Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enhancing Brain Tumor Classification with Data Augmentation and DenseNet121

This research paper presents a comprehensive study on the development and evaluation of a brain tumor classification model using advanced image processing and deep learning techniques. The primary objective of this study was to create an accurate and robust system for distinguishing between brain tumors and normal brain images, utilizing both an original dataset and an augmented dataset. With a focus on improving medical diagnosis, the research aimed to enhance the performance of brain tumor detection by leveraging state-of-the-art machine learning methods. The model pipeline comprised various image preprocessing steps, including cropping, resizing, denoising, and normalization, followed by feature extraction using the DenseNet121 architecture and classification using sigmoid activation. The dataset was meticulously divided into training, validation, and testing sets, with an emphasis on achieving high recall, precision, F1-score, and accuracy as key research objectives. The results demonstrate that the model achieved impressive performance, with a training recall of 92.87%, precision of 93.82%, F1-score of 93.15%, and an accuracy of 94.83%. These findings underscore the potential of deep learning and data augmentation in enhancing brain tumor detection systems, supporting the research's core objective of advancing medical image analysis for clinical applications.
A Combinatorial Regulatory Platform Determines Expression of RNA Polymerase III Subunit RPC7α (POLR3G) in Cancer

Simple Summary The RNA polymerase III complex incorporates two forms of subunit RPC7: RPC7α, which is highly abundant during early development, and RPC7β, the constitutive form of RPC7 in most tissues. Here, we investigate the gene regulatory mechanisms that give rise to high RPC7α levels in cancer, which is linked with unfavorable outcomes in patients. Our survey points to a gene-internal regulatory element and identifies a multitude of transcription factors that contribute to RPC7α abundance, altogether establishing a combinatorial model for Pol III identity in cancer. Abstract RNA polymerase III (Pol III) subunit RPC7α, which is encoded by POLR3G in humans, has been linked to both tumor growth and metastasis. Accordantly, high POLR3G expression is a negative prognostic factor in multiple cancer subtypes. To date, the mechanisms underlying POLR3G upregulation have remained poorly defined. We performed a large-scale genomic survey of mRNA and chromatin signatures to predict drivers of POLR3G expression in cancer. Our survey uncovers positive determinants of POLR3G expression, including a gene-internal super-enhancer bound with multiple transcription factors (TFs) that promote POLR3G expression, as well as negative determinants that include gene-internal DNA methylation, retinoic-acid induced differentiation, and MXD4-mediated disruption of POLR3G expression. We show that novel TFs identified in our survey, including ZNF131 and ZNF207, functionally enhance POLR3G expression, whereas MXD4 likely obstructs MYC-driven expression of POLR3G and other growth-related genes. Integration of chromatin architecture and gene regulatory signatures identifies additional factors, including histone demethylase KDM5B, as likely influencers of POLR3G gene activity. Taken together, our findings support a model in which POLR3G expression is determined with multiple factors and dynamic regulatory programs, expanding our understanding of the circuitry underlying POLR3G upregulation and downstream consequences in cancer.
Different Mechanisms of Cancer Drug Resistance: A Brief Review

Treatments in oncology have advanced over a long time. At the same pace, steady care for patients getting cancer treatment has extremely advanced, permitting patients to get the most current propels in treatment in both an inpatient and outpatient premise. The acknowledgment of the part of disease control and avoidance (infection prevention and control) within the results of patients living with cancer has been such that it is presently a requirement for healing centers and includes multidisciplinary groups. Today, an expansive volume of data is accessible on sedate resistance components of cancer cells. Opposite to the advance of treatment with chemotherapy drugs, the defensive instruments of cells against cytotoxic compounds are considered an enormous deterrent within the way to effective treatment of cancer. Growing data approximately sedate resistance components might be compelling in planning methodologies to overcome sedate resistance for creating modern drugs with less resistance. A few of the data gotten approximately sedate resistance uncovers modern components that are related to the dispersion of drugs within the body, and these data may be supportive in progressing the dispersion of drugs to completely different patients.
Fault plane determinations for three small earthquakes along the San Jacinto Fault, California: Search for cross faults

