Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nutritional supplements in age‐related macular degeneration

Age‐related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most frequent cause of blindness in the Western World. While with new therapies that are directed towards vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a potentially efficient treatment option for the wet form of the disease has been introduced, a therapeutic regimen for dry AMD is still lacking. There is evidence from several studies that oral intake of supplements is beneficial in preventing progression of the disease. Several formulations of micronutrients are currently available. The present review focuses on the role of supplements in the treatment and prevention of AMD and sums up the current knowledge about the most frequently used micronutrients. In addition, regulatory issues are discussed, and future directions for the role of supplementation in AMD are highlighted.
Delayed histopathological neuronal damage in the substantia nigra compacta (nucleus A9) after transient forebrain ischaemia

Neurones in the rat substantia nigra compacta (SNC) are initially resistant to transient forebrain ischaemia in contrast to vulnerable neurones in the striatum that die within 24 h. Animals were exposed to 20 min of four vessel occlusion and killed 1 and 3 weeks after reperfusion. All ischaemic animals had striatal neurone loss. Analysis of the number of tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactive neurones (THir) in the SNC was comparable between controls and ischaemic animals killed 1 week after reperfusion. However, there was a significant reduction in THir neurone number (24%), SNC volume (17%), and THir dendritic arborization in the substantia nigra reticulata (SNR) that occurred 3 weeks after reperfusion, despite the persistence of THir axons in the striatum. Detailed morphological analysis of areas distant from the initial ischaemic injury suggest delayed degeneration may play an important role in the brain's response to ischaemia, and may provide insights for clinical stroke treatment and management.
'Duster' wheat: A durable, dual-purpose cultivar adapted to the southern great plains of the USA

Winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars that gain commercial acceptance in the U.S. southern Great Plains must provide a definitive grain-yield advantage, season-long dependability in dual-purpose management systems, effective resistance to foliar diseases, and tolerance to soil acidity. Our objective was to corroborate each of those strengths in the hard red winter (HRW) wheat cultivar 'Duster' (Reg. No. CV-1065, PI 644016), which was released in 2006 by the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station and the USDA-ARS to complement 'Endurance' (Reg. No. CV-994, PI 639233) with added dough strength and resistance to Wheat spindle streak mosaic. Duster was selected from a double cross, W0405/ NE78488//W7469C/TX81V6187, made within the former Pioneer HRW-wheat breeding program. Neither Duster nor its immediate parents are known to have a sib-pair or parent-offspring relationship with cultivars currently grown in the Great Plains. Duster is a descendent of an F 2:3 line identified in Oklahoma in 1991, from which pedigree selection produced two F 13 -derived lines that were composited to constitute breeder seed. The experimental line OK93P656H3299-2C04 was tested in the 2005 and 2006 Southern Regional Performance Nursery, where it ranked first and fifth, respectively, for mean grain yield. Data from the Oklahoma Small Grains Variety Performance Tests were primarily used herein to demonstrate competitiveness for economic traits in a wide array of environmental conditions 5 yr following Duster's release.
Retracted: Neuroprotection mediated by glial group‐II metabotropic glutamate receptors requires the activation of the MAP kinase and the phosphatidylinositol‐3‐kinase pathways

