Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Macular vessel density differs in multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder: An optical coherence tomography angiography study

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) are inflammatory and demyelinating diseases that commonly manifest with optic neuritis (ON) but differ in the pathogenic mechanism. Although it was shown that retinal vessels might alter in MS and NMOSD, a comparative study has not been reported. This study evaluated the macular vessel density in 40 MS patients, 13 NMOSD patients, and 20 controls using optical coherence tomography angiography. The vessel density of superficial capillary plexus (SCP) was significantly lower in ON eyes (MS+ON, NMOSD+ON) than in non-ON eyes (MS-ON, NMOSD-ON) and controls. The density of deep capillary plexus (DCP) was significantly increased in MS+ON and MS-ON eyes compared to healthy eyes. In NMOSD+ON and NMOSD-ON, the DCP did not remarkably differ from the control group. A significant positive correlation was noted between SCP and ganglion cell complex (GCC) thickness in MS+ON, MS-ON, and NMOSD+ON. The DCP did not significantly correlate with GCC thickness, but it increased or decreased with ganglion cell loss in MS and NMOSD, respectively. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the capillary changes in MS patients are secondary to ganglion cells’ atrophy, while vasculopathy seems to be a primary process in NMOSD patients.
Developing and Implementing Big Data Analytics in Marketing

Big Data represents the greatest game-changing chance and change in outlook for marketing since the creation of the telephone or the Web going standard. Big Data alludes to the ever-expanding volume, velocity, variety, variability and multifaceted nature of data. Big Data is the key result of the new promoting scene, conceived from the computerized world we currently live in for marketing associations. The expression "big data" doesn't simply allude to the information itself; it additionally alludes to the difficulties, capacities and skills related with putting away and examining such gigantic data sets to help a degree of decision-making that is more precise and timely than anything recently endeavored. Because of the many benefits of big data, the big data applications have appeared, and they can play important roles especially in making companies take informative business decisions in different fields, such as, healthcare, banking, manufacturing, media and entertainment, education and transportation and many others. This paper concentrates on the importance of Big Data Analytics nowadays, especially in the marketing process inside companies, as well as challenges and obstacles facing Big Data analytics, and a case study of a bank wanting to market a new financial tool to its customers is studied using R tool.
Eﬀect of Dexmeditomidine on Isoﬂuorane Consumption in Middle Ear Surgery

Background: With the introduction of intentional hypotensive anesthesia in the surgical field to achieve a relatively bloodless surgical field along with the use of the operative microscope, it has revolutionized the middle ear surgery practice. Dexmedetomidine is a relatively new and potent α2 agonist prototype found efficient in rendering bloodless intra-surgical field and inducing controlled hypotension during the surgeries of the middle ear. The objective is to present prospective study was aimed at evaluating with and without dexmedetomidine infusion effect on end-tidal isoflurane concentration for lowering blood pressure by 30%, awakening time and quality of bloodless surgical field during middle ear surgical procedure. Subjects and Methods:54 patients who were to undergo middle ear surgery and had ASA I and II were randomly divided into the two groups. In Group I Dexmedetomidine was used and in Group II Normal saline. Effect of Dexmedetomidine infusion on end-tidal isoflurane concentration for lowering blood pressure by 30%, awakening time, quality of bloodless surgical field during middle ear surgical procedure, heart rate was evaluated. The data collected were statistically analyzed. Results: The mean values of the heart rate were statistically non-significant between the groups when recorded at the baseline, whereas, a statistically significant difference was seen in the values for heart rate intra-operatively. The mean values for heart rates were significantly higher for the placebo group. A significant difference in Isoflurane concentration was found with dexmedetomidine requiring a percentage of 0.6 0.4 and normal saline 1.8 0.5. Less bleeding was seen with dexmedetomidine. Conclusion: Dexmedetomidine is a potent hypotensive agent which also reduces the requirement of Isoflurane compared to the normal saline placebo. The use of dexmedetomidine is relatively safe and provide a relatively bloodless surgical field, hence, increasing efficacy, and improving visibility at the surgical site.
Relationship between plant-available silicon and reducible iron in irrigated paddy soils

