Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of muscle fatigue during biking

The analysis of the surface myoelectric signal recorded while a muscle is performing a sustained contraction is a valuable tool for assessing the progression of localized fatigue. It is well known that the modifications of the spectral content of the myoelectric signal are mainly related to changes in the interstitial fluid pH, which, in turn, affect the membrane excitability of the active muscle fibers. This paper describes the effects of muscle fatigue on the surface myoelectric signal recorded from three thigh and leg muscles during biking, on a population consisting of 22 young healthy volunteers. The purpose of this study was to obtain normative data relative to an exercise protocol mild enough to be applicable, in the future, to pathological subjects as well. Each subject was asked to exercise 30 min on a cycloergometer at a constant velocity and against a constant torque. While subjects were biking, the surface myoelectric signal was recorded from the rectus femoris, the biceps femoris, and the gastrocnemius muscles. In this study, we considered two different aspects of muscle fatigue: first, the localized muscle fatigue as shown by the decrement of the instantaneous frequency of the myoelectric signal during the exercise; second, the modifications of the muscle ON-OFF timing, which could be explained as a strategy for increasing endurance by modifying the role of different muscles during the exercise. The first aspect was studied by obtaining the spectral characteristics of the signals by means of bilinear time-frequency transforms and by applying an original estimator of the instantaneous frequency of stochastic processes based on cross time-frequency transforms. Our results demonstrated that none of the subjects showed significant signs of localized muscle fatigue, since the decrement of the instantaneous frequency during the exercise was always lower than 5% of its initial value. Muscle ON-OFF timing was obtained by applying to the raw myoelectric signal a double threshold statistical detector to identify the time intervals during which the observed muscles were active. This demonstrated that the subjective feeling of fatigue each subject reported during the exercise did not cause a change of the activation strategy of the observed muscles. It is concluded that the experimental protocol herein described and the signal processing procedures adopted are appropriate for monitoring different effects of muscle fatigue during biking. Moreover, data obtained from our sample population can be considered as a reference for studying the manifestations of muscle fatigue in pathological subjects asked to follow a similar experimental protocol.
Quantification of breast cancer cells in peripheral blood samples by real-time rt-PCR.

BACKGROUND Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) are cells that have detached from a primary tumour, circulate in the peripheral blood, and are considered to be the main root of distant metastases. We present a method for the detection of CTCs by real-time PCR on different cytokeratin markers. MATERIALS AND METHODS Blood samples of a healthy donor were mixed with specific numbers of cells from different breast carcinoma cell line cells. RNA was isolated from the samples and transcribed into cDNA. TaqMan real-time PCR for cytokeratins 8, 18 and 19 was carried out and was correlated to that of 18S. RESULTS Cytokeratin gene expression increased in all samples, when as few as 10 tumour cells were added. In the CAMA-1 cell line, the increase was even greater the more cells were added. CONCLUSION By this methodology, cells from mammary carcinoma cell lines can be detected in blood samples. Its benefit will be validated in samples from patients with breast cancer.
Physiological Aspects of Sugar Exchange between the Gametophyte and the Sporophyte of Polytrichum formosum.

The sporophyte of bryophytes is dependent on the gametophyte for its carbon nutrition. This is especially true of the sporophytes of Polytrichum species, and it was generally thought that sucrose was the main form of sugar for long distance transport in the leptom. In Polytrichum formosum, sucrose was the main soluble sugar of the sporophyte and gametophyte tissues, and the highest concentration (about 230 mm) was found in the haustorium. In contrast, sugars collected from the vaginula apoplast were mainly hexoses, with traces of sucrose and trehalose. p-Chloromercuribenzene sulfonate, a nonpermeant inhibitor of the cell wall invertase, strongly reduced the hexose to sucrose ratio. The highest cell wall invertase activity (pH 4.5) was located in the vaginula, whereas the highest activity of a soluble invertase (pH 7.0) was found in both the vaginula and the haustorium. Glucose uptake was carrier-mediated but only weakly dependent on the external pH and the transmembrane electrical gradient, in contrast to amino acid uptake (S. Renault, C. Despeghel-Caussin, J.L. Bonnemain, S. Delrot [1989] Plant Physiol 90: 913-920). Furthermore, addition of 5 or 50 mm glucose to the incubation medium induced a marginal depolarization of the transmembrane potential difference of the transfer cells and had no effect on the pH of this medium. Glucose was converted to sucrose after its absorption into the haustorium. These results demonstrate the noncontinuity of sucrose at the gametophyte/sporophyte interface. They suggest that its conversion to glucose and fructose at this interface, and the subsequent reconversion to sucrose after hexose absorption by haustorium cells, mainly governs sugar accumulation in this latter organ.
Long-Acting Insulin Analogues for the Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus: Meta-analyses of Clinical Outcomes.

