bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Excitotoxicity as a Target Against Neurodegenerative Processes
Authors: Binvignat Octavio , Olloquequi Jordi
Published: January 2020

:

The global burden of neurodegenerative diseases is alarmingly increasing in parallel to the aging of population. Although the molecular mechanisms leading to neurodegeneration are not completely understood, excitotoxicity, defined as the injury and death of neurons due to excessive or prolonged exposure to excitatory amino acids, has been shown to play a pivotal role. The increased release and/or decreased uptake of glutamate results in dysregulation of neuronal calcium homeostasis, leading to oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunctions, disturbances in protein turn-over and neuroinflammation.

:

Despite the anti-excitotoxic drug memantine has shown modest beneficial effects in some patients with dementia, to date, there is no effective treatment capable of halting or curing neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease, Huntington’s disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This has led to a growing body of research focusing on understanding the mechanisms associated with the excitotoxic insult and on uncovering potential therapeutic strategies targeting these mechanisms.

:

In the present review, we examine the molecular mechanisms related to excitotoxic cell death. Moreover, we provide a comprehensive and updated state of the art of preclinical and clinical investigations targeting excitotoxic- related mechanisms in order to provide an effective treatment against neurodegeneration.
Bioactivity of the Geranium Genus: A Comprehensive Review
Authors: Graça Vânia C. , Ferreira Isabel C.F.R. , Santos Paulo F.
Published: January 2020

Background:

Plants from the Geranium genus, which comprises about 400 species, have been used since ancient times in the practice of traditional medicines throughout the world. Therefore, herbal preparations based on Geranium species have found wide usage for the treatment of a variety of ailments. The aim of this work is to present a review, as comprehensive as possible, of the studies concerning different biological activities of Geranium species.

Methods:

Relevant data were obtained through systematic computer searches from major reputed scientific databases, particularly Web of Science and Scopus. Occasionally, information issued in primary sources not covered by these databases was also included provided published as peer-reviewed literature. This review covers the literature disclosed till the end of 2018.

Results:

ccompanying the increasing interest in herbal medicines in general, the evaluation of the biological properties of medicinal plants from the Geranium genus has been addressed thoroughly, mostly over the last two decades. Geranium species are endowed with a number of different biological activities. Herein, we present a survey of the results of the studies concerning these different biological activities.

Conclusion:

Most studies found in the literature effectively contribute to scientifically validate the beneficial properties of Geranium plants claimed by traditional medicines and medical herbalism and demonstrate that many of them possess evident therapeutic properties.
Nightmares and the Cannabinoids
Authors: Mamelak Mortimer
Published: January 2020

:

The cannabinoids, Δ9 tetrahydrocannabinol and its analogue, nabilone, have been found to reliably attenuate the intensity and frequency of post-traumatic nightmares. This essay examines how a traumatic event is captured in the mind, after just a single exposure, and repeatedly replicated during the nights that follow. The adaptive neurophysiological, endocrine and inflammatory changes that are triggered by the trauma and that alter personality and behavior are surveyed. These adaptive changes, once established, can be difficult to reverse. But cannabinoids, uniquely, have been shown to interfere with all of these post-traumatic somatic adaptations. While cannabinoids can suppress nightmares and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, they are not a cure. There may be no cure. The cannabinoids may best be employed, alone, but more likely in conjunction with other agents, in the immediate aftermath of a trauma to mitigate or even abort the metabolic changes which are set in motion by the trauma and which may permanently alter the reactivity of the nervous system. Steps in this direction have already been taken.
Chitinases: Therapeutic Scaffolds for Allergy and Inflammation
Authors: Madan Kirtika , Madan Mansi , Sharma Swapnil , Paliwal Sarvesh
Published: January 2020

Background:

Chitinases are the evolutionary conserved glycosidic enzymes that are characterized
by their ability to cleave the naturally abundant polysaccharide chitin. The potential role of
chitinases has been identified in the manifestation of various allergies and inflammatory diseases. In
recent years, chitinases inhibitors are emerging as an alluring area of interest for the researchers and
scientists and there is a dire need for the development of potential and safe chitinase antagonists for the
prophylaxis and treatment of several diseases.

Objective:

The present review expedites the role of chitinases and their inhibitors in inflammation and
related disorders.

Methods:

At first, an exhaustive survey of literature and various patents available related to chitinases
were carried out. Useful information on chitinases and their inhibitor was gathered from the authentic
scientific databases namely SCOPUS, EMBASE, PUBMED, GOOGLE SCHOLAR, MEDLINE, EMBASE,
EBSCO, WEB OF SCIENCE, etc. This information was further analyzed and compiled up to
prepare the framework of the review article. The search strategy was conducted by using queries with
key terms “ chitin”, “chitinase”, “chitotrisidase”, “acidic mammalian chitinase”, “chitinase inhibitors”,
“asthma” and “chitinases associated inflammatory disorders”, etc. The patents were searched using the
key terms “chitinases and uses thereof”, “chitinase inhibitors”, “chitin-chitinase associated pathological
disorders” etc. from www.google.com/patents, www.freepatentsonline.com, and www.scopus.com.

