Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vinculin controls focal adhesion formation by direct interactions with talin and actin

Focal adhesions (FAs) regulate cell migration. Vinculin, with its many potential binding partners, can interconnect signals in FAs. Despite the well-characterized structure of vinculin, the molecular mechanisms underlying its action have remained unclear. Here, using vinculin mutants, we separate the vinculin head and tail regions into distinct functional domains. We show that the vinculin head regulates integrin dynamics and clustering and the tail regulates the link to the mechanotransduction force machinery. The expression of vinculin constructs with unmasked binding sites in the head and tail regions induces dramatic FA growth, which is mediated by their direct interaction with talin. This interaction leads to clustering of activated integrin and an increase in integrin residency time in FAs. Surprisingly, paxillin recruitment, induced by active vinculin constructs, occurs independently of its potential binding site in the vinculin tail. The vinculin tail, however, is responsible for the functional link of FAs to the actin cytoskeleton. We propose a new model that explains how vinculin orchestrates FAs.
Edge enhancement of liver CT images using non subsampled shearlet transform based multislice fusion

Segmentation of liver from the computed tomogram (CT) images of the abdomen is a challenging task as the liver boundaries are weak in nature. Multi slice fusion of abdominal CT images based on Non Subsampled Shearlet Transform (NSST) is proposed as an edge enhancement technique. Prior to liver segmentation, two adjacent slices of liver CT images are decomposed by means of NSST in different scales and in different directions to obtain low and high frequency sub band coefficients. The information contents of the low and high frequency sub bands are fused using fusion rules based on phase congruency and directive contrast respectively. To achieve better segmentation accuracy, Sum Modified Laplacian (SML) is integrated with the contrast features measure for effective fusion of edge information. Finally the edge enhanced image is obtained using NSST reconstruction. The effectiveness of the proposed edge enhancement technique is quantified by performing segmentation with and without fusion process. From the acquired results, it is obvious that the proposed fusion framework capture the edge detail information of the source images very effectively and can provide better edge information than the one obtained through individual images, thereby achieving improvement in segmentation accuracy by 60.11%.
Vehicle speed detection in video image sequences using CVS method

Video and image processing has been used for traffic surveillance, analysis and monitoring of traffic conditions in many cities and urban areas. This paper aims to present another approach to estimate the vehicles velocity. In this study, the captured traffic movies are collected with a stationary camera which is mounted on a freeway. The camera was calibrated based on geometrical equations that were supported directly by using references. Camera calibration for exact measurements may be possible while accurate speed estimation can still be quite difficult to achieve. The designed system has the ability to be extended to another related traffic application. The average error of the detected vehicle speed was ± 7 km/h and the experiment was operated at different resolutions and different video sequences.
AHR: a two-state adaptive mechanism for link connectivity maintenance in AODV

Real world MANET routing protocol implementations generally use layer three mechanisms for carrying out connectivity maintenance tasks. In many cases, such mechanisms are based on periodical transmission of Hello messages. When topology changes occur frequently, usage of higher Hello rates than default may lead to higher end-to-end connectivity and available bandwidth. However, in rather static conditions, low Hello rates are adequate to avoid unnecessary bandwidth and power consumption waste. In this paper we present Adaptive Hello Rate (AHR), a two-state adaptive mechanism for adjusting HELLO_INTERVAL parameter in AODV. We evaluate AHR by conducting a set of experiments in real ad-hoc testbeds. Results quantify the potential benefits and tradeoffs of the proposed solution.
Characterization of chronic aortic and mitral regurgitation using echocardiography and cardiovascular magnetic resonance

