Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cancer Cells and M2 Macrophages: Cooperative Invasive Ecosystem Engineers

Many aspects of cancer can be explained utilizing well-defined ecological principles. Applying these principles to cancer, cancer cells are an invasive species to a healthy organ ecosystem. In their capacity as ecosystem engineers, cancer cells release cytokines that recruit monocytes to the tumor and polarize them to M2-like protumor macrophages. Macrophages, recruited by the cancer cells, act as a secondary invasive species. The ecosystem engineering functions of M2-macrophages in turn support and stimulate cancer cell survival and proliferation. The cooperative ecosystem engineering of both the primary invasive species of the cancer cell and the secondary invasive species of the M2-macrophage thus creates a vicious cycle of tumor promotion. Targeting a specific aspect of this tumor-promoting ecosystem engineering, such as blocking efferocytosis by M2-like macrophages, may improve the response to standard-of-care anticancer therapies. This strategy has the potential to redirect cooperative protumor ecosystem engineering toward an antitumor ecosystem engineering strategy.
Exposure by males to light emitted from media devices at night is linked with decline of sperm quality and correlated with sleep quality measures

ABSTRACT The last several decades have been characterized by the widespread usage of digital devices, especially smartphones. At the same time, there have been reports of both decline in sleep duration and quality and male fertility decline. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between evening exposure to the light-emitting screens of digital media devices and measures of both sleep and sperm quality. Semen samples were obtained from 116 men undergoing fertility evaluation for the following sperm variables: volume (mL), pH, sperm concentration (million/mL), motility percentage (progressive% + non-progressive motility%), and total sperm count. Exposure to the screens of electronic devices and sleep habits was obtained by means of a questionnaire. Smartphone and tablet usage in the evening and after bedtime was negatively correlated with sperm motility (−0.392; −0.369; p < .05), sperm progressive motility (−0.322; −0.299; p < .05), and sperm concentration (−0.169; p < .05), and positively correlated with the percentage of immotile sperm (0.382; 0.344; p < .05). In addition, sleep duration was positively correlated with sperm total and progressive motility (0.249; 0.233; p < .05) and negatively correlated with semen pH (−0.349; p < .05). A significant negative correlation was observed between subjective sleepiness and total and progressive motility (−0.264; p < .05) as well as total motile sperm number (−0.173; p < .05). The results of this study support a link between evening and post-bedtime exposure to light-emitting digital media screens and sperm quality. Further research is required to establish the proposed causative link and may lead to the future development of relevant therapeutic and lifestyle interventions.
A General Coercivity Model for Soft Magnetic Materials

The effect of crystalline imperfections (as for instance, grain size, inclusions and dislocations) on the coercivity of soft magnetic materials is additive. This only can be explained by an Energy Balance Model. By another hand, the angular dependence of the coercivity only can be explained with a Force Balance Model. Thus both models, Energy Balance and Force Balance have to be invoked for the construction of a general model. The effect of dislocations on the coercivity can be treated as short range magnetostrictive effect. The effect of inclusions needs the consideration of the global magnetostatic energy of the system. The dependence of the coercivity with the grain size can also be explained analyzing the magnetostatic energy. The idea of pinning of domain walls by crystalline defects is reformulated, and it is shown that the coercivity increase due to crystalline defects is principally caused by variations of the magnetostatic energy in the system.
The Role of Quercetin in Gene Expression of GluR1 Subunit of AMPA Receptors, and NR2A and NR2B Subunits of NMDA Receptors in Kainic Acid Model of Seizure in Mice

Background: Flavonoids are recently being recognized for their important biological effects. Quercetin is a flavonoid that has several pharmacological properties including anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, and anticonvulsant effects. Objectives: This study was designed to elucidate the role of quercetin in the gene expression of ionotropic glutamate receptor subunits in kainic acid (KA)-induced seizure in mice. Methods: This experimental study was conducted on 56 male BALB/c mice. Quercetin (50 and 100 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) was administered 7 days before administration of KA. The hippocampi of the animals were removed and used for molecular analysis 2 hours and 7 days after KA administration. Results: Pretreatment of mice with quercetin (100 mg/kg) significantly enhanced the gene expression of GluR1 subunit of AMPA and NR2A and NR2B subunits of NMDA only 7 days after KA administration compared to the control and KA groups in the mice hippocampus (P < 0.001, P < 0.001, and P < 0.05, respectively). Conclusions: Increment of gene expression of subunits of AMPA and NMDA receptors by quercetin might explain its protective effect on synaptic plasticity and memory.
Relationship between helicobacter pylori infection and endoscopic findings among patients with dyspepsia in north central, Nigeria

