Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Piezo’s membrane footprint and its contribution to mechanosensitivity

Piezo1 is an ion channel that gates open when mechanical force is applied to a cell membrane, thus allowing cells to detect and respond to mechanical stimulation. Molecular structures of Piezo1 reveal a large ion channel with an unusually curved shape. This study analyzes how such a curved ion channel interacts energetically with the cell membrane. Through membrane mechanical calculations, we show that Piezo1 deforms the membrane shape outside the perimeter of the channel into a curved ‘membrane footprint’. This membrane footprint amplifies the sensitivity of Piezo1 to changes in membrane tension, rendering it exquisitely responsive. We assert that the shape of the Piezo channel is an elegant example of molecular form evolved to optimize a specific function, in this case tension sensitivity. Furthermore, the predicted influence of the membrane footprint on Piezo gating is consistent with the demonstrated importance of membrane-cytoskeletal attachments to Piezo gating.
Patterns of transposable element variation and clinality in Drosophila

Natural populations often exist in spatially diverse environments and may experience variation in the strength and targets of natural selection across their ranges. Drosophila provides an excellent opportunity to study the effects of spatially varying selection in natural populations, as both Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans live across a wide range of environments in North America. Here, we characterize patterns of variation in transposable elements (TEs) from six populations of D. melanogaster and nine populations of D. simulans sampled from multiple latitudes across North America. We find a nearly twofold excess of TEs in D. melanogaster relative to D. simulans, with this difference largely driven by TEs segregating at the lowest and highest allele frequencies. We find no effect of latitude on either total TE abundance or average TE allele frequencies in either species. Moreover, we show that, as a class of mutations, the most common patterns of TE variation do not coincide with the sampled latitudinal gradient, nor are they consistent with local adaptation acting on environmental differences found in the most extreme latitudes. We also do not find a cline in ancestry for North American D. melanogaster—for either TEs or single nucleotide polymorphisms—suggesting a limited role for demography in shaping patterns of TE variation. Though we find little evidence for widespread clinality among TEs in Drosophila, this does not necessarily imply a limited role for TEs in adaptation. We discuss the need for improved models of adaptation to large‐scale environmental heterogeneity, and how these might be applied to TEs.
Análisis de la frecuencia cardíaca durante la competición en jugadores profesionales de fútbol sala

Con el proposito de controlar y analizar la evolucion de la frecuencia cardiaca durante la competicion en jugadores profesionales de futbol sala pertenecientes al equipo de Division de Plata de la ciudad de Melilla, se registraron, mediante monitores de ritmo cardiaco, cinco partidos en diferentes momentos de la temporada, correspondientes al inicio, a la mitad y al final de la misma. En valores absolutos, la FC maxima media obtenida es 192,1 lpm ± 0,8, la FC media es 172,9 lpm ± 4,0, mientras que la FC minima promedio es 118,8 lpm ± 11,1. En valores relativos, derivados de relacionar la frecuencia cardiaca media con el valor de frecuencia cardiaca maxima individual, apreciamos que la frecuencia cardiaca media supone el 89,5 % de la FC maxima. La frecuencia cardiaca no suele situarse por debajo de 150 latidos, permaneciendo el 25,7 % del tiempo entre 150 y 170 lpm y alcanzando valores superiores a 170 latidos el 67,4 % del tiempo de participacion. Estos datos demuestran que el 1,8 % del tiempo se encuentran por debajo del 65 % de su FC maxima, el 18,0 % entre el 65 % y el 85 % y el 80,7 % del tiempo por encima del 85 % de su FC maxima. Lo que parece demostrar una poderosa contribucion del metabolismo anaerobico en las exigencias solicitadas por la competicion a los jugadores de esta especialidad.
4W1H in IoT Semantics

