Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for Inflammatory Skin Diseases: Clinical Potential and Mode of Action

Inflammatory skin disorders that cause serious deterioration of the quality of life have become one of the major public concerns. Despite their significance, there is no fundamental cure to date. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess unique immunomodulatory properties which make them a promising tool for the treatment of various inflammatory diseases. Our recent preclinical and clinical studies have shown that MSCs can be successfully used for the treatment of atopic dermatitis (AD), one of the major inflammatory skin diseases. This observation along with similar reports from other groups revealed the efficacy and underlying mechanisms of MSCs in inflammatory dermatosis. In addition, it has been proposed that cell priming or gene transduction can be novel strategies for the development of next-generation high-efficacy MSCs for treating inflammatory skin diseases. We discuss here existing evidence that demonstrates the regulatory properties of MSCs on immune responses under inflammatory conditions.
Acid clearing from the distal esophagus.

THE ABILITY to empty refluxed gastric contents protects the esophagus from peptic digestion. Occasional gastroesophageal reflux probably occurs in everyone and has been demonstrated in 40% of asymptomatic, normal volunteers.1There is evidence that patients symptomatic from reflux have disordered peristalsis resulting in inability to evacuate the esophagus.2-4The duration of contact between refluxed material and esophageal mucosa would seem to influence the development and severity of esophagitis. A test was devised to determine whether or not the distal esophagus has a measurable ability to clear acid solution and whether or not this ability is altered in the presence of abnormalities. Materials and Methods A pH probe (Beckman) and three water-filled polyvinyl tubes (inside diameter, 0.034 inches) were passed through the nares and into the stomach without anesthesia in supine subjects. The tubes were joined so that the open tips were 5 cm apart and the pH probe
Adaptive Multiclass Classification for Brain Computer Interfaces

We consider the problem of multiclass adaptive classification for brain-computer interfaces and propose the use of multiclass pooled mean linear discriminant analysis (MPMLDA), a multiclass generalization of the adaptation rule introduced by Vidaurre, Kawanabe, von Bünau, Blankertz, and Müller (2010) for the binary class setting. Using publicly available EEG data sets and tangent space mapping (Barachant, Bonnet, Congedo, & Jutten, 2012) as a feature extractor, we demonstrate that MPMLDA can significantly outperform state-of-the-art multiclass static and adaptive methods. Furthermore, efficient learning rates can be achieved using data from different subjects.
Reconstruction of a Three-Dimensional Tableau from a Single Realist Painting

We reconstructed a three-dimensional tableau from a single realist painting--Scott Fraser's Three way vanitas (2006)--based on multiple stereo reconstruction applied to the direct image and the images in three plane mirrors depicted within the painting. The tableau contains a carefully chosen complex arrangement of objects including a moth, egg cup, and strand of string, glass of water, bone, and hand mirror. Each of the three plane mirrors presents a different view of the tableau from a virtual camera behind each mirror and symmetric to the artist's viewing point. Our new contributions are three folds: First, we incorporate single-view geometric information extracted from the direct image of the wooden mirror frames in obtaining the camera models of these three virtual cameras. Second, we estimate 3D of objects using multiple stereo pairs within a single painting. Third, evaluate rigorously the geometric accuracies of the painting.
Distributed Policing with Full Utilization and Rate Guarantees

A network service provider typically sells service at a fixed traffic rate to customers. This rate is enforced by allowing or dropping packets that pass through, in a process called policing. Distributed policing is a version of the problem where a number of policers must limit their combined traffic allowance to the specified rate. The policers must coordinate their behaviour such that customers are fully allowed the rate they pay for, without receiving too much more, while maintaining some semblance of fairness between packets arriving at one policer versus another. A review of prior solutions shows that most use predictions or estimations to heuristically allocate rates, and thus cannot provide any error bounds or guarantees on the achieved rate under all scenarios. Other solutions may suffer from starvation or unfairness under certain traffic demand patterns. We present a new global “leaky bucket” approach that provably prevents starvation, guarantees full utilization, and provides a simple upper bound on the rate allowed under any incoming traffic pattern. We find that the algorithm guarantees a minimum 1/n share of the rate for each policer, and achieves close to max-min fairness in many, but not all cases. We also suggest some experimental modifications that could improve the fairness in practice.
Time is a rubberband: neuronal activity in monkey motor cortex in relation to time estimation

