Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Glycine Betaine Relieves Lead-Induced Hepatic and Renal Toxicity in Albino Rats

Lead (Pb) is a widespread and nondegradable environmental pollutant and affects several organs through oxidative mechanisms. This study was conducted to investigate the antioxidant protective effect of glycine betaine (GB) against Pb-induced renal and hepatic injury. Male albino rats (n = 45) were divided into three groups: G1 untreated control, G2 Pb-acetate (50 mg/kg/day), and G3 Pb-acetate (50 mg/kg/day) plus GB (250 mg/kg/day) administered for 6 weeks. For G3, Pb-acetate was administered first and followed by GB at least 4 h after. Pb-acetate treatment (G2) resulted in a significant decrease in renal function, including elevated creatinine and urea levels by 17.4% and 23.7%, respectively, and nonsignificant changes in serum uric acid levels. Serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and alkaline phosphates (ALP) activities were significantly increased with Pb treatment by 37.6%, 59.3%, and 55.1%, respectively. Lipid peroxidation level was significantly increased by 7.8 times after 6 weeks of Pb-acetate treatment. The level of reduced glutathione (GSH-R) significantly declined after Pb-acetate treatment. Pb-acetate treatment also reduced the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) by 74.1%, 85.0%, and 40.8%, respectively. Treatment of Pb-intoxicated rats with GB resulted in a significant reduction in creatinine, urea, ALT, AST, and lipid peroxidation, as well as a significant increase in the level of GSH-R and in the activities of ALP, SOD, GST, and GSH-PX. The molecular interaction between GB and GSH-PX indicated that the activation of GSH-PX in Pb-intoxicated rats was not the result of GB binding to the catalytic site of GSH-PX. The affinity of GB to bind to the catalytic site of GSH-PX is lower than that of H2O2. Thus, GB significantly mitigates Pb-induced renal and liver injury through the activation of antioxidant enzymes and the prevention of Pb-induced oxidative damage in the kidney and liver.
A shift of perspective in design inquiries : From individual boundaries to common needs

This paper extends design and systems literature by evaluating issues in methodology and practice that maintain learning on an individual context and doesn t allow an improvement of the whole system. The problem that has initiated this research is that it seems difficult for those engaged in a design process to reflect upon their own point of view in relation to other participants perspectives to identify the whole situation s meaning.The idea of this research is to critically examine, from a practical design perspective, the framework of Critical-Systems-Heuristics (CSH) W. Ulrich, by taking previous critiques carried out and practical aspects derived from a case study under consideration.The purpose of this study is to identify issues of the current CSH-framework and to propose practical aspects to improve the same for civil engagement. In order to fulfill this purpose, strengths and weaknesses of the current framework have been evaluated in terms of what is currently possible through the framework and what are the consequences of that for practical engagement.This research identifies the need of methodological tools for designers that allow and support them to overcome individual boundaries in order to be able to engage into common needs of a whole system.
Partition-based RIS-assisted Multiple Access: NOMA Decoding Order Perspective

In this correspondence, we propose a closed-form resource allocation called partition-based multiple access (MA), which simultaneously utilizes both a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) to reduce processing overhead and transmit power. The RIS can tune the mmWave signal and reduce the downlink transmit power, and NOMA achieves a relatively higher spectral efficiency than other MA methods. The integration of the RIS and NOMA, thus, can be a powerful solution. Previous studies have yet to obtain a closed-form solution for both the beam tuning settings and the decoding order in low complexity in the conventional RIS-NOMA. The proposed partition-based MA method, however, divides and arranges the array elements of the RIS to generate a fine beam for NOMA communications. We compare the transmit power reduction of the proposed method with the transmit power reduction of time-sharing and decode-and-forward relay. To confirm the feasibility of the integration, we also derive the criteria for MA mode selection.
Experimental Characterization of PM2.5 Organic Carbon by Using Carbon-fraction Profiles of Organic Materials

Organic aerosols (OA) in the atmosphere have complex emission sources and formation processes that must be determined to understand the OA composition and behavior. The thermal optical method is generally used to analyze organic carbon (OC) in OAs, and the resulting thermally fractionated OC profiles can be considered to be a synthesis of the organic materials contained in OAs. In this study, carbon-fraction profiles of 43 organic materials were determined and categorized into five types on the basis of their profile patterns. Then a chemical mass balance (CMB) analysis using the five types and the measured carbon-fraction profiles of particulate OC from various emission sources was conducted. The major sources thus determined were generally reasonable considering the known chemical properties of emission source particles. In addition, the seasonal organic matter composition in ambient particulate OC measured at a suburban site of Tokyo was experimentally estimated by a CMB analysis using the five types, and the potential of making good use of thermally fractionated OC data to understand the characteristics of OAs was discussed.
Determination of the Dissolution/Permeation and Apparent Solubility for Microencapsulated Emamectin Benzoate Using In Vitro and Ex Vivo Salmo salar Intestine Membranes

