Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of the Myeloid Cell Populations’ Resident in the Porcine Palatine Tonsil

The palatine tonsil is the portal of entry for food and air and is continuously subjected to environmental challenges, including pathogens, which use the tonsil and pharynx as a primary site of replication. In pigs, this includes the viruses causing porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome, and classical and African swine fever; diseases that have impacted the pig production industry globally. Despite the importance of tonsils in host defense, little is known regarding the phenotype of the myeloid cells resident in the porcine tonsil. Here, we have characterized five myeloid cell populations that align to orthologous populations defined in other mammalian species: a CD4+ plasmacytoid dendritic cell (DC) defined by expression of the conserved markers E2.2 and IRF-7, a conventional dendritic cell (cDC1) population expressing CADM1highCD172alow and high levels of XCR1 able to activate allogeneic CD4 and CD8 T cells; a cDC2 population of CADM1dim cells expressing FLT3, IRF4, and CSF1R with an ability to activate allogeneic CD4 T cells; CD163+ macrophages (Mϴs) defined by high levels of endocytosis and responsiveness to LPS and finally a CD14+ population likely derived from the myelomonocytic lineage, which showed the highest levels of endocytosis, a capacity for activation of CD4+ memory T cells, combined with lower relative expression of FLT3. Increased knowledge regarding the phenotypic and functional properties of myeloid cells resident in porcine tonsil will enable these cells to be targeted for future vaccination strategies to current and emerging porcine viruses.
SmartBAN Downlink Performance Study: A Novel Transmission Framework for Reducing Delay and Energy Consumption

The smart body area network (SmartBAN) is a recently proposed system for realizing low complexity and ultra-low power body area network. In this paper, we present the first study on SmartBAN downlink delay and energy performances considering the emerging control/actuation applications in future e-health. A novel downlink transmission framework arising from our performance study is presented, which reduces the delay and energy consumption for downlink-dominated SmartBANs. In this paper, we first investigate the delay of the supplementary downlink mode (SDM) specified in the SmartBAN medium access control (MAC) protocol and propose an improved SDM (ISDM), showing that reordering the access periods in the SmartBAN MAC frame can effectively reduce the delay. To address the delay bottleneck in SDM and ISDM, we further propose limited-exhaustive (LEDM) and fully exhaustive (FEDM) downlink mechanisms. Then, based on SDM, ISDM, LEDM, and FEDM, energy-saving mechanisms in the SmartBAN downlink are discussed. Moreover, to critically evaluate the delay and energy-savings of LEDM and FEDM, we develop two embedded Markov chains that suit the SmartBAN beacon-enabled MAC. Finally, based on the above performances study, a novel downlink transmission framework that selects suitable transmission mechanism and access durations for delay-constraint SmartBAN applications is proposed. Extensive simulations show the effectiveness of our proposed mechanisms and transmission framework.
Fuzzy Broad Learning System: A Novel Neuro-Fuzzy Model for Regression and Classification

A novel neuro-fuzzy model named fuzzy broad learning system (BLS) is proposed by merging the Takagi–Sugeno (TS) fuzzy system into BLS. The fuzzy BLS replaces the feature nodes of BLS with a group of TS fuzzy subsystems, and the input data are processed by each of them. Instead of aggregating the outputs of fuzzy rules produced by every fuzzy subsystem into one value immediately, all of them are sent to the enhancement layer for further nonlinear transformation to preserve the characteristic of inputs. The defuzzification outputs of all fuzzy subsystem and the outputs of enhancement layer are combined together to obtain the model output. The ${k}$ -means method is employed to determine the centers of Gaussian membership functions in antecedent part and the number of fuzzy rules. The parameters that need to be calculated in a fuzzy BLS are the weights connecting the outputs of enhancement layer to model output and the randomly initialized coefficients of polynomials in consequent part in fuzzy subsystems, which can be calculated analytically. Therefore, fuzzy BLS retains the fast computational nature of BLS. The proposed fuzzy BLS is evaluated by some popular benchmarks for regression and classification, and compared with some state-of-the-art nonfuzzy and neuro-fuzzy approaches. The results indicate that fuzzy BLS outperforms other models involved. Moreover, fuzzy BLS shows advantages over neuro-fuzzy models regarding to the number of fuzzy rules and training time, which can ease the problem of rule explosion to some extent.
Correlations Between Core Needle Biopsy and Excisional Biopsy Findings in Suspected Breast Lesions: A Single Center Study.

