Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Application of analytical chemistry in the quality evaluation of Glycyrrhiza Spp

Abstract Licorice, one of the oldest traditional Chinese medications, is widely used in the treatment of various diseases. With the development of science and technology, an increasing amount of analytical techniques have been applied to the quality control of licorice. Herein, we summarize several of the quality control methods developed in recent years. These approaches include sample preparation processes, high-performance thin layer chromatography, gas chromatography, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, high-performance liquid chromatography, and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). Among these various techniques, LC/MS has come forward as one of the main methods forquality control of licorice.
In silico Homology Modeling and Docking Studies of RecA from Campylobacter jejuni

The RecA protein has an essential role in DNA recombination and repair which is mediated by its ability to bind ATP/ADP. SWISS-MODEL, an online automated server, was used to predict its tertiary structure of C. jejuni RecA. Four evaluation tools were used for quality assessment of the constructed model: QMEAN6, ERRAT, ANOLEA and PROCHECK. Quality assessments indicated that the model was of high quality and reliable for docking experiments. A total of forty natural products were used in docking the model by Hex 8.0. 0 and ArgusLab 4.0. 1 using ADP as control. Ten compounds had docking scores higher than that of ADP (-8.61 Kcal/mol) in ArgusLab 4.0. 1 where quercetin had the highest docking score of -10.34 Kcal/mol. In Hex 8.0. 0 docking, only cucurmin, taxifolin, isoquercitrin and vitexin had docking scores higher than that of ADP. These natural occurring compounds may be possible inhibitors of ATPase activity and, therefore, may be further analyzed to develop new antimicrobials targeting RecA in pathogenic bacteria.
A beam line setup for flash radiation therapy with focused electron beams at the PITZ facility at desy in zeuthen: Basic concept and dosimetry simulations

The objective of this study is demonstration of the principal possibility to increase the electron beam dose deposition at the certain depth of the sample for radiation therapy purposes. Electron bunches of 22 MeV within train generated at PITZ are focused inside the sample using a dedicated fast deflector and a solenoid magnet. To explore the capabilities of the proposed setup, dose distributions are calculated for multiple electron bunches focused in a single point inside a water phantom. Electron beam focusing produces dose peaks with a tunable maximal dose depth which is interesting for healthy tissue sparing at the surface and enhancing treatment quality. The duration of the full bunch train is 1 ms. During this time interval, the FLASH effect could be efficiently triggered inside the irradiated target volume. Monte Carlo simulations based on the FLUKA code were performed to evaluate the depth dose curves distributions in a water phantom. Using the PITZ electron beam parameters, simulations have shown the possibility to produce a peak dose in water seven times higher than compared to the dose at the surface. Moreover, the RMS size homogeneous area around the maximal dose is approximately 25 mm.
Value of carotid intima thickness in assessing advanced carotid plaque vulnerability: a study based on carotid artery ultrasonography and carotid plaque histology

