Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sputum Production and Salivary Microbiome in COVID-19 Patients Reveals Oral-Lung Axis

Objective SARS-CoV-2 is a severe respiratory disease that primarily targets the lungs and was the leading cause of death worldwide during the pandemic. Investigating the intricate interplay between the oral microbiome and inflammatory cytokines during the acute phase of infection is crucial for understanding host immune responses. This study aimed to explore the relationship between the oral microbiome and cytokines in COVID-19 patients, specifically examining those with and without sputum production. Methods Saliva and blood samples from 50 COVID-19 patients were subjected to 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing to analyze the oral microbiome. Additionally, 65 saliva and serum cytokines were assessed using Luminex multiplex analysis. The Mann-Whitney test compared cytokine levels between individuals with and without sputum production. Results Our study revealed significant differences in the membership (Jaccard dissimilarity: p=0.016) and abundance (PhILR dissimilarity: p=0.048; metagenomeSeq) of salivary microbial communities between COVID-19 patients with and without sputum production. Seven bacterial genera, including Prevotella, Streptococcus, Actinomyces, Atopobium, Filifactor, Leptotrichia, and Selenomonas, were present in statistically higher proportions of patients with sputum production (p<0.05, Fisher’s exact test). Eight bacterial genera, including Prevotella, Megasphaera, Stomatobaculum, Leptotrichia, Veillonella, Actinomyces, Atopobium, and Corynebacteria were significantly more abundant in the sputum-producing group, while Lachnoacaerobaculum was notably more prevalent in the non-sputum-producing group (p<0.05, ANCOM-BC). We observed a significant positive correlation between salivary IFN-gamma (Interferon-gamma) and Eotaxin2/CCL24 (chemokine ligand 24) with sputum production. Conversely, negative correlations were noted in serum MCP3/CCL7 (monocyte-chemotactic protein 3/Chemokine ligand 7), MIG/CXCL9 (Monokine induced by gamma/Chemokine ligand 9), IL1 beta (interleukin 1 beta), and SCF (stem cell factor) with sputum production (p<0.05, Mann-Whitney test). Conclusion Substantial distinctions in salivary microbial communities were evident between COVID-19 patients with and without sputum production, emphasizing the notable impact of sputum production on the oral microbiome and cytokine levels during the acute phase of infection.
Learning probability distributions of sensory inputs with Monte Carlo Predictive Coding

It has been suggested that the brain employs probabilistic generative models to optimally interpret sensory information. This hypothesis has been formalised in distinct frameworks, focusing on explaining separate phenomena. On one hand, predictive coding theory proposed how the probabilistic models can be learned by networks of neurons employing local synaptic plasticity. On the other hand, neural sampling theories have demonstrated how stochastic dynamics enable neural circuits to represent the posterior distributions of latent states of the environment. Here, we bring together these two lines of theoretic work by introducing Monte Carlo predictive coding (MCPC). We demonstrate that the integration of predictive coding with neural sampling results in a neural network that learns precise generative models using local computation and plasticity. The neural dynamics of MCPC infer the posterior distributions of the latent states in the presence of sensory inputs, and can generate likely inputs in their absence. Furthermore, MCPC captures the experimental observations on the variability of neural activity during perceptual tasks. By combining predictive coding and neural sampling, MCPC offers a unifying theory of cortical computation which can account for both sets of neural data that previously had been explained by these individual frameworks.
Phospho-Tune: Enhanced Structural Modeling of Phosphorylated Protein Interactions

In computational biology, accurate prediction of phosphopeptide-protein complex structures is essential for understanding cellular functions and advancing drug discovery and personalized medicine. While AlphaFold has significantly improved protein structure prediction, it faces accuracy challenges in predicting structures of complexes involving phosphopeptides possibly due to structural variations introduced by phosphorylation in the peptide component. Our study addresses this limitation by refining AlphaFold to improve its accuracy in modeling these complex structures. We employed weighted metrics for a comprehensive evaluation across various protein families. The enhanced model notably outperforms the original AlphaFold, showing a substantial increase in the weighted average local distance difference test (lDDT) scores for peptides: from 52.74 to 76.51 in the Top 1 model and from 56.32 to 77.91 in the Top 5 model. These advancements not only deepen our understanding of the role of phosphorylation in cellular signaling but also have extensive implications for biological research and the development of innovative therapies.
Organic nitrogen fertilizers influence nutritional value, water use efficiency, and nitrogen dynamics of drip irrigated lettuce and sweet corn

ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . v TABLE OF CONTENTS. vi OVERVIEW . 1 REFERENCES. 6 CHAPTER 1. PHYTOHORMONES IN ORGANIC NITROGEN FERTILIZ ERS INFLUENCED βCAROTENE CONCENTRATION AND MARKETABLE YIELD COMPONENTS OF LETT UCE . 11 1.
Effects of front-end-of line process variations and defects on retention failure of flash memory: Charge loss/gain mechanism

Retention fails on flash memory were comprehensively characterized and fault-isolated for the formulation of failure mechanism. Using in-depth TEM and SIMS characterizations based on electrical findings, we found that FEOL process variations such as contact misalignment (spacer encroachment) and defects (ONO instability and stacking fault), result in retention fail of flash memory. In this paper, the failure mechanism of retention fail governed by charge loss/gain in a same cell is explicated and knobs for robust reliability and decent production are proposed from design and process perspectives.
New Pathway of Tropical Influences on Arctic Subseasonal Warming Events in the Troposphere

Midlatitdue weather extremes are highly correlated to the variations of Arctic and tropical circulations. High-amplitude fluctuations of the jet streams result in heat exchange between the Arctic and midlatitude regions, creating a feedback mechanism between subseasonal Arctic warming and stagnation of midlatitude atmospheric waves. In a companion study (Wang et al. 2017), we show a rapid tropospheric warming (RTW) process as illustrated in Fig. 1 during the 2015-2016 winter, depicted by the polar cap height (PCH) variation and Arctic Oscillation (AO). The RTW case from late December to early January induces negative AO but does not feature any stratospheric warming or precursor, hence distinguishing it from the sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) case that subsequently occurs during March and April. The documented increase in the frequency of RTW has been linked to increased weather extremes (Fig. 2; Wang et al. 2017). Previous research links subseasonal Arctic warming events to tropical convective activities in the Pacific region (Jahnson and Feldstein 2010; Lee et al. 2011). Further evidence presented in this study suggests that this tropical link to increased RTW cases has strengthened in recent decades.
Increasing ﬁ sh biodiversity in high elevation Albertan lakes in response to global environmental change over the past 50 years

Introduction: The diversity of freshwater ﬁ shes is threatened by multiple environmental stressors, including climate change, alterations in land use, and introduction of non-native species. However, the quanti ﬁ cation of temporal biodiversity in freshwater communities is limited. Here, we asked: i) how has alpha (species richness), beta (changes in freshwater species composition), and gamma diversity (total species diversity in a landscape) changed over time for lakes over a 50 year period? ; and ii) What are the climatic, land use, and lake morphological drivers associated with higher diversity? Methods: We assembled a database of ﬁ sh species occurrence from 20 lakes across subalpine and alpine regions in Alberta from 1970-2019, in addition to lake morphological, climatic, and land use characteristics of the watersheds. Results: We observed an overall increase in alpha, beta, and gamma diversity from the 1970s to 2009s. However, all measures of diversity declined from 2010-2019. We found that more lakes and species assemblages were in ﬂ uenced by species gains, rather than species losses (with the exception of the last decade of sampling). Discussion: Generally, we found that coolwater species were expanding and coldwater ﬁ shes were being lost throughout our study lakes. We highlight temporal heterogeneity in ﬁ sh biodiversity responses to substantial environmental pressures in this region.
DATA PRIVACY IN THE AGE OF BIG DATA ANALYTICS