Results:

The present review provides a vision for apprehending human chitinases and their participation
in several diseases. The patents available also signify the extended role and effectiveness of chitinase
inhibitors in the prevention and treatment of various diseases viz. asthma, acute and chronic inflammatory
diseases, autoimmune diseases, dental diseases, neurologic diseases, metabolic diseases, liver diseases,
polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis, and cancer. In this regard, extensive pre-clinical and
clinical investigations are required to develop some novel, potent and selective drug molecules for the
treatment of various inflammatory diseases, allergies and cancers in the foreseeable future.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, chitinases can be used as potential biomarkers in prognosis and diagnosis of
several inflammatory diseases and allergies and the design of novel chitinase inhibitors may act as key
and rational scaffolds in designing some novel therapeutic agents in the treatment of variety of inflammatory
diseases.
A Development Machine for Measuring the Precision and the Response Time of Punches
Authors: Jaysrichai Tossaphon , Srikongphan Kachonsak , Jurarakpong Pornchalit
Published: January 2020

Objective:

To develop and evaluate the device for measuring precision (in percentage) and response time (in seconds) of punches.

Methods:

Researchers cooperated with Sports Authority of Thailand and the Amateur Boxing Association of Thailand in development.

Results:

Robo-Boxing Trainer machine consisted of four targets. Each punching target has eight sensors and eight LED lights. Operating software, which programmed by PLC-CX programmer and DOPSoft (delta), can set the punching series and alarm signals. It recorded the response time from the starting signal to making contact with the target, calculating precision in percentage. This software could be set and recorded maximal 40 series and maximal 100 punches in each punching series. Researchers compared the accuracy of counting time with Digital Oscilloscope and tested the efficiency of sensors’ cutting signal. This study found the counting time to be of high accuracy (100% and 98.8%). The cutting sensors' signal test found to be efficient.

Conclusion:

Robo-Boxing Trainer machine, which is high in accuracy, may help to test and improve a boxer’s skills. Also, it can apply to train for other related sports.
Agricultural Aid Allocations of Korea in Five sub-Saharan Countries: Aid Policy Implications for Agriculture-Rural Development
Authors: Lee Hyejin
Published: January 2020

Background:

The Official Development Assistance, or ODA has been an invaluable source to assist developing countries in their economic and social development. Of the major ODA donors, the Republic of Korea (Korea) became a significant player in ODA and a role model. Providing its ODA, Korea designates the priority partner countries to which 70% of Korean bilateral ODA is allocated and formulates a country partnership strategy for each priority partner country.

Objective:

This study focuses on five sub-Saharan countries that were designated as Korea’s priority partner countries during the period of 2011-2020 and takes a detailed look at Korea’s ODA to their Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) during the same period. With the five countries and ARD, this study intends to examine a hypothesis; the worse its food security and agricultural development was at a national level, the larger Korea’s ARD aid the country received.

Methods:

To test the hypothesis, data collected from World Bank, Global Hunger Index Reports and Korea ODA Statistics are sorted and analyzed. Then comparisons are made between Korea’s grant disbursements to ARD and the status of food security of the five African countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Uganda.

Results:

Results from the data indicate that there seems little consistency between the status of agriculture and food security of the five African countries and the allocated amounts of Korean ARD grants.

Conclusion:

Therefore, selection criteria for ARD grant allocation should exist and policy suggestions are made for Korea to formulate more consistent and systemic strategies for ARD support in sub-Saharan countries.
Effect of Commercial and Non-conventional Feeds, Leaves of Indigenous and Improved Multipurpose Tree Supplementation on Feed Intake, Digestibility and Growth Performance of Sheep
Authors: Abreha Hagos H. , Animut Getachew , Hailemichael Aklilu , Tedla Dawit G. , Baragabr Fsahatsion H.
Published: January 2020

Background:

Acute shortage of feed and very poor quality of the available feeds during the dry season are the prime limiting factors for increasing the production and productivity of small ruminants in most agroecological zones of Ethiopia. Thus, the study evaluated the effect of concentrate mixture of wheat bran and Sesame seed cake (T1), Atella (T2), Faidherbia albida (T3) and Sesbania sesban leaves (T4) on feed intake, digestibility, body weight change and economical profitability of local sheep.

Methods:

Twenty-four yearling intact local male sheep with mean Initial Body Weight (IBW) of 18 ±1.55 kg (mean ± SD) were used for the experiment. The study was conducted using randomized complete block design and sheep were blocked into six based on their IBW. Sheep within a block were randomly assigned to treatments. The experiment had 90 days feeding trial and 7 days digestibility trial after 15 and 3 days acclimatization period, respectively. The amount of supplements offered was 300 (T1), 330 (T2), 360 (T3) and 280 (T4) g/day on DM basis, each calculated to supply 73.6 g/day Crude Protein (CP).

