Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinical Follow-up of Professional Baseball Players Undergoing Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction Using the New Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic Overhead Athlete Shoulder and Elbow Score (KJOC Score)

Background: There are no validated outcome measures consistently used in the literature to report results of ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction in overhead athletes. Hypothesis: The Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic Overhead Athlete Shoulder and Elbow score (KJOC score) will correlate with other validated scores for upper extremity assessment but will be more accurate in evaluating ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction outcomes in professional baseball players. Study Design: Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 2. Methods: Fifty-five professional baseball players who underwent ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction were asked to complete the KJOC score, the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) score, and the DASH sports module. Players were separated into 3 categories—(1) playing without pain, (2) playing with pain, and (3) not playing because of pain—and compared with 123 asymptomatic throwers. Pearson (parametric) and Spearman rank (nonparametric) correlations among the 3 systems were conducted to validate the KJOC score. Means across categories were compared using a Wilcoxon rank-sum test, and a threshold score separating categories 1 and 3 was determined using receiver operator characteristic discrimination analysis. Results: Significant correlations were found between the KJOC score and the DASH (−.693, P < .0001), and the DASH sports module (−0.804, P < .0001). Only the KJOC score was able to discriminate between categories 2 and 3, as well as category 1 and the uninjured population. In addition, the KJOC score was the most sensitive and accurate method of discriminating category 1 from category 3, with a threshold score of 81.3. Conclusion: The results of this study validate the use of the KJOC score for evaluation of overhead athletes undergoing ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction. The KJOC score is the most sensitive score for detecting subtle changes in performance in the throwing athlete.
Embodied neural responses to others’ suffering

To investigate whether and how facial mimicry in observers affects their empathic neural responses to others’ pain expressions, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) from Chinese adults while viewing pain and neutral expressions of Asian and Caucasian faces. Facial mimicry was manipulated by allowing participants to freely move their facial muscles (the relaxed condition) or asking them to hold a pen horizontally using both teeth and lips to prevent facial muscle movement and facial mimicry (the blocked condition). We found that the frontal N1 at 100–120 ms was enlarged by pain vs. neutral expressions. The N1 modulation by facial expressions was significantly reduced in the blocked compared to relaxed conditions and this effect was observed for Asian but not Caucasian faces. The findings suggest that facial mimicry plays a causal role in the early empathic neural response and the embodied empathic neural responses are constrained by the racial intergroup relationship.
A Lipid Pathway for Ligand Binding Is Necessary for a Cannabinoid G Protein-coupled Receptor*

Recent isothiocyanate covalent labeling studies have suggested that a classical cannabinoid, (−)-7′-isothiocyanato-11-hydroxy-1′,1′dimethylheptyl-hexahydrocannabinol (AM841), enters the cannabinoid CB2 receptor via the lipid bilayer (Pei, Y., Mercier, R. W., Anday, J. K., Thakur, G. A., Zvonok, A. M., Hurst, D., Reggio, P. H., Janero, D. R., and Makriyannis, A. (2008) Chem. Biol. 15, 1207–1219). However, the sequence of steps involved in such a lipid pathway entry has not yet been elucidated. Here, we test the hypothesis that the endogenous cannabinoid sn-2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) attains access to the CB2 receptor via the lipid bilayer. To this end, we have employed microsecond time scale all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the interaction of 2-AG with CB2 via a palmitoyl-oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine lipid bilayer. Results suggest the following: 1) 2-AG first partitions out of bulk lipid at the transmembrane α-helix (TMH) 6/7 interface; 2) 2-AG then enters the CB2 receptor binding pocket by passing between TMH6 and TMH7; 3) the entrance of the 2-AG headgroup into the CB2 binding pocket is sufficient to trigger breaking of the intracellular TMH3/6 ionic lock and the movement of the TMH6 intracellular end away from TMH3; and 4) subsequent to protonation at D3.49/D6.30, further 2-AG entry into the ligand binding pocket results in both a W6.48 toggle switch change and a large influx of water. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration via unbiased molecular dynamics that a ligand can access the binding pocket of a class A G protein-coupled receptor via the lipid bilayer and the first demonstration via molecular dynamics of G protein-coupled receptor activation triggered by a ligand binding event.
Selective targeting of lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2) suppresses hepatic fibrosis progression and accelerates its reversal

