Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Pro- and Anti-Inflammatory Cytokines in Humans: A Preliminary Report

Objective: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is a novel therapy in resistant epilepsy, and is undergoing clinical trials in resistant depression. The mechanism of action of VNS is assumed to be due to modulation of deep brain structures via its afferent connections. As the vagus nerve has potentially important immunological actions that may have relevance to its therapeutic effects, we hypothesised that an additional mechanism may occur via vagally mediated actions on cytokine synthesis. Methods: Patients (n = 10) with resistant depression were studied in the weeks prior to, and 3 months following, implantation of a vagus nerve stimulator. No medication changes were made during the course of the study. High-sensitivity ELISA kits were used to measure plasma IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-10 and TGF-β concentrations. C-reactive protein (CRP) was measured using a high sensitivity immunonephelometry assay. Results: There were highly significant increases in the plasma levels of IL-6, TNF-α and TGF-β. Increases seen with IL-10 and IL-1β were not significant. Plasma CRP levels were unchanged. Conclusion: VNS is associated with marked peripheral increases in pro- and anti-inflammatory circulating cytokines. Such changes are unlikely to be non-specific inflammatory reactions, reflected by CRP levels. In view of gathering evidence supporting a role for the immune system in modulating affect, as well as seizure activity, these effects of VNS may be therapeutically relevant.
Understanding the molecular mechanism of pulse current charging for stable lithium-metal batteries

Pulse current charging stabilizes high-energy lithium-metal batteries. High energy and safe electrochemical storage are critical components in multiple emerging fields of technologies. Rechargeable lithium-metal batteries are considered to be promising alternatives for current lithium-ion batteries, leading to as much as a 10-fold improvement in anode storage capacity (from 372 to 3860 mAh g−1). One of the major challenges for commercializing lithium-metal batteries is the reliability and safety issue, which is often associated with uneven lithium electrodeposition (lithium dendrites) during the charging stage of the battery cycling process. We report that stable lithium-metal batteries can be achieved by simply charging cells with square-wave pulse current. We investigated the effects of charging period and frequency as well as the mechanisms that govern this process at the molecular level. Molecular simulations were performed to study the diffusion and the solvation structure of lithium cations (Li+) in bulk electrolyte. The model predicts that loose association between cations and anions can enhance the transport of Li+ and eventually stabilize the lithium electrodeposition. We also performed galvanostatic measurements to evaluate the cycling behavior and cell lifetime under pulsed electric field and found that the cell lifetime can be more than doubled using certain pulse current waveforms. Both experimental and simulation results demonstrate that the effectiveness of pulse current charging on dendrite suppression can be optimized by choosing proper time- and frequency-dependent pulses. This work provides a molecular basis for understanding the mechanisms of pulse current charging to mitigating lithium dendrites and designing pulse current waveforms for stable lithium-metal batteries.
Common Crowd Dynamics: Shaping Behavioral Intention Models

As the human population grows, so too does the need to understand human behavior. One particularly important aspect of human behavior is how it changes within conglomerations of people, i.e. crowds. In this thesis, a method for modeling crowd behavior is proposed. This method draws inspiration from the concept of behavioral intention and the related forces of attitudes, influences, and social norms. These topics are first defined and detailed, followed by a survey of related research. Next, the model is presented and adapted to three common crowd dynamics, each stressing a different component of behavioral intention. Observations are made about these models, and extensions to the models and directions for future research are considered.
CommonSurfaceShader revisited: improvements and experiences

We present an improved version of the CommonSurfaceShader node, a modern declarative surface shader for X3D. The new version is better suited for physically-based rendering, has support for anisotropic surfaces, and overcomes some of the limitations the original design had for layered materials. We also present a general discussion of how the node performed in practice.
Sodium valproate use is associated with reduced parietal lobe thickness and brain volume

