Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Circulating Vascular Adhesion Protein-1 Level Predicts the Risk of Cardiovascular Events and Mortality in Hemodialysis Patients

Background: Vascular adhesion protein-1 (VAP-1) is an oxidative enzyme of primary amines that facilitates the transmigration of inflammatory cells. Its oxidative and inflammatory effects are prominently increased in pathological conditions, such as metabolic, atherosclerotic, and cardiac diseases. However, the clinical significance of circulating VAP-1 levels in hemodialysis (HD) patients is unclear. Methods: A total of 434 HD patients were enrolled in a prospective multicenter cohort study between June 2016 and April 2019. Plasma VAP-1 levels were measured at the time of data entry, and the primary endpoint was defined as a composite of cardiovascular (CV) and cardiac events. Results: Circulating VAP-1 levels were positively correlated with plasma levels of cardiac remodeling markers, including brain natriuretic peptide, galectin-3, and matrix metalloproteinase-2. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that patients with higher circulating VAP-1 levels were more likely to have left ventricular diastolic dysfunction [odds ratio, 1.40; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04–1.88]. The cumulative event rate of the composite of CV events was significantly greater in VAP-1 tertile 3 than in VAP-1 tertiles 1 and 2 (P = 0.009). Patients in tertile 3 were also associated with an increased cumulative event rate of cardiac events (P = 0.015), with a 2.06-fold higher risk each for CV (95% CI, 1.10–3.85) and cardiac (95% CI, 1.03–4.12) events after adjusting for multiple variables. Conclusions: Plasma VAP-1 levels were positively associated with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and the risk of incident CV and cardiac events in HD patients. Our results indicate that VAP-1 may aid clinicians in identifying HD patients at a high risk of CV events.
The Vital Role of Central Executive Network in Brain Age: Evidence From Machine Learning and Transcriptional Signatures

Recent studies combining neuroimaging with machine learning methods successfully infer an individual’s brain age, and its discrepancy with the chronological age is used to identify age-related diseases. However, which brain networks play decisive roles in brain age prediction and the underlying biological basis of brain age remain unknown. To answer these questions, we estimated an individual’s brain age in the Southwest University Adult Lifespan Dataset (N = 492) from the gray matter volumes (GMV) derived from T1-weighted MRI scans by means of Gaussian process regression. Computational lesion analysis was performed to determine the importance of each brain network in brain age prediction. Then, we identified brain age-related genes by using prior brain-wide gene expression data, followed by gene enrichment analysis using Metascape. As a result, the prediction model successfully inferred an individual’s brain age and the computational lesion prediction results identified the central executive network as a vital network in brain age prediction (Steiger’s Z = 2.114, p = 0.035). In addition, the brain age-related genes were enriched in Gene Ontology (GO) processes/Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways grouped into numbers of clusters, such as regulation of iron transmembrane transport, synaptic signaling, synapse organization, retrograde endocannabinoid signaling (e.g., dopaminergic synapse), behavior (e.g., memory and associative learning), neurotransmitter secretion, and dendrite development. In all, these results reveal that the GMV of the central executive network played a vital role in predicting brain age and bridged the gap between transcriptome and neuroimaging promoting an integrative understanding of the pathophysiology of brain age.
Developing visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy to detect changes of the dermal collagen concentration

Collagen provides skin structure integrity and its concentration is related to the severity of scars. The objective of this study is to develop a hand-held and relatively inexpensive system to detect changes of the dermal collagen concentration in vivo. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and two-layer diffusion model have often been used to quantify the collagen concentration and other optical properties of the skin. However, the influences of fat and muscle, which are just below the dermis, have not been thoroughly investigated. We applied Monte Carlo simulations to find source-detector separations most sensitive to changes in collagen absorption and identify four wavelengths between 650 nm and 1000 nm suitable for separating influences of other chromophores including melanin, oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin. Our tissue model consisted of at least three layers including the epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous fat with an optional forth layer representing the muscle. Results showed that the reflectance of the three-layered tissue model differed significantly from that of the two-layered tissue model, and the additional muscle layer might also influence the reflectance depending on the thickness of the fat layer. In addition, whether scattering coefficients of the epidermis and dermis were the same significantly affected the reflectance. Differences in reflectance due to changes in the collagen concentration were distinct from those due to changes in scattering coefficients and other chromophores. Further in-vivo experiments are ongoing to to validate the proposed approach.
Mental Health Issues in the COVID-19 Pandemic and Responses in Bangladesh: View Point of Media Reporting

