Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Foot Plantar Pressure Monitoring with CYTOP Bragg Gratings Sensing System

In this paper, a polymer optical fiber (POF) sensing solution to monitor the pressure induced in the foot plantar surface is investigated. The paper shows the design and implementation of a platform with an array of 5 polymer optical fiber Bragg gratings (POFBGs) placed in key points to monitor the pressure on the foot surface during gait cycles and the body center mass displacements. The results showed a great response compared with solutions using silica optical fibers. A much high sensitivity and repeatability were achieved using the CYTOP fiber as well as proving that the advantages of POF is a viable and useful solution for this type of application for a future implementation of an integrated “in-shoe” CYTOP POFBGs sensor network.
Visualization of the Genesis and Fate of Isotype-switched B Cells during a Primary Immune Response

The life history of isotype-switched B cells is unclear, in part, because of an inability to detect rare antigen-specific B cells at early times during the immune response. To address this issue, a small population of B cells carrying targeted antibody transgenes capable of class switching was monitored in immunized mice. After contacting helper T cells, the first switched B cells appeared in follicles rather than in the red pulp, as was expected. Later, some of the switched B cells transiently occupied the red pulp and marginal zone, whereas others persisted in germinal centers (GCs). Antigen-experienced IgM B cells were rarely found in GCs, indicating that these cells switched rapidly after entering GCs or did not persist in this environment.
Experimental Investigations on the Effects of Torque Tightening on the Fatigue Strength of Double‐lap Simple Bolted and Hybrid (Bolted/Bonded) Joints

In this paper, the effects of bolt torque tightening on the fatigue strength of double‐lap simple bolted and hybrid (bolted/bonded) joints have been studied experimentally. To do so, two types of joints, that is, double‐lap simple and hybrid (bolted/bonded) joints, were studied. For each type of joints, three sets of specimens were prepared and subjected to the tightening torque of 1, 2.5 and 5 Nm, and then, fatigue tests were carried out at different cyclic longitudinal load levels. Experimental tests results showed that the hybrid joints have better fatigue performance in comparison with the simple bolted joints. In addition, the investigation revealed the positive role of tightening torque on the fatigue life of both simple and hybrid joints.
Could mean platelet volume be a promising biomarker of progression of chronic kidney disease?

Abstract The mean platelet volume (MPV), a readily available indicator of platelet activation and function, is a useful predictive and prognostic biomarker of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease (CVD). It is associated with a variety of prothrombotic and proinflammatory diseases. Larger platelets are more likely to aggregate and release greater quantities of adhesive molecules. MPV has seldom been investigated in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). This study aimed to investigate the relationship between MPV levels and the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in patients with CKD. We reviewed the medical records of patients with CKD who visited the nephrology outpatient clinics of Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital between January 2010 and May 2013. A total of 553 patients were included in the present retrospective study. According to the estimated GFR (eGFR) calculated by the abbreviated the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation, the patients were allocated to Group 1 (GFR, 60–89 ml/minute/1.73 m2; n = 64), Group 2 (GFR, 30–59 ml/minute/1.73 m2; n = 268), Group 3 (GFR, 15–29 ml/minute/1.73 m2; n = 147), or Group 4 (GFR, <15 ml/minute/1.73 m2 and non-dialysis; n = 74). Data were analyzed by Student’s t-test, the chi-squared test, Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r), Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) test, and one-way analysis of covariance. The MPV values had a negative correlation with eGFR in patients with CKD (Pearson’s correlation coefficient = −0.553, p < 0.001). The mean MPV values in Groups 1–4 were 9.81 ± 0.13 fl, 10.34 ± 0.08 fl, 10.86 ± 0.09 fl, and 11.19 ± 0.11 fl, respectively (p < 0.001). Multiple comparisons of MPV values in the four groups by Tukey’s HSD test showed statistically significant intergroup differences, with all p values <0.001. Platelet counts and PDW decreased along with eGFR, and there were no significant differences with respect to plateletcrit. Patients with prevalent coronary artery disease (CAD) or CVD had higher MPVs than did those without CAD or CVD. MPV was significantly increased with progression of CKD. MPV may be a useful indicator of increased risks of CAD or CVD in patients with CKD.
Nonlinear bulging factor based on R-curve data

In this paper, a nonlinear bulging factor is derived using a strain energy approach combined with dimensional analysis. The functional form of the bulging factor contains an empirical constant that is determined using R-curve data from unstiffened flat and curved panel tests. The determination of this empirical constant is based on the assumption that the R-curve is the same for both flat and curved panels.
Human aortic endothelial cells express the type I but not the type II receptor for interleukin‐1 (IL‐1)