Results:

Hay intake in T1, T2 and T4 (397˗400 ±1.44g/day) were significantly (P < 0.001) higher than T3 (375±1.44 g/day). Total DM intake was in the order of T2 = T3>T1> T4 (p<0.001) (698, 730, 735 and 677 g/day for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively. Digestibility of CP was in the order of T1 > T2>T4 > T3 (p<0.001), while the value in T2 differed only with T3 (75.6, 73.4, 60.2 and 67.9 for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively). Average Daily Gain (ADG) was 50, 45, 38 and 42 g/day for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively and differed only between T1 and T3. The partial budget analysis indicated that, sheep supplemented with Atella returned higher net income (5.46 US$) than T1 (1.93 US$), T3 (2.56 US$) and T4 (3.2 US$); similarly, MRR was also higher in T2 (93.7%) compared to T3 (56.1%) and T4 (50.4%).

Conclusion:

Sheep producers can use the supplement feeds in the order of T2, T4 and T3, respectively, based on their availability.
The Application Level of indicatars of Total Quality Management in Iraqi Universities According to the view point of faculty Members
Authors: Zaidan Rabi'a Mane' , Salim Maimuna Auni
Published: January 2020

The study aimes to identify the application degree of the Iraqi universities and appley Futuristic vision For Developing the University performance in the light of indicatars of the entire administrational quality from viewpoint of faculty members. The study sample towards the entire administrational quality in the iraq university which due to the variables in( gender, specialization , and university). The viewpoint . In addition, the study aims to put a proposal to imagine a futuristic vision for developing the university performance in order to achieve entire administrational quality to improve the performance of Iraqi universities. The two researchers use analytical method descriptive . It is prepared a questionire as a tool for study consisted of (46 ) items disributed on seven main areas : (administrational leadership, a university professor ,curricla and courses , a university student , human resource adminstrational and its training , and scientfic research and community service . the sample study contains (250) instructor members of Universities (Baghdad, Tikrit, and Kirkuk), The results has been showed that the dgree of the possibilty of application of the indicators of the entir administrational quality are moderately . There are differences of statistic indications in the application of quality indicators attributed to the two variables (gender,and specialization ). There are areas for developing the university performance of the faculty members and it should includeall the aspectsthat serve and facilitate the learner task on the light of the diffferent methods and techniques used . The fields of developing the university performance should include the follow axes: planning , teaching and evaluation , the use of different media and techniquse and scientific reserch. Recmmendations are presented on the light of the research results .
المحددات التي تواجه نظام الرقابة الداخلية في بيئة المصارف التجارية
Authors: UHD Journals , Faqe Mahmood Dana Akram , Ahmad Shilan Arf
Published: January 2020

This study was conducted to examine the work of internal control systems in banking institutions. It focused on studying the determinants facing the internal censorship system in the commercial banking sector by identifying the deficiencies and shortcomings in the regulatory systems and their negative effects from financial and administrative failure, the overall weak performances and etc, and also by determining the main reasons and obstacles that prevents the application from development of the internal censorship systems in commercial banks.

A practical study had been made on a sample of the commercial banks operating in Sulaymaniyah governorate .In order to achive the goal, five commercial banks were used to collect the data from. The researchers used questionairre while collecting data in which they entered the information and data were processed automatically and through statistical models in order to test hypotheses and prove them.

The results of the statistical analysis showed that there is a strong correlation between the variables of the research hypothesis and the internal censorship's objectives and the constraints facing to their application in the commercial banking sector of a degree at (0.607).

The results showed that the increase of the determinants of the work of internal censrorship systems affected the achievement of the objectives that pursuied by the internal censorship in commercial banks in specifics. The researchers reccomended that there should be a commitments to the laws , accounting policies and procedures that applied to protect the assets especially by the commercial bank's management and to detect errors , fraud and manipulation to support the independency of the work of internal auditor and activate its role to achieve the objectives targeted by the internal censorship systems in commercial banks.
مسؤولية الخزينة العامة عن أعمال القضاة الجزائية
Authors: Rahim Bakhtyar Sdiq , Ali Sirwan Rauf
Published: January 2020

‫‪That‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪damage‬‬ ‫‪is‬‬ ‫‪a‬‬ ‫‪cornerstone‬‬ ‫‪of‬‬ ‫‪civil‬‬ ‫‪liability,‬‬ ‫‪thereby‬‬ ‫‪eliminating‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪responsibility‬‬‫‪Bantvaih,‬‬ ‫‪and‬‬ ‫‪erase‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪damage‬‬ ‫‪and‬‬ ‫‪help‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪injured‬‬ ‫‪become‬‬ ‫‪a‬‬ ‫‪Muslim‬‬ ‫‪by‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪principles‬‬ ‫‪of‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬‫‪constitution‬‬ ‫‪and‬‬ ‫‪a‬‬ ‫‪civilian,‬‬ ‫‪and‬‬ ‫‪that‬‬ ‫‪works‬‬ ‫‪facility‬‬ ‫‪judiciary,‬‬ ‫‪like‬‬ ‫‪other‬‬ ‫‪public‬‬ ‫‪utilities‬‬ ‫‪vulnerable‬‬‫‪because‬‬ ‫‪arise,‬‬ ‫‪including‬‬ ‫‪damage,‬‬ ‫‪prompting‬‬ ‫‪a‬‬ ‫‪lot‬‬ ‫‪of‬‬ ‫‪legislation‬‬ ‫‪to‬‬ ‫‪provide‬‬ ‫‪partial‬‬ ‫‪protection‬‬ ‫‪and‬‬‫‪incomplete‬‬ ‫‪for‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪victims‬‬ ‫‪of‬‬ ‫‪judicial‬‬ ‫‪work,‬‬ ‫‪and‬‬ ‫‪this‬‬ ‫‪protection‬‬ ‫‪is‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪possibility‬‬ ‫‪of‬‬ ‫‪strife‬‬ ‫‪affected‬‬‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪public‬‬ ‫‪treasury‬‬ ‫‪and‬‬ ‫‪its‬‬ ‫‪demand‬‬ ‫‪due‬‬ ‫‪to‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪damage‬‬ ‫‪that‬‬ ‫‪injury‬‬ ‫‪compensation‬‬ ‫‪.‬‬
ALBERT-QM: An ALBERT Based Method for Chinese Health Related Question Matching (Preprint)
Authors: Yang Feihong , Li Jiao
Published: January 2020

