Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integration of Structural and Functional MRI Features Improves Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) Detection

Structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) and functional MRI (fMRI) based features toward identification of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) status has gained popularity due to its non-invasiveness allowing repeated measurements. Despite of this great potential, however an effort to integrate the sMRI- and fMRI-based features to increase MCI detection accuracy has been limited. In this study, we were motivated to investigate whether the detection capability of the MCI status can be improved via the integration of feature sets from sMRI and fMRI data. The characteristic traits of regional volumes and level of neuronal activity of the brain associated with the MCI in comparison to healthy control were exploited using sMRI and fMRI data, respectively, in which these characteristic traits (i.e., biomarkers) were identified from group comparison via two-sample t-test. In the subsequent classification phase, the MCI status were automatically detected using a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm employing the identified sMRI- and fMRI-driven biomarkers as input features vectors. The results indicate that the fMRI-based biomarkers appear to increase the detection accuracy of the MCI status than the sMRI-based biomarkers. Moreover, the integrated feature sets using the sMRI- and fMRI-based biomarkers constantly showed superior performance than the feature sets based on the fMRI-driven biomarkers. This study successfully demonstrated an anecdotal evidence that the integration of the sMRI and fMRI modalities can provide a supplemental information toward diagnosis of the MCI status compared to either the sMRI or fMRI modality.
A test to estimate VO2max in females using aerobic dance, heart rate, BMI, and age.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this investigation was to develop a sub-maximal exercise test for estimating VO2max utilizing aerobic dance. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN One hundred females between the ages 18 to 40 yr served as the subjects for test validation. The subjects completed a treadmill test to determine VO2max and were assessed for heart rate (HR) response to a bout of aerobic dance. The data associated with responses to treadmill exercise and the aerobic dance test, in conjunction with descriptive variables (e.g., age, BMI) were utilized in the validation of the multiple regression model. MEASURES Reliability was determined by correlation and paired "t"-tests of the aerobic dance routine test and retest trials. The construction of the multiple regression equation, via forward entry analysis, and the cross-validation of the regression equation were completed to ensure the validity and reliability of the protocol in accurately estimating VO2max. RESULTS Test, retest reliability for the dance-exercise routine was demonstrated (r = 0.98). Moreover, no significant differences were shown between the HR responses for the test and retest trials. The multiple regression analysis yielded a three variable multiple prediction equation for estimating VO2max (R = 0.84; SEE, 5.5 ml.kg-1.min-1). The three variables were the HR response to four min of aerobic dance (HR4), body mass index (BMI), and age (years). Cross-validation of the aerobic dance test was determined with a second group of 50 female subjects (R = 0.83; SEE, 5.5 ml.kg-1.min-1). Additionally, the application of the validation group regression equation to the cross-validation group yielded a comparable R of 0.82. Comparison of the predicted values for VO2max from both equations also yielded a highly significant invariance coefficient of 0.96. Finally, the results of "t"-tests between the observed and predicted mean values for VO2max revealed no significant difference (p > 0.05). Therefore, the final prediction equation, based on collapsing the means associated with the validation and cross validation samples (n = 150), was: VO2max (ml.kg-1.min-1) = 130.18-(0.38 * HR4)-(0.81 * BMI)-(0.27 * Age); R = 0.84, SEE = 5.5 ml.kg-1.min-1. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that a four minute aerobic dance test provides a valid and reliable sub-maximal protocol for estimating VO2max and providing an index of aerobic fitness in apparently healthy 18 to 40 yr old females.
Comprehensive Analysis of Aspergillus nidulans PKA Phosphorylome Identifies a Novel Mode of CreA Regulation

The cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway is well conserved across eukaryotes, and previous work has shown that it plays an important role in regulating development, growth, and virulence in a number of fungi. PKA is activated in response to extracellular nutrients and acts to regulate metabolism and growth. While a number of components in the PKA pathway have been defined in filamentous fungi, current understanding does not provide a global perspective on PKA function. Thus, this work is significant in that it comprehensively identifies proteins and functional pathways regulated by PKA in a model filamentous fungus. This information enhances our understanding of PKA action and may provide information on how to manipulate it for specific purposes. ABSTRACT In filamentous fungi, an important kinase responsible for adaptation to changes in available nutrients is cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase (protein kinase A [PKA]). This kinase has been well characterized at a molecular level, but its systemic action and direct/indirect targets are generally not well understood in filamentous fungi. In this work, we used a pkaA deletion strain (ΔpkaA) to identify Aspergillus nidulans proteins for which phosphorylation is dependent (either directly or indirectly) on PKA. A combination of phosphoproteomic and transcriptomic analyses revealed both direct and indirect targets of PKA and provided a global perspective on its function. One of these targets was the transcription factor CreA, the main repressor responsible for carbon catabolite repression (CCR). In the ΔpkaA strain, we identified a previously unreported phosphosite in CreA, S319, which (based on motif analysis) appears to be a direct target of Stk22 kinase (AN5728). Upon replacement of CreA S319 with an alanine (i.e., phosphonull mutant), the dynamics of CreA import to the nucleus are affected. Collectively, this work provides a global overview of PKA function while also providing novel insight regarding significance of a specific PKA-mediated phosphorylation event. IMPORTANCE The cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway is well conserved across eukaryotes, and previous work has shown that it plays an important role in regulating development, growth, and virulence in a number of fungi. PKA is activated in response to extracellular nutrients and acts to regulate metabolism and growth. While a number of components in the PKA pathway have been defined in filamentous fungi, current understanding does not provide a global perspective on PKA function. Thus, this work is significant in that it comprehensively identifies proteins and functional pathways regulated by PKA in a model filamentous fungus. This information enhances our understanding of PKA action and may provide information on how to manipulate it for specific purposes.
Contracting in the Shadow of the Law

Economic models of contract typically assume that courts enforce obligations based on verifiable events (corresponding to the legal rule of specific performance). As a matter of law, this is not the case. This leaves open the question of optimal contract design given the available remedies used by the courts. This paper shows that American standard form construction contracts can be viewed as an efficient mechanism for implementing building projects given existing legal rules. It is shown that a central feature of these contracts is the inclusion of governance covenants that shape the scope of authority, and regulate the ex post bargaining power of parties. Our model also implies that the legal remedies of mistake, impossibility and the doctrine limiting damages for unforeseen events developed in the case of Hadley vs. Baxendale are efficient solutions to the problem of implementing complex exchange.
Broad-band fragmented aperture phased array element design using genetic algorithms

In this paper, a synthesis procedure to design thin broad-band fragmented aperture array elements is described. The arrays are assumed to be infinite periodic and the elements consist of a conducting pattern etched on a dielectric backed by a groundplane. A genetic algorithm (GA) is used to design the conducting pattern, relative permittivity, and thickness of the dielectric substrate with respect to array scan and bandwidth performance. The fitness function in the GA is evaluated using a finite-difference time-domain code with periodic boundary conditions. For a substrate thicker than about 0.1 /spl lambda//sub L/ (/spl lambda//sub L/= wavelength at the lowest frequency in the frequency band investigated), it was found that a bandwidth of at least one octave can be obtained for arrays scanned within 45/spl deg/ from broadside.
Utterance-Level Multimodal Sentiment Analysis

During real-life interactions, people are naturally gesturing and modulating their voice to emphasize specific points or to express their emotions. With the recent growth of social websites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Amazon, video reviews are emerging as a new source of multimodal and natural opinions that has been left almost untapped by automatic opinion analysis techniques. This paper presents a method for multimodal sentiment classification, which can identify the sentiment expressed in utterance-level visual datastreams. Using a new multimodal dataset consisting of sentiment annotated utterances extracted from video reviews, we show that multimodal sentiment analysis can be effectively performed, and that the joint use of visual, acoustic, and linguistic modalities can lead to error rate reductions of up to 10.5% as compared to the best performing individual modality.
Calpain Inhibitor Reduces Cancer-induced Bone Pain Possibly Through Inhibition of Osteoclastogenesis in Rat Cancer-induced Bone Pain Model

Background:Calpain, a calcium-dependent cysteine protease, has been demonstrated to regulate osteoclastogenesis, which is considered one of the major reasons for cancer-induced bone pain (CIBP). In the present study, calpain inhibitor was applied in a rat CIBP model to determine whether it could reduce CIBP through regulation of osteoclastogenesis activity. Methods:A rat CIBP model was established with intratibial injection of Walker 256 cells. Then, the efficacy of intraperitoneal administered calpain inhibitor III (MDL28170, 1 mg/kg) on mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) of bilateral hind paws was examined on postoperative days (PODs) 2, 5, 8, 11, and 14. On POD 14, the calpain inhibitor's effect on tumor bone tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) stain and radiology was also carefully investigated. Results:Pain behavioral tests in rats showed that the calpain inhibitor effectively attenuated MWTs of both the surgical side and contralateral side hind paws on POD 5, 8, and 11 (P < 0.05). TRAP-positive cell count of the surgical side bone was significantly decreased in the calpain inhibitor group compared with the vehicle group (P < 0.05). However, bone resorption and destruction measured by radiographs showed no difference between the two groups. Conclusions:Calpain inhibitor can effectively reduce CIBP of both the surgical side and nonsurgical side after tumor injection in a rat CIBP model. It may be due to the inhibition of receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B ligand-induced osteoclastogenesis. Whether a calpain inhibitor could be a novel therapeutic target to treat CIBP needs further investigation.
Inadequate Coping Attitudes, Disordered Eating Behaviours and Eating Disorders in Type 1 Diabetic Patients