ABSTRACT To evaluate the influence of reducible iron (Fe) on the availability of silicon (Si) by rice (Oryza sativa L.), (1) relationships between the available Si content in soil (successive water elution method), the Si content in rice shoots and ears, and the levels of oxalate-extractable Si (Sio), Fe (Feo), and aluminum (Alo) in 13 paddy soils were analyzed; and (2) the Si concentration in soil solution following sequential flooding/drainage was traced in soil microcosm experiments. Both the available Si and Feo contents in soil were positively correlated with the Si content in rice shoots, while a similar correlation was not observed between the available Si, Sio and Feo. These results suggest that the Sio adsorbed to Feo is not necessary to determine the pool size of the Si available to plants. In microcosm experiments, intermittent drainages decreased Fe concentration in soil solutions by 83–96% compared to that in the continuous flooding treatment. The oxidation of Fe2+ resulted in the co-precipitation of Si with Fe. However, the decrease of Si in a soil solution following drainage was 22% or less, which were smaller than the values observed when solutions containing various ratios of metasilicic acid and Fe2+ were mixed under oxic conditions (24–97%). In addition, as the Si concentrations in soil solutions in the intermittent flooding treatment increased to the levels similar to those in the continuous flooding treatment after re-flooding before Fe was re-reduced, the effect of reduction/oxidation of Fe on the dissolved Si concentrations was small. Thus, the reducible Fe is not a major factor in rice-available Si in paddy soil.
Intelligent Bus Application for Smart City based on LoRa Technology and RBF Neural Network

Nowadays smart transportation is one of the most important smart city applications for all the facilities it provides, as well, achieves green transportation. One of these applications include bus monitoring systems for schools and universities. This paper proposes an integrated bus tracking and monitoring system using Internet of Things (IoT) mainly LoRa technology for Islamic University of Lebanon (IUL) to ease the bus issue that comprises a barrier for good service. In the proposed system, we have implemented a case study to monitor the position, speed, humidity and temperature of IUL shuttle buses. In addition to the tracking, a prediction algorithm is implemented for computation of the arrival time of the bus to the Wardanieh campus. The estimation is based on artificial intelligence neural network mainly the Radial Basis Function (RBF) algorithms for the sake of finding the predicted time of arrival in different locations and scenarios starting from Khaldeh campus to the Wardanieh campus. The collected data are instantly shown on a user interface for monitoring, whereas the exact location and arrival time of the bus will be displayed on an android application for students. Results show that the arrival estimated time error is about 0.18%.
Hacia una fundamentación de la Bioética Ambiental desde la visión de Fritz Jahr, Aldo Leopold y Van Rensselaer Potter

Resumen El presente artículo hace una reflexión acerca de los postulados ambientalistas inherentes al cuerpo teórico de la bioética. Se delimita la Bioética Ambiental en la visión de Potter, mediante el análisis de su obra. Se analiza del pensamiento de Leopold (1949), enfocado en una ética ecocéntrica. También se realiza un recuento de la propuesta de Jahr (1927), pensamiento antecesor de la bioética. Se desarrolla además una revisión de las propuestas sobre bioética ambiental en el ámbito latinoamericano. El objetivo de la investigación fue establecer unos postulados para el campo de estudio de la bioética ambiental que permitan una interpretación de la crisis ambiental, en el contexto de los ecosistemas planetarios. La metodología aplicada, bajo el enfoque cualitativo, consistió en una revisión documental, en perspectiva hermenéutica, de la obra de Jhar, Leopold y Potter; igualmente, de algunos estudios de autores latinoamericanos. Fue establecido como periodo de tiempo para la recolección de dicha información, los años de 1970 a 2017, periodo en el cual se produjeron los principales estudios internacionales sobre la problemática ambiental en el planeta. La reflexión permitió concluir que se consolidan en el ámbito de la bioética ambiental, cuatro actuaciones centrales: la defensa a ultranza de la vida, en cualquiera de sus manifestaciones; la promoción de la existencia de personas sanas en armonía con ecosistemas sanos; la estructuración de normas ambientales para la protección de las ciudades y los bosques; y producir industrialmente para una vida digna, bajo parámetros de protección de los ecosistemas.
KINETICS AND PREDICTIVE MODELING OF PATULIN DEGRADATION BY OZONE IN APPLE JUICE AND APPLE CIDER

Patulin is a secondary metabolite of fungi activity predominant in apples. It is a polyketide lactone mycotoxin proven to be carcinogenic and mutagenic according to animal studies. The FDA has established a 50μg/kg (50ppb) limit for patulin in apples and apple products. Previous studies have demonstrated that lactones are sensitive to ozone induced oxidation. Moreover, ozone has been shown to reduce microbial populations in juice products. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the kinetics of ozone-induced patulin reduction in an apple juice model system, to establish relationships between factors and the rate constant of the degradation reaction, to develop and validate a predictive model and to test its predictive power in apple juice and apple cider. Changes in the quality of ozone-treated apple juice and apple cider were also studied by comparing instrumental and sensory data. HPLC analysis for patulin showed that ozone induced degradation could be described by first order kinetics, and that initial patulin concentration, ozone concentration and temperature were significant (p<0.05) variables influencing patulin degradation. However, the reaction rate constant was not significantly affected by pH. A Response Surface Methodology (RSM) model was developed that adequately described the reaction. It was significant at p<0.001, and explained 99.30% of the variability in the reaction rate constant. The RSM model confirmed the significance (p<0.05) of the main iv effects and demonstrated a significant interaction between ozone concentration and temperature. Validation experiments showed no significant (p<0.05) difference between the predicted and observed values for the model system and apple juice, but a difference existed for apple cider. Total color change (ΔE) for apple juice was twice that for apple cider with greatest changes occurring for yellow (+b) values. Conversely, sensory studies showed greater overall effects on perceived color changes in apple cider compared to apple juice. Nevertheless, the results from this study demonstrate that ozone treatment can achieve more than 90% reduction in patulin levels without significantly (p<0.05) affecting perceived color, flavor, and aroma attributes of apple products.
Effect of the Plant Flavonoid Luteolin on a Mitochondrial Function in the Streptozotocin-induced Diabetic Rats

