Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Practical Clinical and Diagnostic Pathway for the Investigation of the Infertile Couple

Capsule This expert opinion summarizes current knowledge on risk factors for infertility and identifies a practical clinical and diagnostic approach for the male and female partners of an infertile couple aimed to improve the investigation and management of fertility problems. Background Infertility represents an important and growing health problem affecting up to 16% of couples worldwide. In most cases, male, female, or combined factor can be identified, and different causes or risk factors have been related to this condition. However, there are no standardized guidelines on the clinical-diagnostic approach of infertile couples and the recommendations concerning infertility are sometimes lacking, incomplete, or problematic to apply. Objective The aim of this work is to provide an appropriate clinical and diagnostic pathway for infertile couples designed by a multidisciplinary-team of experts. The rationale is based on the history and physical examination and then oriented on the basis of initial investigations. This approach could be applied in order to reduce variation in practice and to improve the investigation and management of fertility problems. Methods Prominent Italian experts of the main specialties committed in the ART procedures, including gynecologists, andrologists, embryologists, biologists, geneticists, oncologists, and microbiologists, called “InfertilItaly group”, used available evidence to develop this expert position. Outcomes Starting from the individuation of the principal risk factors that may influence the fertility of females and males and both genders, the work group identified most appropriate procedures using a gradual approach to both partners aimed to obtain a precise diagnosis and the most effective therapeutic option, reducing invasive and occasionally redundant procedures. Conclusions This expert position provides current knowledge on risk factors and suggests a diagnostic workflow of infertile couples. By using this step-by-step approach, health care workers involved in ART, may individuate a practical clinical management of infertile couples shared by experts.
Donor-Derived Myeloid Heme Oxygenase-1 Controls the Development of Graft-Versus-Host Disease

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) remains a major clinical drawback of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Here, we investigated how the stress responsive heme catabolizing enzyme heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1, encoded by HMOX1) regulates GVHD in response to allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in mice and humans. We found that deletion of the Hmox1 allele, specifically in the myeloid compartment of mouse donor bone marrow, promotes the development of aggressive GVHD after allogeneic transplantation. The mechanism driving GVHD in mice transplanted with allogeneic bone marrow lacking HO-1 expression in the myeloid compartment involves enhanced T cell alloreactivity. The clinical relevance of these observations was validated in two independent cohorts of HSCT patients. Individuals transplanted with hematopoietic stem cells from donors carrying a long homozygous (GT)n repeat polymorphism (L/L) in the HMOX1 promoter, which is associated with lower HO-1 expression, were at higher risk of developing severe acute GVHD as compared to donors carrying a short (GT)n repeat (S/L or S/S) polymorphism associated with higher HO-1 expression. In this study, we showed the unique importance of donor-derived myeloid HO-1 in the prevention of lethal experimental GVHD and we corroborated this observation by demonstrating the association between human HMOX1 (GT)n microsatellite polymorphisms and the incidence of severe acute GVHD in two independent HSCT patient cohorts. Donor-derived myeloid HO-1 constitutes a potential therapeutic target for HSCT patients and large-scale prospective studies in HSCT patients are necessary to validate the HO-1 L/L genotype as an independent risk factor for developing severe acute GVHD.
Reaction of Human Monoclonal Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 Proteins With Tissue Antigens: Implications for Autoimmune Diseases