Diabetes mellitus has been found to be the sixth leading cause of death for those living in the United States affecting the young and old at an alarming rate (National Center for Health Statistics, 2011). Type 1 diabetes typically has an early onset in life, but can occur at any age. It primarily develops when the body’s own immune system attacks and destroys pancreatic beta cells, which produce the hormone insulin that regulates blood glucose levels. This type of diabetes accounts for 5 to 10 % of all diagnosed cases. Type 2 diabetes affects mainly adult subjects, its prevalence around the world has increased in relationship with the increase of the prevalence of overweight and obesity, attributed to lifestyle changes such as sedentary habits and overeating. Consequently, diabetes is one of the most challenging and burdensome chronic diseases of the 21st century, and it is a growing threat to the world's public health (King et al, 1995; King et al, 1998). Diabetes mellitus, especially type 1 form represent a very hard experience that requires subsequent psychological adaptation. Unfortunately, this often does not occur and it is followed by frustration and the nonacceptance of the disease. Problems with coping are one of the important consequences of the disease and the cause of uncountable problems in the future. The management of type1 diabetes and its associated health-risk factors are often complex and require considerable patient education and frequent medical monitoring (Koopmanschap, 2002). The participation of the patients is basic in order to obtain a correct degree of metabolic control; however, this carries as a consequence considerable amount of stress. People on insulin must learn how to regulate their blood sugars by monitoring blood glucose levels daily while carefully attending to their food intake and an exercise regimen. Careful blood glucose monitoring is necessary to prevent wide variations in blood sugars that affect both short term and long term health and functioning. Hypoglycaemia reactions are a concern in the short run not only because they are frightening and disruptive, but also because, when severe, they can lead to unconsciousness, coma and death (Cox & GonderFrederick, 1992). The constant stress of maintaining tight glycaemia control can result in two types of psychological distress (a) subclinical emotional distress, and (b) diagnosable psychological disorders (Rubin & Payrot, 2001). Additionally, psychiatric conditions can
Visually distinct patterns with matching subband statistics

A commonly used representation of a visual pattern is a statistical distribution measured from the output of a bank of filters (Gaussian, Laplacian, Gabor, etc.). Both marginal and joint distributions of filter responses have been advocated and effectively used for a variety of vision tasks, including texture classification, texture synthesis, object detection, and image retrieval. This paper examines the ability of these representations to discriminate between an arbitrary pair of visual stimuli. Examples of patterns are derived that provably possess the same marginal and joint statistical properties, yet are "visually distinct. " This is accomplished by showing sufficient conditions for matching the first k moments of the marginal distributions of a pair of images. Then, given a set of filters, we show how to match the marginal statistics of the subband images formed through convolution with the filter set. Next, joint statistics are examined and images with similar joint distributions of subband responses are shown. Finally, distinct periodic patterns are derived that possess approximately the same subband statistics for any arbitrary filter set.
Geospatial images in the acquisition of spatial knowledge for wayfinding

Geospatial images, such as maps and aerial photographs, are important sources of spatial knowledge that people use for wayfinding. The rapid development of geodata acquisition and digital graphics has recently led to rather complete geographic coverage of both traditional and novel types of geospatial images. Divergent types of geospatial images vary in their support of human acquisition of spatial knowledge. However, evaluative studies about the acquisition of spatial knowledge from the diversity of geospatial images have been rare. In this article, we review a variety of literature about the acquisition of spatial knowledge while paying particular attention to the role of geospatial images. Based on the literature, we present a framework of image parameters that characterize the acquisition of spatial knowledge from geospatial images: vantage point, number of visible vertical features, and visual realism. With the help of the framework, we evaluate commonly used geospatial images. In concordance with the previous experiments, our evaluation shows that the different types of geospatial images have large differences in the types of spatial knowledge they support and to what extent. However, further experimentation is needed in order to better understand the human cognitive needs for geospatial images and to develop more useful geospatial images for wayfinding.
Structured hypertext with domain semantics