Anticipation of predictable events is crucial for organizing motor performance. Using instructed delay tasks, it has been shown that even when delay duration is kept constant, reaction time fluctuates from trial to trial. As time estimation is at the core of anticipatory behavior, it is reasonable to speculate whether neuronal delay activity correlates with the subjective estimate of time. As a consequence of the scalar property of time estimation processes, the variability in time estimation increases continuously as time passes during the delay. This scalar property may then be reflected in the increasing variability in neuronal delay activity. We thus studied the influence of temporal prior information on neuronal delay activity in monkey motor cortex in two conceptually different tasks in which two equally probable delay durations were randomly presented. We hypothesized that if one considers the animal's subjective time as the time which elapses between the first (instruction) signal and movement onset, then, by suppressing this temporal variability, across‐trial variability in neuronal discharge should decrease. We thus defined a new time scale in each trial such that, after rescaling, the time between the instruction signal and movement onset was identical in all trials. Each spike was then displaced in time accordingly. As expected, the variability in the timing of neuronal peak discharges no longer increased during the trial. This suggests a direct link between the temporal profile of spiking activity and time estimation. The timing of motor cortical activity reflected the ‘elasticity’ of the animal's subjective time.
Why general practitioners use computers and hospital doctors do not—Part 1: incentives

Almost all British general practitioners use computer based patient records, but most hospital doctors do not. This review (the first of two) focuses on how, over 30 years, incentives led to enthusiastic adoption of computing by general practitioners but widespread alienation of hospital doctors. #### Summary points Almost all British general practitioners use computers in their consulting rooms, but most hospital doctors do not Over 30 years, leaders of the general practitioner profession have worked with government to provide incentives for computerising practices and to remove barriers In hospitals computing was treated as a management overhead, and doctors had no incentives to become involved The success of the government's plans for “joined up,” computer based health services depends on providing appropriate incentives to hospital doctors This article has had a long gestation. Much of the evidence comes from my experience over nearly 30 years, first as leader of the computer evaluation unit at the Charing Cross Hospital, London (1974-80), then as a general practice system supplier (1980-90), and as a supplier of clinical information systems for hospital doctors (1990-9). An initial version of the article was written in 1993 and extended for the NHS Executive's integrated clinical workstation project 1995. A later version was presented at the AMIA Symposium, Washington DC, November 2001 (proceedings, pp 42-6). Wanless pointed out Britain's particularly poor record on the use of information technologies in the health service and called for an immediate doubling of expenditure on computing.1 The Department of Health has responded with a new national strategy to deliver the benefits of working practices supported by information technology and computer based records across the NHS.2 Concern is not limited to Britain: in 2001 the US Institute of Medicine stated that “IT must play a central role … if a substantial improvement in quality is …
Risk Premiums in Dynamic Term Structure Models with Unspanned Macro Risks

type="main"> This paper quantifies how variation in economic activity and inflation in the United States influences the market prices of level, slope, and curvature risks in Treasury markets. We develop a novel arbitrage-free dynamic term structure model in which bond investment decisions are influenced by output and inflation risks that are unspanned by (imperfectly correlated with) information about the shape of the yield curve. Our model reveals that, between 1985 and 2007, these risks accounted for a large portion of the variation in forward terms premiums, and there was pronounced cyclical variation in the market prices of level and slope risks.
Shape Control of Statically Indeterminate Laminated Beams with Piezoelectric Actuators

Based on the cantilever beam solution and principles of superposition, analytical expressions for the displacements of statically indeterminate laminated beams with piezoelectric actuators are derived. Necessary optimality conditions determining the input voltages for shape matching are developed. The formulation allows for the effect of transverse shear deformation through the adoption of the first-order shear deformation beam theory. The effect of the thickness of the piezoelectric patch actuators is also taken into consideration for better accuracy. Optimal voltages for shape matching are obtained for beams with three different sets of boundary conditions, namely (1) beam with both ends clamped, (2) beam with one end clamped and the other end hinged, and (3) beam with one end clamped and the other end roller supported. The formulation allows for the handling of upper and lower bounds on the voltages, as in practice these voltages are constrained due to cost and material constraints. The solution procedure developed in this study can be extended to any beam with at least one clamped support, including multispan beams.
Combined Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid Chelation, Phototherapeutic Keratectomy and Amniotic Membrane Transplantation for Treatment of Band Keratopathy

Purpose The objective of this study is to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) chelation and excimer laser phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) combined with amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) for the treatment of band keratopathy (BK). Methods Eleven eyes in ten patients with BK received combined PTK (ablation zone of central 7.0-7.5 mm, depth of 50 µm), EDTA chelation (0.05 M, 3 minutes), and amniotic membrane transplantation using fibrin glue. Preand postoperative best corrected visual acuities, symptom changes, reepithelialization time, cosmesis, recurrence, and complications were analyzed. Results Visual acuity improved in three eyes (27.3%) and did not change in eight eyes (72.7%). Symptoms improved in all patients, and the mean reepithelialization time was 10.6±5.3 days. The cosmetic results were good in eight eyes (72.7%) and were fair in three eyes (27.3%). During the mean follow-up period of 11.4±6.1 months (range, 6 to 23 months), no postoperative complications or recurrences were observed. Conclusions The combination of EDTA chelation, PTK, and AMT is safe and effective for the treatment of band keratopathy.
Olfaction and the "data" memory system in rats.