Diabetes comprises a group of common metabolic disorders characterized by hyperglycemia. It is a chronic condition in which the body is unable to produce sufficient insulin and/or unable to properly use insulin. Insulin, a hormone secreted by pancreatic islet cells in response to increased blood glucose levels, promotes the uptake of glucose into cells where it can be used as a source of energy. Diabetes is classified as: Type 1 diabetes — little or no insulin produced by the body (previously classified as insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenileonset diabetes) Type 2 diabetes — the body produces insulin but is unable to use it properly (previously classified as non-insulin dependent diabetes) Gestational diabetes — glucose intolerance with first onset during pregnancy. It is usually a temporary condition. Other — mainly specific, genetically defined forms of diabetes or diabetes associated with other disease or drug use.
Video Segmentation and Indexing using Motion Estimation

Video indexing is a central component necessary to facilitate efficient content-based retrieval and browsing of visual information stored in large multimedia databases. This thesis presents work towards a unified framework for automated video indexing. To create an efficient index, a set of representative key frames are selected which capture and encapsulate the entire video content. This is achieved by, firstly, segmenting the video into its constituent shots and, secondly, selecting an optimal number of frames between the identified shot boundaries. The segmentation algorithm is designed to detect both abrupt shot transitions, or cuts, and gradual transitions, such as di solves andfades. This is achieved by means of a two-component frame differencing metric taking both image structure and colour distributions into account. The application of hierarchical block-based normalised correlation and local colour histogram differences leads to a method which is both accurate and robust. After the segmentation step, the key frames are selected to minimise representational redundancy whilst still portraying the content in each shot. This is achieved by employing a graph-based representation of each shot where nodes represent frames and connection weights the amount of shared content between the frames corresponding to the connected nodes. The key frames are then selected as those corresponding to nodes present on the least weight path through the graph. As a final step, the camera motion is characterised to provide an additional layer of video annotation which may prove useful for indexing.
Static versus dynamic establishment of protection paths in WDM networks

In wavelength division multiplexed networks (WDM) with 1:1 path protection, a link-disjoint protection (backup) path is also set up at the time of setting up a working (primary) path. Hence, the failure of a single fiber-link does not cause huge data losses. This paper considers on-line routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) of protection paths in such networks. In particular, we study two strategies based on the 1:1 path protection scheme. The Static strategy establishes protection paths such that once a route and wavelength have been chosen they are not allowed to change. On the other hand, the Dynamic strategy allows for re-arrangement of protection paths, that is, both the route and wavelength chosen for a protection path can change so as to accommodate a new request. With either strategy, we assume that the working paths cannot be re-arranged. This is to prevent the disruption of on-going traffic. The two strategies are compared on the basis of the number of connections requests that can be satisfied for a given number of wavelengths, assuming that the requests come one at a time, and wavelengths are assigned according to the First-Fit policy. One of the results of our study is that, contrary to intuition, the Static strategy performs better than the Dynamic strategy.
Performance Analysis of Pulse Based Ultra-Wideband Systems in the Highly Frequency Selective Fading Channel with Cluster Property

