Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New Generation of Meso and Antiprogestins (SPRMs) into the Osteoporosis Approach

Receptor activator of nuclear factor κB (RANK) and its ligand (RANKL) play key roles in bone metabolism and the immune system. The RANK/RANKL complex has also been shown to be critical in the formation of mammary epithelia cells. The female hormones estradiol and progesterone closely control the action of RANKL with RANK. Blood concentration of these sex hormones in the postmenopausal period leads to an increase in RANK/RANKL signaling and are a major cause of women’s osteoporosis, characterized by altered bone mineralization. Knowledge of the biochemical relationships between hormones and RANK/RANKL signaling provides the opportunity to design novel therapeutic agents to inhibit bone loss, based on the anti-RANKL treatment and inhibition of its interaction with the RANK receptor. The new generation of both anti- and mesoprogestins that inhibit the NF-κB-cyclin D1 axis and blocks the binding of RANKL to RANK can be considered as a potential source of new RANK receptor ligands with anti-RANKL function, which may provide a new perspective into osteoporosis treatment itself as well as limit the osteoporosis rise during breast cancer metastasis to the bone.
Effect of Charlson comorbidity index on vascular events and survival in Philadelphia chromosome-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms

Background Thromboembolic events and bleeding episodes are the main complications of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). Comorbidity is a well-known independent prognostic factor for patients with cancer that affects overall survival. Aim Our aim is to detect comorbidities among patients with Philadelphia chromosome-negative MPNs and to study how comorbidities affect survival and vascular events. Patients and methods A total of 190 patients with Philadelphia chromosome-negative MPNs were diagnosed between January 2014 and December 2018 in South Valley and Assiut University Hospitals. Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) was applied to evaluate patients. Median age was 57.5 years (range, 20–85). Overall, 50 (26.3%) patients had no comorbidities (low), 83 (43.7%) had a CCI 1–2 (moderate), and 57 (30%) had a CCI more than 2 (severe). Results There were no significant differences between patients with CCI less than 2 and patients with CCI more than or equal to 2 regarding sex, splenomegaly, white blood cell count, platelet count, and JAK II positivity. Significantly older ages (64.7±9 vs. 50.8±9, P<0.001), lower hemoglobin (5±12.3 vs. 14.6±5, P=0.046), and higher lactate dehydrogenase (P=0.004) were detected in patients with CCI more than or equal to 2. A significant association regarding pruritus and erythromelalgia was found among patients who had CCI more than or equal to 2 compared with patients with CCI less than 2 (P=0.038 and 0.025, respectively). Thrombosis was more frequent with CCI more than or equal to 2 (P<0.001) as well as bleeding (P=0.042). Overall survival and progression-free survival differed significantly between the different CCI groups (P≤0.001 and 0.003, respectively). Conclusion In conclusion, comorbidity has a negative prognostic effect on patients with Philadelphia chromosome-negative MPNs, which might elicit to be incorporated into prognostic models, with larger prospective studies needed for validation.
A Manycore Vision Processor for Real-Time Smart Cameras

Real-time image processing and computer vision systems are now in the mainstream of technologies enabling applications for cyber-physical systems, Internet of Things, augmented reality, and Industry 4.0. These applications bring the need for Smart Cameras for local real-time processing of images and videos. However, the massive amount of data to be processed within short deadlines cannot be handled by most commercial cameras. In this work, we show the design and implementation of a manycore vision processor architecture to be used in Smart Cameras. With massive parallelism exploration and application-specific characteristics, our architecture is composed of distributed processing elements and memories connected through a Network-on-Chip. The architecture was implemented as an FPGA overlay, focusing on optimized hardware utilization. The parameterized architecture was characterized by its hardware occupation, maximum operating frequency, and processing frame rate. Different configurations ranging from one to eighty-one processing elements were implemented and compared to several works from the literature. Using a System-on-Chip composed of an FPGA integrated into a general-purpose processor, we showcase the flexibility and efficiency of the hardware/software architecture. The results show that the proposed architecture successfully allies programmability and performance, being a suitable alternative for future Smart Cameras.
Choice of Exhaustive or Heuristic Search to Solve AI Problems

Artificial intelligence is an appealing area of research in computer science because it is concerned with the discovering of effective techniques that have been mainly motivated from human beings or their living environments to solve problems that have special nature. In this research, we aim first to introduce and analyze the common characteristics of problems that artificial intelligence interested in, and then we will highlight how to prepare such problems to solve them by search. The main goal of our study is helping us to decide which search strategy is better through investigating the behavior of most popular search strategies to find out the desired solution for two examples of a simple artificial intelligence problem. Our experiments presented that the required time and memory space to solve the problem mainly affected by many factors such as the applied search mechanism, the solution position, the number of available solutions, and the complexity in search.
Ground-based MAX-DOAS observations of tropospheric formaldehyde and comparisons with CAMS model at a rural site near Beijing

