Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Treatment for Severe Coronavirus Disease 2019 With the Seraph-100 Microbind Affinity Blood Filter

Objectives: To determine whether Seraph-100 (Exthera Medical Corporation, Martinez, CA) treatment provides clinical benefit for severe coronavirus disease 2019 cases that require mechanical ventilation and vasopressor support. Data Sources: The first two patients in the United States treated with the novel Seraph-100 device. These cases were reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration prior to granting an emergency use authorization for treatment of coronavirus disease 2019. Study Selection: Case series. Data Extraction: Vasopressor dose, mean arterial pressure, temperature, interleukin-6, C-reactive protein, and other biomarker levels were documented both before and after Seraph-100 treatments. Data Synthesis: Vasopressor dose, temperature, interleukin-6, and C-reactive protein levels declined after Seraph-100 treatments. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 viremia was confirmed in the one patient tested and cleared by the completion of treatments. Conclusions: Seraph-100 use may improve hemodynamic stability in coronavirus disease 2019 cases requiring mechanical ventilation and vasopressor support. These findings warrant future study of a larger cohort with the addition of mortality and total hospital day outcomes.
Downstream processing of pectinase produced by Aspergillus niger in solid state cultivation and its application to fruit juices clarification

In this work, a protocol for the formulation of an enzyme concentrated product to be applied in fruit juice treatment is described. Downstream processing conditions for the recovery and concentration of pectinases produced by the new strain Aspergillus niger LB-02-SF in solid state cultivation were assessed. The solid-liquid ratio in the extraction step of pectinases recovery from the cultivated media was evaluated and the highest activity was obtained with a solid-liquid ratio of 1:10. The crude extract was concentrated by ultrafiltration and the total pectinase (TP) activity was 73.6-fold concentrated in relation to the crude extract, and a final TP titer of 663 U mL–1 was obtained with 73.7% of recovery yield. KCl and different glycerol concentrations were added to the concentrated extract and the stability of pectinases during the storage at 5°C for 59 weeks was tested. The formulation with 50% w/w glycerol was applied to the treatment of apple and grape juices and the results of these tests were statistically comparable to those obtained with two high-quality commercial preparations.
ADELE: Care and Companionship for Independent Aging

Dialogue system technology offers interesting prospects for services to seniors living independently. A spoken or text dialog system can support services such as monitoring medication adherence, fall prevention and reporting, exercise and wellbeing coaching, entertainment, companionship and the maintenance of social networks. Such systems would amalgamate several different types of conversation or speech-exchange systems, from welldefined tasks to engaging talk. Knowledge of how these types of talk function is essential to system design. The ADELE project aims to build an agent, ADELE, which can provide a range of services to seniors. Below, we outline plans for the system and describe challenges we anticipate in implementing the system.
Targeted Inspection of Environmental Mycological Load for Mitigation of Indoor Mold toward Improved Public Health

Fungi and their toxic metabolites have been pinpointed as possible causes of sick building syndrome, an illness associated with poor indoor ventilation. Certain risk groups, such as hospitalized patients, the elderly and young children, tend to be more susceptible. Substantial effort has been devoted to establishing optimal fungal monitoring techniques and identification protocols. This overview screens the available monitoring and identification methods which may provide qualitative or quantitative information about the presence of particular fungi or their secondary metabolites/ mycotoxins and evaluation of their effect on the potential improvement in the associated health symptomology and the establishment of the pathophysiological mechanism involved in this process. Certain target locations, where mycological contamination is more likely to occur and certain risk groups that are in need of stricter environmental inspection and more refined fungal monitoring and identification protocols, are addressed. In assessing the impact of environmental inspection, there is no gold standard for the expected response rate in terms of fungal load reduction and its significance. This lack of standards and the limitations in associating specific fungal contamination with health effects may be related to the determination of indoor fungal load. This could be the result of either reporting biases of dampness or the choice of method used to monitor fungal load. Refined fungal monitoring and identification protocols are suggested for the more specific targeting of fungal isolates, their identification and quantification.
Revisiting nonclassical HLA II functions in antigen presentation: Peptide editing and its modulation