Background: The negative impact of COVID-19 on mental health has been reported by media throughout the world, although this role is not well-understood in low-and middle-income countries (LMIC). We examined the reporting of mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh and initiatives undertaken to support mental health reported from the viewpoint of media. Methods: We reviewed articles published in 10 local newspapers, including seven Bangla and three English newspapers, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. News topics were identified through discussions among the team members, with searches across online newspapers and portals. Data extrapolated from newspapers were documented in an Excel spreadsheet. A mixed-method approach was used following a framework analysis for analyzing data. Recurring issues and commonly emerging topics were generated from the data. Descriptive statistics were applied for analyzing quantitative data. Results: Between March 2020 and March 2021, we have identified 201 reports on mental health issues including 45 reports (22.4%) focused on stress due to the associated financial crisis, unemployment and loneliness, 50 reports (24.9%) of 80 apparent suicides linked to family issues, disharmony in conjugal relationships, harassment, sexual violence, emotional breakdown, financial crisis, and stigma due to COVID-19.There were 77 reports (38.3%) concerning domestic violence during the pandemic. Twenty-nine reports (14.4%) referenced actions taken by different organizations to address mental health issues in response to the pandemic in Bangladesh. Conclusion: News coverage has the scope to highlight important issues that can emerge as a consequence of the COVID-pandemic, such as mental health, in a low resource setting. Capacity building of the media on the way to report mental health issues during emergency situations could be a useful strategy for more credible reporting on mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic for raising awareness of the public and policymakers about the negative consequences on mental health of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. Adopting policies to support essential mental health care and promoting the local organizations to take timely public health measures will be imperative for averting the negative consequences of mental health due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh.
The Transcription of Life: From DNA to RNA

In the last 50 years, I have dedicated my career to studying fundamental questions in biology. These questions address some of the most basic processes of life, such as “How do cells carrying the same genetic information differentiate into some 200 cell types in the human body? ” and “How do cells remodel in response to environmental information? ” In this article I will take you on a journey through some of my research into these questions. I will describe my main findings about DNA and its transcription to mRNA through a complex machinery called RNA polymerase II. mRNA is eventually translated into proteins that play a variety of major roles within the organism, including building cells, responding to environmental signals, accelerating chemical reactions, and transmitting signals between distant tissues. Last, I will share with you some fascinating open questions that we are now working on and close with a few tips for you—the scientists of the future.
Photocatalytic Degradation of Methyl Orange by Fe2O3−Fe3O4 Nanoparticles and Fe2O3−Fe3O4−Montmorillonite Nanocomposites

Zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) are emerging multifunctional agents for contaminant treatment. However, Fe2O3–Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NIO), which are generated when nZVI is oxidized, can also make a meaningful contribution to the photocatalytic degradation of organics. Taking this into account, NIO and a Fe2O3–Fe3O4–montmorillonite nanocomposite (NIO-M) were prepared, and their morphology and microstructure were investigated via a series of characterization methods. The presence of montmorillonite is critical to decreasing the aggregation and size of the crystals, which helps improve the thermal stability of the crystals. The photocatalysis performance of NIO and NIO-M for the degradation of methyl orange was evaluated, and the data indicated that NIO-M exhibited an excellent optical response and photocatalytic activity in the visible region. The degradation rate of methyl orange was 1.47 times faster within 45 mins of irradiation compared with NIO. The results indicate that NIO-M is a promising type of visible-light-driven photocatalyst for the degradation of organics in aqueous solutions.
Diagnostic Accuracy and Agreement between Four Phenotypic Carbapenemase Detection Tests among Enterobacterales

Introduction: Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CREs) are becoming increasingly popular as a cause of hospital-acquired infections that are difficult to treat and are frequently reported as causes of outbreaks in various hospitals. Conventional culturing techniques take at least 2 days to report a case as carbapenem resistant, and it is therefore important to detect such resistance mechanisms as early as possible. Methods: This study aimed to compare the diagnostic performance of Carba NP, modified Hodge test (MHT), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) disk synergy test (DST), and the modified carbapenem inactivation method (mCIM). This study was done at Microbiology Laboratory, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi. It was an observational study. Carba NP, MHT, EDTA DST, and the mCIM were performed on consecutive isolates of Enterobacterales. Sensitivity, specificity, and agreement between the four tests were calculated. Results: Of 207 Enterobacterales isolated, 127 were resistant to carbapenems. One hundred and fourteen of these were tested by a polymerase chain reaction, and the sensitivities of the Carba NP, MHT, EDTA DST, and the mCIM were found to be 94.34%, 75.47%, 79.25%, and 98.11%, respectively. Conclusions: Due to increased rates of carbapenem resistance, there is a need to employ mechanisms in hospitals that can identify such organisms as early as possible, both from clinical and epidemiological standpoints. The Carba NP test is a rapid, cost–effective, and reliable method and mCIM is more accurate but time consuming and both can be safely used for the screening of CREs.
Carbon Dots: A Modular Activity To Teach Fluorescence and Nanotechnology at Multiple Levels

