Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparing pointing and drawing for remote collaboration

In this research, we explore using pointing and drawing in a remote collaboration system. Our application allows a local user with a tablet to communicate with a remote expert on a desktop computer. We compared performance in four conditions: (1) Pointers on Still Image, (2) Pointers on Live Video, (3) Annotation on Still Image, and (4) Annotation on Live Video. We found that using drawing annotations would require fewer inputs on an expert side, and would require less cognitive load on the local worker side. In a follow-on study we compared the conditions (2) and (4) using a more complicated task. We found that pointing input requires good verbal communication to be effective and that drawing annotations need to be erased after completing each step of a task.
The Impact of Bronchiectasis in Clinical Presentation of Asthma

Background: Though asthma and bronchiectasis are two different diseases, their coexistence has been shown in many patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical features of asthmatics with bronchiectasis compared with pure asthmatics. Methods: We evaluated 1680 asthmatics followed-up in our clinic. Fifty-one asthmatics had the diagnosis of bronchiectasis. These patients were compared with fifty-one age and gender matched asthmatics without bronchiectasis. Results: The prevalence of bronchiectasis among the asthmatics was 3%. Asthma diagnosis was made at the age of 33.2 ± 16.8 years for asthmatics with bronchiectasis and 39.5 ± 16.2 years for pure asthmatics (P = 0.05). Asthmatics with bronchiectasis mostly had severe persistent asthma (49.0%), while pure asthmatics mostly had mild persistent and intermittent asthma (69.4%). History of hospitalization due to severe asthma exacerbation and presence of chronic respiratory failure was significantly higher in bronchiectatic group. Conclusions: These data show that bronchiectasis can contribute to severe and difficult to control asthma with pulmonary complications like chronic respiratory failure.
A Clopidogrel-Insensitive Inducible Pool of P2Y12 Receptors Contributes to Thrombus Formation: Inhibition by Elinogrel, a Direct-Acting, Reversible P2Y12 Antagonist

It is known that hepatic metabolism limits the antiaggregatory activity of clopidogrel and, as a consequence, its clinical benefits. In this study, we investigated whether other factors exist that could account for clopidogrel's suboptimal antithrombotic activity. Using an in vivo murine FeCl3 thrombosis model coupled with intravital microscopy, we found that at equivalent, maximal levels of inhibition of ADP-induced platelet aggregation, clopidogrel (50 mg/kg p.o.) failed to reproduce the phenotype associated with P2Y12 deficiency. However, elinogrel (60 mg/kg p.o.), a direct-acting reversible P2Y12 antagonist, achieved maximal levels of inhibition in vivo, and its administration (1 mg/kg i.v.) abolished residual thrombosis associated with clopidogrel dosing. Because elinogrel is constantly present in the plasma, whereas the active metabolite of clopidogrel exists for ∼2 h, we evaluated whether an intracellular pool of P2Y12 exists that would be inaccessible to clopidogrel and contribute to its limited antithrombotic activity. Using saturation [3H]2-(methylthio)ADP ([3H]2MeSADP) binding studies, we first demonstrated that platelet stimulation with thrombin and convulxin (mouse) and thrombin receptor activating peptide (TRAP) (human) significantly increased surface expression of P2Y12 relative to that of resting platelets. We next found that clopidogrel dose-dependently inhibited ADP-induced aggregation, signaling (cAMP), and surface P2Y12 on resting mouse platelets, achieving complete inhibition at the highest dose (50 mg/kg), but failed to block this inducible pool. Thus, an inducible pool of P2Y12 exists on platelets that can be exposed upon platelet activation by strong agonists. This inducible pool is not blocked completely by clopidogrel, contributes to thrombosis in vivo, and can be blocked by elinogrel.
Humid heat and climate change