The mGlu2/3 receptor agonists 4‐carboxy‐3‐hydroxyphenylglycine (4C3HPG) and LY379268 attenuated NMDA toxicity in primary cultures containing both neurons and astrocytes. Neuroprotection was abrogated by PD98059 and LY294002, which inhibit the mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) and the phosphatidylinositol‐3‐kinase (PI‐3‐K) pathways, respectively. Cultured astrocytes lost the ability to produce transforming growth factor‐β1 (TGF‐β1) in response to mGlu2/3 receptor agonists when co‐incubated with PD98059 or LY294002. As a result, the glial medium was no longer protective against NMDA toxicity. Activation of the MAPK and PI‐3‐K pathways in cultured astrocytes treated with 4C3HPG or LY379268 was directly demonstrated by an increase in the phosphorylated forms of ERK‐1/2 and Akt. Similarly to that observed in the culture, intracerebral or systemic injections of mGlu2/3 receptor agonists enhanced TGF‐β1 formation in the rat or mouse caudate nucleus, and this effect was reduced by PD98059. PD98059 also reduced the ability of LY379268 to protect striatal neurons against NMDA toxicity. These results suggest that activation of glial mGlu2/3 receptors induces neuroprotection through the activation of the MAPK and PI‐3‐K pathways leading to the induction of TGF‐β.
The Androgen-Excess Theory of Breast Cancer

In contrast with the dominant role usually attributed to estrogens in breast cancer, the Androgen-Excess Theory suggests a central role for androgens in this disease. According to the theory, androgen excess is the principal endocrine abnormality that characterizes women with breast cancer, and it is part of a complex hormonal disorder that involves estrogens as well as other hormones and metabolic factors. This chapter summarizes 40 years of research from our laboratory on the role of androgens in breast cancer; it is divided into sections describing the background, the development, and the epidemiological support for the theory. 1. The original theory: Pathologic, endocrine, and clinical background The Androgen-Excess Theory of Breast Cancer takes its origin from a study by Grattarola in 1964 [1]. The author examined the premenstrual endometrial pattern of 87 premenopausal breast-cancer patients and 59 healthy premenopausal women, and found progestational endometrium, indicating Correspondence/Reprint request: Prof. Giorgio Secreto, Hormone Research Laboratory, Department of Preventive and Predictive Medicine, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Via Venezian 1, 20133 Milan, Italy. E-mail: Giorgio.Secreto@istitutotumori.mi. it
Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) in Vocational and Professional Education and Training (VPET)

This paper examines teachers' views on Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) and Open Educational Resources (OERs) in Vocational and Professional Educational and Training (VPET) in Hong Kong. A number of the Quality Enhancement Supporting Scheme Projects sponsored by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong SAR Government indicate increasing effort to develop OERs for VPET. Several studies have shown that although VPET emphasizes hand-on practical skills under an instructor's supervision, online OERs are increasingly being considered as effective independent learning materials to facilitate learning and teaching. To further examine the needs, a study was conducted in the leading VPET institution in Hong Kong. Questionnaire surveys were distributed to teachers for feedback from TEL and OER seminars and training workshops. Findings indicate that although TEL and OERs for VPET are in great demand, the funding, institutional support, and technical ability to develop TEL and OERs remain concerns.
Processing ambiguous verbs: evidence from eye movements.

In 2 eye-tracking experiments, participants read verbs that had 2 (unrelated) meanings or 2 (related) senses in contexts that disambiguated before or after the verb, to the dominant or subordinate interpretation. A 3rd experiment used unambiguous verbs. The results indicated that the language processor used information about context in the early stages of resolving meaning ambiguities but only during integration for sense ambiguities. Effects of preference were delayed for both types of verbs. The results contrast with findings concerning the processing of nouns (e.g., K. Rayner & S. A. Duffy, 1986). For meaning ambiguities, the authors argue that delays in resolution allow both meanings to reach a high level of activation, thus reducing effects of frequency. For sense ambiguities, the authors argue that the processor does not access multiple senses but activates one underspecified meaning and uses context to home in on the appropriate sense.
Fibroblast growth factor‐23 and chronic allograft injury in pediatric renal transplant recipients: a Midwest Pediatric Nephrology Consortium study

