Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
POCUS: the anesthetist’s emerging stethoscope

Summary: The development of clinical ultrasound was perhaps the greatest revolution in the medical profession during the last half century. The rapid evolution allowed novel uses od US in almost every field of medical practice. Its best use, probably has been in the hands of the anesthetists, who employ it the operating room, in the pain clinic as well as in the emergency room and in the intensive care units. Apicare Journal has strived to introduce this novel modality in this part of the world by editorials and research papers. This invited editorial has been written by one of the best US and POCUS teams in Pakistan, at Ghurki Trust Teaching Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. It offers a brief introduction to some of the countless options in which it can be used. The authors stress on the availability of US facility and the training to all clinicians. Key words: POCUS (Point of Care Ultrasound); FAST Scan; eFAST Scan; Pain; Pain Management; Anesthetist; Stethoscope; Gastroparesis; Airway Citation: Ayub L, Dar SR, Chaudhary WA. POCUS: the anesthetist’s emerging stethoscope. Anaesth. pain intensive care 2022;26(6):736−738; DOI: 10.35975/apic.v26i6. 2065Received: October 26, 2022; Revised: October 29, 2022; Accepted: October 29, 2022
Protective Effects of PEP-1-GSTA2 Protein in Hippocampal Neuronal Cell Damage Induced by Oxidative Stress

Glutathione S-transferase alpha 2 (GSTA2), a member of the glutathione S-transferase family, plays the role of cellular detoxification against oxidative stress. Although oxidative stress is related to ischemic injury, the role of GSTA2 against ischemia has not been elucidated. Thus, we studied whether GSTA2 prevents ischemic injury by using the PEP-1-GSTA2 protein which has a cell-permeable protein transduction domain. We revealed that cell-permeable PEP-1-GSTA2 transduced into HT-22 cells and markedly protected cell death via the inhibition of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and DNA damage induced by oxidative stress. Additionally, transduced PEP-1-GSTA2 promoted mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) activation. Furthermore, PEP-1-GSTA2 regulated Bcl-2, Bax, cleaved Caspase-3 and -9 expression protein levels. An in vivo ischemic animal model, PEP-1-GSTA2, markedly prevented the loss of hippocampal neurons and reduced the activation of microglia and astrocytes. These findings indicate that PEP-1-GSTA2 suppresses hippocampal cell death by regulating the MAPK and apoptotic signaling pathways. Therefore, we suggest that PEP-1-GSTA2 will help to develop the therapies for oxidative-stress-induced ischemic injury.
Timbre as a Structuring Force in Music

Most of the music we enjoy uses the musical qualities of different instruments to create specific perceptual and emotional effects that composers sculpt over time. Timbre is the auditory attribute that distinguishes different instruments. Research on timbre perception has demonstrated that it is multifaceted and contributes in many ways to the perceptual organization of musical structures. The art of structuring music with timbre is orchestration. A survey of orchestration treatises reveals the dearth of underlying theory, in sharp contrast to other traditional areas such as harmony and counterpoint, which have long theoretical traditions. We seek to develop a theoretical ground for orchestration practice starting with the structuring role that timbre can play in music. Many aspects of musical structuring are achieved by auditory scene analysis, the perceptual processes that result in unified events, integrated streams of events, groups of events segmented into phrases and sections, and larger-scale units extended over time that we call orchestral gestures. The roles that timbre plays in the manifestation of these principles in orchestration practice will be considered as potential elements of a theory of orchestration. How such principles might be incorporated into computer-aided orchestration systems and computer-aided orchestral rendering systems will also be examined.
Target location in aerial image by fast NCC

Target location is a fundamental application in aerial image process. In this work, a fast normalized cross correlation algorithm is proposed for the application of target location in aerial image. Firstly, normalized cross correlation has been proved equivalent to Euclidean distance. In the search step, the target template and the corresponding window of base image are projected to a set of mutually orthonormal vectors for calculating the lower bound of the distance, where the windows with too large distance relative to the target template will be rejected in this step. Finally, the directly normalized cross correlation calculating is applied to the rest windows of base image to achieve the final correct location of target. The experimental results show that compared with traditional method, the proposed method significantly improved the computational complexity without sacrificing the spatial resolution or the accuracy of the match result.
Determinants of Honey and Other Bee Products Use for Culinary, Cosmetic, and Medical Purposes

