bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A THREE-PARAMETER WEIGHTED LINDLEY DISTRIBUTION AND ITS APPLICATIONS TO MODEL
SURVIVAL TIME
Authors: Shanker Rama , Shukla Kamlesh Kumar , Mishra Amarendra
Published: September 2023

In this paper a three-parameter weighted Lindley distribution, including Lindley
distribution introduced by Lindley (1958), a two-parameter gamma distribution, a
two-parameter weighted Lindley distribution introduced by Ghitany et al. (2011) and
exponential distribution as special cases, has been suggested for modelling lifetime
data from engineering and biomedical sciences. The structural properties of the
distribution including moments, coefficient of variation, skewness, kurtosis and index
of dispersion have been derived and discussed. The reliability properties, including
hazard rate function and mean residual life function, have been discussed. The
estimation of its parameters has been discussed using the maximum likelihood method and
the applications of the distribution have been explained through some survival time data
of a group of patients suffering from head and neck cancer, and the fit has been
compared with a one-parameter Lindley distribution and a two-parameter weighted Lindley
distribution.
On asymmetry of prediction errors in small area estimation
Authors: Żądło Tomasz
Published: September 2023

The mean squared error reflects only the average prediction accuracy while the distribution of squared prediction error is positively skewed. Hence, assessing or comparing accuracy based on the MSE (which is the mean of squared errors) is insufficient and even inadequate because we should be interested not only in the average but in the whole distribution of prediction errors. This is the reason why we propose to use different than MSE measures of prediction accuracy in small area estimation. In the prediction accuracy comparisons we take into account our proposal for the empirical best predictor, which is a generalization of the predictor presented by Molina and Rao (2010). The generalization results from the assumption of a longitudinal model and possible changes of the population and subpopulations in time.
Option for predicting the Czech Republic's foreign trade time series as components in gross domestic product
Authors: Marek Luboš , Hronová Stanislava , Hindls Richard
Published: September 2023

This paper analyses the time series observed for the foreign trade of the Czech Republic (CR) and predictions in such series with the aid of the SARIMA and transfer-function models. Our goal is to find models suitable for describing the time series of the exports and imports of goods and services from/to the CR and to subsequently use these models for predictions in quarterly estimates of the gross domestic product (GDP) component resources and utilization. As a result we get suitable models with a time lag, and predictions in the time series of the CR exports and imports several months ahead.
Remarks on the estimation of position parameters
Authors: Domański Czesław
Published: September 2023

The article contains some theoretical remarks about selected models of position parameters estimation as well as numerical examples of the problem. We ask a question concerning the existence of possible measures of the quality of interval estimation and we mention some popular measures applied to the task. Point estimation is insufficient in practical problems and it is rather interval estimation that is in wide use. Too wide interval suggests that the information available is not sufficient to make a decision and that we should look for more information, perhaps by increasing the sample size.
Covid-19 pandemic, Financial leverage and Firm growth: The case of listed firms in Vietnam
Authors:   University of Economics and Law, Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City, Lê Hoàng Vinh , Trần Thị Ngọc Hiếu , Phạm Hoàng Kim Ngân , Lê Minh Trường
Published: September 2023

The Covid-19 pandemic creates difficulties for companies’ operating and investing activities, especially capital difficulties. Accordingly, our research objective is to analyze the moderating role of the Covid-19 pandemic on the impact of financial leverage on firm growth. We used the quantitative research method with a sample of 471 listed companies in Vietnam in the period 2015-2021, and the PCSE model is the last choice. It showed that firm growth is positively influenced by financial leverage and negatively by the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, the impact of financial leverage on company growth has become even stronger in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. This estimation result not only contributes to confirming the necessity of using financial leverage, but also encourages the important supporting role of commercial banks to maintain and increase growth opportunities for companies during difficult times due to the impact of the epidemic
The impact of transaction account’s zero fee policy on the performance of commercial banks in Vietnam
Authors:   Banking Academy of Vietnam, Phạm Thu Thủy , Nguyễn Hồng Vân
Published: September 2023

Recently, the serve competition in digital banking services lead to a trend in waving fees on transaction account in order to attract new customers. The zero fee policies can reduce the banks’ fee income. However, the banks may benefit by attracting new customers, increasing cross-selling and reducing cost of fund… To this point, there’s no research findings on the impact of zero fee policy to the overall banks’ performance. The study estimates the impacts of free payment accounts to banks’ ROA and ROE, using regression models and balanced panel data from 18 largest Vietnamese commercial banks during the period of 2011-2021. The results show that the free policy of checking accounts have positive impacts on the bank’s financial results. The survey results have found considerable effects of free payment account in increasing brand reputation competitiveness, expanding customers. The study suggests effective fee policies for payment accounts of commercial banks
Extracting and Processing eBird Data
Authors: Strimas-Mackey Matthew
Published: September 2023

eBird is an online tool for recording birdobservations. The eBird database currently contains over 500 millionrecords of bird sightings, spanning every country and nearly every birdspecies, making it an extremely valuable resource for bird research andconservation. These data can be used to map the distribution andabundance of species, and assess how species’ ranges are changing overtime. This dataset is available for download as a text file;
The av Package: Production Quality Video in R
Authors: Ooms Jeroen
Published: September 2023