In recent years, nanomaterials have entered our daily lives via consumer products; thus, it has become increasingly important to implement activities to introduce these novel materials into chemistry curricula. Here we introduce a newly developed fluorescent nanomaterial, carbon dots, as a more environmentally friendly alternative to heavy-metal semiconductor quantum dots to be used as a model nanomaterial for experiments at multiple educational levels ranging from high school to upper-division college laboratories. These dots, which are polymeric in nature, can be made from a variety of carbon precursors and a cross-linker such as ethylenediamine. The synthesis, which involves heating in a conventional microwave, is quick and straightforward and can be carried out in typical high school chemistry laboratories. The resulting solution is fluorescent without further purification. To increase the complexity for entry-level college students, absorption and emission spectra of the carbon dot solution can be co.
Modélisation Electro-thermique 2D d'une batterie lithium-ion de type « pouche »

Dans ce papier, un modele electrothermique 2D a ete developpe pour une cellule de batterie lithium-ion de type « pouch ». Ce modele est capable de predire la temperature de la batterie a differentes conditions de fonctionnement. Les parametres d'entree du modele sont entre autres la source de chaleur et les parametres thermiques. Le logiciel ANSYS FLUENT est utilise pour resoudre ce modele. La source de chaleur utilisee dans ce modele est determinee experimentalement. De plus le comportement thermique de la cellule de batterie a ete etudie dans differentes conditions de fonctionnement, aussi bien dans des conditions extremes. Les resultats de la simulation sont en bon accord avec les mesures experimentales donnees par les thermocouples et la camera thermique.
PROFITABILITY OF ISLAMIC BANKS: A PANEL DATA ANALYSIS

This article aims to examine the impact of internal and external factors on the profitability of 30 Islamic banks operating in the Middle East and North Africa over a period from 2005 till 2018. We use the OLS method according to Panel data. Empirical results indicate that the quality of management, liquidity, and capitalization, quality of services, the presence of women and the competence of staff are significant determinants of profitability. The other determinants including diversification, size and inflation have no significant effect on the Islamic banks' profitability.
SOME REFLECTIONS ABOUT ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY ( ECT )

Long-standing psychiatric practice confirms the pervasive use of pharmacological therapies for treating severe mental disorders. In many circumstances, drugs constitute the best allies of psychotherapeutic interventions. A robust scientific literature is oriented on finding the best strategies to improve therapeutic efficacy through different modes and timing of combined interventions. Nevertheless, we are far from triumphal therapeutic success. Despite the advances made by neuropsychiatry, this medical discipline remains lacking in terms of diagnostic and prognostic capabilities when compared to other branches of medicine. An ethical principle remains as the guidance of therapeutic interventions: improving the quality of life for patients. Unfortunately, psychotropic drugs and psychotherapies do not always result in an efficient remission of symptoms. In this paper I corroborate the idea that therapists should provide drugresistant patients with every effective and available treatment, even if some of such interventions could be invasive, like Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). ECT carries upon its shoulders a long and dramatic history that should be better investigated to provide new insights. In fact, ECT has attracted renewed interest in recent years. This is due to the fact that antidepressant drugs in younger patients show often scarce effectiveness and unpleasant side-effects. Moreover, I show that, thanks to modern advances, ECT may work as a successful form of treatment for specific and rare cases, such as severe depression (with suicide attempts) and catatonia.
PrivacyCheck v3: Empowering Users with Higher-Level Understanding of Privacy Policies

Online privacy policies are lengthy and hard to read, yet are profoundly important as they communicate the practices of an organization pertaining to user data privacy. Privacy Enhancing Technologies, or PETs, seek to inform users by summarizing these privacy policies. Efforts in the research and development of such PETs, however, have largely been limited to tools that recap the policy or visualize it. We present the next generation of our research and publicly available tool, PrivacyCheck v3, that utilizes machine learning to inform and empower users with respect to privacy policies. PrivacyCheck v3 adds capabilities that are commonly absent from similar PETs on the web. In particular, it adds the ability to (1) find the competitors of an organization with Alexa traffic analysis and compare policies across them, (2) follow privacy policies to which the user has agreed and notify the user when policies change, (3) track policies over time and report how often policies change and their trends, (4) automatically find privacy policies in domains, and (5) provide a bird's-eye view of privacy policies. The new features of PrivacyCheck not only inform users about details of privacy policies, but also empower them to understand privacy policies at a higher level, make informed decisions, and even select competitors with better privacy policies.
EFEITO DO RAINFASTNESS E ADJUVANTE NA APLICAÇÃO DE FUNGICIDAS FOLIARES EM CULTIVARES DE SOJA

