Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Développement d’un score de stabilité chez les personnes présentant des pathologies d’origine neurologique entraînant des troubles de la marche et/ou de l’équilibre

De nombreux troubles ont un retentissement sur le controle de l’equilibre dynamique au cours de la marche. Qu’ils soient d’origine traumatique, neurologique, ou lies a la senescence, ils limitent plus ou moins la stabilite, c’est-a-dire la capacite des sujets a recuperer de perturbations internes ou externes, et peuvent conduire a la chute. Chez les enfants, la stabilite est de plus liee aux etapes developpementales. Son interpretation necessite donc de differencier ce qui releve de l’instabilite developpementale et de l’instabilite pathologique. Les techniques instrumentees d’analyse du mouvement permettent un enregistrement fiable et precis des parametres de la marche. Des index ont ete developpes pour faciliter l’evaluation clinique de la marche des patients mais aucun d’entre eux ne quantifie l’aspect stabilite.Ce travail de these a conduit a la production d’un score quantifiant la stabilite au travers de la variabilite des parametres spatiotemporels, enregistres par une piste de marche electronique. Ce score, denomme Gait Variability Index (GVI), a ete applique a des populations, asymptomatiques et pathologiques, representatives des differents âges de la vie : l’enfant, l’adulte et la personne âgee. Les resultats obtenus chez des patients affectes de paralysie cerebrale, d’ataxie de Friedreich ou cerebroleses demontrent que le GVI est un outil coherent pour l’evaluation de l’instabilite. Outre l’interet clinique qu’il represente, celui-ci ouvre differentes perspectives pour son application et invite a la reflexion quant a la nature perturbatrice ou regulatrice de la variabilite.
Structural determinants in a glucose-containing lipopolysaccharide from Mycobacterium tuberculosis critical for inducing a subset of protective T cells

Mycobacteria synthesize intracellular, 6-O-methylglucose–containing lipopolysaccharides (mGLPs) proposed to modulate bacterial fatty acid metabolism. Recently, it has been shown that Mycobacterium tuberculosis mGLP specifically induces a specific subset of protective γ9δ2 T cells. Mild base treatment, which removes all the base-labile groups, reduces the specific activity of mGLP required for induction of these T cells, suggesting that acylation of the saccharide moieties is required for γ9δ2 T-cell activation. On the basis of this premise, we used analytical LC/MS and NMR methods to identify and locate the acyl functions on the mGLP saccharides. We found that mGLP is heterogeneous with respect to acyl functions and contains acetyl, isobutyryl, succinyl, and octanoyl groups and that all acylations in mGLP, except for succinyl and octanoyl residues, reside on the glucosyl residues immediately following the terminal 3-O-methylglucose. Our analyses also indicated that the octanoyl residue resides at position 2 of an internal glucose toward the reducing end. LC/MS analysis of the residual product obtained by digesting the mGLP with pancreatic α-amylase revealed that the product is an oligosaccharide terminated by α-(1→4)–linked 6-O-methyl-d-glucosyl residues. This oligosaccharide retained none of the acyl groups, except for the octanoyl group, and was unable to induce protective γ9δ2 T cells. This observation confirmed that mGLP induces γ9δ2 T cells and indicated that the acylated glucosyl residues at the nonreducing terminus of mGLP are required for this activity.
The JRC-Acquis: A Multilingual Aligned Parallel Corpus with 20+ Languages

We present a new, unique and freely available parallel corpus containing European Union (EU) documents of mostly legal nature. It is available in all 20 official EU languages, with additional documents being available in the languages of the EU candidate countries. The corpus consists of almost 8,000 documents per language, with an average size of nearly 9 million words per language. Pair-wise paragraph alignment information produced by two different aligners (Vanilla and HunAlign) is available for all 190+ language pair combinations. Most texts have been manually classified according to the EUROVOC subject domains so that the collection can also be used to train and test multi-label classification algorithms and keyword-assignment software. The corpus is encoded in XML, according to the Text Encoding Initiative Guidelines. Due to the large number of parallel texts in many languages, the JRC-Acquis is particularly suitable to carry out all types of cross-language research, as well as to test and benchmark text analysis software across different languages (for instance for alignment, sentence splitting and term extraction).
A coupled biventricular finite element and lumped-parameter circulatory system model of heart failure