At rOpenSci we are developing on a suite of packages that expose powerful graphics and imaging libraries in R. Our latest addition is av – a new package for working with audio/video based on the FFmpeg AV libraries.
rcites - The story behind the package
Authors: Bartomeus Ignasi , Cazelles Kevin , Geschke Jonas
Published: September 2023

The Ecology Hackathon Almost one year ago now, ecologists filled a room for the “Ecology Hackathon: Developing R Packages for Accessing, Synthesizing and Analyzing Ecological Data” that was co-organised by rOpenSci Fellow, Nick Golding and Methods in Ecology and Evolution. This hackathon was part of the “Ecology Across Borders” Joint Annual Meeting 2017 of BES, GfÖ, NecoV, and EEF in Ghent.
pubchunks: extract parts of scholarly XML articles
Authors: Chamberlain Scott
Published: September 2023

pubchunks is a package grown out of the fulltext package. fulltextprovides a single interface to many sources of full text scholarly articles. Aspart of the user flow in fulltext there is an extraction step where fulltext::chunks()pulls parts of articles out of XML format article files.
Interacting with The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program data
Authors: Watson OJ
Published: September 2023

There seem to be a lot of ways to write about your R package, and rather than haveto decide on what to focus on I thought I’d write a little bit about everything.To begin with I thought it best to describe what problem rdhs tries to solve,why it was developed and how I came to be involved in this project.
Community Call - Writing Packages to Support Research Communities - zoon & greta
Authors: Butland Stefanie
Published: September 2023

Join our Community Call on Tuesday, January 30th

(January 31 for our Australian friends) Nick Golding, 2017 rOpenSci Fellow, will talk about two R packages he has developed recently. zoon aims to promote open and reproducible research in ecological modeling by helping researchers share their code in a modular way and produce reproducible research artifacts.
A Major Upgrade of the V8 package
Authors: Ooms Jeroen
Published: September 2023

This week version 2.0 of the V8 package has been released to CRAN. Go get it now!install.packages("V8") The V8 package provides an embedded JavaScript engine that can be used inside of R. You can use it interactively as a JavaScript console, but it is mostly useful for wrapping JavaScript libraries in R packages. Some cool examples include jsonld, jsonvalidate, and daff.
Forcing Yourself to Make Your Life Easier
Authors: Nolan Rory
Published: September 2023

The general struggle Something that will make life easier in the long-run can be the most difficult thing to do

today

. For coders, prioritising the long term may involve an overhaul of current practice and the learning of a new skill.
Exploring ways to address gaps in maternal-child health research
Authors: Gerber Monica , Thompson Jennifer , Draper Jenny , Hamilton Kyle , Gray Charles T.
Published: September 2023

It’s easy to come to a conference and feel intimidated by the wealth of knowledge and expertise of other attendees. As Ellen Ullman, a software engineer and writer describes, One of the best ways to start feeling less intimidated is to start talking to others. Ullman continues, At rOpenSci unconf18, we learned that it’s ok to feel like you don’t know everything – indeed, that’s how just about everyone feels!
Community Call - Security for R
Authors: Butland Stefanie , Czeller Ildi , Rudis Bob
Published: September 2023

“Security” can be a daunting, scary, and (frankly) quite often a very boring topic. BUT!, we promise that this Community Call on May 7th will be informative, engaging, and enlightening (or, at least not boring)! Applying security best practices is essential not only for developers or sensitive data storage but also for the everyday R user installing R packages, contributing to open source, working with APIs or remote servers.
.rprofile: Julia Silge
Authors: O'Briant Kelly
Published: September 2023

KO: What is your name, job title, and how long have you been using R? JS: My name is Julia Silge and I’m a data scientist at Stack Overflow. I have been working in R for less than three years. KO: Wow! What were you all about before that?
Exploring European attitudes and behaviours using the European Social Survey
Authors: Cimentada Jorge
Published: September 2023

Introduction I never thought that I’d be programming software in my career. I startedusing R a little over 2 years now and it’s been one of the most importantdecisions in my career. Secluded in a small academic office with no oneto discuss/interact about my new hobby, I started searching the web fortutorials and packages. After getting to know how amazing and nurturingthe R community is, it made me want to become a data scientist.
wateRinfo - Downloading tidal data to understand the behaviour of a migrating eel
Authors: Hoey Stijn Van , Desmet Peter
Published: September 2023

European eels (

Anguilla anguilla

) have it tough. Not only are they depicted as monsters in movies, they are critically endangered in real life. One of the many aspects that is contributing to their decline is the reduced connectivity between their freshwater and marine habitats.
Building Reproducible Data Packages with DataPackageR
Authors: Finak Greg
Published: September 2023