Endothelial cells (EC) are very responsive to the proinflammatory cytokine inter‐leukin‐1 (IL‐1). EC are induced by IL‐1 to secrete chemotactic factors and to increase expression of cell surface adhesion molecules leading to increased leukocyte adhesion. Activated EC turther contribute to the inflammatory response by secreting additional cytokines. IL‐1 interacts with EC through high‐affinity cell‐surface receptors. However, the low number of receptors present on EC has made characterization difficult. Further, recent evidence has suggested diversity in the responses of EC from different regions of the vascular system. Interested in the effect of IL‐1 on early atherosclerotic lesion formation, we have characterized the IL‐1 receptors on human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC). Using a direct binding assay, we found that HAEC have 1,000–3,000 IL‐1 receptors per cell and bind IL‐1α with a Kd of 3.5 × 10−10 M. We found that a monoclonal antibody specific for the type I receptor completely blocks IL‐1α binding. The blocking antibody also completely inhibits the IL‐1 induced increase in intracellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM‐1) expression by HAEC. Using solution hybridization and ribonuclease protection with an antisense probe, a sensitive method for detection of low abundance mRNA species we found that HAEC as well as human umbilical vein EC (HUVEC) have significant levels of mRNA for the type I IL‐1 receptor. To test whether HAEC might also contain transcripts for the type II IL‐1 receptor, we compared levels of mRNAs by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of cDNAs reverse‐transcribed from total RNA. We found only transcripts for the type I receptor and not the type II receptor in HAEC. Based on this data, we conclude that aortic endothelial cells respond to IL‐1 through the type I receptor. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The puzzle of joking: Disentangling the cognitive and affective components of humorous distraction

Studies in cognitive psychology, marketing, and education indicate that humor distracts attention from non-humorous information presented at the same time. Two experiments investigated why humor distracts attention. The two basic components of humor comprise (1) incongruency resolution, which poses cognitive demands and (2) positive affect. We disentangled the contributions of cognitive demands and positive affect on distraction based on the notions that (a) both components are possible sources of distraction, and (b) the components were always confounded in previous research. In an evaluative conditioning paradigm, novel products were consistently paired with humorous stimuli, whereas other products were paired with stimuli that were either (1) equally demanding but neutral, (2) equally positive but undemanding, and (3) undemanding and neutral. The results showed that cognitively demanding stimuli distracted attention, irrespective of stimulus positivity. These findings suggest that the cognitive demands of humor, not the positive affect it evokes, underlie the distraction effect.
Relationship between methylome and transcriptome in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Cirrhosis and liver cancer are potential outcomes of advanced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). It is not clear what factors determine whether patients will develop advanced or mild NAFLD, limiting noninvasive diagnosis and treatment before clinical sequelae emerge. We investigated whether DNA methylation profiles can distinguish patients with mild disease from those with advanced NAFLD, and how these patterns are functionally related to hepatic gene expression. METHODS We collected frozen liver biopsies and clinical data from patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD (56 in the discovery cohort and 34 in the replication cohort). Samples were divided into groups based on histologic severity of fibrosis: F0-1 (mild) and F3-4 (advanced). DNA methylation profiles were determined and coupled with gene expression data from the same biopsies; differential methylation was validated in subsets of the discovery and replication cohorts. We then analyzed interactions between the methylome and transcriptome. RESULTS Clinical features did not differ between patients known to have mild or advanced fibrosis based on biopsy analysis. There were 69,247 differentially methylated CpG sites (76% hypomethylated, 24% hypermethylated) in patients with advanced vs mild NAFLD (P < .05). Methylation at fibroblast growth factor receptor 2, methionine adenosyl methyltransferase 1A, and caspase 1 was validated by bisulfite pyrosequencing and the findings were reproduced in the replication cohort. Methylation correlated with gene transcript levels for 7% of differentially methylated CpG sites, indicating that differential methylation contributes to differences in expression. In samples with advanced NAFLD, many tissue repair genes were hypomethylated and overexpressed, and genes in certain metabolic pathways, including 1-carbon metabolism, were hypermethylated and underexpressed. CONCLUSIONS Functionally relevant differences in methylation can distinguish patients with advanced vs mild NAFLD. Altered methylation of genes that regulate processes such as steatohepatitis, fibrosis, and carcinogenesis indicate the role of DNA methylation in progression of NAFLD.
Differentiation of acute from chronic hepatitis C virus infection by nonstructural 5B deep sequencing: A population‐level tool for incidence estimation