One important facet of current hypertext research involves using knowledge-based techniques to develop and maintain document structures. A semantic net is one such technique. However, most semantic-net-based hypertext systems leave the linking consistency of the net to individual users. Users without guidance may accidentally introduce structural and relational inconsistencies in the semantic nets. The relational inconsistency hinders the creation of domain information models. The structural inconsistency leads to unstable documents, especially when a document is composed by computation with traversal algorithms. This work tackles to above problems by integrating logical structure and domain semantics into a semantic net. A semantic-net-based structured-hypertext model has been formalized. The model preserves structural and relational consistency after changes to the semantic net. The hypertext system (RICH) based on this model has been implemented and tested. The RICH system can define and enforce a set of rules to maintain to integrity of the semantic net and provide particular support for creating multihierarchies with the reuse of existing contents and structures. Users have found such flexible but enforceable semantics to be helpful.
Capacitive transducer for condition based maintenance after harsh landing events

The objective of this work is to identify design parameters for a capacitive sensor designed to recognize and record helicopter harsh landing events. Harsh landing events are typically associated with landing speeds exceeding 2.5 m/s [1] and require mandatory structural inspection resulting in down-times that could last a week or longer. In cases where no visible damage occurs, harsh-landing events might be difficult to identify and record. This paper presents a finite element analysis of the acceleration profile at different locations of the skid of a Bell 206 L4 helicopter which is then used to design and test a low-cost capacitive sensor for monitoring harsh landing events. Time history and histograms of the acceleration signal during normal and harsh landings are presented. The capacitive accelerometer is designed to operate in the 10g to 360g range. The sensor is integrated directly on a wiring board and is readout by a micro-controller with a capacitive ASIC. Details of the sensor design, fabrication, and testing are presented. The presented material also provides hard-to-find design data on the structural accelerations which can occur during harsh landing.
Do Horses Have a Concept of Person?

Background Animals' ability for cross-modal recognition has recently received much interest. Captive or domestic animals seem able to perceive cues of human attention and appear to have a multisensory perception of humans. Methodology/Principal Findings Here, we used a task where horses have to remain immobile under a vocal order to test whether they are sensitive to the attentional state of the experimenter, but also whether they behave and respond differently to the familiar order when tested by a familiar or an unknown person. Horses' response varied according to the person's attentional state when the order was given by an unknown person: obedience levels were higher when the person giving the order was looking at the horse than when he was not attentive. More interesting is the finding that whatever the condition, horses monitored much more and for longer times the unknown person, as if they were surprised to hear the familiar order given by an unknown voice. Conclusion/Significance These results suggest that recognition of humans may lie in a global, integrated, multisensory representation of specific individuals, that includes visual and vocal identity, but also expectations on the individual's behaviour in a familiar situation.
The Stories They Tell: Story Production Difficulties of Children With ADHD

This study investigated differences in the structure of stories created by children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and their comparison peers. Children created one story without pictorial cues and one with pictorial cues available. Without cues, children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder told fewer stories based on a character’s goal than did comparison children. Even those children who constructed goal-based stories told less coherent stories than did comparison children. With pictorial cues and when controlling for expressive language, the two groups of children did not differ in their production of coherent, goal-based stories. These findings indicate that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have difficulties initiating and sustaining goal plans when they are asked to create stories. Suggestions for future academic interventions are discussed.
Effect of facial neuromuscular re-education on facial symmetry in patients with Bell's palsy: a randomized controlled trial

Objective: To determine the effect of facial neuromuscular re-education over conventional therapeutic measures in improving facial symmetry in patients with Bell's palsy. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Setting: Neurorehabilitation unit. Subjects: Fifty-nine patients diagnosed with Bell's palsy were included in the study after they met the inclusion criteria. Patients were randomly divided into two groups: control (n = 30) and experimental (n = 29). Interventions: Control group patients received conventional therapeutic measures while the facial neuromuscular re-education group patients received techniques that were tailored to each patient in three sessions per day for six days per week for a period of two weeks. Main measures: All the patients were evaluated using a Facial Grading Scale before treatment and after three months. Results: The Facial Grading Scale scores showed significant improvement in both control (mean 32 (range 9.7-54) to 54.5 (42.2-71.7)) and the experimental (33 (18-43.5) to 66 (54-76.7)) group. Facial Grading Scale change scores showed that experimental group (27.5 (20-43.77)) improved significantly more than the control group (16.5 (12.2-24.7)). Analysis of Facial Grading Scale subcomponents did not show statistical significance, except in the movement score (12 (8-16) to 24 (12-18)). Conclusion: Individualized facial neuromuscular re-education is more effective in improving facial symmetry in patients with Bell's palsy than conventional therapeutic measures.