Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Progressive Workload Periodization Maximizes Effects of Nordic Hamstring Exercise on Muscle Injury Risk Factors.

Severo-Silveira, L, Dornelles, MP, Lima-e-Silva, FX, Marchiori, CL, Medeiros, TM, Pappas, E, and Baroni, BM. Progressive workload periodization maximizes effects of Nordic hamstring exercise on muscle injury risk factors. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2018-This study aimed to investigate the effect of 2 different Nordic hamstring exercise (NHE) training programs (constant workload vs. progressive workload) on multiple risk factors for hamstring strain injury in high competitive level athletes. Twenty-one premier league rugby union players (∼26 years) were randomized into 1 of 2 experimental groups and completed an 8-week NHE training program: constant training group (CTG) or progressive training group (PTG). Knee flexor/extensor strength and biceps femoris long head (BFLH) muscle architecture were assessed through isokinetic dynamometry and ultrasonography, respectively, before and after the training programs. Increased hamstring concentric (Δ = 8%, p = 0.004, d = 0.42) and eccentric (Δ = 7%, p = 0.041, d = 0.39) peak torques, as well as H:Q conventional (Δ = 7%, p = 0.015, d = 0.54) and functional (Δ = 6%, p = 0.026, d = 0.62) ratios were observed in the follow-up compared with baseline for the PTG group only. Nordic hamstring exercise training significantly increased BFLH muscle thickness (CTG: Δ = 7%, p = 0.001, d = 0.60; PTG: Δ = 7%, p < 0.001, d = 0.54) and fascicle length (CTG: Δ = 8%, p < 0.001, d = 0.29; PTG: Δ = 10%, p < 0.001, d = 0.35) in both groups. Training adaptations on hamstring peak torque (concentric and eccentric) and H:Q ratio (conventional and functional) "likely favor" PTG, whereas changes in BFLH fascicle length "possibly favor" PTG. In conclusion, only PTG enhanced hamstring strength; both NHE training programs increased BFLH muscle thickness and fascicle length, but progressive training generated greater changes on fascicle length than constant training. Medical/coaching staff should be aware that NHE with adequate training periodization with workload progression to maximize its benefits.
Macrophages and Galectin 3 Control Bacterial Burden in Acute and Subacute Murine Leptospirosis That Determines Chronic Kidney Fibrosis

Previous studies have suggested that macrophages may contribute to acute Leptospira dissemination, as well as having a major role in kidney fibrosis. Our aim was to characterize the role of macrophages and galectin 3 (Gal-3) on the survival, clinical course, bacterial burden, interstitial nephritis, and chronic kidney fibrosis in Leptospira interrogans serovar Copenhageni (LIC)-induced experimental murine leptospirosis. C57BL/6J mice depleted of macrophages by liposome-encapsulated clodronate treatment and infected with LIC presented a higher bacterial burden, had reduced subacute nephritis and enhanced chronic kidney fibrosis relative to untreated, infected mice. Moreover, LIC infection in mice whose Gal-3 was disrupted (Lgals3−/–) had a higher bacterial burden and enhanced subacute nephritis and chronic kidney fibrosis when compared to C57BL/6J wild-type mice. Chronic fibrosis did not correlate with higher transcription levels of TGF-β1 or IL-13 in the kidneys. Kidney fibrosis was found in chronically infected rats as well as in wild infected rats. On the other hand, human fibroblast cultures exhibited enhanced differentiation to myofibroblasts after treatment with LIC. Our results demonstrate that macrophages and Gal-3 play a critical role in controlling the LIC burden but has a minor role in subsequent fibrosis. Instead, kidney fibrosis was better correlated with bacterial burden. Taken together, our results do not support a role for macrophages to disseminate leptospires during acute infection, nor in chronic kidney fibrosis.
First-Principles Study on the Stabilities, Electronic and Optical Properties of GexSn1-xSe Alloys