In this work, two microencapsulation techniques were used to protect and improve the absorption of emamectin benzoate (EB), which is an antiparasitic drug used to control Caligus rogercresseyi. EB has a low aqueous solubility, which affects its absorption in the intestine of Salmo salar. Microparticles were produced by spray drying and ionic gelation, using Soluplus® (EB–SOL) and sodium alginate (EB–ALG) as polymers, respectively. Studies were conducted on dissolution/permeation, apparent permeability (Papp), apparent solubility (Sapp), and absorption using synthetic and biological membranes. Based on these results, the amount of EB in the microparticles needed to achieve a therapeutic dose was estimated. The EB–ALG microparticles outperformed both EB–SOL and free EB, for all parameters analyzed. The results show values of 0.45 mg/mL (80.2%) for dissolution/permeation, a Papp of 6.2 mg/mL in RS–L, an absorption of 7.3% in RS, and a Sapp of 53.1% in EM medium. The EB–ALG microparticles decrease the therapeutic dose necessary to control the parasite, with values of 3.0−2 mg/mL and 1.1−2 mg/mL for EB in EM and RS, respectively. The Korsmeyer–Peppas kinetic model was the best model to fit the EB–ALG and EB–SOL dissolution/permeation experiments. In addition, some of our experimental results using synthetic membranes are similar to those obtained with biological membranes, which suggests that, for some parameters, it is possible to replace biological membranes with synthetic membranes. The encapsulation of EB by ionic gelation shows it is a promising formulation to increase the absorption of the poorly soluble drug. In contrast, the spray-dried microparticles produced using Soluplus® result in even less dissolution/permeation than free EB, so the technique cannot be used to improve the solubility of EB.
Effects of oral glibenclamide versus subcutaneous insulin on perinatal outcome of patients with gestational diabetes mellitus: A randomized clinical trial

Background The first-line treatment for gestational diabetes mellitus remains insulin, but oral hypoglycemic agents are easier and cheaper to use. The aim of the current study was to compare the efficacy and safety of oral glibenclamide and subcutaneous insulin on the serum glucose control and perinatal outcome of patients with gestational diabetes mellitus. Materials and methods This randomized clinical trial was conducted during a 2-year period from 2017 to 2019 in two tertiary healthcare centers in Shiraz, Iran. We included 84 singleton pregnancies between 24 and 34 weeks of gestation diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus. Patients were randomly assigned to oral glibenclamide (n = 44) or subcutaneous insulin (n = 40) according to a standard protocol and followed until delivery. The primary endpoint was to compare the glycemic level of patients, and the secondary outcomes included pregnancy adverse events and neonatal complications such as preeclampsia, preterm and premature rupture of membranes, preterm labor, placental abruption, maternal hypoglycemia, birth weight, neonatal hypoglycemia, hyperbilirubinemia, respiratory distress syndrome, and neonatal intensive care unit admission. Results The two study groups had comparable baseline characteristics. After treatment, the two study groups were comparable regarding fasting blood glucose (p = 0.398) and 2 h postprandial glucose (p = 0.085). There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the rate of preeclampsia (p = 0.250), preterm rupture of membranes (p = 0.998), preterm labor (p = 0.495), hypoglycemia (p = 0.476), and abruption (p = 0.815). There was no significant difference between the two study groups in birth weight (p = 0.863) and the Apgar score at 1 (p = 0.190) and 5 min (p = 0.055). The rates of neonatal adverse events including hypoglycemia (p = 0.999), hyperbilirubinemia (p = 0.160), neonatal intensive care unit admission (p = 0.852), and respiratory distress syndrome (p = 0.665) were comparable between the two groups. Conclusion The results of the current study demonstrate that oral glibenclamide is as effective and safe as subcutaneous insulin in glycemic control and maternal and neonatal outcomes in women with gestational diabetes mellitus. Thus, it could be used as first-line treatment of gestational diabetes mellitus.
Specific Electronic Platform to Test the Influence of Hypervisors on the Performance of Embedded Systems

