent control group design model with a 2x3 factorial design. The research subjects comprised 6 classes from 3 different schools with 120 students. The research data were analyzed descriptively and the two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was based on a significance level of 5%. The findings show that the Networked-based Inquiry Model has higher effectiveness than the inquiry-based learning model in improving students‘ 21stCentury Skills. Therefore, the Networked-based Inquiry Model can be a solution in implementing learning to follow the demands of the 21st-Century, especially in developing students‘ 21st-Century Skills.
Detecting Users from Website Sessions: A Simulation Study

—In real click data sets, the user initiating a web session may be censored, as unique users are commonly determined by cookies. One way to study the effect of this censoring on various website metrics, and to study the effectiveness of algorithms trying to undo this censoring, is by simulation. We therefore propose a click simulation model, which is capable of simulating user censoring due to cookie churn or the usage of multiple devices, but for which we still keep the uncensored ground truth. To recover unique users from session data, we compare several (H)DBSCAN*-type (Hierarchical Density-based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise) algorithms, where we assume that all sessions in a cluster likely originate from the same user. From this comparison, we ﬁnd that even though the best (H)DBSCAN*-type algorithm does signiﬁcantly outperform other benchmark clustering methods, it performs considerably worse than when using the observed cookie clusters. I.e., websites for which the assumptions of our simulation model hold, our results suggest that uncovering users from their session data using clustering algorithms may lead to considerably larger errors in terms of user related websites metrics, compared to using cookies to uncover users.
The contribution of economic intelligence to the firm performance

To the extent that the company is an “open system”, it must be in a continuous standby state. In this research work, we will try to focus on the contribution of economic intelligence strategies to the performance of the company. We will begin with a literature review to better understand the theoretical concepts. Then we will conduct a field study of 92 Tunisian industrial companies. Our work has revealed that economic intelligence has a positive but differential effect on the firm’s performance. But some determinants of performance do not seem to take full advantage of the strategies of economic intelligence to which companies should attach greater importance.
Streptococcus salivarius Strains

Strains of Streptococcus salivarius were screened by negative staining for the presence of surface structures. Two structural subgroups were found, carrying either fibrils or fimbriae, projecting from the cell surface. Eight strains carried a very dense peritrichous array of fibrils of two distinct lengths. Long fibrils had an average length of 175 nm, and short fibrils had an average length of 95 nm. Two strains carried only long fibrils, one strain carried only short fibrils, and another strain carried a lateral tuft of very prominent fibrils of two lengths, with a fibrillar fuzz covering the remainder of the cell surface. In all the strains in which they were present, the long fibrils were unaffected by protease or trypsin treatment. In contrast, the short fibrils were completely digested by protease and partially removed by trypsin. Neither long nor short fibrils were affected structurally by mild pepsin digestion or by lipase. The Lancefield extraction procedure removed both long and short fibrils. These twelve fibrillar strains were therefore divisible into four structural subgroups. Extracts of all the fibrillar strains reacted with group K antiserum. The second main structural subgroup consisted of nine strains of S. salivarius, all of which carried morphologically identical, flexible fimbriae arranged peritrichously over the cell surface. The fimbriae were structurally distinct from fibrils and measured 0.5 to 1.0 ,um long and 3 to 4 nm wide, with an irregular outline and no obvious substructure. There was no obvious reduction in the number of fimbriae after protease or trypsin treatment. Extracts of the fimbriated strains did not react with the group K antiserum. The two serological and structural subgroups could also be distinguished by colony morphology.
ASSESSMENT OF SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION IN FEMALE PATIENTS ON MAINTENANCE HEMODIALYSIS

Background: Sexual dysfunction is considered one of the main problems of end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients.Study aim was to assess sexual dysfunction in female patients on maintenance hemodialysis. A descriptive study design was utilized in this study. Study setting: The study was carried out at the hemodialysis unit of Mansoura New General Hospital from June 2014 to December 2014. Subjects of study:Purposive sample was used to collect50 female hemodialysis patients. Four tools were used for data collection including a structured interview questionnaire sheet to assess the socio-demographic characteristics and the biochemical & hematological profile of the study group, a good dialysis index score to assess the adequacy of dialysis, the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) score to assess the degree of sexual dysfunction and the Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) to assess depression state of the study group. The study results revealed that all of the study subjects had sexual dysfunction with statistically significant correlation with older age and self-reported feeling of being under dialyzed, but no significant correlation was found between depression state, urea reduction ratio, biochemical & hematological profiles and the degree of sexual dysfunction. Conclusion:sexual dysfunction is highly prevalent in female hemodialysis patients. Recommendations: Increasing awareness about sexual dysfunction in female hemodialysis patients and encourage patients to explore this important aspect of their life.
PFO, push-ups and heavy lifting; valsalva provocation before cryptogenic stroke