Introduction – Grading of chronic aortic (AR) and mitral regurgitation (MR) severity can be obtained by echocardiography and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). The aims of the four studies were: (1) to establish echocardiographic thresholds for left ventricular (LV) dimensions indicating severe chronic AR or MR, using CMR as reference, (2) to elucidate the main cause of echocardiographic underestimation of LV dimensions compared with CMR, (3) to systematically compare three indirect CMR MR quantification methods (‘standard’, ‘volumetric’ and ‘flow’ method), as well as (4) to establish CMRand quantification methodspecific thresholds indicating hemodynamically significant chronic AR or MR benefiting from surgery. Methods – The first prospective study comprised a total of 93 (AR (n=44), MR (n=49)), the second 45 (healthy volunteers (n=20), AR (n=17), MR (n=8)), the third 52 (healthy volunteers (n=16), MR (n=36)) and the fourth 78 participants (AR (n=38), MR (n=40)). Two-dimensional (2DE) and real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) as well as CMR was performed in all participants. Operated patients with severe AR/MR, according to 2DE, underwent also post-surgical scans. Furthermore, a multimodality phantom model was investigated. Results – (1) Linear dimensions could not sufficiently identify severe LV dilatation, in contrast to 2DE volumes, which showed an excellent (AR) or good (MR) diagnostic ability. The diagnostic ability was less powerful for RT3DE volumes. (2) All modalities delineated the phantom model with high precision. In vivo, 2DE/RT3DE underestimated LV short-axis enddiastolic linear, areal and all volumetric dimensions significantly compared with CMR, but not short-axis end-systolic linear and areal dimensions. (3) The ‘standard’ method determined significantly larger regurgitant volumes (RV) and fractions (RF), in contrast to the ‘volumetric’ and ‘flow’ method, which determined similar results. This affected the grading of severity in operated MR patients. (4) In operated patients, application of current RF thresholds by CMR led to frequent downgrading compared with 2DE. Furthermore, CMRand quantification method-specific thresholds were established, which were lower than recognized guideline criteria. Conclusions – (1) LV volumes obtained by 2DE/RT3DE can support the diagnosis of severe AR and MR, when other causes of LV dilation have been considered. (2) Echocardiographic underestimation of LV dimensions is mainly due to inherent technical differences in the ability to differentiate trabeculated from compact myocardium. (3) The choice of indirect CMR MR quantification method can affect the grading of regurgitation severity and thereby eventually the clinical decision-making. (4) CMR grading of chronic AR and MR severity should be based on modalityand quantification method-specific thresholds to assure appropriate clinical decision-making.
Online Performance Modeling for NoSQL Databases using Extreme Learning Machines

NoSQL databases rise as a solution to manage large amounts of data in the cloud. Mechanisms to guarantee Quality of Service in can significantly benefit from performance predictability. Building an accurate predictive model to estimate a DBMS performance in a cloud environment is challenging since i) workload and resources allocation change dynamically; ii) concurrency and distribution introduce nonlinearity on performance metrics and iii) predictive models should be trained and updated online to capture unseen workloads. This paper presents an online performance modeling approach for NoSQL databases using extreme learning machines. Experimental results confirm that our performance modeling can accurately predict throughput under several scenarios.
Health Status After Job Loss: Does the Reason for Job Change Matter?

Objective: This study examines health status of the recently but no longer employed population by reason for job loss. Methods: Using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey 2008 to 2012, a sample of 8807 respondents experiencing job loss during the survey year was evaluated by reason for job loss. Multivariate regressions and ordered probit models were used to estimate the association between unemployment reasons and SF-12v2 physical, mental, and self-rated health outcomes post-unemployment, controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and prior health factors. Results: Health status was significantly worse among those who passively lost employment from layoffs or jobs ending, compared with health status of the recently employed population who left jobs for maternity, family care, or pursuing education. The negative associations between jobs lost and health outcomes were more substantial among respondents with better prior health status. Conclusions: Results support investigation into policy alternatives for comprehensive unemployment assistance.
Complex wavelet co-occurrence based on thresholding for texture classification

The complex wavelet transform is superior to discrete wavelet transform in two aspects. Those are its shift invariant property and good directional selectivity. In this paper, we propose a new approach of combining dual-tree complex wavelet transform (DT-CWT) with traditional co-occurrence method for texture classification. Thresholding is a method to preserve the significant data of the image while discarding the insignificant part. On this basis for further enhancement of classification, we have acquired the texture images by applying thresholding technique to the entire texture database. These thresholded images are then applied to the fusion model of DTCWT with co-occurrence method. Results show that our proposed methods provide better classification accuracy than classical co-occurrence method.
A high-throughput screening method for small-molecule pharmacologic chaperones of misfolded rhodopsin.

PURPOSE Many mutations in rhodopsin, including P23H, result in misfolding and mislocalization of the protein. It has been demonstrated that pharmacologic chaperones are effective in assisting the proper folding and targeting of P23H opsin. This study was designed to investigate a high-throughput screening strategy for identification of pharmacologic chaperones by using a combination of in silico, cell-based, and in vitro METHODS methods. A library of 24,000 drug-like small molecules was screened by in silico molecular docking with DOCK5.1. The top hits were assayed in an in vitro competition assay. The selected compound was then assayed for pharmacologic chaperoning activity in stable cell lines expressing wild-type and P23H opsin. RESULTS Beta-ionone was easily identified by the high-throughput screen. It strongly inhibits rhodopsin formation and, when incubated in cells expressing P23H opsin, resulted in a 2.5-fold rescue of P23H opsin. The screen also identified compound NSC45012 [1-(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)ethanone], a weak inhibitor of opsin regeneration and resulted in a 40% rescue of the mutant opsin. The level of rescue correlated well with the extent of inhibition. CONCLUSIONS A combination of in silico and cell-based screening provides a useful tool for identifying pharmacologic chaperones for P23H opsin. This approach identified both potent and weak pharmacologic chaperones. Both types of molecules may be potential candidates for treatment of opsin-related RP.
Proteomic analysis of ascending colon biopsies from a paediatric inflammatory bowel disease inception cohort identifies protein biomarkers that differentiate Crohn's disease from UC