Using rupture directivity and aftershock locations, three earthquakes (ML 4.2 – 4.3) were studied to determine which of the two nodal planes of the focal mechanism was the rupture plane. All three events occurred near the San Jacinto fault zone during December 1989 and February 1990 and had a large component of strike-slip motion with nodal planes oriented in the northeast and northwest directions. Smaller earthquakes were used as empirical Green functions to deconvolve the path and site complications from the short-period P waveforms. The resultant far-field source time functions were inverted for slip on a finite fault and tested to see which nodal plane provided a better fit to the data. The results of the waveform inversion showed that the earthquake near the Anza Gap (December 2, 1989) and the earthquake near San Bernardino (December 28, 1989) ruptured northwest trending planes. The earthquake near Buck Ridge (February 18, 1990) appeared to rupture a northeast trending plane, but the waveform results for this event were not considered as reliable. Available aftershock data for the three events were also examined using master event relocations. The aftershock sequence following the Buck Ridge event showed a clear lineation trending toward the northeast. The results of this study indicate that the Anza and San Bernardino earthquakes ruptured areas on or parallel to the San Jacinto fault, while the Buck Ridge event ruptured a northeast trending cross fault. In addition to determining the fault plane, the waveform analysis resolved details of the slip distribution for these relatively small earthquakes.
Autonomous Vehicle Implementation Predictions: Implications for Transport Planning

This paper explores the impacts that autonomous (also called self-driving, driverless or robotic) vehicles are likely to have on travel demands and transportation planning. It discusses autonomous vehicle benefits and costs, predicts their likely development and implementation based on experience with previous vehicle technologies, and explores how they will affect planning decisions such as optimal road, parking and public transit supply. The analysis indicates that some benefits, such as independent mobility for affluent non-drivers, may begin in the 2020s or 2030s, but most impacts, including reduced traffic and parking congestion (and therefore road and parking facility supply requirements), independent mobility for low-income people (and therefore reduced need to subsidize transit), increased safety, energy conservation and pollution reductions, will only be significant when autonomous vehicles become common and affordable, probably in the 2040s to 2060s, and some benefits may require prohibiting human-driven vehicles on certain roadways, which could take longer.
Potential Implications of Sea-Level Rise for Great Britain

Abstract Large parts of the coasts of Great Britain (including England, Wales, and Scotland) already experience a number of problems, including sediment starvation and erosion, loss/degradation of coastal ecosystems, and significant exposure to coastal flooding. Sea-level rise and other potential climate change will exacerbate all of these issues. Coastal management is embracing sea-level rise and climate change as one of the long-term issues that must be addressed, while recent nonstatutory guidelines are encouraging decision makers and actors alike to promote integrated coastal-zone management. Hence, preparations for adaptation to sea-level rise are more advanced than in most European coastal countries. In England and Wales, it is recommended that new coastal defences consider an allowance for accelerated sea-level rise. Strategic shoreline management plans have also been prepared, which include proposals for managed retreat (termed managed realignment) in flood-prone areas with low levels of development, and allowing continued erosion of retreating cliffs. More strategic tools for coastal management are also being developed. Future needs include a better response to the uncertainties of climate change, better guidance on managing the interaction between river flooding and sea-level rise in coastal lowlands, regional analyses of changes in coastal ecosystem stocks, and flood management for London and the Thames River. Scotland requires more basic assessment to define the key issues and needs.
Effects of Olea europaea L. Polyphenols on the Animal Welfare and Milk Quality in Dairy Cows

Simple Summary The use of by-products from the olive oil industry in livestock farming is an important resource due to their high content of biomolecules with strong antioxidant properties. In this study, 30 Italian Holstein–Friesian cows were fed with an Olea europaea L. polyphenol-enriched diet (500 mg/cow/day) to evaluate the effects of such supplementation on metabolic parameters and milk quality. The enriched diet helped (1) maintain cows’ metabolic parameters in the physiological range producing hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects, and (2) improve the fatty acid profile of milk, paralleled by an increase in protein content and lactose. The obtained results show that in lactating dairy cows, supplementation with Olea europaea L. extracts can be a valid strategy to improve animal welfare and milk quality. Abstract Here, we evaluated the effect of dietary supplementation with an Olea europaea L. extract on the animal welfare and milk quality of dairy cows. Thirty Italian Holstein–Friesian dairy cows in the mid-lactation phase (90 to 210 days) were blocked into experimental groups based on parity class (namely, primiparous (P) (n = 10), secondiparous (S) (n = 10) and pluriparous (PL) (n = 10)) and received, for 60 days, Phenofeed Dry® at 500 mg/cow/day. Milk and blood samples were collected before the start of the treatment (T0), subsequently every 15 days (T1–T4) and at 45 days after the end of treatment (T5). In the serum, glucose and triglycerides, stress, the thyroid, lactation and sex hormones were measured; in the milk, lysozyme content as well as the fatty acid profile were assessed. In the whole animal, the enriched feed helped to maintain hormonal parameters in the physiological range while producing hypoglycemic (T4 vs. T0, for P and PL p < 0.001) and hypolipidemic effects (T4 vs. T0, for P p < 0.001 and for PL p < 0.01). At the milk level, it resulted in a reduction in total fat (T5 vs. T0, for P, S and PL p < 0.001) and in the saturated fatty acids (SFAs)/monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) ratio paralleled by an increase in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) (T5 vs. T0, for P, S and PL p < 0.001), protein content (lysozyme (T4 vs. T0, for P and PL p < 0.001)) and lactose (T5 vs. T0, for P, S and PL p < 0.001). Thus, the inclusion of natural bioactive molecules such as O. europaea L. polyphenols in the dairy cow diet may help to improve animal welfare and milk quality.
New high-resolution ground-based studies of sprites