Background: There is a dearth of reports on the prevalence rate of Helicobacter pylori from the North-Central zone of Nigeria. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of H. pylori infection and its association with gastro-duodenal pathologies in patients presenting with dyspepsia in a tertiary hospital in North-Central Nigeria. Materials and Methods: One hundred and forty eight adult patients with dyspepsia underwent oesophagogastroduodenoscopy. Antral and corporal biopsy specimens were collected for histological examination. Diagnosis of H. pylori infection was made if Helicobacter-like organisms were identified in the processed specimens using Haematoxilin and Eosin, and Giemsa stains. Results: Of the 148 subjects studied, 68 (46.0%) were males and 80 (54.0%) females. The age range was 18 to 80 years with a mean of 49.5 ±15.1 years. H. pylori infection was found in 70 (47.3%) patients. Gastritis was the commonest endoscopic finding, 52 (35.1%). Others included: gastroduodenitis 42 (28.4%), normal findings 20 (13.5%), gastric cancer 11 (7.4%), duodenal ulcer 10 (6.8%), gastric ulcer 4 (2.7%) and gastroduodenal polyps 4 (2.7%). Twenty (38.5%) of the 52 patients with gastritis were infected with H. pylori compared to 27 (64.3%) of the 42 patients with gastroduodenitis. Seven (35.0%) of the 20 patients who had normal endoscopic findings tested positive for H. pylori infection. Conclusion: H. pylori infection has a moderately high prevalence among dyspeptic patients in Ilorin, irrespective of the gastroduodenal pathology seen at endoscopy. The association between H. pylori infection and endoscopic gastroduodenitis and histologic gastritis was significant (p=0.01 and 0.0006 respectively). Keywords: Helicobacter pylori , Oesophagogastroduodenoscopy, Gastroduodenitis
Enhanced Derivation of Model Parameters for Cross-Component Linear Model (CCLM) in VVC

SUMMARY Cross-component linear model (CCLM) has been recently adopted as a chroma intra-prediction tool in Versatile Video Coding (VVC), which is being developed as a new video coding standard. CCLM predicts chroma components from luma components through a linear model based on assumption of linear correlation between both components. A linear model is derived from the reconstructed neighboring luma and chroma samples of the current coding block by linear regression. A simpliﬁed linear modeling method recently adopted in the test model of VVC (VTM) 3.0 signiﬁcantly reduces computational complexity of deriving model parameters with considerable coding loss. This letter proposes a method of linear modeling to compensate the coding loss of the simpliﬁed linear model. In the proposed method, the model parameters which are quite roughly derived in the existing simpliﬁed linear model are reﬁned more accurately us-ing individual method to derive each parameter. Experimental results show that, compared to VTM 3.0, the proposed method gives 0.08%, 0.52% and 0.55% Bjotegaard-Delta (BD)-rate savings, for Y, Cb and Cr components, respectively, in the All-Intra (AI) conﬁguration with negligible computational complexity increase.
Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Mg-12Gd-2Y-2Sm-0.5Zr Alloy

The Mg-12Gd-2Y-2Sm-0.5Zr (wt.%) alloy was prepared by induction melting. After solution and aging treatment, the microstructure and mechanical properties of alloy was investigated by optical microscope, XRD and tensile tests. The results show that the aged alloy is mainly composed by α-Mg matrix, Mg24Y5 and Mg5Gd phase, and these precipitated phases distribute in the grain dispersively. The mechanical properties of alloy were tested at room temperature and 200-300°C.
Physical layer security performance analysis of the time reversal transmission system

Thanks to its characteristics of temporal compression and spatial focusing, the time reversal (TR) transmission system has the intrinsic capability of anti-eavesdropping. This study analyses the physical layer security performance of the TR transmission system. The probability density functions and cumulative distribution functions of the signal-to-noise ratio of the legitimate user and eavesdropper are given. On this basis, the theoretical expressions of the ergodic capacities of the legitimate channel and the wiretap channel, and the achievable ergodic secrecy rate are derived. The bit error rates of the legitimate user and eavesdropper for binary phase-shift keying modulation are given too. The correctness of the theoretical derivation is verified by simulation. For the legitimate user, the signal power increases as the number of paths increases, which indicates a higher diversity gain can be obtained, and the inter-symbol interference power decreases as the up-sampling factor increases. So, the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of the received signal can be significantly improved by appropriately reducing the spectral efficiency. However, the received signal's SINR of the eavesdropper cannot be promoted obviously. That is to say, compared with the eavesdropper, the legitimate user can achieve a higher rate and a lower BER, so secure transmission can be realised.
Design and Implementation of a Low Cost Wireless Ambulatory ECG Monitoring System for Deployment in Rural Communities