Background/Aims We studied the role of lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2) in collagen crosslinking and hepatic progenitor cell (HPC) differentiation, and the therapeutic efficacy of a LOXL2-blocking monoclonal antibody on liver fibrosis progression/reversal in mice. Methods Anti-LOXL2 antibody, control antilysyl oxidase antibody or placebo was administered during thioacetamide (TAA)-induced fibrosis progression or during recovery. Therapeutic efficacy in biliary fibrosis was tested in BALB/c.Mdr2−/− and 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydrocollidine (DDC)-fed mice. Collagen crosslinking, fibrosis progression and reversal were assessed histologically and biochemically. HPC differentiation was studied in primary EpCAM(+) liver cells in vitro. Results LOXL2 was virtually absent from healthy but strongly induced in fibrotic liver, with predominant localisation within fibrotic septa. Delayed anti-LOXL2 treatment of active TAA fibrosis significantly reduced collagen crosslinking and histological signs of bridging fibrosis, with a 53% reduction in morphometric collagen deposition. In established TAA fibrosis, LOXL2 inhibition promoted fibrosis reversal, with enhanced splitting and thinning of fibrotic septa, and a 45% decrease in collagen area at 4 weeks of recovery. In the Mdr2−/− and DDC-induced models of biliary fibrosis, anti-LOXL2 antibody similarly achieved significant antifibrotic efficacy and suppressed the ductular reaction, while hepatocyte replication increased. Blocking LOXL2 had a profound direct effect on primary EpCAM(+) HPC behaviour in vitro, promoting their differentiation towards hepatocytes, while inhibiting ductal cell lineage commitment. Conclusions LOXL2 mediates collagen crosslinking and fibrotic matrix stabilisation during liver fibrosis, and independently promotes fibrogenic HPC differentiation. By blocking these two convergent profibrotic pathways, therapeutic LOXL2 inhibition attenuates both parenchymal and biliary fibrosis and promotes fibrosis reversal.
Examination of a Managed Pollinator Strategy for Almond Production Using Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and Osmia lignaria (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae)

Abstract Pollination services provided by managed bees are essential for California almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.; Rosales: Rosaceae) production. Currently, pollination needs are met by rented or owned Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae; honey bee) colonies. Excessive demand on a challenged A. mellifera industry to provide strong colonies in early spring has caused sharp increases in rental prices over the past decade, inviting the consideration of alternative pollinators in addition to, or in place of, A. mellifera. Osmia lignaria Say (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae; the blue orchard bee) is an excellent pollinator of fruit and nut trees, but its pollination impacts when used in tandem with A. mellifera have yet to be evaluated in commercial almond orchards. A 2-yr study was conducted in California orchards to compare almond pollination and production using A. mellifera as sole pollinator to an alternative practice of adding O. lignaria as a co-pollinator with A. mellifera. Almond orchard managerial decisions, such as for pesticide use and irrigation intensity, vary between almond growing regions because of local climates. Therefore, both north-central and southern sites of California's San Joaquin Valley are represented. We compared bee visitation, nut set, and nut yield between orchards and between tree rows within orchards. Also, O. lignaria reproductive success was recorded to assure that these bees remained in the orchards as pollinators and to assess the ability to sustain these bees under regional orchard conditions. We demonstrated that augmenting large commercial almond orchards with O. lignaria can significantly increase nut set and sometimes nut yield in both regions evaluated.
Smart Annotation of Cyclic Data Using Hierarchical Hidden Markov Models

Cyclic signals are an intrinsic part of daily life, such as human motion and heart activity. The detailed analysis of them is important for clinical applications such as pathological gait analysis and for sports applications such as performance analysis. Labeled training data for algorithms that analyze these cyclic data come at a high annotation cost due to only limited annotations available under laboratory conditions or requiring manual segmentation of the data under less restricted conditions. This paper presents a smart annotation method that reduces this cost of labeling for sensor-based data, which is applicable to data collected outside of strict laboratory conditions. The method uses semi-supervised learning of sections of cyclic data with a known cycle number. A hierarchical hidden Markov model (hHMM) is used, achieving a mean absolute error of 0.041 ± 0.020 s relative to a manually-annotated reference. The resulting model was also used to simultaneously segment and classify continuous, ‘in the wild’ data, demonstrating the applicability of using hHMM, trained on limited data sections, to label a complete dataset. This technique achieved comparable results to its fully-supervised equivalent. Our semi-supervised method has the significant advantage of reduced annotation cost. Furthermore, it reduces the opportunity for human error in the labeling process normally required for training of segmentation algorithms. It also lowers the annotation cost of training a model capable of continuous monitoring of cycle characteristics such as those employed to analyze the progress of movement disorders or analysis of running technique.
Micro‐statics and micro‐kinematics of capillary phenomena in dense granular materials