BACKGROUND When a breast lesion is suspected based on a physical exam, mammography, or ultrasound, a stereotactic core needle biopsy (CNB) is usually performed to help establish a definitive diagnosis. CNBs are far less invasive than excisional biopsies, with no need for general anesthetics or hospitalization, and no recovery period. However, since only samples of the mass are removed in a CNB and not the whole mass, sampling errors can occur. OBJECTIVES To compare the degree of agreement between the pathological data from CNBs and excisional biopsies from a single tertiary referral hospital. METHODS The concordance of pathological data was compared in patients who underwent CNBs and had their surgical procedures at the same medical center. RESULTS From the 894 patients who underwent CNBs, 254 (28.4%) underwent subsequent excisional biopsies at our medical center. From the total of 894 patients, 227 (25.3%) who underwent a CNB were diagnosed with a malignancy, with the rest of the CNBs being diagnosed as benign pathologies. The pathological findings in the CNBs and in the excisional biopsies concurred in 232/254 (91.3%) of the cases. CONCLUSIONS A CNB to confirm mammographic or clinical findings of breast lesions is an accurate method to establish a pathological diagnosis of breast lesions. The accuracy is higher for invasive carcinomas than for non-invasive cancers. Excisional biopsies are necessary for lesions with anticipated sampling errors or when the core needle biopsy findings are discordant with clinical or mammographic findings.
Looking Beyond a Clever Narrative: Visual Context and Attention are Primary Drivers of Affect in Video Advertisements

Emotion evoked by an advertisement plays a key role in influencing brand recall and eventual consumer choices. Automatic ad affect recognition has several useful applications. However, the use of content-based feature representations does not give insights into how affect is modulated by aspects such as the ad scene setting, salient object attributes and their interactions. Neither do such approaches inform us on how humans prioritize visual information for ad understanding. Our work addresses these lacunae by decomposing video content into detected objects, coarse scene structure, object statistics and actively attended objects identified via eye-gaze. We measure the importance of each of these information channels by systematically incorporating related information into ad affect prediction models. Contrary to the popular notion that ad affect hinges on the narrative and the clever use of linguistic and social cues, we find that actively attended objects and the coarse scene structure better encode affective information as compared to individual scene objects or conspicuous background elements.
Age Effects in Sequence-Construction for a Continuous Cognitive Task: Similar Sequence-Trends but Fewer Switch-Points.

OBJECTIVES Many real-life settings require decision-makers to sort a pre-determined set of outcomes or activities into a preferred sequence, and people vary in whether they prefer to tackle the most challenging aspects first, leave them for the last, or intersperse them with less challenging outcomes. Prior research on age differences in sequence-preferences has focused on discrete and hypothetical events. The present study expands this work by examining sequence-preferences for a realistic, continuous, sustained, and cognitively challenging task. METHODS Participants (N=121, aged 21-86) were asked to complete 10 minutes of a difficult cognitive task (2-back), 10 minutes of an easy cognitive task (1-back), and 10 minutes of rest over the course of a 30-minute interval. They could complete the tasks in any order and switch tasks as often as they wished and they were rewarded for correct performance. Additional measures included affective and physiological responses, task accuracy, time-perspective, and demographics. RESULTS The majority of participants constructed sequences with decreasing task difficulty. Preferences for the general trend of the sequence were not significantly related to age, but the number of switches among the tasks decreased with age, and task-switching tended to incur greater accuracy decrements among older as compared to younger adults. DISCUSSION We address potential methodological concerns, discuss theoretical implications, and consider potential real-life applications.
Robotic Assistance for Upper Limbs May Induce Slight Changes in Motor Modules Compared With Free Movements in Stroke Survivors: A Cluster-Based Muscle Synergy Analysis