Sharing data sets for collaboration or publication has always been challenging, but it’s become increasingly problematic as complex and high dimensional data sets have become ubiquitous in the life sciences. Studies are large and time consuming; data collection takes time, data analysis is a moving target, as is the software used to carry it out.
Community Call - Working with images in R
Authors: Butland Stefanie
Published: September 2023

rOpenSci’s software engineer / postdoc Jeroen Ooms will explain what images are, under the hood, and showcase several rOpenSci packages that form a modern toolkit for working with images in R, including opencv, av, tesseract, magick and pdftools. 🕘 Thursday, November 15, 2018, 10-11AM PST; 7-8PM CET (find your timezone) ☎️ Find all details for joining the call on our Community Calls page.Everyone is welcome.
rOpenSci Announces $678K Award from the Sloan Foundation to Expand Software Peer Review
Authors: Ram Karthik , Ross Noam
Published: September 2023

We’re delighted to announce that we have received new funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The $678K grant, awarded through the Foundation’s Data & Computational Research program, will be used to expand our efforts in software peer review.
.rprofile: Noam Ross
Authors: O'Briant Kelly
Published: September 2023

KO: What is your name, job title, and how long have you been using R? NR: I’m Noam Ross, I’m a Senior Research Scientist at EcoHealth Alliance, a non-profit that works at the intersection of conservation and health. I’ve done work in R for about 8 years, which is essentially from the start of graduate school (five years) and three years of work. KO: Did you love it [R] immediately? NR: No! And I’m mixed on whether I love it now.
POWER to the People
Authors: Sparks Adam
Published: September 2023

NASA generates and provides heaps of data to the scientific community. Not allof it is looking out at the stars. Some of it is looking back at us here onEarth. NASA’s Earth science program observes, understands and models theEarth system

1

. We can use these data to discover how our Earth is changing,to better predict change, and to understand the consequences for life on Earth.
treeio: Phylogenetic data integration
Authors: Yu Guangchuang
Published: September 2023

Phylogenetic trees are commonly used to present evolutionary relationships of species. Newick is the

de facto

format in phylogenetic for representing tree(s). Nexus format incorporates Newick tree text with related information organized into separated units known as blocks. For the R community, we have ape and phylobase packages to import trees from Newick and Nexus formats.
rodev: helpers for rOpenSci package authors
Authors: Salmon Maëlle
Published: September 2023

We strive for high quality in our suite of packages, in practice via a system of software peer review, and via packaging guidelines that keep growing. There is therefore a risk of increasing the workload of package authors, who already have a lot on their plate. To avoid that, when explaining how to do things in our dev guide, we recommend existing automated tools to authors.
A package for dimensionality reduction of large data
Authors: Hughes Sean , Li Angela , Kim Ju , Smith Malisa , Laderas Ted
Published: September 2023

Motivation A few weeks ago, as part of the rOpenSci Unconference, a group of us (Sean Hughes, Malisa Smith, Angela Li, Ju Kim, and Ted Laderas) decided to work on making the UMAP algorithm accessible within R. UMAP (Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection) is a dimensionality reduction technique that allows the user to reduce high dimensional data (multiple columns) into a smaller number of columns for visualization purposes (github,
Community Call Summary - Code Review in the Lab
Authors: Ye Hao , Frazier Melanie , Lowndes Julia Stewart , Boettiger Carl , Ross Noam
Published: September 2023

Although there are increasing incentives and pressures for researchers to share code (even for projects that are not essentially computational), practices vary widely and standards are mostly non-existent. The practice of

reviewing

code then falls to researchers and research groups before publication.
Co-localization analysis of fluorescence microscopy images
Authors: Ahmed Mahmoud
Published: September 2023

A few months ago, I wasn’t sure what to expect when looking at fluorescence microscopy images in published papers. I looked at the accompanying graph to understand the data or the point the authors were trying to make. Often, the graph represents one or more measures of the so-called co-localization, but I couldn’t figure out how to interpret them. It turned out; reading the images is simple.
The social weather of rOpenSci onboarding system
Authors: Salmon Maëlle
Published: September 2023

Our onboarding processensures that packages contributed by the community undergo atransparent, constructive, non adversarial and open review process.Before even submitting my first R package to rOpenSci onboarding systemin December 2015, I spent a fair amount of time reading through previousissue threads in order to assess whether onboarding was a friendly placefor me: a newbie, very motivated to learn more but a newbie nonetheless.I soon got
Unconf18 projects 4: umapr, greta, roomba, proxy-bias-vignette, http caching
Authors: Chamberlain Scott
Published: September 2023

For the fourth and last day of project recaps from this year’s unconf, here is an overview of the next five projects. (Full set of project recaps: recap 1, recap 2, recap 3, recap 4.) In the spirit of exploration and experimentation at rOpenSci unconferences, these projects are not necessarily finished products or in scope for rOpenSci packages.
Tesseract 4 is here! State of the art OCR in R!
Authors: Ooms Jeroen
Published: September 2023

Last week Google and friends released the new major version of their OCR system: Tesseract 4. This release builds upon 2+ years of hard work and has completely overhauled the internal OCR engine. From the tesseract wiki: We have now also updated the R package tesseract to ship with the new Tesseract 4 on MacOS and Windows. It uses the new engine by default, and the results are extremely impressive!
drake's improved high-performance computing power
Authors: Landau Will
Published: September 2023