The chronic kidney disease‐mineral bone disorder (CKD‐MBD) produces fibroblast growth factor‐23 (FGF‐23) and related circulating pathogenic factors that are strongly associated with vascular injury and declining kidney function in native CKD. Similarly, chronic renal allograft injury (CRAI) is characterized by vascular injury and declining allograft function in transplant CKD. We hypothesized that circulating CKD‐MBD factors could serve as non‐invasive biomarkers of CRAI. We conducted a cross‐sectional, multicenter case–control study. Cases (n = 31) had transplant function >20 mL/min/1.73 m2 and biopsy‐proven CRAI. Controls (n = 31) had transplant function >90 mL/min/1.73 m2 and/or a biopsy with no detectable abnormality in the previous six months. We measured plasma CKD‐MBD factors at a single time point using ELISA. Median (range) FGF23 levels were over twofold higher in CRAI vs. controls [106 (10–475) pg/mL vs. 45 (8–91) pg/mL; p < 0.001]. FGF23 levels were inversely correlated with transplant function (r2 = −0.617, p < 0.001). Higher FGF23 levels were associated with increased odds of biopsy‐proven CRAI after adjusting for transplant function, clinical, and demographic factors [OR (95% CI) 1.43 (1.23, 1.67)]. Relationships between additional CKD‐MBD factors and CRAI were attenuated in multivariable models. Higher FGF23 levels were independently associated with biopsy‐proven CRAI in children.
Cell division inhibitors SulA and MinC/MinD block septum formation at different steps in the assembly of the Escherichia coli division machinery

SulA and MinCD are specific inhibitors of cell division in Escherichia coli. In this paper, size exclusion chromatography was used to study the effect of the SulA and MinCD division inhibitors on the oligomerization state of endogenous FtsZ in cytoplasmic extracts, and immunofluorescence microscopy was used to determine the effect of SulA and MinCD on the formation of FtsZ, FtsA and ZipA rings at potential division sites. SulA prevented the formation of high‐molecular‐weight FtsZ polymers by interfering with FtsZ dimerization and subsequent oligomerization. In contrast, the MinCD division inhibitor did not prevent the oligomerization of FtsZ in the cell extracts or the formation of FtsZ and ZipA ring structures in vivo. However, MinCD did prevent the formation of FtsA rings. Increased expression of ftsA suppressed MinCD‐induced division inhibition, but had no effect on SulA‐induced division inhibition. These results indicate that MinCD blocks the assembly of the septation machinery at a later step than SulA, at the stage at which FtsA is added to the FtsZ ring.
Cross-Cultural Validation of the Rorschach Developmental Index

The Developmental Index (DI) has recently been introduced as a composite Rorschach measure of psychological development and maturation, which can be used both with the Comprehensive System (Exner, 2003), and with the recently developed Rorschach Performance Assessment System (Meyer, Viglione, Mihura, Erard, & Erdberg, 2011). As the DI is new, and its validity has not yet been investigated with independent non-U.S. samples, we tested the correlation between DI and age using 3 relatively large samples, 2 of which were from outside the United States (total N = 902). Other Rorschach variables presumably associated with maturation, such as complexity and productivity, were also investigated. As expected, the DI significantly correlated with age, with small variations across the 3 samples. Importantly, the correlation between DI and age remained statistically significant also after controlling for productivity (i.e., the number of responses) and complexity.
Adaptive output feedback tracking control for nonaffine nonlinear systems

This paper focuses on adaptive output feedback tracking control of nonlinear systems, in which the functions of system are unknown. A two-layered feedforward Neural Network (NN) is employed to approximate the desired control signal. In order to estimate system states, an NN-based high gain observer is introduced, which does not suffer from peaking phenomenon. Also, the stability analysis of the overall system is provided based on the non-separation principle. As compared to most of the previous approaches which concentrate on affine systems, the presented method is applicable to nonaffine nonlinear systems. Furthermore, the presented method does not rely on having a lot of a priori knowledge about the system dynamics, the corresponding adaption laws are simple, easy to implement and reliable. Finally, simulation results are presented to verify the significant potential of the proposed controller.
An efficient foot-force distribution algorithm for quadruped walking robots

