Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genotyping-by-sequencing highlights patterns of genetic structure and domestication in artichoke and cardoon

Exploiting the biodiversity of crops and their wild relatives is fundamental for maintaining and increasing food security. The species Cynara cardunculus includes three taxa: the globe artichoke, one of the most important Mediterranean vegetables, the leafy cardoon, and the wild cardoon. In this study, genotyping by sequencing (GBS) was successfully applied to reveal thousands of polymorphisms in a C. cardunculus germplasm collection, including 65 globe artichoke, 9 leafy cardoon, and 21 wild cardoon samples. The collection showed a strong population structure at K = 2, separating the globe artichoke from the leafy and wild cardoon. At higher K values, further substructures were observed, in which the wild cardoon was separated from the leafy cardoon, and the latter included the Spanish wild cardoons, while the wild sample from Portugal was admixed. Moreover, subpopulations within the globe artichoke set were highlighted. Structure analysis restricted to the globe artichoke dataset pointed out genetic differentiation between the ˝Catanesi˝ typology and all the other samples (K = 2). At higher values of K, the separation of the ˝Catanesi˝ group still held true, and green headed landraces from Apulia region, Italy (˝Green Apulian˝) formed a distinct subpopulation. ˝Romaneschi˝ artichoke types fell in a variable group with admixed samples, indicating that they should not be considered as a genetically uniform typology. The results of principal component analysis and Neighbor-Joining hierarchical clustering were consistent with structure results, and in addition provided a measure of genetic relationships among individual genotypes. Both analyses attributed the wild material from Spain and Portugal to the cultivated cardoon group, supporting the idea that this might be indeed a feral form of the leafy cardoon. Different reproductive habit and possibly selective pressure led to a slower LD decay in artichoke compared to cardoon. Genotyping by sequencing has proven a reliable methodology to obtain valuable SNPs and assess population genetics in C. cardunculus.
Mechanical Thrombectomy Outcomes With or Without Intravenous Thrombolysis: Insight From the ASTER Randomized Trial

Background and Purpose— Intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) within 4.5 hours of symptom onset is currently recommended before mechanical thrombectomy (MT). We compared functional outcome, neurological recovery, reperfusion, and adverse events according to the use or not of IVT before MT. Methods— This is a post hoc analysis of the ASTER trial (Contact Aspiration Versus Stent Retriever for Successful Revascularization). The primary outcome was favorable 90-day functional outcome defined as a modified Rankin Scale of ⩽2. Secondary outcomes were successful reperfusion following all procedures and after the first-line procedure, number of device passes, and change in National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score at 24 hours. Safety outcomes included 90-day mortality and any symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage. Results— Three hundred eighty-one patients were included, 250 of whom received IVT before MT (IVT+MT group). There were no significant differences between IVT+MT and MT-alone groups in 90-day favorable functional outcome, in successful reperfusion rate (modified Thrombolysis In Cerebral Infarction 2b or 3), in National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score improvement at 24 hours, or in hemorrhagic complication rate. The 90-day mortality rate in the IVT+MT group was lower than after MT alone (fully-adjusted risk ratio, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.39–0.88). In a subgroup of patients without anticoagulant medication before stroke onset, we observed in the IVT+MT group a better functional outcome (fully-adjusted risk ratio, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.02–1.89), a higher successful recanalization rate after first-line strategy (fully-adjusted risk ratio, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.05–1.50), and a lower mortality rate (fully-adjusted risk ratio, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.36–0.93). Conclusions— Our results show that IVT+MT patients in the ASTER trial have lower 90-day mortality compared with those receiving MT alone. In a selected population of patients without prestroke anticoagulation, we demonstrated that IVT associated with MT might improve functional outcome and recanalization while reducing mortality rates.
Sports Camera Calibration via Synthetic Data