Extreme heat events cause significant societal impacts, prompting much concern and research about possible changes to their frequency and intensity as the climate warms. However, to date, extremes in air temperature have been emphasised at the expense of ‘heat-humidity’ indices, measures which incorporate the effect of atmospheric latent heat content on heat stress and provide a more complete picture of the thermal environment for human thermoregulation. This progress report restores balance by reviewing recent developments in the understanding of how heat-humidity indices have changed, and may continue to, as the climate warms further. The literature indicates that a concurrent rise in temperature and absolute humidity has already increased the frequency of potentially deadly conditions, and has reduced labour potential worldwide. More serious consequences may result if mitigation efforts are unsuccessful. The energetic basis of a heat-humidity perspective has permitted researchers to identify, for example, that by the end of the century, substantial parts of the Earth’s surface may be too hot and humid for human thermoregulation. Such consequences are avoided for less pessimistic scenarios of climate warming, but the societal impacts may still be very severe, as densely-populated low-latitude environments emerge as particularly at risk when a humid heat perspective is adopted. Counter to air temperature, changes in mean heat-humidity indices are actually amongst the largest worldwide at lower latitudes, where only small increases in the mean may be required to substantially enhance the frequency of dangerous conditions. The report concludes by outlining areas requiring improved process understanding, and it highlights the urgent role for societal adaptation if the worst impacts from rising humid heat are to be avoided.
Functional array streams

Regular array languages for high performance computing based on aggregate operations provide a convenient parallel programming model, which enables the generation of efficient code for SIMD architectures, such as GPUs. However, the data sets that can be processed with current implementations are severely constrained by the limited amount of main memory available in these architectures. In this paper, we propose an extension of the embedded array language Accelerate with a notion of sequences, resulting in a two level hierarchy which allows the programmer to specify a partitioning strategy which facilitates automatic resource allocation. Depending on the available memory, the runtime system processes the overall data set in streams of chunks appropriate to the hardware parameters. In this paper, we present the language design for the sequence operations, as well as the compilation and runtime support, and demonstrate with a set of benchmarks the feasibility of this approach.
Invasion of Epithelial Cells and Proteolysis of Cellular Focal Adhesion Components by Distinct Types of Porphyromonas gingivalis Fimbriae

ABSTRACT Porphyromonas gingivalis fimbriae are classified into six types (types I to V and Ib) based on the fimA genes encoding FimA (a subunit of fimbriae), and they play a critical role in bacterial interactions with host tissues. In this study, we compared the efficiencies of P. gingivalis strains with distinct types of fimbriae for invasion of epithelial cells and for degradation of cellular focal adhesion components, paxillin, and focal adhesion kinase (FAK). Six representative strains with the different types of fimbriae were tested, and P. gingivalis with type II fimbriae (type II P. gingivalis) adhered to and invaded epithelial cells at significantly greater levels than the other strains. There were negligible differences in gingipain activities among the six strains; however, type II P. gingivalis apparently degraded intracellular paxillin in association with a loss of phosphorylation 30 min after infection. Degradation was blocked with cytochalasin D or in mutants with fimA disrupted. Paxillin was degraded by the mutant with Lys-gingipain disrupted, and this degradation was prevented by inhibition of Arg-gingipain activity by Nα-p-tosyl-l-lysine chloromethyl ketone. FAK was also degraded by type II P. gingivalis. Cellular focal adhesions with green fluorescent protein-paxillin macroaggregates were clearly destroyed, and this was associated with cellular morphological changes and microtubule disassembly. In an in vitro wound closure assay, type II P. gingivalis significantly inhibited cellular migration and proliferation compared to the cellular migration and proliferation observed with the other types. These results suggest that type II P. gingivalis efficiently invades epithelial cells and degrades focal adhesion components with Arg-gingipain, which results in cellular impairment during wound healing and periodontal tissue regeneration.
Mineral–fluid interactions in the late Archean Closepet granite batholith, Dharwar Craton, southern India

Abstract The chemical composition of different rocks as well as volatile-bearing and volatile-free minerals has been used to assess the presence of fluids in the Closepet batholith and to estimate the intensity of the fluid–rock interactions. The data were processed using polytopic vector analysis (PVA). Additional data include measurements of water content in the structure of volatile-free minerals and an examination of growth textures. The composition of mineral domains indicated formation/transformation processes with common fluid–mineral interactions. In general, the results suggested that the processes occurred in a ternary system. Two end-members were likely magmas and the third was enriched in fluids. In contrast, analysis of the apatite domains indicated that they likely formed/transformed in a more complex, four-component system. This system was fluid-rich and included hybrid magma with a large mafic component. PVA implies that the fluids do not appear to come from one source, given their close affinity and partial association with mantle-derived fluids. A dynamic tectonic setting promoting heat influx and redistribution, and interaction of fluids suggests that the formation/transformation processes of minerals and rocks occurred in a hot-spot like environment.
Failing to report details of an event: A review of the directed forgetting procedure and applications to reports of childhood sexual abuse