Background: The efficacy of robot-assisted rehabilitation as a technique for achieving motor recovery is still being debated. The effects of robotic assistance are generally measured using standard clinical assessments. Few studies have investigated the value of human-centered instrumental analysis, taking the modular organization of the human neuromotor system into account in assessing how stroke survivors interact with robotic set-ups. In this paper, muscle synergy analysis was coupled with clustering procedures to elucidate the effect of human-robot interaction on the spatial and temporal features, and directional tuning of motor modules during robot-assisted movements. Methods: Twenty-two stroke survivors completed a session comprising a series of hand-to-mouth movements with and without robotic assistance. Patients were assessed instrumentally, recording kinematic, and electromyographic data to extract spatial muscle synergies and their temporal components. Patients' spatial synergies were grouped by means of a cluster analysis, matched pairwise across conditions (free and robot-assisted movement), and compared in terms of their spatial and temporal features, and directional tuning, to examine how robotic assistance altered their motor modules. Results: Motor synergies were successfully extracted for all 22 patients in both conditions. Seven clusters (spatial synergies) could describe the original datasets, in both free and robot-assisted movements. Interacting with the robot slightly altered the spatial synergies' features (to a variable extent), as well as their temporal components and directional tuning. Conclusions: Slight differences were identified in the characteristics of spatial synergies, temporal components and directional tuning of the motor modules of stroke survivors engaging in free and robot-assisted movements. Such effects are worth investigating in the framework of a modular description of the neuromusculoskeletal system to shed more light on human-robot interaction, and the effects of robotic assistance and rehabilitation.
Electrocardiogram Sampling Frequency Range Acceptable for Heart Rate Variability Analysis

Objectives Heart rate variability (HRV) has gained recognition as a noninvasive marker of autonomic activity. HRV is considered a promising tool in various clinical scenarios. The optimal electrocardiogram (ECG) sampling frequency required to ensure sufficient precision of R–R intervals for HRV analysis has not yet been determined. Here, we aimed to determine the acceptable ECG sampling frequency range by analyzing ECG signals from patients who visited an emergency department with the chief complaint of acute intoxication or overdose. Methods The study included 83 adult patients who visited an emergency department with the chief complaint of acute poisoning. The original 1,000-Hz ECG signals were down-sampled to 500-, 250-, 100-, and 50-Hz sampling frequencies with linear interpolation. R–R interval data were analyzed for time-domain, frequency-domain, and nonlinear HRV parameters. Parameters derived from the data on down-sampled frequencies were compared with those derived from the data on 1,000-Hz signals, and Lin's concordance correlation coefficients were calculated. Results Down-sampling to 500 or 250 Hz resulted in excellent concordance. Signals down-sampled to 100 Hz produced acceptable results for time-domain analysis and Poincaré plots, but not for frequency-domain analysis. Down-sampling to 50 Hz proved to be unacceptable for both time- and frequency-domain analyses. At 50 Hz, the root-mean-squared successive differences and the power of high frequency tended to have high values and random errors. Conclusions A 250-Hz sampling frequency would be acceptable for HRV analysis. When frequency-domain analysis is not required, a 100-Hz sampling frequency would also be acceptable.
Improving Machine-based Entity Resolution with Limited Human Effort: A Risk Perspective