The state of the mitochondrial megapore (mitochondrial permeability transition pore-mPTP), respiration and oxidative phosphorylation of rat liver and pancreas mitochondria in streptozotocin (STZ) - induced diabetes were studied, considered the ways of correction of the detected membrane damage with the flavone luteolin isolated from the plant Inula caspica. It was shown that, under conditions of experimental diabetes mellitus, the rate of swelling of rat liver and pancreas mitochondria is higher than of the healthy ones; this means that mPTP of rat liver and pancreas mitochondria is in the open state in pathology. Luteolin recovers mPTP to the normal condition, thus removing the effect of STZ on mitochondria. It was also shown that, the respiration rate of liver and pancreatic mitochondria in the state 3 and state 4 states increases in STZ - induced diabetes, which significantly reduces the respiratory control (RC) and ADP/O coefficients in comparison with the control. The data obtained indicate the disconnection of respiration and oxidative phosphorylation in STZ - induced diabetes. Luteolin (oral dose is 50 mg/kg of body weight, during 8 days) eliminates the detected functional disorders of rat liver and pancreas mitochondria, probably due to its antioxidant properties.
Intervención de los procesos comunitarios en la actividad comercial de productores lecheros del municipio de Soracá

The objective of this article is to determine the community processes in the association of small dairy producers of the municipality of Soraca that take part in the development of their commercial activity. The analysis was carried out utilizing the Atlas Ti version 7.0 software, using two codings for the interpretation of the data, the open coding and the axial coding, reaching the categorization of the data; the categories were based on the data collected (interviews, observations, annotations and other data) Among the main results, two categories were established for analysis, which were Empowerment and Community Participation, which were the most relevant within the various dynamics that emerge in this rural community, such as the organizational elements and main economic activity; that is remarkable that as an emerging category, the context emerged which serves to interpret the other categories of analysis; and it also includes the subcategories of collection, legal and technical, which was of great interest when visualizing the knowledge and learning that the community has had throughout its formation as a dairy association and as a potentiality the gregarious learning subcategory arises that allows to explain the various interactions within this collective.
Serum Procalcitonin Levels in Patients with Acute Central Nervous System Infections

BACKGROUND: Bacterial infections of the brain are associated with high mortality and neurological sequelae, whereas viral diseases are usually self-limiting. A fast and easy-to-perform biomarker is needed to improve management in these patients. AIM: Procalcitonin (PCT) testing has already been implemented in many laboratories for evaluating septic patients and it is an easily accessible biomarker, so we aimed to examine its role specifically in discriminating acute bacterial from viral infections of the central nervous system (CNS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective study included 80 patients with both clinical symptoms and laboratory findings suggesting acute CNS infection. The microbiological analysis included direct microscopy, culturing, latex-agglutination test, and multiplex polymerase chain reaction. PCT levels were measured by enzyme-linked fluorescent assay technology. RESULTS: Following the results of the microbiological analysis, the cases were divided into three groups – bacterial 26.3% (n = 21), viral 17.5% (n = 14), and unidentified neuroinfections – 56.2% (n = 45). A statistically significant difference in the median serum PCT was observed between the bacterial and viral neuroinfections (p = 0.004) as well as between bacterial and unidentified infections of the brain (p = 0.000). No significant difference was found (p = 1.000) when comparing viral and unidentified neuroinfection. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for serum PCT was 0.823 but could be increased to 0.929 when combining serum PCT and C-reactive protein (CRP). CONCLUSION: Serum PCT levels are significantly higher in patients with acute bacterial infections of the brain. As a stand-alone biomarker, its discriminatory power is not superior to the classical laboratory parameters in the cerebrospinal fluid and serum CRP. However, when combined with serum CRP, excellent discriminatory power is observed.
Achieving of Country Image, Perceived Quality, and Brand Familiarity on Purchase Intention of Samsung Smartphone in Indonesia

