Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Collaborative web-based experimentation in flexible engineering education

The Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland, is deploying a flexible learning scheme for selected pilot courses in engineering education. In such a scheme, traditional lectures and written exercises are combined with additional Web-based learning resources. The main objective of this initiative is to sustain the evolution from traditional teaching to active learning and to better integrate the increasing number of educational resources available online. In engineering education, a key activity to sustain the learning process is hands-on experimentation carried out using either simulation tools or real equipment. This paper describes how a collaborative Web-based experimentation environment has been introduced at the EPFL for providing more flexibility to students performing laboratory experiments in automatic control, biomechanics, and fluid mechanics. It particularly describes the eJournal, a Web service integrated in the proposed learning environment that enables the collection and sharing of preparatory notes and experimental results with both peers and teaching assistants.
Prevalence of left atrial thrombus in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation

Summary We performed a meta-analysis about the prevalence of left atrial thrombus (LAT) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing trans-esophageal echocardiography (TEE). Studies reporting on LAT presence in AF patients were systematically searched in the PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and EMBASE databases and the pooled LAT prevalence was evaluated as weighted mean prevalence (WMP). Seventy-two studies (20,516 AF patients) showed a LAT WMP of 9.8 % (95 %CI: 7.6 %-12.5 %). LAT presence was associated with a higher age (mean difference: 2.56, 95 %CI: 1.49–3.62), and higher prevalence of female gender (OR: 1.35, 95 %CI: 1.04–1.75), hypertension (OR: 1.78, 95 %CI: 1.38–2.30), diabetes mellitus (OR: 1.86, 95 %CI: 1.33–2.59) and chronic heart failure (OR: 3.67, 95 %CI: 2.40–5.60). Overall, LAT patients exhibited a higher CHADS2-score (mean difference 0.88, 95 %CI: 0.68–1.07) and a higher risk of stroke/systemic embolism (OR: 3.53, 95 %CI: 2.24–5.56) compared with those without LAT. A meta-regression showed an inverse association between LAT prevalence and the presence of anticoagulation (Z-value: −7.3, p< 0.001). Indeed, studies in which 100 % of patients received oral anticoagulation reported a 3.4 % WMP of LAT (95 %CI: 1.3 %–8.7 %), whereas studies in which 0 % of patients received anticoagulation showed a LAT WMP of 7.4 % (95 %CI: 2.3 %–21.5%). Our data suggest that LAT is present in ≈10 % of AF patients, and is associated with a 3.5-fold increased risk of stroke/systemic embolism. Interestingly, LAT is also reported in some of patients receiving anticoagulation. The implementation of the screening of LAT in AF patients before cardioversion/ablation could be useful for the prevention of vascular events.
Strong and weak forms of abstract argument defense

Extended abstract frameworks separate conflicts and preference between arguments. These elements are combined to induce argument defeat relations. A proper defeat is consequence of preferring an argument in a conflicting pair, while blocking defeat is consequence of incomparable or equivalent-in-strength conflicting arguments. As arguments interact with different strengths, the quality of several argument extensions may be measured in a particular semantics. In this paper we analyze the strength of defenses in extended argumentation frameworks, under admissibility semantics. A more flexible form of acceptability is defined leading to a credulous position of acceptance.
A Generalization of Resource-Bounded Measure, with Application to the BPP vs. EXP Problem

We introduce resource-bounded betting games and propose a generalization of Lutz's resource-bounded measure in which the choice of the next string to bet on is fully adaptive. Lutz's martingales are equivalent to betting games constrained to bet on strings in lexicographic order. We show that if strong pseudorandom number generators exist, then betting games are equivalent to martingales for measure on E and EXP. However, we construct betting games that succeed on certain classes whose Lutz measures are important open problems: the class of polynomial-time Turing-complete languages in EXP and its superclass of polynomial-time Turing-autoreducible languages. If an EXP-martingale succeeds on either of these classes, or if betting games have the "finite union property" possessed by Lutz's measure, one obtains the nonrelativizable consequence $\mbox{BPP} \neq \mbox{EXP}$. We also show that if $\mbox{EXP} \neq \mbox{MA}$, then the polynomial-time truth-table-autoreducible languages have Lutz measure zero, whereas if $\mbox{EXP} = \mbox{BPP}$, they have measure one.
Remarkable Control of Western Boundary Currents by Eddy Killing, a Mechanical Air‐Sea Coupling Process

Western boundary currents (WBCs) are critical to Earth's climate. In the last decade, mesoscale air‐sea interactions emerged as an important factor of WBC dynamics. Recently, coupled models including the feedback of surface oceanic currents to the atmosphere confirmed the existence of a physical process called eddy killing, which may correct long‐lasting biases in the representation of WBCs by providing an unambiguous energy sink mechanism. Using ocean‐atmosphere coupled simulations of the Gulf Stream and the Agulhas Current, we show that eddy killing reduces the eddy‐mean flow interaction (both forward and inverse cascades) and leads to more realistic solutions. Model and data fluxes are in good agreement when the same coarse grid is used for their computation, although in this case they are underestimated. We conclude that the uncoupled approach is no longer suitable for continued ocean model improvement and discuss new formulations that should better account for air‐sea interactions.
Effectiveness of substituting cyclosporin A with tacrolimus in reducing gingival overgrowth in renal transplant patients.

