Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Postconcussion Syndrome: 130 Years of Controversy

Controversial best describes the postconcussion syndrome. This controversy is expressed in the many terms proposed since the lectures of Erichsen in 1866 for the sequelae of usually mild head injury: spinal concussion, railway spine, railway brain, traumatic neurosis, nervous shock, traumatic hysteria, traumatic hysteroneurasthe-nia, spinal anemia, vasomotor symptom complex, litigation neurosis, compensation neurosis, accident neurosis, Erichsen's disease, Friedmann's disease, traumatic neur-asthenia, the posttraumatic concussion state, the post-traumatic psychoneurotic state, traumatic encephalopathy, posttraumatic cerebral syndrome, posttraumatic syndrome, posttraumatic nervous instability, postconcus-sion syndrome, postconcussive syndrome, postconcus-sional syndrome, posttraumatic stress syndrome, and the persistent postconcussive syndrome.
Learning a Cost Function for Interactive Microscope Image Segmentation

Quantitative analysis of microscopy images is increasingly important in clinical researchers' efforts to unravel the cellular and molecular determinants of disease, and for pathological analysis of tissue samples. Yet, manual segmentation and measurement of cells or other features in images remains the norm in many fields. We report on a new system that aims for robust and accurate semi-automated analysis of microscope images. A user interactively outlines one or more examples of a target object in a training image. We then learn a cost function for detecting more objects of the same type, either in the same or different images. The cost function is incorporated into an active contour model, which can efficiently determine optimal boundaries by dynamic programming. We validate our approach and compare it to some standard alternatives on three different types of microscopic images: light microscopy of blood cells, light microscopy of muscle tissue sections, and electron microscopy cross-sections of axons and their myelin sheaths.
Dental Caries in the Syrian Hamster

IN PREVIOUS studies, Syrian hamsters have been found highly susceptible to dental caries when maintained under average laboratory conditions, bred and raised on commercially prepared diets with fresh vegetable supplements, and fed several types of nonpurified cariogenic rations.1-3 Other workers have occasionally experienced difficulty in reproducing these findings, and there has always been considerable variation in caries susceptibility between animals, including littermates. This study was undertaken as an attempt to obtain a somewhat more uniform incidence of dental caries in Syrian hamsters by (1) careful control of breeding, (2) maintaining uniform laboratory conditions, (3) use of purified or semipurified diets, and (4) precise control of the experimental period, from twenty-one to 121 days.
Human herpesvirus 6

Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is a T-lymphotropic herpesvirus, which infects almost all children by the age of two years and persists lifelong. Two distinct variants of HHV-6, HHV-6A and HHV-6B, have been described, and the latter has been shown to be a common cause of acute febrile illnesses in young children, including exanthem subitum (roseola). HHV-6 has also been associated with a number of neurological disorders, including encephalitis and seizures, and the virus has been postulated to play a role in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), multiple sclerosis (MS) and chronic fatigue immunodeficiency syndrome (CFIDS). This review provides a critical summary of research conducted on HHV-6.
A Blood Survey of Elements, Viral Antibodies, and Hemoparasites in Wintering Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus Histrionicus) and Barrow's Goldeneyes (Bucephala Islandica)

Twenty-eight Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) and 26 Barrow's Goldeneyes (Bucephala islandica) were captured in Prince William Sound, Alaska, between 1 and 15 March 2005. Blood was collected for quantification of element concentrations, prevalence of antibodies to several viruses, and hemoparasite prevalence and identification. Although we found selenium concentrations that have been associated with selenosis in some birds (≥2.0 ppm ww), our findings contribute to a growing literature describing relatively high selenium in apparently healthy birds in marine environments. Avian influenza virus antibodies were detected in the plasma of 28% of the ducks. No antibodies against adenovirus, reovirus, or paramyxovirus 1 were detected. Several hemoparasite species were identified in 7% of ducks. Our findings are similar to those in other free-living marine waterfowl and do not indicate unusual concerns for the health of these species in this area in late winter.
Dynamics morphing from regulator to oscillator on bipedal control