Master Dissertation Graduate Program in Agricultural Engineer Federal University of Santa Maria, RS, Brazil EFFECT OF RAINFASTNESS AND ADJUVANTS IN THE FUNGICIDES APPLICATION ON SOYBEANS CULTIVARS Author: Mônica Paula Debortoli Adviser: Ricardo Silveiro Balardin Date e Place: Santa Maria, february, of 2008 Deposition, distribution and tenacity on the leaf surface can influence the efficacy of the fungicide. The effect of rainfall after the spray might run out fungicides of contact from leaf surface. It can also remove the systemic fungicides, if the spray occurs right after the fungicide application. The goals of this work were (i) performance of fungicides due to the drop spectrum under simulated conditions of rainfall on soybean rust control and (ii) determine the interference of rainfall on the biological efficacy of fungicides in different of soybean cultivars to control Phakopsora pachyrhizi. Two experiments were run out in greenhouse conditions. Experiment 1 studied three spray nozzles (twin flat spray TJ6
InSARTrac: a novel approach for remote acquisition of 3D slope displacement vectors

The recent advent of terrestrial interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) has greatly enhanced the ability of monitoring slope deformation. However, the displacements obtained are one-dimensional, offering little insight into the underlying deformation mechanism. This study summarizes an approach for obtaining three-dimensional slope displacement vectors through the integration of InSAR and two-dimensional image feature tracking (FT) technologies. The method, referred to as InSARTrac, uses a single digital camera oriented in the InSAR line of sight (LOS) generating time-lapse imagery, from which FT extracts (sub-) pixel shifts of pixel clusters. The 1D LOS InSAR measurements are vectorially combined with the 2D normal to the LOS FT measurements to obtain the 3D displacement vector. Bench-scale target displacement tests using a high precision translation for displacement and reference gave a 3D accuracy of 0.05 mm at a distance of 13 m, which corresponds to 1.3 mm at 500 m, assuming linear behaviour. These initial results indicate that InSARTrac can provide a reliable means for obtaining accurate 3D slope displacement vectors remotely and without the use of reflectors. Current studies are focused on implementing InSARTrac in a number of different field environments to investigate outdoor measurement accuracy and the range of potential applications.
Piezoelectric effect does not contribute in thermal drilling of quartz bearing rocks

This paper presents a numerical study on a possible piezoelectric effect in thermal drilling of Quartz bearing rocks. For this end, the governing piezoelectro-thermo-mechanical problem is solved with the finite element method. The granitic rock material, consisting of Quartz, Feldspar and Biotite minerals, is taken as linear elastic but heterogeneous and anisotropic. Temperature dependence of material properties is neglected. The simulation demonstrates that the secondary stresses arising from converse piezoelectric effect are three orders of magnitude smaller than the primary thermal stresses, which means that the piezoelectric effect is negligible.
Few Shot and Meta Learning for NLP

Meta learning and few shot learning approaches have shown promising results in computer vision, with low-resouce tasks. Recently they have gained attention in natural language processing tasks such as machine translation and text classiﬁcation. In this lecture we cover how meta learning approaches such as MAML and metric learning approaches such as matching and prototypical networks are used, combined with episodic training to improve the performance on low resource NLP tasks.
BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF FUSARIUM WILT OF CUCUMBER (Cucumis sativus) BY ANTAGONISTIC LACTIC ACID BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM RHIZOSPHERE OF FIVE MEDICINAL PLANTS

Fusarium species are the major soil-borne and seed-borne pathogens that cause wilt and rot diseases in more than 80 plant species (Mahfooz et al., 2011). The pathogens could cause up to 100% yield loss worldwide ABSTRACT Fusarium wilt is one of the important diseases of cucumber and causes economic loss to farmers. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the potential of rhizosphere lactic acid bacteria as biocontrol agents of Fusarium wilt of cucumber. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated and identified from the rhizosphere of five medicinal plants. The in-vitro antagonistic activity of LAB strains on F. oxysporum f.sp. cucumerinum was evaluated by dual culture method. The screen house experiment was then conducted to assess the effect of antagonistic LAB isolates on Fusarium wilt disease incidence in cucumber plants. The antagonistic LAB strains were further characterized using 16S rRNA gene sequencing technique. The total LAB counts of rhizospheric soil samples ranged from 7.0×105 cfu/g to 15.0×105 cfu/g. The LAB isolates were identified as strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus (21.4%), L. plantarum (35.7%), L. fermentum (28.6%), L. alimentarius (7.1%) and L. brevis (7.1%). Treatment of cucumber seeds with antagonistic LAB strains significantly reduced Fusarium wilt of cucumber incidence from 95% to 48%. Lactobacillus fermentum isolated from the rhizosphere of A. indica exhibited strong disease suppression (49.5%). The study therefore revealed that the rhizospheric-LAB could be applied to reduce the manifestation of Fusarium wilt in cucumber.