The drake R package is not only a reproducible research solution, but also a serious high-performance computing engine. The package website introduces drake, and this technical note draws from the guides on high-performance computing and timing in the drake manual.You can help! Some of these features are brand new, and others are newly refactored.
In praise of Commonmark: wrangle (R)Markdown files without regex
Authors: Salmon Maëlle
Published: September 2023

You might have read my blog post analyzing the social weather ofrOpenScionboarding,based on a text analysis of GitHub issues. I extracted text out ofMarkdown-formatted threads with regular expressions. I basicallyhammered away at the issues using tools I was familiar with until itworked! Now I know there’s a much better and cleaner way, that I’llpresent in this note. Read on if you want to extract insights abouttext, code, links, etc.
A package for tidying nested lists
Authors: Dobbyn Amanda , Hester Jim , DeCicco Laura , Stawitz Christine , Velasquez Isabella
Published: September 2023

Data == knowledge! Much of the data we use, whether it be fromgovernment repositories, social media, GitHub, or e-commerce sites comesfrom public-facing APIs. The quantity of data available is trulystaggering, but munging JSON output into a format that is easilyanalyzable in R is an equally staggering undertaking.
Exploratory Data Analysis of Ancient Texts with rperseus
Authors: Ranzolin David
Published: September 2023

Introduction When I was in grad school at Emory, I had a favorite desk in the library. The desk wasn’t particularly cozy or private, but what it lacked in comfort it made up for in real estate. My books and I needed room to operate. Students of the ancient world require many tools, and when jumping between commentaries, lexicons, and interlinears, additional clutter is additional “friction”, i.e., lapses in thought due to frustration.
phylogram: dendrograms for evolutionary analysis
Authors: Wilkinson Shaun
Published: September 2023

Evolutionary biologists are increasingly using R for building,editing and visualizing phylogenetic trees.The reproducible code-based workflow and comprehensive array of toolsavailable in packages such as ape,phangorn andphytools make R an ideal platform forphylogenetic analysis.Yet the many different tree formats are not well integrated,as pointed out in a recentpost.
Nomisr - Access Nomis UK Labour Market Data
Authors: Odell Evan
Published: September 2023

I’m excited to announce a new package for accessing official statistics from the UK. nomisr is the R client for the Nomis database. Nomis is run by Durham University on behalf of the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS), and contains over a thousand datasets, primarily on the UK labour market, census data, benefit spending and general economic activity.
nodbi: the NoSQL Database Connector
Authors: Chamberlain Scott
Published: September 2023

DBI What is DBI? DBI is an R package. It defines an interface to relational database management systems (R/DBMS) that other R packages build upon to interact with a specific relational database, such as SQLite or PostgreSQL.NoSQL NoSQL databases are a very broad class of database that can include document databases such as CouchDB and MongoDB, key-value stores such as Redis, and more.
Continuing to Grow Community Together at ozunconf, 2018
Authors: Tierney Nicholas
Published: September 2023

In late November 2018, we ran the third annual rOpenSci ozunconf. This is the sibling rOpenSci unconference, held in Australia. We ran the first ozunconf in Brisbane in 2016, and the second in Melbourne in 2017.

Photos taken by Ajay from Fotoholics

As usual, before the unconf, we started discussion on GitHub issue threads,and the excitement was building with the number of issues.
rgbif: seven years of GBIF in R
Authors: Chamberlain Scott
Published: September 2023

rgbif was seven years old yesterday!What is rgbif? rgbif gives you access to data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) via their API.
rOpenSci Educators Collaborative: What Are The Challenges When Teaching Science With R?
Authors: Ación Laura , Averick Mara , Fournier Auriel , Hill Alison , Kross Sean , Mullen Lincoln
Published: September 2023

Educators who teach science using R tend to face common pedagogical problems, regardless of their scientific domain. Yet instructors who teach with R often feel isolated at their institutions. They may be the only ones in their departments to teach using R. Even if there are others, the culture of collaboration around teaching is generally impoverished, unlike the rich culture of collaboration around research.
Community Call Follow-up - Governance of Open Source Research Software Organizations
Authors: Sholler Dan
Published: September 2023

We tend to know a good open source research software project when we see it: The code is well-documented, users contribute back to the project, the software is licensed and citable, and the community interacts and co-produces in a healthy, productive fashion.
Phát triển nhà ở xã hội và kiến nghị hoàn thiện pháp luật
Authors: Đặng Thanh Mai
Published: September 2023

Nhà ở xã hội là mô hình nhà ở hiện đang nhận được nhiều sự quan tâm của Nhà nước cũngnhư người dân. Thời gian qua, Quốc hội, Chính phủ đã ban hành nhiều cơ chế, chính sáchphát triển tích cực để có thể hoàn thiện mô hình này và giúp cho người dân ngày càng dễdàng tiếp cận với quyền nhà ở. Tuy nhiên, trong thực tế, chính sách nhà ở xã hội cũng đã bắt đầu bộc lộ nhiều bất cập. Bài viết chỉ ra những bất cập và đưa ra một số kiến nghị để góp phần hoàn thiện pháp luật về nhà ở xã hội.
In Silico Design of a Peptidomimetic Carrier for Levodopa
Authors:   Department of Chemistry, University Institute of Engineering and Technology, CSJM University, Kanpur, India, Yadav A. , Banerjee A. ,   Department of Chemistry, University Institute of Engineering and Technology, CSJM University, Kanpur, India
Published: September 2023

