Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trabecular Plate Loss and Deteriorating Elastic Modulus of Femoral Trabecular Bone in Intertrochanteric Hip Fractures

Osteoporotic hip fracture is associated with significant trabecular bone loss,which is typically characterized as low bone density by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry(DXA) and altered microstructure by micro-computed tomography(μCT). Emerging morphological analysis techniques,e.g.individual trabecula segmentation(ITS),can provide additional insights into changes in plate-like and rod-like trabeculae,two major micro-structural types serving different roles in determining bone strength.Using ITS,we evaluated trabecular microstructure of intertrochanteric bone cores obtained from 23 patients undergoing hip replacement surgery for intertrochanteric fracture and 22 cadaveric controls.Micro-finite element(μFE) analyses were performed to further understand how the abnormalities seen by ITS might translate into effects on bone strength.ITS analyses revealed that,near fracture site,plate-like trabeculae were seriously depleted in fracture patients,but trabecular rod volume was maintained.Besides,decreased plate area and rod length were observed in fracture patients.Fracture patients also showed decreased elastic moduli and shear moduli of trabecular bone.These results provided evidence that in intertrochanteric hip fracture,preferential loss of plate-like trabeculae led to more rod-like microstructure and deteriorated mechanical competence adjacent to the fracture site,which increased our understanding of the biomechanical pathogenesis of hip fracture in osteoporosis.
Impact of goal priority and goal conflict on the intention-health-behavior relationship: Tests on physical activity and other health behaviors.

OBJECTIVES Goal intentions are the key proximal determinant of behavior in a number of key models applied to predicting health behavior. However, relatively little previous research has examined how characteristics of goals moderate the intention-health-behavior relations. The present research examined the effects of goal priority and goal conflict as moderators of the intention-health-behavior relationship. METHOD The main outcome measures were self-reported performance of physical activity (Studies 1, 2, and 3) and other health behaviors (Study 4), and objectively measured physical activity (Study 3). Studies 1 and 4 used prospective correlational designs to predict later behavior from earlier cognitions. Studies 2 and 3 were experimental studies manipulating goal priority and goal conflict. Studies 1 and 2 used between-subjects designs while Studies 3 and 4 used within-subjects designs. RESULTS Goal priority significantly moderated the intention-health-behavior relationship for physical activity (Study 1) and a range of protective and risk health behaviors (Study 4). Manipulations of goal priority significantly increased the intention-physical-activity relationship when self-reported (Study 2) and objectively measured (Study 3). In contrast, inconsistent effects were observed for goal conflict as an intention-behavior moderator. CONCLUSIONS When goal priority is high, then intentions are strong predictors of health behaviors. Further studies testing manipulations of goal conflict and in particular goal priority in combination with goal intentions are required to confirm their value as a means to change health behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record
IRF4 Modulates CD8+ T Cell Sensitivity to IL-2 Family Cytokines

IFN regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) is a key transcription factor that promotes effector CD8+ T cell differentiation and expansion. The roles of IRF4 in regulating the CD8+ T cell response to cytokines have not been explored. In this article, we show that IL-2 and IL-15 signaling and STAT5 activation regulate IRF4 expression in CD8+ T cells. Gene-expression profile analysis has also revealed that IRF4 is required for expression of the receptors of IL-2 family cytokines CD122 and CD127. We found that IRF4 binds directly to CD122 and CD127 gene loci, indicating that it may directly promote CD122 and CD127 gene transcription. As a consequence, IRF4-deficient CD8+ T cells show diminished sensitivity to IL-2, IL-15, and IL-7 treatment in vitro. Furthermore, we found that IRF4-deficient CD8+ T cells had lower expression of CD122 and CD127 in vivo during influenza virus infection. These data suggest that IRF4 regulates the sensitivity of CD8+ T cells to IL-2 family cytokines, which correlates with the diminished effector and memory CD8+ T cell responses in IRF4-deficient CD8+ T cells.
An autonomous inter-task mapping learning method via artificial neural network for transfer learning