The world is generating exabytes of information daily. This vast explosion in the growth of data creates a need for data analysis technologies as well as effective storage and retrieval systems. Relatedly, this vast amount of data presents privacy challenges ranging from legal constraints to ethical information use. The authors of this paper discuss a framework that enables privacy infusion in all aspects of big data analytics. Additionally, the authors present TIPPERS: a testbed for privacy enhancing technologies.
A Soybean Classiﬁcation Method Based on Data Balance and Deep Learning

: Soybean is a type of food crop with economic beneﬁts. Whether they are damaged or not directly affects the survival and nutritional value of soybean plants. In machine learning, unbalanced data represent a major factor affecting machine learning efﬁciency, and unbalanced data refer to a category in which the number of samples in one category is much larger than that in the other, which biases the classiﬁcation results towards a category with a large number of samples and thus affects the classiﬁcation accuracy. Therefore, the effectiveness of the data-balancing method based on a convolutional neural network is investigated in this paper, and two balancing methods are used to expand the data set using the over-sampling method and using the loss function with assignable class weights. At the same time, to verify the effectiveness of the data-balancing method, four networks are introduced for control experiments. The experimental results show that the new loss function can effectively improve the classiﬁcation accuracy and learning ability, and the classiﬁcation accuracy of the DenseNet network can reach 98.48%, but the classiﬁcation accuracy will be greatly reduced by using the data-augmentation method. With the binary classiﬁcation method and the use of data-augmentation data sets, the excessive number of convolution layers will lead to a reduction in the classiﬁcation accuracy and a small number of convolution layers can be used for classiﬁcation purposes. It is veriﬁed that a neural network using a small convolution layer can improve the classiﬁcation accuracy by 1.52% using the data-augmentation data-balancing method.
OF A

Let p be a ﬁxed odd prime number and K n the p n C 1 -st cyclotomic ﬁeld. For a ﬁxed integer d 2 Z with p d … K 0 , denote by L n the imaginary quadratic subexten-sion of the biquadratic extension K n ( p d ) = K C n with L n ¤ K n . Let h (cid:3) n and h (cid:0) n be the relative class numbers of K n and L n , respectively. We give an explicit constant n d depending on p and d such that (i) for any integer n (cid:21) n d , the ratio h (cid:0) n = h (cid:0) n (cid:0) 1 is odd if and only if h (cid:3) n = h (cid:3) n (cid:0) 1 is odd and (ii) for 1 (cid:20) n < n d , h (cid:0) n = h (cid:0) n (cid:0) 1 is even.
Physical Education and Health (MAPEH) Learning Objectives’ Level of Attainment and Utilization of Learning Resources

| ABSTRACT The study determined the attainment of the learning objectives and utilization of resources for the Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health (MAPEH) course as assessed by the College of Teacher Education students in a university in Cebu City, Philippines. This study employed the descriptive-correlational method of research using a research-made questionnaire, which was subjected to content validation and pilot testing. All 3rd-year and 4th-year MAPEH majors of the Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education majors during the survey were the respondents of this study. There were 32 third-year BSED - MAPEH students and 21 fourth-year BSED - MAPEH students at the time of the study. The study's findings highlight the need for continuous improvement in MAPEH's teaching and learning experiences. Specifically, the need for progress through various stages for effective behavior change, the importance of providing adequate resources and support to enhance students' competence and motivation, and the significance of appropriate learning resources would support students' mastery of MAPEH course objectives and enhance their motivation and performance
I NTERNATIONAL J OURNAL OF R ESEARCH IN P HARMACEUTICAL S CIENCES

