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Malaria remains a major threat to global health with [approximately equal to]247 million cases reported in 2021 (2). An invasive malaria vector, Anopheles stephensi mosquito, has emerged in Africa; the [...]

Background Dengue virus infection that most frequently occur in tropical and subtropical regions can cause many symptoms, one of which is a decrease in thrombocyte count. Recent studies showed that guava leaf extract can increase the thrombocyte count in rats. The present study aimed to determine the effect of guava leaf juice in increasing the number of megakaryocytes in the bone marrow of thrombocytopenic mice. Methods This study was of experimental design. The study subjects were 24 mice (Mus musculus). The mice were randomly divided into four groups that were subjected to intervention for 14 days. Group 1 was given guava leaf juice (56 mg/kg) and quinine (14 mg/kg), group 2 guava leaf juice (56 mg/kg) only, group 3 was given quinine (14 mg/kg) and group 4 distilled water. After 14 days, from the bone marrow of the femoral bones of each of the mice, hematoxylin eosin stained histologic preparations were made. Anova test was used to analyze the data. Results The mean megakaryocyte count per field of view in group 1 (2.83), group 2 (3.30), group 3 (2.24) and group 4 (2.93). Anova test results for all groups showed significant differences between groups (p

Bioplastic is a biodegradable material and environmentally friendly because it uses natural materials in the form of plant fibers. Plants with high fiber content can be converted to cellulose acetate as a raw material for bioplastics. Durian skin is a biomass waste that has the potential to be a raw material for bioplastics. Cellulose-based bioplastics are generally made by adding adhesives, plasticizers, and fillers. In this study, the manufacture of bioplastics used cellulose acetate from durian skin with variations of plasticizer concentration, plasticizer type, starch adhesive, and chitosan. Glycerol and sorbitol were used as plasticizers with variations in concentration of 20%, 30%, and 40%. The mass ratio of cellulose and starch used was 1.5: 1. Bioplastics was produced by adding chitosan, starch, and variations of plasticizers in each concentration which were achieved varying values in tensile strength, water absorption, density values, elongation values, young's modulus, degradability, and different bioplastic surface structures. The best bioplastic result is bioplastic with 20% sorbitol concentration for a density of 0.852 g/mL, water absorption of 45.99%, tensile strength of 613.12 Kpa, elongation of 2.35%, and young modulus of 26090.21 Kpa. In addition, the degradation time without landfill has met the Indonesian National Standard for 45 days.

We detected malaria vector Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes in the Al Hudaydah governorate in Yemen by using DNA sequencing. We report 2 cytochrome c oxidase subunit I haplotypes, 1 previously found in Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, and Yemen. These findings provide insight into invasive An. stephensi mosquitoes in Yemen and their connection to East Africa.

With the advancement of communication technology, many innovative applications have developed in agriculture as a result of the integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), leading to the modernization of agriculture. This study seeks to propose an effective and low-cost platform for comprehensive monitoring of environmental parameters using IoT and drones.The preparation of this paper was based on a platform that was tested in a realistic environment on a farm near the city of Al-Median in Tunisia, where the platform was built to suit the realistic environment of a farm in Baghdad, through the use of sensors above and below the ground, which meets the experimental work and standards for automated and real-time monitoring. For environmental standards, the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model was used, which is a model based on four basic elements: 1) expected performance, 2) expected effort, 3) social impact, and 4) facilitating conditions for obtaining results. The unique integration of IoT sensors with drones has shown impressive experimental results, indicating the possibility of performing both automatic and manual actions by humans. These smart moves contribute significantly to promoting precision agriculture, leading to a significant increase in agricultural production and conservation of natural resources.

Abstract Much has been said about the paradigms that generated and complexed the Victorian and post-Victorian tension, but surprisingly enough no sufficient attention was given to the role of the rediscovery of the Epic of Gilgamesh in this process. This paper first follows the actual origin, process, and importance of the rediscovery and reception of Gilgamesh since the second half of the nineteenth century. Second, the paper argues that Gilgamesh controversy has been central to the great multifaceted tension that defined the Victorian and post-Victorian periods. Finally, the paper attempts to answer the questions of why Gilgamesh has been deemed as a subject of great interest and importance for the modern literary and cultural scholars and general public and what aspects of themselves and their culture they recognized in the ancient Mesopotamian epic and its hero. Such discussions help increasing contemporary awareness of the more famous and more notable than all of cuneiform literatures, the Gilgamesh Epic, and lead therefore to raising awareness of the high richness of Ancient Near Eastern heritage and the crucial significance of preserving Sumer’s and Babylon’s legacy for future generations.