We systematically study, by using first-principles calculations, stabilities, electronic properties, and optical properties of GexSn1-xSe alloy made of SnSe and GeSe monolayers with different Ge concentrations x = 0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0. Our results show that the critical solubility temperature of the alloy is around 580 K. With the increase of Ge concentration, band gap of the alloy increases nonlinearly and ranges from 0.92 to 1.13 eV at the PBE level and 1.39 to 1.59 eV at the HSE06 level. When the Ge concentration x is more than 0.5, the alloy changes into a direct bandgap semiconductor; the band gap ranges from 1.06 to 1.13 eV at the PBE level and 1.50 to 1.59 eV at the HSE06 level, which falls within the range of the optimum band gap for solar cells. Further optical calculations verify that, through alloying, the optical properties can be improved by subtle controlling the compositions. Since GexSn1-xSe alloys with different compositions have been successfully fabricated in experiments, we hope these insights will contribute to the future application in optoelectronics.
Bistability in Hodgkin-Huxley-type equations

We study how initial conditions of the Hodgkin-Huxley model affect the dynamics of simulated neurons. We systematically vary the amplitudes of depolarization currents in order to bring neuron dynamics to stable equilibrium. Our results demonstrate that simulated neurons can have spontaneous spiking or a silent state, depending on the initial conditions. We propose the methodology to study the circumstances under which Purkinje cells transit between hyperpolarized quiescent state (down state) and a depolarized spiking state (up state). We show that results derived using the Hodgkin-Huxley methodology should be carefully analyzed before suggesting a direct relevance to neuroprosthetic implants.
Toward the development of standards for yellow flashing lights used in work zones

Flashing yellow warning lights are important for worker and driver safety in work zones. Current standards for these lights do not address whether and how they should be coordinated to provide directional information to drivers navigating through work zones. A field study was conducted to assess driver responses to warning lights. The luminous intensities and flash patterns of warning lights along a simulated work zone were varied during daytime and nighttime. During the daytime, driver responses were relatively insensitive to warning light characteristics, although drivers preferred sequential and synchronised flash patterns over random, uncoordinated flashing. At nighttime, the combination of a temporal peak luminous intensity of 25 cd and a sequential flash pattern was optimal for providing directional information. A single initial warning light having a higher luminous intensity may help drivers detect the work zone without creating unacceptable visual discomfort.
A Convex Duality Framework for GANs

Generative adversarial network (GAN) is a minimax game between a generator mimicking the true model and a discriminator distinguishing the samples produced by the generator from the real training samples. Given an unconstrained discriminator able to approximate any function, this game reduces to finding the generative model minimizing a divergence measure, e.g. the Jensen-Shannon (JS) divergence, to the data distribution. However, in practice the discriminator is constrained to be in a smaller class $\mathcal{F}$ such as neural nets. Then, a natural question is how the divergence minimization interpretation changes as we constrain $\mathcal{F}$. In this work, we address this question by developing a convex duality framework for analyzing GANs. For a convex set $\mathcal{F}$, this duality framework interprets the original GAN formulation as finding the generative model with minimum JS-divergence to the distributions penalized to match the moments of the data distribution, with the moments specified by the discriminators in $\mathcal{F}$. We show that this interpretation more generally holds for f-GAN and Wasserstein GAN. As a byproduct, we apply the duality framework to a hybrid of f-divergence and Wasserstein distance. Unlike the f-divergence, we prove that the proposed hybrid divergence changes continuously with the generative model, which suggests regularizing the discriminator's Lipschitz constant in f-GAN and vanilla GAN. We numerically evaluate the power of the suggested regularization schemes for improving GAN's training performance.
The Combined Effect of Promoting the Mediterranean Diet and Physical Activity on Metabolic Risk Factors in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials

