Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantitative structure-activity relationship of molecules constituent of different essential oils with antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and

Background: Essential oils and their constituents are commonly known for their antibacterial, antifungal and antiparasitic activity, and there are also reports on the antimycobacterial properties, but more experimental data are needed for the description of the mechanism of action or structural (and molecular) properties related to the antimicrobial activity. Methods: Twenty-five constituents of essential oils were evaluated against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and Mycobacterium bovis AN5 by the Alamar Blue technique. Twenty compounds were modeled using in silico techniques descriptor generation and subsequent QSAR model building using genetic algorithms. The p-cymene, menthol, carvacrol and thymol were studied at the quantum mechanical level through the mapping of HOMO and LUMO orbitals. The cytotoxic activity against macrophages (J774A) was also evaluated for these four compounds using the Alamar Blue technique. Results: All compounds tested showed to be active antimicrobials against M. tuberculosis. Carvacrol and thymol were the most active terpenes, with MIC values of 2.02 and 0.78 μg/mL respectively. Cinnamaldehyde and cinnamic acid were the most active phenylpropanes with MIC values of 3.12 and 8.16 μg/mL respectively. The QSAR models included the octanol-water partition (LogP) ratio as the molecular property that contributes the most to the antimycobacterial activity and the phenolic group (nArOH) as the major structural element. Conclusions: The description of the molecular properties and the structural characteristics responsible for antimycobacterial activity of the compounds tested, were used for the development of mathematical models that describe structure-activity relationship. The identification of molecular and structural descriptors provide insight into the mechanisms of action of the active molecules, and all this information can be used for the design of new structures that could be synthetized as potential new antimycobacterial agents.
Developing self-healable and antibacterial polyacrylate coatings with high mechanical strength through crosslinking by multi-amine hyperbranched polysiloxane via dynamic vinylogous urethane

Developing a multi-functional coating with high mechanical strength, and reversible self-healing and antibacterial ability has become an effective strategy for preventing the severe threat to human health posed by biofilm contamination. Herein, a novel linear polyacrylate resin (LP) containing pendent sulfobetaine and acetoacetyloxy groups was designed and synthesized, and was subsequently reacted with hyperbranched polysiloxane terminated by multi-amine (HPSi) to form dynamic vinylogous urethane groups. The resultant novel multi-functional crosslinked polyacrylate coating (LP-HP) shows high mechanical strength, and outstanding reversible self-healing and remarkable antibacterial ability. The concentration of HPSi in the polyacrylate coating is systematically researched and proved to play a key role in adjusting the mechanical, thermal and self-healing properties. For the polyacrylate coating (LP-HP6) containing 6.3 wt% of HPSi, its tensile strength and toughness are as high as 17.89 ± 0.42 MPa and 5.72 ± 0.32 MPa, respectively. The self-healing efficiency of LP-HP6 is higher than 92% under mild conditions (maintained at 60 °C for 24 h). This is ascribed to the unique configuration of HPSi that is rich in amine groups and has fewer chain entanglements to facilitate easier segmental motion. Furthermore, the surface of LP-HP6 exhibits high resistance to the adhesion of E. coli and S. aureus with antibacterial rates above 95%, originated from the nonspecific and nontoxic sulfobetaine groups immobilized in the main chain via convenient copolymerization. These excellent properties demonstrate that LP-HP coatings have great potential applications to resist biofilm contamination in architectural ornament, medical engineering, food and pharmaceutical fields.
Characterization of black carrot (Daucus carota L.) polyphenols; role in health promotion and disease prevention: An overview

This era is witnessing a drastic shift towards increasing the consumption of functional foods for promoting healthy lifestyle. Functional foods are recognized because of their high nutraceutical properties, which helps in prevention of various degenerative disorders. Black carrot is considered as functional food because of the presence of significant amount of bioactive compounds. The present review primarily aims at spotlighting the presence of potential phytochemicals in black carrots (Daucus Carota L.) and their significant role in oxidative stress induced major metabolic disorder. Effect of processing on polyphenols and anthocyanins of black carrot are also discussed. Black carrot anthocyanins are considered the major bioactive compound, which is associated with its health promotion and disease prevention properties. Functional properties of these bioactive compounds call for further studies to exploit its role in prevention of diseases.
Effects of isolated vitamin B6 supplementation on oxidative stress and heart function parameters in experimental hyperhomocysteinemia