OBJECTIVES This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of periodontal therapy combined with tacrolimus in the suppression of gingival overgrowth (GO) and the effect on GO of changing from cyclosporin A to tacrolimus. PATIENTS AND METHODS Sixteen renal transplant patients, averaging 52 years of age, whose kidney function was stable and were receiving treatment with cyclosporin A, were randomly assigned to one of two groups. In the experimental group, patients were instructed in oral hygiene and underwent periodontal treatment, whereas in the control group, only oral hygiene instructions were given. After the first visit and the change of medication from cyclosporine to tacrolimus in both groups, periodic clinical revisions were carried out for 3 months in order to assess the evolution of GO. RESULTS All patients showed a progressive decrease in GO. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups (p>0.05). A greater decrease in GO occurred within the first month after changing the medication. CONCLUSIONS No improved effectiveness in reducing GO was observed for periodontal therapy in combination with tacrolimus. Tacrolimus is an alternative to cyclosporine when attempting to avoid GO in patients with kidney transplants.
Extracellular‐regulated kinase—mitogen‐activated protein kinase cascade: Unsolved issues

This review point out several aspects regarding the mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK)/extracellular‐regulated kinase (Erk) network, which are still pending issues in the understanding how this pathway integrate information to drive cell fates. Focusing on the role of Erk during cell cycle, it has to be underlined that Erk downstream effectors, which are required for mitosis progression and contribute to aneuploidy during tumorigenesis, remain to be determined. In addition to the identity of the terminal enzymes or effectors of Erk, it has to be stressed that the dynamic nature of the Erk signal is itself a key factor in cell phenotype decisions. Development of biophotonics strategies for monitoring the Erk network at the spatiotemporal level in living cells, as well as computational and hypothesis‐driven approaches, are called to unravel the principles by which signaling networks create biochemical and biological specificities. Finally, Erk dynamics might also be impacted by other post‐translational modification than phosphorylation, such as O‐GlcNAcylation. J. Cell. Biochem. 109: 850–857, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Startle gating deficits in a large cohort of patients with schizophrenia: relationship to medications, symptoms, neurocognition, and level of function.

CONTEXT Patients with schizophrenia exhibit deficits in automatic, preattentive sensorimotor gating (prepulse inhibition [PPI]) of the startle reflex. OBJECTIVE To assess the relationships between PPI deficits and demographic, clinical, neurocognitive, and functional status in a large cohort of patients with schizophrenia. DESIGN Cross-sectional comparison of patients with schizophrenia and normal comparison subjects. SETTING University-based psychophysiology laboratory. PARTICIPANTS Carefully screened patients with schizophrenia (n = 103) and normal comparison subjects (n = 66). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Participants were assessed in structured clinical interviews and tested in measures of acoustic startle PPI and neurocognition. The level of functioning was assessed in patients using validated scales. Analyses first compared all of the patients vs normal comparison subjects. Patients were then divided based on sex, medications, smoking status, and levels of PPI. The associations of PPI to clinical, neurocognitive, and functional variables were assessed using both continuous and categorical analyses. RESULTS Compared with normal comparison subjects, patients exhibited PPI deficits at 60-millisecond intervals but not at 30- or 120-millisecond intervals. In addition, patients exhibited deficits in neurocognition. Among patients, PPI levels were associated with sex (higher in men than in women), medication status (highest in patients treated with atypical antipsychotics), and smoking (higher in smokers than in nonsmokers). Compared with patients in the highest quartile of PPI, those in the lowest quartile of PPI were significantly more impaired on specific functional measures but did not differ in neurocognitive measures or symptom severity. The relationship between low PPI and functional impairment was most pronounced and orderly in male patients. CONCLUSIONS These findings highlight several important factors (sex, medications, and smoking status) that strongly impact the study and interpretation of PPI deficits in patient populations. These results also support the concept that deficient PPI is associated with impaired functional status in schizophrenia.
Muscle fibre type shifting in the vastus lateralis of patients with COPD is associated with disease severity: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Skeletal muscle dysfunction is a common feature in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which is associated with intrinsic muscular abnormalities. One of the most consistently reported alterations is a shift from fibre type I to II in the vastus lateralis of these patients. Surprisingly, the relationship between this shift and the severity and phenotype of COPD remains unclear. A study was conducted to determine whether vastus lateralis muscle fibre type proportions are associated with COPD disease severity and to provide reference values for the proportions of fibre types in the vastus lateralis in COPD. Methods: A systematic review and a meta-analysis were conducted in which muscle fibre type data and markers of disease severity were collected from the literature. Results: The forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), the ratio of FEV1 to forced vital capacity (FVC) and body mass index were positively associated with the proportion of type I fibres in COPD. A proportion of 51% for vastus lateralis fibre type I and 13% for fibre type IIX were calculated from the combined data as normal values for patients with typical GOLD stage 3–4 COPD aged 60–70 years. Based on these reference values, a proportion of fibre type I <27% and of fibre type IIX >29% were defined as pathologically abnormal. Conclusions: This review sheds new light on the relationship between skeletal muscle abnormalities and important hallmarks of the disease in severe COPD, and identifies absence of data in GOLD stages 1–2. This review also provides reference values on fibre type composition for diagnostic purposes in COPD.
Statin use and risk of developing diabetes: results from the Diabetes Prevention Program

