Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anti Inflammatory Activity of Herbal Formulation Prepared Using Mint and Green Tea

Aim: The aim of my study is to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of herbal formulation prepared using mint and green tea. Introduction: Green tea is a ‘non-fermented’ tea, and contains more catechins than black tea or oolong tea. Green tea and epigallocatechin 3-gallate, suppress the gene and/or protein expression of inflammatory cytokines and inflammation-related enzymes.Mint have a potent anti-inflammatory activity in the croton oil-induced mouse ear edema model. Materials and Method: Preparation of herbal formulation: To 100 ml of distilled water,1 g of tea leaves and 1 g of powdered mint is added . This mixture was heated for about 15-20 minutes and then filtered using filter paper.The mixture was again heated and concentrated from 70 ml to 20 ml. Result: At 20 μl there is 59 percent of inhibition,at 50 μl there is 90 %of inhibition ,whereas in the standard there is only 40%of inhibition . Thus as the concentration increases the anti-inflammatory activity of the extract increases. Conclusion: From this study we can conclude that green tea and mint have a great anti-inflammatory property.Anti-inhibitory zone ranging from 90 and is indicating that it is higher than the standard diclofenac sodium which has only 40% of inhibition.
Acute management of COVID-19 in the emergency department: An evidence-based review

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been relentlessly battering the world wave after wave in different countries at different rates and times. Emergency departments (EDs) around the globe have had to constantly adapt to this ever-changing influx of information and recommendations by various national and international health agencies. This review compiles the available evidence on the guidelines for triaging, evaluation, and management of critically ill patients with COVID-19 presenting to the ED and in need of emergency resuscitation. The quintessential components of resuscitation focus on airway, breathing, and circulation with good supportive care as the cornerstone of acute management of critically ill COVID-19 patients. Irrational investigations and therapeutics must be avoided during these times of medical uncertainty and antibiotic stewardship should be diligently followed.
Systematic review and meta-analysis: the effect and safety of peritoneal dialysis in patients with end-stage diabetic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND At present, peritoneal dialysis (PD) is widely used in the clinical treatment of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and comparison of the efficacy of PD and hemodialysis (HD) in the treatment of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) has been reported in a few clinical studies. METHODS In this study, "dialysis", "peritoneal dialysis", "renal replacement therapy", "end-stage renal disease", "diabetic renal disease", and "efficacy and safety" were used as search terms in Chinese and English databases. According to RevMan 5.3 and Stata 13 software provided by the Cochrane Collaboration, a meta-analysis was performed. RESULTS Four randomized controlled trials were included in this study, and 3 trials described the randomization method, 3 described allocation concealment in detail, and 2 used the blinding method. Compared with the HD treatment in the control group, the PD treatment in the experimental group can significantly reduce the hemoglobin of patients with end-stage DKD [Mean difference (MD) =-0.13, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.21 to -0.04; P=0.003<0.05] and Albumin level (MD = -0.10, 95% CI: -0.16 to -0.04; P=0.002<0.05). Compared with the control group, the PD treatment in the experimental group significantly increased the serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels in patients with end-stage DKD, but there was no significant difference in the effects of PD and HD treatment on serum creatinine levels (MD =-0.30, 95% CI: -0.77 to 0.16; P=0.20>0.05), (MD =1.93, 95% CI: -2.65 to 6.51; P=-0.41>0.05). In addition, PD treatment in the experimental group significantly increased the probability of malignant tumors in patients with end-stage DKD [odds ratio (OR) =1.86, 95% CI: 1.64 to 2.10; P<0.00001], and the difference was significant. DISCUSSIONS This study used meta-analysis to confirm that PD can significantly improve the renal function of patients with end-stage DKD, but it can also increase the probability of protein loss and complications.
Mechanical behavior and failure mechanisms of cylindrical and prismatic rock specimens under various confining stresses