This paper presents an analytical expression for the bit error rate (BER) of the antipodal and orthogonal binary signals in the ultra-wideband (UWB) channel, of which the unique characteristics include the cluster property and highly dense multipath effect. Specifically, we consider the IEEE 802.15. 3a UWB channel and take into account of the impact of all the key parameters, consisting of the cluster arrival rate, cluster decay factor, the number of rays per cluster, and the distribution of a non-Rayleigh fading signal. For the IEEE 802.15. 3a UWB channel, the effects of clustering are characterized by a Poisson discrete random variable, and the magnitude of the signal is modelled by lognormal random variable. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to compute the signal with such joint continuous lognormal and discrete Poisson random variable. Hence, the developed analytical model can be useful in evaluating the performance of an UWB signal in the IEEE 802.15. 3a channel without time consuming simulations
Attitudes of the medical students from two Czech universities to pandemic flu A (H1N1) 2009 and to influenza vaccination.

OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to find out the approach of students to vaccination against seasonal influenza, how they perceived risk associated with influenza pandemic, and whether the pandemic influenced their approach to vaccination against seasonal flu. METHODS Data collection was conducted through an anonymous questionnaire survey. Distribution and collection of questionnaires took place from November to December 2010 at the medical faculties of two universities. Out of the total 360 distributed questionnaires, 343 were filled. The qualitative data were analysed using chi2 test and Fisher's exact test. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) and two-sample t-test were used for the evaluation of quantitative data. Statistical tests were performed at a significance level of 5% in STATA 10. RESULTS The proportion of students regularly vaccinated against seasonal flu was low (4%). Students rated the risk of pandemic influenza A (H1N1) in 2009 as relatively low and an interest in vaccination did not increase even during the pandemic and consequently only 5% expressed their interest to get vaccinated during the pandemic. However, only 3% of respondents were vaccinated at the time of vaccine availability. In the following year, only 5% of respondents planned to get vaccinated against seasonal influenza. CONCLUSION The results of the questionnaire study indicate that young people have not perceived vaccination against influenza as an important anti-epidemic measure and their opinion have not changed even during the outbreak of pandemic influenza A (H1N1) in 2009.
Phylogenetic diversity does not capture body size variation at risk in the world's mammals

Mammals contribute to important ecosystem processes and services, but many mammalian species are threatened with extinction. We compare how global patterns in three measures of mammalian diversity—species richness, phylogenetic diversity (PD) and body mass variance (BMV)—would change if all currently threatened species were lost. Given that many facets of species' ecology and life history scale predictably with body mass, the BMV in a region roughly reflects the diversity of species' roles within ecosystems and so is a simple proxy for functional diversity (FD). PD is also often considered to be a proxy for FD, but our results suggest that BMV losses within ecoregions would be much more severe than losses of PD or species richness, and that its congruence with the latter two measures is low. Because of the disproportionate loss of large mammals, 65 per cent of ecoregions would lose significantly more BMV than under random extinction, while only 11 per cent would lose significantly more PD. Ecosystem consequences of these selective losses may be profound, especially throughout the tropics, but are not captured by PD. This low surrogacy stresses a need for conservation prioritization based on threatened trait diversity, and for conservation efforts to take an ecosystem perspective.
Larger lacertid lizard species produce higher than expected iliotibialis muscle power output: the evolution of muscle contractile mechanics with body size