We sought to determine whether immune reactivity occurs between anti-SARS-CoV-2 protein antibodies and human tissue antigens, and whether molecular mimicry between COVID-19 viral proteins and human tissues could be the cause. We applied both human monoclonal anti-SARS-Cov-2 antibodies (spike protein, nucleoprotein) and rabbit polyclonal anti-SARS-Cov-2 antibodies (envelope protein, membrane protein) to 55 different tissue antigens. We found that SARS-CoV-2 antibodies had reactions with 28 out of 55 tissue antigens, representing a diversity of tissue groups that included barrier proteins, gastrointestinal, thyroid and neural tissues, and more. We also did selective epitope mapping using BLAST and showed similarities and homology between spike, nucleoprotein, and many other SARS-CoV-2 proteins with the human tissue antigens mitochondria M2, F-actin and TPO. This extensive immune cross-reactivity between SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and different antigen groups may play a role in the multi-system disease process of COVID-19, influence the severity of the disease, precipitate the onset of autoimmunity in susceptible subgroups, and potentially exacerbate autoimmunity in subjects that have pre-existing autoimmune diseases. Very recently, human monoclonal antibodies were approved for use on patients with COVID-19. The human monoclonal antibodies used in this study are almost identical with these approved antibodies. Thus, our results can establish the potential risk for autoimmunity and multi-system disorders with COVID-19 that may come from cross-reactivity between our own human tissues and this dreaded virus, and thus ensure that the badly-needed vaccines and treatments being developed for it are truly safe to use against this disease.
Control of THz Surface Plasmons by Geometric Phases

Surface plasmons (SPs) are expected to have a wide range of applications in many fields, so they have recently attracted much attention. However, most of the previous studies achieved the manipulation of SPs through designing the structure of the individual meta-atom. When developing the next generation of integrated photonic devices and components, it is essential to seek out new methods of software control, which enable more diverse modulation and higher efficiency. Here, the tunable emission of SPs with metasurfaces is systematically studied. SPs are a source of on-chip plasmonic vortices (PVs). To verify the controllability of the directional excitation of SPs, we designed beam deflectors with different angles of surface waves (SWs). Furthermore, PVs with different topological charges were generated by arranging spatially varied microslits. The proposed control strategy provides a common platform for various promising applications, such as on-chip generation of the propagation control of SPs and PVs.
Factors Associated with Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS) Severity in Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Undergoing IVF/ICSI

Introduction Age, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), low body mass index (BMI), high antral follicle count (AFC), increased anti-Muller hormone (AMH) levels, and elevated serum estradiol (E2) concentrations are risk factors for ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). However, data on the relationship between risk factors and OHSS severity in patients with PCOS are rare. Objective This retrospective study examined the risk factors for OHSS and their effect on OHSS severity in patients with PCOS undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Method The records of 2,699 women were reviewed and included in this study. These women were diagnosed with PCOS during their first IVF/ICSI cycle between January 2010 and December 2017. We analyzed the association between each of the interrogated risk factors (including female age, BMI, AFC, basal serum E2, and the number of oocytes retrieved) and OHSS. The effects of each risk factor on OHSS severity were further explored. Logistic regression was performed as part of the above analysis. Results Of the 2,699 women with PCOS who underwent assisted reproductive technology (ART), 75.2% had a normal response to controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH), while 24.8% developed OHSS. All OHSS patients were younger and had lower BMIs and basal serum follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and E2 levels but higher AFCs than those in the normal group. AFC demonstrated a strong correlation with OHSS, with a cutoff value of 24 in patients with PCOS. A total of 19.5% of the patients had mild OHSS, while 80.5% had moderate OHSS. Compared with those in the moderate OHSS group, those in the mild OHSS group were older and had higher basal serum FSH levels and lower serum E2 and T levels. However, BMI and AFC were not different between the mild and moderate OHSS groups. Basal serum E2 showed a strong correlation with OHSS severity, with a cutoff value of 37.94 pg/ml. Conclusions AFC is a strong marker of OHSS, and basal serum E2 is the best predictor of OHSS severity in women with PCOS undergoing IVF treatment.
SP-A and SP-D: Dual Functioning Immune Molecules With Antiviral and Immunomodulatory Properties