Ab initio molecular orbital calculations at the Hartree Fock level utilizing 6-31G basis set have been performed on small cyclic peptides and peptidomimetic compounds to explore their utility as carriers of levodopa (L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) to enhance its brain bioavailability. A cyclic peptidomimetic compound with hydrophobic CH2NH backbone is suggested as possible carrier. This carrier is predicted to efficiently carry Levodopa held by non covalent interactions encompassed in its cyclic backbone without chances of expulsion before delivery inside brain. Carrier is expected to undergo passive diffusion alongwith the drug held inside. Once inside the brain, drug may be delivered enzymatically or non enzymatically.
Aerobic Fitness and Cognitive Functions in Economically Underprivileged Children Aged 7-9 Years: A preliminary Study from South India
Authors:   St. Johns Research Institute, Bangalore-560034, India, Srinivasan Krishnamachari , Avadhani Sandhya ,   St. Johns Medical College and Hospital, Bangalore-560034, India, Subramanya Chaya Mayasandra ,   Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana, Bangalore-560019, India, Jacob Arpitha , D'Souza Crystal D. , Sumithra S. ,   St. Johns Research Institute, Bangalore-560034, India
Published: September 2023

This study examined the relationship between aerobic fitness and cognitive functions in 7-9 year old school going children hailing from a socio-economically disadvantaged background in Bangalore, India. Ninety eight children (51% boys and 49% girls) were assessed on height, weight, BMI, aerobic fitness (multistage 20 m shuttle test) and cognitive functions (verbal tests: comprehension, arithmetic, vocabulary, analogies; performance tests: block design, object assembly and coding). Number of shuttles was significantly positively correlated with two of the cognitive tests: comprehension (p=0.01) and block design (p=0.005). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the number of shuttles emerged as an independent predictor of tests of comprehension and block design after adjusting for BMI and gender. The above findings provide preliminary evidence for the association between aerobic fitness and cognitive functions in children from poor socio-economic background.
Spectrophotometric Methods for the Determination of Sitagliptin and Vildagliptin in Bulk and Dosage Forms
Authors:   Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Kasr El-Aini St., Cairo, Egypt, Ayoub Bassam M. , Elkady Ehab F. , El-Bagary Ramzia I.
Published: September 2023

Simple, accurate and precise spectrophotometric methods have been developed for the determination of sitagliptin and vildagliptin in bulk and dosage forms. The proposed methods are based on the charge transfer complexes of sitagliptin phosphate and vildagliptin with 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ), 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) and tetrachloro-1,4-benzoquinone (p-chloranil). All the variables were studied to optimize the reactions conditions. For sitagliptin, Beer's law was obeyed in the concentration ranges of 50-300 μg/ml, 20-120 μg/ml and 100-900 μg/ml with DDQ, TCNQ and p-chloranil, respectively. For vildagliptin, Beer's law was obeyed in the concentration ranges of 50-300 μg/ml, 10-85 μg/ml and 50-350 μg/ml with DDQ, TCNQ and p-chloranil, respectively. The developed methods were validated and proved to be specific and accurate for the quality control of the cited drugs in pharmaceutical dosage forms.
Penetrated Arrow Shot Injury in Anterior Neck
Authors:   Unit of Ear, Nose and Throat, Federal Medical Centre, Azare, Bauchi State, Nigeria, Aremu Shuaib K. , Dike Banjamin
Published: September 2023

Background: Although gunshot injuries are the most common penetrating anterior neck injuries in the developed world, this finding is not the case in the developing world, where knives, spears, arrows, and machetes are the preferred weapons, particularly in tribal societies. Aim: To present the case report of a patient with arrow shot injury to the anterior neck. Method: A 48 year old cattle rearer in a village in northern part of Nigeria presented with 3 hr history of an arrow shot in anterior part of the neck which he sustained the while trying to prevent some armed robbers from stealing his cow. There was scanty bleeding from the site with the arrow in-situ sealing the wound. Result: The entrance point of the arrow, about 1 cm in diameter, was just at the anterior border of the right sternocleidomastoid muscle; about 4 cm above the medial end of the right clavicle. There was a small skin bruise with slight swelling and tenderness around the opening but no active bleeding and no crepitus. Conclusion: Penetrating neck trauma from arrow shot may lead to potentially life-threatening injuries. A prompt diagnosis, a systematic treatment protocol, and an experienced trauma team are necessary to prevent a potential catastroph.
Huntington’s Disease: From Mutant Huntingtin Protein to Neurotrophic Factor Therapy
Authors:   Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toledo, Toledo, Spain, Sari Youssef
Published: September 2023