BACKGROUND

Question answering (QA) system is widely used in web-based health-care applications. Health consumers likely asked similar questions in various natural language expression due to the lack of medical knowledge. It’s challenging to match a new question to previous similar questions for answering. In health QA system development, question matching (QM) is a task to judge whether a pair of questions express the same meaning and is used to map the answer of matched question in the given question-answering database. BERT (i.e. Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) is proved to be state-of- the-art model in natural language processing (NLP) tasks, such as binary classification and sentence matching. As a light model of BERT, ALBERT is proposed to address the huge parameters and low training speed problems of BERT. Both of BERT and ALBERT can be used to address the QM problem.

OBJECTIVE

In this study, we aim to develop an ALBERT based method for Chinese health related question matching.

METHODS

Our proposed method, named as ALBERT-QM, consists of three components. (1)Data augmenting. Similar health question pairs were augmented for training preparation. (2)ALBERT model training. Given the augmented training pairs, three ALBERT models were trained and fine-tuned. (3)Similarity combining. Health question similarity score were calculated by combining ALBRT model outputs with text similarity.
To evaluate our ALBERT-QM performance on similar question identification, we used an open dataset with 20,000 labeled Chinese health question pairs.

RESULTS

Our ALBERT-QM is able to identify similar Chinese health questions, achieving the precision of 86.69%, recall of 86.70% and F1 of 86.69%. Comparing with baseline method (text similarity algorithm), ALBERT-QM enhanced the F1-score by 20.73%. Comparing with other BERT series models, our ALBERT-QM is much lighter with the files size of 64.8MB which is 1/6 times that other BERT models. We made our ALBERT-QM open accessible at https://github.com/trueto/albert_question_match.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, we developed an open source algorithm, ALBERT-QM, contributing to similar Chinese health questions identification in a health QA system. Our ALBERT-QM achieved better performance in question matching with lower memory usage, which is beneficial to the web-based or mobile-based QA applications.
Barriers and Facilitators to the Adoption of Mobile Health Among Health Care Professionals From the United Kingdom: Discrete Choice Experiment (Preprint)
Authors: Leigh Simon , Ashall-Payne Liz , Andrews Tim
Published: January 2020

BACKGROUND

Despite the increasing availability of mobile health services, clinical engagement remains minimal.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to identify and weight barriers to and drivers of health app use among health care professionals (HCPs) from the United Kingdom.

METHODS

A discrete choice experiment was conducted with 222 HCPs using a web-based survey between March 2019 and June 2019. Participants were recruited to take part via social media and asked to choose their preferred option of 2 hypothetical health apps to prescribe to a hypothetical patient or to prescribe neither. Choices were characterized by differing levels of patient age, cost, published evidence bases, whether they had a National Health Service (NHS) stamp of approval, personal familiarity with the technology, and whether they were recommended by a fellow HCP. The results were analyzed using a mixed logit model, with subgroup analyses to account for heterogeneity.

RESULTS

We received 230 responses, a total of 96.5% (n=222/230) of respondents understood the survey task and passed the test of rationality. The median age was between 36 and 45 years, and 62.6% (n=139/222) of the health care providers responding to the survey had previously recommended the use of health apps to patients. Health apps were most likely to be prescribed to patients if they had an NHS stamp of approval or if they were recommended by another HCP (both P<.001). Published studies detailing clinical effectiveness were important (P<.001), but it would take five published studies to have the same impact on prescribing behavior as an NHS stamp of approval and two studies to be as convincing as having used the technology personally. Increasing patient age and costs resulted in significant reductions in digital health prescribing (P<.001), none more so than among allied health professionals. Willingness-to-pay for health apps increased by £124.61 (US $151.14) if an NHS stamp of approval was present and by £29.20 (US $35.42) for each published study. Overall, 8.1% (n=18/222) of respondents were reluctant to use health apps, always choosing the I would prescribe neither option, particularly among older HCPs, nurses, and those who do not use health apps personally. Subgroup analyses revealed significant differences in preferences among HCPs of differing ages and clinical backgrounds.