Objective Accurate differentiation between Crohn's disease (CD) and UC is important to ensure early and appropriate therapeutic intervention. We sought to identify proteins that enable differentiation between CD and UC in children with new onset IBD. Design Mucosal biopsies were obtained from children undergoing baseline diagnostic endoscopy prior to therapeutic interventions. Using a super-stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC)-based approach, the proteomes of 99 paediatric control and biopsies of patients with CD and UC were compared. Multivariate analysis of a subset of these (n=50) was applied to identify novel biomarkers, which were validated in a second subset (n=49). Results In the discovery cohort, a panel of five proteins was sufficient to distinguish control from IBD-affected tissue biopsies with an AUC of 1.0 (95% CI 0.99 to 1.0); a second panel of 12 proteins segregated inflamed CD from UC within an AUC of 0.95 (95% CI 0.86 to 1.0). Application of the two panels to the validation cohort resulted in accurate classification of 95.9% (IBD from control) and 80% (CD from UC) of patients. 116 proteins were identified to have correlation with the severity of disease, four of which were components of the two panels, including visfatin and metallothionein-2. Conclusions This study has identified two panels of candidate biomarkers for the diagnosis of IBD and the differentiation of IBD subtypes to guide appropriate therapeutic interventions in paediatric patients.
Visual Multiplexing

The majority of display devices used in visualization are 2D displays. Inevitably, it is often necessary to overlay one piece of visual information on top of another, especially in applications such as multi‐field visualization and geo‐spatial information visualization. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework for studying the mechanisms for overlaying multiple pieces of visual information while allowing users to recover occluded information. We adopt the term ‘multiplexing’ from tele‐ and data communication to encompass all such overlapping mechanisms. We establish 10 categories of visual multiplexing mechanisms. We draw support evidence from both perception literature and existing works in visualization to support this conceptual framework. We examine the relationships between multiplexing and information theoretic measures. This new conceptual categorization provides the much‐needed theory of visualization with an integral component.
How Does the Low-Rank Matrix Decomposition Help Internal and External Learnings for Super-Resolution

Wisely utilizing the internal and external learning methods is a new challenge in super-resolution problem. To address this issue, we analyze the attributes of two methodologies and find two observations of their recovered details: 1) they are complementary in both feature space and image plane and 2) they distribute sparsely in the spatial space. These inspire us to propose a low-rank solution which effectively integrates two learning methods and then achieves a superior result. To fit this solution, the internal learning method and the external learning method are tailored to produce multiple preliminary results. Our theoretical analysis and experiment prove that the proposed low-rank solution does not require massive inputs to guarantee the performance, and thereby simplifying the design of two learning methods for the solution. Intensive experiments show the proposed solution improves the single learning method in both qualitative and quantitative assessments. Surprisingly, it shows more superior capability on noisy images and outperforms state-of-the-art methods.
Multispecies methods, technologies for play

ABSTRACT This article discusses methodological considerations of user-centred design for non-human animals. These considerations are illustrated through a design research project that aims to apply digital technology to build games for orangutans’ enrichment. The article argues that design for other species reveals limitations of designers’ knowledge of prospected users. The article explores how to approach participants who cannot express themselves verbally and how to recognise play that may not look familiar to the designer. The article finally presents a participatory design method that allows for non-human contributions in design. This method applies play as an interspecies co-creative act and can be used as a starting point for addressing questions of difference in play and designing games that allow for ambiguous play.
An open-architecture humanoid robot controller in support of developmental disability (DD) rehabilitation

The development of open-architecture humanoid robot controller for developmental disability (DD) rehabilitation, substituting the manufacturer controller is presented. This proposed architecture controller is made open to provide the knowledge of all the control structures as well as allow the developers to modify all the controller layers. The proposed open-architecture controller has four important layers, which are Task Layer, Integration Layer, Communication Layer and Physical Layer which will be explained further in this paper. The open-architecture controller was developed with a Raspberry Pi 2 using Python programming language along with other additional modules and peripherals to increase the robot's performance. A serial communication circuit is constructed to create the communication bridge between the humanoid robot's motors and proposed controller. The experimental results showed that the proposed open-architecture controller presented several advantages over the conventional controller. Despite that, further research works are necessary since the open-architecture humanoid robot controller is yet an on-going project in producing a robust open-architecture controller which consequently will further enhance the humanoid robot development and performance.
PCL‐PEG‐PCL film promotes cartilage regeneration in vivo