Abstract. Formaldehyde (HCHO), a key aerosol precursor, plays a significant role in atmospheric photo-oxidation pathways. In this study, HCHO column densities were measured using Multi-axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) instrument at the University of Chinese Academy of Science (UCAS) in Huairou District, Beijing, which is about 50 km away from the city center, during the period of October 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014, in which the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit was organized on 3 to 12 November. Peak values of HCHO vertical column densities (VCDs) around noon and a good correlation coefficient of 0.87 between HCHO and O3 indicate that the secondary sources of HCHO through photochemical reactions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) dominate HCHO values in the area around UCAS. Dependences of HCHO VCDs on wind fields and backward trajectories were identified and indicated that the HCHO values in the area around UCAS were considerably affected by the transports of pollutants (VOCs) from polluted area in the south. The effects of control measures on HCHO VCDs during the APEC period were evaluated. During the period of APEC conference, the averaged HCHO is 37.95 % and 30.75 % lower than that during the pre-APEC and post-APEC period, respectively. The phenomenon could be attributed to both effects of prevailing northwest wind fields during the APEC and strict control measures. We also compared the MAX-DOAS results with the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) model. The CAMS model and MAX-DOAS results are generally consistent with a good correlation coefficient of ~ 0.83. The peak values are well consistently captured by both data sets, but the low values are systematically underestimated by the CAMS model. The finding indicates the CAMS model can well simulate the effects of transports and the secondary sources of HCHO, but underestimate the local primary sources.
Adaptation, validation and reliability of the Spanish version of eating pattern inventory for children EPIC-C in a sample of Mexican adolescents

Background: Eating behavior represents an important public health issue. This study shows the results of the adaptation and validation of the questionnaire eating pattern inventory for children (EPI-C) in the Spanish version, what can be very useful in Spanish-speaking contexts.Methods: The adaptation and validation of the questionnaire was carried out with a statistically representative sample of 417 adolescents of Mexico City. Different statistical analysis were applied.Results: The analysis of the adapted version reproduced the same factorial structure and psychometric properties as the original questionnaire. The adapted inventory consisted of 20 items, formed by 4 subscales dietary restraint (8 items), external eating (6 items), parental pressure to eat (3 items), and emotional eating (3 items) which explained the 68,8% of the total variable.Conclusions: The scores of the subscales were associated with the body weight of the adolescents with normal weight and overweight-obesity, with the level of the anxiety state, with the emotional eating and with the dietary restraints which suggests initial evidence of its validity and utility in Spanish speaking countries.
Intensive Poultry Farming Practices Influence Antibiotic Resistance Profiles in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Inhabiting Nearby Soils

Background The drastic increase in use of antibiotics as a mandatory part of production in poultry and livestock has led to the development of bacterial resistance against antibiotics. The spread of resistant bacteria from poultry to humans increases the risk of treatment failure by antibiotics because of resistance genes transfer. Study Objective The objective of the study was to estimate and compare the P. aeruginosa resistance profile collected from areas around the poultry farm premises and areas at least 500 meters away from the nearest poultry farm. We studied the effect of antibiotic usage in farms on the bacterial profile present in the upper layer of soil. Methodology A total of 1,200 moist soil samples were collected from areas within a 25 meters range of poultry farms and areas that had no poultry farms in its 500 meters vicinity. P. aeruginosa was cultured and isolated. The antibiotic susceptibility profile was carried out by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method and results were analyzed according to CLSI guidelines. Statistical analysis was carried out to check the significance of results. Results A total of 300 P. aeruginosa isolates were isolated, among which 140 isolates were isolated from areas around the poultry farm premises and had higher prevalence of antibiotic resistance. A total of 160 isolates were isolated from areas outside the poultry farm range. Resistance was not as high as in the isolates from around the farm. The ESBL production was higher in the isolates that were in close contact with the poultry farm as compared to the isolates away from the farm. Conclusion Use of antibiotics in the poultry farm for production significantly increases the resistance in bacterial strains present in the upper layer of soil around the poultry farm within at least a 25 meter range.
Warm hands, warm hearts: An investigation of physical warmth as a prepared safety stimulus.

