Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pharmacological and toxicological effects of co-exposure of human gingival fibroblasts to silver nanoparticles and sodium fluoride

Background Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and fluoride (F) are pharmacological agents widely used in oral medicine and dental practice due to their anti-microbial/anti-cavity properties. However, risks associated with the co-exposure of local cells and tissues to these xenobiotics are not clear. Therefore, we have evaluated the effects of AgNPs and F co-exposure on human gingival fibroblast cells. Methods Human gingival fibroblast cells (CRL-2014) were exposed to AgNPs and/or F at different concentrations for up to 24 hours. Cellular uptake of AgNPs was examined by transmission electron microscopy. Downstream inflammatory effects and oxidative stress were measured by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Cytotoxicity and apoptosis were measured by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and real-time quantitative PCR and flow cytometry, respectively. Finally, the involvement of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) was studied using Western blot. Results We found that AgNPs penetrated the cell membrane and localized inside the mitochondria. Co-incubation experiments resulted in increased oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis. In addition, we found that co-exposure to both xenobiotics phosphorylated MAPK, particularly p42/44 MAPK. Conclusion A combined exposure of human fibroblasts to AgNPs and F results in increased cellular damage. Further studies are needed in order to evaluate pharmacological and potentially toxicological effects of AgNPs and F on oral health.
User-centered design of a social game to tag music

We present "Herd It", a competitive, online, multi-player game that has the implicit benefit of collecting tags for music. We describe Herd It's user-centered design process and demonstrate that the game can collect both musical and social data. This data can be used to build machine learning models that automatically associate music with tags. Herd It differs from previous "games with a purpose" in that it is designed to be social: the game runs on the Facebook online social network and scoring is based on consensus between a large group of listeners - "the Herd". By presenting music in a social context, Herd It adds demographic context to the semantic music descriptions that it collects.
"Missing is useful": missing values in cost-sensitive decision trees

Many real-world data sets for machine learning and data mining contain missing values and much previous research regards it as a problem and attempts to impute missing values before training and testing. In this paper, we study this issue in cost-sensitive learning that considers both test costs and misclassification costs. If some attributes (tests) are too expensive in obtaining their values, it would be more cost-effective to miss out their values, similar to skipping expensive and risky tests (missing values) in patient diagnosis (classification). That is, "missing is useful" as missing values actually reduces the total cost of tests and misclassifications and, therefore, it is not meaningful to impute their values. We discuss and compare several strategies that utilize only known values and that "missing is useful" for cost reduction in cost-sensitive decision tree learning.
Symbol-Level Multiuser MISO Precoding for Multi-Level Adaptive Modulation

Symbol-level precoding is a new paradigm for multiuser multiple-antenna downlink systems aimed at creating constructive interference among transmitted data streams. This can be enabled by designing the precoded signal of the multiantenna transmitter on a symbol level, taking into account both channel state information and data symbols. Previous literature has studied this paradigm for Mary phase shift keying modulations by addressing various performance metrics, such as power minimization and maximization of the minimum rate. In this paper, we extend this to generic multi-level modulations, i.e., Mary quadrature amplitude modulation by establishing connection to PHY layer multicasting with phase constraints. Furthermore, we address the adaptive modulation schemes which are crucial in enabling the throughput scaling of symbol-level precoded systems. In this direction, we design the signal processing algorithms for minimizing the required power under per-user signal to interference noise ratio or goodput constraints. Extensive numerical results show that the proposed algorithm provides considerable power and energy efficiency gains, while adapting the employed modulation scheme to match the requested data rate.
Bicycle helmet wearing and the risk of head, face, and neck injury: a French case–control study based on a road trauma registry

Background Previous case–control studies on bicycle helmet efficacy are mostly Anglo-Saxon, and based on data from the early 1990s when hard-shell helmets were common. Methods In France, the Rhône county (1.6 million inhabitants) is covered by a road trauma registry that includes emergency department visits, hospital admissions, and fatalities. Over the 1998–2008 period, 13 797 cyclist casualties were identified. The injuries sustained were coded using the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) for injuries to the head (AIS1+ and AIS3+), face (AIS1+), or neck (AIS1+). The study uses a case–control design where the control group includes cyclists injured below the neck—that is, not injured in the region associated with the helmet. We first adjusted for age, gender, and type of crash, as in a previously published Cochrane review. Then we adjusted for injury severity based on non-head, face, or neck injury, and when relevant, for crash location: type of road, urban/rural area. Results The fully adjusted ORs of helmeted versus unhelmeted cyclists are: for AIS1+ head injuries, 0.69 (95% CI 0.59 to 0.81); for AIS3+ head injuries sustained in urban areas, 0.34 (95% CI 0.15 to 0.65), those sustained in rural areas, 0.07 (95% CI 0.02 to 0.23); for AIS1+ facial injuries, 0.72 (95% CI 0.62 to 0.83); and for AIS1+ neck injuries, 1.18 (95% CI 0.94 to 1.47). Conclusion This study confirms the protective effect for head and facial injuries, even though soft-shell helmets have now become more common. The reduction of risk is greater for serious head injuries. The study is inconclusive about the risk for neck injuries.
Synchronization in noisy systems and cardiorespiratory interaction

