Učinak iscrpka crvene pupavice (Echinacea purpurea) i crne bazge (Sambucus nigra L.) na serotip H9N2 virusa influence ptica u zaraženim kokošjim zametcima.

Early studies have revealed some Echinacea and elderberry preparations possess significant antiviral effect against human nfluenza viruses subtypes H1, H2, H3, highly pathogenic H5 and H7, and human nfluenza B in ell culture assay. We investigated the anti-viral effect of ethanol extract of Echinacea purpurea (Echinaforce®) nd aqueous extract of Sambucus nigra L. (black elderberry; Sambucol®) in comparison to amantadine on a titer of H9N2 avian influenza virus in the allantoic fluid of infected chicken embryo using hemagglutination (HA) and quantitative Real Time/Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT/PCR) tests. The study was performed in two steps. First, the neutralization index (NI) based on a standard embryo infective dose 50 (EID50) method was used to evaluate the efficacy of the extracts/amantadine. Serial dilution of the virus was treated with a steady amount of the diluted extracts prior to inoculation of the embryonated eggs. The inoculated eggs then were incubated for 48 hours at 37 °C. In the next step, an equivalent of 500 EID50 of the virus was treated with a serial dilution of the extracts before inoculation. The titer of the virus in the allantoic fluid was evaluated and quantified using HA and qRT/PCR tests. The results confirmed the significant virucidal effects of both extracts against the virus. There was also a direct correlation between the results of the HA and qRT/PCR tests in the second step. In conclusion, the results confirm the considerable virucidal effect of both extracts against the H9N2 avian influenza virus.Prijašnja istraživanja pokazala su da pripravci nekih vrsta Echinacea i bobica bazge imaju značajan protuvirusni učinak na ljudske podtipove virusa influence H1, H2, H3 i na visoko patogene H5 i H7 te virus influence B u pokusima na staničnoj kulturi. U ovom je radu istražen antivirusni učinak alkoholnog iscrpka vrste Echinacea purpurea (Echinaforce®) (crvena pupavica) i vodenog iscrpka crne bazge Sambucus nigra L. (Sambucol®) u usporedbi s amantadinom. Učinak je procijenjen na osnovi određivanja virusnog titra podtipa H9N2 virusa influence ptica u alantoisnoj tekućini inficiranih kokošjih zametaka hemaglutinacijom (HA) i kvantitativnom lančanom reakcijom polimerazom u stvarnom vremenu (qRT/PCR). Istraživanje je bilo provedeno u dva koraka. Prvo je neutralizacijski indeks (NI), određen na osnovi standardne infekcijske doze za embrije (EID50), bio rabljen za prosudbu učinkovitosti iscrpka i amantadina. Serijskom razrjeđenju virusa bila je dodana jednaka količina razrijeđenog iscrpka prije inokulacije kokošjih zametaka. Nakon inokulacije zametci su stavljeni na inkubaciju tijekom 48 sati pri 37 °C. U sljedećem koraku je 500 EID50 virusa bilo dodavano serijskim razrjeđenjima iscrpka prije inokulacije. Titar virusa u alantoisnoj tekućini bio je određen hemaglutinacijom (HA) i kvantitativnom lančanom reakcijom polimerazom u stvarnom vremenu (qRT/PCR). Rezultati su potvrdili značajne virucidne učinke obaju iscrpaka. Ustanovljena je i izravna korelacija između rezultata HA i qRT/PCR u drugom koraku. Zaključuje se da rezultati potvrđuju značajan virucidni učinak obaju iscrpaka na podtip H9N2 virusa influence ptica

Cosmic Birefringence as a probe of dark matter nature: Sterile neutrino and dipolar dark matter