New observations of sprites (cloud-ionosphere luminous discharges above thunderstorms) were made from the Yucca Ridge Field Station 20 km northeast of Fort Collins, Colorado, on the night of July 11–12, 1994, as part of a summer 1994 observing campaign. The sprites appeared above a moderate mesoscale convective complex mostly over Kansas at a range of about 270 km. The sprites were observed with both wide-field and telescopic image-intensified CCD TV cameras, a telescopic photometer system, and a 1- to 50-kHz band VLF sferics receiver. This paper is based on five 1-s data intervals containing bright sprites, smaller sprites, and cloud and sky flashes. Telescopic TV images of bright sprites had a fan-shaped upper plume with very fine features not well resolved by the TV, but dendritic (upward forked) and vertically striated forms adjacent to these plumes and bright points of luminosity around the plume-shaped regions. Many sprites consisted entirely of groups of vertically aligned striations which sometimes appeared to diverge from a common point of origin at cloud tops. All sprites in the present data sample were preceded by a cloud to ground (CG) stroke with a coincident sferic and sky flash. All CG strokes associated with sprites were positive, and most were 100 kA or more inferred peak current. From the photometer, the duration of the CG-induced sky flashes was about 3 ms and the additional sprite total light curve was also about 3 ms. The puzzling feature that the total duration of TV images of sprites was often longer than the photometric values is discussed and an explanation given. The sprites were attributed to strong negative charging, following the positive CG stroke, of a localized cloud top region which produced an intense electric field and a luminous discharge in the cloud-ionosphere region. The concept of “break-even” electric fields suggested by McCarthy and Parks may explain discharge initiation with moderate field strengths.
Effects of fire severity on early recovery of Patagonian steppes

Fire severity influences the recovery and biodiversity of plant communities. We compared the early post-fire recovery of plant functional groups in two sites (one burnt with high severity and one with low severity) in the north-western Patagonian steppe. We sampled the post-fire soil seed banks, as well as the composition and cover of aboveground plant species, and calculated richness, diversity and the percentage of exotic species. Low fire severity increased the diversity of aboveground vegetation and seed banks, whereas high fire severity reduced the cover of all functional groups, with the exception of fugitive species. Tiller production of perennial grasses decreased due to bud bank mortality. In the seed bank, high severity fire reduced fugitive species and increased exotic species. Fugitive species need fire to recruit, and the combination of fire cues and post-fire environmental conditions can explain the high abundance of these species after fire. In Patagonia, the use of fire is not considered a management option because fires are believed to be dangerous to humans, goods and services. However, north-western Patagonia is sparsely populated and the frequent wildfires pose no danger. It is necessary to increase the knowledge of the ecological processes of Patagonian ecosystems related to fire regime and land use, to achieve a reasonable balance between sustainable use and conservation in this region.
Further rock magnetic and chronostratigraphic results on reversal excursions during the last 50 ka as derived from northern high latitudes and discrepancies in precise AMS 14C dating

SUMMARY A total of five sediment cores from three sites, the Arctic Ocean, the Fram Strait and the Greenland Sea, yielded evidence for geomagnetic reversal excursions and associated strong lows in relative palaeointensity during oxygen isotope stages 2 and 3. A general similarity of the obtained relative palaeointensity curves to reference data can be observed. However, in the very detail, results from this high-resolution study differ from published records in a way that the prominent Laschamp excursion is clearly characterized by a significant field recovery when reaching the steepest negative inclinations, whereas only the N‐R and R‐N transitions are associated with the lowest values. Two subsequent excursions also reach nearly reversed inclinations but without any field recovery at that state. A total of 41 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14 C ages appeared to allow a better age determination of these three directional excursions and related relative palaeointensity variations. However, although the three sites yielded more or less consistent chronological as well as palaeomagnetic results a comparison to another site, PS2644 in the Iceland Sea, revealed significant divergences in the ages of the geomagnetic field excursions of up to 4 ka even on basis of uncalibrated AMS 14 C ages. This shift to older 14 C ages cannot be explained by a time-transgressive character of the excursions, because the distance between the sites is small when compared with the size of and the distance to the geodynamo in the Earth’s outer core. The most likely explanation is a difference of reservoir ages and/or mixing with old 14 C-depleted CO2 from glacier ice expelled
Mono Lake geomagnetic excursion