Numerical modelling of the cardiovascular system is becoming an important tool for assessing the influence of heart disease and treatment therapies. In the current study, we present an approach for modelling the interaction between the heart and the circulatory system. This was accomplished by creating animal-specific biventricular finite element (FE) models, which characterise the mechanical response of the heart, and by coupling them to a lumped-parameter model that represents the systemic and pulmonic circulatory system. In order to minimise computation time, the coupling was enforced in a weak (one-way) manner, where the ventricular pressure–volume relationships were generated by the FE models and then passed into the circulatory system model to ensure volume conservation and physiological pressure changes. The models were first validated by tuning the parameters, such that the output of the models matched experimentally measured pressures and volumes. Then the models were used to examine cardiac function and the myofibre stress in a healthy canine heart and a canine heart with dilated cardiomyopathy. The results showed good agreement with experimental measurements. The stress in the case of cardiomyopathy was found to increase significantly, while the pump function was decreased, compared to the healthy case. The total runtime of the simulations is lesser than that of many fully coupled models presented in the literature. This will allow for a much quicker evaluation of possible treatment strategies for combating the effects of heart failure, especially in optimisation schemes that require numerous FE simulations.
Image Segmentation Techniques

There are now a wide variety of image segmentation techniques, some considered general purpose and some designed for specific classes of images. These techniques can be classified as: measurement space guided spatial clustering, single linkage region growing schemes, hybrid linkage region growing schemes, centroid linkage region growing schemes, spatial clustering schemes, and split-and-merge schemes. In this paper, we define each of the major classes of image segmentation techniques and describe several specific examples of each class of algorithm. We illustrate some of the techniques with examples of segmentations performed on real images.
Time-domain cross-correlation baroreflex sensitivity: performance on the EUROBAVAR data set

Objective To test a new method (cross-correlation baroreflex sensitivity, xBRS) for the computation of time-domain baroreflex sensitivity on spontaneous blood pressure and heart interval variability using the EUROBAVAR data set. Methods We applied xBRS to the 42 records in the EUROBAVAR data set, obtained from 21 patients in the lying and standing positions. One patient had a recent heart transplant and one was diabetic with evident cardiac autonomic neuropathy. xBRS computes the correlation between beat-to-beat systolic blood pressure and R–R interval, resampled at 1 Hz, in a sliding 10 s window, with delays of 0–5 s for interval. The delay with the greatest positive correlation is selected and, when significant at P = 0.01, slope and delay are recorded as one xBRS value. Each 1 s of the recording is the start of a new computation. Non-parametric tests are used. Results With patients in the lying position, xBRS yielded a value of 12.4 ms/mmHg compared with the EUROBAVAR sequential 16.2 ms/mmHg, and for the standing positions the respective values were 6.2 and 6.7 ms/mmHg, giving lying to standing ratios of 1.96 and 2.10, respectively. xBRS yielded results for all files, with 20 values per minute on average at a lower within-patient variance. Best delays were 0, 1 and 2 s, and the delay increased by 102 ms when the patient was in the standing position. The xBRS method was successful in the patients with diabetes and the heart transplant. Conclusion The xBRS method should be considered for experimental and clinical use, because it yielded values that correlated strongly with and were close to the EUROBAVAR averages, yielded more values per minute, had lower within-patient variance and measured baroreflex delay.
An extracatalytic function of CD45 in B cells is mediated by CD22