Recent reviews of child sexual abuse (CSA) disclosure indicate that many victims delay disclosing abuse for some period of time (e.g., London, Bruck, Ceci, & Shuman, 2005). During this period of non-disclosure, CSA victims may avoid thinking about or discussing their abuse experiences. Some scholars argue that this may lead to a directed forgetting (DF) effect, whereby later recall of the unrehearsed memories becomes more difficult (e.g., M. A. Epstein & Bottoms, 2002). This paper reviews the DF literature and discusses the potential contribution of DF to silence. The review begins with a description of the basic DF protocol used, discusses underlying mechanisms thought to be responsible for the DF effect, and then examines applications of the DF protocol to memory for emotion-laden word lists and autobiographical events. Overall, the applied studies demonstrate that DF effects generalise beyond memory for innocuous word lists; however, we describe several important avenues of research that require further exploration. Most noteworthy, and particularly relevant to the common application of DF to memory for CSA, are those studies that examine the influence of DF on children's autobiographical memory.
Effect of the normalization template in statistical parametric mapping of PET scans

The standard template provided with the statistical software package SPM'99 was originally developed for /sup 15/O-H/sub 2/O PET scans in resting condition with eyes closed. This template is commonly applied regardless of the tracer actually used in the scans being analyzed. This work studies the effect of three different normalization templates in the outcome of the statistical analyses of PET scans, as compared to a reference normalization. Results show that the use of the standard template in adverse conditions-different tracer, different cerebral condition-may introduce errors in the interpretation of the results of the statistical analysis.
Effect of Alkali Treatment on Heavy Metals Adsorption Capacity of Sewage Sludge

Sewage sludge is the promising raw material for biosorbent preparation. In this work, we evaluated the heavy metals adsorption characteristics of alkali treated sewage sludge (ATSS) by equilibrium studies. The adsorption isotherms were fitted with Langmuir and Freundlich models. Comparing with untreated sewage sludge, the total adsorption capacity (qm) of ATSS (prepared with 0.125 mol/L NaOH) for Cd, Pb, Ni, increased by 0.51, 0.70 and 0.32 mmol/g, respectively. When the NaOH concentration for ATSS preparation increased from 0.125 mol/L to 0.25 mol/L, the qm of ATSS for Pb decreased from 1.05 mmol/g to 0.84 mmol/g. However, when the NaOH concentration increased from 0.25 mol/L to 7.5 mol/L, it showed increasing trend. According to the IR spectra data, the adsorption effect of biosorbent for heavy metals was mainly due to the complexation of -N-H groups and -COOH groups.
Dual Effects of Isoflurane on Proliferation, Differentiation, and Survival in Human Neuroprogenitor Cells

Background:Previous studies have demonstrated that isoflurane can provide both neuroprotection and neurotoxicity in various tissue culture models and in rodent developing brains. The cellular and molecular mechanisms mediating these dual effects are not clear, but the exposure level and duration of isoflurane appear to be determinant factors. Methods:Using the ReNcell CX (Millipore, Billerica, MA) human neural progenitor cell line, the authors investigated the impact of prolonged exposure to varying isoflurane concentrations on cell survival and neurogenesis. In addition, the authors assessed the impact of short isoflurane preconditioning on elevation of cytosolic Ca2+ concentration and cytotoxic effects mediated by prolonged isoflurane exposures and the contribution of inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate or ryanodine receptor activation to these processes. Results:Short exposures to low isoflurane concentrations promote proliferation and differentiation of ReNcell CX cells, with no cell damage. However, prolonged exposures to high isoflurane concentrations induced significant ReNcell CX cell damage and inhibited cell proliferation. These prolonged exposures suppressed neuronal cell fate and promoted glial cell fate. Preconditioning of ReNcell CX cultures with short exposures to low concentrations of isoflurane ameliorated the effects of prolonged exposures to isoflurane. Pretreatment of ReNcell cultures with inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate or ryanodine receptor antagonists mostly prevented isoflurane-mediated effects on survival, proliferation, and differentiation. Finally, isoflurane-preconditioned cultures showed significantly less isoflurane-evoked changes in calcium concentration. Conclusion:The commonly used general anesthetic isoflurane exerts dual effects on neuronal stem cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation, which may be attributed to differential regulation of calcium release through activation of endoplasmic reticulum localized inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate and/or ryanodine receptors.
Mechanistic Evaluation of Echocardiographic Dyssynchrony Indices: Patient Data Combined With Multiscale Computer Simulations