Objective: We hypothesized that total brain volume, white matter volume, and lobar cortical thickness would be different in epilepsy patients. We studied valproate relative to nonvalproate by using patients with epilepsy and healthy controls. Methods: Patients with focal intractable epilepsy from a tertiary epilepsy center were the primary group for analysis. A confirmatory analysis was carried out in an independent group of subjects imaged as part of a community-based study of childhood-onset epilepsy. Total brain volume; white matter volume; and frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal lobe thickness were measured by processing whole-brain T1-weighted MRI using FreeSurfer 5.1. Results: Total brain volume, white matter volume, and parietal thickness were reduced in the valproate group relative to controls and nonvalproate users (valproate, n = 9; nonvalproate, n = 27; controls, n = 45; all male). These findings were confirmed in an independent group (valproate, n = 7; nonvalproate, n = 70; controls, n = 20; all male). Conclusions: Sodium valproate use in epilepsy is associated with parietal lobe thinning, reduced total brain volume, and reduced white matter volume. Level of evidence: This study provides Class IV evidence that use of valproate in epilepsy is associated with reduced parietal lobe thickness, total brain volume, and white matter volume.
Prediction of allosteric sites and mediating interactions through bond-to-bond propensities

Allostery is a fundamental mechanism of biological regulation, in which binding of a molecule at a distant location affects the active site of a protein. Allosteric sites provide targets to fine-tune protein activity, yet we lack computational methodologies to predict them. Here we present an efficient graph-theoretical framework to reveal allosteric interactions (atoms and communication pathways strongly coupled to the active site) without a priori information of their location. Using an atomistic graph with energy-weighted covalent and weak bonds, we define a bond-to-bond propensity quantifying the non-local effect of instantaneous bond fluctuations propagating through the protein. Significant interactions are then identified using quantile regression. We exemplify our method with three biologically important proteins: caspase-1, CheY, and h-Ras, correctly predicting key allosteric interactions, whose significance is additionally confirmed against a reference set of 100 proteins. The almost-linear scaling of our method renders it suitable for high-throughput searches for candidate allosteric sites. Allostery is a key molecular mechanism underpinning control and modulation in a variety of cellular processes. Here, the authors present a method that can be used to predict allosteric sites and the mediating interactions that connect them to the active site of the protein.
Fenton Oxidation of Reactive Black 5: Effect of Mixing Intensity and Reagent Addition Strategy

This study investigates the effect of mixing intensity and reagents addition strategy on Fenton's reagent degrading a common reactive diazo type dyestuff, Reactive Black 5. Within the experimental conditions used in the study, the effect of mixing intensity on TOC removal was observed to be both significant and complex. Using factorial analysis, it was found that if the reagents are added near to each other, higher mixing intensity will enhance the effectiveness of the degradation process. However, a very high mixing level may cause reduction in performance. It was also observed that the mixing intensity effect interacts with Fe2+ or/and H2O2 dosage. The benefit of increasing mixing intensity appears to be higher for lower reagents dosage. The effect of reagents addition strategy was found to be inter-dependent with mixing intensity level. It was also deduced that proper chemical addition strategy could be used to reduce the mixing intensity requirement of the process.
A Case for Fluid Replication

The performance of distributed services is becoming increasingly variable due to changing load patterns and user mobility. The two approaches to this problem, cluster-based, scalable services and peer replication, solve only part of the problem. Cluster-based services deal only with end-service variability, while peer replication compromises safety and precludes the ability to offer bounds on consistency of updates. We propose fluid replication, automatic creation of replicas where and when they are needed, as a solution to this problem. In this paper, we present our mechanisms for finding replica sites, balancing consistency and performance, and maintaining client consistency when changing replicas.
Nausea in Specific Phobia of Vomiting