IoT systems are now being deployed worldwide to sense phenomena of interest. The existing IoT systems are often independent, which limits the use of sensor data to only one application. Semantic solutions have been proposed to support the reuse of sensor data across IoT systems and applications. This allows the integration of IoT systems for increased productivity by solving challenges associated with their interoperability and heterogeneity. Several ontologies have been proposed to handle different aspects of sensor data collection in IoT systems, ranging from sensor discovery to applying reasoning on collected sensor data for drawing inferences. In this paper, we study and categorize the existing ontologies based on the fundamental ontological concepts (e.g., sensors, context, location, and so on) required for annotating different aspects of data collection and data access in an IoT application. We identify these fundamental concepts by answering the 4Ws (What, When, Who, Where) and 1H (How) identified using the 4W1H methodology.
Adjustable Real-time Style Transfer

Artistic style transfer is the problem of synthesizing an image with content similar to a given image and style similar to another. Although recent feed-forward neural networks can generate stylized images in real-time, these models produce a single stylization given a pair of style/content images, and the user doesn't have control over the synthesized output. Moreover, the style transfer depends on the hyper-parameters of the model with varying "optimum" for different input images. Therefore, if the stylized output is not appealing to the user, she/he has to try multiple models or retrain one with different hyper-parameters to get a favorite stylization. In this paper, we address these issues by proposing a novel method which allows adjustment of crucial hyper-parameters, after the training and in real-time, through a set of manually adjustable parameters. These parameters enable the user to modify the synthesized outputs from the same pair of style/content images, in search of a favorite stylized image. Our quantitative and qualitative experiments indicate how adjusting these parameters is comparable to retraining the model with different hyper-parameters. We also demonstrate how these parameters can be randomized to generate results which are diverse but still very similar in style and content.
Development and Validation of a Filial Piety Scale for Chinese Elders in Contemporary China

This study was designed to validate the newly developed Filial Piety Scale for Chinese Elders (FPSCE) in measuring elders’ filial norms in contemporary China by administering questionnaire survey with 521 elders aged 70 years and older in Beijing, China. Validity and reliability tests were applied. Through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, a conceptually meaningful three-factor model with 12 items was obtained, consisting of “caring for parents,” “familial entirety,” and “familial aspiration. ” The FPSCE showed good internal consistency, satisfactory discriminant validity, criterion-related validity, and significant correlations for some variables related to demographic characteristics, health status, and financial condition. The construction of the FPSCE indicates that elders’ understanding of filial piety and their expectation of their children may have changed. The FPSCE shows that contemporary elders in China hold less authoritative but more reciprocal stances toward filial piety. The FPSCE can be used to advance the contextualized understanding of filial piety in contemporary Chinese societies, to help facilitate the development of family-friendly policies in aging societies, and to meet the challenges associated with an accelerating aging population.
Length of Stay and Complications Associated With Febrile Infants <90 Days of Age Hospitalized in the United States, 2000-2012.

OBJECTIVES It is not known how changes in the epidemiology of serious bacterial infection (SBI) and greater availability of rapid viral diagnostic tests have impacted the hospital length of stay (LOS) and associated complications among young infants with suspected SBI. METHODS We used national administrative data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids' Inpatient Database and other state-specific data to identify febrile infants <90 days of age hospitalized in 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009, and 2012. We used multivariate analysis to determine LOS, risk factors for prolonged LOS, and complications of care among infants with isolated fever or viral respiratory disease, without concomitant serious infection. RESULTS We identified 44 875 infants. LOS for each clinical group did not change over time in a clinically significant way. Mean LOS was ≤2 days for approximately two-thirds of all infants and ≥4 days for 11% in each clinical group. Factors associated with longer LOS included age <31 days, critical clinical status, concomitant chronic disease, and the presence of complications (P < .05). We identified 289 (0.8%) infants with 351 complications of care, 18 (6%) of whom had >1. These infants had longer LOS (P < .001), and those with chronic disease and older age were at increased risk (P < .01). CONCLUSIONS Despite the changing epidemiology of SBI and increased availability of viral diagnostic testing, we did not detect a clinically significant change in LOS for febrile infants with suspected SBI. Complications associated with hospitalization of these infants was associated with increased LOS.
Context-Aware Crowd Counting