Some complex digital circuits must host various operating systems in a single electronic platform to make real-time and not-real-time tasks compatible or assign different priorities to current applications. For this purpose, some hardware–software techniques—called virtualization—must be integrated to run the operating systems independently, as isolated in different processors: virtual machines. These are monitored and managed by a software tool named hypervisor, which is in charge of allowing each operating system to take control of the hardware resources. Therefore, the hypervisor determines the effectiveness of the system when reacting to events. To measure, estimate or compare the performance of different ways to configure the virtualization, our research team has designed and implemented a specific testbench: an electronic system, based on a complex System on Chip with a processing system and programmable logic, to configure the hardware–software partition and show merit figures, to evaluate the performance of the different options, a field that has received insufficient attention so far. In this way, the fabric of the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) can be exploited for measurements and instrumentation. The platform has been validated with two hypervisors, Xen and Jailhouse, in a multiprocessor System-on-Chip, by executing real-time operating systems and application programs in different contexts.
A Framework for Sustainable Energy Strategy: An Approach to Integrate Carbon-Energy-Capital Flows among Key Stakeholders and Optimize Economic Resources

—Facing the serious global warming, the carbon neutrality target is developed by most countries to mitigate climate change while realize high-quality development. An initiative of carbon neutrality involves multiple stakeholder groups and its implementation requires comprehensive coordination in different industries; thus, the objective of this paper is to develop an integrated framework that aims to realize carbon neutrality while optimizing economic resources. The framework was formulated on the basis of literature review, and defined six basic components together with the carbon, energy, and capital flows.
Credibility Enhancing Displays, religious scandal and the decline of Irish Catholic orthodoxy

Abstract Abstract Credibility Enhancing Displays have been shown to be an important component in the transmission of empirically unverifiable cultural content such as religious beliefs. Decreased Credibility Enhancing Displays are a major predictor of religious decline. However, because declines in belief are often paired with the decreasing importance of religious institutions, existing research has not yet shown the effect of Credibility Enhancing Displays as separate from this institutional decline. Here, we assess the role of past Credibility Enhancing Display exposure among the baptised Catholic population of Ireland in predicting who retains a Catholic identity and religious beliefs among those who reject the Catholic Church. We find that leaving Catholicism outright (i.e. ‘ex-Catholicism’) is predicted by low Credibility Enhancing Display exposure, but rejecting the Church while retaining a Catholic identity (i.e. ‘liminal Catholicism’) and theistic belief is not. High perceived prevalence of clerical paedophiles (i.e. religious hypocrisy) predicts both groups similarly. Higher exposure to Credibility Enhancing Displays predicts higher orthodox Catholic beliefs and Catholic morality among Catholics, but with inconsistent and even negative effects among the other groups. High perceived prevalence of clerical paedophiles predicts the rejection of orthodox Catholic beliefs, but not the rejection of theism or a Catholic identity.
Coffee Chlorogenic Acids Incorporation for Bioactivity Enhancement of Foods: A Review

The demand of foods with high antioxidant capacity have increased and research on these foods continues to grow. This review is focused on chlorogenic acids (CGAs) from green coffee, which is the most abundant source. The main CGA in coffee is 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid (5-CQA). Coffee extracts are currently the most widely used source to enhance the antioxidant activity of foods. Due to the solubility of CGAs, their extraction is mainly performed with organic solvents. CGAs have been associated with health benefits, such as antioxidant, antiviral, antibacterial, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory activity, and others that reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. However, the biological activities depend on the stability of CGAs, which are sensitive to pH, temperature, and light. The anti-inflammatory activity of 5-CQA is attributed to reducing the proinflammatory activity of cytokines. 5-CQA can negatively affect colon microbiota. An increase in anthocyanins and antioxidant activity was observed when CGAs extracts were added to different food matrices such as dairy products, coffee drinks, chocolate, and bakery products. The fortification of foods with coffee CGAs has the potential to improve the functionality of foods.
The preparation for being a researcher in Romania today

Higher technical education in Romania is organized in three cycles: Bachelor, Masters and PhD. Theoretically, the powers provided by the three levels of education should be in correspondence with the requirements of COR (ISCO-88-COM European Community and the UN: ISCO 88) for generic jobs, specified in previous herewith: production engineer, research engineer, and researcher. This paper explores the last two aspects in order to see to what extent the names of study disciplines and especially their content gives the graduate competences and skills of research. We are looking for causes for which young graduates of master and doctoral especially not find appropriate jobs in the labor market preparation. From the position of academics with experience in teaching the final year of Bachelor and Master levels, trying to answer to the questions: What should we teach, How should we teach? Who should we teach? We train for right people? The answers are tasks for interdisciplinary collective of teachers, researchers and employers. Therefore, without claiming an exhaustive treatment of the matter under discussion, the paper is intended as a call a call to quickly find viable solutions. Where answers are not appropriate, will have to find solutions but the decision in their choice and then their implementation in the short time it is a governmental task.
Oral Malignant Melanoma in a Patient With Neurofibromatosis Type 1: An Extremely Rare Association