The nonclassical major histocompatibility complex of class II molecules (ncMHCII) HLA‐DM (DM) and HLA‐DO (DO) feature essential functions for the selection of the peptides that are displayed by classical MHCII proteins (MHCII) for CD4+ Th cell surveillance. Thus, although the binding groove of classical MHCII dictates the main features of the peptides displayed, ncMHCII function defines the preferential loading of peptides from specific cellular compartments and the extent to which they are presented. DM acts as a chaperone for classical MHCII molecules facilitating peptide exchange and thereby favoring the binding of peptide‐MHCII complexes of high kinetic stability mostly in late endosomal compartments. DO on the other hand binds to DM blocking its peptide‐editing function in B cells and thymic epithelial cells, limiting DM activity in these cellular subsets. DM and DO distinct expression patterns therefore define specific antigen presentation profiles that select unique peptide pools for each set of antigen presenting cell. We have come a long way understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of such distinct editing profiles and start to grasp the implications for ncMHCII biological function. DM acts as filter for the selection of immunodominant, pathogen‐derived epitopes while DO blocks DM activity under certain physiological conditions to promote tolerance to self. Interestingly, recent findings have shown that the unexplored and neglected ncMHCII genetic diversity modulates retroviral infection in mouse, and affects human ncMHCII function. This review aims at highlighting the importance of ncMHCII function for CD4+ Th cell responses while integrating and evaluating what could be the impact of distinct editing profiles because of natural genetic variations.
Frailty and Sleep Disorder in Chronic Liver Diseases

We aimed to investigate the association in frailty and sleep disorder as assessed by the Japanese version of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI-J) in patients with chronic liver diseases (CLDs, n = 317, 141 males). Frailty was determined using the following five phenotypes: unintentional body weight loss, self-reported exhaustion, muscle weakness, slow walking speed, and low physical activity. Sleep disorder was defined as patients with PSQI-J score 6 or greater. Robust (phenotype, 0), prefrail (1 or 2 phenotypes) and frailty (3 phenotypes or greater) were observed in 101 (31.9%), 174 (54.9%) and 42 (13.2%), respectively. The median (interquartile range (IQR)) PSQI-J score was 4 (3, 7). Sleep disorder was found in 115 patients (36.3%). The median (IQR) PSQI-J scores in patients of the robust, prefrail, and frail groups were 3 (2, 5), 5 (3, 7), and 8 (4.75, 10.25), respectively (p < 0.0001 between any two groups and overall p < 0.0001). The ratios of sleep disorder in patients with robust, prefrail and frailty were 15.8% (16/101), 39.1% (68/174), and 73.8% (31/42), respectively (overall p < 0.0001). In conclusion, CLD patients with frailty can involve poorer sleep quality. As sleep disorder in CLDs is potentially remediable, future frailty-preventive strategies must take sleep complaints into account.
Concentrating Too Hard? Foreign and Corporate Venture Capital Involvement in Syndicates

We investigate the relationship between investment of corporate venture capital (CVC) and foreign venture capital (FVC), and the concentration of investors involved in a financing round. As forms of venture capital distinct from independent venture capital, CVC and FVC can offer different value to new ventures. However, having FVC or CVC investors in the syndicate can also pose additional risks to other investors. We find that a corporate venture capital or a foreign venture capital affiliation is related to lower concentration of investors. Our results suggest that the investors evaluate not only the venture but also their syndicate partners in determining their relative share of round investment.
Correlation between Internet addiction, depression, anxiety and stress among undergraduate medical students in Azad Kashmir

Objective: To find out the correlation between internet addiction and depression, anxiety, and stress among undergraduate medical students in Azad Kashmir. Methods: A cross-sectional study including 210 undergraduate medical students (first to the fifth year) was done in Poonch Medical College, Azad Kashmir. The data collection tools were DASS21 questionnaire and Young’s internet addiction questionnaire. Spearman rank correlation test was done to see the correlation between internet addiction and depression, anxiety, and stress. Data were analyzed by SPSS v23 at a 95% confidence interval. Results: A very high prevalence (52.4%) of moderate to extremely severe internet addiction was observed among the respondents. The mild positive correlation between internet addiction and depression was identified (p <.001) and similar type of correlation was observed between internet addiction and stress (p .003). However, anxiety and internet addiction were not significantly correlated. The prevalence of anxiety and depression among the males were higher than the females, whilst the stress level was almost the same across gender. Conclusion: Internet addiction has been found to be associated with various psychiatric diseases. In this study, we also observed such correlation. We have also observed a very high level of internet addiction among medical students. The prevalence of internet addiction may further increase in the coming years as the internet will become more cheap, available and include more high quality psychologically addictive contents.
A Hardware-Efficient Logarithmic Multiplier with Improved Accuracy