Around 68% patients undergoing radical prostatectomy face postoperative erectile dysfunction. This systematic review aims to investigate the studies pertaining to efficacy of stem cell therapy in alleviating erectile dysfunction (ED) of radical prostatectomy (RP) patients. Furthermore, it provides evidence-based potential benefits of stem cell therapy in addressing erectile dysfunction of those patients. A systematic literature search from PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct and clinicaltrial.gov databases was conducted for the clinical trials evaluating efficacy and safety of stem cell therapy in post-prostatectomy erectile dysfunction. The inclusion criteria pertained to the studies reporting pre- and post-outcome erectile function and safety results. Cochrane Robins I was employed for the quality and bias risk. Four studies were finally included. The studies were of high quality as revealed from the quality assessment results. They were the non-randomized human-based clinical trials. Patients follow-up ranged from 3 to 12 months. Intercourse satisfaction scores were improved after 6 and 12 months of stem cell therapy. No serious adversities were reported during and after the study period. It was thus a safe therapeutic option as per these results. This study evaluated the role of stem cell therapy in post-RP ED. The included studies depicted its efficacy and safety. The information on stem cell therapy for ED was limited, however it could provide foundation for future research. Large-scale human studies with robust research designs would bring more objectivity and conclusive evidence.

Abstract Introduction Bone diseases have a profound global impact, especially when the body’s innate regenerative capacity falls short in the face of extensive damage. Stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHEDs), discovered in 2003, offer a promising solution for tissue repair, as they self-renew naturally and are easily obtainable. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), including SHEDs, are believed to promote tissue regeneration by releasing growth factors, collectively known as the secretome. Aims This study explored the potential of combining SHED-derived secretome with Yemeni Sidr honey to improve osteoblast and fibroblast cell viability and migration. Materials and methods The experiment involved treating cell cultures of two types of rat cell lines - 7F2 osteoblast and BHK-21 fibroblast immortalized cells - with SHED-derived secretome and Yemeni Sidr honey. After the treatment, cell viability was measured using the MTT assay, which calculates OD at 590 nm. Additionally, the scratch assay was conducted to evaluate cell migration, and ImageJ software was used for data processing. Results The findings indicated that combining SHED-derived secretome and Yemeni Sidr honey enhanced osteoblast and fibroblast cell viability and migration. Furthermore, the study highlighted the difference in the stimulative potential of SHED-derived secretome, Yemeni Sidr honey, and their combination, on the viability and migration of the cultured cells. Conclusion The research concludes that combining SHED-derived secretome with Yemeni Sidr honey has the potential to promote cell viability and migration in in-vitro settings. The synergistic application of these substances has been found to be more effective -when combined in a dose-dependent manner- than their counterparts. Overall, the current study serves as a foundation for further investigations to establish if the explored substance has any useful clinical applications.

AbstractDemand for electric power, especially amidst limited fossil fuel-based generation capacity, has elevated renewable energy sources to a forefront solution for the growing energy needs. Solar energy, a key renewable source through photovoltaic (PV) panels, faces challenges such as intermittency and non-dispatchability. Thus, recent research has focused on developing programs to predict near-future solar energy generation, with machine learning being a pivotal approach. This article details the creation of an effective machine-learning pipeline for predicting future hourly power generation based on weather data (e.g. temperature, humidity, irradiance). The pipeline, aimed at a scheduling system in a farm equipped with a Solar Power System (SPS) in Al-Salt, Jordan, was optimized using Genetic Algorithm and Grid Search methods. The objective of this article is to create an optimal pipeline with minimal loss. The evaluation shows that ensemble regressors, especially Gradient Boosting Regressors, are effective. This is evidenced in the grid search pipeline, which outperformed the TPOT optimization pipeline-derived pipeline, the latter including stacked ensemble regressors and sequential preprocessors.

This paper examined the research landscape on the applications of machine learning in finance (MLF) research based on the published documents on the topic indexed in the Scopus database from 2007 to 2021. Consequently, the publication trends on the published documents data were examined to determine the most prolific authors, institutions, countries, and funding bodies on the topic. Next, bibliometric analysis (BA) was employed to analyse and map co-authorship networks, keywords occurrences, and citations. Lastly, a systematic literature review was carried out to examine the scientific and technological developments in the field. The results showed that the number of published documents on MLF research has soared tremendously from 5 to 398 between 2007 and 2021, which signifies an enormous increase (~7,900%) in the subject area. The high productivity is partly ascribed to the research activities of the most research-active academic stakeholders namely Chihfong Tsai (National Central University in Taiwan) and Stanford University (United States). However, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) is the most active funder in the United States and has the largest number of published documents. BA analysis revealed high collaboration rates, published documents, and citations among the stakeholders. Keywords occurrence analysis revealed that MLF research is a highly inter- and multidisciplinary area with numerous hotspots and themes ranging from systems, algorithms and techniques to the security and crime prevention in Finance using ML. Citation analysis, the most prominent (and by extension the most prestigious) source titles on MLF are IEEE Access, Expert Systems with Applications and ACM International Conference Proceedings Series (ACM-ICPS). The systematic literature review revealed the various areas and applications of MLF research, particularly in the areas of predictive/forecasting analytics, credit assessment and management, as well as supply chain, carbon trading, neural networks, and artificial intelligence, among others. It is expected that MLF research activities and their impact on the wider global society will continue to increase in the coming years