A capillary stress tensor and an effective stress tensor are defined in DEM simulations of spheres packings with capillary effect. It is shown that induced fabric anisotropy results in an anisotropy of the capillary stress, so that any stress‐like variable used to represent the effect of capillarity in granular materials should be represented by a non‐spherical tensor. The response of a sample to small isotropic stress increments is also presented, the loading being imposed either by a small variation of the stress imposed at boundaries (method A) or by a variation of matric suction (method B). The comparison of the results, with emphasis on micromechanical aspects, shows some differences between the results obtained with methods A and B, even though the increment of effective stress is the same in both cases. The effective stress concept in unsaturated granular materials is questionned on the basis of these results.
Assessing methods for dealing with treatment switching in clinical trials: A follow-up simulation study

When patients randomised to the control group of a randomised controlled trial are allowed to switch onto the experimental treatment, intention-to-treat analyses of the treatment effect are confounded because the separation of randomised groups is lost. Previous research has investigated statistical methods that aim to estimate the treatment effect that would have been observed had this treatment switching not occurred and has demonstrated their performance in a limited set of scenarios. Here, we investigate these methods in a new range of realistic scenarios, allowing conclusions to be made based upon a broader evidence base. We simulated randomised controlled trials incorporating prognosis-related treatment switching and investigated the impact of sample size, reduced switching proportions, disease severity, and alternative data-generating models on the performance of adjustment methods, assessed through a comparison of bias, mean squared error, and coverage, related to the estimation of true restricted mean survival in the absence of switching in the control group. Rank preserving structural failure time models, inverse probability of censoring weights, and two-stage methods consistently produced less bias than the intention-to-treat analysis. The switching proportion was confirmed to be a key determinant of bias: sample size and censoring proportion were relatively less important. It is critical to determine the size of the treatment effect in terms of an acceleration factor (rather than a hazard ratio) to provide information on the likely bias associated with rank-preserving structural failure time model adjustments. In general, inverse probability of censoring weight methods are more volatile than other adjustment methods.
UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Motivational sensitivity of outcome-response priming: Experimental research and theoretical models

Outcome-response (O-R) priming is at the core of various associative theories of human intentional action. This is a simple and parsimonious mechanism by which activation of outcome representations (e.g. thinking about the light coming on) leads to activation of the associated motor patterns required to achieve it (e.g. pushing the light switch). In the current manuscript, we review the evidence for such O-R associative links demonstrated by converging (yet until now, separate) strands of research. While there is a wealth of evidence that both the perceptual and motivational properties of an outcome can be encoded in the O-R association and mediate O-R priming, we critically examine the integration of these mechanisms and the conditions under which motivational factors constrain the sensory O-R priming effect. We discuss the clinical relevance of this O-R priming mechanism, whether it can satisfactorily account for human goal-directed behaviour, and the implications for theories of human action control.
PCA Based Hurst Exponent Estimator for fBm Signals Under Disturbances

In this paper, the validity of PCA eigenspectrum based Hurst exponent estimator proposed in[J. B. Gao, Y. Cao, and J.-M. Lee, ldquoPrincipal Component Analysis of 1/f alpha noise,rdquo Phys. Lett. A, vol. 314, no. 5-6, pp. 392-400, 2003] for single fBm signal is proved. Moreover, how to apply this estimator for fBm signals corrupted with some other signals are discussed. Theoretical analysis and experiments show that it can also be used for 1) mixed fBm signals with different Hurst exponents, 2) fBm signals corrupted with additive Gaussian white noise when the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is not too small, and 3) fBm signals corrupted with additive deterministic sine/cosine signals. However, the estimation accuracy depends on the SNR value for the first two situations.
University of Birmingham Stability of the Brascamp-Lieb constant and applications

We prove that the best constant in the general Brascamp–Lieb inequality is a locally bounded function of the underlying linear transformations. As applications we deduce certain very general Fourier restriction, Kakeya-type, and nonlinear variants of the Brascamp–Lieb inequality which have arisen recently in harmonic analysis.
Fishing destabilizes the biomass flow in the marine size spectrum

Fishing impacts on marine food webs are predicted by simulations of a size spectrum community model. In this model, predation is determined by predator and prey size and abundance, and drives predator growth and prey mortality. Fishing amplifies temporal oscillations in the biomass flow. Oscillations appear at lower fishing intensity and have wider amplitude when fishing is selective (removes a narrow size range) and/or when large fish are targeted, than when fishing is more balanced (catching a larger size range) or when small fish are targeted. A novel index of size diversity is developed, and is shown to be sensitive to both fishing intensity and selectivity. To avoid unstable food web dynamics with potential harmful consequences for fisheries, limiting both fishing intensity and selectivity might be an appropriate exploitation strategy.
Minimum Cost Homomorphisms to Proper Interval Graphs and Bigraphs