Adhering to the Mediterranean diet (MD) and physical activity (PA) public health guidelines have independently been linked to health benefits in adults. These behaviours form essential components of the traditional Mediterranean lifestyle. However, their combined effect on metabolic risk has not been systematically assessed. This systematic review with meta-analysis (PROSPERO; CRD42017073958) aimed to examine, for the first time, the combined effect of promoting the MD and PA compared with no treatment, treatment with MD or PA alone, or a different dietary and/or PA treatment, and estimate its magnitude on metabolic risk factors. Medline, Embase, CINAHL and Web of Science were systematically searched until March 2018 for English language controlled interventions reporting the combined effects of the MD and PA on one or multiple metabolic risk factors in adults. Two researchers independently conducted data extraction and risk of bias assessment using a rigorous methodology. Reporting followed PRISMA guidelines. Quality of reporting and risk of bias were assessed using the CONSORT guidelines and the Cochrane Collaboration’s tool, respectively. Data from 12 articles reporting 11 randomised controlled trials (n = 1684) were included in the qualitative synthesis; across them, risk of bias was considered low, unclear and high for 42%, 25% and 33% of domains, respectively. Between-study heterogeneity ranged from 44% (triglycerides) to 98% (insulin and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL)-cholesterol). Compared to a control condition, there was strong evidence (p < 0.001) of a beneficial effect of promoting the MD and PA on body weight (−3.68 kg, 95% CI (confidence intervals) −5.48, −1.89), body mass index (−0.64 kg/m2, 95% CI −1.10, −0.18), waist circumference (−1.62 cm, 95% CI −2.58, −0.66), systolic (−0.83 mmHg, 95% CI −1.57, −0.09) and diastolic blood pressure (−1.96 mmHg, 95% CI −2.57, −1.35), HOMA-IR index (−0.90, 95% CI −1.22, −0.58), blood glucose (−7.32 mg/dL, 95% CI −9.82, −4.82), triglycerides (−18.47 mg/dL, 95% CI −20.13, −16.80), total cholesterol (−6.30 mg/dL, 95% CI −9.59, −3.02) and HDL-cholesterol (+3.99 mg/dL, 95% CI 1.22, 6.77). There was no evidence of an effect on insulin concentrations. The data presented here provide systematically identified evidence that concurrently promoting the MD and PA is likely to provide an opportunity for metabolic risk reduction. However, due to the high degree of heterogeneity, most likely due to the variation in control group treatment, and the small number of included studies, findings from the pooled analysis should be interpreted with caution. These findings also highlight the need for high quality randomised controlled trials examining the combined effect of the MD and PA on metabolic risk.
High-Efficiency PFM Boost Converter With an Accurate Zero Current Detector

In this brief, an integrated pulse-frequency modulation boost converter with an accurate zero current detector (ZCD) is presented. The proposed ZCD is used to improve the power efficiency of the boost converter and comprises two hysteresis comparators, the transistors <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${M} _{{Z1}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${M} _{{Z3}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and a set–reset latch to eliminate the reverse current of the high-side switch in the energy release period. This ZCD can also avoid early or delayed detection and ensure stable operation in the discontinuous conduction mode. Furthermore, a new comparator incorporating an appropriate logic gate is developed to eliminate a constant current during the energy storage period. The proposed boost converter was designed and fabricated using the standard TSMC 0.18-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ {\mu }\text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> 1P6M CMOS technology with a chip area of 0.43 mm<sup>2</sup>. The experimental results revealed that the maximum power efficiency of 88.39% is achieved at a load current of 50 mA, and the light-load efficiency is enhanced by the proposed ZCD. Furthermore, power efficiency of the boost converter with the proposed ZCD is 28.29% higher than that of the existing ZCD design at a load current of 1 mA.
Malignant mesothelioma of tunica vaginalis testis: Report of a very rare case with review of the literature.

INTRODUCTION Mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis testis is a extremely rare tumor and represents 0.3 to 0.5% of all malignant mesotheliomas. Exposure to asbestos often precedes illness. Because of its low incidence and nonspecific clinical presentation, it is mostly diagnosed accidentally during surgery for other reasons and the prognosis is usually poor. We present a case of a patient with a mesothelioma of tunica vaginalis testis, diagnosed secondarily during hydrocele surgery, with long-term survival after radical surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS a 40 years old patient was admitted to our department for routine surgery of a left hydrocele. During the operation a frozen section analysis was requested because of the unusual nodular thickening of the tunica vaginalis: the examination revealed a diffuse malignant mesothelioma with epithelioid structure and tubular-papillary proliferation. Therefore a left hemi-scrotectomy with left inguinal lymph node dissection was performed. RESULTS The definitive histology confirmed the previous report of diffuse malignant mesothelioma with angio-invasion but normal testicle findings and negative lymph nodes. No metastases were found on the CT-scan. For the first 2 years a CT was repeated every 4 months, for other 3 years every 6 months and then yearly. Six years after surgery the patient is classified as no evidence of disease. CONCLUSIONS malignant mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis testis is a rare entity, often initially thought to be a hydrocele or an epididymal cyst. An aggressive approach with hemiscrotectomy with or without inguinal and retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy can reduce the risk of recurrence.
Covert spatial selection in primate basal ganglia