Surfactant proteins A (SP-A) and D (SP-D) are soluble innate immune molecules which maintain lung homeostasis through their dual roles as anti-infectious and immunomodulatory agents. SP-A and SP-D bind numerous viruses including influenza A virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), enhancing their clearance from mucosal points of entry and modulating the inflammatory response. They also have diverse roles in mediating innate and adaptive cell functions and in clearing apoptotic cells, allergens and other noxious particles. Here, we review how the properties of these first line defense molecules modulate inflammatory responses, as well as host-mediated immunopathology in response to viral infections. Since SP-A and SP-D are known to offer protection from viral and other infections, if their levels are decreased in some disease states as they are in severe asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), this may confer an increased risk of viral infection and exacerbations of disease. Recombinant molecules of SP-A and SP-D could be useful in both blocking respiratory viral infection while also modulating the immune system to prevent excessive inflammatory responses seen in, for example, RSV or coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Recombinant SP-A and SP-D could have therapeutic potential in neutralizing both current and future strains of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus as well as modulating the inflammation-mediated pathology associated with COVID-19. A recombinant fragment of human (rfh)SP-D has recently been shown to neutralize SARS-CoV-2. Further work investigating the potential therapeutic role of SP-A and SP-D in COVID-19 and other infectious and inflammatory diseases is indicated.
Photochemical transformation of dissolved organic matter in lakes

In a survey of photochemical transformation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in lake water, we found photochemical production of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and low molecular weight carboxylic acids (oxalic, malonic, formic, and acetic acid), upon simulated solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure of filter‐sterilized surface water from 38 investigated lakes. Given the large variability in water chemistry of the studied systems, we suggest that these photoproducts are universally produced in sunlight exposed lake water. The measured production of carboxylic acid carbon corresponded to 34.4% (median) of the produced DIC. The production of DIC and carboxylic acids during 8 h of mild UV irradiation corresponded to an average of 4.7% (SD 2.9) of the total dissolved organic carbon pool. Hence, photochemical degradation could be a major sink for DOM in the surface layer of lakes. All photoreaction rates were strongly correlated to the total radiation absorbed during UV exposure (rs2 > 0.8), which depends mainly on amount of colored DOM in the water. The variability in DIC production after normalizing for absorbed radiation energy could partly be attributed to general water chemistry parameters (e.g., pH, iron concentration, conductivity).
When Tesseract Does It Alone

Optical character recognition of scanned images for contemporary printed texts is widely considered a solved problem. However, the optical character recognition of early printed books and reprints of Me-dieval texts remains an open challenge. In our work, we present a dataset of 19th and 20th century letterpress reprints of documents from the Hus-site era (1419–1436) and perform a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of speed and accuracy on six existing ocr algorithms. We conclude that the Tesseract family of ocr algoritms is the fastest and the most accurate on our dataset, and we suggest improvements to our dataset.
The Art of Reproducible Machine Learning

Since the seminal work of Mikolov et al. (2013), word vectors of log-bilinear svms have found their way into many nlp applications as an un-supervised measure of word relatedness. Due to the rapid pace of research and the publish-or-perish mantra of academic publishing, word vector experiments contain undisclosed parameters, which make them difficult to reproduce. In our work, we introduce the experiments and their parameters, compare the published experimental results with our own, and suggest default parameter settings and ways to make previous and future experiments easier to reproduce. We show that the lack of variable control can cause up to 24% difference in accuracy on the word analogy tasks.
ON THE THERMODYNAMICS OF ANTIOXIDANT ACTION OF NATURALLY OCCURRING HYDROXYDERIVATIVES OF CIS-CINNAMIC ACID

Antioxidant activity represents one of the important features of phenolic acids, such as hydroxyderivatives of cinnamic acid. However, in the case of cis-cinnamic acid derivatives, corresponding thermochemistry data can be still considered scarce. This work is focused on the two most relevant mechanisms of primary antioxidant action in gas-phase, non-polar benzene and in aqueous solution. Reaction enthalpies describing thermodynamics of Hydrogen Atom Transfer (HAT) and Sequential Proton-Loss – Electron Transfer (SPLET) mechanisms were theoretically investigated using (SMD) M06-2X/6-311++G(d,p) method for cis-ortho-coumaric, cis-meta-coumaric, cis-para-coumaric, cis-ferulic, cis-sinapic and cis-caffeic acid and their carboxylate anions. The effect of carboxyl COOH group deprotonation on the thermodynamics of studied mechanisms was assessed for the three environments.
Emission Map Construction for Simulated Galaxies