Recently, non-zero rotation angle $\beta=0.30^\circ\pm0.11^\circ$ $(68\%\text{ C.L.})$ [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{128}, no.9, 091302 (2022)] has been reported for linear polarization of cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, which is known as cosmic birefringence (CB). We used this birefringence angle of CMB to study and distinguish different candidates of dark matter (DM), e.g., dipolar and sterile neutrino DM. We calculated CMB forward scattering by those probable candidates of DM to generate $\beta$ in the presence of primordial scalar fluctuations' background. We explicitly plotted bounds on the mass and electromagnetic coupling for different sectors of DM, sterile neutrino, and dipolar DM, and compared them with other experimental bounds. Regarding dipolar DM, our calculations put a bound on the Majorana magnetic dipole moment about $\mathcal{M}\leqslant 1.4\times10^{-14}\,\frac{\beta}{0.30^\circ}\sqrt{\frac{m_{\text{\tiny{DM}}}}{1\,GeV}}\, e.\text{\,cm}$. In the case of sterile neutrino DM, the bound on the mass and mixing angle was estimated at $\theta^2 \leqslant 3.3\,(rad)^2\frac{\beta}{0.30^\circ}\,\frac{m_{DM}}{\rm{KeV}}$, which can be a new constraint for sterile neutrino DM whose production mechanism is motivated by models with a hidden sector coupled to the sterile neutrino. Based on our results, if the constraint on the mass and the electromagnetic coupling for DM must be within the allowed region, none of the considered candidates can compensate for all the observed CB angles. We also discussed the maximum contribution of the CB angle via CMB forward scattering by different sectors of the dark matter.Comment: Published versio

Towards Hierarchical Regional Transformer-based Multiple Instance Learning

The classification of gigapixel histopathology images with deep multiple instance learning models has become a critical task in digital pathology and precision medicine. In this work, we propose a Transformer-based multiple instance learning approach that replaces the traditional learned attention mechanism with a regional, Vision Transformer inspired self-attention mechanism. We present a method that fuses regional patch information to derive slide-level predictions and show how this regional aggregation can be stacked to hierarchically process features on different distance levels. To increase predictive accuracy, especially for datasets with small, local morphological features, we introduce a method to focus the image processing on high attention regions during inference. Our approach is able to significantly improve performance over the baseline on two histopathology datasets and points towards promising directions for further research.Comment: To be published as ICCV 2023 workshop pape

Cross-correlation Power Spectra and Cosmic Birefringence of the CMB via Photon-neutrino Interaction

It is shown that in the context of the standard model of particles, weak interaction of cosmic microwave background (CMB) and cosmic neutrino background (C$\nu$B), in the order of one loop forward scattering, can generate non-vanishing TB and EB power spectra in the presence of scalar perturbation which is in contrast with the standard scenario cosmology. By comparing our results with the current experimental data, significant information can be extracted about the nature of C$\nu$B: the contribution of CMB-C$\nu$B forward scattering for TB, TE, and EB power spectra in the case of C$\nu$B as Majorana particles is twice larger than that in the case of Dirac one. Finally, we have discussed the evidence of cosmic neutrino background in the Planck 2018 polarization data reported on a new measurement of the cosmic birefringence (CB) angle $\beta$. It is shown that the mean opacity due to cosmic neutrino background can behave as an anisotropic birefringent medium changing the linear polarization rotation angle. Despite the good agreement of our results with the reported data (for EB power spectrum), CB angle from the average value of $\beta|_\nu\simeq1/2\bar\kappa$ is about two (four) times larger than what reported in \cite{minami}, in the case of C$\nu$B as Dirac (Majorana) particles. This point will be discussed more precisely.Comment: 11 pages, 7 Figures, with some major correction based on referee's comment

Prediction of Highway Noise Pollution Level by Model FHWA -TNM (Case Study: Vakilabad Highway in Mashhad-Iran)

This study aimed to model the noise pollution level in 9th and 11th districts of Mashhad municipality (Vakilabad highway) by using Traffic Noise Model (TNM 2.5). To this end, the equivalent sound level measurement of the 25 high-traffic stations selected along the Vakilabad highway in Mashhad was carried out by the TES-1358 sound level meter, for 6 months and each month for 1 working day in the year’s 2017. Traffic volume data was also measured to level the day by the wood line method and then the total data was introduced to model the traffic noise volume in the area. The assessment of the traffic noise of the study area in the model showed that the average equivalent sound level calculated by the model for the stations measured at Vakilabad highway is 6.51 dB less than the recorded values by the sound meter in the real environment by the average of 78 dB. In addition, the results of this study indicated that the TNM could provide a reasonable prediction of traffic volume and its distribution on the Vakilabad highway in Mashhad, due to providing a similar ranking of areas with low or high noise pollution and also displaying acceptable values of Leq calculated as compared to recorded sound values in the real environment