Transfer learning could speed up reinforcement learning in many applications. Toward the fully autonomous reinforcement learning transfer agent, the mapping between the source task and target task should be learned instead of human-designed. To this end, this paper proposes an autonomous intertask mapping learning method via artificial neural network, so as to reduce the human intervention in the transfer process. With this learned network, the reinforcement learning agent could transfer the learned knowledge from source task to target task for initialization, and set a good prior for the learning in the target task. The method is tested on the Keepaway Soccer Platform. The results indicate that the proposed method could provide a good jumpstart in the target task when weights are properly chosen for training the network.
Vegetarianism and breast, colorectal and prostate cancer risk: an overview and meta‐analysis of cohort studies

BACKGROUND Vegetarian diets may be associated with certain benefits toward human health, although current evidence is scarce and contrasting. In the present study, a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies was performed with respect to the association between vegetarian diets and breast, colorectal and prostate cancer risk. METHODS Studies were systematically searched in Pubmed and EMBASE electronic databases. Eligible studies had a prospective design and compared vegetarian, semi- and pesco-vegetarian diets with a non-vegetarian diet. Random-effects models were applied to calculate relative risks (RRs) of cancer between diets. Statistical heterogeneity and publication bias were explored. RESULTS A total of nine studies were included in the meta-analysis. Studies were conducted on six cohorts accounting for 686 629 individuals, and 3441, 4062 and 1935 cases of breast, colorectal and prostate cancer, respectively. None of the analyses showed a significant association of vegetarian diet and a lower risk of either breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer compared to a non-vegetarian diet. By contrast, a lower risk of colorectal cancer was associated with a semi-vegetarian diet (RR = 0.86, 95% confidence interval = 0.79-0.94; I2 = 0%, Pheterogeneity = 0.82) and a pesco-vegetarian diet (RR = 0.67, 95% confidence interval = 0.53, 0.83; I2 = 0%, Pheterogeneity = 0.46) compared to a non-vegetarian diet. The subgroup analysis by cancer localisation showed no differences in summary risk estimates between colon and rectal cancer. CONCLUSIONS A summary of the existing evidence from cohort studies on vegetarian diets showed that complete exclusion of any source of protein from the diet is not associated with further benefits for human health.
Advanced Materials by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization

Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) has been successfully employed for the preparation of various advanced materials with controlled architecture. New catalysts with strongly enhanced activity permit more environmentally benign ATRP procedures using ppm levels of catalyst. Precise control over polymer composition, topology, and incorporation of site specific functionality enables synthesis of well‐defined gradient, block, comb copolymers, polymers with (hyper)branched structures including stars, densely grafted molecular brushes or networks, as well as inorganic–organic hybrid materials and bioconjugates. Examples of specific applications of functional materials include thermoplastic elastomers, nanostructured carbons, surfactants, dispersants, functionalized surfaces, and biorelated materials.
Correlation of mRNA Expression and Signal Variability in Chronic Intracortical Electrodes

