Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patients' views of physical activity as treatment for depression: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND Clinical guidance recommends physical activity to manage patients with persistent subthreshold depressive symptoms or mild-to-moderate depression. However, little is known regarding the acceptability of physical activity as a treatment for depression from patients' perspective. AIM To explore patients' views of physical activity for the treatment of depression in the context of primary care. DESIGN OF STUDY In-depth interviews were held with 33 participants taking part in a randomised controlled trial assessing the effectiveness of physical activity for the management of depression. SETTING Primary care. RESULTS Most participants perceived physical activity to be an acceptable treatment for depression. The mechanisms by which physical activity could enhance mood were attributed to a number of subjective benefits including biochemical pathways, providing a source of distraction from negative thoughts, and a sense of purpose. Participants who expressed a belief that their depression was caused by biochemical mechanisms reported activity that 'raised the heartbeat' as most beneficial, while those who believed depression was situational in origin tended to state the benefits of less-aerobic activities, such as walking. Many participants reported low motivation and a lack of confidence as barriers to undertaking physical activity. These patients suggested that medication could be helpful for initiating and maintaining activity. CONCLUSION Patients view physical activity as an effective treatment for depression. However, they vary in their views about how physical activity might impact on depression, what intensity and form of activity is necessary to enhance mood, and the barriers to undertaking activity. This variation suggests the need for GPs to elicit patients' views on physical activity as a treatment, and offer interventions that are tailored to the needs and expectations of individual patients.
Exploiting location information to detect light pole in mobile LiDAR point clouds

With rapid development of light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technologies, three dimensional point clouds increasingly become a new approach to sense the world. In our previous work, light poles were detected from mobile LiDAR point clouds without using their locations. In this paper, we improve our previous work by considering location information between two neighboring light poles to reduce false alarm. In the proposed method, the potential light poles are first detected by the extended Hough Forest Framework. Then, a gaussian distribution is exploited to model the distance between two light poles by using locations of those detected light poles. Finally, inaccurately detected light poles are removed by considering the distance between two adjacent objects. We evaluate our proposed method on mobile LiDAR point clouds acquired by RIEGL VMX-450 system. On the basis of the experimental test instances, we demonstrate improved accuracy on light pole detection.
Mobile and Wearable Device Features that Matter in Promoting Physical Activity.

BACKGROUND As wearable sensors/devices become increasingly popular to promote physical activity (PA), research is needed to examine how and which components of these devices people use to increase their PA levels. AIMS (1) To assess usability and level of engagement with the Fitbit One and daily SMS-based prompts in a 6-week PA intervention, and (2) to examine whether use/ level of engagement with specific intervention components were associated with PA change. METHODS Data were analyzed from a randomized controlled trial that compared (1) a wearable sensor/ device (Fitbit One) plus SMS-based PA prompts, and (2) Fitbit One only, among overweight/ obese adults (N = 67). We calculated average scores from Likert-type response items that assessed usability and level of engagement with device features (e.g., tracker, website, mobile app, and SMS-based prompts), and assessed whether such factors were associated with change in steps/day (using Actigraph GT3X+). RESULTS Participants reported the Fitbit One was easy to use and the tracker helped to be more active. Those who used the Fitbit mobile app (36%) vs. those who did not (64%) had an increase in steps at 6-week follow-up, even after adjusting for previous web/app use: +545 steps/ day (SE = 265) vs. -28 steps/ day (SE = 242) (p = .04). CONCLUSIONS Level of engagement with the Fitbit One, particularly the mobile app, was associated with increased steps. Mobile apps can instantly display summaries of PA performance and could optimize self-regulation to activate change. More research is needed to determine whether such modalities might be cost-effective in future intervention research and practice.
Short-Term Electricity Price Forecasting Using a Combination of Neural Networks and Fuzzy Inference

