Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lateralizing ability of single-voxel proton mr spectroscopy in hippocampal sclerosis: comparison with mr imaging and positron emission tomography.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Proton MR spectroscopy (MRS) is still in the early stages in the evaluation of epilepsy, and comparisons with MR imaging and positron emission tomography (PET) in the same patients have rarely been documented. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the lateralizing ability of single-voxel MRS in comparison with MR imaging and PET in patients with hippocampal sclerosis. METHODS Thirty-three patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy whose MR imaging diagnosis was unilateral hippocampal sclerosis and who underwent anterior temporal lobectomy and had good postsurgical outcome over 1-year follow-up were included in the study. MR spectra were obtained from the hippocampus bilaterally, using the point-resolved spectroscopy sequence. Metabolite ratios of NAA/Cho and NAA/Cr were calculated from the relative peak height measurements. An NAA/Cho ratio of 0.8 or less and an NAA/Cr ratio of 1.0 or less were regarded as abnormal. The MRS results were compared retrospectively with those of MR imaging and PET as to the ability to lateralize the epileptogenic focus. RESULTS The sensitivity of MRS and PET (concordance with MR imaging) was 85% each in the lateralization of the ipsilateral lesion side. Bilateral abnormalities were seen in 30% of the patients. False-lateralization rates for MRS and PET were 3% and 6%, respectively. The concordance rate of MRS and PET was 73%, when comparing the results of the ipsilateral lesion side. CONCLUSION MRS may be used as an adjunct tool in the evaluation of hippocampal sclerosis, like PET, although its sensitivity has to be improved and the clinical significance of bilateral abnormality is still to be determined.
Direct measurements of stacking-fault energies from observations of dislocation nodes

Abstract From measurements of the radius of curvature of extended dislocation nodes observed by transmission electron microscopy, stacking-fault energies have been determined for a number of copper and silver base aluminium and zinc solid solution alloys and also for a number of nickel-cobalt alloys. Rough estimates of about 40, 25 and 150 erg cm−2 respectively can be made of the stacking-fault energies of copper, silver and nickel. The accuracy of the measurement and the possibility of segregation of solute atoms to stacking faults are discussed.
Gender Classification Based on Eye Movements: A Processing Effect During Passive Face Viewing

Studies have revealed superior face recognition skills in females, partially due to their different eye movement strategies when encoding faces. In the current study, we utilized these slight but important differences and proposed a model that estimates the gender of the viewers and classifies them into two subgroups, males and females. An eye tracker recorded participant’s eye movements while they viewed images of faces. Regions of interest (ROIs) were defined for each face. Results showed that the gender dissimilarity in eye movements was not due to differences in frequency of fixations in the ROI s per se. Instead, it was caused by dissimilarity in saccade paths between the ROIs. The difference enhanced when saccades were towards the eyes. Females showed significant increase in transitions from other ROI s to the eyes. Consequently, the extraction of temporal transient information of saccade paths through a transition probability matrix, similar to a first order Markov chain model, significantly improved the accuracy of the gender classification results.
Atomistic simulation of the torsion deformation of carbon nanotubes

A significant amount of work has been done in the past decade to reveal the unique structural and mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes and to explore what might be the key applications of these novel materials. Due to the difficulty in developing experimental techniques, there is still no report on the measured values of shear modulus of carbon nanotubes. In this paper, the mechanical behaviour characteristic of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) under torsion is simulated with a molecular dynamics method. The results show that the shear modulus of a CNT increases as the radius of the CNT enlarges. The value of the shear modulus of the CNT changes from 370 to 500 GPa. The shear modulus of a zigzag CNT is higher than that of an arm-chair CNT. The micro-mechanism of the nanotube buckling under torsion is explained from the viewpoints of energy and structure distortion. It is clearly observed that the atoms in the section move with coplanar displacements before the structure buckles. After the buckling of the CNT, the whole section collapses like a dumbbell and the atoms move with off-plane displacements. This deformation behaviour is similar to the torsion deformation of a thin shell in continuum mechanics. The asymmetric distribution of the system energy induces the buckling of the structure.
Plasma 3-nitrotyrosine, urinary 8-isoprostane and 8-OHdG among healthy Japanese people