A stable non-linear oscillator for autonomous biped stepping control is designed in a top-down manner by morphing dynamics of standing regulator. It resolves three problems which have been in the conventional artificial CPG approaches, namely, 1) how to unify it with the standing control, 2) the controller parameter tuning with complicated networked unit oscillators, and 3) a design of an extra sensory feedbacks to be superimposed for stabilization. The proposed control is built upon the stabilizability-maximized COM-ZMP regulator developed by the author, and only a single parameter seamlessly connects it to a stable limit cycle without degrading the stabilization performance. By synchronizing the foot-lifting with a limit cycle of ZMP, a stable periodic alternate stepping is achieved. Since it is free from time-driven trajectory, it is expected to be a fundamental technique to build robust autonomous biped controllers.
Toxic Effects of Prodigiosin Secreted by Hahella sp. KA22 on Harmful Alga Phaeocystis globosa

Application of algicidal compounds secreted by bacteria is a promising and environmentally friendly strategy to control harmful algal blooms (HABs). Years ago prodigiosin was described as an efficient algicidal compound, but the details about the effect of prodigiosin on algal cells are still elusive. Prodigiosin shows high algicidal activity on Phaeocystis globosa, making it a potential algicide in HAB control. When P. globosa were treated with prodigiosin at 5 μg/mL, algae cells showed cytoplasmic hypervacuolization, chloroplast and nucleus rupture, flagella missing, and cell fracture, when observed by scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscopy. Prodigiosin induced a reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst in P. globosa at 2 h, which could result in severe oxidative damage to algal cells. Chlorophyll a (Chl a) fluorescence decreased significantly after prodigiosin treatment; about 45.3 and 90.0% of algal cells lost Chl a fluorescence at 24 and 48 h. The Fv/Fm value, reflecting the status of the photosystem II electron flow also decreased after prodigiosin treatment. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis psbA and rbcS expression indicated that photosynthesis process was remarkably inhibited by prodigiosin. The results indicated that the inhibition of photosynthesis may produce excessive ROS causing cell necrosis. This study is the first report about algal lysis mechanism of prodigiosin on harmful algae. Our results could increase our knowledge on the interaction between algicidal compounds and harmful algae, which could lead to further studies in the microcosm.
mIoT Slice for 5G Systems: Design and Performance Evaluation

Network slicing is a key feature of the upcoming 5G networks allowing the design and deployment of customized communication systems to integrate services provided by vertical industries. In this context, massive Internet of Things (mIoT) is regarded as a compelling use case, both for its relevance from business perspective, and for the technical challenges it poses to network design. With their envisaged massive deployment of devices requiring sporadic connectivity and small data transmission, yet Quality of Service (QoS) constrained, mIoT services will need an ad-hoc end-to-end (E2E) slice, i.e., both access and core network with enhanced Control and User planes (CP/UP). After revising the key requirements of mIoT and identifying major shortcomings of previous generation networks, this paper presents and evaluates an E2E mIoT network slicing solution, featuring a new connectivity model overcoming the load limitations of legacy systems. Unique in its kind, this paper addresses mIoT requirements from an end-to-end perspective highlighting and solving, unlike most prior related work, the connectivity challenges posed to the core network. Results demonstrate that the proposed solution, reducing CP signaling and optimizing UP resource utilization, is a suitable candidate for next generation network standards to efficiently handle massive device deployment.
Reversible data hiding in encrypted image based on block histogram shifting

Since there is good potential for practical applications such as encrypted image authentication, content owner identification and privacy protection, reversible data hiding in encrypted image (RDHEI) has attracted increasing attention in recent years. In this paper, we propose and evaluate a new separable RDHEI framework. Additional data can be embedded into a cipher image previously encrypted using Josephus traversal and a stream cipher. A block histogram shifting (BHS) approach using self-hidden peak pixels is adopted to perform reversible data embedding. Depending on the keys held, legal receivers can extract only the embedded data with the data hiding key, or, they can decrypt an image very similar to the original with the decryption key. They can extract both the embedded data and recover the original image error-free if both keys are available. The results demonstrate that higher embedding payload, better quality of decrypted-marked image and error-free image recovery are achieved.
The Human Homolog of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Apg7p Is a Protein-activating Enzyme for Multiple Substrates Including Human Apg12p, GATE-16, GABARAP, and MAP-LC3*