State-of-the-art methods for counting people in crowded scenes rely on deep networks to estimate crowd density. They typically use the same filters over the whole image or over large image patches. Only then do they estimate local scale to compensate for perspective distortion. This is typically achieved by training an auxiliary classifier to select, for predefined image patches, the best kernel size among a limited set of choices. As such, these methods are not end-to-end trainable and restricted in the scope of context they can leverage. In this paper, we introduce an end-to-end trainable deep architecture that combines features obtained using multiple receptive field sizes and learns the importance of each such feature at each image location. In other words, our approach adaptively encodes the scale of the contextual information required to accurately predict crowd density. This yields an algorithm that outperforms state-of-the-art crowd counting methods, especially when perspective effects are strong.
Is Obesity Associated With Asthma in Young Children?

To T, Vydykhan TN, Dell S, Tassoudji M, Harris JK. J Pediatr . 2004;144:162–168 The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between obesity and asthma. A population-based sample of Canadian schoolchildren. Baseline data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth were used in this cross-sectional study. The investigators included 11 199 children aged 4 to 11 years whose biological mothers reported data on asthma, height, and weight. Body …
Comparison of Optical Coherence Tomography With Fundus Photographs, Fluorescein Angiography, and Histopathologic Analysis in Assessing Coats Disease

Importance Coats disease is a rare pediatric vitreoretinopathy that can cause devastating visual and anatomic outcomes. Objective To compare optical coherence tomography (OCT) with fundus photographs, fluorescein angiography (FA), and histopathologic findings in Coats disease. Design, Setting, and Participants This retrospective cohort study was conducted in a single tertiary institution (Duke Eye Center) and identified 28 children with Coats disease through a review of medical records from December 2002 to January 2018. Four eyes were obtained from a biorepository for histopathologic analysis. Main Outcomes and Measures Macular OCT, fundus photographs, and FA results were reviewed and compared for morphological changes. These were compared with retinal histopathological findings. Results The mean (SD) age was 9.5 (5.5) years for the 28 children (and 29 eyes) with clinical imaging results, and 24 (86%) were boys. A comparison between imaging modalities revealed OCT features that were not visible in photographs or FA, including exudates in multiple retinal layers (23 [82.1%]), small pockets of subretinal fluid (4 [14.3%]), an outer retinal atrophy overlying fibrotic nodules (7 [25.0%]), and small preretinal hyperreflective OCT dots (25 [89.3%]). Next, a comparison with light micrographs introduced an association of OCT findings with possible pathological features, including hyperreflective linear structures on OCT that appeared consistent with cholesterol crystals, small hyperreflective dots with macrophages, outer retinal tubulations with rosettes, and analogous OCT histopathology features such as intraretinal vessels entering fibrotic nodules and retinal pigment epithelium excrescences under the subretinal fluid. An OCT analysis revealed intraretinal cystoid spaces in 19 eyes, but in 9 of 19 (47.4) this was not associated with cystoid macular leakage; rather, fluorescein leakage was observed from peripheral telangiectatic vessels. Additionally, exudates were intraretinal only (6 [21.4%]) or both intraretinal and subretinal (17 [60.7%]); none were subretinal only. In eyes with follow-up results, new fibrosis developed in 8 of 17 eyes (47.1%). Fibrosis developed in 5 of 5 eyes (100%) with baseline subretinal fluid vs 3 of 12 without (25%; 95% CI, 22%-92%) and in 7 of 9 eyes (77.8%) with subretinal exudates vs 1 of 8 (12.5%) without (95% CI, 16%-89%). Conclusions and Relevance Optical coherence tomography may show the transient and permanent effects of Coats disease on the retina. These results suggest that exudates and fluid in the macular subretinal space appear later in the disease and may result in fibrosis formation. Further studies are needed to confirm if early treatment could prevent vision-threatening macular fibrosis.
Early Fusion Status after Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion with Cortical Bone Trajectory Screw Fixation: A Comparison of Titanium-Coated Polyetheretherketone Cages and Carbon Polyetheretherketone Cages

