Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship of PGC-1α Gene Polymorphism With Insulin Resistance Syndrome in Korean Children

This study aimed to investigate the associations between peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) gene Gly482Ser polymorphism (rs8192678) and parameters of insulin resistance in a sample of Korean children. A total of 286 children aged 10 to 12 years old were recruited from local elementary schools. Measured variables included body fat, blood pressures, blood lipids, glucose, insulin, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and accelerometer-based physical activity (PA). Significant differences in percentage body fat (P = .016), insulin (P = .013), and HOMA-IR (P = .007) were found according to Gly482Ser genotype, with no significant genotype differences in the other measured variables. The genotype-specific differences in insulin (P = .136) and HOMA-IR (P = .067) were significantly attenuated when adjusted for age, sex, Tanner stage, body fat, and PA. The findings of the study suggest that the genetic effects of the PGC-1α genotypes on parameters of insulin resistance might be modulated by lifestyle factors, including PA and body fatness.
Heterogeneous Identity-based to certificate less online/offline signcryption

This paper investigates current heterogeneous signcryption and proposes an efficient online/offline heterogeneous signcryption scheme which provides confidentiality and authentication to achieve security goals in secure communication. The proposed efficient signcryption scheme can simultaneously achieve confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and nonrepudiation in a logical single step. The scheme requires that a sender in an identity-based cryptosystem (IBC) to send a message to a receiver in a certificateless cryptosystem (CLC). The scheme is proved to have indistinguishability against adaptive chosen ciphertext attacks (IND-CCA2) under the bilinear Diffie-Hellman and existential unforgeability against adaptive chosen messages attacks (EUF-CMA) under the DiffieHellman problem in the random oracle model. The computational time and communication cost was determined through the implementation of the proposed scheme.
Prediction of birthweight by fetal ultrasound biometry.

The method of measurement of abdominal circumference (AC) is not stated in the paper by Nzeh et al [1]. It is known [2] that measurements based on derived values of AC, such as ellipse fitting or computation from two linear measurements, differ from measurements based on tracing around the outline, the latter being approximately 5% greater. Using, for example, the Campbell formula which relies solely on AC, a 5% apparent difference in AC produces an around 10% apparent difference in the fetal width estimation (in the range of fetal weights considered in this paper).
Examining Differences in Movement Competency in Professional Baseball Players Born in the United States and Dominican Republic.

CONTEXT Dominican Republic (DR) players have different training norms, which can affect their resiliency and performance. The variance among DR players' training regimens may be influenced by the degree of training incorporating fundamental movement patterns. OBJECTIVE To examine differences in fundamental movement patterns in United States (US)-born versus DR-born professional baseball players. DESIGN Cross-sectional cohort. SETTING Professional baseball athletic training room. PARTICIPANTS One hundred forty-two players (76 DR-born and 66 US-born) who were recently selected by a Major League Baseball team. INTERVENTION Subjects completed the Functional Movement Screen using the standardized 7 movement tests and the 3 isolated clearing tests. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The primary variables studied were composite score, left and right asymmetry, and individual movement standard scores. Two-way chi-squared analysis was utilized for the statistical analysis with statistical significance being identified at P < . 05. RESULTS DR players had a larger number of 1s (7.8% vs 3.0%) and 3s (10.5% vs 1.5%) on the right-sided hurdle step and a greater percentage of 3s (82.8% vs 60.6%) on right-sided shoulder mobility. US players had a larger percentage of 3s (33.3% vs 13.4%) and a lower percentage of 1s (2.2% vs 15.1%) on the active straight leg raise and a greater percentage of passable scores (≥2; 99.5% vs 65.8%) on the trunk stability push-up. CONCLUSION This study suggests that fundamental movement competency differs between US- and DR-born professional baseball players. Based on these movement competency differences, a player's country of origin may be taken into account to create an effective training program.
A Distributed Strategy for Human-inthe-loop Task Servicing using Multiple Robots with Stationary Base Station Connectivity Constraint Student Name :

Mobile robots are increasingly being used for tasks like remote surveillance, sensing and maintenance. Some of these tasks are critical and require intelligent decision making for successful completion. It is not always possible to rely exclusively on robot level intelligence to make high impact decisions and hence human supervision is needed during task execution. To facilitate human-in-the-loop task servicing, the task executing robot is required to remain connected to a remotely located human operator. However, robot communication range is typically limited and hence multiple mobile robots might be deployed to perform the tasks. These robots must coordinate with each other to dynamically form and maintain a communication link such that network connectivity exists between the robot servicing the task and the human operator positioned at a stationary base station. The development of connectivity aware coordination algorithms is complex due to limited communication range and presence of obstacles in the search region. In this thesis, we present a distributed multi-robot algorithm for task servicing with human-in-the-loop constraint. Robot control and mission execution is independent of the human operator and is fully autonomous. The algorithm facilitates indirect collaboration amongst the robotic agents and uses a combination of graph theoretic and gradient descent based approaches for path planning. Robots exercise independent decision making on task and role assignment by following a self allocation strategy. This allows dynamic task reassignments and role exchanges amongst the agents based on increased situational awareness. Our solution successfully implements obstacle avoidance and deadlock resolution while being scalable and robust to network and robot failures. To substantiate the claims, we present results from extensive simulations.
CAN THERMOGRAPHY AID IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF MUSCLE INJURIES IN SOCCER ATHLETES ?

