Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HLD-DDoSDN: High and low-rates dataset-based DDoS attacks against SDN

Software Defined Network (SDN) has alleviated traditional network limitations but faces a significant challenge due to the risk of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against an SDN controller, with current detection methods lacking evaluation on unrealistic SDN datasets and standard DDoS attacks (i.e., high-rate DDoS attack). Therefore, a realistic dataset called HLD-DDoSDN is introduced, encompassing prevalent DDoS attacks specifically aimed at an SDN controller, such as User Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), and User Datagram Protocol (UDP). This SDN dataset also incorporates diverse levels of traffic fluctuations, representing different traffic variation rates (i.e., high and low rates) in DDoS attacks. It is qualitatively compared to existing SDN datasets and quantitatively evaluated across all eight scenarios to ensure its superiority. Furthermore, it fulfils the requirements of a benchmark dataset in terms of size, variety of attacks and scenarios, with significant features that highly contribute to detecting realistic SDN attacks. The features of HLD-DDoSDN are evaluated using a Deep Multilayer Perception (D-MLP) based detection approach. Experimental findings indicate that the employed features exhibit high performance in the detection accuracy, recall, and precision of detecting high and low-rate DDoS flooding attacks.
The effect of biomass smoke exposure on quality-of-life among Ugandan patients treated for tuberculosis: A cross-sectional analysis

More than half the global population burns biomass fuels for cooking and home heating, especially in low-middle income countries. This practice is a prominent source of indoor air pollution and has been linked to the development of a variety of cardiopulmonary diseases, including Tuberculosis (TB). The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the association between current biomass smoke exposure and self-reported quality of life scores in a cohort of previous TB patients in Uganda. We reviewed medical records from six TB clinics from 9/2019-9/2020 and conducted phone interviews to obtain information about biomass smoke exposure. A random sample of these patients were asked to complete three validated quality-of-life surveys including the St. Georges Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), the EuroQol 5 Dimension 3 Level system (EQ-5D-3L) which includes the EuroQol Visual Analog Scale (EQ-VAS), and the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9). The cohort was divided up into 3 levels based on years of smoke exposure–no-reported smoke exposure (0 years), light exposure (1–19 years), and heavy exposure (20+ years), and independent-samples-Kruskal-Wallis testing was performed with post-hoc pairwise comparison and the Bonferroni correction. The results of this testing indicated significant increases in survey scores for patients with current biomass exposure and a heavy smoke exposure history (20+ years) compared to no reported smoke exposure in the SGRQ activity scores (adj. p = 0.018) and EQ-5D-3L usual activity scores (adj. p = 0.002), indicating worse activity related symptoms. There was a decrease in EQ-VAS scores for heavy (adj. p = 0.007) and light (adj. p = 0.017) exposure groups compared to no reported exposure, indicating lower perceptions of overall health. These results may suggest worse outcomes or baseline health for TB patients exposed to biomass smoke at the time of treatment and recovery, however further research is needed to characterize the effect of indoor air pollution on TB treatment outcomes.
Global Health

Within its 150 year history, public health has grown from a focus on local communities, to include country-wide, then international and now global perspectives. Using the United Nation’s Millennium Goals as its primary framework, this article provides an overview of global public health within the broadest possible context of the world and all of its peoples. Also provided are discussions of the global burden of disease as measured in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), global health statistics, current health priorities and recommendations for action by social workers and other health professionals. Key words, global, public, international, health, global burden of disease and disability adjusted life years (DALYs) INTRODUCTION Global public health is a comprehensive area that includes broad subjects such as health determinants, the burden of disease, culture and health, health systems, ethical and human rights concerns and ways of working together (Skolnick, 2012). The history of global public
PREX1 improves homeostatic proliferation to maintain a naive CD4+ T cell compartment in older age