Pure machine-based solutions usually struggle in the challenging classification tasks such as entity resolution (ER). To alleviate this problem, a recent trend is to involve the human in the resolution process, most notably the crowdsourcing approach. However, it remains very challenging to effectively improve machine-based entity resolution with limited human effort. In this paper, we investigate the problem of human and machine cooperation for ER from a risk perspective. We propose to select the machine-labeled instances at high risk of being mislabeled for manual verification. For this task, we present a risk model that takes into consideration the human-labeled instances as well as the output of machine resolution. Finally, we evaluate the performance of the proposed risk model on real data. Our experiments demonstrate that it can pick up the mislabeled instances with considerably higher accuracy than the existing alternatives. Provided with the same amount of human cost budget, it can also achieve better resolution quality than the state-of-the-art approach based on active learning.
The influence of task type on search experience from the perspective of time constraint

In this study, we explored the effect of time constraint on information acquisition and knowledge acquisition during search in two types of tasks: information understanding (IU) task and fact finding (FF) task. A user experiment was conducted. Participants were asked to conducted search tasks of these two types with and without time constraint. The results indicated that when no time constraint was set, although users spent significant more time in IU tasks, they produced similar amount of information and acquired similar amount of self-rated knowledge in IU tasks and FF tasks. When searching under time constraint, even though participants produced significantly more information in IU tasks than in FF tasks, they acquired lower level of knowledge in IU tasks than in FF tasks. These results suggested that it took searchers more time to understand and interpret the information they found in IU tasks and they may first collect much information for later interpretation when given severe time constraint in IU tasks, but not in FF tasks. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.3. 3 Information Storage and Retrieval: Information Search and Retrieval – search process. General Terms Measurement, Performance, Experimentation, Human Factors.
A randomized, controlled trial comparing the metformin, oral contraceptive pills and their combination in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome

Background: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a condition characterized by insulin resistance (IR) and hormonal dysfunction. We conducted a randomized, controlled trial comparing the effects of metformin, oral contraceptive pills (OCP) and their combination in PCOS. Materials and Methods: We randomized 90 newly diagnosed PCOS (age 18–40 year, symptom duration >6 months) patients into three groups (Group 1–Metformin, Group 2–OCP, and Group 3– Metformin + OCP) in this prospective study. We excluded patients with past use of insulin sensitizers and hormone therapy. We evaluated for the hyperandrogenism (acne, acanthosis, hirsutism, and hormone panel), IR by homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR), inflammation (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, and ferritin), and body composition (% fat, android/gynoid ratio) markers at baseline and 6 months after therapy. The data were analyzed using appropriate statistical methods and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The study population had a mean age 23.2 ± 4.4 years and body mass index of 28.4 ± 6.1 kg/m2. The improvement in the clinical parameters was similar in all the groups. The combination therapy showed a better response in reducing inflammatory markers, IR, and body composition than either of the groups using a single drug. Metformin alone has resulted in a minor reduction of the androgens. None of the patients developed significant adverse effect to the given therapy. Conclusion: PCOS is managed with either metformin or OCP in many patients. The combination improves the hyperandrogenism, body composition, and reduces the inflammatory markers.
WE-Safe: A Self-Powered Wearable IoT Sensor Network for Safety Applications Based on LoRa

Poor environmental conditions can lead to severe health problems. It is essential to develop effective, reliable, and fast response systems for people working in hazardous environments. This paper presents a wearable Internet of Things sensor network aimed at monitoring harmful environmental conditions for safety applications via a Lora wireless network. The proposed sensor node, called the WE-Safe node, is based on a customized sensor node, which is self-powered, low-power, and supports multiple environmental sensors. Environmental data is monitored by the sensor node in real-time and transmitted to a remote cloud server. The data can be displayed to users through a web-based application located on the cloud server and the device will alert the user via a mobile application when an emergency condition is detected. The experimental results indicate that the presented safety monitoring network works reliably using energy harvesting.
Functions of unconventional mammalian translational GTPases GTPBP1 and GTPBP2

In this study, Zinoviev et al. investigated how translational GTPases (GTPBPs) function in mRNA surveillance and ribosome-associated quality control. They demonstrate that GTPBP1 possesses eEF1A-like elongation activity, delivering cognate aa-tRNA to the ribosomal A site in a GTP-dependent manner, and that GTPBP2's binding to GTP was stimulated by Phe-tRNAPhe, lacked elongation activity, and did not stimulate exosomal degradation. Their results indicate that GTPBP1 and GTPBP2 have different functions.
Metastatic Gastric cancer: Real world scenario from a developing country