Bee products have been used for centuries for culinary, medicinal, and cosmetic purposes, and their properties are still a subject of research, which provide new arguments in favour of their use. The research aimed to determine the current state of use of bee products by Polish consumers and determine the ways and conditions of their use, with particular reference to the level of nutritional knowledge and health status. The survey was conducted using the CAWI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview) method on 487 respondents. It was found that honey is used mainly for culinary purposes and, to a lesser extent, for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. Other bee products are much less commonly used than honey—mainly beeswax and royal jelly for cosmetic purposes and propolis and bee pollen for medicinal purposes. Segments distinguished by the frequency of use of honey for particular purposes were differentiated by gender, age, income level, use of other bee products, and motivation to use them. Their differences were also found in terms of the level of nutritional knowledge and self-assessed health status—the highest ratings in both categories were indicated by representatives of the Honey users’ segment, which consisted of people who use honey most frequently for cooking, cosmetic and medicinal purposes. Regression analysis additionally showed that higher levels of nutritional knowledge and better health status were associated with the use of honey to treat gastrointestinal ailments and with the use of propolis for medicinal purposes.
A Pulsar Survey of 18 Supernova Remnants

We have performed a pulsar search of 18 known or probable supernova remnants with the Arecibo 305 m radio telescope at 430 and 1420 MHz. The remnants were selected to have angular sizes less than or of order a few telescope beam diameters (˜10' at 430 MHz and ˜3' at 1420 MHz). In some cases, larger remnants with centrally brightened cores of this scale were also included. The observations were sensitive to pulsars with periods ≳1 ms and flux densities as low as ˜0.2 mJy. The targets included two probable plerionic objects and several shell-type remnants with centrally brightened X-ray profiles. No new pulsars were discovered in the survey, and we discuss some of the selection effects that make the interpretation of pulsar surveys of supernova remnants problematic. Effects of high pulsar velocities, uncertain distances, and high remnant brightness temperatures make it difficult to exclude the presence of a pulsar in most remnants.
Perceived stress negatively affects diet quality and life satisfaction during the COVID-19 lockdown period, in Greece

Purpose The pandemic of COVID-19 led to considerable challenges with respect to people's health, dietary behavior and satisfaction with life. This study aims to investigate perceived stress levels, in relation to diet quality and life satisfaction in Greek adults, during the COVID-19 lockdown. Design/methodology/approach This is a cross-sectional study which took place in Greece in the course of the strict lockdown period, in the third COVID-19 wave. A sample of 2,029 adults aged 18 years and above participated in an online survey. The questionnaire consisted of questions on sociodemographic and anthropometric characteristics. The Perceived Stress Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Mediterranean Diet Assessment Tool were also used. Findings Linear regression has shown that women (p < 0.0001), younger individuals (p < 0.0001), obese individuals (p = 0.047), those with lower levels of satisfaction with life (p < 0.0001) and lower adherence to Mediterranean diet (p = 0.0001) were positively associated with higher levels of stress. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study conducted in Greece aiming at investigating concurrently, levels of perceived stress, with respect to levels of satisfaction with life and diet quality in adults, during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Broader autism phenotype and couple interactions in parents of children with autism

The broader autism phenotype refers to sub-clinical autism spectrum disorder characteristics involving socially and emotionally aloof and rigid personality traits and social communication difficulties. Relatives of individuals with autism spectrum disorder, including parents, evidence an increased rate of broader autism phenotype. The goal of this study was to evaluate the association between actor (one’s own) and partner (their partner’s) broader autism phenotype and the self-reported, observed, and physiological (i.e. electrodermal reactivity) markers of the quality of videotaped couple problem-solving interactions in 158 couples, who had a child with autism spectrum disorder (aged 5–12 years). The mean age of mothers was 39.79 (standard deviation = 5.06) years and the mean age of fathers was 41.77 (standard deviation = 6.02) years for fathers, and 36.6% of parents did not have a college degree. Actor–partner interdependence models, using structural equation modeling in analysis of moment structures, were conducted. Results indicated that parent broader autism phenotype was positively related to adverse couple problem-solving interactions across all measurement methods (observed codes, self-reported affect, and electrodermal reactivity). These effects were independent of child-related challenges. The effect of parent broader autism phenotype occurred through both actor and partner pathways and was strongest for father broader autism phenotype.
Slurry Transport during Chemical Mechanical Polishing