The human adult immune system maintains normal T cell counts and compensates for T cell loss throughout life, mainly through peripheral homeostatic proliferation after the ability of the thymus to generate new T cells has rapidly declined at adolescence. This process is mainly driven by STAT5-activating cytokines, most importantly IL-7, and is very effective in maintaining a large naive CD4+ T cell compartment into older age. Here, we describe that naive CD4+ T cells undergo adaptations to optimize IL-7 responses by upregulating the guanine-nucleotide exchange factor PREX1 in older age. PREX1 promotes nuclear translocation of phosphorylated STAT5, thereby supporting homeostatic proliferation in response to IL-7. Through the same mechanism, increased expression of PREX1 also biases naive cells to differentiate into effector T cells. These findings are consistent with the concept that primarily beneficial adaptations during aging, i.e., improved homeostasis, account for unfavorable functions of the aged immune system, in this case biased differentiation.
ITGBL1 promotes anoikis resistance and metastasis in human gastric cancer via the AKT/FBLN2 axis

Abstract The resistance to anoikis plays a critical role in the metastatic progression of various types of malignancies, including gastric cancer (GC). Nevertheless, the precise mechanism behind anoikis resistance is not fully understood. Here, our primary focus was to examine the function and underlying molecular mechanism of Integrin beta‐like 1 (ITGBL1) in the modulation of anoikis resistance and metastasis in GC. The findings of our investigation have demonstrated that the overexpression of ITGBL1 significantly augmented the resistance of GC cells to anoikis and promoted their metastatic potential, while knockdown of ITGBL1 had a suppressive effect on both cellular processes in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, we proved that ITGBL1 has a role in enhancing the resistance of GC cells to anoikis and promoting metastasis through the AKT/Fibulin‐2 (FBLN2) axis. The inhibition of AKT/FBLN2 signalling was able to reverse the impact of ITGBL1 on the resistance of GC cells to anoikis and their metastatic capability. Moreover, the expression levels of ITGBL1 were found to be significantly elevated in the cancerous tissues of patients diagnosed with GC, and there was a strong correlation observed between high expression levels of ITGBL1 and worse prognosis among individuals diagnosed with GC. Significantly, it was revealed that within our cohort of GC patients, individuals exhibiting elevated ITGBL1 expression and diminished FBLN2 expression experienced the worst prognosis. In conclusion, the findings of our study indicate that ITGBL1 may serve as a possible modulator of resistance to anoikis and the metastatic process in GC.
Associations among antimicrobial use, calf management practices, and antimicrobial resistance in Escherichia coli from a pooled fecal sample in calves on Canadian dairy farms: a cross-sectional study.

The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine associations between calf management practices, the number of antimicrobial treatments, and antimicrobial resistance in pre-weaned heifers on Canadian dairy farms. A composite of 5 fecal samples from pre-weaned calves was collected from 142 dairy farms in 5 provinces and analyzed for phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility with the microbroth dilution method. Questionnaires were used to capture herd characteristics and calf management practices used on the farm. Calf treatment records were collected during the farm visits. Escherichia coli was isolated from all 142 fecal samples with the highest resistance to tetracycline (41%), followed by sulfisoxazole (36%), streptomycin (32%), chloramphenicol (28%), ampicillin (16%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (15%), ceftriaxone (4.2%), cefoxitin (2.8%), amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (2.1%), ciprofloxacin (2.1%), nalidixic acid (2.1%), azithromycin (1.4%), and gentamicin (1.4%). Multidrug resistance was observed in 37% of E. coli isolates. Three-quarters of farms used fresh colostrum as the most common type of colostrum fed to calves. Colostrum quality was checked on 49% of farms, but the transfer of passive immunity was only checked on 32% of farms in the last 12 mo. Almost 70% of farms used straw or hay or a combination as the bedding material for calves. Among the 142 farms, a complete set of calf records were collected from 71 farms. In a multivariable logistic regression model, farms with ≥1.99 - 32.57 antimicrobial treatments/calf-year were 3.2 times more likely to have multidrug resistant E. coli in calf feces compared farms with <1.99 antimicrobial treatments/calf-year. Farms using hay or straw beddings were 5.1 times less likely to have multidrug resistant E. coli compared with those with other bedding materials including shavings or sawdust. Bedding management practices on farms may need to be investigated to reduce the potential impact on disseminating multidrug resistant bacteria.
Neural response to threat and reward among young adults at risk for alcohol use disorder