Although cylindrical and prismatic specimens are often used in laboratory tests, the differences between their deformation and failure characteristics remain unclear. Cylindrical and prismatic specimens of two rocks (marble and granite) were analyzed under various conventional triaxial conditions. The failed prismatic specimens exhibit multiple fractures intersecting in the cross section. With increasing confining pressure, the failure mode of the prismatic specimen changes from tensile failure to shear failure. In the progressive failure process of prismatic specimens, the two lateral strains ε2 and ε3 are the same before the peak, but some differences arise after some degree of post-peak failure, where the acoustic emission (AE) activity clearly increases. The mechanical parameters (peak strength, internal friction angle, cohesion, Young's modulus, and Poisson's ratio) determined for the cylindrical and prismatic specimens are consistent. However, a significant difference in the fracture morphology exists among them, even with similar change trends in the tensile-shear failure mode with confining pressure.
Demand of COVID-19 medicines without prescription among community pharmacies in Jodhpur, India: Findings and implications

Background: COVID-19 pandemic led to increased self-medication of antimicrobials, vitamins, and immune boosters among the common people and consuming without prescription can lead to adverse consequences including antimicrobial resistance. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on community pharmacies in Jodhpur, India. They were inquired regarding the prescription and increased sales (<25%, 25—50%, 50--75%, or 75--100%) of various medicines (Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin, Ivermectin, and Vitamin C) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the relationship between requests for certain COVID-19 medications and an increase in their sale. Results: A total of 204 pharmacies took part, and 88.23% reported patients to approach them without prescriptions. Most of the pharmacies revealed that <25% of patients came without prescription. The majority came for azithromycin (68%) and vitamin C (92%). Increased sales of the four targeted medications were seen by 85.92% of pharmacies compared to last year. A majority (51.5%) reported <25% increased sales of azithromycin, but no change in the sale of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. However, 39.6% reported >75% increase in vitamin C sales. Conclusion: There was an increase in the demand for COVID-19 medications without prescription. This study was unable to detect a significant increase in sales of antimicrobials, which is encouraging.
Comparison of fiber-optic linear beam shaping designs for laparoscopic laser sealing of vascular tissues

Abstract. Infrared lasers may provide faster and more precise sealing of blood vessels and with lower device jaw temperatures than ultrasonic and electrosurgical devices during surgery. Our study explores three beam shaping methods using optical fibers for transformation of a circular laser beam into a linear beam, necessary for integration into a standard 5-mm-diameter laparoscopic device, and for uniform irradiation perpendicular to the vessel length. In the first design, a servo motor connected to a side-firing, 550-μm-core fiber, provided linear translation of a 2.0-mm-diameter circular beam, back, and forth, over either 5 or 11 mm scan lengths for sealing of small or large vessels. The second design used external beam splitters to divide laser power equally into three side-firing fibers, stacked side-by-side, producing a linear beam of 4 × 2 mm. The third design used external beam splitters with three forward-firing fibers and a slanted jaw surface, to produce a linear beam of 5 × 1.5 mm. Laser seals were performed, ex vivo, on 41 porcine renal arteries of 1- to 6-mm diameter (n ≥ 10 samples for each design). Each vessel was compressed to a fixed 0.4-mm-thickness, matching the optical penetration depth at 1470 nm. Vessels were irradiated with fluences of 636 to 800 J/cm2, which, based on previous studies, is sufficient for sealing, but not cutting. A burst pressure setup was used to evaluate vessel seal strength. Reciprocating fiber and fiber bundles produced mean burst pressures of 554 ± 142, 524 ± 132, 429 ± 99, and 390 ± 140 mmHg, respectively. All designs consistently sealed blood vessels, with burst pressures above hypertensive (180 mmHg) blood pressures. The reciprocating fiber produced the most uniform linear beam profile and aspect ratio but will require integration of the servo motor into a handpiece. Fiber bundle designs produced shorter, less uniform beams, but enable optical components to be assembled outside the handpiece.
A Real-Time Biometric Encryption Scheme Based on Fuzzy Logic for IoT