Autophagy is a process that involves the bulk degradation of cytoplasmic components by the lysosomal/vacuolar system. In the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, an autophagosome is formed in the cytosol. The outer membrane of the autophagosome is fused with the vacuole, releasing the inner membrane structure, an autophagic body, into the vacuole. The autophagic body is subsequently degraded by vacuolar hydrolases. Taking advantage of yeast genetics,apg(autophagy-defective) mutants were isolated that are defective in terms of formation of autophagic bodies under nutrient starvation conditions. One of the APG gene products, Apg12p, is covalently attached to Apg5p via the C-terminal Gly of Apg12p as in the case of ubiquitylation, and this conjugation is essential for autophagy. Apg7p is a novel E1 enzyme essential for the Apg12p-conjugation system. In mammalian cells, the human Apg12p homolog (hApg12p) also conjugates with the human Apg5p homolog. In this study, the unique characteristics of hApg7p are shown. A two-hybrid experiment indicated that hApg12p interacts with hApg7p. Site-directed mutagenesis revealed that Cys572 of hApg7p is an authentic active site cysteine residue essential for the formation of the hApg7p·hApg12p intermediate. Overexpression of hApg7p enhances the formation of the hApg5p·hApg12p conjugate, indicating that hApg7p is an E1-like enzyme essential for the hApg12p conjugation system. Cross-linking experiments and glycerol-gradient centrifugation analysis showed that the mammalian Apg7p homolog forms a homodimer as in yeast Apg7p. Each of three human Apg8p counterparts, i.e. the Golgi-associated ATPase enhancer of 16 kDa, GABAAreceptor-associated protein, and microtubule-associated protein light chain 3, coimmunoprecipitates with hApg7p and conjugates with mutant hApg7pC572S to form a stable intermediate via an ester bond. These results indicate that hApg7p is an authentic protein-activating enzyme for hApg12p and the three Apg8p homologs.
Using Anytime Algorithms in Intelligent Systems

Anytime algorithms give intelligent systems the capability to trade deliberation time for quality of results. This capability is essential for successful operation in domains such as signal interpretation, real-time diagnosis and repair, and mobile robot control. What characterizes these domains is that it is not feasible (computationally) or desirable (economically) to compute the optimal answer. This article surveys the main control problems that arise when a system is composed of several anytime algorithms. These problems relate to optimal management of uncertainty and precision. After a brief introduction to anytime computation, I outline a wide range of existing solutions to the metalevel control problem and describe current work that is aimed at increasing the applicability of anytime computation.
Comparing Enhancer Action in Cis and in Trans

Studies from diverse systems have shown that distinct interchromosomal interactions are a central component of nuclear organization. In some cases, these interactions allow an enhancer to act in trans, modulating the expression of a gene encoded on a separate chromosome held in close proximity. Despite recent advances in uncovering such phenomena, our understanding of how a regulatory element acts on another chromosome remains incomplete. Here, we describe a transgenic approach to better understand enhancer action in trans in Drosophila melanogaster. Using phiC31-based recombinase-mediated cassette exchange (RMCE), we placed transgenes carrying combinations of the simple enhancer GMR, a minimal promoter, and different fluorescent reporters at equivalent positions on homologous chromosomes so that they would pair via the endogenous somatic pairing machinery of Drosophila. Our data demonstrate that the enhancer GMR is capable of activating a promoter in trans and does so in a variegated pattern, suggesting stochastic interactions between the enhancer and the promoter when they are carried on separate chromosomes. Furthermore, we quantitatively assessed the impact of two concurrent promoter targets in cis and in trans to GMR, demonstrating that each promoter is capable of competing for the enhancer’s activity, with the presence of one negatively affecting expression from the other. Finally, the single-cell resolution afforded by our approach allowed us to show that promoters in cis and in trans to GMR can both be activated in the same nucleus, implying that a single enhancer can share its activity between multiple promoter targets carried on separate chromosomes.
Geochemical and petrogenetic characteristics of the marble deposit in Itobearea, Kogi state, Central Nigeria