Abstract Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is heritable. Thus, young adults with positive family histories represent an at‐risk group relative to those without a family history, and if studied at a time when both groups have similar levels of alcohol use, it provides an opportunity to identify neural processing patterns associated with risk for AUD. Previous studies have shown that diminished response to potential reward is associated with genetic risk for AUD, but it is unclear how threat may modulate this response. We used a modified Monetary Incentive Delay task during fMRI to examine neural correlates of the interaction between threat and reward anticipation in a sample of young adults with (n = 31) and without (n = 44) family histories of harmful alcohol use. We found an interaction (p = 0.048) between cue and group in the right nucleus accumbens where the family history positive group showed less differentiation to the anticipation of gaining $5 and losing $5 relative to gaining $0. The family history‐positive group also reported less excitement for trials to gain $5 relative to gaining $0 (p < 0.001). Family history‐positive individuals showed less activation in the left insula during both safe and threat blocks compared to family history‐negative individuals (p = 0.005), but the groups did not differ as a function of threat (p > 0.70). Young adults with, relative to without, enriched risk for AUD may have diminished reward processing via both neural and behavioural markers to potential rewarding and negative consequences. Neural response to threat may not be a contributing factor to risk at this stage.
Image‐guided metabolomics and transcriptomics reveal tumour heterogeneity in luminal A and B human breast cancer beyond glucose tracer uptake

Abstract Background Breast cancer is a metabolically heterogeneous disease, and although the concept of heterogeneous cancer metabolism is known, its precise role in human breast cancer is yet to be fully elucidated. Methods We investigated in an explorative approach a cohort of 42 primary mamma carcinoma patients with positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MR) prior to surgery, followed by histopathology and molecular diagnosis. From a subset of patients, which showed high metabolic heterogeneity based on tracer uptake and pathology classification, tumour centre and periphery specimen tissue samples were further investigated by a targeted breast cancer gene expression panel and quantitative metabolomics by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. All data were analysed in a combinatory approach. Results [18F]FDG (2‐deoxy‐2‐[fluorine‐18]fluoro‐d‐glucose) tracer uptake confirmed dominance of glucose metabolism in the breast tumour centre, with lower levels in the periphery. Additionally, we observed differences in lipid and proliferation related genes between luminal A and B subtypes in the centre and periphery. Tumour periphery showed elevated acetate levels and enrichment in lipid metabolic pathways genes especially in luminal B. Furthermore, serine was increased in the periphery and higher expression of thymidylate synthase (TYMS) indicated one‐carbon metabolism increased in tumour periphery. The overall metabolic activity based on [18F]FDG uptake of luminal B subtype was higher than that of luminal A and the difference between the periphery and centre increased with tumour grade. Conclusion Our analysis indicates variations in metabolism among different breast cancer subtypes and sampling locations which details the heterogeneity of the breast tumours. Correlation analysis of [18F]FDG tracer uptake, transcriptome and tumour metabolites like acetate and serine facilitate the search for new candidates for metabolic tracers and permit distinguishing luminal A and B. This knowledge may help to differentiate subtypes preclinically or to provide patients guide for neoadjuvant therapy and optimised surgical protocols based on individual tumour metabolism.
The Effectiveness of Digital Health Lifestyle Interventions on People With Prediabetes: Protocol for a Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Meta-Regression