When milliards of smart devices are connected to the Internet using the Internet of Things (IoT), robust security methods are required to deliver current information to the objects. Using IoT, the user can be accessed via smart device applications at any time and any place, which challenges IoT security and privacy. From security point of view, users and smart devices should have secure communication channel and digital ID. Authentication is the first step towards any security action. Biometric-based authentication can ensure higher security for developing secure access. In this paper, fingerprint is used as the biometric factor. After scanning the fingerprint using the cellphone’s camera, the image is transmitted to the authentication system. Since the comparison time increases after increasing the database volume, instead of storing the scanned fingerprint image, some key features of the scanned fingerprint are extracted and transmitted to the learning system of the convolutional neural network for detection and authentication and stored in the database. In the user authentication phase, the authentication keys are identified and the passcodes for the user of interest are extracted, and zero code is sent to the forged people; finally, the passcode is examined to check if the user is legal or illegal. In this step, the legal codes for fuzzy encoding of the image and text information are activated, and encryption is carried out in multiple steps depending on the number of members. The final code is compressed using Huffman coding and used for transmission to the network or storage. The proposed method is tested in MATLAB, and the results show that an excellent security is achieved using this cascade encryption method. Conclusively, the proposed hybrid coding technique reduces the information volume by 15.9%.
A Current Balancing Instrumentation Amplifier (CBIA) Bioamplifier with High Gain Accuracy

A Current Balancing Instrumentation Amplifier (CBIA) Bioamplifier with High Gain Accuracy (December 2011) Ebenezer Dwobeng Chair of Advisory Committee: Edgar Sanchez-Sinencio Electrical signals produced in the human body can be used for medical diagnosis and research, treatment of diseases, pilot safety etc. These signals are extracted using an electrode (or transducer) to convert the ion current in the body to electron current. After the electrode, the very low amplitude extracted signal is amplified by an analog frontend that typically consists of an instrumentation amplifier (IA), a programmable gain amplifier (PGA), and a low pass filter (LPF). The output of the analog frontend is converted to digital signal by an analog to digital converter (ADC) for subsequent processing in the digital domain. This thesis discusses the circuit design challenges of the analog frontend instrumentation amplifier, compares existing circuit topologies used to implement the IA and proposes a new frontend IA. The proposed circuit uses the Current Balancing Instrumentation Amplifier (CBIA) topology to achieve high gain accuracy over a wide range of the output impedance. In addition it uses common circuit design techniques such as chopper modulation to achieve low flicker noise corner frequency, high common mode rejection (CMRR) and low noise efficiency factor (NEF). The proposed circuit has been implemented in the 0.5um CMOS ON-semiconductor process and consumes 16uW of power. The post-layout simulated gain accuracy is better than 94% for gain values from 20dB to 60dB, measured NEF is 7.8 and CMRR is better than 100dB.
Study on the impedance dynamics and control of the active suspensions based on the equilibrium trajectory error

A novel approach to design the controller of the active suspension is presented in light of the suspensions’ mechanical impedance dynamics, where the sprung-mass kinematic states, including acceleration, velocity, and displacement are comprehensively modeled considering the concept of suspension mechanical impedance. The proposed impedance controller is designed by tracking the equilibrium trajectory error of the sprung-mass states. The approximate transfer function of the active suspension is derived for choosing the parameters of the virtual mechanical impedance system. The numerical simulation of the suspension amplitude–frequency response is carried out, which demonstrates that the virtual mass and damping parameters have greater influence than the virtual spring parameter. The ride comfort of the suspension controlled by the designed impedance control behaves well in a wide range of road conditions, and the road holding with it is even better than that with the Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) control especially around the second-order resonance frequency. The numerical simulation and experimental comparison all demonstrate that the proposed impedance control law, which does not strictly rely on the suspension parameters, could achieve a better power economy and road holding than that of the LQR control.
240 Gb/s optical transmission based on an ultra-fast silicon microring modulator