The ability to classify acute versus chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections at the time of diagnosis is desirable to improve the quality of surveillance information. The aim of this study was to differentiate acute from chronic HCV infections utilizing deep sequencing. HCV nonstructural 5B (NS5B) amplicons (n = 94) were generated from 77 individuals (13 acute and 64 chronic HCV infections) in British Columbia, Canada, with documented seroconversion time frames. Amplicons were deep sequenced and HCV genomic diversity was measured by Shannon entropy (SE) and a single nucleotide variant (SNV) analysis. The relationship between each diversity measure and the estimated days since infection was assessed using linear mixed models, and the ability of each diversity measure to differentiate acute from chronic infections was assessed using generalized estimating equations. Both SE and the SNV diversity measures were significantly different for acute versus chronic infections (P < 0.009). NS5B nucleotide diversity continued to increase for at least 3 years postinfection. Among individuals with the least uncertainty with regard to duration of infection (n = 39), the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was high (0.96 for SE; 0.98 for SNV). Although the AUROCs were lower (0.86 for SE; 0.80 for SNV) when data for all individuals were included, they remain sufficiently high for epidemiological purposes. Synonymous mutations were the primary discriminatory variable accounting for over 78% of the measured genetic diversity. Conclusions: NS5B sequence diversity assessed by deep sequencing can differentiate acute from chronic HCV infections and, with further validation, could become a powerful population‐level surveillance tool for incidence estimation. (Hepatology 2015;61:1842–1850)
Auditory Language Comprehension in Children with Developmental Dyslexia: Evidence from Event-related Brain Potentials

In the present study, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were used to compare auditory sentence comprehension in 16 children with developmental dyslexia (age 912 years) and unimpaired controls matched on age, sex, and nonverbal intelligence. Passive sentences were presented, which were either correct or contained a syntactic violation (phrase structure) or a semantic violation (selectional restriction). In an overall sentence correctness judgment task, both control and dyslexic children performed well. In the ERPs, control children and dyslexic children demonstrated a similar N400 component for the semantic violation. For the syntactic violation, control children demonstrated a combined pattern, consisting of an early starting bilaterally distributed anterior negativity and a late centro-parietal positivity (P600). Dyslexic children showed a different pattern that is characterized by a delayed left lateralized anterior negativity, followed by a P600. These data indicate that dyslexic children do not differ from unimpaired controls with respect to semantic integration processes (N400) or controlled processes of syntactic reanalyses (P600) during auditory sentence comprehension. However, early and presumably highly automatic processes of phrase structure building reflected in the anterior negativity are delayed in dyslexic children. Moreover, the differences in hemispheric distribution of the syntactic negativity indicate different underlying processes in dyslexic children and controls. The bilateral distribution in controls suggests an involvement of right hemispherically established prosodic processes in addition to the left hemispherically localized syntactic processes, supporting the view that prosodic information may be used to facilitate syntactic processing during normal comprehension. The left hemispheric distribution observed for dyslexic children, in contrast, suggests that these children do not rely on information about the prosodic contour during auditory sentence comprehension as much as controls do. This finding points toward a phonological impairment in dyslexic children that might hamper the development of syntactic processes.
A Step Towards Developing Adaptive Robot-Mediated Intervention Architecture (ARIA) for Children With Autism

Emerging technology, especially robotic technology, has been shown to be appealing to children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Such interest may be leveraged to provide repeatable, accurate and individualized intervention services to young children with ASD based on quantitative metrics. However, existing robot-mediated systems tend to have limited adaptive capability that may impact individualization. Our current work seeks to bridge this gap by developing an adaptive and individualized robot-mediated technology for children with ASD. The system is composed of a humanoid robot with its vision augmented by a network of cameras for real-time head tracking using a distributed architecture. Based on the cues from the child's head movement, the robot intelligently adapts itself in an individualized manner to generate prompts and reinforcements with potential to promote skills in the ASD core deficit area of early social orienting. The system was validated for feasibility, accuracy, and performance. Results from a pilot usability study involving six children with ASD and a control group of six typically developing (TD) children are presented.
Spanning Subgraphs of Random Graphs

Let Gp be a random graph on 2d vertices where edges are selected independently with a fixed probability p > ¼, and let H be the d-dimensional hypercube Qd. We answer a question of Bollobás by showing that, as d → ∞, Gp almost surely has a spanning subgraph isomorphic to H. In fact we prove a stronger result which implies that the number of d-cubes in G ∈ [Gscr ](n, M) is asymptotically normally distributed for M in a certain range. The result proved can be applied to many other graphs, also improving previous results for the lattice, that is, the 2-dimensional square grid. The proof uses the second moment method – writing X for the number of subgraphs of G isomorphic to H, where G is a suitable random graph, we expand the variance of X as a sum over all subgraphs of H itself. As the subgraphs of H may be quite complicated, most of the work is in estimating the various terms of this sum.
Childhood adversities and laboratory pain perception