Introduction Sucrose is an evidence-based intervention used for short-term pain management and distress from minor procedures. Limited research exists on nurses’ knowledge and use of sucrose in Neonatal Intensive Care Units in Saudi Arabia. Objective To assess nurses’ knowledge and use of sucrose in Neonatal Intensive Care Units in Saudi Arabia. Methods A cross-sectional online survey was used to collect data from a convenience sample of 68 neonatal intensive care nurses in Saudi Arabia. A modified tool assessed the knowledge and use of sucrose. Logistic regression analysis was used to find the predictors for sucrose use. Results Most respondents never used sucrose for neonatal pain management and did not receive any training on sucrose. The mean knowledge of nurses regarding sucrose and its use was very low (38%): 16% had a high level of knowledge regarding sucrose, 13% moderate, 19% low, and 52% very low. Nurses who received training on sucrose use and nurses who read or heard about sucrose predicted the use of sucrose. Conclusion Nurses’ knowledge and use of sucrose were inadequate. Interventional programs are needed to enhance the nurses’ knowledge regarding sucrose and its use and to enhance the utilization of sucrose as a pain management intervention in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units in Saudi Arabia.

Rheumatic diseases are common progressive diseases that associated with chronic pain. Most patients seek to reduce the pain of these diseases by using dietary supplements (DS). Yet, most DS have limited benefits to reduce pain and/or disease progression. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the perceptions of community pharmacists about the efficacy, safety, and quality of the DS for treatment of rheumatic diseases (DSTRD) in the Iraqi pharmaceutical market. A qualitative study was conducted during February-2023 through face-to-face interview with community pharmacists with ≥6 months of working experience. The interviews were guided through semi-structured open-ended questions. The interviews were recorded using iPhone-11. A hybrid framework-model was used to analyze the data. Interviews were performed with 20 pharmacists. Only 30% of pharmacists considered DSTRD to be effective, whereas 75% of them perceived DSTRD to be safe. One-quarter of the participants considered the quality of DSTRD to be good. All interviewed pharmacists reported that prescribing DSTRD become a common practice. Eleven participants reported that deals with pharmaceutical companies are the main trigger for prescribing DSTRD. Three-quarter of participating pharmacists mentioned that they educate their patient about the dispensed DSTRD. However, only 10% of them educate patients about the possible side effects and interactions of DSTRD. In conclusion, most of the participating pharmacists have doubts about the efficacy, safety, and quality of DSTRD in the Iraqi market. The prescribing of such products by physicians is common and usually triggered by deals with pharmaceutical companies. Pharmacist-education to the patient on these supplements is poor.

Five samples of the ternary alloy Ge-S-Cd were created using the melting point method, and the effects of partially substituting cadmium for germanium were determined. and partial substitution of germanium by cadmium was used to study the change in electrical conductivity. Electrical experiments were performed on Ge35-xS65Cdxternary alloy with x = 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20. It was discovered that the conductivity (σdc) rises with rising temperature in all samples under experiment. This confirms that the samples have semiconductor behavior. It has been observed that there are three regions of electrical conductivity in the electrical conductivity curve at low, moderate, and high temperatures. The preexponential elements and effective energies of each of the three conduction regions were calculated for each of the Cadmium values. It was found that all of them were impacted by a rise in the value of cadmium in the ingot. A numerical analysis of the conductivity equation was also performed to calculate the energy of the expanding states' density in local states and at the Fermi level. It has been observed that all of the values of samples change with the rising value of cadmium concentration.