An ultrafast microring modulator (MRM) is fabricated and presented with V π · L of 0 . 825 V · cm . A 240 Gb/s PAM-8 signal transmission over 2 km standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) is experimentally demonstrated. PN junction doping concentration is optimized, and the overall performance of the MRM is improved. Optical peaking is introduced to further extend the EO bandwidth from 52 to 110 GHz by detuning the input wavelength. A titanium nitride heater with 0.1 nm/mW tuning efficiency is implemented above the MRM to adjust the resonant wavelength. High bit rate modulations based on the high-performance and compact MRM are carried out. By adopting off-line signal processing in the transmitter and receiver side, 120 Gb/s NRZ, 220 Gb/s PAM-4, and 240 Gb/s PAM-8 are measured with the back-to-back bit error ratio (BER) of 5 . 5 × 10 − 4 , 1 . 5 × 10 − 2 , and 1 . 4 × 10 − 2 , respectively. A BER with different received optical power and 2 km SSMF transmission is also investigated. The BER for 220 Gb/s PAM-4 and 240 Gb/s PAM-8 after 2 km SSMF transmission is calculated to be 1 . 7 × 10 − 2 and 1 . 5 × 10 − 2 , which meet with the threshold of soft-decision forward-error correction, respectively.
Adaptive hybrid screening for efficient lasso optimization

Lasso-type models are a popular approach for analysing high-dimensional data. The size of modern data sets can be quite large, so developing efficient algorithms is important. Feature screening techniques have proven to be effective at increasing efficiency, as they allow for considerable dimension reduction during the optimization process. In this paper, we develop an adaptive hybrid screening framework where screening is carried out adaptively along the path of tuning parameter values, reusing previous solutions to reduce heavy screening computations if they fail to significantly reduce dimensionality. We focus on the standard lasso model and sparse logistic model, but the proposed framework is flexible and can be easily extended to different types of lasso models. Through experiments involving a wide variety of simulated and real data sets, we show that the adaptive hybrid methods significantly outperform other state-of-the-art methods, with the greatest speedup occurring in the most challenging scenarios.
Acquired resistance to immunotherapy characterized by bloody pleural effusion and biomarker exploration: a report of 2 cases.

BACKGROUND With the current wide use of checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment of solid tumors, some patients who initially respond to immunotherapy have been shown to develop acquired resistance. However, the manifestation and underlying mechanisms are currently poorly understood. This is the first reported case of acquired resistance and pleural metastasis with uncontrolled massive bloody pleural effusion after immunotherapy. CASE DESCRIPTION Case 1, a 54-year-old man, was treated with erlotinib for advanced lung adenocarcinoma due to deletion mutations in exon 19 of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). After disease progression, he received pembrolizumab. The best efficacy evaluation during the period was partial response (PR). After 12 cycles of treatment, the patient exhibited rapid disease progression characterized by bloody pleural effusion. Pembrolizumab treatment was discontinued and an attempt was made to inject bevacizumab into the chest cavity; however, the bloody pleural effusion remained difficult to control. The patient experienced a rapid disease progression and died. Case 2, a 71-year-old man, with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma who had previously undergone right hepatectomy, and subsequently received pembrolizumab treatment after disease progression. During the treatment period, his best efficacy evaluation also reached PR. After 23 cycles of treatment, he developed a massive bloody pleural effusion in the chest cavity. He continued to use pembrolizumab for 2 cycles, and anti-angiogenic drugs were injected into the chest cavity, while taking lenvatinib orally; however, the bloody pleural effusion remained difficult to control. The patient eventually died of tumor progression. After the emergence of resistance, we subjected the pleural effusion of the 2 patients to next-generation sequencing (NGS), and preliminarily analyzed the relevant biomarkers. CONCLUSIONS We found fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family gene mutations in pleural fluid obtained from two patients after immunotherapy resistance. It may suggest that the FGF family may be involved in the development of pembrolizumab resistance. And the combination of fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) may be a promising option for cancer patients.
Synthesis and Characterization of electrodes for III-Nitride Resonant Cavity Light Emitting Diode Applications