We apply photo-dissociation (PDR) molecular line emission models to the gas of simulated galaxies in post-processing mode and produce emission maps for the rotational transitions of the CO molecule and its CO isotope up to J = 4 − 3. We use these maps to investigate the occurrence and effect of mechanical feedback on the physical parameters obtained from molecular line intensity ratios. We consider two galaxy models: a small disk galaxy of solar metallicity and a lighter dwarf galaxy with 0.2 Z⊙ metallicity. Elevated excitation temperature for CO(1 − 0) correlate positively with mechanical feedback, which is enhanced towards the central region of both model galaxies. The emission maps of these model galaxies are used to compute line ratios of CO and CO transitions. These line ratios are used as diagnostics where we attempt to match them using a single component mechanically heated equilibrium PDR. We find that PDRs ignoring mechanical feedback in the heating budget over-estimate the gas density by a factor of 100 and the far-UV flux by factors of ∼ 10 − 1000. In contrast, PDRs that take mechanical feedback into account are able to fit all the line ratios for the central < 2 kpc of the fiducial disk galaxy quite well. The mean mechanical heating rate per H atom that we recover from the line ratio fits of this region varies between 10 – 10 erg cm s . Moreover the mean gas density, mechanical heating rate, and the AV are recovered to less than half dex. On the other hand our single component PDR model fit is not suitable for determining the actual gas parameters of the dwarf galaxy although the quality of the fit line ratios are comparable to that of the disk galaxy.
Origin of electron spin resonance in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3

An electron spin resonance study was carried out for a La0.7Ca0. 3MnO3 bulk sample above the ferromagnetic ordering temperature. From careful analysis on the ESR parameters, it is shown that itinerant spins interacting with magnetic spin clusters in bottleneck regime are responsible for the ESR signals.
Molecular and Hormonal Study(Testosterone and Luteinizing hormone) among Applicants For Marriage and Blood Donors Peoples who Infected With Toxoplasma gondii in Babylon Province , Iraq

Toxoplasma gondii is one of infectious pathogens to human and animals, it has been estimated that on third of the world population has been infected. This object aimed to detection of T.gondii by polymerase chain reaction and studies the relationship between toxoplasmosis and Testosterone hormone and Luteinizing Hormone. A total of three hundredsix blood sample were collected from applicants for marriage and blood donors, detection of parasite antibody was done by using (ELISA IgG and ELISAIgM ). Testosterone hormone and luteinizing hormone (LH) was also detected to perform its effect during toxoplasmosis infection and detection of parasite by PCR technique 66 out of 306 blood samples were positive by using ELIZA in which20 blood samples were positive by using PCR. The percentage of infection was highest in the females for positive cases of IgG (25%) and the lowest rates were in the males for positive cases of IgG (22%) in the (37-41) age groups. there were significant difference between blood group ( <0.05), the highest rates of the IgG focused in the blood group O (36.8 %)and the lowest rates of the IgG focused in the blood group B (11.1%). the results show decrease in the mean of testosterone concentration in three group( Married and have children, Married and has no children and not get married) as( 6.63± 1.8, 4.45± 0.5 and 7.01 ± 2) ng/ml ,respectively, compared to control, Whereas there are increase in the means of luteinizing hormones concentration in two group married and have children and married and has no children) as (5.62±2.4 , 8.57±0.7)mIU/ml.
A Cloud-based Intelligent Remote Patient Monitoring Architecture