In this article, we restrict ourselves to an understanding of the synchronization phenomenon as an adjustment of rhythms of two weakly interacting self-sustained oscillators. We describe a unified approach to synchronization of noisy and chaotic systems and demonstrate that this approach can be used to address the inverse problem of identification of the presence of weak interaction between natural systems from bivariate data. In this way, we reveal the presence of weak interactions between the human cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
Endocrine Regulation of Spermatogonial Stem Cells in the Seminiferous Epithelium of Adult Mice

Abstract A balance between self-renewal and differentiation of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) is required to maintain sperm production throughout male life. The seminiferous epithelium is organized into stages of spermatogenesis based on the complement of germ cell types within a tubular section of the testis. The stages exist in close physical proximity and foster diverse phases of germ cell development despite exposure to a similar endocrine milieu that supports coordinated spermatogenesis. The objective of the current study was to identify the population dynamics of SSCs in vivo. We hypothesized that SSC populations and their niches are specifically distributed across the mature seminiferous epithelium in the mouse testis. To test this hypothesis, we conducted stem cell transplantation of germ cells obtained from stage-specific clusters of seminiferous tubules representing areas of high responsiveness to follicle-stimulating hormone (IX–I), androgen (II–IV), and retinoid (V–VIII) signaling. Similarly, we analyzed the expression of genes linked with SSC activity in these groups of stages. No stage-specific differences in the colonization efficiency or the colony number were detected after SSC transplantation, indicating that SSCs are equally distributed across all stages of the seminiferous tubule. In contrast, SSCs obtained from donor stages IX–IV established larger donor-derived colonies due to increased colony expansion. SSCs originating from different stages have varying degrees of stem cell activity in vivo, a notion consistent with Gdnf, Ret, and Bcl6b expression data. These results support the conclusion of a stage-specific, microenvironment-regulating SSC self-renewal and suggest the presence of a transit-amplifying population of undifferentiated spermatogonia in vivo.
Loop squashing transformations for amorphous slicing

Program slicing is a source code extraction technique that can be used to support reverse engineering by automatically extracting executable subprograms that preserve some aspect of the original program's semantics. Although minimal slices are not generally computable, safe approximate algorithms can be used to good effect. However, the precision of such slicing algorithms is a major factor in determining the value of slicing for reverse engineering. Amorphous slicing has been proposed as a way of reducing the size of a slice. Amorphous slices preserve the aspect of semantic interest, but not the syntax that denotes it, making them generally smaller than their syntactically restricted counterparts. Amorphous slicing is suitable for many reverse engineering applications, since reverse engineering typically abandons the existing syntax to facilitate structural improvements. Previous work on amorphous slicing has not attempted to exploit its potential to apply loop-squashing transformations. This paper presents an algorithm for amorphous slicing of loops, which identifies induction variables, transformation rule templates and iteration-determining compile-time expressions. The algorithm uses these to squash certain loops into conditional assignments. The paper also presents an inductive proof of the rule templates and illustrates the application of the algorithm with a detailed example of loop squashing.
Complement C3 and C5 Degradation Products during Hemodialysis Treatment: Study of an Index of Membrane Bioincompatibility

In 10 hemodialyses (HD) with cuprophan (CU) and 10 with polyacrylonitrile (PAN), signs of complement activation were investigated by following arterial and venous levels of C3a, C3d and C5a, in order to propose a marker of bioincompatibility. Despite large individual variabilities, significant increases of these molecules were detected at t 20 min, particularly with CU device in the artery and more marked in the vein except for C3d with PAN. During the later stage of HD, while C3a and C5a levels gradually declined, but remained significantly higher than t 0 in all the patients treated with CU, the C3d concentration reached a plateau suggesting a continuous complement activation throughout HD. HD using PAN membranes were associated with a lower C3a, C3d and C5a generation and fewer dialyses generating these products. In some dialyses the higher arterial level of these molecules suggests an extra-dialyzer complement activation especially with PAN membrane. Although C5a venous levels appeared to be the more significant index of complement activation, for clinical purposes we propose the C3d arterial measurement as a reliable, non-expensive and technically simple indicator of membrane intolerance.
Physical determinants of vesicle mobility and supply at a central synapse