An optical technique for flow diagnostics is developed to study the slurry transport on the surface of a pad and in an inter-pad-wafer region during chemical mechanical polishing. In this paper, we show that the variations in mean gray scale and nonuniformity with the wafer and pad rotation speeds agree in trend with the existing data of removal rate and nonuniformity for a 150 mm wafer. The simulation results of wafer-scale-averaged slurry shearing stress and nonuniformity also agree in trend with the data of mean gray scale and nonuniformity for a 200 mm wafer. The present flow diagnostics technique can be further used for the optimization of slurry injection rate and injection position to simultaneously obtain a high removal rate as well as a low nonuniformity. In this paper, we also show the optimum slurry injection rate.
Selecting and implementing phase approximations for semi-Markov models

Markov chains are commonly used for reliability, availability, and performability modeling. A central assumption in Markov reliability analysis is that failure and repair-time distributions are exponential. Unfortunately, in many real-life applications, assuming exponential distributions can be a significant oversimplification. Semi-Markov chains provide a simple mathematical structure for including general distributions in the Markov model framework. Three methods for analyzing semi-Markov chains are numerical solution, discrete-event simulation, and phase approximation. In this paper, we discuss a complete approach to phase approximation, including choice of phase approximation class, numerical fitting of appropriate parameters, and implementation of the approximation approach in a modeling toolkit. We describe a new hybrid approach for parameter fitting that combines moment-matching with least-squares fitting
Social and Community Benefits and Limitations of Urban Agriculture

This publication provides an overview of the benefits of urban food production, along with potential challenges that can limit the success of these operations. Written by Alicia Papanek, Catherine G. Campbell, and Hannah Wooten, and published by the UF/IFAS Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, January 2023.
Diagnostic Accuracy of Magnetic Resonance Cholangiopancreatography in Comparison With Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography for Detection of the Etiology of Obstructive Jaundice

Background: Despite technological advances, obstructive jaundice has significant morbidity and mortality rates. When studying obstructive jaundice, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), the "gold standard" for biliary obstruction identification, might be replaced with magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP), which is a non-invasive procedure. Objective: Diagnostic accuracy of MRCP in comparison with ERCP for the detection of the etiology of obstructive jaundice. Methodology: This prospective, observational study included 102 patients who presented with obstructive jaundice as proven by liver function tests. The MRCP was conducted within 24 to 72 hours before the ERCP. A torso phased-array coil (Siemens, Germany) was used for the MRCP. The duodeno-videoscope and general electric fluoroscopy were used to perform the ERCP. The MRCP was evaluated by a classified radiologist who was blinded to the clinical details. An experienced consultant gastroenterologist who was blinded to the results of the MRCP assessed the cholangiogram of each patient. The hepato-pancreaticobiliary system results from both procedures were compared based on the pathology observed, such as choledocholithiasis, pancreaticobiliary strictures, and dilatation of biliary strictures. We determined the sensitivity, specificity, and negative and positive predictive values with 95% confidence intervals. The statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Results: The most commonly reported pathology was choledocholithiasis, and MRCP diagnosed 55 patients, of which 53 were true positive cases when compared with the ERCP results of the same patients. MRCP demonstrated greater sensitivity and specificity (respectively) for screening choledocholithiasis (96.2, 91.8), cholelithiasis (100, 75.8), pancreatic duct stricture (100, 100), and hepatic duct mass (100, 100) and showed statistically significant values. The sensitivity of MRCP is lower for identifying benign and malignant strictures, but its specificity was observed to be reliable. Conclusion: When it comes to determining the severity of obstructive jaundice, both in its early and later stages, the MRCP technique is widely regarded as a reliable means of diagnostic imaging. The diagnostic function of ERCP has been significantly reduced as a result of the precision of MRCP as well as its non-invasive nature. In addition to being a helpful non-invasive method to identify biliary diseases and avoid unnecessary ERCPs and their risks, MRCP offers good diagnostic accuracy for obstructive jaundice.
Neuroprotection during Neospora caninum Infection is Related to the Release of Neurotrophic Factors BDNF and NGF