Objective The goal for this research was to identify molecular mechanisms that explain animal-to-animal variability in chronic intracortical recordings. Approach Microwire electrodes were implanted into Sprague Dawley rats at an acute (1 week) and a chronic (14 weeks) time point. Weekly recordings were conducted, and action potentials were evoked in the barrel cortex by deflecting the rat’s whiskers. At 1 and 14 weeks, tissue was collected, and mRNA was extracted. mRNA expression was compared between 1 and 14 weeks using a high throughput multiplexed qRT-PCR. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated between mRNA expression and signal-to-noise ratios at 14 weeks. Main results At 14 weeks, a positive correlation between signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and NeuN and GFAP mRNA expression was observed, indicating a relationship between recording strength and neuronal population, as well as reactive astrocyte activity. The inflammatory state around the electrode interface was evaluated using M1-like and M2-like markers. Expression for both M1-like and M2-like mRNA markers remained steady from 1 to 14 weeks. Anti-inflammatory markers, CD206 and CD163, however, demonstrated a significant positive correlation with SNR quality at 14 weeks. VE-cadherin, a marker for adherens junctions, and PDGFR-β, a marker for pericytes, both partial representatives of blood–brain barrier health, had a positive correlation with SNR at 14 weeks. Endothelial adhesion markers revealed a significant increase in expression at 14 weeks, while CD45, a pan-leukocyte marker, significantly decreased at 14 weeks. No significant correlation was found for either the endothelial adhesion or pan-leukocyte markers. Significance A positive correlation between anti-inflammatory and blood–brain barrier health mRNA markers with electrophysiological efficacy of implanted intracortical electrodes has been demonstrated. These data reveal potential mechanisms for further evaluation to determine potential target mechanisms to improve consistency of intracortical electrodes recordings and reduce animal-to-animal/implant-to-implant variability.
Layered Group Sparse Beamforming for Cache-Enabled Green Wireless Networks

The exponential growth of mobile data traffic is driving the deployment of dense wireless networks, which will not only impose heavy backhaul burdens, but also generate considerable power consumption. Introducing caches to the wireless network edge is a potential and cost-effective solution to address these challenges. In this paper, we will investigate the problem of minimizing the network power consumption of cache-enabled wireless networks, consisting of the base station (BS) and backhaul power consumption. The objective is to develop efficient algorithms that unify adaptive BS selection, backhaul content assignment, and multicast beamforming, while taking account of user QoS requirements and backhaul capacity limitations. To address the NP-hardness of the network power minimization problem, we first propose a generalized layered group sparse beamforming (LGSBF) modeling framework, which helps to reveal the layered sparsity structure in the beamformers. By adopting the reweighted $\ell _{1} /\ell _{2}$ -norm technique, we further develop a convex approximation procedure for the LGSBF problem, followed by a three-stage iterative LGSBF framework to induce the desired sparsity structure in the beamformers. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in reducing the network power consumption, and demonstrate that caching plays a more significant role in networks with higher user densities and less power-efficient backhaul links.
Is received dose from ingested soil independent of soil PAH concentrations?—Animal model results

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) bioavailability from ingested soils will vary between soils; however, the nature of this variation is not well characterized. A juvenile swine model was used to link external exposure to internal benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) and anthracene exposure following oral PAH ingestion of 27 different impacted site soils, soots, or spiked artificial soils. Internal exposure of BaP and anthracene, represented by area under the plasma‐time curve, did not relate to soil concentration in impacted site soils, but did relate in spiked artificial soil. Point of departure modeling identified soil PAH concentrations greater than 1900 mg kg−1 as the point where area under the curve becomes proportional to external dose. A BaP internal exposure below 1900 mg kg−1 had an upper 95% confidence interval estimate of 33% of external exposure. Weak relationships between soil:simulated gastrointestinal fluid PAH partitioning and area under the curve values suggest that differences in internal PAH exposure between soils may not be dominated by differences in PAH partitioning. The data seem to best support exposure assessment assuming constant internal PAH exposure below soil concentrations of 1900 mg kg−1. However, because constant internal exposure would challenge several existing paradigms, a bioavailability estimate of 33% of the external exposure is suggested as a likely workable solution. Environ Toxicol Chem 2016;35:2261–2269. © 2016 SETAC
Patterns of altered neural synchrony in the default mode network in autism spectrum disorder revealed with magnetoencephalography (MEG): Relationship to clinical symptomatology