Geochemical investigations of the marble deposit in Itobe, Kogi state, central Nigeria shows that the two outcropping masses (mass I and mass II) of the marble deposit are calcitic in composition. The two masses of the marble deposit may have been deposited in shallow structural basins, and mass I with a much higher MgO content (10.4%) was deposited in a much deeper basin than mass II with a much lower MgO content (0.74%). The Mg in the marble must have been co-precipitated with the Ca from hyper-saline waters under anoxic conditions with microfauna and flora playing a vital role. The Itobe marble, as with other metamorphic carbonate rocks, occur commonly within continental environments along which crustal distension has occurred. The association of the marble deposit with quartzite, quartz schist, gneissic granite, pegmatite and quartz veins suggests deposition in a rift environment of rapid subsidence with contemparenous magmatism in the basins formed, followed by closure which led to the deformation of the sediments
RNAG: a new Gibbs sampler for predicting RNA secondary structure for unaligned sequences

Motivation: RNA secondary structure plays an important role in the function of many RNAs, and structural features are often key to their interaction with other cellular components. Thus, there has been considerable interest in the prediction of secondary structures for RNA families. In this article, we present a new global structural alignment algorithm, RNAG, to predict consensus secondary structures for unaligned sequences. It uses a blocked Gibbs sampling algorithm, which has a theoretical advantage in convergence time. This algorithm iteratively samples from the conditional probability distributions P(Structure | Alignment) and P(Alignment | Structure). Not surprisingly, there is considerable uncertainly in the high-dimensional space of this difficult problem, which has so far received limited attention in this field. We show how the samples drawn from this algorithm can be used to more fully characterize the posterior space and to assess the uncertainty of predictions. Results: Our analysis of three publically available datasets showed a substantial improvement in RNA structure prediction by RNAG over extant prediction methods. Additionally, our analysis of 17 RNA families showed that the RNAG sampled structures were generally compact around their ensemble centroids, and at least 11 families had at least two well-separated clusters of predicted structures. In general, the distance between a reference structure and our predicted structure was large relative to the variation among structures within an ensemble. Availability: The Perl implementation of the RNAG algorithm and the data necessary to reproduce the results described in Sections 3.1 and 3.2 are available at http://ccmbweb.ccv. brown.edu/rnag.html Contact: charles_lawrence@brown.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Estimating Spatial and Temporal Variability in Surface Kinematics of the Inylchek Glacier, Central Asia, using TerraSAR-X Data

We use 124 scenes of TerraSAR–X data that were acquired in 2009 and 2010 to analyse the spatial and temporal variability in surface kinematics of the debris-covered Inylchek Glacier, located in the Tien Shan mountain range in Central Asia. By applying the feature tracking method to the intensity information of the radar data and combining the results from the ascending and descending orbits, we derive the surface velocity field of the glaciated area. Analysing the seasonal variations over the upper part of the Southern Inylchek branch, we find a temperature-related increase in velocity from 25 cm/d up to 50 cm/d between spring and summer, with the peak occurring in June. Another prominent velocity peak is observable one month later in the lower part of the Southern Inylchek branch. This area shows generally little motion, with values of approximately 5–10 cm/d over the year, but yields surface kinematics of up to 25 cm/d during the peak period. Comparisons of the dates of annual glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) of the proglacial Lake Merzbacher suggest that this lower part is directly influenced by the drainage, leading to the observed mini-surge, which has over twice the normal displacement rate. With regard to the GLOF and the related response of Inylchek Glacier, we conclude that X–band radar systems such as TerraSAR–X have a high potential for detecting and characterising small-scale glacial surface kinematic variations and should be considered for future inter-annual glacial monitoring tasks.
Optical biopsy with optical coherence tomography: feasibility for surgical diagnostics.