Encoding continuous sensory variables requires sustained synaptic signalling. At several sensory synapses, rapid vesicle supply is achieved via highly mobile vesicles and specialized ribbon structures, but how this is achieved at central synapses without ribbons is unclear. Here we examine vesicle mobility at excitatory cerebellar mossy fibre synapses which sustain transmission over a broad frequency bandwidth. Fluorescent recovery after photobleaching in slices from VGLUT1Venus knock-in mice reveal 75% of VGLUT1-containing vesicles have a high mobility, comparable to that at ribbon synapses. Experimentally constrained models establish hydrodynamic interactions and vesicle collisions are major determinants of vesicle mobility in crowded presynaptic terminals. Moreover, models incorporating 3D reconstructions of vesicle clouds near active zones (AZs) predict the measured releasable pool size and replenishment rate from the reserve pool. They also show that while vesicle reloading at AZs is not diffusion-limited at the onset of release, diffusion limits vesicle reloading during sustained high-frequency signalling. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.15133. 001
Syntenin mediates SRC function in exosomal cell-to-cell communication

Significance Viral-like nanovesicles of endosomal origin, or “exosomes,” are newly recognized vehicles of signals that cells use to communicate, in various systemic diseases, including cancer. Yet the molecular mechanisms that regulate the biogenesis and activity of exosomes remain obscure. Here, we establish that the oncogenic protein SRC stimulates the secretion of exosomes loaded with syntenin and syndecans, known co-receptors for a plethora of signaling and adhesion molecules. SRC phosphorylates conserved tyrosine residues in the syndecans and syntenin and stimulates their endosomal budding. Moreover, SRC-dependent exosomes have a promigratory activity that strictly depends on syntenin expression. This work sheds light on a function of SRC in cell-to-cell communication and mechanisms of exosome biogenesis and activity, with potential broad impact for physiopathology. The cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase SRC controls cell growth, proliferation, adhesion, and motility. The current view is that SRC acts primarily downstream of cell-surface receptors to control intracellular signaling cascades. Here we reveal that SRC functions in cell-to-cell communication by controlling the biogenesis and the activity of exosomes. Exosomes are viral-like particles from endosomal origin that can reprogram recipient cells. By gain- and loss-of-function studies, we establish that SRC stimulates the secretion of exosomes having promigratory activity on endothelial cells and that syntenin is mandatory for SRC exosomal function. Mechanistically, SRC impacts on syndecan endocytosis and on syntenin–syndecan endosomal budding, upstream of ARF6 small GTPase and its effector phospholipase D2, directly phosphorylating the conserved juxtamembrane DEGSY motif of the syndecan cytosolic domain and syntenin tyrosine 46. Our study uncovers a function of SRC in cell–cell communication, supported by syntenin exosomes, which is likely to contribute to tumor–host interactions.
Efficacy of surgical versus conservative treatment in esophageal perforation: a systematic review of case series studies.

PURPOSE To evaluate the efficacy of surgical treatment for esophageal perforation. METHODS A systematic review of the literature was performed. We conducted a search strategy in the main electronic databases such as PubMed, Embase and Lilacs to identify all case series. RESULTS Thirty three case series met the inclusion criteria with a total of 1417 participants. The predominant etiology was iatrogenic (54.2%) followed by spontaneous cause (20.4%) and in 66.1% the localization was thoracic. In 65.4% and 33.4% surgical and conservative therapy, respectively, was considered the first choice. There was a statistically significance different with regards mortality rate favoring the surgical group (16.3%) versus conservative treatment (21.2%) (p<0.05). CONCLUSION Surgical treatment was more effective and safe than conservative treatment concerning mortality rates, although the possibility of bias due to clinical and methodological heterogeneity among the included studies and the level of evidence that cannot be ruled out.
Raised Line Drawings are Spontaneously Explored with a Single Finger

In this study we examine the strategies used by blindfolded subjects asked to freely explore raised line drawings and identify what is depicted in them. We were particularly interested in how often a single finger is spontaneously used because in several studies subjects are forced to use only one fingertip and the extent to which this restriction may depress haptic perception is unclear. The results suggest that despite a variety of strategies, people ‘naturally’ use single fingertips sufficiently often to allow confidence in conclusions that are based on studies imposing this restriction.
Clinically Significant Differences among Canadian Mental Health Acts