CONCLUSIONS

An NHS stamp of approval, published studies, and recommendations from fellow HCPs are significant facilitators of digital prescribing, whereas increasing costs and patient age are significant barriers to engagement. These findings suggest that demonstrating assurances of health apps and supporting both the dissemination and peer-to-peer recommendation of evidence-based technologies are critical if the NHS is to achieve its long-term digital transformation ambitions.
Relationship between Sleep Duration and All-Cause Mortality in the Elderly: An Updated and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis. (Preprint)
Authors: He Mengyang , Deng Xiangling , Niu Wenquan , Zhu Yuqing , Huan Luyao
Published: January 2020

BACKGROUND

Short or long sleep duration is recognized as a potential risk factor for all-cause mortality in the elderly, yet the results are not often reproducible.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to investigate whether sleep duration was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality in the elderly through a comprehensive meta-analysis.

METHODS

Literature retrieval, research selection and data extraction were done independently and in duplicate. Effect-size estimates are expressed as odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI).

RESULTS

Summary data from 35 articles, involving 11746 elderly people, were meta-analyzed. Overall analyses revealed a significant association between long sleep duration and all-cause mortality in the elderly (OR=1.27, 95% CI: 1.19-1.35, P <.001), and short sleep duration was marginally related to the all-cause mortality in the elderly (OR=1.05; 95% CI: 1.00-1.09; P =.045). The Egger’s test indicated no publication bias between sleep duration and all-cause mortality in the elderly. In subgroup analyses, the association with all-cause mortality was reinforced in elderly women with long sleep duration (OR=1.48, 95% CI: 1.18-1.85, P =.002) relative to elderly men with long sleep duration (OR=1.3, 95% CI: 1.10-1.50, P =.001). Further dose-response analyses showed a J-shaped relationship between sleep duration and all-cause mortality in the elderly.

CONCLUSIONS

Our meta-analytical findings demonstrated a J-shaped relationship between sleep duration and all-cause mortality in the elderly. For long sleep duration, elderly women had a higher mortality rate than elderly men.
Efficacy of the Digital Therapeutic Mobile App BioBase to Reduce Stress and Improve Mental Well-Being Among University Students: Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)
Authors: Ponzo Sonia , Morelli Davide , Kawadler Jamie M , Hemmings Nicola Rose , Bird Geoffrey , Plans David
Published: January 2020

BACKGROUND

University students in the United Kingdom are experiencing increasing levels of anxiety. A program designed to increase awareness of one’s present levels of well-being and suggest personalized health behaviors may reduce anxiety and improve mental well-being in students. The efficacy of a digital version of such a program, providing biofeedback and therapeutic content based on personalized well-being metrics, is reported here.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to test the efficacy and sustained effects of using a mobile app (BioBase) and paired wearable device (BioBeam), compared with a waitlist control group, on anxiety and well-being in university students with elevated levels of anxiety and stress.

METHODS

The study employed a randomized, waitlist-controlled trial with assessments at baseline, 2 weeks, postintervention (4 weeks), and follow-up (6 weeks). Participants were eligible if they were current full-time undergraduate students and (1) at least 18 years of age, (2) scored >14 points on the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 items (DASS-21) stress subscale or >7 points on the DASS-21 anxiety subscale, (3) owned an iOS mobile phone, (4) did not have any previous psychiatric or neurological conditions, (6) were not pregnant at the time of testing, and (7) were able to read and understand English. Participants were encouraged to use BioBase daily and complete at least one course of therapeutic content. A P value ≤.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

We found that a 4-week intervention with the BioBase program significantly reduced anxiety and increased perceived well-being, with sustained effects at a 2-week follow-up. Furthermore, a significant reduction in depression levels was found following the 4-week usage of BioBase.

CONCLUSIONS

This study shows the efficacy of a biofeedback digital intervention in reducing self-reported anxiety and increasing perceived well-being in UK university students. Results suggest that digital mental health interventions could constitute a novel approach to treat stress and anxiety in students, which could be combined or integrated with existing therapeutic pathways.

CLINICALTRIAL

Open Science Framework (OSF.io) 2zd45; https://osf.io/2zd45/
Authenticating Factor Analysis of Attitude towards Mathematics Inventory (ATMI) in Thailand
Authors: Khun-inkeeree Hareesol , Omar Fauzee M. S.
Published: January 2020

The study examine the psychometric properties of Attitudes towards Mathematics Inventory (ATMI) in the Thai context. To achieve the objective set by the authors, 259 students from 10 different primary schools in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, Thailand were selected. Furthermore, a forty items ATMI questionnaire having four scales that is, 15 items measuring self-confidence, 10 items measuring value, 10 items measuring enjoyment, and 5 items measuring motivation from the study of Khine and Afari (2014) was adapted. The questionnaire adapted was translated to Thai language by expert English Thai lecturer. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett’s test of sphericity were carried out to ascertain the factorability of the correlation matrix. That ATMI can be a viable scale to measure students’ attitudes toward mathematics in Thai context.
A REVIEW ON LIQUID CRYSTALLINE NANOPARTICLES (CUBOSOMES): EMERGING NANOPARTICULATE DRUG CARRIER
Authors: NAVEENTAJ S. , MUZIB Y. INDIRA
Published: January 2020