To examine the relation between lifestyle factors and oxidative stress biomarkers, this study analysed plasma 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT), urinary 8-isoprostane and 8-hydroxy-2’- deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) of 323 healthy Japanese without any disease. Plasma 3-NT was significantly increased by excessive exercise (p=0.010), but it was not significantly different in terms of sex, age (< 40, ≧40), BMI (<18.5, 18.5–24.9, ≧25.0), smoking (non-smokers, smokers) and alcohol drinking per week (non-drinkers, <10 units, ≧10 units). Urinary 8-isoprostane was significantly associated with alcohol drinking (p <0.01) and sex (p <0.01), although it had no significant relevance to age and exercise. Moreover, urinary 8-OHdG was positively associated with age (p <0.05) and negatively associated with BMI (p <0.05) and fasting insulin (p <0.001). However, it was not related with sex, smoking, alcohol drinking and exercise. In conclusion, the present results suggest that 3-NT, 8-isoprostane and 8-OHdG seem to be useful biomarkers for early prediction of lifestyle-related disease risk at the population level.
Important role of force/velocity characteristics in sensory-motor coordination for control design of object manipulation by a multi-fingered robot hand

The purpose of this paper is in duplicate to present computer simulation results of concurrent grasp and object manipulation by a pair of three degrees of freedom (3-dof) robot fingers with rigid hemispherical finger-ends that induce rolling contacts with an object and propose a guidance of gain tuning. Although the existence of a class of sensory feedback signals that realize stable grasp and orientation control of the object concurrently has been shown theoretically, the problem of tuning of their feedback gains has not yet been solved. This paper proposes a guideline for tuning sensory feedback gains by deriving a relationship between the object mass and damping coefficients of finger motions through analyzing the overall fingers-object dynamics and taking into account the well-known force/velocity characteristics of human muscle in muscle physiology.
ECO: A Generic Eutrophication Model Including Comprehensive Sediment-Water Interaction

The content and calibration of the comprehensive generic 3D eutrophication model ECO for water and sediment quality is presented. Based on a computational grid for water and sediment, ECO is used as a tool for water quality management to simulate concentrations and mass fluxes of nutrients (N, P, Si), phytoplankton species, detrital organic matter, electron acceptors and related substances. ECO combines integral simulation of water and sediment quality with sediment diagenesis and closed mass balances. Its advanced process formulations for substances in the water column and the bed sediment were developed to allow for a much more dynamic calculation of the sediment-water exchange fluxes of nutrients as resulting from steep concentration gradients across the sediment-water interface than is possible with other eutrophication models. ECO is to more accurately calculate the accumulation of organic matter and nutrients in the sediment, and to allow for more accurate prediction of phytoplankton biomass and water quality in response to mitigative measures such as nutrient load reduction. ECO was calibrated for shallow Lake Veluwe (The Netherlands). Due to restoration measures this lake underwent a transition from hypertrophic conditions to moderately eutrophic conditions, leading to the extensive colonization by submerged macrophytes. ECO reproduces observed water quality well for the transition period of ten years. The values of its process coefficients are in line with ranges derived from literature. ECO’s calculation results underline the importance of redox processes and phosphate speciation for the nutrient return fluxes. Among other things, the results suggest that authigenic formation of a stable apatite-like mineral in the sediment can contribute significantly to oligotrophication of a lake after a phosphorus load reduction.
Isolation and characterization of a plasmid involved with enterotoxin B production in Staphylococcus aureus

Genetic analysis and molecular characterization of plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was performed in a toxigenic isolate of Staphylococcus aureus strain DU4916. Elimination, transduction, and transformation experiments provided us with a series of derivatives similar except for the presence or absence of genes mediating resistance to penicillin (penr), methicillin (mecr), and tetracycline (tetr) and enterotoxin type B (SEB) production (entB+). The derivatives were examined for the presence of a plasmid species which encodes for SEB production. Two distinct species of covalently closed circular DNA of about 2.8 X 10(6) and 0.75 X 10(6) daltons were identified in an ethidium bromide-cured, penicillinase-negative (pens) isolate, SN109 (mecr tetr emtB+). Further segregation of either methicillin resistance or tetracycline resistance or of both together resulted in the loss of SEB production and the disappearance of both plasmids. Transduction from strain SN109 showed that determinants for tetracycline resistance are carried by the 2.8 X 10(6) dalton plasmid. Transformation with covalently closed circular DNA from strain SN109 yielded mecs tetr entB- transformants harboring the tetracycline resistance plasmid alone and mecr tetr entB+ transformants harboring both the tetracycline resistance and the 0.75 X 10(6)-dalton plasmid. Further segregation of methicillin resistance in transformants was not associated with any change in plasmid DNA. The results indicate that a genetic determinant for SEB production is carried by the 0.75 X 10(6)-dalton plasmid. It is possible, however, that this plasmid cannot be maintained in the host independently from the tetracycline resistance plasmid. Methicillin resistance in the strains examined could not be ascribed to any of the covalently closed circular DNA components resolved in strain DU4916.
The Effect of Nitridation on SiC MOS Oxides as Evaluated by Charge Pumping