Disrupted neural synchrony may be a primary electrophysiological abnormality in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), altering communication between discrete brain regions and contributing to abnormalities in patterns of connectivity within identified neural networks. Studies exploring brain dynamics to comprehensively characterize and link connectivity to large‐scale cortical networks and clinical symptoms are lagging considerably. Patterns of neural coherence within the Default Mode Network (DMN) and Salience Network (SN) during resting state were investigated in 12 children with ASD (MAge = 9.2) and 13 age and gender‐matched neurotypicals (NT) (MAge = 9.3) with magnetoencephalography. Coherence between 231 brain region pairs within four frequency bands (theta (4–7 Hz), alpha, (8–12 Hz), beta (13–30 Hz), and gamma (30–80 Hz)) was calculated. Relationships between neural coherence and social functioning were examined. ASD was characterized by lower synchronization across all frequencies, reaching clinical significance in the gamma band. Lower gamma synchrony between fronto‐temporo‐parietal regions was observed, partially consistent with diminished default mode network (DMN) connectivity. Lower gamma coherence in ASD was evident in cross‐hemispheric connections between: angular with inferior/middle frontal; middle temporal with middle/inferior frontal; and within right‐hemispheric connections between angular, middle temporal, and inferior/middle frontal cortices. Lower gamma coherence between left angular and left superior frontal, right inferior/middle frontal, and right precuneus and between right angular and inferior/middle frontal cortices was related to lower social/social‐communication functioning. Results suggest a pattern of lower gamma band coherence in a subset of regions within the DMN in ASD (angular and middle temporal cortical areas) related to lower social/social‐communicative functioning. Autism Res 2018, 11: 434–449. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Monocytic cell junction proteins serve important roles in atherosclerosis via the endoglin pathway

The formation of atherosclerosis is recognized to be caused by multiple factors including pathogenesis in monocytes during inflammation. The current study provided evidence that monocytic junctions were significantly altered in patients with atherosclerosis, which suggested an association between cell junctions and atherosclerosis. Claudin-1, occludin-1 and ZO-1 were significantly enhanced in atherosclerosis, indicating that the tight junction pathway was activated during the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. In addition, the gene expression of 5 connexin members involved in the gap junction pathway were quantified, indicating that connexin 43 and 46 were significantly up-regulated in atherosclerosis. Furthermore, inflammatory factors including endoglin and SMAD were observed, suggesting that immune regulative factors were down-regulated in this pathway. Silicon-based analysis additionally identified that connexins and tight junctions were altered in association with monocytic inflammation regulations, endoglin pathway. The results imply that reduced expression of the immune regulation pathway in monocytes is correlated with the generation of gap junctions and tight junctions which serve important roles in atherosclerosis.
Weld Defect Detection based on Completed Local Ternary Patterns

Contemporarily, the artificial way to review the X-ray film is a common manner to the Quality Examination for Weld. However, this manner has much subjectivity, which may greatly affect the detection efficiency and accuracy, especially after doing a great deal of repetitive mental work. The automatic welding defect inspection system based on X-ray could overcome the shortcomings of artificial marking. Worldwide researchers have made extensive and in-depth research on defect extraction and recognition, and have achieved a great number of effective research results. However, there are still some issues, such as the accurate detection of small defects in uneven background, and effective classification of various defects and automatic identification. For the issues of the weld image based on X-ray, this paper aims to use common texture features to make feature extraction and improved local binary patterns(LBP) as the foundations to propose the completed local ternary patterns (CLTP) to detect weld defects and use SVM classifier based on binary tree to classify and recognize the weld defects to solve the issues on inaccurate detection of small defects and lack of valid classification.
The art of oral handovers: A participant observational study by undergraduate students in a hospital setting