Childhood adversity has frequently been related to a wide range of psychosomatic complaints in adulthood. The present study examined the relationship between different forms of childhood adversity and laboratory measures of pain. Heat pain tolerance and perceived heat pain intensity were measured in a community-based sample of 62 women (aged 20-64 years). Participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), which assesses five forms of childhood adversity: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical neglect, and emotional neglect. Somatic symptoms, depressive symptoms, and pain catastrophizing were assessed as potential mediators. Bivariate analyses indicated that emotional abuse but no other forms of childhood adversity were significantly related to decreased heat pain tolerance (r=-0.27; P<0.05). Accordingly, multiple regression analyses revealed that only emotional abuse was a significant predictor of heat pain tolerance (β=-0.62; P=0.034) when entering all CTQ subscales simultaneously. Although emotional abuse was also related to somatic symptoms, depressive symptoms, and pain catastrophizing, none of these variables mediated the relationship between childhood adversity and laboratory pain (P>0.1). No significant associations were found between any forms of childhood adversity and heat pain intensity. Our findings indicate that the severity of emotional childhood abuse is associated with decreased pain tolerance, an affective component of pain, but not with heat pain intensity, which has been described as a sensory component of pain.
Development of cerebral sulci and gyri in ferrets (Mustela putorius)

The present study aimed to clarify sulcation and gyration patterns in the developing cerebrum of ferrets. While the brain weight and fronto‐occipital length of the cerebral hemisphere reached a plateau by postnatal day (PD) 42, the cerebral width reached a plateau at the rostral region by PD 21, and subsequently at the caudal region by PD 42. The ferret cerebrum already showed a convoluted surface with indentations of coronal and rostral suprasylvian sulci on PD 4. The presylvian and cruciate sulci emerged by PD 10, resulting in convolutions of gyri in the rostral half of the cerebrum. The caudal half of the cerebrum was infolded by the emergence of the pseudosylvian sulcus and the rhinal fissure by PD 10, and the caudal suprasylvian and lateral sulci by PD 21. The emergence of those sulci allowed a gyration in the caudal half of the cerebrum. Sexual differences in sulcation were detected by a more distinct convolution of the visual cortex in males than in females on PD 90. Those results, therefore, suggest that the ferret cerebrum experiences cortical maturation with sulcation and gyration in a rostrocaudal gradient manner. The present paper provides neuroanatomic references for normal development of cerebral sulci and gyri in both sexes of ferrets.
Human Self as Information Agent: Functioning in a Social Environment Based on Shared Meanings

A neglected aspect of human selfhood is that people are information agents. That is, much human social activity involves communicating and discussing information. This occurs in the context of incompletely shared information—but also a group's store of collective knowledge and shared understanding. This article elucidates a preliminary theory of self as information agent, proposing that human evolution instilled both abilities and motivations for the various requisite functions. These basic functions include (a) seeking and acquiring information, (b) communicating one's thoughts to others, (c) circulating information through the group, (d) operating on information to improve it, such as by correcting mistakes, and (e) constructing a shared understanding of reality. Sophisticated information agents exhibit additional features, such as sometimes selectively withholding information or disseminating false information for self-serving reasons, cultivating a reputation as a credible source of information, and cooperating with others to shape the shared worldview in a way that favors one's subgroup. Meaningful information is thus more than a resource for individual action: It also provides the context, medium, and content within which the individual self interacts with its social environment.
The Fano Resonance in Symmetry Broken Terahertz Metamaterials

The spectral characteristic of a Fano resonance is a distinct and unique asymmetric line shape. It arises from the destructive interference between a bright continuum mode and a discrete dark mode. Metamaterials and plasmonics have facilitated the observation of Fano resonances in the realm of classical electrodynamics and have spurred intense interest to study and to exploit their peculiarities due their low loss and very sharp resonant features. Here, we survey the excitation of Fano resonance at terahertz frequencies by using asymmetric metamaterial structures. In particular, we discuss the high Q of Fano resonances, their sensitivity to the asymmetry parameter and potential applications. We believe that the manipulation of terahertz radiation by exploiting Fano resonances in terahertz metamaterials could usher in next-generation terahertz photonic devices for delay, storage, filtering, sensing, and nonlinear applications.