We have analyzed the effect of post-oxidation nitride anneals (usually with either NO or N2O gases) on SiC MOSFETs. Two 4H:SiC wafers were identically prepared except that one wafer had a nitridation anneal after the gate oxide was formed, while the other was tested as-oxidized. We compared the two processes by making measurements on lateral MOSFETs and MOS capacitors using ID-VGS, C-V, and charge pumping. There was no change in either flatband voltage or interface trap density near the valence band, suggesting that the net fixed charge remained constant (within a few 1011cm-2). However, there was a large shift in the threshold voltage which, when combined with the C-V results, indicates a strong reduction of interface traps near the conduction band of roughly 6.0x1012cm-2 by using the nitridation process. The charge pumping measurements also showed a strong reduction of interface traps. Charge pumping measured a trapping density of 2.5x1012cm-2 for the as-oxidized samples and 5.3x1011cm-2 for the nitrided samples. The frequency-dependence of the charge pumping signal also indicates a spatial distribution of traps, with volumetric trap densities of roughly 1.3x1019cm-3 over 25Å on as-oxidized and 3.8x1018cm-3 over 19Å for nitrided.
Contrast-Ultrasound Diffusion Imaging for Localization of Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer in western men. An accurate early localization of prostate cancer, permitting efficient use of modern focal therapies, is currently hampered by a lack of imaging methods. Several methods have aimed at detecting microvascular changes associated with prostate cancer with limited success by quantitative imaging of blood perfusion. Differently, we propose contrast-ultrasound diffusion imaging, based on the hypothesis that the complexity of microvascular changes is better reflected by diffusion than by perfusion characteristics. Quantification of local, intravascular diffusion is performed after transrectal ultrasound imaging of an intravenously injected ultrasound contrast agent bolus. Indicator dilution curves are measured with the ultrasound scanner resolution and fitted by a modified local density random walk model, which, being a solution of the convective diffusion equation, enables the estimation of a local, diffusion-related parameter. Diffusion parametric images obtained from five datasets of four patients were compared with histology data on a pixel basis. The resulting receiver operating characteristic (curve area = 0.91) was superior to that of any perfusion-related parameter proposed in the literature. Contrast-ultrasound diffusion imaging seems therefore to be a promising method for prostate cancer localization, encouraging further research to assess the clinical reliability.
The large vestibular aqueduct – case report and review of the literature

Patients with a large vestibular aqueduct (LVA) suffer from a loss of hearing in childhood at an early onset. An acute loss of hearing can be precipitated by minor head trauma. Until now there seems to be no sufficient therapy for stopping the progression of a loss of hearing. It has been shown that a cochlear implantation is a worthwhile procedure if the patient is almost deaf. We report the case of a patient with a bilateral LVA. A loss of hearing was confirmed at the age of 16 months. Exposure to loud noise triggered an acute progression of the hearing loss. At the age of 18 years, LVA was confirmed radiologically, revealing an enlarged endolymphatic duct and sac in MRI scans and an enlarged vestibular aqueduct in the CT scan. We successfully performed a cochlear implant (MED-EL, Combi 40+ flex). Proceeding from this case report, the paper reviews the literature on LVA.
Citation for Published Item: Publisher's Copyright Statement: Use Policy Development of the Mouse Dermal Adipose Layer Occurs Independently of Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue and Is Marked by Restricted Early Expression of Fabp4

'Development of the mouse dermal adipose layer occurs independently of subcutaneous adipose tissue and is marked by restricted early expression of FABP4. ', PLoS ONE. , 8 (3). e59811. c 2013 Wojciechowicz et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Abstract The laboratory mouse is a key animal model for studies of adipose biology, metabolism and disease, yet the developmental changes that occur in tissues and cells that become the adipose layer in mouse skin have received little attention. Moreover, the terminology around this adipose body is often confusing, as frequently no distinction is made between adipose tissue within the skin, and so called subcutaneous fat. Here adipocyte development in mouse dorsal skin was investigated from before birth to the end of the first hair follicle growth cycle. Using Oil Red O staining, immunohistochemistry, quantitative RT-PCR and TUNEL staining we confirmed previous observations of a close spatio-temporal link between hair follicle development and the process of adipogenesis. However, unlike previous studies, we observed that the skin adipose layer was created from cells within the lower dermis. By day 16 of embryonic development (e16) the lower dermis was demarcated from the upper dermal layer, and commitment to adipogenesis in the lower dermis was signalled by expression of FABP4, a marker of adipocyte differentiation. In mature mice the skin adipose layer is separated from underlying subcutaneous adipose tissue by the panniculus carnosus. We observed that the skin adipose tissue did not combine or intermix with subcutaneous adipose tissue at any developmental time point. By transplanting skin isolated from e14.5 mice (prior to the start of adipogenesis), under the kidney capsule of adult mice, we showed that skin adipose tissue develops independently and without influence from …
Uniting functional network topology and oscillations in the fronto-parietal single unit network of behaving primates