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited disorder characterized by neuronal dysfunction and degeneration in striatum and cerebral cortex. Although the signaling pathways involved in HD are not yet clearly elucidated, mutant huntingtin protein is a key factor in the induction of neurodegeneration. The mutant huntingtin protein alters intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis, disrupts intracellular trafficking and impairs gene transcription. In this review, I emphasize the effects of mutant huntingtin protein in Ca2+ handling and transcriptional factors. Transcriptional alterations are key factors in the deficits of several proteins involved in the cellular machinery. These proteins include neurotrophic factors such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, fibroblast growth factor, glial-cell-line-derived neurotrophic factor, ciliary neurotrophic factor and neurturin that have been suggested to restore neuronal dysfunction, improve behavioral deficits and prolong the survival in animal models of HD. An understanding of the molecular pathways involved in neurodegeneration will shed light on the choice of neurotrophic factors targeting a specific neuronal population in HD and will consequently overcome behavioral deficits.
Luteolin Regulation of Estrogen Signaling and Cell Cycle Pathway Genes in MCF-7 Human Breast Cancer Cells
Authors:   Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas, USA, Markaverich Barry M. , Shoulars Kevin ,   Duke University, Pediatric-Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Box 3350 Med Center, Durham, NC, USA, Rodriguez Mary Ann ,   Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas, USA
Published: September 2023

cRNA microarray and real-time PCR (qPCR) studies identified a number of Estrogen Signaling Pathway (ESP) genes (GTF2H2, NCOR1, TAF9, NRAS, NRIP1, POLR2A, DDX5, NCOA3) and Cell Cycle Pathway genes (CCNA2, PCNA, CDKN1A, CCND1, PLK1) in MCF-7 breast cancer cells that are regulated by the bioflavonoid luteolin. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) studies revealed that luteolin modified histone H4 acetylation at the PLK-1 promoter suggesting that this bioflavonoid controls gene transcription via an epigenetic mechanism involving histone H4 acetylation. These findings are consistent with the anti-estrogenic and anti-proliferative properties of luteolin in normal and malignant cells.
Lipid Profile in Relation to Anthropometric Measurements among College Male students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors:   Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Riyadh College of Health Sciences, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, Al-Ajlan Abdul Rahman
Published: September 2023

Background: Anthropometric measurements can easily reflect any changes in the lipid concentration in the human body. Objectives: The present work is aimed at studying lipid profile and its relation to anthropometric measurements in college males from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Subjects and methods: This study was conducted from September 2006 to December 2008. 333 students aged 18-35 years of Riyadh College of Health Science - male section - participated in the study. Anthropometric measurements including weight, height, waist and hip circumferences were measured. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated. Fasting blood sugar and lipid profile including total cholesterol (TC), Low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) and triglycerides (TG) were estimated. Socio-demographic data were collected from a questionnaire. Results: Mean TC level was 4.227 ± 0.869 mmol/l, while for LDL, HDL and TG were 2.57 ± 0.724, 1.360 ± 0.545 and 1.385 ± 0.731 mmol/l, respectively. Mean TC level did not differ significantly across weight groups except among obese patients. Mean HDL, LDL and TG did not differ significantly among different groups at 5% level of significance. There was positive, statistically non-significant correlation between age and BMI. The correlation between age and all lipid parameters were statistically non-significant. There was positive correlation between BMI and TC and LDL, while there was a negative correlation between BMI and HDL. There was no correlation between BMI and triglycerides. Conclusion: BMI, waist and hip circumferences all increase with age. The level of TC, LDL and TG go high with increase in age and BMI.
In-Hospital Death Caused by Pancreatic Cancer in Spain: Application with a Bayesian Network
Authors:   Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University Rey Juan Carlos, Spain, Alvaro-Meca A. , Gil-Prieto R. , de Miguel A. Gil
Published: September 2023

Pancreatic cancer is one of the least common tumors (2.1%), but it remains one of the most lethal. This lethality is primarily due to late stage diagnosis in the vast majority of patients. Here we demonstrate, using a Bayesian network, that we can determine a posteriori, with a high probability of success, the probability of in-hospital death of pancreatic cancer in hospitals across Spain with information related to the type of admission, the type of procedure, the primary diagnosis or the Charlson co-morbidity index. The advantages of using a Bayesian network are that it allows us to examine multiple hypotheses and to measure the effect of the introduction of variables on our hypotheses. Being able to determine deceases in the probability of survival based on hospital admission data, such as the diagnosis resulting in the present admission or the presence of co-morbidities, could facilitate the detection of deficiencies in the patient treatment and improve hospital management. Moreover, the control of related co-morbidities may have an impact on the in-hospital deaths of these patients.
Simultaneous Determination of Norfloxacin and Tinidazole Binary Mixture by Difference Spectroscopy
Authors:   Medicinal Chemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt, El-Sherbiny Dina T. , Abou-Taleb Noura H. , El-Wasseef Dalia R. , Abu El-Enin Mohamed A. , El-Ashry Saadia M.
Published: September 2023