Objectives:First, to highlight the major differences among mental health acts in different Canadian jurisdictions as they relate to involuntary admission criteria, treatment authorization, review and appeal procedures, and conditional leave and community treatment orders. Second, to analyze the impact of these differences on the care that individuals with mental illness receive.Method:We examined the mental health act provisions of all Canadian jurisdictions to determine how the clinical management of a typical case would differ among jurisdictions. We used a statement of principles for mental health legislation endorsed by the Canadian Psychiatric Association to guide the analysis. We confirmed interpretation of each act and its implementation through key informant contact in each province and territory.Results:We found clinically significant differences among the provinces and territories on all major components of their mental health acts.Conclusion:Provisions that prevent patients receiving appropriat.
Performance Consequences of Alternating Directional Control-Response Compatibility: Evidence From a Coal Mine Shuttle Car Simulator

Objective: To investigate error and reaction time consequences of alternating compatible and incompatible steering arrangements during a simulated obstacle avoidance task. Background: Underground coal mine shuttle cars provide an example of a vehicle in which operators are required to alternate between compatible and incompatible steering configurations. Methods: This experiment examines the performance of 48 novice participants in a virtual analogy of an underground coal mine shuttle car. Participants were randomly assigned to a compatible condition, an incompatible condition, an alternating condition in which compatibility alternated within and between hands, or an alternating condition in which compatibility alternated between hands. Results: Participants made fewer steering direction errors and made correct steering responses more quickly in the compatible condition. Error rate decreased over time in the incompatible condition. A compatibility effect for both errors and reaction time was also found when the control-response relationship alternated; however, performance improvements over time were not consistent. Isolating compatibility to a hand resulted in reduced error rate and faster reaction time than when compatibility alternated within and between hands. Conclusion: The consequences of alternating control-response relationships are higher error rates and slower responses, at least in the early stages of learning. Application: This research highlights the importance of ensuring consistently compatible human-machine directional control-response relationships.
Handwritten Character Recognition of South Indian Scripts: A Review

Handwritten character recognition is always a frontier area of research in the field of pattern recognition and image processing and there is a large demand for OCR on hand written documents. Even though, sufficient studies have performed in foreign scripts like Chinese, Japanese and Arabic characters, only a very few work can be traced for handwritten character recognition of Indian scripts especially for the South Indian scripts. This paper provides an overview of offline handwritten character recognition in South Indian Scripts, namely Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Telungu.
Effectiveness of an intervention to improve day centre services for people with psychiatric disabilities

Background/aim Day centres for people with psychiatric disabilities need to be evaluated for effectiveness in order to provide the best possible support. This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of a tailor-made intervention to improve day centre services for people with psychiatric disabilities. Methods The intervention was devised to bridge identified gaps in the services and lasted for 14 months. Eight centres were allotted to the intervention (55 attendees) or comparison condition (51 attendees). Fidelity to the intervention and major events in the day centres were assessed. The outcomes were degree of meaningfulness found in the day centre occupations, satisfaction with the rehabilitation received, satisfaction with everyday occupations and quality of life. Results The fidelity to the intervention was good, but more positive events, such as new occupational opportunities, had taken place in the comparison units. No differences were identified between the intervention and the comparison group regarding changes from baseline to the 14-month follow-up in perceived meaningfulness among day centre occupations, satisfaction with everyday occupations or quality of life. Conclusions The intervention seemed ineffective, but the positive events in the comparison group resembled the measures included in the tailor-made interventions. This first intervention study in the day centre context has hopefully helped to generate hypotheses and methods for future research.
Cross-device interaction via micro-mobility and f-formations

GroupTogether is a system that explores cross-device interaction using two sociological constructs. First, F-formations concern the distance and relative body orientation among multiple users, which indicate when and how people position themselves as a group. Second, micro-mobility describes how people orient and tilt devices towards one another to promote fine-grained sharing during co-present collaboration. We sense these constructs using: (a) a pair of overhead Kinect depth cameras to sense small groups of people, (b) low-power 8GHz band radio modules to establish the identity, presence, and coarse-grained relative locations of devices, and (c) accelerometers to detect tilting of slate devices. The resulting system supports fluid, minimally disruptive techniques for co-located collaboration by leveraging the proxemics of people as well as the proxemics of devices.