Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microglia Phenotypes in Aging and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Neuroinflammation is a hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) and plays a fundamental role in mediating the onset and progression of disease. Microglia, which function as first-line immune guardians of the central nervous system (CNS), are the central drivers of neuroinflammation. Numerous human postmortem studies and in vivo imaging analyses have shown chronically activated microglia in patients with various acute and chronic neuropathological diseases. While microglial activation is a common feature of many NDs, the exact role of microglia in various pathological states is complex and often contradictory. However, there is a consensus that microglia play a biphasic role in pathological conditions, with detrimental and protective phenotypes, and the overall response of microglia and the activation of different phenotypes depends on the nature and duration of the inflammatory insult, as well as the stage of disease development. This review provides a comprehensive overview of current research on the various microglia phenotypes and inflammatory responses in health, aging, and NDs, with a special emphasis on the heterogeneous phenotypic response of microglia in acute and chronic diseases such as hemorrhagic stroke (HS), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and Parkinson’s disease (PD). The primary focus is translational research in preclinical animal models and bulk/single-cell transcriptome studies in human postmortem samples. Additionally, this review covers key microglial receptors and signaling pathways that are potential therapeutic targets to regulate microglial inflammatory responses during aging and in NDs. Additionally, age-, sex-, and species-specific microglial differences will be briefly reviewed.
Assessment of Tissue Specific Distribution and Seasonal Variation of Alkaloids in Alstonia scholaris

Alstonia scholaris is a well-known source of alkaloids and widely recognized for therapeutic purposes to treat the ailments in human and livestock. However, the composition and production of alkaloids vary due to tissue specific metabolism and seasonal variation. This study investigated alkaloids in leaves, stems, trunk barks, fruits, and flowers of A. scholaris. The impact of seasonal changes on the production of alkaloids in the leaves of A. scholaris was also investigated. One and two-dimensional Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) experiments were utilized for the characterization of alkaloids and total eight alkaloids (picrinine, picralinal, akuammidine, 19 S scholaricine, 19,20 E vallesamine, Nb-demethylalstogustine N-Oxide, Nb-demethylalstogustine, and echitamine) were characterized and quantified. Quantitative and multivariate analysis suggested that the alkaloids content is tissue specific, illustrating the effect of plant tissue organization on alkaloidal production in A. scholaris. The results suggest that the best part to obtain alkaloids is trunk barks, since it contains 7 alkaloids. However, the best part for isolating picrinine, picralinal, akuammidine, 19 S scholaricine, and 19,20 E vallesamine is fruit, since it shows highest amount of these alkaloids. Undoubtedly, NMR and statistical methods are very helpful to differentiate the profile of alkaloids in A. scholaris.
The Impact of Financial Culture on the Operation of Hungarian SMEs before and during COVID-19

The main aim of this study is to explore the conceptual framework of corporate financial culture and its practical relevance in an emerging Central European market economy, at the level of the Hungarian SME, with a special emphasis on the Hungarian SME sector. In our study, we highlight each dimension of corporate financial culture, focusing on the established corporate financial culture index, and within it, we examine the significance of the financial management elements sub-index and the risk and insurance sub-index separately. In addition, we look for logical, causal, and statistically verifiable relationships between corporate financial literacy and the outcome of corporate financial decisions and corporate risk taking. The relationships were broken down over two years in the analysis. Approximately 2167 responses were included in the 2019 sample and 3281 in the 2021 sample. These representative samples were taken from the Hungarian SME sector and multiple linear regression models were built to find a significant moderation effect of financial literacy between perceived risks and the insurance activity of companies. We conducted our research in two different periods, the unique feature of which is that we conducted a survey before and during the coronavirus crisis, so we could make a comparative analysis. The method used in this research study is a literature review analysis of reference manuscripts, discussing topics related to financial literacy, corporate risk management, and corporate financial management, published in the last 10 years. Our results show that there are positive and significant relationships between company management, corporate risk management, and corporate financial literacy. The results of our study draw the attention of company leaders to the practical significance of financial culture—efficiency, profitability, and stability.
Impact of sea salt stress on growth and some physiological attributes of two soybean (Glycine Max L.) cultivars