Specific phobia of vomiting (SPOV) is a clinical condition with early onset, chronic course and substantial psychosocial impairment due to a rigorous avoidance behavior. A primary symptom which drives patients to consult a medical practitioner is nausea. In this study our aim was to further analyze this symptom of SPOV and examined its role in the development and manifestation of the phobia. We conducted an internet survey in the german SPOV-internet-forum. We calculated a nausea score and grouped participants in a high-and low-nausea group to examine the relationship between nausea and characteristics of the fear of vomiting. In this sample (N = 131), nausea was fairly common in most participants with fear of vomiting. Participants in the high-nausea group had significantly higher ratings of subjective fear and significantly longer duration of fear of vomiting. Additionally, the high-nausea group contained more participants with a body mass index below 19 than the low-nausea group. The present findings suggest that nausea is a core symptom in SPOV which is closely related to intensity of the fear, duration of the fear, and body weight. Future research should investigate if nausea-specific design of treatment could improve therapy outcome.
A modified echo state network based remaining useful life estimation approach

An approach to estimate the remaining useful life (RUL) by Echo State Network (ESN) is presented, which is a new paradigm in recurrent neural network (RNN). ESN randomly establishes a large sparse reservoir to replace the hidden layer of RNN, which overcomes the shortcomings of complicated computing, difficulties in determining the network topology of traditional RNN. An ESN sub-models strategy composed by classified ESN models matching to the varied training data set by retraining and classification is explored to estimate the RUL of turbofan engine system. The experimental results with the turbofan engine data of NASA Ames Prognostics Data Repository show that the proposed method can achieve better RUL estimation precision compared with the approaches of classical ESN and ESN trained by Kalman Filter and potential prospective in application.
Significance of copper level in serum and routine laboratory parameters in estimation of outspreading of Hodgkin's lymphoma.

BACKGROUND The degree of spreading of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) is usually estimated according to An Arbor classification system and its modifications. Some laboratory parameters are routinely determined at diagnosis and their abnormal values tries to correlate with disease activity or extension. OBJECTIVES of the research were to identify relationship between common laboratory parameters used in patients with HL, with focus on Serum copper level (SCL) and the degree of spreading of disease expressed through clinical stage (CS). MATERIALS AND METHODS Research was carried out through retrospective analysis of medical records of 47 previously untreated HL patients. The study evaluated descriptive statistical parameters, mean, median, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values, ANOVA, X2 test, Man-Whitney test and Spearman's correlation. Statistical analyzes performed using SPSS statistical software v.13. 0. Results have presented in form of tables and graphs. Significance level less than 0.05 considered significant. RESULTS The results of study shown good sensitivity of SCL (61,9%), and very high specificity (95,3%) in diagnosis of HL. PPV of SCL in our study was 92,9%, and NPV-- 71,9%. On the other hand, the results did not confirm correlation between serum copper level and spreading of disease. Serum levels of albumin, gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) showed good correlation with clinical stage. CONCLUSION Our results did not confirm significance of serum copper level in term of staging of HL. Sensitivity and significance of serum copper in HL was very good and real prognostic impact of its elevated level in these patients should be assessed, and the research conducted on a larger number of subjects. Key words: Hodgkin's
Effect of the molecular weight of water-soluble chitosan on its fat-/cholesterol-binding capacities and inhibitory activities to pancreatic lipase