Recent work has demonstrated that social support figures seem to be particularly robust inhibitors of the Pavlovian fear response. Specifically, social support figures appear to act as prepared safety stimuli, stimuli that have played an important role in mammalian survival and are thus less easily associated with threat and more able to inhibit the fear response. Given some of the shared behavioral and neural consequences of both social support and physical warmth, as well as the importance of physical warmth for mammalian survival, we conducted a series of examinations designed to examine whether physical warmth is also a prepared safety stimulus. In two studies conducted in human adults, we examined whether a physically warm stimulus was less readily associated with threat (compared to soft or neutral stimuli; Study 1) and was able to inhibit the fear response elicited by other threatening cues (compared to neutral stimuli; Study 2). Results showed that physical warmth resisted association with threat (Study 1) and not only inhibited the fear response but also led to lasting inhibition even after the warm stimulus was removed (Study 2). Together, these studies indicate that physical warmth, like social support, meets the requirements of being a prepared safety stimulus, and they pave the way for future work to clarify the properties that enable cues in this category to naturally inhibit fear responding. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Assessment of DRAINMOD-NII Model for Prediction of Nitrogen Losses Through Subsurface Drained Sandy Clay Under Cultivation in South West Punjab, India

In the present study, DRAINMOD-NII model was calibrated for the years 2018-2019 and validated for the period 2019-2020 over the two cropping years. The model simulations were statistically evaluated by comparing the measured drain flows and nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) with the model simulated drain outflows and nitrate loss. The study results depicted closer agreement between the simulated and observed results for both the calibration and validation periods. The Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of the drainage rate was 8.88 cm more than observed data,15.41, 0.53 and 0.57 cm were the values recorded for PBIAS, modelling efficiency (NSE) and R2. The similar parameter values for nitrogen load were recorded to be 0.14, 2.76 ,0.84 and 0.88 respectively during the calibration period for rice wheat system. The model was statistically tested during the validation period also, confirming DRAINMOD-NII has the capability to simulate nitrogen losses from the area subjected to subsurface drainage system.
Numerical investigation of carotid stenosis in three-dimensional aortic-cerebral vasculature: pulsatility index, resistive index, time to peak velocity, and flow characteristics

Haemodynamic correlations among the pulsatility index (PI), resistive index (RI), time to peak velocity (TPV), and mean Reynolds number (ReMean) were numerically investigated during the progression of carotid stenosis (CS), a highly prevalent condition. Fifteen patient-specific CS cases were modeled in the package, SimVascular, by using computed tomography angiography data for the aortic-cerebral vasculature. Computational fluid domains were solved with a stabilized Petrov–Galerkin scheme under Newtonian and incompressible assumptions. A rigid vessel wall was assumed, and the boundary conditions were pulsatile inflow and three-element lumped Windkessel outlets. During the progression, the increase in the TPV resembled that during aortic stenosis, and the parameter was negatively correlated with PI, RI, and ReMean in the ipsilateral cerebral region. The ReMean was inversely related to PI and RI on the contralateral side. In particular, PI and RI in cerebral arteries showed three second-order regression patterns: ‘constant (Group A)’, ‘moderately decreasing (Group B)’, and ‘decreasing (Group C)’. The patterns were defined using a new parameter, mean ratio (lowest mean index/mean index at 0% CS). This parameter could effectively indicate stenosis-driven tendencies in local haemodynamics. Overall, the haemodynamic indices changed drastically during severe unilateral CS, and they reflected both regional and aortic-cerebral flow characteristics.
Self-financed marine protected areas

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an important tool for conservation but can be victims of their own success—higher fish biomass within MPAs create incentives to poach. This insight underpins the finding that fishing persists in most MPAs worldwide, and it raises questions about MPA monitoring and enforcement. We propose a novel institution to enhance MPA design—a ‘Conservation Finance Area (CFA)’—that utilizes leased fishing zones inside of MPAs, fed by spillover, to finance monitoring and enforcement and achieve greater conservation success. Using a bioeconomic model we show that CFAs can fully finance enforcement, deter illegal fishing, and ultimately maximize fish biomass. Moreover, we show that unless a large, exogenous, and perpetual enforcement budget is available, implementing a CFA in a no-take MPA would always result in higher biomass than without. We also explore real-world enabling conditions, providing a plausible funding pathway to improve outcomes for existing and future MPAs.
Chromatic Dispersion Equalization FIR Digital Filter for Coherent Receiver

Chromatic dispersion equalization (CDE) in coherent optical communication systems is extremely critical for subsequent digital signal processing (such as frequency offset estimation and carrier phase recovery). Various methods mentioned in the published literature are not satisfactory when the signal bandwidth is limited. This paper proposes a way of using singular value decomposition least square (SVDLS) to obtain the optimal tap weight of the CDE filter and a method to introduce the adaptive mutation particle swarm optimizer (AMPSO) algorithm into the CDE. We show that the two proposed approaches are based on the best approximation of the frequency domain response of the designed and ideal CDE filter. Compared with the traditional CDE method, which needs to be implemented in the full frequency band, the two methods can be implemented in the narrow frequency band. The simulation shows that the effective bandwidth of the baseband signal is limited by squared-root-raised-cosine (SRRC) pulse shaping with a roll-off factor of 0.25 in different modulation formats (DP-QPSK, DP-16 QAM, DP-64 QAM) when the number of taps of the filter is 131, which is 37.5% less than the full frequency band. The designed filter is superior to the existing filter in terms of filtering effect and implementation complexity.
Robotic vs. Transsternal Thymectomy: A Single Center Experience over 10 Years