Study Design Retrospective cohort study. Purpose We recently reported that when compared to posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) using traditional pedicle screw fixation, PLIF with cortical bone trajectory screw fixation (CBT-PLIF) provided favorable clinical outcomes and reduced the incidence of symptomatic adjacent segment pathology, but resulted in relatively lower fusion rates. Since titanium-coated polyetheretherketone (PEEK) cages (TP) could improve and accelerate fusion status after CBT-PLIF, early fusion status was compared between CBT-PLIF using TP and carbon PEEK cages (CP). Overview of Literature A systematic review demonstrated that clinical studies at this early stage show similar fusion rates for TP compared to PEEK cages. Methods We studied 36 consecutive patients undergoing CBT-PLIF with TP (TP group) and 92 undergoing CBT-PLIF with CP (CP group). On multiplanar reconstruction computed tomography (MPR-CT) at 6 months postoperatively, vertebral endplate cysts (cyst signs) were evaluated and classified as diffuse or local cysts. Early fusion status was assessed by dynamic plain radiographs and MPR-CT at 1 year postoperatively. Results The incidences of cyst signs, diffuse cysts, and early fusion rate in the TP and CP groups were 38.9% and 66.3% (p<0.01), 16.7% and 32.6% (p=0.07), and 83.3% and 79.3% (p>0.05), respectively. Combining the two groups, 22 of 36 patients with diffuse cysts had nonunion at 1-year follow-up, compared to only three of 92 patients with local cysts or without cyst signs (p<0.01). Conclusions Despite having fewer patients with endplate cysts at 6 months (a known risk factor for nonunion), the TP group had the same fusion rate as the CP group at 1-year follow-up. Thus, TP did not accelerate the fusion process after CBT-PLIF.
MARTE and IP-XACT Based Approach for Run-Time Scalable NoC

The Networks on chip (NoC) based communication is increasingly used as a solution for multi-IP system-on-Chip. There have been tremendous works to improve the adaptation of the NoC for FPGA based dynamically reconfigurable IPs. The Dynamic Partial Reconfiguration (DPR) based run-time scalable NoC is one way to reduce the power consumption by idle components of the NoC. However, the absence of custom HDL NoC generation tools which separate the NoC rows and columns into independent components remains open. In this paper, we have introduced a UML/MARTE and IPXACT based approach to model and generated run-time scalable NoC components targeting Xilinx FPGAs. The NoC is modeled by splitting into static sub-NoC and a series of run-time scalable rows and columns as a component. First, both the static and run-time scalable sub-NoC are defined at a high level using the UML/MARTE. Then, they are transformed into an intermediate level of XML description respecting the IP-XACT standard. Next, all XML description of the top level NoC, the reconfigurable rows and columns are transformed into VHDL. Finally, the HDL files of the NoC are imported to Xilinx EDK to implement the dynamically scalable NoC by mixing with the FPGA based reconfigurable IPs. The proposed approach is validated by modeling a 3x3 NoC splitting into three components as 2x2 static sub-NoC, 2x1 reconfigurable column and 1x3 reconfigurable row. Then, a user-defined small IPs are used to connect with the NoC routers and implement the full system.
Effects of formulation development methods on the stability of model protein pharmaceuticals embedded in solid lipid matrices

Abstract This study was conducted to investigate the influence of formulation development methods on the stability (secondary structure, aggregation, and biological activity) of protein drugs embedded in lipid matrices. Catalase, horseradish peroxidase, and α-chymotrypsin were employed as model proteins, while Precirol® AT05 (glyceryl palmitostearate) was used as lipid matrix. Protein-loaded lipid matrices were prepared using melting and mixing and wet granulation methods. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR FT-IR) spectroscopy, size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and biological activity analyses were performed. ATR FT-IR analysis indicated significant interference of the lipid with the protein amide-I band, which was eliminated using spectral subtraction. Wet granulation method induced more changes in protein secondary structure compared to melting and mixing method. SEC analysis gave evidence of protein aggregation for catalase upon adopting the wet granulation method. The biological activity of catalase was found to reduce significantly than other two proteins upon using wet granulation method, which might be ascribed to both secondary structure alterations and the formation of aggregates. Horseradish peroxidase and α-chymotrypsin did not form any soluble aggregates. In conclusion, melting and mixing method emerged as a better incorporation method compared to wet granulation because of better stability shown by the formulated proteins.
Informed consent in clinical trials: Perceptions and experiences of a sample of South African researchers