A set of studies was conducted to characterize the memory system involved in successive olfactory discrimination learning in rats. Two odors emanated from different arms of a radial maze; one of the arms contained a water reward. After training on four or five pairs of odors (20 trials per day), rats learned to discriminate the members of a new pair in 5-10 trials. Experiments in which either member of the pair was compared with a novel cue indicated that the rats learn both positive and negative odors, rather than simply ignoring the negative cue. The memories for the odors were apparently persistent, and no evidence for retroactive interference from subsequent training was obtained. Training on 30 pairs did not result in any slowing of subsequent learning, which suggest that the capacity of the memory system for odors is substantial. In a second group of experiments, we tested whether rats distinguish between odors by identifying unshared subcomponents or instead treat odors in a gestalt (i.e., unitary) fashion. Animals trained on three component odors with two in common did not recognize the elements that were unshared when these were presented by themselves. Even when one of the two shared components was combined with the differentiating component into a cue (i.e., two thirds of the original three-component odor), the new cue was treated as a novel odor. However, inclusion of a previously learned simple odor in a complex odor did affect the learning of that odor. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Trends in lipid management among patients with coronary artery disease: has diabetes received the attention it deserves?

OBJECTIVE To examine lipid management trends for coronary artery disease (CAD) patients with and without diabetes in order to determine whether those with diabetes are beginning to receive aggressive lipid management consistent with their elevated risk. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We used outpatient medical record data from 47,813 CAD patients seen at 295 medical practices participating in the Quality Assurance Program II between 1996 and 1998. Lipid testing rates, lipid treatment rates, and serum lipid concentrations are described for CAD patients with and without diabetes within strata of office visit date. RESULTS Lipid testing and treatment rates increased and mean lipid levels decreased markedly over time. Those with diabetes were 26% less likely to have a lipid profile and 17% less likely to receive a lipid-lowering medication than their nondiabetic counterparts, and this disparity did not diminish over time. Among treated patients, mean non-HDL cholesterol (non-HDL-C) and LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) declined less rapidly over time for patients with than without diabetes. CONCLUSIONS Although impressive progress was made in the outpatient lipid management of CAD patients, lipid management for CAD patients with diabetes improved no more rapidly, and in some cases less rapidly, than for nondiabetic patients. Given their higher risk, more effort is needed to ensure that CAD patients with diabetes receive aggressive lipid management.
Distribution of labile dissolved organic carbon in Lake Michigan

1973. Handbook of phycological Grazing, growth, and ammonium excretion rates methods. Cambridge. of a heterotrophic microflagellate fed with four species of bacteria. Abstract-Bioassay-measured, labile dissolved organic carbon (LDOC) concentrations were compared in near-bottom and near-surface Lake Michigan water between April and October 1986. In five of seven experiments, the LDOC concentration was higher in near-bottom water. LDOC reached 40.2% of the total DOC pool in the near-bottom water in late May and 13.8% in the near-surface water in early July. Concentration in near-bottom water was highest during early stratification; concentration in surface water varied less but was highest in early July. The data suggest that an allochthonous source of labile organic C may be important. Identifying primary sources of labile dissolved organic carbon (LDOC) in pelagic systems has taken on new interest in light of recent evidence that a major portion of the C fixed via autotrophic production passes through heterotrophic bacteria (Love11 and of LDOC to primary consumers captures C that might otherwise be lost. Recently, we reported that in Lake Mich-igan a disequilibrium between phytoplank-ton organic C production (supply) and bacterial C use (demand) on seasonal and spatial scales may exist (Scavia and Laird 1987).
Reversibly Immortalized Mouse Articular Chondrocytes Acquire Long-Term Proliferative Capability While Retaining Chondrogenic Phenotype

Cartilage tissue engineering holds great promise for treating cartilaginous pathologies including degenerative disorders and traumatic injuries. Effective cartilage regeneration requires an optimal combination of biomaterial scaffolds, chondrogenic seed cells, and biofactors. Obtaining sufficient chondrocytes remains a major challenge due to the limited proliferative capability of primary chondrocytes. Here we investigate if reversibly immortalized mouse articular chondrocytes (iMACs) acquire long-term proliferative capability while retaining the chondrogenic phenotype. Primary mouse articular chondrocytes (MACs) can be efficiently immortalized with a retroviral vector-expressing SV40 large T antigen flanked with Cre/loxP sites. iMACs exhibit long-term proliferation in culture, although the immortalization phenotype can be reversed by Cre recombinase. iMACs express the chondrocyte markers Col2a1 and aggrecan and produce chondroid matrix in micromass culture. iMACs form subcutaneous cartilaginous masses in athymic mice. Histologic analysis and chondroid matrix staining demonstrate that iMACs can survive, proliferate, and produce chondroid matrix. The chondrogenic growth factor BMP2 promotes iMACs to produce more mature chondroid matrix resembling mature articular cartilage. Taken together, our results demonstrate that iMACs acquire long-term proliferative capability without losing the intrinsic chondrogenic features of MACs. Thus, iMACs provide a valuable cellular platform to optimize biomaterial scaffolds for cartilage regeneration, to identify biofactors that promote the proliferation and differentiation of chondrogenic progenitors, and to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying chondrogenesis.
Electric current mapping using the acousto-electric effect