Background Obesity has become a worldwide burden to public health in recent decades. Given that obesity is caused by an imbalance between caloric intake and expenditure, and that dietary fat is the most important energy source of all macronutrients (by providing the most calories), a valuable strategy for obesity treatment and prevention is to block fat absorption via the gastrointestinal pathway. In this study, the fat- and cholesterol-binding capacities and the inhibition of pancreatic lipase by water-soluble chitosan (WSC) with different weight-average molecular weight (Mw) were tested and compared in vitro, in order to determine the anti-obesity effects of WSC and the influence of its Mw. Methods In this study, WSC with different Mw (∼1,000, ∼3,000, ∼5,000, ∼7,000 and ∼9,000 Da) were prepared by oxidative degradation assisted with microwave irradiation. A biopharmaceutical model of the digestive tract was used to determine the fat- and cholesterol-binding capacity of WSC samples. The pancreatic lipase assays were based on p-nitrophenyl derivatives. Results The results showed that all of the WSC samples exhibit great fat- and cholesterol-binding capacities. Within the testing range, 1 g of WSC sample could absorb 2–8 g of peanut oil or 50–65 mg of cholesterol, which are both significantly higher than the ability of cellulose to do the same. Meanwhile, all the WSC samples were proven to be able to inhibit pancreatic lipase activity to some extent. Discussion Based on the results, we suggest that there is a significant correlation between the binding capacity of WSC and its Mw, as WSC2 (∼3,000 Da) shows the highest fat- and cholesterol-binding capacities (7.08 g g−1 and 63.48 mg g−1, respectively), and the binding ability of WSC declines as its Mw increases or decreases from 3,000 Da. We also suggest WSC as an excellent resource in the development of functional foods against obesity for its adsorption, electrostatic binding and entrapment of cholesterol, fat, sterols and triglycerides in the diet.
Identification of Novel Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Associated with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome by Exome-Seq

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a lung condition characterized by impaired gas exchange with systemic release of inflammatory mediators, causing pulmonary inflammation, vascular leak and hypoxemia. Existing biomarkers have limited effectiveness as diagnostic and therapeutic targets. To identify disease-associating variants in ARDS patients, whole-exome sequencing was performed on 96 ARDS patients, detecting 1,382,399 SNPs. By comparing these exome data to those of the 1000 Genomes Project, we identified a number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) which are potentially associated with ARDS. 50,190SNPs were found in all case subgroups and controls, of which89 SNPs were associated with susceptibility. We validated three SNPs (rs78142040, rs9605146 and rs3848719) in additional ARDS patients to substantiate their associations with susceptibility, severity and outcome of ARDS. rs78142040 (C>T) occurs within a histone mark (intron 6) of the Arylsulfatase D gene. rs9605146 (G>A) causes a deleterious coding change (proline to leucine) in the XK, Kell blood group complex subunit-related family, member 3 gene. rs3848719 (G>A) is a synonymous SNP in the Zinc-Finger/Leucine-Zipper Co-Transducer NIF1 gene. rs78142040, rs9605146, and rs3848719 are associated significantly with susceptibility to ARDS. rs3848719 is associated with APACHE II score quartile. rs78142040 is associated with 60-day mortality in the overall ARDS patient population. Exome-seq is a powerful tool to identify potential new biomarkers for ARDS. We selectively validated three SNPs which have not been previously associated with ARDS and represent potential new genetic biomarkers for ARDS. Additional validation in larger patient populations and further exploration of underlying molecular mechanisms are warranted.
Gas Turbine Performance

Industrial gas turbines show performance characteristics that distinctly depend on ambient and operating conditions. They are not only influenced by site elevation, ambient temperature, and relative humidity, but also by the speed of the driven equipment, the fuel, and the load conditions. Proper application of gas turbines requires consideration of these factors. This tutorial explains these characteristics based on the performance of the engine compressor, the combustor and the turbine section, and certain control strategies. It introduces fundamental concepts that help to understand the flow of energy between the components. Additionally, methods are introduced that allow the use of data for trending and comparison purposes. The impact of component degradation on individual component performance, as well as overall engine performance is discussed, together with strategies to reduce the impact of degradation.
A Markov chain-based Approximation of CCN caching Systems

To address the challenges raised by the Internet usage evolution over the last years, the Content-Centric Networking (CCN) has been proposed. One key feature provided by CCN to improve the efficiency of content delivery is the in-network caching, which has major impact on the system performance. In order to improve caching effectiveness in such systems, studying the functioning of CCN in-network storage is required. In this paper, we propose MACS, a Markov chain-based Approximation of CCN caching Systems. We start initially by modeling a single cache node. Afterwards, we extend our model to the case of multiple nodes. A closed-form expression is then derived to define the cache hit probability of each content in the caching system. We compared the results of MACS to those obtained with simulations. The conducted experiments show clearly the accuracy of our model in estimating the cache hit performance of the system.
The Impact of an Ostomy on the Sexual Lives of Persons With Stomas: A Phenomenological Study