Two soybean cultivars (Giza 21 and Giza 35) were exposed to different sea-salt levels in vitro . Growth performance of the plants and biochemical indicators in shoots were measured. Shoot height (SH), leaf numbers (LN) and seedlings fresh weight (SFW) were decreased in both cultivars with an increase in the sea-salt concentration. Whereas, root length (RL) and seedlings dry weight (SDW) had insignificant changes due to salt stress in both cultivars compared to control. Salinization of seedlings has shown to increase sodium (Na + ), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) ions accumulation in both cultivars. Contrary, K + and Ca 2+ ions percentages increased in Giza 35 cultivar upon sea-salt stress of 4000 ppm, after which their percentages decreased to same level of the control. Notable, salinized seedlings of Giza 21 cultivar showed insignificant changes in K + and Ca 2+ ions percentage under sea-salt stress. For organic osmolytes, proline increased in both cultivars under high sea-salt levels. The enzymatic activity of catalase (CAT) was significantly decreased in Giza 21 cultivar under 6000 ppm. However, insignificant changes in its activity were recorder in cultivar Giza 35 under sea-salt stress. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was decreased in both cultivars under high sea-salt levels. The ascorbic acid oxidase activity in Giza 35 increased under sea-salt level of 2000 ppm followed by a decrease under 4000 ppm and finally the its activity significantly increased under high sea-salt stress of 6000 ppm. On the other hand, salt stress did not induce significant changes in AAO activity in Giza 21.
Multifunctional Analysis of Chia Seed (Salvia hispanica L.) Bioactive Peptides Using Peptidomics and Molecular Dynamics Simulations Approaches

Chia seed peptides (CSP) can be a source of multifunctional biopeptides to treat non-communicable diseases. However, interactions and binding affinity involved in targeting specific receptors remains unexplored. In this study, molecular simulation techniques were used as virtual screening of CSP to determine drug-like candidates using a multi-target-directed ligand approach. CSP fraction with the best bioactivities in vitro was sequenced. Then, a prediction model was built using physicochemical descriptors (hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, intestinal stability, antiangiogenic, antihypertensive, and anti-inflammatory) to calculate potential scores and rank possible biopeptides. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations (MDS) and ensemble molecular docking analysis were carried out using four human protein targets (ACE, angiotensin converting enzyme; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; GLUC, glucocorticoid and MINC, mineralocorticoid receptors). Five known-sequence peptides (NNVFYPF, FNIVFPG, SRPWPIDY, QLQRWFR, GSRFDWTR) and five de novo peptides (DFKF, DLRF, FKAF, FRSF, QFRF) had the lowest energy score and higher affinity for ACE and VEGF. The therapeutic effects of these selected peptides can be related to the inhibition of the enzymes involved in angiogenesis and hypertension, due to formation of stable complexes with VEGF and ACE binding sites, respectively. The application of MDS is a good resource for identifying bioactive peptides for future experimental validation.
Factor Momentum in the Chinese Stock Market

Based on 10 commonly used non-momentum factors, we construct a novel factor momentum strategy and find that it earns an annualized return of 9.91% and a Sharpe ratio of 1.15 in the Chinese stock market, which lacks stock-level momentum. We also find that factor momentum has strong explanatory power in subsuming industry momentum and digesting its component factors and a variety of anomalies. Further, mispricing correction helps explain factor momentum, which produces stronger returns during higher aggregate idiosyncratic volatility and lower investor sentiment periods as well as among stocks with higher information asymmetry and short-sale constraints. The exposure to factor premiums and a manifestation of predictability determine factor momentum in China.
Influence of Some Trichoderma spp. in Combination with Compost and Resistance Inducing Chemicals Against Pea Damping-Off and Root-Rot Diseases