The basal ganglia are important for action selection. They are also implicated in perceptual and cognitive functions that seem far removed from motor control. Here, we tested whether the role of the basal ganglia in selection extends to non-motor aspects of behavior by recording neuronal activity in the caudate nucleus while animals performed a covert spatial attention task. We found that caudate neurons strongly select the spatial location of the relevant stimulus throughout the task even in the absence of any overt action. This spatially selective activity was dependent on task and visual conditions, and could be dissociated from goal-directed actions. Caudate activity was also sufficient to correctly identify every epoch in the covert attention task. These results provide a novel perspective on mechanisms of attention by demonstrating that the basal ganglia are involved in spatial selection and tracking of behavioral states even in the absence of overt orienting movements.
Work-up and treatment of prostate cancer before and after publication of the first national guidelines on prostate cancer care in Sweden

Abstract Background and Objectives: In 2007, the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare published the first Swedish guidelines on prostate cancer (PCa) to improve care and decrease geographical and social inequalities. The aim of this analysis was to assess how these guidelines affected PCa care. Materials and Methods: Work-up and treatment for men diagnosed with PCa between 1998 and 2014 were assessed by use of data in the Prostate Cancer data Base Sweden (PCBaSe) with information from the National Prostate Cancer Register (NPCR) and other healthcare registries and demographic databases. Results: Overall, there were modest improvements in the performance for 14 selected quality indicators, with some notable exceptions. There was a strong increase in the use of active surveillance for very low-risk PCa, up from 56% in 2009 to 92% in 2014, and use of bone imaging for high-risk PCa up from 50% in 2008 to 77% in 2014. There were large differences in work-up and treatment of PCa between healthcare providers with modest decreases over time. The differences between counties were larger than differences according to socioeconomic status with one exception: use of curative treatment for high-risk PCa was more common in men with high income, highest versus lowest tertile, OR 2.74 (95% CI, 1.85-4.06). Conclusion: The modest improvements in PCa care after the publications of national guidelines indicate that if these are to make an impact on care, feedback to each point of care on their performance as well as local quality improvement programs implementing the guidelines are needed.
Evolvability and craniofacial diversification in genus Homo

There is abundant theoretical and empirical evidence for the influence of variational properties of populations on microevolution, and more limited support for their lasting impact during macroevolution. This study applies evolutionary quantitative genetic approaches to assess the long‐term impact of within‐population phenotypic variation and covariation (the P matrix) on population divergence in recent humans and species diversification in genus Homo. Similarity between the primary axes of within‐ and between‐population craniofacial variation confirms a role for pmax in human population divergence, although diversification is not constrained to be unidimensional. The long term impact of the P matrix on craniofacial evolution is supported by higher‐than‐average evolvabilities along most branches of the Homo tree, but statistical uncertainty inherent in the data reduce confidence in this conclusion. Higher evolvability is not statistically correlated with increased rate of evolution, although the relationship is in the predicted direction. This is due in part to the high evolutionary rate on the early modern human branch despite its moderate level of evolvability. There was evidence for neutral evolution as well as directional and stabilizing selection during evolution of our genus during the Plio‐Pleistocene using generalized genetic distance as a test statistic.
Long-lasting effect of oral azithromycin taken by women during labour on infant nutrition: Follow-up cohort of a randomized clinical trial in western Gambia