The functional communication of neurons in cortical networks underlies higher cognitive processes. Yet, little is known about the organization of the single neuron network or its relationship to the synchronization processes that are essential for its formation. Here, we show that the functional single neuron network of three fronto-parietal areas during active behavior of macaque monkeys is highly complex. The network was closely connected (small-world) and consisted of functional modules spanning these areas. Surprisingly, the importance of different neurons to the network was highly heterogeneous with a small number of neurons contributing strongly to the network function (hubs), which were in turn strongly inter-connected (rich-club). Examination of the network synchronization revealed that the identified rich-club consisted of neurons that were synchronized in the beta or low frequency range, whereas other neurons were mostly non-oscillatory synchronized. Therefore, oscillatory synchrony may be a central communication mechanism for highly organized functional spiking networks. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.15719. 001
Determination of MICs of Aminocandin for Candida spp. and Filamentous Fungi

ABSTRACT Candida and Aspergillus spp. , as well as other filamentous molds, have increasingly been reported as the causes of severe invasive fungal infections. We evaluated the new echinocandin aminocandin (AMN) for its antifungal activities against a range of fungal pathogens by determination of the MICs for the organisms. The MICs of the comparator drugs amphotericin B, caspofungin, micafungin, and voriconazole were also determined. The MICs of AMN for 25 strains each of non-Candida albicans Candida spp. (including Candida parapsilosis, Candida krusei, Candida guilliermondii, and Candida tropicalis), Aspergillus fumigatus, Scedosporium spp. , Fusarium spp. , and zygomycetes (including Absidia, Mucor, and Rhizopus spp.) were determined by using the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute M27-A2 and M38-A methodologies for yeasts and filamentous molds, respectively. The MIC ranges of AMN for all yeasts were similar (0.03 to 4.0 μg/ml), while the MIC ranges of AMN for filamentous fungi were species specific. AMN demonstrated potent antifungal activity against A. fumigatus, limited activity against Scedosporium spp. , and no activity against zygomycetes or Fusarium spp. Our data showed that AMN demonstrated potent antifungal activities against all of the yeasts and Aspergillus isolates tested, suggesting that AMN could be an important addition to our arsenal of antifungals for the treatment of invasive fungal disease.
Vitronectin at sites of cell-substrate contact in cultures of rat myotubes

Affinity-purified antibodies to the serum glycoprotein, vitronectin, were used to study sites of cell-substrate contact in cultures of rat myotubes and fibroblasts. Cells were removed from the substrate by treatment with saponin, leaving fragments of plasma membrane attached to the glass coverslip. When stained for vitronectin by indirect immunofluorescence, large areas of the substrate were brightly labeled. The focal contacts of fibroblasts and the broad adhesion plaques of myotubes appeared black, however, indicating that the antibodies had failed to react with those areas. Contact sites within the adhesion plaque remained unlabeled after saponin-treated samples were extracted with Triton X-100, or after intact cultures were sheared with a stream of fixative. These procedures expose extracellular macromolecules at the cell-substrate interface, which can then be labeled with concanavalin A. In contrast, when samples were sheared and then sonicated to remove all the cellular material from the coverslip, the entire substrate labeled extensively and almost uniformly with anti- vitronectin. Extracellular molecules associated with substrate contacts were also studied after freeze-fracture, using a technique we term "post-release fracture labeling. " Platinum replicas of the external membrane were removed from the glass with hydrofluoric acid to expose the extracellular material. Anti-vitronectin, bound to the replicas and visualized by a second antibody conjugated to colloidal gold, labeled the broad areas of close myotube-substrate attachment and the nearby glass equally well. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that vitronectin is present at all sites of cell-substrate contact, but that its antigenic sites are obscured by material deposited by both myotube and fibroblast cells.
Cochlear implants in the second and third millennia

Much has been achieved in the Second Millennium in the development of cochlear implants for profoundly deaf people, but further advances in the Third Millennium should result in most severely to profoundly deaf people being able to communicate effectively in a hearing community. The and a of electrical stimulus currents in an array of electrodes inserted around the basal of
Developmental acquisition of entrainment skills in robot swinging using van der Pol oscillators

In this study we investigated the effects of different morphological configurations on a robot swinging task using van der Pol oscillators. The task was examined using two separate degrees of freedom (DoF), both in the presence and absence of neural entrainment. Neural entrainment stabilises the system, reduces time-to-steady state and relaxes the requirement for a strong coupling with the environment in order to achieve mechanical entrainment. It was found that staged release of the distal DoF does not have any benefits over using both DoF from the onset of the experimentation. On the contrary, it is less efficient, both with respect to the time needed to reach a stable oscillatory regime and the maximum amplitude it can achieve. The same neural architecture is successful in achieving neuromechanical entrainment for a robotic walking task.