Introduction: Since muscle injuries trigger inflammatory processes and inflammation generates heat due to increased local metabolism, hence the level of inflammation can be measured by the temperature gradient. Objective: To assess the feasibility of application of thermography in the diagnosis of injuries caused by physical training. Methods: The study was conducted with adolescent athletes of the Paraná Club, Curitiba, Brazil, who were divided into two groups, namely control and experimental. The control group attended a training session of low intensity and the experimental group a high intensity one. First, a thermographic image of the quadriceps of each athlete was acquired before the training session. After the training session, a blood sample was collected to check the level of serum lactate of each athlete. Subsequently, 24 hours after training, an extra blood sample was performed to check the level of serum CK of each athlete. Another individual thermographic image of the quadriceps was acquired at that stage. Results: The correlation between the lactate and CK was positive and statistically significant rho value = 0.661 (p = 0.038). There was no statistically significant correlation between CK values 24 h post-training and the change in temperature (24 h post-training pre-training) in the muscles evaluated for the control group. There was a statistically significant difference in temperature (24 h post-training pre-training) (p<0.05) for the three muscles studied only in the experimental group. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest the possibility of use of thermographic images, together with creatine kinase, in order to determine the intensity and location of post-training muscle damage, since the previously mentioned biochemical marker cannot determine the anatomic location of the muscle injury.
Enhancement of cytotoxicity of artemisinin toward cancer cells by transferrin-mediated carbon nanotubes nanoparticles

Abstract Artemisinin (ART) is a kind of drug with an endoperoxide bridge which tends to react with Fe2+ to generate radicals for killing cancer cells. However, simultaneous delivery of hydrophobic ART and Fe2+ ions into cancer cells remains a major challenge. In this study, a multi-functional tumor-targeting drug delivery system employing hyaluronic acid-derivatized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (HA-MWCNTs) as drug carriers, transferrin (Tf) as targeting ligand and ART as a model drug for cancer treatment was constructed. This delivery system (HA-MWCNTs/Tf@ART) not only retained optical property of MWCNTs and cytotoxicity of ART but also demonstrated synergistic anti-tumor effect using ART and Tf. Compared with free ART, remarkably enhanced anti-tumor efficacy of this drug vehicle was realized both in cultured MCF-7 cells in vitro and in a tumor-bearing murine model in vivo, due to increased intracellular accumulation of ART and co-delivery of Tf and ART analogs. HA-MWCNTs/Tf@ART with laser irradiation demonstrated the highest inhibition effect compared to the other groups. This result may provide a new way of using promising natural drugs for cancer therapy.
A Role for SMN Exon 7 Splicing in the Selective Vulnerability of Motor Neurons in Spinal Muscular Atrophy

ABSTRACT Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an inherited motor neuron disease caused by homozygous loss of the Survival Motor Neuron 1 (SMN1) gene. In the absence of SMN1, inefficient inclusion of exon 7 in transcripts from the nearly identical SMN2 gene results in ubiquitous SMN decrease but selective motor neuron degeneration. Here we investigated whether cell type-specific differences in the efficiency of exon 7 splicing contribute to the vulnerability of SMA motor neurons. We show that normal motor neurons express markedly lower levels of full-length SMN mRNA from SMN2 than do other cells in the spinal cord. This is due to inefficient exon 7 splicing that is intrinsic to motor neurons under normal conditions. We also find that SMN depletion in mammalian cells decreases exon 7 inclusion through a negative feedback loop affecting the splicing of its own mRNA. This mechanism is active in vivo and further decreases the efficiency of exon 7 inclusion specifically in motor neurons of severe-SMA mice. Consistent with expression of lower levels of full-length SMN, we find that SMN-dependent downstream molecular defects are exacerbated in SMA motor neurons. These findings suggest a mechanism to explain the selective vulnerability of motor neurons to loss of SMN1.
Enhanced Detection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1-Specific T-Cell Responses to Highly Variable Regions by Using Peptides Based on Autologous Virus Sequences