Introduction : The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of isolated vitamin B 6 (VB 6 ) supplementation on experimental hyperhomocysteinemia (Hhe) induced by homocysteine thiolactone (HcyT). Methods: Fifteen male Wistar rats were divided into three groups according to their treatment. Animals received water and food ad libitum and an intragastric probe was used to administer water for 60 days (groups: CB 6, HcyT, and HB 6 ). On the 30th day of treatment, two groups were supplemented with VB 6 in the drinking water (groups: CB 6 and HB 6 ). After 60 days of treatment, homocysteine (Hcy), cysteine, and hydrogen peroxide concentration, nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (NRF2) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) immunocontent, and superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and GST activities were measured. Results: The HcyT group showed an increase in Hcy concentration (62%) in relation to the CB 6 group. Additionally, GST immunocontent was enhanced (51%) in the HB 6 group compared to the HcyT group. Also, SOD activity was lower (17%) in the HB 6 group compared to the CB 6 group, and CAT activity was higher in the HcyT group (53%) compared to the CB 6 group. Ejection fraction (EF) was improved in the HB 6 group compared to the HcyT group. E/A ratio was enhanced in the HB 6 group compared to the CB 6 group. Correlations were found between CAT activity with myocardial performance index (MPI) (r = 0.71; P = 0.06) and E/A ratio (r = 0.6; P = 0.01), and between EF and GST activity (r = 0.62; P = 0.02). Conclusions: These findings indicate that isolated VB 6 supplementation may lead to the reduction of Hcy concentration and promotes additional benefits to oxidative stress and heart function parameters. Keywords: Homocysteine; oxidative stress; vitamin B 6.
Fertility desire and associated factors among ART user reproductive-age women in public health facility in Gondar city administration Northwest Ethiopia

Background: Antiretroviral therapy scales up globally and in Ethiopia, as a result, AIDS-related mortality has reduced, but the number of new HIV infections increasing. Antiretroviral therapy in Ethiopia gives a chance of living longer for reproductive-age women. Prevention of pregnancy among HIV positive women is the second WHO prongs of HIV transmission with respecting women’s reproductive rights. Antiretroviral therapy uses improve the health of HIV positive women using and women's fertility desire increasing. Therefore this study aimed to assess the fertility desire and associated factors among ART user reproductive-age women. Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study design conducted from November 2-30/2018. The calculated sample size was 400 and study participants were selected by using systematic random sampling. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect data. A binary logistic regression model was employed and adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval used to consider statistically significant Results: A total of 397 clients were participated in the study, giving a response rate of 99.3%. The proportion of fertility desire in this study was 55.2 %(95% CI, 50.4%- 60.2%). A duration of marriage < 4 year [AOR=6.9(95 CI: 1.65, 28.81)], and 5–9 years duration of marriage [AOR= 13.8 (95% CI: 2.39, 80.39)] higher as compared to 15 years and above, family influence 3.4 times more likely to have fertility desire than have no family influence [AOR= 3.4 (95% CI: 1.06, 11.25)], partner desire 4.3 times more likely have had fertility desires as compared to with counterpart [AOR= 4.3 (95% CI: 1.93,9.41)], and discussion with health care provider 66 % less likely to have fertility desire as compared with counterpart [AOR = 0.34 (95% CI: 0.39, 3.31)]. Conclusion: In this study, we have identified a high proportion of fertility desire among ART user reproductive-age women. The duration of marital status, partner influence, family influence, and discussion of health care were associated with fertility desire. Family-oriented counseling, partner involvement on reproductive health services should be encouraged to support the rights of all women to safely achieve their fertility. Keywords: Fertility desire, reproductive age, women on ART.
The Association between Oxidized Low Density Lipoprotein Concentration and Paraoxonase‐1 Activity, Total Antioxidant Capacity, and Low Density Lipoprotein Concentration in Highly Trained Individuals