Cubosomes are novel biocompatible drug delivery system and have honeycombed (cavernous) structures whose diameter size range from 10–500 nm. They appear like dots, which are likely to be spherical structures. Each dot corresponds to the presence of a pore containing aqueous cubic phase in the lipid water system. Cubosomes posse’s great significance in the field of cosmeceuticals and Pharmaceuticals due to its unique features and become an attractive choice of vehicle for in vivo drug delivery due to their low cost, safety, efficacy and versatility for controlled release application and functionalization. Cubosomes have a very simple method of preparation; biodegradability of selected lipids has the capability to encapsulate hydrophobic and hydrophilic substances. Cubosomes are considered to be versatile systems, and prepared cubosomes can be administrated by different ways such as oral, percutaneous and parenteral routes. On the whole, cubosomes offer high consequence in nano-based drug preparations for melanoma (skin cancer) treatment, targeted drug delivery systems and comprise a wide range of applications in many areas and are characterized by various parameters. Consequently, cubosomes are in progress forward of awareness in the Pharmaceutical division. This review article mainly focuses on the methods of preparation, advantages, and applications of cubosomes.
PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF AZADIRACHTA INDICA AND PLECTRANTHUS AMBOINICUS EXTRACT
Authors: S. GEJALAKSHMI , SENTHILRAJ R. , A. TANISHA B. , S. SRUTHI , M. THARUN KUMAR
Published: January 2020

Objective: In the present research, a clear systematic investigation of phytochemical screening and antibacterial activity of herbal plants such as Azadirachta indica and Plectranthus amboinicus has been carried out.

Methods: The aqueous and alcoholic extract was prepared in soxhlet apparatus and phytochemical analysis of extracts was performed and analysed. The in vitro antimicrobial activity was performed by cup plate method. These extracts were studied under agar diffusion method against three bacterial species such as Bacillussubtills, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli at 5µg, 50 µg and 250 µg concentration.

Results: The combine extract showed a predominant activity against these bacteria, which confirmed antimicrobial activity in AEAI and AEPA

Conclusion: The results obtained in this study clearly indicate that AEAI and AEPA has a significant potential to use as an antimicrobial agent
TITANIUM NANOPARTICLES CONJUGATED WITH STREPTOKINASE AS A MODIFIED THROMBOLYTIC AGENT
Authors: ABED HAYDER H. , ALWASITI ESTABRAQ AR. , TAWFEEQ AMIR T.
Published: January 2020

Objective: Blood clots are the main cause of death worldwide by stroke and myocardial infarction. Streptokinase a thrombolytic agent that is used in the treatment of circulatory disorders.

Methods: Titanium Nanoparticles was supplied from Changsha Santech Co. Its characterized were studied using (FT-IR, XRD, AFM, FE-SEM). Streptokinase at concentration 0.1 mg/ml was conjugated with Titanium nanoparticles using PH equal to 5.2 with continuous stirring. Formation of Streptokinase loading Titanium nanoparticles confirmed using FT-IR, Ninhydrine’s test and Bradford protein assay. Physicochemical Properties were studied in vitro. Thrombolytic activity in vitro was determined using d–dimer indicator and weight of blood clot after treatment as indicators of thrombolytic activity.

Results: Titanium nanoparticles show particle size at range 31 nm. The thrombolytic activity of streptokinase loading Titanium nanoparticles shows significant value in d-dimer and weight of blood clot compared with the control group and non-significant compared with an equivalent amount of streptokinase alone.

Conclusion: Titanium nanoparticles conjugated with streptokinase show high thrombolytic activity against blood clots in vitro.
LARVICIDAL ACTIVITY OF ESSENTIAL OIL OF GLIRICIDIA SEPIUM LEAF
Authors: A. UMADEVI , JALEEL ABDUL
Published: January 2020

Objective: This study focus at the larvicidal activity of essential oil of Gliricidia sepium leaf

Methods: Pharmacological evaluation of leaf was carried out for larvicidal activity. Household mosquitoes of fourth instar larvae were used for the study. The study was carried out for 5 different concentrations for aqueous extract.

Results: The aqueous extract shown dose-dependent activity with the maximum larvicidal potential was seen with leaf of essential oil (250 mg/ml).

Conclusion: The study is designed to evaluate the larvicidal activity of essential oil of leaf of G. sepium. The relationship between the chemical composition and biological activity of essential oil of G. sepium is confirmed by lethal effect.
INVESTIGATION OF THE NEUROPROTECTIVE EFFECT OF LINAGLIPTIN AND CELIPROLOL IN RESERPINE-INDUCED OROFACIAL DYSKINESIA AND ROTENONE-INDUCED NEURODEGENERATION IN RATS
Authors: NADE VANDANA S. , MARDHEKAR VISHAL Y. , BHOYE UNNATI R. , KAWALE LAXMAN A.
Published: January 2020

Objective: Linagliptin, an anti-diabetic agent, proven to play an important role in regulating neuronal plasticity and reduce apoptosis and neuroinflammation by activating downstream AMPK/Sirt 1 pathway, which protects mitochondrial function and suppresses intracellular ROS accumulation and shows antioxidant action. Celiprolol, a β-1selective adrenoceptor blocker used as an anti-hypertensive agent, possesses a direct scavenging activity on oxygen radicals with antioxidant properties. The current study was designed to investigate the combined neuroprotective effect of linagliptin and celiprolol.