This paper presents an artificial neural network, ANN, based approach for estimating short-term wholesale electricity prices using past price and demand data. The objective is to utilize the piecewise continuous na-ture of electricity prices on the time domain by clustering the input data into time ranges where the variation trends are maintained. Due to the imprecise nature of cluster boundaries a fuzzy inference technique is em-ployed to handle data that lies at the intersections. As a necessary step in forecasting prices the anticipated electricity demand at the target time is estimated first using a separate ANN. The Australian New-South Wales electricity market data was used to test the system. The developed system shows considerable im-provement in performance compared with approaches that regard price data as a single continuous time se-ries, achieving MAPE of less than 2% for hours with steady prices and 8% for the clusters covering time pe-riods with price spikes.
Research on the Grey Econometric Model with Lags Information

This paper aim at developing the grey econometric model with lags information. Considering the breakpoint of the traditional econometrics model, the study gives the primary steps and constraint condition of grey econometric model with lags information. Furthermore this paper makes empirical analysis using data from a segment market, and tests the average relative error of the model. The result reveals that the grey econometric model with lags information improves the accuracy of traditional grey model.
Lymphatic Filariasis Transmission and Control: A Mathematical Modelling Approach

Lymphatic filariasis has an effect on almost 120 million individuals all over the world. The disease may cause a chronic morbidity if the persons who are infected are left untreated. It is endemic in many parts of tropical countries. To prevent worldwide parasite transmission, the World Health Organization initiated the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) by eliminating filarial parasites from their human hosts (Molyneux & Zagaria, 2002). Various GPELF implementations are done in many participating countries. In 2004 alone there were more than thirty countries have started elimination program and this number is still rising. Various degrees of success have emerged as a result of the implementation of this program. Although it was reported that in some places the program has interrupted the transmission, in many other places the program could not stop the transmission of the disease (WHO, 2005). It has been argued that strategic choices and operational or biological factors contribute to the success or failure of the program. In general, it is difficult to evaluate the success or the failure of a health program, especially in the beginning of the program. A mathematical model provides useful tools for planning and evaluation of control program in disease elimination (Goodman, 1994). In our earlier work (Supriatna et al., 2009) we develop a mathematical model for the transmission of Lymphatic Filariasis disease in Jati Sampurna, Indonesia. In Indonesia, the disease is already alarming. For example, the incidence of filariasis in Jati Sampurna (a district in the West Java province) is more than 1%. Within less than five years since the date of the publication confirming that Jati Sampurna is an endemic area, almost all regions nearby Jati Sampurna, and other relatively far distance areas are affected by the disease, and some of them are also categorized as endemic areas. Other cases of filarial prevalence are reported outside Java island, such as in Alor islands (the province of Nusa Tenggara Timur). On Alor islands, both B. timori and W. bancrofti are circulated, with a prevalence of up to 20% (Supali et al., 2002). Indonesia joined the GPELF since 2001 and implemented administration of a single dose regimen of diethylcarbamazine (DEC) and albendazole in endemic areas (Krentel et al., 2006). Our previous model tries to capture the effectiveness of this scenario in the attempt of controlling the spread of the disease, inspired by the transmission of the disease in Jati Sampurna. The model assumes that acute infected humans are infectious and treatment is given to a certain number of acute infected humans found from screening process. The screening is
The hybrid BCI system for movement control by combining motor imagery and moving onset visual evoked potential

Objective. Movement control is an important application for EEG-BCI (EEG-based brain–computer interface) systems. A single-modality BCI cannot provide an efficient and natural control strategy, but a hybrid BCI system that combines two or more different tasks can effectively overcome the drawbacks encountered in single-modality BCI control. Approach. In the current paper, we developed a new hybrid BCI system by combining MI (motor imagery) and mVEP (motion-onset visual evoked potential), aiming to realize the more efficient 2D movement control of a cursor. Main result. The offline analysis demonstrates that the hybrid BCI system proposed in this paper could evoke the desired MI and mVEP signal features simultaneously, and both are very close to those evoked in the single-modality BCI task. Furthermore, the online 2D movement control experiment reveals that the proposed hybrid BCI system could provide more efficient and natural control commands. Significance. The proposed hybrid BCI system is compensative to realize efficient 2D movement control for a practical online system, especially for those situations in which P300 stimuli are not suitable to be applied.
Nonredundant Roles for Leukotriene B4 Receptors BLT1 and BLT2 in Inflammatory Arthritis