One of the important issues of walking machine active force control is a successful distribution of the body force to the feet to prevent leg slippage. In this paper, a new force distribution method, the Friction Constraint Method (FriCoM), is introduced. The force distribution during the walking of a typical quadruped crawl gait is analyzed by using the FriCoM. Computation results show that the distributed forces of the feet are continuous during the walking. This reflects the change of the force distribution during actual conditions. The comparison with a pseudo-inverse method shows that the FriCoM is more practical. The FriCom also requires less computation time than that by an incremental optimization method. Some problems, such as the singularity in the application of the FriCoM, are discussed. The FriCoM will be used in the active force control of a quadruped robot that is taken as a platform for the research on the study of terrain adaptation.
Self-speech-induced facilitation of simple reaching movements in persons with stroke.

OBJECTIVE Occupational therapists are routinely involved in upper-extremity rehabilitation in persons with stroke. Recently we have reported that self-speech can be used to facilitate simple reach in young and older adults. The purpose of this study is to examine whether self-speech-induced facilitation of simple reach can be translated in persons with stroke. METHOD Following a counterbalanced repeated-measure design, seven persons with right brain stroke performed reaching and placing a glass on a cabinet shelf under four concurrent speech conditions of vocalizing the word "yeah" with both hemiplegic and nonhemiplegic sides. These four conditions are self-vocalization, external vocalization, imaginary vocalization, and no vocalization. Consistent with our previous study, in this study we also recorded the movement kinematics of angular movement of the upper arm. RESULTS Reaching velocity was significantly higher under self-vocalization conditions compared to the reaching velocity under no vocalization or other vocalization conditions (p < .05). Motor performance in terms of velocity, nonhemiparetic side was significantly better than hemiparetic side (p < .05). CONCLUSION The results suggest that self-speech can be used in facilitating movements in patients with stroke. When working with patients with right hemispheric stroke, therapists might explore possibilities of using patient's self-speech to enhance the quality of movement performance.
Decrease of serum levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 in patients with advanced chronic heart failure.

Inflammation plays a significant contributory role in the pathogenesis of chronic heart failure (CHF). Many studies have shown enhanced plasma levels of proinflammatory cytokines [i.e. tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin (IL)-6] in patients with CHF. However, there are only few reports on the regulation of anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-10. IL-10 has potent deactivating properties in macrophages and T-cells and thus acts as a down-regulator of cell-mediated immune responses. The aim of the present study was to assess whether serum concentrations of IL-10 significantly differ between patients with CHF and healthy control subjects. Patients with CHF [ n =50; 66.9+/-12.6 years; mean ejection fraction, 22.1+/-9.2%; New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II-IV] and 25 healthy controls (63.6+/-10.2 years) were examined. Of the 50 patients with CHF, 32 patients were taking aspirin (100 mg/day) and 33 patients had lipid-lowering therapy with a statin. Serum IL-10 as well as TNF-alpha concentrations were measured using commercially available immunoassays. Patients with CHF showed significantly lower IL-10 concentrations (2.3+/-1.9 compared with 5.2+/-2.3 pg/ml; P <0.001). Patients with advanced CHF (NYHA class III and IV) had the lowest IL-10 plasma levels. Aspirin and statin therapy did not significantly influence serum levels of IL-10. The ratio of TNF-alpha to IL-10 was significantly higher in patients with advanced CHF (NYHA class III and IV, ratio 3.2+/-1.2 and 3.1+/-1.1 respectively, compared with control 0.4+/-0.2; P <0.01). Our present study demonstrates significantly decreased serum levels of IL-10 in patients with advanced CHF. Since IL-10 is known as a potent anti-inflammatory cytokine, its decrease in advanced CHF may favour the inflammatory milieu in CHF.
Coexistence of Power-Controlled Cellular Networks With Rotating Radar