Physical fitness is associated with reduced risk factors for cardiovascular disease, in particular oxidized low‐density lipoprotein (ox‐LDL). Therefore determinants of ox‐LDL in fit individuals are important to understand. Antioxidant defenses and the concentration of low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) are associated with ox‐LDL concentration, however the relative importance of these variables is not fully understood. Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) is an antioxidant enzyme capable of preventing the oxidation of LDL. Moreover, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) is an assessment of the broad antioxidant status of the blood.
Development and Evaluation of Emotional Conversation System Based on Automated Text Generation

Based on the corpus provided by the 2019 Chinese Emotional Conversation Generation (CECG) evaluation task, an emotional conversation system is implemented in this paper using deep learning and other technologies such as GPT-2 and BERT. The effectiveness of the system is evaluated based on the test data and criteria provided by CECG. The results based on three human annotators show that the system has a similar effectiveness level with that of the best team participating in the 2019 CECG task. Further case studies reveal that the more post/reply pairs about a topic in the training data, the better the language model of GPT-2 to generate innovative, interesting, and perfect response sentences for that topic. The main contributions of this study are: 1. Integrating emotion into the post string as a condition for computing probability, so as to simply train GPT-2 and make GPT-2 predict in the original way; 2. Applying BERT to predict the coherence of response sentences as a basis for ranking. Although these two techniques are derived from the training mechanisms of GPT and BERT respectively, we have slightly modified them to fit the task of CECG and achieved good results.
Seasonal variations of gaseous air pollutants (SO2, NO2, O3, CO) and particulates (PM2.5, PM10) in Gazipur: an industrial city in Bangladesh

The present study assessed the impacts of seasonal variation on the atmospheric abundance of gaseous air pollutants (SO2, NO2, O3, CO) and particulates (PM2.5 and PM10) at Gazipur city. The air pollution data was collected from the study area using a Continuous Air Monitoring Station (CAMS) (CAMS-4, Gazipur) of DoE from October 2017 to September 2018. The highest concentrations of air pollutants were found in the winter (PM2.5=208 μg/m3, PM10=300 μg/m3, NO2=45.1 ppb, CO=3.91 ppm, O3=4.17 ppb) as opposed to those of the post-monsoon (PM2.5=133μg/m3, PM10=169 μg/m3, NO2=23.52 ppb, CO=2.25 ppm, O3=7.71 ppb), pre-monsoon (PM2.5=115 μg/m3, PM10=216 μg/m3, NO2=33.5 ppb, CO=1.75 ppm, O3=4.23 ppb), and monsoon (PM2.5=37.5 μg/m3, PM10=85.6 μg/m3, NO2=13.9 ppb, CO=0.84 ppm, O3=4.23 ppb). The highest concentration of five air pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, NO2, CO, O3)indicated that the higher pollutant load in the winter was associated with large-scale polluted air transported from the brick kiln at a distance of 5-7 km at the sampling site. The wind-rose data analysis indicated that most of the air during the winter season came to the sampling site from the northern part of the Gazipur district, from the brickfield zones. In contrast, a reverse relationship between the rainfall and atmospheric pollution, temperature, and atmospheric pollution load was observed during the pre-monsoon, monsoon, post-monsoon, and winter. This finding revealed that the lowest concentration of air pollutants during monsoon was associated with the washout effect of precipitation on atmospheric pollutants. A moderate correlation (R2=0.58) between CO and O3 pollutants during the study indicated their atmospheric origin by photochemical reactions was associated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs). PM2.5 showed a positive correlation with PM10 (R2=0.84), indicating that both PM2.5 and PM10 were produced from similar pathways of fossil fuel combustion by automobiles and industrial activities. Further, the air quality index (AQI) analysis showed unhealthy atmospheric conditions throughout the year for city dwellers around the study area.
Resection of a retroperitoneal cancer of unknown primary site after chemoradiation therapy: a case report