Calibrating sports cameras is important for autonomous broadcasting and sports analysis. Here we propose a highly automatic method for calibrating sports cameras from a single image using synthetic data. First, we develop a novel camera pose engine that generates camera poses by randomly sampling camera parameters. The camera pose engine has only three significant free parameters so that it can effectively generate diverse camera poses and corresponding edge (i.e. field marking) images. Then, we learn compact feature descriptors via a siamese network from paired edge images and build a feature-pose database. After that, we use a novel GAN (generative adversarial network) model to detect field markings in real images. Finally, we query an initial camera pose from the feature-pose database and refine camera poses using truncated distance images. We evaluate our method on both synthetic and real data. Our method not only demonstrates the robustness on the synthetic data but also achieves state-of-the-art accuracy on a standard soccer dataset and very high performance on a volleyball dataset.
Chemical Modification of Sweet Potato β-amylase by Mal-mPEG to Improve Its Enzymatic Characteristics

The sweet potato β-amylase (SPA) was modified by 6 types of methoxy polyethylene glycol to enhance its specific activity and thermal stability. The aims of the study were to select the optimum modifier, optimize the modification parameters, and further investigate the characterization of the modified SPA. The results showed that methoxy polyethylene glycol maleimide (molecular weight 5000, Mal-mPEG5000) was the optimum modifier of SPA; Under the optimal modification conditions, the specific activity of Mal-mPEG5000-SPA was 24.06% higher than that of the untreated SPA. Mal-mPEG5000-SPA was monomeric with a molecular weight of about 67 kDa by SDS-PAGE. The characteristics of Mal-mPEG5000-SPA were significantly improved. The Km value, Vmax and Ea in Mal-mPEG5000-SPA for sweet potato starch showed that Mal-mPEG5000-SPA had greater affinity for sweet potato starch and higher speed of hydrolysis than SPA. There was no significant difference of the metal ions’ effect on Mal-mPEG5000-SPA and SPA.
High serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration in patients with a recent diagnosis of non-melanoma skin cancer: a case-control study

BackgroundSun exposure is critical for vitamin D synthesis and is a major risk factor for the development of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). NMSC is the most common type of cancer in Brazil and coexists with a very high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency.ObjectivesThe present study aimed to assess serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) concentration in patients with a recent diagnosis of NMSC.Materials & methodsThe serum 25(OH)D concentration of patients with a histological diagnosis of NMSC, made between September 2016 and September 2017, was measured by chemiluminescence up to 60 days after diagnosis and compared to healthy individuals without NMSC matched by age, sex, BMI, and skin phototype.ResultsForty-one patients with NMSC and 200 healthy controls were evaluated. Most of the patients were men (56.1%) and most had basal cell carcinoma (90.2%). Patients were 67 years old on average (21-87 years) with skin Phototype 2 or 3 (80.6%). Mean serum 25(OH)D concentration inNMSCpatientswas significantly higher than in healthy controls (p<0.001). Most of the patients with NMSC (65.9%) had vitamin D deficiency (25[OH]D <30 ng/mL). No association was identified between histological type, time from diagnosis, or a previous history of skin neoplasm and 25(OH)D measurements.ConclusionPatients with recently diagnosed NMSC had significantly higher serum levels of 25(OH)D when compared to healthy controls. On the other hand, most of the NMSC patients were still considered to have vitamin D insufficiency.
Morning Home Blood Pressure and Cardiovascular Events in Japanese Hypertensive Patients

SPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial) demonstrated the benefit of achieving strict blood pressure control with a lower target blood pressure level in high-risk patients with hypertension. The aim of this post hoc analysis was to investigate the relationship between the 2-year average on-treatment home blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk in subgroups stratified by risk status using data from the HONEST study (Home Blood Pressure Measurement With Olmesartan Naive Patients to Establish Standard Target Blood Pressure). Participants in the HONEST study (n=21 591) were stratified according to risk level as follows: SPRINT population (n=5823)—patients (≥50 years of age) without diabetes mellitus or prior stroke, with SPRINT-defined cardiovascular risk and systolic blood pressure (SBP) of ≥130 mm Hg; SPRINT-excluded high-risk population (n=5481)—patients with diabetes mellitus or prior stroke; and non-SPRINT low-risk population—all other patients in the HONEST study (n=10 287). Cardiovascular disease event risk was 6.32 events per 1000 person-years in the SPRINT population, which was higher than in the non-SPRINT low-risk (3.39; P<0.001) and lower than the SPRINT-excluded high-risk (12.41; P<0.001) populations. In the SPRINT and the SPRINT-excluded high-risk populations, a lower home SBP achieved was associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk, with the lowest risk in patients with a home SBP <125 mm Hg. The non-SPRINT low-risk population showed a J-curve association between on-treatment home SBP and cardiovascular disease risk with the lowest risk at a home SBP of 135 to <145 mm Hg. Intensive therapy targeting home SBP of <125 mm Hg would be beneficial for high-risk hypertensive patients. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.umin. ac.jp/ctr/index.htm. UMIN Clinical Trials Registry, trial no.: UMIN000002567.
Generation of functional murine CD11c+ age‐associated B cells in the absence of B cell T‐bet expression

Age‐associated B cells (ABC), a novel subset of activated B cells defined by CD11b and CD11c expression, have been linked with both protective anti‐viral responses and the pathogenesis of systemic autoimmunity. Expression of the TH1 lineage transcription factor T‐bet has been identified as a defining feature of ABC biology, with B cell‐intrinsic expression of this transcription factor proposed to be required for ABC formation. In contrast to this model, we report that Tbx21 (encoding T‐bet)‐deficient B cells upregulate CD11b and CD11c surface expression in vitro in response to integrated TLR and cytokine signals. Moreover, B cell‐intrinsic T‐bet deletion in a murine lupus model exerted no impact of ABC generation in vivo, with Tbx21−/− ABCs exhibiting an identical surface phenotype to wild‐type (WT) ABCs. Importantly, WT and Tbx21−/− ABCs sorted from autoimmune mice produced equivalent amounts of IgM and IgG ex vivo following TLR stimulation, indicating that T‐bet‐deficient ABCs are likely functional in vivo. In summary, our data contradict the established literature by demonstrating that T‐bet expression is not uniformly required for ABC generation.
Functional MRI in Macaque Monkeys during Task Switching

Nonhuman primates have proven to be a valuable animal model for exploring neuronal mechanisms of cognitive control. One important aspect of executive control is the ability to switch from one task to another, and task-switching paradigms have often been used in human volunteers to uncover the underlying neuronal processes. To date, however, no study has investigated task-switching paradigms in nonhuman primates during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We trained two rhesus macaques to switch between arm movement, eye movement, and passive fixation tasks during fMRI. Similar to results obtained in human volunteers, task switching elicits increased fMRI activations in prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and caudate nucleus. Our results indicate that the macaque monkey is a reliable model with which to investigate higher-order cognitive functioning such as task switching. As such, these results can pave the way for a detailed investigation of the neural basis of complex human behavior. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Task switching is an important aspect of cognitive control, and task-switching paradigms have often been used to investigate higher-order executive functioning in human volunteers. We used a task-switching paradigm in the nonhuman primate during fMRI and found increased activation mainly in prefrontal areas (46, 45, frontal eye field, and anterior cingulate), in orbitofrontal area 12, and in the caudate nucleus. These data fit surprisingly well with previous human imaging data, proving that the monkey is an excellent model to study task switching with high spatiotemporal resolution tools that are currently not applicable in humans. As such, our results pave the way for a detailed interrogation of regions performing similar executive functions in humans and monkeys.
Differential Variable Speed Limits Control for Freeway Recurrent Bottlenecks via Deep Reinforcement learning

Variable speed limits (VSL) control is a flexible way to improve traffic condition,increase safety and reduce emission. There is an emerging trend of using reinforcement learning technique for VSL control and recent studies have shown promising results. Currently, deep learning is enabling reinforcement learning to develope autonomous control agents for problems that were previously intractable. In this paper, we propose a more effective deep reinforcement learning (DRL) model for differential variable speed limits (DVSL) control, in which the dynamic and different speed limits among lanes can be imposed. The proposed DRL models use a novel actor-critic architecture which can learn a large number of discrete speed limits in a continues action space. Different reward signals, e.g. total travel time, bottleneck speed, emergency braking, and vehicular emission are used to train the DVSL controller, and comparison between these reward signals are conducted. We test proposed DRL baased DVSL controllers on a simulated freeway recurrent bottleneck. Results show that the efficiency, safety and emissions can be improved by the proposed method. We also show some interesting findings through the visulization of the control policies generated from DRL models.
The Importance of Empathy for Analyzing Privacy Requirements