Methods: Wistar rats of either sex were divided into different groups (n = 6). Eight groups each for Reserpine induced orofacial dyskinesia model and Rotenone induced neurodegeneration model to mimic Parkinson’s like conditions and treated or not with different doses of linagliptin and celiprolol. 24 h after the last dose, animals were subjected to behavioral, biochemical and histopathological evaluations. The data were analyzed by ANOVA and Bonferroni multiple comparison test.

Results: Reserpine treatment increased VCMs, tongue protrusion and decreased locomotor activity. Rotenone treatment decreases the motor activity and exploratory ability of the animals. Reserpine as well as rotenone treatments decrease catalase, GSH, SOD and increase the LPO levels as compared to sham group animals. Reserpine and rotenone also showed the presence of ghost cells and vacuolated cytoplasm. Linagliptin and celiprolol alone as well as in combination normalized the behavioral, biochemical and histopathological complications.

Conclusion: Linagliptin and Celiprolol showed neuroprotection by antioxidant activity as well as improved reserpine and rotenone-induced behavioral deficits. Both drugs have tenacious potential and can be used clinically with some further investigations.
POSSIBLE REASONS WHY ESP IS UNDER RECOGNIZED IN ACADEMIA
Authors: Stojković Nadežda
Published: January 2020

Hereby the claim is presented that among adult population of learners of English language in academia and life-long learning formats, the predominant approach in English Language Teaching (ELT) needs to be English for Specific Purposes (ESP), since General English has mostly been mastered by then, and because those learners then need linguistic training that would enable them to upgrade their professional efficacy and so remain competitive as demanded by contemporary professional/scientific global community. Nonetheless, such relevance of ESP for adult learners has not yet been recognized by main stakeholders in the field of ELT, namely academia and most famous ELT textbooks and reference books publishing houses, leaving ESP practitioners still on their own regarding professional development. This general overview is an attempt to rationalize the reasons for this paradoxical situation.
SYNERGY OF MULTILINGUALISM AND MULTICULTURALISM FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF INTERNATIONALIZATION OF HIGHER POFESSIONAL EDUCATION
Authors: Dobrova Tatyana , Rubtsova Svetlana , Kopylovskaya Maria , Changyuan Liu
Published: January 2020

Abstract. The article deals with the issue of internationalization of higher education, in particular, in the sphere of language pedagogy. The study is based on the materials of the research conducted within the framework of the academic mobility project exercised 2018-2019 in Saint Petersburg State University and in Harbin Institute of Technology (visited November, 2018). The process of internationalization is viewed through the prism of such intercultural communication concepts as multilingualism and multiculturalism and their influence on teaching and learning practices. In real life English as lingua franca is used by representatives of different linguistic and cultural identities to communicate with representatives of professional and academic communities for whom English is also a foreign language, thus teaching English as lingua franca requires professionals who are not native speakers possessing the experience of professional and intercultural communication in the English language rather than just native speakers’ language experience. The peculiarities of teaching in the above-mentioned universities were revealed with the help of questionnaires for both university teachers and students concerning learners’ practices in the digital environment. The authors set up the hypothesis that the results serve as an authentic manifestation of intercultural communication in students’ virtual activities in social networks and in browsing the Internet for relevant information both in Russia and China.Key words: internationalization of higher education, intercultural communication, multilingualism, multiculturalism, learners’ digital environment
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CDIO STANDARDS IN THE CONTEXT OF "TUNING" APPROACH WHEN TRAINING TEACHERS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Authors: Emelianova Nadezhda
Published: January 2020

This article presents the experience of the CDIO (Conceive — Design — Implement — Operate) educational standards implementation in the context of TUNING approach: on-going reform of the higher education; introduction of the new generation of Federal State Educational standards (FSES); development of new professional standards. It analyses the results of CDIO implementation monitoring in the system of higher education of foreign language teachers based on the experience gained during the TUNING Russia Project (2010-2019). This article provides an overview of the profiling of TUNING development methodology successfully adapted and applied for the training course for the teaching staff of the foreign languages faculties. Professional competence of a teacher can be shown in a teacher’s portfolio, that is a kind of reflection of his/her professional activity and competitiveness which leads to self-assessment and self-development.
Measuring multidimensional poverty using households surveys
Authors: Beccaria Luis , Fernandez Ana Laura
Published: January 2020

This article presents a discussion on one main aspect of the process ofdesigning a multidimensional poverty measure: the selection of the dimensionsfor which deprivation would be evaluated. A wider goal of this ongoing research is to propose a multidimensional poverty measure that could be applied to official data drawn from existing household surveys. Thus, it is important to emphasize the limitations faced as a result of resting only on data coming from statistical sources that have not been specifically designed for measuring multidimensional poverty. To discuss such issue, alternative estimations for Argentina employing two available household surveys have been carried out, using some methodological criteria that gives evidence on how appropriate the used variables are.
La condición periférica en el nuevo capitalismo
Authors: Sztulwark Sebastián
Published: January 2020