Extensive sampling has revealed a new feature of the Mono Lake geomagnetic excursion. The previously known eastward swing in declination and steepening of inclination are preceded by an even greater swing to westerly declination and shallow inclination. The duration of the entire excursion is estimated to be about 1000 years. Excellent agreement of paleomagnetic directions between four sites shows the excursion is a real expression of the geomagnetic field. Interpretation of natural remanent magnetization/anhysteretic remanent magnetization (NRM/ARM) ratios for one site indicates the field intensity may have fallen well below and then increased well above the dipole field intensity, suggesting the excursion is a manifestation of the nondipole field. The source can be modeled by a radial eccentric dipole at high northern latitudes and pointing outward during the first part of the excursion, and near the equator and pointing inward during the latter part. Movement of the source appears localized, displaying a complex pattern of eastward, westward, and even northward drift. The average moment of the hypothetical eccentric dipole during the excursion is comparable with the largest calculated for the 1945 field, and the maximum moment is almost twice as great.
A Review of Chondroitin Sulfate’s Preparation, Properties, Functions, and Applications

Chondroitin sulfate (CS) is a natural macromolecule polysaccharide that is extensively distributed in a wide variety of organisms. CS is of great interest to researchers due to its many in vitro and in vivo functions. CS production derives from a diverse number of sources, including but not limited to extraction from various animals or fish, bio-synthesis, and fermentation, and its purity and homogeneity can vary greatly. The structural diversity of CS with respect to sulfation and saccharide content endows this molecule with distinct complexity, allowing for functional modification. These multiple functions contribute to the application of CS in medicines, biomaterials, and functional foods. In this article, we discuss the preparation of CS from different sources, the structure of various forms of CS, and its binding to other relevant molecules. Moreover, for the creation of this article, the functions and applications of CS were reviewed, with an emphasis on drug discovery, hydrogel formation, delivery systems, and food supplements. We conclude that analyzing some perspectives on structural modifications and preparation methods could potentially influence future applications of CS in medical and biomaterial research.
Growth Inhibitory Effects of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus reuteri, and Bifidobacterium bifidum Supernatant on Blastocystis Subtypes 1 and 3 Via the TLR4 Axis

Background: Blastocystis is a common protozoan parasite found in the human intestinal tract and is associated with several gastrointestinal symptoms as well as inflammatory conditions in the bowel. Probiotics are groups of beneficial microorganisms with a substantial impact on overall human health. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the growth inhibitory effects of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus reuteri, and Bifidobacterium bifidum on Blastocystis subtypes (ST) 1 and 3 through the evaluation of expression changes in toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in Caco2 cell culture. Materials and Methods: The parasite and Caco2 cells were cultured and maintained, and the supernatant of bacteria was prepared. The viability of parasites and cell cultures exposed to supernatants was measured separately by 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, in comparison with metronidazole. In addition, TLR4 expression changes in cell cultures and co-cultures exposed to the supernatants were measured using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: The mean viability of Caco2 cells exposed to the highest and lowest (100 vs. 10 µg/mL) concentrations of supernatants was in a similar range. The survival of Blastocystis ST1 and ST3 exposed to the 15, 25, and 35 µg/mL of probiotics supernatants significantly decreased during 24, 48, and 72 hours. Although not statistically significant, the findings indicated a decrease in TLR4 expression in Caco2 cells and an increase in gene expression in co-cultures exposed to the probiotic supernatants (15, 25, and 35 µg/mL). Conclusion: This novel therapeutic field of study using probiotics compounds deserves further exploration to find unprecedented therapies against Blastocystis infection.
Les ressources génétiques, un réservoir et une dynamique pour la gestion des incertitudes

Forest stakeholders at all levels are required to make choices in the face of a highly uncertain outlook. Integrated management of genetic resources is one of the instruments available to them. Genetic resources should be construed not only as the diversity of existing adaptations to meet current objectives, but also as the potential for the emergence of new adaptations to meet future, uncertain needs. Genetic diversity is not a predefined set of resources; it is a permanent “process” of evolution, with its phases of creation and erosion of diversity. With this dynamic conception of diversity, we can try to devise strategies that are both robust and flexible which combine exploitation and conservation of genetic resources. Some avenues that go in this direction are proposed here.