Background Research has shown that carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) could help to predict carotid plaque (CP) progression in patients with mild carotid stenosis. However, the debate continues as to the value of carotid intima thickness (CIT) in monitoring the development of CP in patients with severe carotid stenosis. This study sought to evaluate the relationships between CIT and the ultrasonic characteristics of CP and to analyze the value of CIT and the ultrasonic parameters of CP in assessing plaque vulnerability in advanced human carotid atherosclerosis. Methods A total of 55 individuals who underwent carotid endarterectomy (CEA) were included in the study (mean age: 65±7 years; female: 9.1%). CIMT and CIT were examined at the common carotid artery (CCA). Plaque textural features, such as the gray-scale median (GSM), superb microvascular imaging (SMI) level, and total plaque area (TPA), were also identified. A Spearman correlation coefficient analysis was performed to examine the relationship between CIT and the ultrasonic parameters of CP. The CIT of various plaque types was compared. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to analyze the diagnostic values of the ultrasound characteristics to evaluate CP vulnerability. Results The mean CIT of all the participants was 0.382±0.095 mm, the mean CIT of the participants with stable plaques was 0.328±0.031 mm, and the mean CIT of participants with vulnerable plaques was 0.424±0.106 mm (P<0.001). CIT was associated with the SMI level (Spearman’s correlation coefficient: r=0.392, P=0.005), TPA (Spearman’s correlation coefficient: r=0.337, P=0.012). Patients with thicker CIT had larger lipid cores, higher levels of plaque vulnerability, and more intraplaque hemorrhages (IPHs). The areas under the ROCs (AUCs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for CIMT, CIT, the SMI level, the GSM, the TPA, and the combined model for identifying vulnerable plaques were 0.673 (0.533–0.793), 0.849 (0.727–0.932), 0.771 (0.629–0.879), 0.669 (0.529–0.790), 0.858 (0.738–0.938), and 0.949 (0.854–0.990), respectively. Conclusions CIT was associated with both the histology and ultrasonic features of CP. CIT may be helpful in the detection of severe CP development.
A New Noroleanane from the Seeds of Trichosanthes kirilowii

A new noroleanane named as karounitriol (1), together with four known compounds, 7-oxodihydrokarounidiol (2), isokarounidiol (3), karounidiol (4), and stigmasta-7,22-dien-3β-ol were isolated from the seeds of Trichosanthes kirilowii Maxim. Structure of the new compound was elucidated as 3α,7β,29-trihydroxy-D:C-friedo-olean-8-ene on the basis of spectroscopic methods including extensive 1D NMR (1H, 13C), 2D NMR (1H-1H COSY, DEPT, HMQC, HMBC, and NOESY), IR, and MS studies.
Route Selection in Low-Cost Participatory Mobile Sensing of Air Quality

Mobile crowdsensing is a powerful paradigm that takes advantage of low-cost sensors and population density. It allows for large-scale deployments and collection of extensive data, offering a great advantage in multiple fields such as air pollution monitoring, which is a major concern worldwide. Given the mobile nature of the crowd, mobile crowdsensing platforms need to implement adequate route selection/planning solutions to better guide the crowd through the area of interest and maximize the quality of monitoring. In this paper, we propose two route selection algorithms that take into consideration the low accuracy of low-cost sensors in order to find the most informative routes. The similarity-based route selection algorithm aims to maximize spatial coverage by reducing overlaps between participant routes. The cluster-based route selection takes advantage of hierarchical clustering to build groups of similar points of the map according to explanatory variables. We compare the proposed solutions to baseline route selection algorithms, and the results show that our solutions allow for a better estimation while being efficient in terms of travel distance.
The Staphylococcus aureus ArlS Kinase Inhibitor Tilmicosin Has Potent Anti-Biofilm Activity in Both Static and Flow Conditions

Staphylococcus aureus can form biofilms on biotic surfaces or implanted materials, leading to biofilm-associated diseases in humans and animals that are refractory to conventional antibiotic treatment. Recent studies indicate that the unique ArlRS regulatory system in S. aureus is a promising target for screening inhibitors that may eradicate formed biofilms, retard virulence and break antimicrobial resistance. In this study, by screening in the library of FDA-approved drugs, tilmicosin was found to inhibit ArlS histidine kinase activity (IC50 = 1.09 μM). By constructing a promoter-fluorescence reporter system, we found that tilmicosin at a concentration of 0.75 μM or 1.5 μM displayed strong inhibition on the expression of the ArlRS regulon genes spx and mgrA in the S. aureus USA300 strain. Microplate assay and confocal laser scanning microscopy showed that tilmicosin at a sub-minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) had a potent inhibitory effect on biofilms formed by multiple S. aureus strains and a strong biofilm-forming strain of S. epidermidis. In addition, tilmicosin at three-fold of MIC disrupted USA300 mature biofilms and had a strong bactericidal effect on embedded bacteria. Furthermore, in a BioFlux flow biofilm assay, tilmicosin showed potent anti-biofilm activity and synergized with oxacillin against USA300.
Effects of Helicobacter pylori infection on intestinal microbiota, immunity and colorectal cancer risk