For graphs $G$ and $H$, a mapping $f: V(G)\dom V(H)$ is a homomorphism of $G$ to $H$ if $uv\in E(G)$ implies $f(u)f(v)\in E(H). $ If, moreover, each vertex $u \in V(G)$ is associated with costs $c_i(u), i \in V(H)$, then the cost of the homomorphism $f$ is $\sum_{u\in V(G)}c_{f(u)}(u)$. For each fixed graph $H$, we have the {\em minimum cost homomorphism problem}, written as MinHOM($H)$. The problem is to decide, for an input graph $G$ with costs $c_i(u),$ $u \in V(G), i\in V(H)$, whether there exists a homomorphism of $G$ to $H$ and, if one exists, to find one of minimum cost. Minimum cost homomorphism problems encompass (or are related to) many well studied optimization problems. We describe a dichotomy of the minimum cost homomorphism problems for graphs $H$, with loops allowed. When each connected component of $H$ is either a reflexive proper interval graph or an irreflexive proper interval bigraph, the problem MinHOM($H)$ is polynomial time solvable. In all other cases the problem MinHOM($H)$ is NP-hard. This solves an open problem from an earlier paper. Along the way, we prove a new characterization of the class of proper interval bigraphs.
Long-Term Follow-Up of Resistance-Associated Substitutions in Hepatitis C Virus in Patients in Which Direct Acting Antiviral-Based Therapy Failed

We evaluated the transition of dominant resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) in hepatitis C virus during long-term follow-up after the failure of DAAs (direct acting antivirals)-based therapy. RASs in non-structure (NS)3/4A, NS5A, NS5B, and deletions in NS5A from 20 patients who failed simeprevir/pegylated-interferon/ribavirin (SMV/PEG-IFN/RBV) and 25 patients who failed daclatasvir/asunaprevir (DCV/ASV) treatment were examined by direct sequencing. With respect to SMV/PEG-IFN/RBV treatment, RAS was detected at D168 in NS3/4A but not detected in NS5A and NS5B at treatment failure in 16 of 20 patients. During the median follow-up period of 64 weeks, the RAS at D168 became less dominant in 9 of 16 patients. Among 25 DCV/ASV failures, RASs at D168, L31, and Y93 were found in 57.1%, 72.2%, and 76.9%, respectively. NS5A deletions were detected in 3 of 10 patients treated previously with SMV/PEG-IFN/RBV. The number of RASs in the breakthrough patients exceeded that in relapsers (mean 3.9 vs. 2.7, p < 0.05). RAS at D168 in NS3/4A became less dominant in 6 of 15 patients within 80 weeks. Y93H emerged at the time of relapse, then decreased gradually by 99% at 130 weeks post-treatment. Emerged RASs were associated with the clinical course of treatment and could not be detected during longer follow-up.
Analytical Model for Schottky Barrier Height and Threshold Voltage of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs With Piezoelectric Effect

Physics-based models for calculating the threshold voltage (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\text {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) of GaN-based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) is proposed. Assuming that the 2-D electron gas in III–V heterostructures originate from donor-like surface states, an analytical expression for <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\phi _{b}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is derived based on the condition of charge neutrality across the barrier layer and applied to develop <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\text {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> model. Effects of introducing a GaN cap layer on distribution of surface donor states and strain relaxation due to high barrier layer Al composition are considered in the derivation of the models. Calculated <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\text {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> values are in excellent agreement with the values extracted from static <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I}_{d}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{g}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> measurement data for devices with different gate lengths. Furthermore, the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\text {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> models are implemented in the physics-based <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> model previously proposed by our group for AlGaN/GaN HEMTs and tested with devices of different geometries. Excellent agreement is obtained between the model and experimental data of the drain current and transconductance of the devices over a full range of bias conditions.
Is spinal surgery safe in octogenarians?

An ageing population and advances in medical management often requires spinal surgeons to increasingly operate on patients older than 80 years. The ability to predict complications and mortality rates would allow discrimination of which octogenarians are able to safely undergo spinal surgery. Therefore, the aims of this study were to determine whether comorbidities and extent of surgery were associated with complications in this age group, in addition to which comorbidity and physical status assessment scales were best associated with the development of complications following spinal surgery.