Empathy is the first step of the design thinking (DT) paradigm, which has recently gained interest among software development organizations, leveraging the design and innovation processes for better meeting the required end-user experience. The DT paradigm places the customer needs up-front and emphasizes facilitating empathy with users, observing their behavior, and drawing conclusions about what people want and need. In this paper we analyze, through the lens of DT, findings of former research studies which indicated that by and large, software developers are not minded to privacy requirements. Our analysis demonstrates that the absence of empathy leads to neglecting important privacy concerns when designing software systems. Following this analysis, we posit that the empathy step, as manifested in the DT paradigm, is a necessary component of requirements engineering for unveiling and addressing the type of requirements that are at high risk of being overlooked. Employing empathy techniques and tools provided by the DT paradigm can foster empathy practices and skills of software engineers, who often do not practice empathy in their professional work.
Therapeutic Effect of Intense Pulsed Light on Ocular Demodicosis

ABSTRACT Purpose: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of Lumenis® M22TM intense pulsed light (IPL) in reduction of ocular Demodex infestation in eyelashes in a prospective study. Methods: Forty patients with ocular demodicosis were recruited. Then half were randomly picked to receive the IPL treatment, while the other half got 5% tea tree oil (as the control group). Demodex counts, the ocular surface disease index (OSDI) score, lid margin abnormalities, conjunctival congestion, tear break-up time (TBUT), corneal staining with fluorescein, meibomian gland (MG) expressibility, meibum quality, modified Schirmer I test with anaesthetic (SIT), were assessed on the day before treatment and after treatment of 30 and 90 days, respectively. Changes in the parameters were compared between the IPL group and the control group on the days after treatment of 30 and 90 days. Results: No differences were observed in Demodex counts, lid margin abnormalities, conjunctival congestion, corneal staining with fluorescein, MG expressibility, SIT in the two groups on the days after treatment of 30 and 90 days (p > 0.05), whereas there was a statistically significant difference in the OSDI score, TBUT, meibum quality (p < 0.05). The Demodex eradication rate was more thorough in the IPL group (100%) than in the control group (75%). Conclusions: IPL shows the preferably therapeutic potential for ocular Demodicosis.
Identification of a novel member of the pH responsive pathway Pal/Rim in Ustilago maydis

The most important signal transduction mechanism related to environmental pH responses in fungi is the Pal/Rim pathway. Our knowledge of this pathway came initially from studies on Ascomycota species where it is made by seven members divided into two complexes, one located at the plasma membrane, and other at the endosomal membrane. In Basidiomycota sepecies only the homologs of the endosomal membrane complex (genes PalA/Rim20, PalB/ Rim13, and PalC/ Rim23), plus the transcription factor PacC/Rim101 have been identified. In this study, we describe the identification in Ustilago maydis of a gene encoding a Rho‐like protein (tentatively named RHO4) as a novel member of this pathway. The RHO4 gene possibly plays, among other functions, a role in the second proteolytic cleavage that leads to the activation of the transcription factor PacC/Rim101. Mutants in this gene showed a pleiotropic phenotype, displaying similar characteristics to the Pal/Rim mutants, such as a lower growth rate at alkaline pH, high sensitivity to ionic and osmotic stresses, and impairment in protease secretion, but no alteration of the yeast‐to‐mycelium dimorphic transition induced by acid pH whereas it has a function in the dimorphic transition induced by fatty acids.
Antihypertensive Drug Deintensification and Recurrent Falls in Long‐Term Care