Infecting about half of the world´s population, Helicobacter pylori is one of the most prevalent bacterial infections worldwide and the strongest known risk factor for gastric cancer. Although H. pylori colonizes exclusively the gastric epithelium, the infection has also been associated with various extragastric diseases, including colorectal cancer (CRC). Epidemiological studies reported an almost two-fold increased risk for infected individuals to develop CRC, but only recently, direct causal and functional links between the chronic infection and CRC have been revealed. Besides modulating the host intestinal immune response, H. pylori is thought to increase CRC risk by inducing gut microbiota alterations. It is known that H. pylori infection not only impacts the gastric microbiota at the site of infection but also leads to changes in bacterial colonization in the distal large intestine. Considering that the gut microbiome plays a driving role in CRC, H. pylori infection emerges as a key factor responsible for promoting changes in microbiome signatures that could contribute to tumor development. Within this review, we want to focus on the interplay between H. pylori infection, changes in the intestinal microbiota, and intestinal immunity. In addition, the effects of H. pylori antibiotic eradication therapy will be discussed.
Des animaux plus robustes: un enjeu majeur pour le développement durable des productions animales nécessitant l'essor du phénotypage fin et à haut débit

L’enjeu majeur du phenotypage animal est d’acquerir une connaissance systemique de la robustesse des animaux d’elevage pour repondre au mieux a une double finalite en termes d’exploitation de la variabilite des aptitudes animales : une selection eclairee vers des objectifs majeurs pour ameliorer l’efficience et la robustesse des genotypes, et un elevage de precision exploitant la variabilite individuelle des animaux pour gagner en resilience a l’echelle du troupeau, ou pour ameliorer la conduite a genotype donne. Deux defis majeurs de connaissance, interdependants et communs a toutes les filieres animales, sont a relever pour ameliorer la robustesse des animaux : i) comprendre et predire les compromis entre fonctions vitales, c’est-a-dire les changements de priorites dans l’allocation de ressources limitees ; ii) comprendre et exploiter les aspects temporels de la robustesse au cours de la vie de l’animal pour lui permettre de maintenir son niveau de production dans une large gamme d’environnements sans pour autant compromettre sa reproduction, sa sante et son bien-etre. Atteindre ces objectifs necessite de lever les verrous techniques suivants : i) definir des phenotypes complexes a partir de l’integration de donnees obtenues a differentes echelles moleculaires, tissulaires, de l’animal ou d’une de ses fonctions ; ii) mettre en oeuvre des technologies a haut debit pour caracteriser a moindre cout et le plus precisement possible le plus grand nombre d’animaux ; iii) developper d’importantes bases de donnees, des methodes et outils informatiques performants, necessaires aux traitements des informations a des fins de modelisation et de biologie predictive.
Design and Implementation of an X-Band Horn Antenna With a Metamaterial Lens Using 3D Printing Technology

This paper presents the design and implementation of an X-band horn antenna, which operates over a frequency range of 7 – 9 GHz for small satellite communication systems in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), employing metamaterials and 3D printing technology. It was fabricated using a polymer-based material through a 3D printer and subsequently coated with copper. The horn antenna with a metamaterial lens (meta lens) and septum polarizer is fabricated as a single structure, eliminating the need for additional mechanical structures and parts for assembly of the antenna. This results in a significant reduction in weight compared to a conventional antenna manufactured using traditional methods. To enhance the directivity of the conical horn antenna, the meta lens horn antenna incorporates a periodic lattice-shaped metamaterial. Additionally, a septum polarizer is integrated to achieve circular polarization. The metamaterial lens used in this paper exhibits Near-Zero Refractive Index (NZRI) characteristics within the operating frequency band. It is positioned inside the conical horn antenna to compensate for the field phase difference between the horn’s edge and vertex. This compensation leads to a uniform phase distribution across the aperture, resulting in improved antenna directivity. The simulated and measured results show that the meta lens enhances the gain by over 1 dB within the frequency band of interest compared to the conventional horn of the same size. Furthermore, it exhibits a return loss below 20 dB. The proposed antenna was fabricated as a monolithic lightweight structure using the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technique and subsequently metalized through the electro-less plating process. The stability of electrical properties has been verified in a thermal vacuum environment test to ensure its functionality in an LEO environment, characterized by significant temperature fluctuation.
Research on optimal cutting scheme based on three-stage guillotine cut