ABSTRACT The antigenic diversity of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) represents a significant challenge for vaccine design as well as the comprehensive assessment of HIV-1-specific immune responses in infected persons. In this study we assessed the impact of antigen variability on the characterization of HIV-1-specific T-cell responses by using an HIV-1 database to determine the sequence variability at each position in all expressed HIV-1 proteins and a comprehensive data set of CD8 T-cell responses to a reference strain of HIV-1 in infected persons. Gamma interferon Elispot analysis of HIV-1 clade B-specific T-cell responses to 504 overlapping peptides spanning the entire expressed HIV-1 genome derived from 57 infected subjects demonstrated that the average amino acid variability within a peptide (entropy) was inversely correlated to the measured frequency at which the peptide was recognized (P = 6 × 10−7). Subsequent studies in six persons to assess T-cell responses against p24 Gag, Tat, and Vpr peptides based on autologous virus sequences demonstrated that 29% (12 of 42) of targeted peptides were only detected with peptides representing the autologous virus strain compared to the HIV-1 clade B consensus sequence. The use of autologous peptides also allowed the detection of significantly stronger HIV-1-specific T-cell responses in the more variable regulatory and accessory HIV-1 proteins Tat and Vpr (P = 0.007). Taken together, these data indicate that accurate assessment of T-cell responses directed against the more variable regulatory and accessory HIV-1 proteins requires reagents based on autologous virus sequences. They also demonstrate that CD8 T-cell responses to the variable HIV-1 proteins are more common than previously reported.
Bacteria and the Role of Antibiotics in Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Although several pathophysiologic models have been suggested, the etiology of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is unknown. Emerging evidence suggests that small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) may explain some symptoms associated with IBS. The putative contribution of bacteria to IBS pathophysiology and symptoms provides a rationale for investigating the efficacy and safety of antibiotics in IBS. Although few controlled studies have been conducted, evidence has suggested that antibiotics may reduce the presence of SIBO and improve symptoms of IBS. Several antibiotics, including rifaximin and neomycin, have been shown to effectively reduce bacterial overgrowth and improve bowel symptoms in patients with SIBO and/or IBS. Rifaximin may be well suited for the treatment of IBS due to its favorable safety profile. Further research is warranted to more fully elucidate the role of bacteria in IBS and the therapeutic benefits of antibiotics in the treatment of IBS.
Moving from Good to Great in Ambulatory Electronic Health Record Implementation

&NA; Despite a good general understanding of the need to ensure provider adoption and use of electronic health record (EHR) systems, many implementations fall short of expectations, and little is known about effective approaches in the ambulatory care area. We aimed to comprehensively study and synthesize best practices for ambulatory EHR system implementation in healthcare organizations, emphasizing strategies that maximize physician adoption and use. Following an extensive literature review, we held 47 key informant interviews with representatives of six U.S. healthcare organizations purposively selected based on reported success with ambulatory EHR system implementation. We interviewed both administrative and clinical informants in order to improve our understanding of ambulatory EHR implementation from both perspectives. We found that while all 6 sites studied were reported to have strong EHR implementation practices, we were able to characterize “good” versus “great” approaches across the sites. Specifically, “great” implementations included a key element focused on optimization and improvement over time that helped healthcare organizations support physician adoption and use of the EHR system. The “great” implementation approaches we saw also included explicit considerations of improved data capture and quality of care in their focus on optimization in order to maximize the value of the EHR.
A laboratory experiment of single machine synchronous islanding using PMUs and Raspberry Pi — A platform for multi-machine islanding

This paper presents the results from a laboratory experiment of a single machine islanded area operated as a synchronous island. The paper also presents how this was realized as well as explaining the control theory that was utilized. The methodology given in this paper serves as a platform on which multi-machine islanding will be based. The laboratory setup consist of a generator model realized by a DC machine coupled with a synchronous machine rated at 5 kVA / 4 kW nominal. The generator is coupled with a load bank rated 5 kW nominal. The laboratory experiment consist of the generator coupled with the load bank. The island controller is implemented with Python code running on a Raspberry Pi.
Re-Emergent Tremor without Accompanying Rest Tremor in Parkinson’s Disease

variety of action tremors also occur in these patients.1-3 These action tremors are important because they are common and because motor disability in parkinsonism seems to correlate more with action than with rest tremor,1 making such tremors an under-appreciated target for treatment. Furthermore, PD patients with action tremor are commonly misdiagnosed as having essential tremor (ET),4,5 further adding to the importance of recognizing the variety of tremor phenomenologies seen in PD. Re-emergent tremor is a postural tremor that emerges after a variable latency of several (1 – 47, mean = 9.4) seconds and has a frequency typical of Parkinsonian resting tremor (4 – 6 Hz). 1 It is thought to represent a re-emergence of Parkinsonian rest tremor. We report a patient with PD who had no tremor at rest yet whose main complaint was a disabling re-emergent tremor. To our knowledge, this has not been reported previously and it therefore further expands the spectrum of motor phenomenology that clinicians can encounter in their patients with PD.
The impact of image and class structure upon sub-pixel mapping accuracy using the pixel-swapping algorithm