Background: Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) can serve as a conduit for paradoxical embolus or as a nidus itself for thrombus formation in Cryptogenic Stroke (CS). Debate for PFO closure is ongoing but favors closure in well-selected patients. Four randomized-control trials demonstrated a reduction in stroke recurrence with PFO closure. Patients were selected with high-risk PFO features in DEFENSE-PFO and CLOSE trials. Cases: This case series describes four patients with CS immediately following or during exercise- induced-Valsalva: Push-ups, bench pressing, and lifting heavy boxes. PFOs with severe shunting during Valsalva were demonstrated with bubble echocardiograms in all cases. Conclusion: Recent clinical trials have shown benefit of percutaneous PFO closure, especially in younger patients with high-risk PFO features. Valsalva-like straining may provide the hemodynamic terminal-step for embolism to occur in CS patients with PFO. Future PFO-closure screening tools should consider Valsalva-like straining as a criterion towards closure.
From Precision Metapharmacology to Patient Empowerment: Delivery of Self-Care Practices for Epilepsy, Pain, Depression and Cancer Using Digital Health Technologies

To improve long-term outcomes of therapies for chronic diseases, health promotion and lifestyle modifications are the most promising and sustainable strategies. In addition, advances in digital technologies provide new opportunities to address limitations of drug-based treatments, such as medication non-adherence, adverse effects, toxicity, drug resistance, drug shortages, affordability, and accessibility. Pharmaceutical drugs and biologics can be combined with digital health technologies, including mobile medical apps (digital therapeutics), which offer additional clinical benefits and cost-effectiveness. Promises of drug+digital combination therapies are recognized by pharmaceutical and digital health companies, opening opportunities for integrating pharmacotherapies with non-pharmacological interventions (metapharmacology). Herein we present unique features of digital health technologies which can deliver personalized self-care modalities such as breathing exercises, mindfulness meditation, yoga, physical activity, adequate sleep, listening to preferred music, forgiveness and gratitude. Clinical studies reveal how aforementioned complimentary practices may support treatments of epilepsy, chronic pain, depression, cancer, and other chronic diseases. This article also describes how digital therapies delivering “medicinal” self-care and other non-pharmacological interventions can also be personalized by accounting for: 1) genetic risks for comorbidities, 2) adverse childhood experiences, 3) increased risks for viral infections such as seasonal influenza, or COVID-19, and 4) just-in-time stressful and traumatic circumstances. Development and implementation of personalized pharmacological-behavioral combination therapies (precision metapharmacology) require aligning priorities of key stakeholders including patients, research communities, healthcare industry, regulatory and funding agencies. In conclusion, digital technologies enable integration of pharmacotherapies with self-care, lifestyle interventions and patient empowerment, while concurrently advancing patient-centered care, integrative medicine and digital health ecosystems.
Manual takeover after highly automated driving: Influence of budget time and Lane Change Assist on takeover performance

The current study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of additional assistance system to support driver performance during a takeover request in a conditionally automated vehicle, that is, Level 3 of SAE taxonomy. Seventy drivers participated in the simulator carried on a driving simulator (62 drivers retained). The takeover request issued due to another vehicle blocking the way obliged the participant to take over and change lane. Two versions of a Lane Change Assist (LCA) were tested across two groups with short (4 sec) and long (8 sec) time budget for a takeover. We observed that when provided longer takeover time budget, higher number of drivers completed the lane change maneuver successfully, adopted different takeover strategy, and had fewer accidents. We did not observe an effect of the presence or the type of LCA on takeover performance. However, a comparison of incident-free takeovers with those with a lateral collision revealed that the presence of LCA was associated with higher number of incident-free takeovers in the 8-sec group. Overall, drivers could benefit from additional assistance systems during takeover, especially when they are provided enough time to process information and act upon it.
Contrasting distinct structured views to learn sentence embeddings

We propose a self-supervised method that builds sentence embeddings from the combination of diverse explicit syntactic structures of a sentence. We assume structure is crucial to building consistent representations as we expect sentence meaning to be a function of both syntax and semantic aspects. In this perspective, we hypothesize that some linguistic representations might be better adapted given the considered task or sentence. We, therefore, propose to learn individual representation functions for different syntactic frameworks jointly. Again, by hypothesis, all such functions should encode similar semantic information differently and consequently, be complementary for building better sentential semantic embeddings. To assess such hypothesis, we propose an original contrastive multi-view framework that induces an explicit interaction between models during the training phase. We make experiments combining various structures such as dependency, constituency, or sequential schemes. Our results outperform comparable methods on several tasks from standard sentence embedding benchmarks.
Is this Enough?-Evaluation of Malayalam Wordnet

Quality of a product is the degree to which a product meets the customer’s expectation, which must also be valid for the case of lexical semantic resources. Conducting a periodic evaluation of resources is essential to ensure if the resources meet a native speaker’s expectations and free from errors. This paper defines the possible mistakes in a lexical semantic resource and explains the steps applied to quantify Malayalam wordnet quality. Malayalam is one of the classical languages of India. We hope to subset the less quality part of the wordnet and perform crowdsourcing to make it better.
OPUS-CAT: Desktop NMT with CAT integration and local fine-tuning

OPUS-CAT is a collection of software which enables translators to use neural machine translation in computer-assisted translation tools without exposing themselves to security and confidentiality risks inherent in online machine translation. OPUS-CAT uses the public OPUS-MT machine translation models, which are available for over a thousand language pairs. The generic OPUS-MT models can be fine-tuned with OPUS-CAT on the desktop using data for a specific client or domain.