ABSTRACT Increases in body size can lead to alterations in morphology, physiology, locomotor performance and behaviour of animals. Most studies considering the effects of scaling on muscle performance have studied within-species effects, with few studies considering differences between species. A previous review of published data indicates that maximum muscle-shortening velocity decreases, but that maximum isometric stress does not change, with increased body mass across species of terrestrial animals. However, such previous analyses do not account for the phylogenetic relatedness of the species studied. Our aim was to use phylogenetically informed analysis to determine the effects of body size on isolated iliotibialis muscle performance across 17 species of lacertid lizards. Between one and five individuals were used to obtain mean performance values for each species. We analysed the relationship between each variable and body size, as estimated by snout–vent length (SVL), whilst taking into account the phylogenetic relationships between species. We found that isometric tetanus relaxation time, maximal tetanus stress (force per muscle cross-sectional area) and maximal work loop power output (normalised to muscle mass) all significantly increased with greater SVL. In contrast, fatigue resistance during repeated work loops significantly decreased with SVL and there was no effect of size on tetanus activation time. When we compare our findings with those that would be predicted by dynamic similarity, then as these lacertid species become bigger, there is a greater than expected increase in the normalised muscle power output, probably to counter the larger than expected increase in body mass. Summary: Co-evolution of larger body size with greater muscle stress and normalised power output occurred in lacertid lizard species.
Association Between Employee Dental Claims, Health Risks, Workplace Productivity, and Preventive Services Compliance

Objective: This study examined differences in health risks and workplace outcomes among employees who utilized preventive dental services compared with other employees. Methods: A retrospective observational study of employees of a large financial services corporation, with data from health risk appraisal questionnaires, medical claims, pharmacy claims, and dental claims. Results: Employees with no dental claims were significantly more likely to have a variety of health risk factors (such as obesity and tobacco use), health conditions (such as diabetes), absenteeism, and lost on-the-job productivity, and were significantly less likely to be compliant with clinical preventive services compared with those with preventive dental claims. Conclusions: Employees with preventive dental claims had fewer health risks and medical conditions and better health and productivity measures. Study employees underutilized free dental care; employers should incorporate preventive dental care awareness into their worksite wellness programs.
TUCAN (CARD8) genetic variants and inflammatory bowel disease.

BACKGROUND & AIMS The identification of the association between Crohn's disease (CD) and NOD2 (CARD15) confirmed both the heritability of CD and highlighted the role of the nuclear factor kappaB (NFkappaB) pathway in disease pathogenesis. Other susceptibility loci exist. TUCAN (CARD8) is located beneath a CD peak of linkage on chromosome 19q. TUCAN is expressed in the gut and is a negative regulator of NFkappaB, making it an excellent candidate gene for gastrointestinal inflammation. METHODS Ten single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) across TUCAN were genotyped in 365 controls, 372 patients with CD, and 373 patients with ulcerative colitis. A diagnostic panel for CD was constructed using smoking status and TUCAN, NOD2, IBD5, NOD1, and TNFSF15 data. RESULTS We demonstrate significant association between a TUCAN SNP and CD (OR 1.35, P = .0083). The association was more pronounced with disease affecting sites other than the colon (odds ratio, 1.52) and NOD2-negative CD (odds ratio, 1.50). Combination of these data with smoking and NOD2, IBD5, NOD1, and TNFSF15 status demonstrated very strong associations with CD and high sensitivities (96.3%), specificities (99.4%), and likelihood ratios (12.8) for CD, although further work will be needed before this model can be translated into direct clinical utility. CONCLUSIONS We have shown an association between a likely functional polymorphism in TUCAN and CD. The combination of these data in a genetic panel suggests that clinicians may soon be able to translate genetic advances into direct benefits for patients.
Intraoperative Mapping and Monitoring for Rootlets of the Lower Cranial Nerves Related to Vocal Cord Movement.

BACKGROUND Damage to the motor division of the lower cranial nerves that run into the jugular foramen leads to hoarseness, dysphagia, and the risk of aspiration pneumonia; therefore, its functional preservation during surgical procedures is important. Intraoperative mapping and monitoring of the motor rootlets at the cerebellomedullary cistern using endotracheal tube electrodes is a safe and effective procedure to prevent its injury. OBJECTIVE To study the location of the somatic and autonomic motor fibers of the lower cranial nerves related to vocal cord movement. METHODS Twenty-four patients with pathologies at the cerebellopontine lesion were studied. General anesthesia was maintained with fentanyl and propofol. A monopolar stimulator was used at amplitudes of 0.05 to 0.1 mA. Both acoustic and visual signals were displayed as vocalis muscle electromyographic activity using endotracheal tube surface electrodes. RESULTS The average number of rootlets was 7.4 (range, 5-10); 75% of patients had 7 or 8 rootlets. As many as 6 rootlets (2-4 in most cases) were responsive in each patient. In 23 of the 24 patients, the responding rootlets congregated on the caudal side. The maximum electromyographic response was predominantly in the most caudal or second most caudal rootlet in 79%. CONCLUSION The majority of motor fibers of the lower cranial nerves run through the caudal part of the rootlets at the cerebellomedullary cistern, and the maximal electromyographic response was elicited at the most caudal or second most caudal rootlet. ABBREVIATION EMG, electromyographic.
Psychiatrists' knowledge, training and attitudes regarding the care of individuals with intellectual disability.