This systematic review comprehensively analyzes the literature on hypotensive anesthesia in Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgeries (FESS), crucial for treating sinonasal disorders. The anesthesia technique choice significantly influences FESS outcomes. Hypotensive anesthesia, involving controlled blood pressure reduction during surgery, garners attention for potential benefits. A database search identified relevant studies examining its efficacy, safety, and impact on intraoperative visibility, surgical time, blood loss, and postoperative outcomes. Various drugs, including inhalational agents, hypocapnia, hypercapnia, local adrenaline, fentanyl, remifentanil, esmolol, dexmedetomidine, and nitroglycerine, have been employed to minimize bleeding and enhance operative conditions. Sevoflurane is a common inhalation agent. Dexmedetomidine, with lower bolus doses, proves advantageous for visibility and achieving a MAP of 60 mm Hg swiftly. Opioids have a lower hypotensive potential, nitroglycerine lacks analgesic effects, and beta-blockers provide favorable conditions. Dexmedetomidine's prolonged analgesia correlates with improved postoperative outcomes. Limited studies explore combined drugs' efficacy or side effects. Cognitive dysfunction is a concern, with hypotension approved up to a MAP of 60 mm Hg. The technique's application extends to children, but careful patient selection is crucial, considering contraindications and comorbidities.
The Effect of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Nestin and Sox-2 Gene Expression and Spatial Learning (Percent Alternation Y-Maze Test) against AlCl 3 -Induced Alzheimer’s-like Pathology in a Rat Model

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative condition characterized by gradual cognitive impairment, including loss of synapses and nerve cells involved in learning, memory, and habit formation processes. Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells (BM-MSCs) are multipotent cells. Because of their self-renewable, differentiation, and immunomodulatory capabilities, they are commonly used to treat many disorders. Hence, the current study intends to examine the effect of BM-MSCs transplantation on Aluminum chloride (AlCl 3 )-induced cognitive problems, an experimental model resembling AD’s hallmarks in rats. Methods: The study was conducted in 2022 at The Biomedical Laboratory Faculty of Medicine, Andalas University, Indonesia. Adult male Wistar rats (three groups: negative control; no intervention+treatment with PBS; positive control: AlCl 3 +treatment with aqua dest; AlCl 3 +BM-MSCs: AlCl 3 +treatment with BM-MSCs, n=5 each) were treated daily with AlCl 3 orally for five days. Stem cells were intraperitoneally injected into rats at a dose of 1x10 6 cells/rat. The same quantity of phosphate-buffered saline was given to the control group. One month after stem cell injection, the rat brain tissue was removed and placed in the film bottles that had been created. The expression of neural progenitor cell markers, including nestin and sex-determining Y-box 2 (SOX-2), was analyzed using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Rats’ cognitive and functional memory were examined using Y-maze. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 26.0) with a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. Results: The gene expression of nestin (29.74±0.42), SOX-2 (31.44±0.67), and percent alternation of Y-maze (67.04±2.28) increased in the AlCl 3 +BM-MSCs group compared to that in the positive control group. RT-PCR analysis indicated that nestin (P<0.001) and SOX-2 (P<0.001) were significantly enhanced in the AlCl 3 +BM-MSCs group compared to the positive control group. This group also indicated an increased percent alternation of Y-maze (P<0.001) in the AlCl 3 +BM-MSCs group compared to the positive control group. Conclusion: Due to its potential effects on cell therapy, BM-MSCs were found effective in a rat model of AD on the impairment of the rats’ behavior and increased expression of neural progenitor cell markers.
Modélisation de la propagation de délaminage dans les matériaux composites en présence d'endommagement intralaminaire par des éléments d'interface

Dans ce travail, un modele utilisant une formulation non locale est propose afin de simuler par elements finis la propagation du delaminage a l’endommagement des plis adjacents constate lors d’une recente campagne experimentale. Une confrontation essais/simulation permet une validation partielle des lois de comportements (du pli et de l’interface) presentees.
A Study on the Method to Reduce Thoracic Injury in Frontal Crash using Elderly Human and THOR FE Models