In this paper, we study spectral coexistence between rotating radar and power-controlled cellular networks in radar bands. For two systems to spectrally coexist, they must be able to operate effectively without causing harmful electromagnetic interference to each other. Very short radar-cellular system separation distances are required during 83.3% of time due to the narrow main beam width of the rotational radar antenna. We propose a spatio-temporal analytical approach with adaptive base station (BS) power control for adjacent spectrum sharing between the two systems. We develop a new model for the aggregate interference from power-controlled cellular BSs using log-normal approximation. The cellular system is allowed to transmit at high power when the radar antenna's main beam is pointing elsewhere from it. On the other hand, the cellular system reduces its transmit power only for a short period when the radar directional antenna main beam is pointing toward it. We use the degradation of the radar signal-to-interference plus noise ratio and cellular outage probability as our performance metrics. Numerical results show that power control of cellular BS highly reduces separation distance between the BS and radar, while yielding marginal degradation of outage performance. In addition, the mathematical results given by the log-normal approximation closely follow our simulated results. Detail system level assessments and investigations are presented to comprehensively understand secondary access to this band opportunistically.
[The finite element modeling of human pelvis and its application in medicolegal expertise].

OBJECTIVE To develop a novel three dimensional finite element(FE) model of the human pelvis and investigate the biomechanics of the pelvic injury and explore the applications of FE approach in forensic medicine. METHODS The FE model of pelvis including bilateral iliac bones, sacrum, bilateral femurs, joint cartilages and ligaments was developed with Mimics 13.1 based on the CT images. The CT value of material properties were assigned. A static pressure of 600 N was applied at the upper surface of the sacrum endplate downwards along the vertical axis of sacral bone to validate the model. To simulate the side impacts, the lateral forces of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 kN were applied to the trochanter surface of right femur, respectively. The von Mises stress contours, displacement contours and stress distribution curves were subsequently calculated. RESULTS An integrated FE model of pelvis including the joint cartilages and ligaments was successfully established. The model geometry coincided well with the CT images. The stress distributions of pelvis in erect position mainly located near the sacroiliac joints and the greater sciatic notches. Stress concentration was found on the superior and inferior pubis ramus, hip and sacroiliac joints on both sides under side impacts. CONCLUSION The established FE model has accurate and reliable biomechanical features. The FE model can be used to simulate injury and provide intuitive and accurate evidence for medicolegal expertise.
Femoral ring versus fibular strut allografts in anterior lumbar interbody arthrodesis. A biomechanical analysis.

STUDY DESIGN A comparison between femoral ring and fibular strut allografts in anterior lumbar interbody arthrodesis, as assessed by biomechanical analysis. OBJECTIVES To assess the difference in stability and rigidity provided by the femoral ring allograft versus that provided by fibular strut allograft. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Two commonly used techniques for spinal arthrodesis at L4-L5 include the femoral ring allograft and the fibular strut allograft. The postoperative stability has not been evaluated biomechanically. METHODS An anterior lumbar interbody fusion on seven cadaveric specimens was performed using femoral ring and fibular strut allografts. Biplanar radiography was used to measure the 6 degrees of motion of L4 with respect to L5 during a range of loading maneuvers. RESULTS When an extension moment was applied, the femoral ring allograft extended 4.2 degrees more than the intact specimen, compared with 1.6 degrees with the fibular strut allograft (P = 0.18). When the flexion moment was imposed, lateral bending increased by 2.2 degrees with the femoral ring, compared with 0.7 degree with the fibular strut allograft (P = 0.06). During lateral bending, increased lateral translation was observed to be 0.9 mm with the fibular strut allograft compared with 1.4 mm with the femoral ring allograft (P = 0.06). CONCLUSIONS Although not statistically significant, the fibular strut allograft creates a more rigid construct immediately after surgery during flexion-extension, lateral bending angulations, and lateral translation. One should consider using the fibular strut allograft over the femoral ring allograft, as it is more stable and rigid construct in the immediate postoperative period.