Logarithmic multipliers take the base-2 logarithm of the operands and perform multiplication by only using shift and addition operations. Since computing the logarithm is often an approximate process, some accuracy loss is inevitable in such designs. However, the area, latency, and power consumption can be significantly improved at the cost of accuracy loss. This paper presents a novel method to approximate log2N that, unlike the existing approaches, rounds N to its nearest power of two instead of the highest power of two smaller than or equal to N. This approximation technique is then used to design two improved 16×16 logarithmic multipliers that use exact and approximate adders (ILM-EA and ILM-AA, respectively). These multipliers achieve up to 24.42% and 9.82% savings in area and power-delay product, respectively, compared to the state-of-the-art design in the literature with similar accuracy. The proposed designs are evaluated in the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) image compression algorithm and their advantages over other approximate logarithmic multipliers are shown.
Predicting Stomatal Closure and Turgor Loss in Woody Plants Using Predawn and Midday Water Potential1[OPEN]

The relationship of plant water potential at predawn and midday exhibits three distinct phases, and the boundaries between phases predict stomatal closure and turgor loss. Knowledge about physiological stress thresholds provides crucial information about plant performance and survival under drought. In this study, we report on the triphasic nature of the relationship between plant water potential (Ψ) at predawn and midday and describe a method that predicts Ψ at stomatal closure and turgor loss exclusively from this water potential curve (WP curve). The method is based on a piecewise linear regression model that was developed to predict the boundaries (termed Θ1 and Θ2) separating the three phases of the curve and corresponding slope values. The method was tested for three economically important woody species. For all species, midday Ψ was much more negative than predawn Ψ during phase I (mild drought), reductions in midday Ψ were minor while predawn Ψ continued to decline during phase II (moderate drought), and midday and predawn Ψ reached similar values during phase III (severe drought). Corresponding measurement of leaf gas exchange indicated that boundary Θ1 between phases I and II coincided with Ψ at stomatal closure. Data from pressure-volume curves demonstrated that boundary Θ2 between phases II and III predicted Ψ at leaf turgor loss. The WP curve method described here is an advanced application of the Scholander-type pressure chamber to categorize plant dehydration under drought into three distinct phases and to predict Ψ thresholds of stomatal closure and turgor loss.
Perioperative outcome of severe rigid idiopathic scoliosis: Single-staged posterior spinal fusion utilizing a dual attending surgeon strategy. A report of 41 patients

Purpose: Various surgical strategies including combined approach and spinal osteotomies in severe rigid scoliosis had been reported with significant perioperative complication rates. The use of single-staged posterior spinal fusion (PSF) utilizing a dual attending surgeon strategy for severe rigid scoliosis has not been widely reported. Methods: This was a retrospective study aimed to evaluate the perioperative outcome of single-staged PSF in severe rigid idiopathic scoliosis patients (Cobb angle ≥90° and ≤30% flexibility). Forty-one patients with severe rigid idiopathic scoliosis who underwent single-staged PSF were included. The perioperative outcome parameters were operation duration, intraoperative blood loss, intraoperative hemodynamic parameters, preoperative and postoperative hemoglobin, transfusion rate, patient-controlled anesthesia morphine usage, length of postoperative hospital stay, and perioperative complications. Radiological parameters included preoperative and postoperative Cobb angle, correction rate, side-bending flexibility, and side-bending correction index. Results: The mean age was 16.9 ± 5.6 years. The mean preoperative Cobb angle was 110.8 ± 12.1° with mean flexibility of 23.1 ± 6.3%. The mean operation duration was 215.5 ± 45.2 min with mean blood loss of 1752.6 ± 830.5 mL. The allogeneic blood transfusion rate was 24.4%. The mean postoperative hospital stay was 76.9 ± 26.7 h. The mean postoperative Cobb angle and correction rate were 54.4 ± 12.8° and 50.9 ± 10.1%, respectively. The readmission rate in this cohort was 2.4%. Four perioperative complications were documented (9.8%), one somatosensory evoke potential signal loss, one superficial infection, one lung collapse, and one superior mesenteric artery syndrome. Conclusions: Severe rigid idiopathic scoliosis treated with single-staged PSF utilizing a dual attending surgeon strategy demonstrated an average correction rate of 50.9%, operation duration of 215.5 min, and postoperative hospital stay of 76.9 h with a 9.8% perioperative complication rate.
Optimal SVC allocation in power systems using lightning attachment procedure optimization

Flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS) technology is widely adopted and utilized to maintain the performance of power systems. However, the improvements of power system performance achieved by FACTS devices depend on the right sizing and allocation of such devices. For technical and economic considerations, a FACTS device’s location and size should be selected very carefully in order to maximize its benefits to the power system. In this paper, the sizing and location of a static VAR compensator (SVC) are optimally determined using a new optimization technique called lightning attachment procedure optimization (LAPO). The optimal allocation of the SVC is determined regarding the improvement of voltage deviation index and the reduction of total active power losses. The system is optimized in two cases: once without SVC installation in order to find out the optimal settings of the system that achieve the objective functions, and another time with SVC installation to determine its optimum sizes and locations by which the required objective functions are achieved. Then the system performance is analyzed after optimization with and without SVC devices to show the impact of the optimum sizing and location of the SVC on the system. The study is validated using the standard IEEE 30-bus system, while the developed LAPO is performed by MATLAB M-Files and the system performance analysis in different cases is performed by NEPLAN software.
The effect of concentrated pomegranate juice consumption on risk factors of cardiovascular diseases in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: A randomized controlled trial

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with insulin resistance and dyslipidemia. Pomegranate juice is a rich source of polyphenols that may improve blood pressure, lipid profile, and other risk factors of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). No study has examined the effects of pomegranate juice consumption on the clinical outcomes of PCOS. This study aimed to examine the effects of concentrated pomegranate juice (CPJ) consumption on risk factors of CVDs in women with PCOS. In this randomized clinical trial, 44 PCOS women with an age range of 18–40 years and body mass index (BMI) of ≥25 kg/m2 were recruited. They were randomly allocated to the CPJ (n = 22) and control (n = 22) groups, and followed for 8 weeks. Anthropometric measures, blood pressure, and biochemical parameters were measured at baseline and at the end of the trial. Compared with the control group, CPJ consumption significantly reduced systolic (−9.77 ± 1.46 vs. −1.18 ± 1.46 mmHg, p < .001) and diastolic (−3.87 ± 1.36 vs. 0.30 ± 1.36 mmHg, p = .05) blood pressure, serum triglyceride (TG) levels (−7.82 ± 6.32 vs. 16.63 ± 6.32 mg/dl, p = .01), TG/high‐density lipoprotein‐cholesterol (HDL‐C) ratio (−0.39 ± 0.24 vs. 0.66 ± 0.24, p = .007), and increased serum concentrations of low‐density lipoprotein‐cholesterol (LDL‐C) (6.03 ± 2.47 vs. −1.98 ± 2.47 mg/dl, p = .04) and HDL‐C (1.93 ± 1.10 vs. −1.78 ± 1.10 mg/dl, p = .03). These findings were obtained after taking baseline measurements and potential confounders into account. No adverse event or complication was reported due to CPJ consumption throughout the study. We found that CPJ consumption has a beneficial effect on blood pressure, serum concentrations of TG and HDL‐C, and TG/HDL‐C ratio in women with PCOS. However, this juice could increase serum LDL‐C levels in these patients. This trial was registered at www.irct. ir as IRCT20191109045383N1.
When 3 D Reconstruction Meets Ubiquitous RGB-D Images