— The increase in population and the need for high standard of welfare and healthcare are today's challenges for emerging technologies in healthcare. The monitoring of patient health status and medical variables is essential in physicians’ diagnostic processes. We propose a new approach for intelligent remote patient monitoring (RPM). We recommend a system architecture that involves all major groups in any healthcare services. The proposed solution will be entirely cloud-based, enabling hospitals to achieve a more cost-effective management, higher speed for their medical processes, and increased quality of medical services. The main objective of the system is to monitor the health status of patients and generate alerts when undesired medical conditions are predicted.
Historical trends among cestode research of vertebrates in the
Philippines

The study of cestodology has provided an increased understanding of global parasite epidemiology and has contributed to the decrease of human health risks caused by parasite infections. Research trends over past decades have proven that more species have yet to be discovered. An analysis of the trend of cestode studies among vertebrates in the Philippines is hereby presented in aspects of (1) peer-reviewed readership, (2) host taxa studied, (3) geographical distribution, and (3) target parasite species of interest. A survey of 182 publications in primary scientific and grey literature from 1904 to 2017 revealed that most studies were published locally. Likewise, a number of papers favored mammals, particularly humans, as the preferred vertebrate host of study. Looking into geographical distribution, a great number of publications focused on Luzon Island and was concentrated in Manila. Cestode species reported so far in the country belong to order Cyclophyllidea, with Taenia solium and T. saginata as the preferred species to be investigated. Looking into these, we suggest that a shift into the application of molecular systematics and biotechnology would further develop Philippine cestode research, given that the historical trend has focused on parasite discovery, identity, and classification. May this paper be a call to further fill the gaps in what is known about cestodes and other parasites in the Philippines, given the country’s potential for further discoveries.
Biosynthesis, Characterization and Material Applications of Gold, Silver, and Palladium Nanoparticles using Aqueous Extract of Basella alba Leaves (Basellaceae)

Gold, silver, and palladium nanoparticles were synthesized using aqueous extract of Bassella alba leaves as reducing, capping, and stabilizing agents. Characterization of nanoparticles was carried out using UV-Visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). All the metal nanoparticles exhibited face centered cubic crystalline structures. TEM images exhibited close spherical morphology with particle size ranges of 20-25 nm, 16-25 nm and 10-14 nm for gold, silver and palladium nanoparticles respectively. A simple, efficient and ecofriendly route of metal nanoparticles was established and basic applications are stressed. (
Towards powering nanometer-scale devices with molecular motors: Single molecule engines

Future nanodevices such as levers, valves, pumps, and other functional parts will require molecular motors to generate mechanical work. Electrochemically switchable single polymer chains are possible candidates for such motors. The proof of principle that such a single macromolecular motor can work has been achieved using poly(ferrocenyldimethylsilane) (PFS). PFS can reversibly be oxidized and reduced by an external potential. This leads to changes in its mechanical properties, which can be used to drive a cyclic molecular engine. Such a system is compatible with a high density array of individually addressable molecular motors, e.g. by interfacing with electrodes smaller than the diffraction limit of light.
Unsupervised Video Object Segmentation using Online Mask Selection and Space-time Memory Networks

In this work we present an approach for Unsupervised Video Object Segmentation. We build on a semi supervised method, Video Object Segmentation Using Space-Time Memory Networks(STM)[11], for unsupervised scenarios. STM stores some of the previous frames and masks as memory and uses that as temporal knowledge to predict the masks in the current frame. There is a high possibility that all the objects are not detected in the ﬁrst frame hence we modify the method to add and track the newly added objects. We noticed that even if an object gets detected in a frame the mask quality of propagated objects degrades sig-niﬁcantly sometimes. As the output of STM depends on previous masks, once the mask quality degrades it is very difﬁ-cult to recover good masks. Hence, we also improve masks in an online manner. We propose a novel selection criterion, SelectorNet which evaluates the quality of masks. We evaluated our method on DAVIS 2019 Unsupervised challenge dataset and achieved the state of the art performance with J & F mean 61.6%.