Abstract Aim: Data on epidemiology and outcome in metastatic stomach carcinoma patients from India are scarce. We aimed to evaluate clinical features and treatment outcome in patients treated at our center. Materials and Methods: This is a single institutional review of metastatic gastric carcinoma patients treated between May 2011 and October 2016. Patients who received at least one cycle of chemotherapy were included for modified intent-to-treat survival analysis. Results: A total of 143 patients were diagnosed with metastatic stomach carcinoma with a median age of 56 years (range: 29–86). The most common symptoms were abdominal pain in 112 (78%) patients. The most common site was body in 81 (57%) patients. Common site of metastasis was peritoneum in 86 (60%) and liver in (62%). Seventy-one (50%) patients were eligible for survival analysis. Common chemotherapy regimens were capecitabine-cisplatin in 27 (38%) and EOX in 22 (31%) patients. Survival status could not be assessed in 29 (41%) patients who lost to follow-up. After a median follow-up 9.7 months (range: 0.5–37.7), median progression-free survival (PFS) was 7.9 months (range: 0.5–23.9) and median overall survival (OS) was 12.2 months (range: 0.5–37.7). The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) ≥2 and the presence of linitis plastica showed a trend toward inferior PFS (P = 0.052 and 0.053, respectively) only in univariate analysis. Female sex and ECOG PS ≥2 predicted inferior OS in both univariate and multivariate analysis (P = 0.012, 0.02 and 0.03 and 0.05, respectively). Conclusions: Platinum-based doublet chemotherapy was used in the majority of patients. The overall outcome was comparable to that of the available literature. Female sex and ECOG PS ≥2 predicted the inferior outcome.
Social Support Seeking on Social Media Among Chinese Gay Men Living with HIV/AIDS: The Role of Perceived Threat.

BACKGROUND Due to a double stigma against HIV/AIDS and homosexuality, gay men living with HIV/AIDS (GMLHA) have used social media to exchange social support. The current study aims to examine the influence of perceived threat on seeking social support on social media among Chinese GMLHA. METHODS First, Weibo posts from 133 GMLHA were content analyzed to identify the perceived severity of HIV infection and perceived severity of stigma, as well as their social support seeking on Weibo. Then, a 2 × 2 (perceived severity of HIV infection [present, absent] × perceived severity of stigma [present, absent]) between-subject multivariate analysis of variance with social support seeking as the dependent variable was performed. RESULTS Perceived severity of HIV infection and perceived severity of stigma had main effects on different kinds of social support seeking. Moreover, GMLHA who expressed both perceived severity of HIV infection and perceived severity of stigma on Weibo posted the greatest number of emotional support-seeking messages. CONCLUSIONS This study revealed that perceived threat was one of the motivations of GMLHA to seek online social support.
H-AP Deployment for Joint Wireless Information and Energy Transfer in Smart Cities

With wireless communication being more various in the future, it is becoming challenging to prolong the lifetime of many battery powered devices, since frequently replacing their batteries is a cumbersome job. A hybrid access point (H-AP) is capable of simultaneously operating wireless information transfer (WIT) and wireless energy transfer (WET) by exploiting the radio frequency signals. By jointly considering both the mobility of the user and the popularity of the sites, we focus on the design of the H-AP's deployment scheme. Specifically, a mobility model of the grid-based city streets is exploited for characterizing the users’ movements. Based on this mobility model, the impact of the deployment site's popularity on the WIT and WET efficiencies is first analyzed. Then, an H-AP deployment scheme for striking a balance between the WIT and the WET efficiencies is proposed, which is regarded as the B-deployment scheme. The simulation results demonstrate that the B-deployment scheme is more flexible for satisfying diverse requirement of the WIT and WET efficiencies.