Background: Complete recovery from retroperitoneal squamous cell carcinoma of unknown primary site treated by multidisciplinary therapy is extremely rare.Case presentation: A 78-year-old man was referred to our hospital due to a mass measuring 8 cm in size in the left pelvic retroperitoneal area, which was diagnosed as a cancer of unknown primary site. The pathological type was squamous cell carcinoma. The left iliac artery/vein and ureter were involved in the tumor, and the tumor caused severe left leg pain. Although inflammation and symptoms were severe, radiotherapy was considered. After that, biweekly combined therapy with docetaxel, cisplatin, and fluorouracil was planned. After 5 courses of chemotherapy, the tumor diameter reduced from 11.6 cm to 4 cm in size. In addition, the border between the iliac vessels, urinary tract and tumor became apparent. The patient underwent radical resection of the tumor 8 months after the treatment started. The left ureter and the external/internal iliac artery were preserved, but the external iliac vein was sacrificed because of the possibility of tumor invasion. The postoperative course was free of complications, and the patient was discharged 10 days after the operation. The histopathological findings showed no residual viable tumor cells or foreign body-type giant cells with necrosis. The pathological effect of chemotherapy was defined as Grade 3 (pathological complete response). The patient has experienced no recurrence or distant metastasis for 4 years.Conclusions: Multidisciplinary therapy succeeded in treating a retroperitoneal squamous cell carcinoma of unknown primary site with preservation of organ function.
Education and Training for Disability Awareness of Front Line Hospitality Staff in Selected Hotels in the Cape Winelands

Universal accessibility implies that everybody has an equal chance to access anything, which should also apply to the tourism industry. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation has pleaded that tourism be open to all, despite any impairments. Universal accessibility is not always available to visually, intellectually, mobility, psychiatrically and learning impoverished persons. People with Disabilities are often denied tourist activity pleasures enjoyed by healthy persons. The obvious challenges include restriction of mobility, but few facilities are visually impaired-friendly, besides addressing the other impairments. The study question was to investigate whether hospitality staff are educated or trained to assist people with disabilities to enjoy fully the facilities offered to paying guests at places of accommodation. The study adopted a mixed methodology, following a cluster and convenient sampling framework, focussing on the Cape Winelands area of Cape Town, South Africa. The results indicate that hospitality staff are interested in receiving disability awareness training, but that essential appropriate training would benefit disabled travel as a market segment in South Africa. This study is of material importance to tourism organisations, such as Cape Town Tourism and Wesgro, in promoting tourism in one of the major destinations in world tourism.
Enhanced photocatalytic oxidation of humic acids using Fe3+-Zn2+ co-doped TiO2: The effects of ions in aqueous solutions

Photocatalytic oxidation in the presence of Fe-doped, Zn-doped or Fe-Zn co-doped TiO 2 was used to effectively decompose humic acids (HAs) in water. The highest HAs removal efficiency (65.7%) was achieved in the presence of 500°C calcined 0.0010% Fe-Zn co-doped TiO 2 with the Fe:Zn ratio of 3:2. The initial solution pH value, inorganic cations and anions also affected the catalyst photocatalytic ability. The HAs removal for the initial pH of 2 was the highest, and for the pH of 6 was the lowest. The photocatalytic oxidation of HAs was enhanced with the increase of the Ca 2+ or Mg 2+ concentration, and reduced when concentrations of some anions increased. The inhibition order of the anions on TiO 2 photocatalytic activities was CO 32- > HCO 3- > Cl - , but a slightly promotion was achieved when SO 42- was added. Total organic carbon (TOC) removal was used to evaluate the actual HAs mineralization degree caused by the 500°C calcined 0.0010% Fe-Zn (3:2) co-doped TiO 2 . For tap water added with HAs, the UV 254 and TOC removal rates were 57.2% and 49.9%, respectively. The UV 254 removal efficiency was higher than that of TOC because of the generation of intermediates that could significantly reduce the UV 254 , but not the TOC. the effect of the following parameters on the photocatalytic oxidation: pH, some natural anions including HCO 3- , CO 32- SO 42- Cl cations Mg 2+
Early humans recipe for processing plants foods at Blombos Cave, South Africa (85-82 ka)