3D reconstruction from a single image is a classical problem in computer vision. However, it still poses great challenges for the reconstruction of daily-use objects with irregular1 shapes. In this paper, we propose to learn 3D reconstruction knowledge from informally captured2 RGB-D images, which will probably be ubiquitously used in daily life. The learning of 3D reconstruction is defined as a category modeling problem, in which a model for each category is trained to encode category-specific knowledge for 3D reconstruction. The category model estimates the pixellevel 3D structure of an object from its 2D appearance, by taking into account considerable variations in rotation, 3D structure, and texture. Learning 3D reconstruction from ubiquitous RGB-D images creates a new set of challenges. Experimental results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Extraction solvent concentration affecting the anthocyanins and other phytochemicals profile and antioxidant properties of bran extracts of pigmented rice cultivars

Different concentrations (100%, 90% and 80%) of extracting solvent methanol were used to determine antioxidant capacities of seven pigmented rice cultivars bran on the basis of phytochemicals and other antioxidants. TPCs of red colored bran (Zag, Kaw quder, Shel kew) were highest in 100% methanol and that of black pigmented (Samarkand), lightly blackish (Kaw kareed) and brown (Gull zag, Teli zag) were highest in 80% and 90% methanol. The higher flavonoid contents in non-pigmented Gull zag and Teli zag were due to luteolin-7-O-glucoside, quercetinhexoside, apigenin-7-O-glucoside, quercetin-3-O-galactoside, apigenin and (epi)catechin rather than anthocyanins in pigmented rice. Higher anthocyanin contents of extracts in lower methanol concentration was due to higher percentage of Cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside, Pelargonidin-3-O-diglucoside, cyanidin-3-O-galactoside. The antioxidant activity had shown a similar trend in which the pigmented cultivars showed higher antioxidant activity in 100% methanol except red colored She lkew having higher value in 90% methanol, while among the light colored brown rice bran, Kaw kareed showed higher activities in 80% methanol and Teli zag in 90% methanol.
PROSPECTS OF USING CITRIC ACID AS POULTRY FEED SUPPLEMENTS

Growth promoters especially antibiotics have long been used in poultry, however, these antibiotics produce resistance in bacteria. Several alternatives to these antibiotics including organic acids have been suggested. These organic acids improve the digestibility of nutrients, lower the gastric pH, chelate the cations and serve as substrate in intermediary metabolism. Among the organic acids, citric acid has more potential as growth promoter. Being a strong chelater of calcium (Ca) and a proton donor, citric acid improves the phytate hydrolysis. By lowering the pH, it produces a favorable environment for the action ofendogenous and exogenous microbial phytases. Its antimicrobial property and immune system stimulation activity is also well documented. Besides, it enhances the nutrient absorption and improves the phosphorus (P) utilization. Nevertheless, inconsistent results of citric acid effectiveness on growth performance were obtained. In this review, authors focus on applications of citric acid in poultry feed to improve nutrient digestibility, phosphorus utilization, immune status and phytase efficacy.
DIET OF URBAN AND SUBURBAN TAWNY OWLS ( STRIX ALUCO ) IN THE BREEDING SEASON

ABSTI•CT. --The diet of tawny owls (Strix aluco) was studied during the breeding seasons 1988-90 in an urban and a suburban area in Torufi, Poland. Two amphibian, 18 bird, and 14 mammal species were recorded as prey in a sample of 312 pellets. From 600 prey items found in both sites, the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) was the most frequently taken bird prey and the common vole (Microtus arvalis) the most frequently taken mammal prey. Significantly more mammals than birds were taken at the suburban site than at the urban site (P < 0.001). At the urban site, the proportion of birds (except for tits [Parus spp.] and house sparrows) increased over the course of the breeding season, while the proportion of Apodemus pp. decreased. Similarly, at the suburban site the proportion of all birds increased and the proportion of Microtus spp. decreased. House sparrows at the urban site and Eurasian tree sparrows (Passer montanus) and tits at the suburban site were taken in higher proportion than their availability. An examination of dietary studies from elsewhere in Europe indicated that there was a positive correlation between mean prey size and increasing proportion of birds in tawny owl diets (P = 0.003).