ABSTRACT Neospora caninum is a parasite that infects many animal species and has tropism for various tissues, particularly the nervous system, where it generally remains in cysts. Under N. caninum infection, glial cells activate immune responses by a Th2 profile, suggesting an immunologically privileged environment that controls parasite proliferation, with neuronal preservation. In this study, we investigated the role of soluble neurotrophic factors released by glial cells on neuronal integrity during N. caninum infection in vitro. Primary cultures of rat glial cells enriched in astrocytes were infected with N. caninum tachyzoites (1: 1) for 24 hr. Neuron-glia co-cultures were cultured for 24 hr with conditioned medium from glial cells infected with N. caninum (CMNc) and from uninfected cultures (control). Cell viability was determined through a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) test; astrocyte morphology and reactivity were determined through immunocytochemistry for glial fibrillar acid protein (GFAP) and the integrity of neurons through immunocytochemistry for β-tubulin III. Expression of inflammatory cytokines and neurotrophic factors was determined through RT-qPCR. The MTT test demonstrated that 1: 1 was the best parasite/host cell ratio, considering that it was enough to increase metabolism of glial cells when compared with control cultures and was not cytotoxic after 48 hr infection. N. caninum–infected glial cultures responded with astrogliosis characterized by an increase in GFAP expression and increase in IL-10 (2-fold), BDNF (1.6-fold), and NGF (1.7-fold) gene expression. In the neuron/ glia co-cultures, it was observed that treatment with CMNc induced neuritis outgrowth without toxicity. Together, these results show that modulatory mechanisms by neurotrophic factors derived from glial cells, primarily astrocytes during the N. caninum infection, can favor neuroprotection.
Incremental Detection Rate of Dysplasia and Sessile Serrated Polyps/Adenomas Using Narrow-Band Imaging and Dye Spray Chromoendoscopy in Addition to High-Definition Endoscopy in Patients with Long-Standing Extensive Ulcerative Colitis: Segmental Tandem Endoscopic Study

High-definition (HD) endoscopy is recommended in surveillance colonoscopy for detecting dysplasia in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Dye-spray chromoendoscopy (DCE) and narrow-band imaging (NBI) are often used as adjunctive techniques of white-light endoscopy (WLE) in real-world practice. However, the incremental detection ability of DCE and NBI added to HD-WLE for dysplasia and serrated lesions has not yet been evaluated using tandem endoscopy in patients with long-standing extensive UC. We enrolled patients with extensive UC for >8 years who were in clinical remission (partial Mayo score < 2) at the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, Republic of Korea. HD-WLE was performed first. Subsequently, HD-NBI and HD-DCE with indigo carmine were performed using the segmental tandem colonoscopy technique. A total of 40 patients were eligible, and data obtained from 33 patients were analyzed. The incremental detection rates (IDRs) for dysplasia and serrated lesions were calculated. HD-WLE detected three dysplasia and five sessile serrated adenomas/polyps (SSAs/Ps). HD-NBI and HD-DCE did not detect additional dysplasia (IDR = 0%; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0–56.2%). HD-NBI identified one missed SSA/P (IDR = 7.7%; 95% CI: 1.4–33.3%), and HD-DCE detected seven missed SSAs/Ps (IDR = 53.9%; 95% CI: 29.1–76.8%). Logistic regression found that HD-DCE increased the detection of SSAs/Ps compared to HD-WLE and/or HD-NBI (odds ratio (OR) = 3.16, 95% CI: 0.83–11.92, p = 0.08). DCE in addition to HD-WLE improved the detection of SSAs/Ps, but not dysplasia, in patients with long-standing extensive UC.
Protection of H2S against Hypoxia/Reoxygenation Injury in Rat Hippocampal Neurons through Inhibiting Phosphorylation of ROCK2 at Thr436 and Ser575