BACKGROUND Psychiatrists are responsible for providing proper care for people with intellectual disability who have psychiatric disorders. This study examined psychiatrists' perceptions of their own training, knowledge and therapeutic skills, as well as their attitudes towards this population. METHODS Questionnaires were distributed to 679 psychiatrists working within the public sector in Israel. RESULTS Completed questionnaires were returned from 256 psychiatrists (38% response rate). Most (90%) participants reported having had limited training in the diagnosis and treatment of people with intellectual disabilities, while between 34% and 72% reported having inadequate knowledge in specific areas. CONCLUSION The findings of limited training and self-perceived inadequate knowledge are at least partially explained by the service model, wherein people with intellectual disabilities are cared for by general mental health services. The identified inadequacies could be overcome through the implementation of a model in which specially trained psychiatrists are deployed within generic services.
Experiencing Racial Profiling: Process, Effects and Explanations

What are the effects of profiling a minority group? I propose that being profiled lowers an individual's opinions of police as well as harms the police-community relationship. I analyze the results of a snowball sample consisting of qualitative interviews of six young African American males who think they have been racially profiled. The interviews were conducted in 2003 and 2004. A look at the process of racial profiling is included, and several explanations for law enforcement behavior emerged out of the interviews, including ideas of black criminality, acceptance, disrespect, and the presence of window tint. Furthermore, several significant effects emerged including a lowering of opinion on law enforcement, the detailing of a tension between citizens and police, and an analysis of respondent views on the quality of policing. The respondent beliefs about the importance of race and image symbols as well as neighborhood context as determinants of police attention also emerged. The results illustrate that there are several significant drawbacks to the practice of racially profiling young African American men.
Clinicopathologic Features of CDK6 Translocation-associated B-cell Lymphoproliferative Disorders

Cyclin-dependent protein kinase 6 (CDK6), in cooperation with cyclin Ds, drives cell cycle progression from G1 to S phase through phosphorylation and subsequent inactivation of retinoblastoma 1 protein. Alteration of this pathway results in both nonhematologic and hematologic malignancies, which include a small subset of B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders (BLPDs). We identified 5 cases of BLPD that carried CDK6 chromosomal translocations and characterized their clinical, pathologic, immunophenotypic, and genetic features. Common clinical characteristics included marked neoplastic lymphocytosis, systemic lymphadenopathy, splenomegaly, and bone marrow involvement. Three patients were diagnosed with low-grade B-cell lymphoma and had an indolent clinical course, and 2 patients (one who transformed to large B-cell lymphoma, and the other who was initially diagnosed with a high-grade B-cell lymphoma) had an aggressive clinical course. Immunophenotypically, the neoplastic B cells expressed CD5, CDK6, and cytoplasmic retinoblastoma 1 protein in all cases, expressed phospho-RB, p27kip1, and cyclin D2 in most cases, and uniformly lacked expression of all other cyclins. In 4 cases, the CDK6 translocation partner was kappa immunoglobulin light-chain gene; and in the fifth case, the CDK6 translocation partner was unknown. These distinct clinicopathologic and cytogenetic features distinguish the CDK6 translocation-associated BLPDs (CDK6-BLPDs) from other mature B-cell lymphomas.