Synthesis and Characterization of electrodes for III-Nitride Resonant Cavity Light Emitting Diode Applications Vamsi Krishna Kumbham In recent years Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) of high efficiency and long lifetime have been produced. Gallium Nitride in particular is used in the manufacture of Blue LEDs because it is a direct band gap semiconductor which can be alloyed with AlN and InN allowing band gap energies to range from 1.9eV to 6.2eV, which allows the emission of short wavelengths including blue light. The interest in replacing conventional lighting by solid-state lighting has led to focus on the development of high brightness Gallium Nitride (GaN) LEDs. Efficient LED structures such as flip chip configurations and Resonant Cavity LEDs (RCLEDs) typically need a highly reflective ohmic contact on p-GaN. RCLEDs are of great interest due their features such as, high spectral purity, and high emission intensity when compared to conventional GaN based LEDs [1]. Au based contacts are not appropriate for the RCLEDs due to low reflectance in the blue region. Ag films have much higher reflectivity in the visible region when compared to Au films. The first part of the thesis presents the detailed fabrication process and characterization of Ag based electrodes for III-Nitride Resonant Cavity LEDs. A GaN/AlGaN Distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) of very high reflectance is employed on the sapphire substrate below the LED, which acts as the bottom mirror. For the top mirror, low resistance and highly reflective ohmic contacts on p-type GaN were achieved using an Ag-based metallization scheme. The second part of the thesis presents, development of a transparent, conductive zinc oxide contact to a GaN/InGaN MQW LED. A process and post-deposition annealing have been optimized to obtain ZnO films with high electrical conductivity and transparency, and ZnObased contacts with a low contact resistance. This work represents a step toward the fabrication of high-efficiency GaN-based blue and green LEDs with transparent ZnO electrodes.
ThinTool: A spreadsheet model to evaluate fuel reduction thinning cost, biomass for energy, and nutrient removal

Mechanical fuel reduction thinning including biomass removal is expensive, creates opportunity for biomass energy, and removes nutrients from the site. Forest managers could use a comprehensive tool to effectively and simultaneously address these aspects of fuel reduction thinning projects. We developed a spreadsheet-based model, named ThinTool, to evaluate the cost of mechanical fuel reduction thinning treatments including biomass removal, predict net energy output, and assess nutrient impacts in northern California and southern Oregon. A combination of literature review, field-based studies, and contractor surveys were used to develop this model. Three components (cost, energy output, and nutrient removal) in ThinTool were directly linked to each other. The results are sensitive to stand and site conditions, thinning prescriptions, biomass recovery systems, and road standards and distances. For cost analysis, machine productivities for fuel reduction thinning treatments under three different stand conditions were obtained from 29 local contractors who have worked on fuel reduction thinning treatments in the region. These estimates are then adjusted based on stand variables and work conditions; the productivity adjustment functions were developed for four key variables affecting machine productivity, including the amount of volume to be removed per acre, tree size, percent slope, and skidding distances. Net energy output was estimated by comparing the amount of energy delivered with the total energy consumed to collect, process, and transport the biomass to an energy plant. This function allows users to assess potential energy contribution and identify energyeffective biomass recovery systems. The site nutrient removals were calculated based on the biomass amounts and nutrient contents for each species and the tree components (e.g., limbs, tops, and/or bole wood) to be removed. The outputs help forest managers to examine environmental effects of biomass recovery and provide nutrient retention information for sustainable production of woody biomass. In model validation, the difference between ThinTool-simulated costs and the actual observed costs were 5 percent for sawlog production and 11 percent for biomass production. ThinTool will help forest managers and land owners to effectively address conflicting issues (i.e. nutrient recycling vs. removal of hazardous fuels) that require integration of biomass availability, harvest cost analysis, and environmental effects simultaneously.