Due to the rising number of heart patients and the apparent need for more robust electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring of these patients, hospitals are increasingly investing in typical cloud technology or centralized hospital server based remote ECG monitoring systems. However, the deployment these systems in rural communities is limited due to the high cost factor. To counter this challenge, in this paper, we focus on the design and implementation of a low cost real time wireless ambulatory ECG monitoring system. The detected ECG signals are first filtered and amplified and then digitally converted by a microcontroller. The digitized ECG signals are then sent over a ZigBee wireless link to a gateway personal computer (PC) at patient’s premises. The received ECG data from the ZigBee connection is displayed in real time via the National Instruments (NI) Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) user interface on the PC for instant personalized evaluation of the ECG data. The ECG data can be saved on the PC and sent via email to a remote cardiologist or a clinician. Additionally, the gateway PC at patient’s end acts as web server for sharing patient’s data over the Internet. The remote off-site physician (medical staff in a hospital) can use a web browser on a PC, laptop or a mobile phone with Internet connection to access patient’s real time ECG trace for monitoring, expert review and diagnosis. It is shown that the system prototype allows users to acquire reliable ECG signals effectively and simply. The proposed ambulatory ECG system offers an alternative low cost deployment strategy and is especially suited for remote cardiac monitoring of patients in rural communities.
Pulmonary Nodule Malignancy Classification Using its Temporal Evolution with Two-Stream 3D Convolutional Neural Networks

Nodule malignancy assessment is a complex, time-consuming and error-prone task. Current clinical practice requires measuring changes in size and density of the nodule at different time-points. State of the art solutions rely on 3D convolutional neural networks built on pulmonary nodules obtained from single CT scan per patient. In this work, we propose a two-stream 3D convolutional neural network that predicts malignancy by jointly analyzing two pulmonary nodule volumes from the same patient taken at different time-points. Best results achieve 77% of F1-score in test with an increment of 9% and 12% of F1-score with respect to the same network trained with images from a single time-point.
Effect of Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag on Compressive Strength of POFA Blended Concrete

The article reports a laboratory experimental programme that investigated effect of ground granulated blast furnace (GGBS) on compressive strength of POFA ternary concrete. Compressive strength tests were performed at a range of cements combinations, including 100%PC, two POFA levels for binary concrete, 35% and 45%, and 15%GGBS inclusion for POFA ternary concrete. The compressive strength results were examined in comparison to PC only and equivalent POFA binary concretes for up to 28 days. Results show that the reduction in compressive strength is greater with the higher cement replacement level for all concretes particularly for POFA binary concretes. However, 15%GGBS in POFA blended concrete has a comparable compressive strength compared to PC concrete at both, 35% and 45%, cement replacement levels except for ternary concrete at 0.65 w/c. In addition, the compressive strength of ternary concrete is slightly higher compared to binary concrete for all concrete combinations. Although there is no significant noticeable influence on strength development, the presence of GGBS did not adverse the strength development of POFA blended concrete. Thus, it can be concluded that GGBS compensates the adverse effect of POFA at early strength development.
An integrated single-switch approach to improve harmonic performance of standard PWM adjustable speed drives

In this paper, an integrated single-switch approach to improve the harmonic performance of standard PWM adjustable speed drives (ASD) is presented. The approach is essentially an add-on solution to a standard ASD topology. The approach is based on circulating a third harmonic current to reduce the harmonics of the line current. The dynamic braking chopper available in standard ASDs is used to control the amplitude of the third harmonic circulating current. Analysis, design and simulations are presented to determine the performance of the proposed scheme with different line impedances and with and without DC-link inductance in the ASD. Utility input current distortion well below 15% is obtained. This paper also presents how this new approach is capable of reducing the harmonic distortion in multiple drives. The paper includes experimental results using a 480 V, 10 kW commercial adjustable speed drive retrofitted with the proposed approach.
Predicting Restaurant Inspection Scores Based on Yelp Data and Sanitary Inspection Reports

The main goal of this work was detecting hygiene problems and violations of sanitary standards in restaurants, cafes, and bars, using information provided on location-based social networks. This is a serious and important problem due to the limited number of inspectors compared to the number of establishments. Inspectors are rarely helped by formal complaints, although many complaints are actually reported in the form of comments on social platforms, such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, or Zomato. This M.Sc. project explored machine learning techniques to build models capable of detecting establishments that violate health and hygiene standards, based on textual comments collected from social platforms (in this case, from the social platform named Yelp). In particular, the project explored text classification mechanisms based on deep neural networks, taking inspiration in recent work within the Natural Language Process (NLP) field. This project used an existing data set provided by the Yelp platform. Naturally, some data were collected by me to increase the number of reviews from each establishment. So, I used the Yelp API, which allowed me to search for as many reviews as possible (for each establishment), and helped support the training and evaluation parts of the methods to be developed.
The Ideological Analysis of The Guardian News about The Moving of Indonesian Capital City