Management of chondral defects has long been a challenge due to poor self‐healing capacity of articular cartilage. Many approaches, ranging from symptomatic treatment to structural cartilage regeneration, have obtained very limited satisfactory results. Cartilage tissue engineering, which involves optimized combination of novel scaffolds, cell sources and growth factors, has emerged as a promising strategy for cartilage regeneration and repair. In this study, the aim was to investigate the role of poly(ε‐caprolactone)‐poly(ethylene glycol)‐poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL‐PEG‐PCL, PCEC) PCEC scaffold in cartilage repair.
Sexual activity and vaginal symptoms in the postintervention phase of the Women's Health Initiative Hormone Therapy Trials

Objective: To assess the impact of discontinuing oral hormone therapy (HT) on sexual activity, vaginal symptoms, and sexual activity components among participants in the estrogen-progestin therapy (EPT) and estrogen therapy (ET) trial of the Women's Health Initiative. Methods: Surveys were sent postintervention to those who were still taking study pills and agreed to continue in the study when the trials were stopped. Comparisons between former HT and placebo users were accomplished with chi-square tests for categorical variables and t tests for continuous variables. Results: In all, 13,902 women with mean age at survey 69.9 years (EPT trial, women with intact uterus) and 71.7 years (ET trial, women with history of hysterectomy) responded. Prevalence of sexual activity postintervention was not significantly different between former EPT and placebo users (36.0% vs 34.2%; P = 0.37). Sexual activity of former ET users was 5.6% higher than placebo users (27.6% vs 22.0%; P = 0.001). The majority of sexually active women overall maintained orgasmic capacity and sexual satisfaction. Former EPT users were 10% to 12% more likely than former placebo users to report decreased desire, arousal, intercourse, climax, and satisfaction with sexual activity, and also increased dryness and dyspareunia upon discontinuing study drugs (P < 0.001). Former ET users were more likely than placebo users to report rare to no desire or arousal postintervention (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Postintervention ET trial participants formerly assigned to ET were significantly more likely to report sexual activity than those formerly assigned to placebo. Women who discontinued EPT were significantly more likely to report negative vaginal and sex-related effects.
Complicated surface structure of flower-like bunches of LiV0.1Mn1.9O4 nanofibers

LiV0.1Mn1. 9O4 nanofibers were synthesized via a conventional solid-state reaction. The nanofibers tend to form bunches with flower-like shapes. Since this interesting form provides a 3D structure, surface analysis of such flowers is of particular interest and was performed by means of small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) via the concept of fractal geometry. The results obtained from experimental measurements suggested a fractal dimension close to 3, which is indicative of a 3D structure. This provides an excellent accessibility of the material for diffusion-based reactions, since diffusion within the material is easy through such ordered nanofibers.
Neural Network-based Hwritten Signature Verification

Handwritten signatures are considered as the most natural method of authenticating a person’s identity (compared to other biometric and cryptographic forms of authentication). The learning process inherent in Neural Networks (NN) can be applied to the process of verifying handwritten signatures that are electronically captured via a stylus. This paper presents a method for verifying handwritten signatures by using a NN architecture. Various static (e.g., height, slant, etc.) and dynamic (e.g., velocity, pen tip pressure, etc.) signature features are extracted and used to train the NN. Several Network topologies are tested and their accuracy is compared. The resulting system performs reasonably well with an overall error rate of 3:3% being reported for the best case.
Diagnosis of prostate cancer by analyzing oxidative stress in human seminal plasma: developing unsophisticated tools for noninvasive prostate cancer diagnosis

Prostate-specific antigen blood testing has improved early detection of prostate cancer (PCa); however, PCa mortality has not decreased accordingly and a prostate biopsy is still required for a definitive diagnosis. Proteomic biomarker screening in easily available body fluids such as seminal plasma is now increasingly being proposed as a solution to improve PCa detection and prognosis. PCa cells typically produce high levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this study, we therefore investigated ROS levels in semen samples from patients with a negative or a positive prostate biopsy to predict PCa diagnosis. Multiple clinicopathological parameters (digital rectal examination, prostate-specific antigen scoring, prostate biopsy, and ROS levels) of patients examined for PCa were measured. No significant differences in ROS levels were detected in relation to PCa diagnosis. Although seminal plasma is a well-suited medium for prostate-related biomarkers, no significant differences in ROS levels were observed between the patient groups. Comparison with ROS levels encountered in semen of larger patient groups is the next logical step.