The purpose of the study aims to analyze the influence of country image, perceived quality, and brand familiarity on the purchase intention of the Samsung smartphone in Indonesia. The sampling method used was a purposive sampling technique. Data sampling was obtained using 100 respondents. The data was collected by using a questionnaire given directly to the respondents. The analysis technique in this study used the Partial Least Square (PLS) data analysis method with the help of Smart-PLS 3 software. The results of this study indicate that country image has a negative and insignificant influence, while the perceived quality and brand familiarity have positive and significant influence on purchase intention
Genetic diversity among tropical maize inbred lines as revealed by SSR markers

Genetic diversity and phenotypic superiority are important attributes of parental inbred lines for use in hybrid breeding programs. In this study, genetic diversity among 30 maize (Zea mays L.) inbred lines comprising of 28 introductions from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), one from Indonesia and a locally developed, were evaluated using 100 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, as early screening for potential parents of hybrid varieties. All markers were polymorphic, with a total of 550 unique alleles detected on the 100 loci from the 30 inbred lines. Allelic richness ranged from 2 to 13 per locus, with an average of 5.50 alleles (na). Number of effective alleles (ne) was 3.75 per locus, indicating their high effectiveness in revealing diversity among inbred lines. Average polymorphic information content (PIC) was 0.624, with values ranging from 0.178 to 0.874, indicating high informativeness of the markers. High gene diversity was observed on Chromosomes 8 and 4, with high number of effective alleles, indicating their potential usefulness for QTL analysis. The UPGMA dendrogram constructed identified four heterotic groups within a similarity index of 0.350, indicating that these markers were able to group the inbred lines. The three-dimensional PCoA plot also supports the dendrogram grouping, indicating that these two methods complement each other. Inbred lines in different heterotic groups have originated from different backgrounds and population sources. Information on genetic diversity among the maize inbred lines are useful in developing strategies exploiting heterosis in breeding programs
Learning Strategies to Improve Computational Thinking in Problem Solving

Computational thinking is an ability needed to face technological advancement and today's complex development. In the 21st century, through computational thinking students are guided to have critical, creative, communicative thinking skills and be able to collaborate in problem solving. With the right learning strategy, the goals of education in preparing students can be achieved. However, the achievement in learning to improve students' computational thinking is still unsatisfactory. This can be seen from the number of graduates who are currently unemployed due to a lack of skills or provisions in facing technological developments. In this case, an appropriate learning strategy needs to be applied. This article uses a literature study to find out appropriate learning strategies to improve computational wondering to remedy troubles of the research.
INFLUÊNCIA DOS OBJETIVOS COLABORATIVOS NA MENSURAÇÃO DO DESEMPENHO DA COOPERAÇÃO MEDIADA PELAS CARACTERÍSTICAS DE TRANSAÇÃO

RESUMO Este estudo analisa a influência dos objetivos colaborativos nas práticas da mensuração do desempenho da cooperação, mediada pelas características de transação do setor de compras de hospitais. Uma survey foi realizada com 1.224 indivíduos da área de compras de hospitais do Brasil identificados no LinkedIn, desses 529 aceitaram o convite para participar da rede, aos quais se enviou o link do questionário, e a amostra final consiste das 120 respostas válidas. Para análise dos dados foi aplicada a modelagem de equações estruturais. Os resultados indicam que os objetivos colaborativos influenciam positivamente as características de transação entre comprador-fornecedor, assim como a mensuração do desempenho da cooperação. Porém, não foi observada mediação das características de transação entre comprador-fornecedor na relação dos objetivos colaborativos com a mensuração do desempenho. Conclui-se que quanto mais objetivos colaborativos houver no setor de compras de hospitais, menos arriscadas serão as características de transação relativas à variabilidade ambiental e interdependência de tarefas e, quanto maiores forem os objetivos colaborativos, melhor será o desempenho da cooperação comprador-fornecedor. O estudo contribui ao ressaltar a influência dos objetivos colaborativos no setor de compras de hospitais, tendo em vista a variabilidade ambiental e interdependência de tarefas, assim como o desempenho operacional, dos funcionários e de inovação.
Membrane disrupting peptides: mechanistic elucidation of antimicrobial activity

Membrane-disrupting peptides have long been considered as promising anti-infective and anticancer agents. Over the last decade significant progress has been made in the elucidation of their modes of action using high-resolution measurements. Of particular interest are fundamental insights obtained using time resolved imaging capabilities which enable the direct visualisation of membrane disruption at the nanoscale. These new insights help revise existing concepts and models proposed for antimicrobial mechanisms and improve our understanding of structure–function relationships in membrane-disrupting peptides allowing for the design of more effective antimicrobials. In this chapter various mechanisms discovered by atomic force microscopy imaging performed in aqueous environments are discussed. An emphasis is made on the impact peptide sequence, structure and environment have on the observed mechanisms.