En la tradición del estructuralismo latinoamericano de posguerra, la economía mundial era el escenario de un antagonismo entre un polo central (industrializado) y otro periférico (proveedor de bienes primarios). En este trabajo se sostiene que para abordar la forma específica en que ese antagonismo se reproduce en las condiciones históricas del nuevo capitalismo es necesario considerar la emergencia de una lógica estructural con forma de cadena, que diferencia al interior de los distintos sectores productivos las actividades de  reación de las de reproducción de conocimiento. Esta lógica de cadena no impugna la idea de estructura, en tanto diferenciación sectorial de la producción propia del capitalismo de posguerra, pero se impone como norma dominante.
Fragmentación productiva e integración económica en América del Norte: fuerzas centrífugas y centrípetas
Authors: Rodil Marzábal Óscar , López Arévalo Jorge Alberto
Published: January 2020

La fragmentación productiva internacional y la integración económicason dos motores del cambio estructural que caracterizan a la economía mundial desdehace décadas. Sin embargo, el interés por analizar ambos procesos en conjunto se ha visto reforzado recientemente por el giro neoproteccionista de la política comercial y económica de Estados Unidos. Este trabajo aborda las relaciones comerciales y productivas de México, Estados Unidos y Canadá, mostrando cómo las cadenas globales de valor (CGV) en las que participan ocultan tendencias globales (fuerzas centrífugas) y contratendencias regionales (fuerzas centrípetas) que provocan cambios en la geografía y en la composición de los encadenamientos productivos, con un resultado reestructurador y en cierta medida desintegrador del bloque regional.
Exclusión social: explorando la dimensión educativa en Argentina
Authors: Ibáñez Martín María María , Formichella María Marta , Costabel Lucas Ezequiel
Published: January 2020

La exclusión social es un proceso complejo y multidimensional que indica la persistencia de privaciones en dimensiones relevantes de la vida, entre ellas, la educación. Bajo este contexto, el presente trabajo estudia los determinantes de la exclusión en la dimensión educativa, específicamente en su grado original (acceso) y busca evaluar si varían en relación con las condiciones socioeconómicas de la población objetivo. Para ello, se estiman modelos de regresión logística utilizando datos de la Encuesta Permanente de Hogares (EPH) de Argentina, así como información obtenida de un relevamiento propio llevado a cabo en abril de 2016 en tres barrios vulnerables de Bahía Blanca (Argentina).
Peringkasan Multi Dokumen Berita Dengan Pemilihan Kalimat Utama Berbasis Algoritma Cluster Importance Dengan Mempertimbangkan Posisi Kalimat
Authors: Anggraini Syadza , Hayatin Nur , Marthasari Gita Indah
Published: January 2020

AbstrakPeringkasan teks merupakan salah satu cara untuk mengurangi suatu dimensi dokumen yang besar untuk mendapatkan informasi penting dari dokumen tersebut. Berita adalah salah satu informasi yang biasanya dalam satu topik memiliki beberapa sub topik. Untuk dapat mengambil informasi penting dari satu topik secara cepat, peringkasan multi dokumen berita dapat menjadi solusi. Namun, peringkasan multi dokumen dapat menimbulkan redundansi. Oleh sebab itu, penelitian ini menerapkan algoritma cluster importance dengan mempertimbangkan posisi kalimat untuk mengatasi redundansi tersebut. Penelitian ini menggunakan 30 topik berita berbahasa Indonesia, dimana tiap topiknya terdiri dari 5 sub topik berita. Dari 30 topik berita yang diuji menggunakan Rouge-1, dimana terdapat 2 topik berita yang memiliki nilai Rouge-1 berbeda antara yang menggunakan algoritma cluster importance ditambah posisi kalimat dengan yang hanya menggunakan algoritma cluster. Namun dari 2 topik berita tersebut, nilai Rouge-1 yang menggunakan cluster importance ditambah posisi kalimat memiliki nilai yang lebih besar daripada yang hanya menggunakan cluster importance. Penggunaan posisi kalimat memiliki pengaruh terhadap urutan bobot kalimat pada setiap topiknya, namun hanya 2 topik berita yang berpengaruh terhadap hasil ringkasan. Abstract Text summarization is one of way to reduce large document dimension to get an important point of information. News is one of information which usually has some sub topics from one topic. In order to get the main information from one topic as fast as possible, multi document summarization is the solution. But sometimes it can create redundancy. So in this study, we applied cluster importance algorithm by considering sentence position to overcome the redundancy.This study used 30 topics of Indonesian news, where each topic consists 5 news sub topics. From 30 news topics where it has tested using Rouge-1, there are 2 news topics that have a Rouge-1 score differ between which used cluster importance algorithm by considering sentence position and which only used cluster importance. But, those 2 news topics which used cluster importance by considering sentence position have a greater score of Rouge-1 than which only used cluster importance. The use of sentence position had an effect on the order of sentence weights on each topic, but there was only 2 news topics that affect the outcome of the summary.