Smart manufacturing has become a major part of the core competitiveness of enterprises, and better scheduling optimization methods are obtained in order to reduce the material loss in the manufacturing process. In this paper, we construct a mixed integer programming model, iterate from local optimum to global optimum by genetic algorithm, and finally solve the question B of the 2022 China Graduate Student Mathematical Modeling Competition. We get the results that the utilization rate of each scheduling solution is higher than 90%, which shows the effectiveness of the model and algorithm, and can greatly improve the utilization rate of plates.
The Mouseion at the JAXlibrary The Mouseion at the JAXlibrary

Comparing genomic and biological characteristics across multiple species is essential to using model systems to investigate the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying human biology and disease and to translate mechanistic insights from studies in model organisms for clinical applications. Building a scalable knowledge commons platform that supports cross-species comparison of rich, expertly curated knowledge regarding gene function, phenotype, and disease associations available for model organisms and humans is the primary mission of the Alliance of Genome Resources (the Alliance). The Alliance is a consortium of seven model organism knowledgebases (mouse, rat, yeast, nematode, zebrafish, frog, fruit fly) and the Gene Ontology resource. The Alliance uses a common set of gene ortholog assertions as the basis for comparing biological annotations across the organisms represented in the Alliance. The major types of knowledge associated with genes that are represented in the Alliance database currently include gene function, phenotypic alleles and variants, human disease associations, pathways, gene expression, and both protein–protein and genetic interactions. The Alliance has enhanced the ability of researchers to easily compare biological annotations for common data types across model organisms and human through the implementation of shared programmatic access mechanisms, data-specific web pages with a unified “look and feel”, and interactive user interfaces specifically designed to support comparative biology. The modular infrastructure developed by the Alliance allows the resource to serve as an extensible “knowledge commons” capable of expanding to accommodate additional model organisms.
Real-Time Predictive Maintenance System of Industrial Equipment without Historical Failure Data

Predictive maintenance (PdM) appears to predict faults before they occur because unexpected industrial equipment failures directly affect workers' safety, cost, and work continuity. In this context, developing a PdM system needs historical data for failures, but those data are not available in our case, which is a sewage centrifugal pump, where failures had not been recorded before. Therefore, this research aims to develop a system for PdM that works efficiently in real-time and does not need historical data for failures; it can also predict failures at different periods and conditions. The "Data-Driven" method is a suitable methodology to apply to conditions data; also, time series forecasting and anomaly detection (AD) are the most applicable models for the studied case. The Main Bearing Temperature was chosen in the models because it is the most applicable parameter. The models' performance was evaluated in two ways: accuracy and resource consumption (execution time and RAM). After that, the most important accuracy metrics are a root mean square error (RMSE) for forecasting models and excess Mass and Mass Volume for AD models. The experimental results presented "TBATS" as the best forecast model and QuantileAD from the "ADTK" model as the best AD method.
Accidental Subdural Injection during Attempted Cervical Epidural Block