There are many media in the world preaching about issues in Indonesia, with news trending topics not only at the national level but also at the international level, which is the planned move of the Indonesian capital. One of the world's media who received news about the movement of the capital of Indonesia is The Guardian. The Guardian is a British daily newspaper. To analyze the news presented by The Guardian, framing analysis theory by Robert Entman is used to determine the selection of issues displayed in the news. The data is from The Guardian news on 26 August 2019 edition. Entman divides framing into four elements as follows: First, Define Problems; Second, Diagnose cause; Third, Make moral judgment, and Fourth, Treatment recommendation. The result shows The Guardian presenting government representatives and environmental activists who have different views regarding the importance of moving the capital city and the economic impact. The ideological views of the article brings to the decision about moving the capital city.
Android Gait Recognition System

The increasing popularity of mobile devices such as smartphones has changed the way people access and manage data. With the increased capabilities of mobile phones, several services are now available on the go: banking, e-commerce, remote work, internet access or entertainment. Consequently, more confidential data is now stored on these devices which increases the risk of information and identity theft by non-authorized access to them. The need for methods more secure than the traditional password or PIN inputs is now more important than ever. Biometric-based authentication methods generally are more secure and are being increasingly adopted to enhance the security of data and services, since biometric traits cannot be lost or easily stolen and cannot be forgotten. In this dissertation a gait biometric recognition system is proposed and implemented in a smartphone using the Android operating system. The sensor used is a 3-axis accelerometer, which means that three different signals will be captured. On this thesis two methods of recognition were assessed; one combines three acceleration components using the Euclidean distance and the other where the signals are processed independently. The former method achieved promising results (EER=2.50%, FAR=2.05%, FRR=5.00%), but the latter turned out to be impracticable, since no valid operating point was found.
Membranes with different hydration levels: The interface between<ce:italic>bound</ce:italic>and<ce:italic>unbound</ce:italic>hydration water

The interaction of water with membranes is fundamental in many biological processes. Recently we found that, upon increasing hydration, water molecules first fill completely the interior of the membrane, next accumulate in layers in the exterior region. Here, we showby all-atom simulations that the translational and rotational dynamics of water molecules is strongly determined by their local distance to the membrane so that we can identify the existence of an interface between the first hydration shell, partially made of hydration water bound to the membrane, and the next shells entirely made of hydration water. Bound unbound hydration water has a possible structural role and an extremely slow dynamics, while unbound hydration water, with no water-lipids hydrogen bonds, has a dynamics ten time faster than bound water but still one order of magnitude slower than bulk water. Our results could be relevant to understand the slowdown of biological activity upon dehydration. © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Secure External Memory on Embedded Devices

—Security always has been a main concern in the FPGA-based systems, especially when these systems manipulate sensitive applications and data. Since Systems-on-Chip (SoC) are connected to an external memory, the content of this memory can easily be retrieved or tampered by physically probing the memory bus. While the existing state of the art already proposes several solutions, these are not completely secure and impose a signiﬁcant impact to the systems performance. This work proposes the design of a reliable system to properly secure the external memory of the device. The goal is to achieve a security system with low performance impact and low on-chip memory overhead. The presented solution was implemented Xillinx Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC architecture.
Changes in N-acetyltransferase 8 in kidney tubular cell Injury, recovery and mesenchymal stem/stromal cell treatment

Kidney disease is a worldwide health concern and a common consequence of acute insults (as hemorrhage, sepsis, drug toxicity) with unpredictable prognosis and lacking therapeutic options. Prolonged injury promotes progression to fibrosis and currently there are no drugs to reverse kidney disease progression. However, renal tubular epithelial cells (TECs) might dedifferentiate, proliferate and re-epithelize upon injury. N-acetyltransferase-8 (NAT8) is an enzyme highly expressed at the kidney and suggested to be renoprotective. This work assessed the expression of NAT8 throughout dedifferentiation and re-epithelization. As mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs)-based therapies have had positive outcomes, herein these were used as a tool to investigate NAT8 relevance for tubular repair. Hence, in an in vitro experimental setup the therapeutic potential of MSCs conditioned media (CM) and a possible link to NAT8 were investigated. TECs were exposed to transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1, injury stimulus) promoting dedifferentiation and TGF-β1 withdrawal induced re-epithelization. Results showed that prolonged injury was associated with a decrease in NAT8. The re-epithelization was biphasic with a decrease of NAT8 followed by a late rescue. When MSC-CM was used in the absence of a harmful stimulus promoted re-epithelization, which was not related with increase in NAT8 transcription. Contrastingly, MSC-CM addition was associated with marked recovery of NAT8 transcription under continued TGF-β1 exposure. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the paracrine effects of human MSCs on NAT8 in the kidney and the relevance of NAT8 to maintain regenerative potential when TECs undergo dedifferentiation.