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between antihypertensive drug deintensification and recurrent falls in long-term care. DATA SOURCES/SETTINGS Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) inpatient, outpatient, and purchased care data, Minimum Data Set assessments from VA nursing homes (NHs), and Medicare claims from fiscal years 2010 - 2015. STUDY DESIGN We identified NH residents with evidence of overaggressive antihypertensive treatment, defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP) 80-120 and an index fall. Recurrent fall, hospitalization, and mortality within 30 days were compared between veterans whose antihypertensive medications were deintensified versus those whose antihypertensive medications were not using propensity score methods (PSM). PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Among 2,212 NH residents with possibly overaggressive antihypertensive treatment, 11 percent experienced antihypertensive drug deintensification. Lower blood pressure, >1 antihypertensive drug, no congestive heart failure, fracture from index fall, and older age were associated with higher likelihood of deintensification. Antihypertensive deintensification was associated with statistically significant (p-value < .01) lower risk of recurrent fall among residents with SBP 80-100 (marginal effect = -11.4 percent; PSM = -13.6 percent) and higher risk of death among residents with SBP 101-120 (marginal effect = 2.1 percent, p-value = .07; with PSM = 4.3 percent, p-value = .04). CONCLUSIONS Results provide some needed evidence and guidelines for deintensifying antihypertensive medication among frail older residents; since hypertension is prevalent among 54 percent of NH residents, the potential impact of new evidence is great.
A New Metric for Evaluating Semantic Segmentation: Leveraging Global and Contour Accuracy

Semantic segmentation of images is an important issue for intelligent vehicles and mobile robotics because it offers basic information which can be used for complex reasoning and safe navigation. Different solutions have been proposed for this problem along the last two decades, where recent deep neural networks approaches have shown very promising results in the context of urban navigation. One of the main problems when comparing different semantic segmentation solutions is how to select an appropriate metric to evaluate their accuracy. On the one hand, classic metrics do not measure properly the accuracy on the object contours, which is important in urban driving to differentiate road from sidewalk for instance. On the other hand, contour-based metrics [1] disregard the information far from class contours. This paper explores the problem multi-modal image segmentation, and presents a new metric to leverage global and contour accuracy in a simple formulation. This metric is validated with the evaluation of several semantic segmentation solutions that exploit RGB-D images to rank these solutions taking into account the quality of the segmented contours. We also present a comparative analysis of several commonly used metrics together with a statistical analysis of their correlation.
Associations of miR-146a, miR-149, miR-196a2, and miR-499 Polymorphisms with Ischemic Stroke in the Northern Chinese Han Population

Background Recently, miR-146a C>G, miR-149 T>C, miR-196a2 T>C and miR-499 A>G polymorphisms have been associated with susceptibility to many diseases, including ischemic stroke (IS). However, results have been reported inconsistency in IS, especially in the Chinese population. This study aimed to investigate the polymorphisms of the 4 miRNAs and IS risk in the Chinese population. Material/Methods We used a case-control study to explore these associations in 396 patients with IS and 378 healthy controls. According to TOAST standards, the selected patients were divided into subgroups: the large artery atherosclerosis (LAA) subgroup and the small artery occlusion (SAO) subgroup. The method of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to detect the genotypes. Results The miR-146a C>G polymorphism was remarkably different (CC vs. CG+GG: P=0.027; CC+CG vs. GG: P=0.020; C vs. G: P=0.006). The miR-149 T>C polymorphism was also remarkably different (TT vs. TC+CC: P=0.017; TT+TC vs. CC: P=0.020; T vs. C: P=0.004). The miR-146a and miR-149 polymorphisms were also remarkably different in the LAA subgroup (P<0.05). However, we did not find an association of miR-196a2 T>C or miR-499 A>G polymorphisms with IS (P>0.05); we did not find any association in the LAA subgroup or the SAO subgroup (P>0.05). Conclusions Our study suggested that miR-146a C>G and miR-149 T>C polymorphisms might remarkably increase the risk of IS, which might be mainly associated with an increased risk in LAA stroke; however, the miR-196a2 T>C and miR-499 A>G polymorphisms might not be associated with IS risk in the northern Chinese Han population.