Objective To assess the effect of administering an oral dose of 2g of azithromycin in Gambian women during labour on infant growth. Methods Children whose mothers had been randomized to receive either an oral dose of 2g of azithromycin or placebo during labour were visited at home at the end of infancy by trained study nurses blind to the treatment allocation. The follow-up visit of these cohorts (exposed and non-exposed to azithromycin), which was not part of the original trial design, was conducted between November 2014 and May 2015 when the infants were 11 to 13 months of age. During visits, nurses recorded anthropometrical measurements and transcribed information from the infants’ welfare cards. Results Four-hundred and sixty-five (79.6%) of the 584 infants aged 11–13 months at the time of the survey were recruited. The proportion of children with an age-adjusted Z-score <-2SD for mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC) was lower among those exposed to azithromycin [1.3% versus 6.3%, OR = 0.21 95%CI (0.06,0.72), p = 0.006] and there was weak evidence of a difference in the proportion of infants with weight-for-age (WAZ) Z-score <-2SD [7.1% versus 12.1%, OR = 0.58 95%CI (0.33,1.04), p = 0.065]. For all other malnutrition indicators the proportions were similar in the exposed and un-exposed cohort. Conclusions Our results show that azithromycin in labour may have a beneficial effect in MUAC among children who are below the curve. Larger studies with closer follow-up are warranted. Trial registration (main trial) ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT01800942.
A rare complication of ureteral stenting: Case report of a uretero-arterial fistula and revision of the literature.

INTRODUCTION Uretero-arterial fistulas are a rare condition. The most frequent clinical sign is hematuria. Since these bleedings occur intermittently, the diagnosis is very difficult. If not discovered, uretero-arterial fistulas involve a very high rate of mortality or even results in loss of kidney function. CASE REPORT The clinical case we describe is an unusual one. After a radical hysterectomy and a subsequent radiotherapy, a hydronephrosis caused by ureteral fibrosis occurred on both sides. Therefore, the patient received bilateral ureteral stents. During a change of the ureteral stents 18 months later, a massive bleeding appeared in the right ureter. Initially, a clear evidence of a fistula was not possible - neither through CT scan nor through selective angiography. There were some indicators of a uretero-arterial fistula, so an endoluminal vessel stent was placed. Subsequently the fistula probably led to an erosion of the vessel stent. DISCUSSION A fistula between the ureter and the iliac artery (UAF) is a rare complication. The increase in known cases during the last years is linked to the possibility of ureteral stenting since 1978. Until now only 140 cases have been described in literature. The mortality rate through UAF has decreased from 69% in 1980 to 7-23% today. Its development can be traced through the pulsation of the artery and the pressure on the ureter. The most important clinical symptom is bleeding. Diagnosis is generally difficult and represents the real problem. The sensitivity of the standard angiography examination is 23- 41%; it can be improved to 63% using the "provocative" method, which means mobilizing the ureteral stent during examination. The therapy in course of the angiography consists of a simultaneous endovascular stent and/or a co-embolisation. CONCLUSION Arterial or uretero-arterial fistulas (UAF) are a rare condition; the diagnosis is very difficult and most of the time the treatment requires a multidisciplinary team.
FPGA Acceleration of LSTM Based on Data for Test Flight

Long Short-Term Memory Recurrent neural networks are generally used in speech recognition, machine translation and other fields. And LSTM-RNN also performs well in data anomaly detection. However, Due to the repeatability of LSTM-RNN, general-purpose processors such as CPU and GPGPU cannot efficiently implement LSTM-RNN, most of the existing model optimizations on FPGA are aimed at LSTM cells or large-scale model accelerations that do not require high accuracy (such as speech recognition). For the model of aircraft anomaly detection, which models with short data sampling intervals, high speed requirements and high precision requirements, the accuracy and speed of existing models are insufficient. Therefore, we proposed an FPGA-based LSTM-RNN accelerator to optimize the accuracy and speed of existing models. We achieve the optimization in the computation speed without sacrificing the accuracy, and balance performance and resources utilized in FPGA. The peak performance of our accelerator reaches 13.45 GOP/s, which is superior to other existing methods.