In Japan, the ratio of the elderly in traffic accident fatalities has been increasing, and the thorax is the most frequently injured body region. Therefore, preventing chest injury to the elderly is one of the key issues to achieve zero fatalities. For this reason, several detailed analyses of the chest injury mechanism have been performed using elderly human body models (HBM). In a previous study, under frontal crash condition, it was observed that the forward motion of the internal organ and the forward rotation of the upper torso push up the lower ribs, potentially leading to rib fractures. In this study, a novel occupant restraint concept was devised that could reduce chest injury due to the mechanism above, and its effectiveness was verified using an elderly HBM and THOR. On the devised restraint system, a pair of shoulder belts that pass from left and right sides of the occupant shoulder to the same sides of flank were placed. The aim of them was dispersing the restraint force applied to the thorax of an occupant. A membrane was placed wrapping the abdomen between the two shoulder belts, which aimed to reduce the protrusion of the internal organ during a frontal crash. For the devised restraint system, a series of CAE calculation using the elderly HBM was performed in the two crash conditions of FR56K and OMDB in comparison with the conventional 3P belt, and the effect for reducing the number of fractured ribs (NFR) was confirmed. Then, another series of CAE calculation using the THOR FE model was performed in the same conditions, and several chest injury criteria such as Rmax, PC Score, TIC_NFR, and TIC_NSFR were calculated. Finally, injury probabilities for these criteria of THOR and NFR of the HBM were compared. Comparing the devised restraint system with the 3P belt, NFRs of the elderly HBM were significantly reduced, and all chest injury criteria of THOR were reduced, under both load cases.
Letters in Animal Biology

Medicinal plants have grown in popularity as a result of their numerous health benefits in animals, birds, and humans. Liquorice ( Glycyrrhiza glabra ) is a prominent traditional medicinal plant belonging to the Fabaceae family of legumes. The principal constituent of liquorice root is glycyrrhizin. Liquorice extract have been noted to have a significant antimicrobial (antifungal, antibacterial, antibiotic, antiviral, antiseptic, and antiprotozoal) effects. Improved feed conversion ratio, average body weight, and feed intake have been observed in quails supplemented with dietary 200 ppm of liquorice root extract and 1% probiotic in their diet. The liquorice extract has been found to have immunogenic and antioxidant properties, which could help poultry improve their growth performance, feed efficiency, carcass characteristics, and serum biochemistry, and can potentially act as a viable alternative to antibiotics in the treatment and prevention of various respiratory, digestive, and immune disorders.
Alleviation of Drought Stress in Soybean by Applying a Biostimulant Based on Amino Acids and Macro- and Micronutrients

Drought stress is one of the most predominant environmental factors hindering soybean productivity. Therefore, the study of stress-mitigating strategies, such as the use of biostimulants, is important in order to mitigate this problem. This study investigated the effects of an exogenous application of biostimulants based on amino acids and macro- and micronutrients in the physiological, biochemical and productive responses of soybean cultivated under drought stress. Treatments consisted of T1—dose 0.0 kg ha−1 (control); T2—dose 0.0 kg ha−1 (with water-deficit stress); T3—dose 0.25 kg ha−1; T4—dose 0.5 kg ha−1; T5—dose 0.75 kg ha−1; T6—dose 1.0 kg ha−1 of biostimulant. Application of T4 maintained photosynthetic metabolism, with main action on stomatal conductance, and increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase by 420%, catalase by 167% and ascorbate peroxidase by 695%. In addition, it increased the levels of proline by 106%, leaf area by 279% and the dry matter mass of the plants by 26%, which was reflected in a 22% increase in productivity. Therefore, application of the studied biostimulant at a dose of 0.5 kg ha−1 is recommended to effectively alleviate the adverse effects of drought stress on soybean.
Worldview as Basis for Indigenous Education System in the Philippines

For the early Filipino peoples, storytelling was a fundamental mode of knowledge transmission. This is still being done in Indigenous Peoples communities today, particularly those who still have storytelling venues – bedtime talks, evening gatherings of community members, or community meetings. Such is the basis for a particular world view of a people; inasmuch as a worldview is a mental model of reality – a framework of ideas and attitudes about the world, a people’s comprehensive system of beliefs. This paper hopes to capture the essence of storytelling by narrating of what is being done at the community level within the Episcopal Commission on Indigenous People’s (ECIP) network to articulate, practice and nurture the community’s indigenous education system. How these translate into concrete practices being done in addressing basic literacy needs of the community is also described.