The abundance of agricultural waste of rice husk and sugarcane bagasse brings the environmental problem whereas this waste can be converted into alternative energy to solve energy depletion problem. This study aimed to determine the characteristics of the briquettes: moisture content, ash content, volatile matter content, fixed carbon, calorific value, and combustion test. The briquette (1,1.5,2) was produced with variation of adhesives type of tapioca flour (TF) and durian seed flour (DSF) with ratio of rice husk (RH) to sugarcane bagasse (SB) charcoal and conducted by carbonization method at 300 °C for 1 h. The briquettes with DSF adhesive gave the best result of briquettes with the lowest ash content value of 20.78 % and the lowest moisture content of 5.21 % was achieved in ratio RH:SB of 2. All samples met the Indonesia National Standard of moisture content (< 8 %) with the result in range 5.9 – 7.42 % and all samples with DSF adhesive met the ASTM D 1542-02.2003 the calorific value (> 15 MJ/kg) that the result in range 15.90 – 21.35 MJ/kg. The ignition time of all samples was in range 30 - 58 s, which was faster than ignition time of coal in range 286 s. Ash content, volatile matter and fixed carbon still did not meet the standard, but the addition of SB successfully decreased the ash content and increased the fixed carbon compare with the RH briquette. The ash content of RH:SB briquettes declined in the range of 20.78 – 37. 43 % from 34.86 – 48.37 % in RH briquettes and the fixed carbon of RH: SB briquettes improved in the range of 27.71 – 35.25 % from 25.35 - 25.94 %. The result indicated that the addition of SB on RH charcoal for briquette raw material could increase the calorific value and improve the briquette quality that fulfill the standards for commercial sales.

The coordination complexes [MoO2(SAP)]2 [Mo] and [VO(SAP)]2O [V] (SAP = salicylideneamino-phenolato) were tested as pre-catalysts for oxidation of a biomass-issued substrate, linalool (L). The reaction was studied using different oxidants, TBHP (in water or in decane) or H2O2 (in water with/without acetonitrile). Efficient linalool (L) conversions were obtained with selectivity towards two selected products, 2-(5-methyl-5- vinyltetrahydro-furan-2-yl propan-2-ol) (1) and 2,2,6- trimethyl-6-vinyltetrahydro-2H-pyran-3-ol (2) depending on pre-catalysts and oxidant. Green metrics have been calculated and showed the role of organic solvent for the process.

ABSTRAK Pengolahan tanah menjadi faktor penting terhadap pertumbuhan dan produksi tanaman padi, dimana proses pengolahan yang baik akan menghasilkan pertumbuhan yang optimal. Metode lintasan lintasan hand traktor pada saat pembajakan menjadi salah satu upaya untuk menciptakan keadaan tanah yang baik bagi pertumbuhan tanaman. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh perlakuan lintasan hand traktor dan bajak terhadap pertumbuhan dan hasil padi. Penelitian dilaksanakan di lahan sawah Desa Paloh Tungoh, Kecamatan Keumala, Kabupaten Pidie. Penelitian menggunakan Rancangan Acak Kelompok (RAK) pola faktorial yang terdiri dari 2 faktor. Faktor pertama, Lintasan (L0: tanpa lintasan, L1: 3 lintasan dan L2: 5 lintasan) dan faktor kedua, penggunaan bajak (B0: tanpa bajak dan B1: menggunakan bajak). Parameter yang diamati yaitu tinggi tanaman 15, 30, 45 dan 60 HST, jumlah anakan 15 dan 30 HST, panjang akar dan berat gabah basah. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa perlakuan 3 kali lintasan (L1) berpengaruh sangat nyata terhadap jumlah anakan 15 dan 30 HST, panjang akar dan berat gabah basah, namun tidak berpengaruh nyata terhadap tinggi tanaman padi umur 15, 30, 45 dan 60 HST dengan nilai terendah pada perlakuan L1 dan L2. Penggunaan bajak (B1) berpengaruh sangat nyata terhadap tinggi tanaman padi umur 15, 30, 45 dan 60 HST, jumlah anakan umur 15 dan 39 HST, panjang akar dan berat gabah basah. Terdapat interaksi antara perlakuan lintasan traktor dan penggunaan bajak terhadap panjang akar dengan perlakuan terbaik dijumpai pada L1 dan B1. ABSTRACT Soil cultivation is an important factor in the growth and production of rice plants, where a good processing process will produce optimal growth. The trajectory method at the time of plowing is one of the efforts to create good soil conditions for plant growth. This study aims to determine the effect of trajectory and plow treatment on rice growth and yield. The research was carried out in the Paddy Fields of PalohTungoh village, Keumala District, Pidie Regency. This study used a factorial randomized block design (RAK) consisting of 2 factors. The first factor is the track (L0: no track, L1: 3 passes and L2: 5 passes) and the second factor is the use of plows (B0: no plow and B1: using plow). Parameters observed were plant height 15, 30, 45 and 60 DAP, number of tillers 15 and 30 DAP, root length and wet grain weight. The results showed that the treatment of 3 passes (L1) had a very significant effect on the number of tillers 15 and 30 DAP, root length and wet grain weight, but had no significant effect on the height of rice plants aged 15, 30, 45 and 60 DAP with the lowest value at L1 and L2 treatments. The use of plow (B1) had a very significant effect on the height of rice plants aged 15, 30, 45 and 60 DAP, the number of tillers aged 15 and 39 DAP, root length and wet grain weight. There is an interaction between tractor trajectory treatment and the use of plows on root length with the best treatment found at L1 and B1.