Background There has been an increasing interest in the use of digital health lifestyle interventions for people with prediabetes, as these interventions may offer a scalable approach to preventing type 2 diabetes. Previous systematic reviews on digital health lifestyle interventions for people with prediabetes had limitations, such as a narrow focus on certain types of interventions, a lack of statistical pooling, and no broader subgroup analysis of intervention characteristics. The identified limitations observed in previous systematic reviews substantiate the necessity of conducting a comprehensive review to address these gaps within the field. This will enable a comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness of digital health lifestyle interventions for people with prediabetes. Objective The objective of this systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression is to systematically investigate the effectiveness of digital health lifestyle interventions on prediabetes-related outcomes in comparison with any comparator without a digital component among adults with prediabetes. Methods This systematic review will include randomized controlled trials that investigate the effectiveness of digital health lifestyle interventions on adults (aged 18 years or older) with prediabetes and compare the digital interventions with nondigital interventions. The primary outcome will be change in body weight (kg). Secondary outcomes include, among others, change in glycemic status, markers of cardiometabolic health, feasibility outcomes, and incidence of type 2 diabetes. Embase, PubMed, CINAHL, and CENTRAL (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) will be systematically searched. The data items to be extracted include study characteristics, participant characteristics, intervention characteristics, and relevant outcomes. To estimate the overall effect size, a meta-analysis will be conducted using the mean difference. Additionally, if feasible, meta-regression on study, intervention, and participant characteristics will be performed. The Cochrane risk of bias tool will be applied to assess study quality, and the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) approach will be used to assess the certainty of evidence. Results The results are projected to yield an overall estimate of the effectiveness of digital health lifestyle interventions on adults with prediabetes and elucidate the characteristics that contribute to their effectiveness. Conclusions The insights gained from this study may help clarify the potential of digital health lifestyle interventions for people with prediabetes and guide the decision-making regarding future intervention components. Trial Registration PROSPERO CRD42023426919; http://tinyurl.com/d3enrw9j International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) PRR1-10.2196/50340
Deglaciation of Boknafjorden, south‐western Norway

We present 30 10Be ages from glacial erratic boulders to constrain the deglaciation of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in the Boknafjorden region, south‐western Norway. The southern part of the island Karmøy, located at the mouth of this fjord system, became free of glacier ice before 16 ka, probably because of the sudden break up of the Norwegian Channel Ice Stream at 20–18 ka. The ice sheet margin then stabilized at the fjord mouth until a second retreat phase commenced at or slightly before 16 ka. A calving bay developed in Boknafjorden after 16 ka, and in the course of the next millennium the ice front retreated to the inner fjord branches. In contrast, a major outlet glacier that filled the Hardangerfjorden farther to the north did not start to retreat from the fjord mouth until after 15 ka, probably in response to the Bølling warming. Thus, not only did Boknafjorden experience major retreat before Bølling warmth, but there was a variable response of south‐western fjord glaciers in Norway consistent with prior observations of non‐climatic forcing of marine‐terminating outlet glaciers.
Pulmonary hypertension is associated with hypocoagulability in dogs: a retrospective analysis of 66 cases (2013-2021).

OBJECTIVE To describe coagulation profiles in dogs with echocardiographic evidence of pulmonary hypertension (PH), to compare them to coagulation profiles in dogs without echocardiographic evidence of PH, and to determine the relationship between coagulation profiles and echocardiographic probability of PH. ANIMALS 66 dogs with PH (cases) and 86 dogs without PH (controls). METHODS Retrospective evaluation of records between 2013 and 2021 of dogs that had both an echocardiogram and a coagulation panel performed within 7 days. Dogs that received antithrombotics within 7 days of evaluation and dogs diagnosed with congenital or acquired coagulopathy or other severe systemic disease that could lead to coagulopathy were excluded. Dogs with a low echocardiographic probability of PH were also excluded. The dogs were divided into a PH group and non-PH group based on echocardiographic results. Demographic, clinicopathologic, and traditional coagulation parameters and VCM Vet (Entegrion) parameters were compared between the 2 groups. RESULTS Dogs with PH were significantly older (median, 11 years vs 9.5 years, P = .02) and had a significantly lower body weight (median, 7.3 kg vs 19.3 kg, P < .001) than controls. Dogs with PH also had a significantly greater percent increase in prothrombin time (PT; P = .02), partial thromboplastin time (PTT; P < .0001), and fibrinogen (P = .045); however, their antithrombin concentration was lower (P = .005) compared to controls. Eight of 65 dogs (12.3%) in the PH group and 1/86 (1.2%) dogs in the non-PH group had an elevation of PT and/or PTT greater than 50% above the reference interval (P = .005). Dogs with PH had 11.9 times (95% CI, 1.5 to 97.9; P = .02) greater odds of being hypocoagulable than dogs without PH based on PT and PTT. CLINICAL RELEVANCE This study demonstrated an association between a moderate to high echocardiographic probability of PH and a hypocoagulable state in dogs as determined by traditional coagulation assays. It underscores the importance of monitoring the coagulation status in canine patients with PH, particularly before initiating antithrombotic medications.
Water quality achievable with agricultural best management practices