Objective Several clinical trials of cardiovascular disease prevention with statins have reported increased risk of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) with statin therapy. However, participants in these studies were at relatively low risk for diabetes. Further, diabetes was often based on self-report and was not the primary outcome. It is unknown whether statins similarly modify diabetes risk in higher risk populations. Research design and methods During the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study (n=3234), the long-term follow-up to a randomized clinical trial of interventions to prevent T2DM, incident diabetes was assessed by annual 75 g oral glucose tolerance testing and semiannual fasting glucose. Lipid profile was measured annually, with statin treatment determined by a participant’s own physician outside of the protocol. Statin use was assessed at baseline and semiannual visits. Results At 10 years, the cumulative incidence of statin initiation prior to diabetes diagnosis was 33%–37% among the randomized treatment groups (p=0.36). Statin use was associated with greater diabetes risk irrespective of treatment group, with pooled HR (95% CI) for incident diabetes of 1.36 (1.17 to 1.58). This risk was not materially altered by adjustment for baseline diabetes risk factors and potential confounders related to indications for statin therapy. Conclusions In this population at high risk for diabetes, we observed significantly higher rates of diabetes with statin therapy in all three treatment groups. Confounding by indication for statin use does not appear to explain this relationship. The effect of statins to increase diabetes risk appears to extend to populations at high risk for diabetes. Trial registration number NCT00038727; Results.
Experimental Link Quality Characterization of Wireless Sensor Networks for Underground Monitoring

Wireless underground sensor networks (WUSNs) are a category of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) with buried nodes, which communicate wirelessly through soil with sensor nodes located aboveground. As the communication medium (i.e., soil) between traditional over-the-air WSNs and WUSNs differs, communication characteristics have to be fully characterized for WUSNs, specifically to enable development of efficient communication protocols. Characterization of link quality is a fundamental building block for various communication protocols. The aim of this paper is to experimentally investigate the link quality characteristics of the three communication channels available in WUSNs for underground pipeline monitoring to gain further insight into protocol development for WUSNs. To this end, received signal strength (RSS), link quality indicator (LQI), and packet reception ratio (PRR) are characterized for the three communication channels in WUSNs. The RSS and PRR results show that the underground-to-underground channel is highly symmetric and temporally stable, but its range is severely limited, and that the aboveground-to-underground/underground-to-underground channels are asymmetric and exhibit similar temporal properties to over-the-air communication channels. Interestingly, the results show that RSS is a better indicator of PRR than LQI for all three channels under consideration.
Novel Mutations in TARDBP (TDP-43) in Patients with Familial Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

The TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) has been identified as the major disease protein in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration with ubiquitin inclusions (FTLD-U), defining a novel class of neurodegenerative conditions: the TDP-43 proteinopathies. The first pathogenic mutations in the gene encoding TDP-43 (TARDBP) were recently reported in familial and sporadic ALS patients, supporting a direct role for TDP-43 in neurodegeneration. In this study, we report the identification and functional analyses of two novel and one known mutation in TARDBP that we identified as a result of extensive mutation analyses in a cohort of 296 patients with variable neurodegenerative diseases associated with TDP-43 histopathology. Three different heterozygous missense mutations in exon 6 of TARDBP (p.M337V, p.N345K, and p.I383V) were identified in the analysis of 92 familial ALS patients (3.3%), while no mutations were detected in 24 patients with sporadic ALS or 180 patients with other TDP-43–positive neurodegenerative diseases. The presence of p.M337V, p.N345K, and p.I383V was excluded in 825 controls and 652 additional sporadic ALS patients. All three mutations affect highly conserved amino acid residues in the C-terminal part of TDP-43 known to be involved in protein-protein interactions. Biochemical analysis of TDP-43 in ALS patient cell lines revealed a substantial increase in caspase cleaved fragments, including the ∼25 kDa fragment, compared to control cell lines. Our findings support TARDBP mutations as a cause of ALS. Based on the specific C-terminal location of the mutations and the accumulation of a smaller C-terminal fragment, we speculate that TARDBP mutations may cause a toxic gain of function through novel protein interactions or intracellular accumulation of TDP-43 fragments leading to apoptosis.
Image matting using SVM and neighboring information

Image matting is a technique for extracting a foreground object in a static image by estimating the opacity at each pixel in the foreground image layer. This problem has recently been studied in the framework of optimizing a cost function. The common drawback of previous approaches is the decrease in performance when the foreground and background contain similar colors. To solve this problem, we propose a cost function considering not only a single pixel but also its neighboring pixels, and utilizing the SVM classifier to enhance the discrimination between the foreground and background. Optimization of the cost function can be achieved by belief propagation. Experimental results show favorable matting performance for many images.
FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR WOMEN’S PREFERENCE FOR TRADITIONAL MATERNAL HEALTH CARE SERVICES IN AKOK NORTH AREA OF ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

This study compared the population of women that prefer traditional maternal health care services in Akoko North area of Ondo State and identified factors responsible preference for traditional maternal health care services. This was with a view to providing information on reasons responsible for women’ preference for traditional maternal health care services. The study used descriptive survey research design. The population for the study comprised women of child bearing age who had a life birth in the last five years in Akoko North–East (ANE) and North-West (ANW) LGAs of Ondo State. The sample comprised a total of 200 women. Each of the two LGAs was first stratified according to wards. In Akoko North-East and North-West, there are 13 and 11 wards respectively. From each of the LGAs, five wards were selected totaling 10 wards using simple random sampling technique. From each ward, 20 respondents were selected using snowballing sampling technique. A self-developed questionnaire was used to collect information on the population of women preferring TMHCS and reasons underlying their preferences. Data collected were analysed using percentage and chi-square analysis. The results indicated that 59% of the 200 women used in Akoko North–East preferred traditional maternal health care services while 69.0% of the women in Akoko North–West preferred it. Results also showed that spiritual reasons (59%), cultural belief (57.8%), cheaper services (57%) and provision of more compassionate care (53.9%) were reasons for women preference for traditional maternal health services in the study areas. The study concluded that spiritual reasons, cultural belief, compassionate care, low economic status, low education status are factors responsible for women’ preference for traditional maternal health services in Akoko North–East and North–West Areas of Ondo State. Article visualizations:
Exocytosis in mast cells by basic secretagogues: evidence for direct activation of GTP-binding proteins

Histamine release induced by the introduction of a nonhydrolyzable analogue of GTP, GTP-gamma-S, into ATP-permeabilized mast cells, is associated with phosphoinositide breakdown, as evidenced by the production of phosphatidic acid (PA) in a neomycin-sensitive process. The dependency of both PA formation and histamine secretion on GTP- gamma-S concentrations is bell shaped. Whereas concentrations of up to 0.1 mM GTP-gamma-S stimulate both processes, at higher concentrations the cells' responsiveness is inhibited. At a concentration of 1 mM, GTP- gamma-S self-inhibits both PA formation and histamine secretion. Inhibition of secretion can, however, be overcome by the basic secretagogues compound 48/80 and mastoparan that in suboptimal doses synergize with 1 mM GTP-gamma-S to potentiate secretion. Secretion under these conditions is not accompanied by PA formation and is resistant both to depletion of Ca2+ from internal stores and to pertussis toxin (PtX) treatment. In addition, 48/80, like mastoparan, is capable of directly stimulating the GTPase activity of G-proteins in a cell-free system. Together, our results are consistent with a model in which the continuous activation of a phosphoinositide-hydrolyzing phospholipase C (PLC) by a stimulatory G-protein suffices to trigger histamine secretion. Basic secretagogues of mast cells, such as compound 48/80 and mastoparan, are capable of inducing secretion in a mechanism that bypasses PLC by directly activating a G-protein that is presumably located downstream from PLC (GE). Thereby, these secretagogues induce histamine secretion in a receptor-independent manner.