Background: H2S (hydrogen sulfide) protects cerebral vasodilatation and endothelial cells against oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation injury via the inhibition of the RhoA-ROCK pathway and ROCK2 expression. However, the inhibitory mechanism of H2S on ROCK2 expression is still unclear. The study aimed to investigate the target and mechanism of H2S in inhibition of ROCK2. Methods: His-ROCK2wild protein was constructed, expressed, and was used for phosphorylation assay in vitro. Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) was used to determine the potential phosphorylation sites of ROCK2. Recombinant ROCK2wild-pEGFP-N1, ROCK2T436A-pEGFP-N1, and ROCK2S575F-pEGFP-N1 plasmids were constructed and transfected into rat hippocampal neurons (RHNs). ROCK2 expression, cell viability, the release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), nerve-specific enolase (NSE), and Ca2+ were detected to evaluate the neuroprotective mechanism of H2S. Results: Phosphorylation at Thr436 and Ser575 of ROCK2 was observed by mass spectrometry when Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) and protein kinase A (PKA) were added in vitro, and NaHS significantly inhibited phosphorylation at Thr436 and Ser575. Additionally, NaHS significantly inhibited the expression of ROCK2 and recombinant proteins GFP-ROCK2, GFP-ROCK2T436A, and GFP-ROCK2S575F in transfected RHNs. Compared with empty plasmid, GFP-ROCK2T436A, and GFP-ROCK2S575F groups, NaHS significantly inhibited the release of LDH, NSE, and Ca2+ and promoted ROCK2 activity in the GFP-ROCK2wild group. Thr436 and Ser575 may be dominant sites that mediate NaHS inhibition of ROCK2 protein activity in RHNs. Compared with the empty plasmid, GFP-ROCK2T436A, and the GFP-ROCK2S575F group, NaHS had more significant inhibitory effects on hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) injury-induced cell viability reduction and increased LDH and NSE release in the GFP-ROCK2wild group. Conclusion: Exogenous H2S protected the RHNs against H/R injury via Thr436 and Ser575 of ROCK2. These findings suggested that Thr436 and Ser575 may be the dominant sites that mediated the effect of NaHS on protecting RHNs against H/R injury.
Visual comfort to colored images evaluated by saturation distribution

Visual comfort, which is defined here as the subjective impression of comfort caused by visual stimuli, to a colored image presented on a CRT display was investigated in terms of the distribution of CIE 1976 u,v saturation, suv, over the image. Variable saturation experiments, where the observer was asked to adjust saturation of the whole image to the most comfortable point, showed that saturation is a critical factor in the observer's estimation of comfort. Colorimetric analysis of the saturation distribution of the image showed that the mean value of suv over the image has a negative correlation to visual comfort, meaning that the lower the mean saturation, the more comfort is felt when viewing the image. The ratio of the higher to lower saturation components of the image, which means how much saturated color is relatively contained in the image, was also shown to be a critical factor affecting visual comfort. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Col Res Appl, 24, 313–321, 1999
Simulation of the atmospheric response to soil moisture anomalies over Europe

Positive and negative anomalies in the initial soil moisture over central Europe were introduced in turn into integrations of a global model of the July atmosphere. The results show that by modifying the partitioning of the turbulent fluxes such anomalies can have major effects on the modelled rainfall, humidity and temperature during the following 50 days over the anomaly area and that the anomalies can propagate into adjacent land areas. Similar results were obtained with a lower-resolution version of the model. The effects on rainfall were already important on day 3 of the integration over the anomaly area and on day 6 over parts of Scandinavia outside the anomaly area. The experiment was repeated with a version of the model in which the prevailing flow over Europe was less weak with increased moist westerly flow from the Atlantic. In this case the dry anomaly persisted for only about 20 days before it became too weak to affect the evaporation significantly.