A simple and rapid difference spectroscopic method was developed for the simultaneous determination of binary mixture of norfloxacin (NF) and tinidazole (TZ) without prior separation. The proposed method depends upon measuring the absorbance of NF at 291.6 nm which is the zero crossing point on the difference spectra of TZ in 0.1 N NaOH vs. 0.1 N HCl. Similarly, the absorbance of TZ was measured at 344.4 nm which is the zero crossing point on the difference spectra of NF. Beer's law was obeyed in the concentration range of 2-20 and 5-50 µg/mL for NF and TZ, respectively. The lower limits of detection (LOD) of NF and TZ are 0.23 and 0.36 µg/mL, respectively, while the lower limits of quantification (LOQ) of NF and TZ were 0.70 and 1.08 µg/mL, respectively. The precision of the method was satisfactory; the maximum value of relative standard deviations did not exceed 1.5% (n=10). The accuracy, expressed as recovery is between 98.25 and 101.8% with relative error of 0.29 and 0.23 for NF and TZ, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of both drugs in bulk powder, laboratory prepared mixture and commercial dosage forms such as tablets without interference from the commonly encountered excipients and additives. The results obtained are in good agreement with those obtained by the reference methods.
Genetic Variation and its Role in Malignancy
Authors:   School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, Australia, Talseth-Palmer Bente A. , Scott Rodney J. ,   Hunter Area Pathology Service, Hunter New England Area Health, Newcastle, Australia
Published: September 2023

Genetic variation has long been thought associated with common complex disease and has therefore been widely studied. Genetic variation in the human genome is present in many forms and have been summarised in this review. The potential role of DNA damage, DNA repair and environmental influence on genetic variation in the development of cancer will be discussed, before significant genome projects are reviewed.All the various forms of genetic variation have been associated with malignancies and have been extensively studied and this is a review of the state of the field. We also discuss the road ahead in fulfilling the ultimate goal in all cancer genetic studies, which is decreasing deaths caused by cancer.
Maternal Gestational Dietary Fat has Minimal Effects on Serum Lipid Profiles and Hepatic Glucose Transporter 2 and No Effect on Glucokinase Expression in Neonatal Wistar Rat Offspring
Authors:   Diabetes Discovery Platform, South African Medical Research Council, Tygerberg, Cape Town, South Africa, Cerf Marlon E. , Williams Keith , Muller Christo J. , Louw Johan
Published: September 2023

The study investigated the effects of maternal diets, varying in fat content, on lipid profiles and the expression of hepatic glucose transporter 2 (GLUT2) and glucokinase (GK) in neonatal Wistar rat offspring. Dams were maintained on diets of 10% (control), 20% (20F), 30% (30F) and 40% (40F) fat as energy throughout gestation; daily food intakes and weekly body weights were measured. Circulating fasting glucose, insulin and glucagon concentrations were determined in dams and their neonatal offspring. In neonates, total serum triglyceride, total and individual serum fatty acid concentrations, hepatic GLUT2 and GK mRNA and protein expression were determined. In dams, overall food intake of 20F (645.50 ± 25.26 g) and 40F (716.30 ± 14.15 g) dams was reduced compared to control (1007.00 ± 44.83 g) and 30F (924.50 ± 21.16 g) dams. The 20F neonates displayed elevated blood glucose concentrations (4.63 ± 0.153 mmol/l) compared to control neonates (4.14 ± 0.112 mmol/l). In 30F neonates, serum palmitoleic acid was reduced (1.63 ± 0.21% vs. 3.56 ± 0.38%) whereas stearic acid was elevated (10.05 ± 0.40% vs. 7.40 ± 0.72%) compared to control neonates. Further, the palmitoleic acid/palmitic acid ratio was reduced in 30F neonates (0.085 ± 0.009% vs. 0.165 ± 0.020% in control neonates). The 40F neonates displayed elevated GLUT2 immunoreactivity (22.86 ± 0.760%) compared to 20F (11.46 ± 2.701%) and 30F (6.45 ± 1.759%) neonates. Gestational programming with different dietary fat proportions minimally affects lipid profiles and hepatic GLUT2 immunoreactivity in neonatal offspring.
A Join Point Survival Model for Brain Tumor Patients
Authors:   Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of South Florida, USA, Vovoras Dimitris , Vrionis Frank D. ,   Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of South Florida, USA, Tsokos Chris P. , Prokhel Keshav ,   Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of South Florida, USA
Published: September 2023

To investigate the relationship between medical improvements and the survival experienced by the patient population, it would be useful to find out when and how much the cancer treatment breakthroughs and early diagnosis have significantly improved the prognosis of brain cancer patients. A join point model facilitates the identification of trends with significant change-points in survival; the main goal of such a model would be to find out when cancer survival starts exhibiting a pattern of improvement. The model will be applied to grouped relative survival data for major cancer sites from the 'Surveillance, epidemiology and end results' program of the National Cancer Institute.
Artificial Neural Network Modeling of Quality of Life of Cancer Patients: Relationships between Quality of Life Assessments, as Evaluated by Patients, Pharmacists, and Nurses
Authors:   Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Josai International University, Gumyo 1, Togane, Chiba, Japan, Yamamura Shigeo , Takehira Rieko ,   Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Josai International University, Gumyo 1, Togane, Chiba, Japan, Murakami Keiko , Katayama Sirou ,   Department of Pharmacy, Nippon Medical University Hospital, Sendagi 1-1-5, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan, Nishizawa Kenji ,   Department of Pharmacy, Omori Medical Center, Toho University, 6-11-1 Omori-Nishi, Ota-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Published: September 2023

Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference between the professional perspectives of pharmacists and nurses in Japan with regard to evaluation of the quality of life (QOL) of cancer patients. Methods: A group of cancer hospital inpatients (n=15) were asked to rate the condition of their health and their QOL by filling in a questionnaire. On the same day, a group of pharmacists (n=8) and nurses (n=18) also evaluated patient QOL. Three-layered artificial neural network (ANN) architecture was used to model the relationship between the different QOL evaluations made by patients, pharmacists, and nurses. Results: Although there was no statistical difference between the QOL scores obtained from pharmacists and nurses, the correlation between these scores was weak (0.1188). These results suggest that pharmacists and nurses evaluate the QOL of their patients from different perspectives, based on their respective profession. QOL parameters were modeled with an ANN using the scores, given by patients in answer to questions regarding health-related QOL as input variables. Both the predictive performance of the ANN and the robustness of the optimized model were acceptable. The response surfaces calculated by ANN modeling showed that pharmacists and nurses evaluate patient's QOL using different information and reasoning, which is likely related to the nature of their contact with the patients. Conclusion: Health professionals evaluate patient QOL from different perspectives, depending on their profession.
Spectrophotometric Determination of Captopril and Penicillamine through the Use of Ligand Exchange Complexation Reactions
Authors:   Department of Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Alexandria, Alexandria 21521, Egypt, Belal Saied , El-Walily Abdel-Fattah ,   Department of Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Alexandria, Alexandria 21521, Egypt, Abdel-Razak Omayma ,   Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Bakry Rania ,   Saied Belal, Department of Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Alexandria University, Elmessalah 21521, Alexandria, Egypt
Published: September 2023

Two spectrophotmetric methods based on combined redox - ligand exchange reactions were developed for the determination of captopril and penicillamine in pure form and in their dosage forms. The first method is based on attenuating the absorbance of a ternary complex: silver (I) - bromopyrogallol red - phenanthroline in a buffer solution of pH6-8. The method has the concentration ranges 2-10 µg mL-1 and 0.5-1.75 µg mL-1 for captopril and penicillamine respectively, and the detection limits 7.1 × 10-2 and 5.7 × 10-2 µg mL-1 for captopril and penicillamine respectively. The second method is based on decreasing the absorbance of a chloroformic solution of copper (II) - oxine chelate when shaken with the drug solution in buffer medium of pH 8. The drugs were determined in the concentrations 30-90 µg mL-1 and 30-100 µg mL-1 for captopril and penicillamine respectively, and the detection limits 0.94 and 1.76 µg mL-1 for captopril and penicillamine respectively. The proposed methods were applied in the analysis of both compounds in their pharmaceutical preparations, and results were favorably compared with reference spectrophotometric methods regarding accuracy and precision.
Mahayana Ritual Services Associates to Learning Interests of Buddhist Lay People in The Buddhist Monastery
Authors: Juli  , Ong Cin Siu  , Nurianai  , Sthefani  , Komang Sutawan
Published: September 2023

Mahayana ritual services express respect and implementation of Buddhist teachings as a form of belief in the Three Jewels. The main purpose of devotional service is to give strength to practitioners, encourage good deeds, and bring blessings, merits and happiness to oneself and others. On the other hand, interest in learning has a big influence on concentration and learning activities. A strong interest in the material being studied can increase the concentration of students. In addition, high interest also makes it easier to understand and store the information learned. In this context, this study examines the effect of Mahayana ritual services on interest in learning Buddhist Dharma at the Maha Cetiya Prajna Buddhist Center in Medan. The research method used is descriptive quantitative. The analysis results show that mahayana ritual services significantly positively influence the interest in learning Buddhist Dharma at the Maha Cetiya Prajna Buddhist Center. This influence occurs through devotional service, which involves reverence and prayer, reverence for the Buddha's name, determination to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings, introspection on one's actions, and sharing virtue with others. The statistical test results show that the coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.305 or 30.5%. This indicates that the variable Ritual Services of Mahayana explains about 30.5% of the variation in interest in learning Buddhist Dharma. Thus, it can be concluded that Mahayana ritual services significantly influence the interest in learning Buddhist Dharma at the Buddhist monastery.
Implementation of Learning Communication System: A Case Study on Buddhist Religious Teachers in State Elementary School
Authors: Edi Sumarwan  , Tejo Ismoyo  , Susanto  , Juni Suryanadi  , Janita Dewi
Published: September 2023

This study aims to analyze and describe the implementation of online learning of Buddhist religious education teachers at State Elementary School 01 Sripendowo. This research uses a case study method with a qualitative approach. Data were obtained using observation, interview, and documentation methods. Furthermore, the data obtained were analyzed using the Miles and Huberman model. The existence of learning problems during the co-19 pandemic made researchers interested in conducting research related to the online learning communication system. The results showed that teachers used communication elements following the model given by Laswel. In addition, the findings also explain that the teacher takes seven practical strategic steps in carrying out the online learning communication system. This study also found five common barriers experienced by teachers during the implementation of online learning.