A series of tests assess the impact of image and class structure within input imagery upon the accuracy of outputs from the pixel-swapping algorithm (PSA) to better assess the viability of this sub-pixel mapping algorithm to spatially locate class proportions and improve soft classification accuracies. Simulated maps with known spatial autocorrelation, class proportion and mixed pixel percentages are sub-pixel mapped at varying zoom factors using the PSA and accuracies measured. Block majority filtering (BMF) of input images is an experimental accuracy control. Results quantify PSA accuracies compared to the BMF based on the interrelationship between spatial autocorrelation, class proportions, zoom factor and mixed pixel quantities. Findings, while validating the known positive correlation between spatial autocorrelation and PSA accuracy, demonstrate class proportion difference and mixed pixel quantities to be positively and negatively related to PSA accuracy, respectively. Class proportion affects PSA accuracy to a greater degree on maps exhibiting low spatial autocorrelation levels versus maps with high spatial autocorrelation levels. Traditional accuracy measures, such as overall accuracy, are shown to overestimate the true performance of the PSA. The difference in overall accuracy of the PSA between all map pixels and within mixed map pixels alone can be over 20%. Overall, in general, the PSA accurately sub-pixel mapped input images with an approximate minimum level of spatial autocorrelation at a Moran's I of 0.63, a maximum of 30% of mixed pixels relative to entire image pixels, a difference in class proportions greater than 40% and at zoom factors below 10.
Innate immunity in resistance to HIV infection.

Resistance to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in subjects who do not seroconvert despite multiple exposures to the virus and to the progression to AIDS in HIV‐infected individuals depends on multiple factors involving both the innate and the adaptive immune system. The contribution of natural immunity in preventing HIV infection has so far received little attention, but many recently published articles suggest a key role for Toll‐like receptors, natural killer cells, interleukin‐22, acute‐phase amyloid A protein, and APOBEC3G in conferring resistance to HIV infection. The study of these factors will shed light on HIV pathogenesis and contribute to the development of new therapeutic approaches to this elusive disease.
Comparison of esophageal placement of Bravo capsule system under direct endoscopic guidance with conventional placement method.

BACKGROUND/AIMS Conventional placement of a wireless esophageal pH monitoring device in the esophagus requires initial endoscopy to determine the distance to the gastroesophageal junction. Blind placement of the capsule by the Bravo delivery system is followed by repeat endoscopy to confirm placement. Alternatively, the capsule can be placed under direct vision during endoscopy. Currently there is no published data comparing the efficiency of one method over the other. The objective of this study was to compare the method of Bravo wireless pH device placement under direct visualization with the conventional method. METHODS This retrospective study involved 58 patients (29 patients with indirect and 29 patients with direct visualization) who underwent Bravo capsule placement. The physician's endoscopy procedure notes, nurse's notes, post-procedure notes, recovery notes, and pH monitoring results were reviewed. The safety of the procedure, length of the procedure and patient tolerability were evaluated. RESULTS None of the 58 patients had early detachment of the device or any immediate procedure-related complications. Overall incidence of complications in both groups was similar. No failures due to the technique were noted in either group. The average amount of time taken for the procedure was similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS The technique of placing Bravo pH device under direct visualization is as safe and effective as the conventional method. In addition, the direct visualization technique has an added advantage of avoiding a second endoscopic intubation. The length of the procedure is similar between the two techniques.
DEM Generation Combining SAR Polarimetry and Shape-From-Shading Techniques

Estimation of the polarization orientation angle shifts induced by terrain azimuth slope variations is a recently developed application in radar polarimetry. In general, without any prior knowledge on the terrain, two polarimetric SAR (POLSAR) flight passes are required to derive terrain slopes in perpendicular directions for digital elevation model (DEM) generation. Moreover, we note that SAR intensity is a strong indicator of the range component of the terrain slopes. In this letter, we developed a method for DEM generation requiring only one POLSAR flight pass, by combining orientation angle estimation and a shape-from-shading technique. In particular, when limited POLSAR data are available, this POLSAR technique provides an alternative way for DEM generation. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/JPL) AIRSAR L-band POLSAR data over Camp Roberts, California, is used to demonstrate the results of the method proposed in this letter, and a DEM derived from simultaneously measured C-band interferometric SAR from NASA/JPL topographic SAR instrument is selected as the comparative ground truth to validate the effectiveness of this single POLSAR method. Analyses and discussions are also included in this letter.