We present the results of archaeobotanical research conducted into the plant diet of early modern humans who intermittently occupied Blombos Cave on the southern Cape coast of South Africa during the Middle Stone Age (MSA). Botanical samples were taken from two combustion events in the MSA sequence dated to 85 and 82 kya (kya = thousands of years ago). Analysis of these samples shows charred starchy plants had undergone processing sequences prior to cooking. The plant cells show evidence of having been pounded whilst still fresh and some of these fragments indicate pounded starchy plant food was mixed with pounded seeds prior to cooking. We infer that these samples represent the earliest known example of food processing and mixing in a ‘recipe’ as part of early human foodways. We consider these findings and their role in human evolution in the context of human behavioural modernity.
Member Sizing Optimization of Large Scale Steel Space Trusses Using a Symbiotic Organisms Search Algorithm

A systematic approach of optimization is needed to achieve an optimal design of large and complex truss structures. In the last three decades, several researchers have developed and applied various metaheuristic optimization methods to the design of truss structures. This paper investigates a new metaheuristic algorithm called symbiotic organisms search (SOS) for member sizing optimization of relatively large steel trusses. The case studies include a 120-bar dome truss and a 942-bar tower truss. The structural analyses are carried out using the standard finite element method. The profiles of the truss members are circular hollow structural sections selected from a set of the American Institute of Steel Construction standard profiles. The design results using the SOS are then compared to those obtained using other metaheuristic methods, namely the particle swarm optimization, differential evolution, and teaching-learning-based optimization. The comparison shows the superior performance of the SOS in terms of the optimal solution, consistency, and convergence. Thus, the SOS is a good alternative for optimizing the design of steel truss structures in real engineering practice.
Investigation of the hepatitis C virus RNA polymerase NS5B in solution by nuclear magnetic resonance and its interaction with intrinsically disordered domain 2 of the NS5A protein

NS5B est l’ARN polymerase du virus de l’hepatite C (VHC). Sa structure a beaucoup ete etudiee par radiocristallographie, elle contient trois sous-domaines appeles doigts, paume et pouce. Cependant, les etudes structurales de cette proteine en solution sont tres limitees. La resonance magnetique nucleaire (RMN) a ete utilisee pour etudier NS5B en solution ainsi que son interaction avec differents partenaires. L’emploi d’un echantillon de NS5B (65kDa) perdeuteree et selectivement enrichie au niveau des methyles 1 des residus d’isoleucines a permis d’obtenir un spectre simplifie et de bonne qualite. Cette etude a confirme la presence d’une dynamique particuliere dans le pouce et a permis de mettre en evidence des effets a longues distances que se transmettent aux autres sous-domaines. Cette approche a alors ete utilisee pour etudier l’interaction entre NS5B et le domaine 2 de la proteine NS5A (NS5A-D2) du VHC. Celui-ci est un domaine intrinsequement desordonne qui interagit directement avec NS5B in vitro. Nous avons identifie que NS5A-D2 se lie via deux sites d’interaction sur le sous-domaine du pouce. Puisqu’un de ces sites est le site de liaison de l’inhibiteur allosterique filibuvir, nous avons etudie la liaison de cette molecule a la polymerase. Sa liaison cause des effets a longues distances tout au long de NS5B. Enfin, nous avons caracterise la liaison d’un ARN simple brin a NS5B et nous avons identifie que NS5A-D2 et filibuvir reduisent mais ne suppriment pas l’interaction de NS5B avec l’ARN. L’analyse de NS5B par RMN en solution a permis d’etudier des interactions et d’acceder a des parametres dynamiques tres complementaires des etudes cristallographiques.
An Investigation into Multi-View Error Correcting Output Code Classifiers Applied to Organ Tissue Classification

Large amounts of data is being generated constantly each day, so much data that it is difficult to find patterns in order to predict outcomes and make decisions for both humans and machines alike. It would be useful if this data could be simplified using machine learning techniques. For example, biological cell identity is dependent on many factors tied to genetic processes. Such factors include proteins, gene transcription, and gene methylation. Each of these factors are highly complex mechanism with immense amounts of data. Simplifying these can then be helpful in finding patterns in them. Error-Correcting Output Codes (ECOC) does this for classification by breaking the problem into multiple binary cases. This thesis proposes a new approach that also splits the feature set into multiple subsets called views. This new proposed method is tested on multiple datasets from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) to analyze performance. The method is then applied to genetic data collected from The Cancer Genome Atls (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) to try and improve results on classifying the tissue of origin for various tumor samples.