Conventional methods for mapping cardiac current fields lack either spatial resolution (e.g. ECG) or are time consuming (e.g., intra-cardiac catheter electrode mapping). We present a method based on the acousto-electric effect (AEE) with potential for rapid mapping of current fields in the heart with high spatial resolution. The AEE is a pressure-induced conductivity modulation, in which focused ultrasound can be used as a spatially localized pressure source. When an ultrasound beam is focused between a pair of recording electrodes in a homogeneous conductive medium, an induced voltage will be produced due to the pressure-modulated conductivity and local current density. The amplitude of the voltage change should be proportional to fluctuations in current density, such as those generated during the cardiac cycle, in the region of focused ultrasound. Preliminary experiments demonstrate the feasibility of this method. A 540 kHz ultrasound transducer is focused between two tin electrodes lying parallel to the beam axis. These electrodes inject current into a 0.9% saline solution. A pair of insulated stainless steel electrodes exposed at the tip is used to record voltage. To simulate a cardiac current, a low frequency current waveform is injected into the sample such that the peak current density (8 mA/cm2) approximates cardiac currents. The transducer is pulsed at different delays after waveform initiation. Delays are chosen such that the low frequency waveform is adequately sampled. Using this approach an emulated ECG waveform has been successfully reconstructed from the ultrasound modulated voltage traces.
A Type-2 Self-Organizing Neural Fuzzy System and Its FPGA Implementation

This paper proposes a type-2 self-organizing neural fuzzy system (T2SONFS) and its hardware implementation. The antecedent parts in each T2SONFS fuzzy rule are interval type-2 fuzzy sets, and the consequent part is of Mamdani type. Using interval type-2 fuzzy sets in T2SONFS enables it to be more robust than type-1 fuzzy systems. T2SONFS learning consists of structure and parameter identification. For structure identification, an online clustering algorithm is proposed to generate rules automatically and flexibly distribute them in the input space. For parameter identification, a rule-ordered Kalman filter algorithm is proposed to tune the consequent-part parameters. The learned T2SONFS is hardware implemented, and implementation techniques are proposed to simplify the complex computation process of a type-2 fuzzy system. The T2SONFS is applied to nonlinear system identification and truck backing control problems with clean and noisy training data. Comparisons between type-1 and type-2 neural fuzzy systems verify the learning ability and robustness of the T2SONFS. The learned T2SONFS is hardware implemented in a field-programmable gate array chip to verify functionality of the designed circuits.
Hybridization domain construction using curvature estimation

This paper is concerned with the reachability computation for non-linear systems using hybridization. The main idea of hybridization is to approximate a non-linear vector field by a piecewise-affine one. The piecewise-affine vector field is defined by building around the set of current states of the system a simplicial domain and using linear interpolation over its vertices. To achieve a good time-efficiency and accuracy of the reachability computation on the approximate system, it is important to find a simplicial domain which, on one hand, is as large as possible and, on the other hand, guarantees a small interpolation error. In our previous work[8], we proposed a method for constructing hybridization domains based on the curvature of the dynamics and showed how the method can be applied to quadratic systems. In this paper we pursue this work further and present two main results. First, we prove an optimality property of the domain construction method for a class of quadratic systems. Second, we propose an algorithm of curvature estimation for more general non-linear systems with non-constant Hessian matrices. This estimation can then be used to determine efficient hybridization domains. We also describe some experimental results to illustrate the main ideas of the algorithm as well as its performance.
Latent difference score structural models for linear dynamic analyses with incomplete longitudinal data.

These latent difference score analyses were previously presented to the International Society for Behavioral Development, Bern, Switzerland, in July 1998, and at the Amer­ ican Psychological Association conference "New Methods for the of Change," Pennsylvania State University, in October 1998. This research was supported by Grants AG02695, AG04704, and AG07137 from the National Institute on Aging. These Na­ tional Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) data were selected by Patrick Curran of Duke University for a presentation on comparative longitudinal analyses at the for Research on Child Development in April 1997. All NLSY data used here are and the computer program sCripts used here are available from John ]. McArdle, so all analyses should be relatively easy to reproduce from the available files or from the original data. We thank our colleagues John R. Nesselroade, Paolo Ghisletta, and Patrick CUrran for their comments on drafts of this chapter.