Trichoderma bioagents, i.e . , Trichoderma hamatum , T. harzianum and T. viride were isolated from the rhizospheric soil of the healthy pea plants. They were used in combination with the resistance inducing chemicals, Bion and compost for studying their impact on managing pea damping-off and root-rot diseases caused by Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid (the pycnidial stage of S. bataticola Taub.) and Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn (the anamorph stage of Thanatephorus cucumeris (Frank) Donk. ). The inhibitory effect of the three bioagents as well as compost and resistance inducing chemicals (RICs), Bion, chitosan and salicylic acid was investigated to determine their inhibitory effect against each of M. phaseolina and R. solani in vitro and in vivo . Data demonstrated significant inhibition to the linear growth of both M. phaseolina and R. solani due to using the tested bioagents, compost and the RICs compared to control treatment. This reduction was gradually increased by increasing the incorporated concentration to PDA medium. In addition, RICs were less efficient in this regard than Trichoderma spp. and compost. The obtained data showed that soaking pea seeds in 50 mM Bion for six hours then pelleting with the inoculum of Trichoderma spp. and sown in soil amended with compost resulted in significant reduction to the incidence of damping-off and root-rot severity caused by each of the tested fungi with significant increase to the produced green pods yield, phenolic compounds, % nitrogen and % protein content compared with control treatment. This research provides alternative and safe compounds to management damping-off and root-rot diseases and consequently reduces environmental pollution as well as improving plant growth and seed yield of pea plants.
Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence and Simple Rule Based Pricing

Automated pricing strategies in e-commerce can be broadly categorized into two forms – simple rule-based such as undercutting the lowest price, and more sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) powered algorithms, such as reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms. Although simple rule-based pricing remains the most widely used strategy, a few retailers have started adopting pricing algorithms powered by AI. RL algorithms are particularly appealing for pricing due to their abilities to autonomously learn an optimal policy and adapt to changes in competitors’ pricing strategies and market environment. Despite the common belief that RL algorithms hold a significant advantage over rule-based strategies, our extensive pricing experiments demonstrate that when competing against RL pricing algorithms, simple rule-based algorithms may result in higher prices and benefit all sellers, compared to scenarios where multiple RL algorithms compete against each other.
Effect of L-carnitine and high incubation temperature on pre and post hatch performance of Fayoumi chicks

This study was carried out to evaluate the pre and post hatching performance of Fayoumi chicks produced from eggs exposed to high incubation temperature and sprayed with L-Carnitine. A total number of 600 eggs were used and randomly distributed into four groups, each group consisted of three replicates of 50 eggs. The first group served as control without any treatment (C), the second (T1) was exposed to high incubation temperature (40 o ) for 3 hours daily, the 3 rd and 4 th groups (T2 and T3, respectively) were exposed to high temperature (40 o ) for 3 hours at 6 th , 7 th and 8 th of incubation period, and sprayed with L-Carnitine at levels 25 and 50ml /Liter, respectively. Hatchability traits, live body weight (LBW), body weight gain (BWG), feed consumption (FC), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and carcass traits of chicks hatched in all treated group were studied during the period from 0 to 12 weeks of age. Results revealed that LBW, BWG, FC and FCR were significantly (P<0.05) improved in T2 and T3 groups. Chicks in T2 group had the higher (P<0.05) relative weights of liver, gizzard and spleen. From these results, it could be concluded that spraying of L-carnitine at level 25 ml/L after exposure to high incubation temperature (40 o ) during the 6 th , 7 th and 8 th days of incubation for three hours daily from 12 pm to 3 pm markedly improved chick performance post hatching compared with other groups.
High Step-up Voltage High Efficiency Boost Converter - A Review