The implementation of informed consent (IC) in clinical trials presents many challenges, especially in developing countries. This study explored the experiences and reported practices regarding the implementation of IC in clinical trials in South Africa. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with a range of stakeholders in clinical trials in two provinces. The interviews were analysed to identify themes and issues relating to IC. The findings show that IC practices involve attention being paid to both formal requirements and informal practices to attain IC. Research assistants or trial counsellors were found to play a critical role in facilitating the IC process. It is recommended that more recognition be given to the important role of trial counsellors in clinical trials, and that they be given more formal training, support and supervision. Opsomming Die implementering van ingeligte toestemming (IT) in kliniese proewe bied menige uitdagings, veral in ontwikkelende lande. Hierdie studie het die ervarings en vermelde praktyke betreffende die implementering van IT in kliniese proewe in Suid-Afrika ondersoek. Data is ingewin deur middel van semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude met 'n verskeidenheid van rolspelers in kliniese proewe in twee provinsies. Onderhoude is ontleed om herhalende temas rakende IT te identifiseer. Bevindings toon dat IT-benaderings die voldoening aan formele vereistes sowel as die gebruikmaking van informele metodes behels. Daar is bevind dat navorsingsassistente 'n kritieke rol in die fasilitering van die IT-proses speel. Daar word aanbeveel dat meer erkenning gegee word aan die rol van proefvoorligters in kliniese proewe, dat hulle meer formele opleiding ondergaan, dat hulle beter ondersteuning ontvang en dat daar beter oor hulle toesig gehou word.
DNA cloning demonstrates high genetic heterogeneity in populations of the subaerial green alga Trentepohlia (Trentepohliales, Chlorophyta)

Mats of the green alga Trentepohlia, a genus widely distributed in the tropics as well as temperate regions, have always been perceived as homogeneous (i.e., formed by only one species). As such, their general nature and specific feature play a supportive role in the species delimitation. However, the presence of morphologically dissimilar thalli was observed under the light microscope and when cultivating a piece of a single mat. To address this, we performed DNA cloning of the rbcL gene on mat fragments of T. abietina, T. annulata, T. jolithus and T. umbrina sampled in Europe to reveal if they are composed of one or more species. We revealed that more Trentepohlia haplotypes may coexist in a single mat. In consideration of this, we conclude that the use of material isolated in unialgal culture will be almost mandatory for a taxonomic reassessment of this complicated genus. Another direct implication of this problem is that herbarium specimens consisting of field‐collected material should not be used for direct sequencing. We further hypothesize the reasons why multiple haplotypes of Trentepohlia occur more frequently in the tuft‐like mats. Possibly, fragments and/or cells of other microalgae, including other species of Trentepohlia, might be retained in such mats more easily than in the crustose trentepohlialean mats.
Protective roles of ginseng against bacterial infection

Ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) is a well-known traditional herbal medicine that plays a protective role against microbial attack. Several studies have revealed its anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and immune-modulatory effects. Ginseng contains several components that vary according to the year of cultivation and the processing method used, such as heating, drying, and steaming, which induce different degrees of pharmacological activities. This review discusses the antibacterial effects of ginseng against pathogenic bacterial infections. We describe how ginseng regulates pathogenic factors that are harmful to the host and discuss the therapeutic potential of ginseng as a natural antibacterial drug to combat bacterial infectious disease, which is a global public health challenge. The components of ginseng could be novel alternatives to solve the growing problem of antibiotic resistance and toxicity.