ABSTRACT: Greater emphasis has been placed on controlling nonpoint sources of pollution; however, the quality of water achieved by implementing best management practices (BMPs) remains uncertain. Water quality in runoff from agricultural areas under best management was compared with water quality standards, where appropriate, and with other measures of treated water, thereby defining the water quality achievable by using best management practices. The study draws upon results obtained from 7 years of water quality monitoring in the LaPlatte River and St. Albans Bay watersheds in Vermont of BMPs implemented for manure management, barnyard runoff, and milkhouse wastes. These studies include long-term stream monitoring for sediment and nutrient concentration and load, as well as intensive evaluation of the treatment effectiveness of certain BMPs, such as vegetated filter strips and manure storage, on concentration and export of sediment, nutrients, and bacteria. Results indicate that BMPs may be highly effective in reducing pollutant concentrations and loads, but runoff may continue to exceed water quality criteria. Further development of BMPs is needed to improve the water quality achievable.
Relationship between Seropositivity of Encephalitozoon cuniculi and Renal Biochemical Markers in Healthy Rabbits

Encephalitozoon cuniculi, ozellikle tavsangillerde ve cesitli ulkelerdeki bircok yaban ve evcil hayvanlarda latent hastaliga neden olabilmektedir. Bu enfeksiyon potansiyel olarak zoonotik ve firsatci bir patojenden kaynaklandigindan veteriner ve halk sagligi icin onemlidir. Bu calismanin amaci, klinik olarak saglikli tavsanlarda E. cuniculi seropozitifligi ve bobrek fonksiyon belirtecleri arasindaki iliskinin, hastaligin tanisinda yararli olabilecegini arastirmaktir. Bu calismada, saglikli tavsanlarda E. cuniculi enfeksiyonunun seropozitifligi enzim baglantili immunosorbent testi (ELISA) ile belirlenmis ve bobrek fonksiyon test sonuclari ile otopsi bulgulari birlikte degerlendirilmistir. Bir laboratuvar tavsan yetistirme tesisinde, ELISA testi, 97 tavsanin 48'inin (%49.5) E. cuniculi'ye karsi seropozitif oldugunu gostermistir. Seropozitif hayvanlarda kan ure nitrojen (BUN) ve kreatinin duzeyleri anlamli olarak yuksek bulunmustur. Serum kreatinin (p<0.001) ve BUN (p<0.01) duzeylerinin tavsanlarin serolojik durumu ile istatistik olarak anlamli bir iliskisi oldugu anlasilmistir. Enfeksiyonun dogrulanmasi icin iki seropozitif tavsan otopsi edildi. Bobrekteki histopatolojik bulgulara gore tubul epitelinde dejeneratif degisiklikler ve E. cuniculi sporlari tespit edilmistir. Encephalitozoon cuniculi enfeksiyonunu teshis etmek icin tavsanlarda serolojik ve histopatolojik yontemler rutin olarak kullanilmamaktadir. Bobrekler tavsanlarda ensefalitozoonosisde en cok etkilenen organlardan biridir. Calismanin da gosterdigi uzere, kan ure nitrojen ve kreatinin duzeylerinin belirlenmesi, seropozitif tavsanlarin bobrek fonksiyonlarinin degerlendirilmes, klinik ve genel saglik durumunu yorumlanmasi adina yararli olabilecegi anlasilmaktadir.