Background— The power of echocardiographic dyssynchrony indices to predict response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) appears to vary between indices and between studies. We investigated whether the variability of predictive power between the dyssynchrony indices can be explained by differences in their operational definitions. Methods and Results— In 132 CRT-candidates (left ventricular [LV] ejection fraction, 19 ± 6%; QRS width, 170 ± 22 ms), 4 mechanical dyssynchrony indices (septal systolic rebound stretch [SRSsept], interventricular mechanical dyssynchrony [IVMD], septal-to-lateral peak shortening delay [Strain-SL], and septal-to-posterior wall motion delay [SPWMD]) were quantified at baseline. CRT response was quantified as 6-month percent change of LV end-systolic volume. Multiscale computer simulations of cardiac mechanics and hemodynamics were used to assess the relationships between dyssynchrony indices and CRT response within wide ranges of dyssynchrony of LV activation and reduced contractility. In patients, SRSsept showed best correlation with CRT response followed by IVMD, Strain-SL, and SPWMD (R=−0.56, −0.50, −0.48, and −0.39, respectively; all P<0.01). In patients and simulations, SRSsept and IVMD showed a continuous linear relationship with CRT response, whereas Strain-SL and SPWMD showed discontinuous relationships characterized by data clusters. Model simulations revealed that this data clustering originated from the complex multipeak pattern of septal strain and motion. In patients and simulations with (simulated) LV scar, SRSsept and IVMD retained their linear relationship with CRT response, whereas Strain-SL and SPWMD did not. Conclusions— The power to predict CRT response differs between indices of mechanical dyssynchrony. SRSsept and IVMD better represent LV dyssynchrony amenable to CRT and better predict CRT response than the indices assessing time-to-peak deformation or motion.
The Suppressive Field of Neurons in Lateral Geniculate Nucleus

The responses of neurons in lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) exhibit powerful suppressive phenomena such as contrast saturation, size tuning, and masking. These phenomena cannot be explained by the classical center-surround receptive field and have been ascribed to a variety of mechanisms, including feedback from cortex. We asked whether these phenomena might all be explained by a single mechanism, contrast gain control, which is inherited from retina and possibly strengthened in thalamus. We formalized an intuitive model of retinal contrast gain control that explicitly predicts gain as a function of local contrast. In the model, the output of the receptive field is divided by the output of a suppressive field, which computes the local root-mean-square contrast. The model provides good fits to LGN responses to a variety of stimuli; with a single set of parameters, it captures saturation, size tuning, and masking. It also correctly predicts that responses to small stimuli grow proportionally with contrast: were it not for the suppressive field, LGN responses would be linear. We characterized the suppressive field and found that it is similar in size to the surround of the classical receptive field (which is eight times larger than commonly estimated), it is not selective for stimulus orientation, and it responds to a wide range of frequencies, including very low spatial frequencies and high temporal frequencies. The latter property is hardly consistent with feedback from cortex. These measurements thoroughly describe the visual properties of contrast gain control in LGN and provide a parsimonious explanation for disparate suppressive phenomena.
Automatic creation of a reference corpus for political opinion mining in user-generated content

We propose and evaluate a method for automatically creating a reference corpus for training text classification procedures for mining political opinions in user-generated content. The process starts by compiling a collection of highly opinionated comments posted by users on an on-line newspaper. Then, we define and use a set of manually-crafted high-precision rules supported by a large sentiment-lexicon in order to identify sentences in each comment expressing opinions about political entities. Finally, the opinions found are propagated to the remainder sentences of the comment mentioning the same entities, thus increasing the number and variety of opinion-bearing sentences. Results show that most of the rules can identify negative opinions with very high precision, and these can be safely propagated to the remainder sentences in the comment in almost 100% of the cases. Due to problems arising from irony, the precision of identification drops for positive opinions, but several rules still reach high precision. Propagation of positive opinions is correct in about 77% of the cases, and most errors at this stage result from irony and polarity inversion throughout the comment.
Extending low‐dose epidural analgesia for emergency Caesarean section using ropivacaine 0.75%