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To explore the conditions for oral handovers between shifts in a hospital setting, and how these impact patient safety and quality of care. BACKGROUND Oral handovers transfer patient information and nursing responsibilities between shifts. Short written summaries of patients can complement an oral handover. How to find the balance between a standardised protocol for handovers and tailoring variations to specific patients and situations is debated in the literature. Oral handovers provide time for discussion, debriefing and problem solving, which can lead to increased team cohesiveness. DESIGN This study used a participant observation design. METHOD Fifty-two undergraduate nursing students conducted 1100 hr of participant observation in seven different units in a hospital in Western Norway from 2014-2015. Field notes were analysed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS Six themes emerged from the data: (i) content and structure of the handover, (ii) awareness of nurses' attitudes during oral handover, (iii) verbal and nonverbal communication, (iv) distractions, (v) relaying key information accurately, (vi) ensuring quality through oral handovers. CONCLUSION Developing a familiar structure for oral handovers and minimising the use of abbreviations and unfamiliar medical terms promote clarity and understanding. Limiting disturbances during handovers helps nurses focus on the content of the report. Awareness of one's attitudes and the use of verbal and nonverbal communication can enhance the quality of a handover. Time allocated for an oral handover should allow for professional discussions and student supervision. Involving nurse leaders in promoting the quality of oral handovers can impact the quality of care. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS Oral handovers serve many purposes, such as the safe transfer of patient information between shifts and staff education and debriefing, which enhance team cohesiveness.
Estimation of evapotransipiration of grassland and cropland ecosystems in arid region based on MODIS satellite data and Penman-Monteith equation

Remotely sensed data have long been seen as the best way to determine spatially distributed evapotranspiration (ET) fluxes owing to their spatial and temporal continuity. A simple biophysical model by using remotely sensed leaf area index data and the Penman-Monteith (PM) equation was introduced to calculate daily ET of grassland and farmland in the middle and upper reaches of Heihe River Basin. The modelled daily ET agrees well with measurements and the R2 is over 0.80. This study confirmed that the PM equation with MODIS LAI can provide reliable estimates of ET at daily time scales and with different ecosystems in arid and cold regions.
Claudins and mineral metabolism

Purpose of reviewThe tight junction conductance made of the claudin-based paracellular channel is important in the regulation of calcium and magnesium reabsorption in the kidney. This review describes recent findings of the structure, the function, and the physiologic regulation of claudin-14, claudin-16, and claudin-19 channels that through protein interactions confer calcium and magnesium permeability to the tight junction. Recent findingsMutations in two tight junction genes – claudin-16 and claudin-19 – cause the inherited renal disorder familial hypomagnesemia with hypercalciuria and nephrocalcinosis. A recent genome-wide association study has identified claudin-14 as a major risk gene of hypercalciuric nephrolithiasis. The crystal structure of claudin-19 has recently been resolved allowing the reconstruction of a claudin assembly model from cis-dimers made of claudin-16 and claudin-19 interaction. MicroRNAs have been identified as novel regulators of the claudin-14 gene. The microRNA-claudin-14 operon is directly regulated by the Ca2+ sensing receptor gene in response to hypercalcemia. SummaryThe paracellular pathway in the kidney is particularly important for mineral metabolism. Three claudin proteins – claudin-14, claudin-16, and claudin-19 – contribute to the structure and function of this paracellular pathway. Genetic mutations and gene expression changes in these claudins may lead to alteration of the paracellular permeability to calcium and magnesium, ultimately affecting renal mineral metabolism.
Dynamic measurement for compressed sensing based channel estimation in OFDM systems

In most of existing compressed sensing based channel estimation method for OFDM systems, channel impulse response (CIR) is treated as finite-length vector and involved overall for the measuring and reconstruction, which induces a delay proportional to vector size to obtaining channel estimates. In this paper, a dynamic measurement scheme is proposed for compressed sensing of OFDM channel to reduce estimation delay. The CIR corresponding to successive OFDM symbols is considered as continuous-time sparse signal streams, and real-time measurements of channel are obtained by employing dimension-fixed and overlapped measurement matrices which have the block-diagonal structure. The overlapping portions of successive measurements is exploiting to decrease the computational complexity of measurement process. Theoretical and simulation results show that our dynamic compressed sensing measurement can significantly reduce the reconstruction delay with the similar estimation accuracy to that by traditional random compressed sensing matrices, which verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method.