Case reports after accidental subdural injection during attempted epidural block have usually described extensive neuraxial blocks with a characteristic radiographic appearance on contrast injection. We experienced a case of cervical subdural injection with unusual clinical findings and radiographic appearance. A 51-year-old female patient with central herniated nucleus pulposus at cervical (C5/6) and lumbar level (L4/5, L5/S1) was referred to the pain clinic. During attempted cervical epidural block at the C6/7 interspace with fluoroscopy, injection of the 4 ml contrast showed posterior spread at cervical level. After cervical epidural steroid injection, the contrast was also confined to the posterior aspect of the spinal canal at lumbar level with fluoroscopy. In order to discriminate subdural space from epidural space, we performed transforaminal epidural injection of the 2 ml contrast at the L5/S1 interspace and we could confirm cervical epidural injection was made into the subdural space. We discuss the clinical characteristics of a subdural injection and the appearance of the cervical and lumbar subdurogram. (Korean J Pain 2009; 22: 83-87)
The Cambridge Medical Ethics Workbook: Case Studies, Commentaries and Activities

The editors of this Cambridge workbook should be congratulated for its success in rendering medical ethics lively, enticing, and user-friendly. Most classics of biomedical ethics are dry and daunting because they were written by analytical philosophers, who based the discussion on abstract ethics constructs. Principles of Biomedical Ethics by Beauchamp and Childress, 1 for instance, divided its chapters into autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, justice, and professional-patient relationships. While these principles are the bread and butter of ethical analysis, most clinicians would appreciate a more practical approach to the topic. There is another genre of bioethics textbooks that base the discussion on classical cases. 2 While this type of textbook tends to be more readable, they are no more practical than the analytical classics, as most of the famous cases are rarely encountered in daily clinical practice. The Cambridge Medical Ethics Workbook: Case Studies, Commentaries and Activities successfully overcomes these shortcomings by aligning its chapters along medical problems. Commonly encountered clinical scenarios are used to illustrate how to approach thorny ethical issues. Commentaries on individual cases are also included to help readers understand how ethical issues are theorised in clinical reality. This improved approach to discuss biomedical ethics is not entirely novel as The Hastings Center Report has previously made a similar attempt. 3
A Jacobian vector correction method for the force calibration of EIT-based tactile sensor

In this paper, we present a Jacobian vector correction (JVC) method for calibrating tactile force in EIT-based tactile sensors. The JVC method addresses the non-uniform sensitivity distribution of EIT reconstruction by constructing a scaling vector for sensitivity correction based on the Jacobian vector. A thresholding segmentation strategy is employed to enhance the correction results within a region of interest (ROI). The proposed method achieves approximately constant sensitivity across all locations and eliminates the need for extensive data collection during force calibration. We provide a straightforward sensitivity analysis and visualizations to improve comprehension of EIT measurement properties and the calibration methodology. The eﬀectiveness of the JVC method is evaluated through phantom experiments using various target objects with diﬀerent conductivities or sizes, and on a non-array EIT-based tactile sensor composed of a porous elastic polymer and ionic liquid. The results demonstrate the ability of the JVC method to accurately capture strength information without being constrained by location dependency. Furthermore, the practicality of our proposed method is validated by integrating two calibrated ﬂexible tactile sensors (each with a 100 cm2 area) into a robot arm platform.
Levels of selected essential elements in four parts of three varieties of watermelons sold in Githurai and Mwea markets in Kenya

X CHAPTER ONE . 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Background information . 1 1.2 Problem statement and justification . 5 1.3 Hypotheses . 7 1.4 Objectives . 7 1.4. 1 General objective . 7 1.4. 2 Specific objectives . 7 1.5 Significance of the study . 7 1.6 Scope and limitations . 8 CHAPTER TWO . 9 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW . 9 2.1 Watermelons . 9 2.3 Essential elements for human body . 14 2.3. 1 Silicon . 14 2.3. 2 Vanadium . 17 2.3. 3 Boron . 18 2.3. 4 Calcium . 21 2.3. 5 Chromium . 22 2.3. 6 Molybdenum . 24