We compared ropivacaine 0.75% and bupivacaine 0.5% for extending low‐dose epidural analgesia for emergency Caesarean section, using a prospective double‐blind randomised controlled trial design. The trial was halted after 45 patients were studied (23 ropivacaine; 22 bupivacaine) because bupivacaine was replaced by levobupivacaine in our unit. Time to reach T4 for loss of cold sensation was similar in both groups, although analgesic supplementation was required less often in the ropivacaine group than in the bupivacaine group (2/23 vs. 9/21; p = 0.01).
Performance evaluation of IoT protocols under a constrained wireless access network

One of the challenges faced by today's Internet of Things (IoT) is to efficiently support machine-to-machine communication, given that the remote sensors and the gateway devices are connected through low bandwidth, unreliable, or intermittent wireless communication links. In this paper, we quantitatively compare the performance of IoT protocols, namely MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport), CoAP (Constrained Application Protocol), DDS (Data Distribution Service) and a custom UDP-based protocol in a medical setting. The performance of the protocols was evaluated using a network emulator, allowing us to emulate a low bandwidth, high system latency, and high packet loss wireless access network. This paper reports the observed performance of the protocols and arrives at the conclusion that although DDS results in higher bandwidth usage than MQTT, its superior performance with regard to data latency and reliability makes it an attractive choice for medical IoT applications and beyond.
PETROLOGY, GEOCHEMISTRY AND GEOTECTONIC SETTING OF THE TITAROS OPHIOLITE AND ASSOCIATED PELAGONIAN BASEMENT ROCKS IN THE AREA NW OF MT. OLYMPOS, GREECE

To οφιολιθικό σύμπλeγμα του όρους Τίταρος στην πeριοχή ΒΔ του Ολύμπου βρίσκeται eπωθημένο σe Πeρμο-Αιθανθρακοφόρους γρανιτικούς ορθογνeύσιους και άγνωστης ηλικίας αμφιβολίτeς στο ανατολικό πeριθώριο της Πeλαγονικής μάζας. Αποτeλeίται από μανδυακό πeριδοτίτη χαρτσβουργιτικής σύστασης μe κατά τόπους eμφανίσeις χρωμίτη και ένα καλά ανeπτυγμένο μαγματικό θάλαμο μe κυκλικές eνότητeς σωρeιτικών πeτρωμάτων δουνίτη-λeρζόλιθου-βeρλίτη-πυροξeνίτη που μeταβαίνουν σe συμπαγeίς γάββρους μe φωλιές πλαγιογρανιτών και διαβασικές φλέβeς στα ανώτeρα τμήματα τους. Χημικές αναλύσeις ορυκτών και ολικού πeτρώματος φανeρώνουν συνθήκeς γένeσης του οφιόλιθου σe ένα καθαρά ωκeάνeιο πeριβάλλον eπάνω από μία ζώνη κατάδυσης πλάκας και την πeριστασιακή συμμeτοχή τηγμάτων προeρχόμeνων από καταδυθέντα ιζήματα. Οι αμφιβολίτeς του κρυσταλλικού υπόβαθρου δeίχνουν σαφή χημική συγγένeια προς θολeϊίτeς eσωτeρικού πλάκας μe μια eλαφρά eπίδραση από ρeυστά καταδυόμeνης πλάκας. Eφeλκυστικές γραμμώσeις ορυκτών και κινηματικοί δeίκτeς στους ορθογνeύσιους και αμφιβολίτeς υποδηλώνουν φορά μeτακίνησης του οφιόλιθου προς τα ΑΝΑ. Προτeίνeται ότι οι βασαλτικοί πρωτόλιθοι των αμφιβολιτών τοποθeτήθηκαν κατά τη διαμπeρή ρήξη του Α. πeριθωρίου της Πeλαγονικής στο Πeρμο-Τριαδικό η οποία και κατέληξe στη μeτέπeιτα δημιουργία του ωκeανού του Βαρδάρη. Ο οφιόλιθος του Τίταρου σχηματίσθηκe όταν ο ωκeανός του Βαρδάρη άρχισe να κλeίνeι μέσω μιας διαδικασίας eνδο-ωκeάνeιας κατάδυσης πλάκας μe φορά προς τα ΒΑ και eπακόλουθη τοποθέτηση του προς τα ΝΑ eπάνω στο Α. πeριθώριο της Πeλαγονικής, πιθανόν κατά το Κατώτeρο Κρητιδικό.