The renewable energy sources such as fuel cells, PV cells or energy storage devices such as super capacitors or batteries deliver output voltage at the range of around 12V to 70V DC. In order to connect them to the grid or to use for three phase load, the voltage level should be adjusted according to the electrical network standards. First of all the voltage should be stepped up to sufficient level at which the DC/AC conversion can be performed to AC mains voltage requirements. Overall performance of the renewable energy system is then affected by the efficiency of step-up DC/DC converters (especially boost converter), which are the key parts in the system power chain. This review is focused on high step-up voltage and high efficiency DC/DC converters with high voltage gain boost converter. A comparison and discussion of different DC/DC step-up topologies will be performed across number of parameters and presented in this paper.
The Role of Polymorphisms at the Interleukin-1, Interleukin-4, GATA-3 and Cyclooxygenase-2 Genes in Non-Surgical Periodontal Therapy

Periodontitis is a multifactorial disease. The aim of this explorative study was to investigate the role of Interleukin-(IL)-1, IL-4, GATA-3 and Cyclooxygenase-(COX)-2 polymorphisms after non-surgical periodontal therapy with adjunctive systemic antibiotics (amoxicillin/metronidazole) and subsequent maintenance in a Caucasian population. Analyses were performed using blood samples from periodontitis patients of a multi-center trial (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00707369=ABPARO-study). Polymorphisms were analyzed using quantitative real-time PCR. Clinical attachment levels (CAL), percentage of sites showing further attachment loss (PSAL) ≥1.3 mm, bleeding on probing (BOP) and plaque score were assessed. Exploratory statistical analysis was performed. A total of 209 samples were genotyped. Patients carrying heterozygous genotypes and single-nucleotide-polymorphisms (SNP) on the GATA-3-IVS4 +1468 gene locus showed less CAL loss than patients carrying wild type. Heterozygous genotypes and SNPs on the IL-1A-889, IL-1B +3954, IL-4-34, IL-4-590, GATA-3-IVS4 +1468 and COX-2-1195 gene loci did not influence CAL. In multivariate analysis, CAL was lower in patients carrying GATA-3 heterozygous genotypes and SNPs than those carrying wild-types. For the first time, effects of different genotypes were analyzed in periodontitis progression after periodontal therapy and during supportive treatment using systemic antibiotics demonstrating a slight association of GATA-3 gene locus with CAL. This result suggests that GATA-3 genotypes are a contributory but non-essential risk factor for periodontal disease progression.
Combination Therapy and Single-Modality Treatment for Acute Low-Tone Hearing Loss: A Meta-Analysis with Trial Sequential Analysis

Acute low-tone hearing loss (ALHL) is a common clinical disease and was first proposed by Abe in 1981 as sensorineural hearing loss confined to low frequencies. The best strategy for initiating medication is still unclear, as the superiority of steroids and diuretics is still debated, and combination therapy might yield additional benefits. However, no study regarding combination therapy has been published. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of steroid therapy versus combination therapy of diuretics with steroids by conducting a systematic review with a meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis (TSA). Studies enrolling patients with a diagnosis of acute low-tone hearing loss were considered eligible. After searching the PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science databases from inception to 31 December 2021, five studies including 433 patients were enrolled. Overall, the comparison between combination therapy with steroids and diuretics and single-modality treatment with steroids (OR, 1.15; 95% CI, 0.51 to 2.59; p = 0.74; I2 = 34%) and the comparison between combination therapy and treatment with diuretics alone (OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 0.93 to 3.23; p = 0.09; I2 = 5%) showed that combination therapy did not confer significant benefits when compared to single-modality treatments. A trial sequential analysis (TSA) showed conclusive nonsignificant results of the comparison between the combination of steroids and diuretics and a single-modality treatment. In conclusion, we reported that the combination of steroids and diuretics did not yield significant benefits when compared to single-modality treatment with steroids or diuretics. We suggest that treatment should be initiated with steroids or diuretics alone to avoid potential adverse effects.
Driver Performance Problems of Intercity Bus Public Transportation Safety in Indonesia