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a genetic disorder associated with high rates of neural crest-derived tumors, both benign and malignant. Many series have identified cutaneous melanoma as a rare tumor among cancers occurring in individuals with NF1 disease, but the mucosal location has to date never been reported. In this paper, we report an oral melanoma occurring in a patient with NF1 disorder, diagnosed at a locally advanced stage, successfully managed by definitive external beam radiotherapy, along with a comprehensive literature review on the melanoma-NF1 association.
Numerical Simulation of Oil Slicks Trajectories: A Tool for Risk Assesment in Pipeline Breakdown

The aim of this paper is to present a mathematical model and its numerical treatment to forecast oil spills trajectories in the sea. The knowledge of the trajectory followed by an oil slick spilled on the sea is of fundamental importance in the estimation of potential risks for pipeline and tankers route selection, and in combating the pollution using floating barriers, detergents, etc. In order to estimate these slicks trajectories a new model, based on the mass and momentum conservation equations is presented. The model considers the spreading in the regimes when the inertial and viscous forces counterbalance gravity and takes into account the effects of winds and water currents. The mass loss caused by oil evaporation is also considered. The numerical model is developed in generalized coordinates, making the model easily applicable to complex coastal geographies. NOMENCLATURE h Slick Thickness u Oil Velocity Vector V Wind and Currents Velocity Vectors U ~ , V ~ Contravariant Components of the velocity γ β α , , Contravariant tensor components ∆ Oil-Water density relation μ Oil dynamic Viscosity ρ Oil density τ Shear at top and bottom of the oil slick η ξ , Transformed plane Coordinates J Jacobian of the Transformation g Gravity Acceleration INTRODUCTION The environment is today one of the main preoccupations of potential pollutant industries and government authorities. This is particularly true in the petroleum branch, due to its high environmental risk in cases of large oil spills, which are one of the worst environmental accidents. These spills are much more damaging when they occur near shorelines because, besides the environmental impacts, the economical damages ranges from fishing to tourism. The recent oil spill in the Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, caused by a pipeline rupture is a strong example of this broad impact. The detailed knowledge of the spilled oil position and the area covered by the slick is of fundamental importance to take appropriate actions against pollution, like use of floating barriers, detergents, dispersants, etc. It is also important the estimation of potential risks in selecting pipeline routes, locating shoreline tanks and petrochemical industries. Therefore, a model to forecast the time-space evolution of the oil slick should make part of any environmental program that has the purpose of oil pollution combat. The first studies attempting to model the movement of oil slicks (Fay (1969,1971), Fannelop and Waldmann (1971), Hoult (1972), Buckmaster (1973), etc.) consider the spreading as onedimensional or axi-symmetric. These models consider the spreading of the oil in calm waters, where a slick, initially circular, will remains circular, just increasing its diameter. Considering the forces that governs the spreading process, Fay (1969), characterized the spreading by dividing it in three phases: Initially, when the thickness of the slick is big and so are the inertial forces, the gravity acts as the active force counterbalanced by inertial forces; this is called the gravity-
Using artificial intelligence strategies for process-related automated inspection in the production environment

In this paper a new method for the automatic visual inspection of metallic surfaces is proposed by using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). The different combinations of network parameters were developed and tested. The obtained results of CNN were analysed and compared with the results of our previous investigations with color and texture features as input parameters for a Support Vector Machine. Advantages and disadvantages of the different classifying methods are explained.
Awareness level of deep vein thrombosis the general population living in the Western region of Saudi Arabia

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) contains deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). It is a disabling circumstance with a high probability of recurrence and doubtlessly deadly. VTE is a significant public health issue affecting thousands of patients globally and is accountable for a high number of hospitalizations annually. Methods: A total of 1661 Saudis were surveyed in a cross-sectional observational study. A questionnaire that has already been designed was used to gather information about sociodemographic characters, knowledge about DVT, risk factors, symptoms, complications, relation to patient's activity, the seriousness of DVT leading to death, and symptoms of PE. Result: Approximately 45.5% among participants had prior awareness of DVT. Overweight and long-term travel was the most well-known risk factors. Most of the participants (60%) were aware that DVT occurs when a patient spends most of their time in bed relaxing, the most frequent clinical manifestations were pain and discomfort (97.8%) and local leg pain (73.8%). 45.3% of the participants knew DVT can result in mortality, 36.4% knew more than one pulmonary embolism characteristic, 35%, and 12.6% were aware that post-coagulation syndrome and pulmonary embolism are problems. 12% had a better understanding of DVT and 79% had poor knowledge. Participants who were above 66 years had a university degree, worked in a health specialty, knew about DVT, and received such information from their studies as medical students had a much higher mean knowledge score on DVT than others. Conclusion: Poor knowledge necessitates community education programs about risk factors, signs and symptoms, and sequelae of DVT.