Introduction: Thymomas are the most common tumors of the mediastinum. Traditionally, thymectomies have been performed through a transsternal (TS) approach. With the development of robot-assisted thoracic surgery (RATS), a promising, minimally invasive, alternative surgical technique for performing a thymectomy has been developed. In the current paper, the oncological and surgical outcomes of the TS vs. RATS thymectomies are discussed. Methods: For the RATS thymectomy, two 8 mm working ports and one 12 mm camera port were used. In the transsternal approach, we performed a median sternotomy and resected the thymic tissue completely, in some cases en bloc with part of the lung and/or, more frequently, a partial pericardiectomy with consequent reconstruction using a bovine pericardial patch. The decisions for using the TS vs. RATS methods were mainly based on the suspected tumor invasion of the surrounding structures on the preoperative CT scan and tumor size. Results: Between January 2010 and November 2020, 149 patients were submitted for an anterior mediastinal tumor resection at our institution. A total of 104 patients met the inclusion criteria. One procedure was performed through a hemi-clamshell incision. A total of 81 (78%) patients underwent RATS procedures, and 22 (21.1%) patients were treated using a transsternal (TS) tumor resection. Thymoma was diagnosed in 53 (51%) cases. In the RATS group, the median LOS was 3.2 ± 2.8 days and the median tumor size was 4.4 ± 2.37 cm compared to the TS group, which had a median LOS of 9 ± 7.3 days and a median tumor size of 10.4 ± 5.3 cm. Both differences were statistically significant (p < 0.001). Complete resection was achieved in all patients. Conclusion: While larger and infiltrating tumors (i.e., thymic carcinomas) were usually resected via a sternotomy, the RATS procedure is a good alternative for the resection of thymomas of up to 9.5 cm, and the thymectomy is a strong approach for myasthenia gravis. The oncological outcomes and survival rates were not influenced by the chosen approach.
Eye Tracking Technique in the Diagnosis of Depressive Disorder: a systematic review

This systematic review aimed to verify the empirical evidence of the application of the eye tracking technique in depressive disorder. The PubMed, PsyInfo and Web of Science databases were used, using the following descriptors: ((Depression OR "Affective Disorders") AND ("Eye Tracking" OR Eye-Tracking OR "Eye Movements" OR "Eye Tracker" OR "Eye Gaze")). According to the eligibility criteria, sixteen relevant studies were identified and its methods, results and their main limitations were verified. The results suggest an increase in latency and reaction time to detect complex stimuli, e.g. the recognition of emotional facial expressions. In addition, greater numbers of fixations in stimuli of negative emotional content were observed. The findings demonstrate that changes in eye movement measurements in depressive disorder are associated with an attentional bias mechanism. It is concluded that Eye Tracking is a useful tool for psychophysiological assessment of depressive disorder.
Importance of Vector Velocity Echocardiography and NT-proBNP in Identifying Individuals with Preclinical Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Background and aim: Familial HCM gene mutation carriers without overt left ventricular hypertrophy (gene positive/phenotype negative G+/P-) can harbor subclinical changes in cardiovascular structure and function that precede the development of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM). Conventional echocardiography parameter ejection fraction is normal in HCM patients. We sought to investigate whether Velocity Vector Imaging (VVI) and NT-proBNP are more sensitive to evaluate heart function.
Higher-order mass-lumped wave propagators on variable resolution, triangular meshes

Numerical models that simulate wave propagation are powerful tools that help scientists explore the subsurface of the earth (Lines and Newrick, 2004). For example, seismic research activities often consist of iteratively updating an initial model to better fit recorded seismic signals by solving an inverse problem. The primary computational expense of this inversion process is most often associated with the numerical simulation of the wave propagation, thus it is important to advance and develop methodologies to reduce the associated computational cost of wave propagation.
Background matching

Background matching is perhaps the most obvious phenomenon that falls under the label of crypsis. Stevens & Merilaita (2011) describe background matching as situations where ‘the appearance generally matches the colour, lightness and pattern of one (specialized) or several (compromise) background types’. There are fascinating examples of species that behaviourally select their microhabitat and orientation so as to enhance similarity to features of the background, and species that change aspects of their appearance in ways that enhance background matching. The degree of background matching is often imperfect; this is thought to commonly reflect the fact that organisms are viewed against a range of different backgrounds, and so they have evolved appearance traits that offer some degree of matching against several of these. Understanding background matching addresses important issues in evolutionary biology, such as the maintenance of polymorphisms. We discuss how predation rates that depend on the frequency of morphs in the environment may be a common explanation for polymorphic crypsis, and the role search images might play in this process. Achieving highly effective background matching in a complex environment is difficult and this may create room for other types of crypsis.