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experiences of persons with stomas related to sexual function and perceptions and their expectations of the ostomy nurses who care for them. DESIGN: Qualitative, phenomenological study. SUBJECTS AND SETTING: Fourteen persons living with an ostomy for least 2 months participated in the study. Data collection occurred at the ostomy and wound care unit at Dokuz Eylul University Hospital in Izmir, Turkey. METHODS: Data were collected using an in-depth interview method. Interviews lasted from 20 to 60 minutes and were audiotaped. These recordings were transcribed and subjected to content analysis. RESULTS: Five themes emerged from the unstructured interviews: (1) changes in sexual life; (2) changes in body image; (3) fear and anxiety experienced during sexual intercourse; (4) psychological impact of sexual problems; and (5) expectations concerning sexual counseling from ostomy nurses. CONCLUSIONS: Study findings suggest that persons with ostomies experience changes in their body image, along with a decrease in sexual desire. Respondents described avoiding sexual intercourse, and abstained from sleeping with their partners. Male respondents described erectile dysfunction, and female respondents reported pain during sexual intercourse (dyspareunia). Participants stated that they did not feel adequately informed about these problems and desired to receive more information and support from ostomy nurses regarding sexual issues. Based on these findings, we recommend that ostomy nurses provide more counseling concerning sexual function and challenges following ostomy surgery.
Assessment of Methods for the Intracellular Blockade of GABAA Receptors

Selective blockade of inhibitory synaptic transmission onto specific neurons is a useful tool for dissecting the excitatory and inhibitory synaptic components of ongoing network activity. To achieve this, intracellular recording with a patch solution capable of blocking GABAA receptors has advantages over other manipulations, such as pharmacological application of GABAergic antagonists or optogenetic inhibition of populations of interneurones, in that the majority of inhibitory transmission is unaffected and hence the remaining network activity preserved. Here, we assess three previously described methods to block inhibition: intracellular application of the molecules picrotoxin, 4,4’-dinitro-stilbene-2,2’-disulphonic acid (DNDS) and 4,4’-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2’-disulphonic acid (DIDS). DNDS and picrotoxin were both found to be ineffective at blocking evoked, monosynaptic inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) onto mouse CA1 pyramidal cells. An intracellular solution containing DIDS and caesium fluoride, but lacking nucleotides ATP and GTP, was effective at decreasing the amplitude of IPSCs. However, this effect was found to be independent of DIDS, and the absence of intracellular nucleotides, and was instead due to the presence of fluoride ions in this intracellular solution, which also blocked spontaneously occurring IPSCs during hippocampal sharp waves. Critically, intracellular fluoride ions also caused a decrease in both spontaneous and evoked excitatory synaptic currents and precluded the inclusion of nucleotides in the intracellular solution. Therefore, of the methods tested, only fluoride ions were effective for intracellular blockade of IPSCs but this approach has additional cellular effects reducing its selectivity and utility.
A 95GHz Receiver with Fundamental-Frequency VCO and Static Frequency Divider in 65nm Digital CMOS

This paper presents a fully integrated receiver, with LNA, mixer, IF amplifier, fundamental-frequency quadrature VCO, and static frequency divider, operating at 95GHz in a 65nm general-purpose (GP) CMOS technology. The receiver consumes 206mW from a 1.2V/1.5V supply. With large RF and IF bandwidths of over 19GHz and 16GHz, respectively, it is suitable for passive-imaging applications, and for wireless chip-to-chip communication at data-rates exceeding 20Gb/s. Together with the recently reported 60GHz receiver in 90nm CMOS, this 95GHz receiver in 65nm CMOS demonstrates that scaling of entire mm-wave receivers is possible in both frequency coverage and across technology nodes.