BACKGROUND Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a recently developed compact technology which uses infrared light to perform cross-sectional imaging on a micrometer scale. Since OCT provides imaging at a resolution comparable to conventional histology and does not require direct contact with the tissue surface, a role in real-time surgical diagnostics represents a logical extension. In this work, we test the feasibility of OCT for surgical diagnostics by demonstrating imaging in tissue relevent to microsurgical intervention, a previously undescribed observation. MATERIALS AND METHODS Over 50 sites on nervous, reproductive, and microvascular specimens from 10 patients were examined postmortem with OCT. After imaging, tissue was registered with microinjections of dye, under visible light laser guidance, followed by routine histologic processing to confirm the identity of microstructure. RESULTS The 16 +/- 1 microm resolution allowed subsurface microstructure to be identified at unprecedented resolution. Structures identified included fascicles of peripheral nerves, the internal elastic membrane of microvessels, and the granular layer of the cerebellum. CONCLUSIONS The ability of OCT to provide micrometer-scale definition of tissue microstructure suggests a role in surgical diagnostics. Future in vivo investigations are merited to establish its utility for morbidity reduction associated with surgical intervention.
Repeated colonization of remote islands by specialized mutualists

Mutualisms are ubiquitous in nature, but constraints imposed by specialization may limit their ability to colonize novel environments synchronously. The ability of mutualisms to reassemble following disturbance is central to understanding their response to global change. Here, we demonstrate that a highly specialized pollination mutualism considered to be obligate (Phyllanthaceae: Glochidion; Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae: Epicephala) has colonized some of the world's most isolated archipelagoes, and we record, to our knowledge, for the first time the presence of Epicephala moths from 19 host Glochidion species on 17 islands in the Pacific Ocean. Our findings appear to offer a remarkable example of mutualism persistence in an insect–plant interaction characterized by reciprocal specialization and mutual dependence. These findings also appear to contradict the island biogeography paradigm that taxa with specialized biotic interactions are unlikely to colonize oceanic islands.
Homology of Escherichia coli R773 arsA, arsB, and arsC Genes in Arsenic-Resistant Bacteria Isolated from Raw Sewage and Arsenic-Enriched Creek Waters

ABSTRACT The occurrence and diversity of the Escherichia coli R773 ars operon were investigated among arsenic-resistant enteric and nonenteric bacteria isolated from raw sewage and arsenic-enriched creek waters. Selected isolates from each creek location were screened for ars genes by colony hybridization and PCR. The occurrence of arsA, arsB, and arsC determined by low-stringency colony hybridization (31 to 53% estimated mismatch) was 81, 87, and 86%, respectively, for 84 bacteria isolated on arsenate- and arsenite-amended media from three locations. At moderate stringency (21 to 36% estimated mismatch), the occurrence decreased to 42, 56, and 63% for arsA, arsB, and arsC, respectively. PCR results showed that the ars operon is conserved in some enteric bacteria isolated from creek waters and raw sewage. The occurrence of the arsBC genotype was about 50% in raw sewage enteric bacteria, while arsA was detected in only 9.4% of the isolates (n = 32). The arsABC and arsBC genotypes occurred more frequently in enteric bacteria isolated from creek samples: 71.4 and 85.7% (n = 7), respectively. Average sequence divergence within arsB for six creek enteric bacteria was 20% compared to that of the E. coli R773 ars operon. Only 1 of 11 pseudomonads screened by PCR was positive for arsB. The results from this study suggest that significant divergence has occurred in the ars operon among As-resistant E. coli strains and in Pseudomonas spp.
Fast Rates for Bandit Optimization with Upper-Confidence Frank-Wolfe

We consider the problem of bandit optimization, inspired by stochastic optimization and online learning problems with bandit feedback. In this problem, the objective is to minimize a global loss function of all the actions, not necessarily a cumulative loss. This framework allows us to study a very general class of problems, with applications in statistics, machine learning, and other fields. To solve this problem, we analyze the Upper-Confidence Frank-Wolfe algorithm, inspired by techniques for bandits and convex optimization. We give theoretical guarantees for the performance of this algorithm over various classes of functions, and discuss the optimality of these results.