Significance Signaling through antigen receptors is essential for lymphocyte development, survival, and function. The receptor-like tyrosine phosphatase CD45 plays a critical role in these processes by regulating antigen receptor signaling via its cytosolic phosphatase domain. Despite its abundance, the function of the large, alternatively spliced extracellular domain of CD45 has remained elusive. We used CD45 transgenes either incorporating a phosphatase-inactivating point mutation or lacking the cytoplasmic domain to uncouple the enzymatic and noncatalytic functions of CD45. Both transgenes partially rescue the phenotype of CD45-deficient B cells by modulating the B cell inhibitory surface coreceptor CD22. These data demonstrate an in vivo function for the extracellular domain of CD45 in restraining CD22 inhibitory function to maintain tonic B-cell antigen receptor signaling. The receptor-like tyrosine phosphatase CD45 regulates antigen receptor signaling by dephosphorylating the C-terminal inhibitory tyrosine of the src family kinases. However, despite its abundance, the function of the large, alternatively spliced extracellular domain of CD45 has remained elusive. We used normally spliced CD45 transgenes either incorporating a phosphatase-inactivating point mutation or lacking the cytoplasmic domain to uncouple the enzymatic and noncatalytic functions of CD45 in lymphocytes. Although these transgenes did not alter T-cell signaling or development irrespective of endogenous CD45 expression, both partially rescued the phenotype of CD45-deficient B cells. We identify a noncatalytic role for CD45 in regulating tonic, but not antigen-mediated, B-cell antigen receptor (BCR) signaling through modulation of the function of the inhibitory coreceptor CD22. This finding has important implications for understanding how naïve B cells maintain tonic BCR signaling while restraining inappropriate antigen-dependent activation to preserve clonal “ignorance. ”
On spectral analysis of node centralities

In this paper, we study spectral properties of node centralities such as degree, closeness, and betweenness centralities, by utilizing graph Fourier transform. We consider node centralities as signals on various networks, namely, regular, random, small-world, and scale-free networks. The spectral analysis helps us to easily understand centrality patterns over various networks. We observe spectral patterns for different network models and subsequently classify networks from the spectra of node centralities.
Base Detection Research of Drilling Robot System by Using Visual Inspection

This paper expounds the principle and method of calibration and base detection by using the visual measurement system for detection and correction of installation error between workpiece and the robot drilling system. This includes the use of Cognex Insight 5403 high precision industrial camera, a light source, and the KEYENCE coaxial IL-300 laser displacement sensor. The three-base holes method and two-base holes method are proposed to analyze the transfer relation between the basic coordinate system of the actual hole drilling robot and the basic coordinate system of the theoretical hole drilling robot. The corresponding vision coordinates calibration and the base detection experiments are examined and the data indicate that the result of base detection is close to the correct value.
Varicose Vein Stripping - A Prospective Study of the Thrombotic Risk and the Diagnostic Significance of Preoperative Color Coded Duplex Sonography

Summary Insufficiency of epifascial veins promotes venous ulceration and increases thromboembolic risk in general surgery patients. Epifascial varicose vein stripping is therefore considered the most effective prophylactic procedure. Thromboembolic risk of patients undergoing this surgical procedure has not yet been prospectively evaluated but appears to be lower than in general surgery patients. The gold standard of preoperative assessment of varicose surgery patients is ascending pressure phlebography, but this technique is invasive, time consuming and costly. We prospectively investigated 100 consecutive varicose vein surgery patients for postoperative thrombosis. Ascending pressure phlebography (APP) and colour coded duplex sonography (CCDS) were performed before and 10 to 21 days after the stripping operation in 100 and 70 patients, respectively. APP revealed no postoperative deep vein thrombosis in all 100 limbs investigated (0 percent; 95 percent confidence interval: 0 to 2.95). With regard to epifascial vein reflux there was good agreement between APP and CCDS (quadratic weighted kappa: 0.76). In 67 out of 73 superficial veins investigated excellent agreement of diagnostic accuracy was found for both diagnostic procedures (91.78 percent; 95 percent confidence interval: 82.96 to 96.92). We conclude that thrombotic risk of varicose vein surgery is low in properly selected patients. CCDS provides a high degree of accuracy in diagnosis of reflux and regular vein morphology and should therefore replace APP; however, APP does remain essential in the preoperative workup of a typical anatomical variants.
A methyl jasmonate‐induced shift in the length of the 5′ untranslated region impairs translation of the plastid rbcL transcript in barley.