The risk of an inter-city bus public accident can be influenced by various factors such as the driver’s performance. Therefore, knowing the various influential factors related to driver’s performance is very necessary as an effort to realize road traffic safety. This study aims to determine the factors that fall on the accident associated with the driver’s performance and make mathematical modeling factors that affect the accident. Methods of data retrieval were obtained from NTSC secondary data. The data was processed by identifying factors that cause the accident. Furthermore data processing and analysis used the PCA method to obtain mathematical modeling of factors influencing the inter-city bus accidents. The results showed that the main factors that cause accidents are health, discipline, and driver competence.
The Potential of the Marine Microalga Diacronema lutheri in the Prevention of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome in High-Fat-Fed Wistar Rats

Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids n-3 series (n-3 LC-PUFAs), especially eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids, are known to exert preventive effects on obesity and metabolic syndrome. Mainly consumed in the form of fish oil, LC-PUFAs n-3 are also found in significant quantities in other sources such as certain microalgae. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of Diacronema lutheri (Dia), a microalga rich in n-3 LC-PUFAs, on metabolic disorders associated with obesity. Three groups of male Wistar rats (n = 6 per group) were submitted for eight weeks to a standard diet or high-fat and high-fructose diet (HF), supplemented or not with 12% of Dia (HF-Dia). Compared to HF rats, HF-Dia rats showed a 41% decrease in plasma triacylglycerol (TAG) and an increase in plasma cholesterol (+35%) as well as in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (+51%) without change to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Although fasting glycemia did not change, glucose and insulin tolerance tests highlighted an improvement in glucose and insulin homeostasis. Dia supplementation restored body weight and fat mass, and decreased levels of liver TAG (−75%) and cholesterol (−84%). In HF-Dia rats, leptin was decreased (−30%) below the control level corresponding to a reduction of 68% compared to HF rats. Similarly, the anti-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-4 (IL-4) and IL-10 were restored up to control levels, corresponding to a 74% and 58% increase in HF rats, respectively. In contrast, the level of IL-6 remained similar in the HF and HF-Dia groups and about twice that of the control. In conclusion, these results indicated that the D. lutheri microalga may be beneficial for the prevention of weight gain and improvement in lipid and glucose homeostasis.
IAES International Journal of Artificial Intelligence (IJ-AI)

Received Sep 8, 2021 Revised Apr 21, 2022 Accepted May 20, 2022 The existence of vast amounts of multilingual textual data on the internet leads to cross-lingual plagiarism which becomes a serious issue in different fields such as education, science, and literature. Current cross-lingual plagiarism detection approaches usually employ syntactic and lexical properties, external machine translation systems, or finding similarities within a multilingual set of text documents. However, most of these methods are conceived for literal plagiarism such as copy and paste, and their performance is diminished when handling complex cases of plagiarism including paraphrasing. In this paper, we propose a new graph-based approach that represents text passages in different languages using knowledge graphs. We put forward a new graph structure modeling method based on the Transformer architecture that employs precise relation encoding and delivers a more efficient way for global graph representation. The mappings between the graphs are learned both in semi-supervised and unsupervised training mechanisms. The results of our experiments in Arabic–English, French–English, and Spanish–English plagiarism detection show that our graph transformer method surpasses the state-of-the-art crosslingual plagiarism detection approaches with and without paraphrasing cases, and provides further insights on the use of knowledge graphs on a language-independent model.
Variation in the Content of Bioactive Compounds in Infusions Prepared from Different Parts of Wild Polish Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica L.)

Nettle is a common plant that offers many health benefits and is grown all over the world. The content of active compounds in roots, stems, and leaves was determined based on the extraction procedure optimized using the Central Composite Design. Flavonols, phenolic acids, trigonelline, nicotinamide, nicotinic acids, and short-chain organic acids were determined with the use of LC–MS/MS and capillary isotachophoresis. Trigonelline, which was not previously reported in the roots and stems of nettle, was found in all parts of the plant and considerable variations in its content were observed (2.8–108 µg g−1). Furthermore, the Principal Component Analysis taking into account more variables demonstrated differences in the content of bioactive components between roots and aerial parts of nettle.