The plant growth substance (−)‐jasmonic acid methyl ester (methyl jasmonate, JaMe) affects plastid gene expression at the protein and mRNA levels when applied exogenously to detached leaf segments of Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Salome. Translation of the large subunits of ribulose‐1,5‐bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (LSU, rbcL gene products) and of the 65 and 68 kDa proteins of photosystem I (psaA and psaB gene products, respectively) ceased, whereas synthesis of the 32 kDa photosystem II protein (D1, psbA gene product) continued in JaMe‐treated leaf tissues. These changes were not caused by corresponding alterations in transcript abundances. The loss of LSU protein synthesis, occurring within 24 h of JaMe treatment, correlated with a decline in the in vitro‐translatable rbcL mRNA, but contrasted with an almost constant transcript level. The 5′ ends of the rbcL transcripts shifted from ‘‐59’ in freshly harvested or water‐treated leaves to ‘‐94’ in JaMe‐treated leaf tissues. Transcripts ending at these positions presumably arise from alternative processing of the primary transcript ending at position ‘‐316’. The ‘‐94’ transcript contains, within the 5′ untranslated region, a 35‐base motif with remarkable complementarity to the extreme 3′ terminal part of the 16S rRNA, involved in intramolecular base pairing within the ribosome and can associate with 30S but not 70S complexes in organello, suggesting that intermolecular base pairing impairs translation initiation, probably by competing for ribosome binding at the Shine‐Dalgarno sequence. In contrast, transcripts ending at ‘‐59’ lack the 5′ terminal ‘extra’ sequence and are active in terms of translation initiation.
In situ microwave reflection coefficient measurements for smooth and rough exterior wall surfaces

Microwave reflection coefficient measurements at 1.9 GHz and 4.0 GHz are given for a variety of typical smooth and rough exterior building surfaces. The measurements are compared to theoretical Fresnel reflection coefficients using Gaussian rough surface scattering models when applicable. Individual multipaths are resolved temporally, using a spread spectrum sliding correlation system, and spatially, using directional antennas. The measurement test cases include walls made of limestone blocks, glass, and brick. The results indicate that the Fresnel reflection coefficients adequately describe the reflective properties of the glass and brick surfaces. The rough stone wall measurements are shown to be bounded by predictions for a smooth surface model and a Gaussian rough surface model.
Neurotrophin modulation of voltage‐gated potassium channels in rat through TrkB receptors is time and sensory experience dependent

The whole‐cell configuration of the patch‐clamp technique, immunoprecipitation experiments and unilateral naris occlusions were used to investigate whether the voltage‐gated potassium channel Kv1.3 was a substrate for neurotrophin‐induced tyrosine phosphorylation and subsequent functional modulation of current properties in cultured rat olfactory bulb (OB) neurons. Membrane proteins of the OB included all three Trk receptor kinases, but the truncated form of the receptor, lacking an intact kinase domain, was the predominant form of the protein for TrkA and TrkC, while TrkB was predominantly found as the full‐length receptor. Acute (15 min) stimulation of OB neurons with bath application of 50 ng ml−1 brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is a selective ligand for TrkB, caused suppression of the whole‐cell outward current and no changes in the kinetics of inactivation or deactivation. Acute stimulation with either nerve growth factor or neurotrophin‐3 failed to evoke any changes in Kv1.3 function in the OB neurons. Chronic exposure to BDNF (days) caused an increase in the magnitude of Kv1.3 current and speeding of the inactivation and deactivation of the channel. Acute BDNF‐induced activation of TrkB receptors significantly increased tyrosine phosphorylation of Kv1.3 in the OB, as shown using a combined immunoprecipitation and Western blot analysis. With unilateral naris occlusion, the acute BDNF‐induced tyrosine phosphorylation of Kv1.3 was increased in neurons lacking odour sensory experience. In summary, the duration of neurotrophin exposure and the sensory‐dependent state of a neuron can influence the degree of phosphorylation of a voltage‐gated ion channel and its concomitant functional modulation by neurotrophins.
A Full Mean Square Analysis of CLMS for Second-Order Noncircular Inputs

A full mean square transient and steady-state analysis of the complex least mean square (CLMS) algorithm is provided for strictly linear estimation of general second-order noncircular (improper) Gaussian inputs. To this end, we also consider the performance assessment in terms of the evolution of the complementary mean square error (CMSE) and the complementary covariance (pseudocovariance) matrix of the weight error vector of CLMS. This makes it possible to measure the degrees of noncircularity of the output error and the weight error vector, which arise due to second-order noncircularity (improperness) of the system input and system noise. The recently introduced approximate uncorrelating transform, which allows for joint direct diagonalization of both the input covariance and complementary covariance matrices with a single singular value decomposition, is then employed in order to derive a unified bound on the step-size, which guarantees the convergence of both the standard MSE and the proposed CMSE. A joint consideration of the standard mean square performance analysis and the proposed complementary performance analysis is shown to provide full second order, closed form, statistical descriptions of both the transient and steady state performances of CLMS for second-order noncircular (improper) Gaussian input data. Simulations in the system identification setting support the analysis.
PHOTOSYSTEM II SUBUNIT R Is Required for Efficient Binding of LIGHT-HARVESTING COMPLEX STRESS-RELATED PROTEIN3 to Photosystem II-Light-Harvesting Supercomplexes in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii1

Efficient light to heat dissipation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii requires binding of a stress-related light-harvesting complex protein to photosystem II and associated light-harvesting complexes II. In Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, the LIGHT-HARVESTING COMPLEX STRESS-RELATED PROTEIN3 (LHCSR3) protein is crucial for efficient energy-dependent thermal dissipation of excess absorbed light energy and functionally associates with photosystem II-light-harvesting complex II (PSII-LHCII) supercomplexes. Currently, it is unknown how LHCSR3 binds to the PSII-LHCII supercomplex. In this study, we investigated the role of PHOTOSYSTEM II SUBUNIT R (PSBR) an intrinsic membrane-spanning PSII subunit, in the binding of LHCSR3 to PSII-LHCII supercomplexes. Down-regulation of PSBR expression diminished the efficiency of oxygen evolution and the extent of nonphotochemical quenching and had an impact on the stability of the oxygen-evolving complex as well as on PSII-LHCII-LHCSR3 supercomplex formation. Its down-regulation destabilized the PSII-LHCII supercomplex and strongly reduced the binding of LHCSR3 to PSII-LHCII supercomplexes, as revealed by quantitative proteomics. PHOTOSYSTEM II SUBUNIT P deletion, on the contrary, destabilized PHOTOSYSTEM II SUBUNIT Q binding but did not affect PSBR and LHCSR3 association with PSII-LHCII. In summary, these data provide clear evidence that PSBR is required for the stable binding of LHCSR3 to PSII-LHCII supercomplexes and is essential for efficient energy-dependent quenching and the integrity of the PSII-LHCII-LHCSR3 supercomplex under continuous high light.
Circumventing the Effect of Product Toxicity: Development of a Novel Two-Stage Production Process for the Lantibiotic Gallidermin

ABSTRACT Lantibiotics such as gallidermin are lanthionine-containing polypeptide antibiotics produced by gram-positive bacteria that might become relevant for the treatment of various infectious diseases. So far, self-toxicity has prevented the isolation of efficient overproducing strains, thus hampering their thorough investigation and preventing their exploitation in fields other than the food area. We wanted to investigate the effect of lantibiotic precursor peptides on the producing strains in order to evaluate novel strategies for the overproduction of these promising peptides. In this study, gallidermin was chosen as a representative example of the type A lantibiotics. A Staphylococcus gallinarum Tü3928 mutant, whose gene for the extracellular pregallidermin protease GdmP was replaced by a kanamycin-resistance gene, was constructed. Mass spectrometry (MS) analysis indicated that this mutant produced fully posttranslationally modified gallidermin precursors with truncated versions of the leader peptide, but not the entire leader as predicted from the gdmA sequence. In filter-on-plate assays, these truncated pregallidermins showed no toxicity against Staphylococcus gallinarum Tü3928 up to a concentration of 8 g/liter (corresponding to approximately 2.35 mM), while gallidermin produced clear inhibitory zones at concentrations as low as 0.25 g/liter (0.12 mM). We showed that the lack of toxicity is due entirely to the presence of the truncated leader, since MS as well as bioassay analysis showed that the peptides resulting from tryptic cleavage of pregallidermins and gallidermin produced by S. gallinarum Tü3928 had identical masses and approximately the same specific activity. This demonstrates that even a shortened leader sequence is sufficient to prevent the toxicity of mature gallidermin. In nonoptimized fermentations, the gdmP mutant produced pregallidermin to a 50%-higher molar titer, suggesting that the absence of self-toxicity has a beneficial effect on gallidermin production and giving a first confirmation of the suitability of the overproduction strategy.