Lipid mediators derived from arachidonic acid through the cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase pathways are known to be important mediators of inflammation. Studies in mouse models demonstrated an important role for the high-affinity leukotriene B4 receptor BLT1 in arthritis, atherosclerosis, and asthma. BLT2, a low-affinity leukotriene B4 receptor, was also shown to be a high-affinity receptor for cyclooxygenase-1 derived 12(S)-hydroxyheptadeca-5Z, 8E, 10E-trienoic acid. However, its biochemical activities and physiological roles remain unknown. In this study, we developed mice deficient in BLT2 by targeted disruption. The BLT2−/− mice developed normally, and analysis of immune cells showed that disruption of BLT2 did not alter BLT1 expression or function. Mast cells from the C57BL/6 mice but not from the BLT2−/− mice showed intracellular calcium mobilization in response to 12(S)-hydroxyheptadeca-5Z, 8E, 10E-trienoic acid. In an autoantibody-induced inflammatory arthritis model, the BLT2−/− mice showed reduced incidence and severity of disease, including protection from bone and cartilage loss. Reciprocal bone marrow transplant experiments identified that loss of BLT2 expression on a bone marrow-derived cell lineage offers protection against severe disease. Thus, BLT2, a unique receptor for 5-lipoxygenase– and cyclooxygenase-1–derived lipid mediators, represents a novel target for therapies directed at treating inflammation associated with arthritis.
Lack of Association between Impulse Control Disorders and REM Sleep Behavior Disorder in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Purpose: Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and impulse control disorders (ICDs) are common in subjects with Parkinson’s disease. The association between these two conditions has been contradictory. The aim of this study is to analyze the association between these two non-motor symptoms. Methods: Consecutive subjects with Parkinson’s disease attending the Movement Disorders Outpatient Clinic were included. The presence of ICDs was assessed using the Questionnaire for Impulse Control Disorders Rating Scale. RBD was diagnosed by an overnight, single night polysomnography. Results: Fifty-five consecutive subjects with Parkinson’s disease were included. The prevalence of ICDs and related behaviors was 23.6% (ICD in 14.5% and related behaviors in 9.1%). RBD was diagnosed in 47.2% of the patients. No differences were found in the frequency of ICDs and related behaviors when comparing subjects with and without RBD (23% versus 24.1%, p = 0.926, respectively). Conclusion: No association between the presence of RBD and the frequency of ICDs in subjects with Parkinson’s disease was found.
Parameter identification of a double barrier memristive device

Memristive systems are nonlinear resistors with memory. Most of them are realized as resistive switching devices in nanotechnology. One example, with appropriate properties especially in neuromorphic applications, is the double barrier memristive device (DBMD). A continuous resistance range makes the DBMD suitable for replacing the synapses in neuromorphic circuits. Structural and functional descriptions based on physical insights can help to obtain a parametric concentrated model of the device for both reproducible investigations as well as emulations. Achieving physically meaningful values for model parameters in order to fit the measured data is not trivial. We propose a parameter identification method based on an optimization problem. Because of very fast and efficient algorithms, the wave digital method has been utilized in the objective function. As an example, a reduced model of the DBMD with optimized parameters for fitting the measured data is shown.
Document retrieval and question answering in medical documents. A large-scale corpus challenge.

Whenever employed on large datasets, information retrieval works by isolating a subset of documents from the larger dataset and then proceeding with low-level processing of the text. This is usually carried out by means of adding index-terms to each document in the collection. In this paper we deal with automatic document classification and index-term detection applied on large-scale medical corpora. In our methodology we employ a linear classifier and we test our results on the BioASQ training corpora, which is a collection of 12 million MeSH-indexed medical abstracts. We cover both term-indexing, result retrieval and result ranking based on distributed word representations.
Analysis of acquired mutations in transgenes arising in Ba/F3 transformation assays: findings and recommendations

The identification and functional validation of potentially oncogenic mutations in leukemia is an essential step toward a future of personalized targeted therapy. To assess the oncogenic capacity of individual mutations, reliable and scalable in vitro experimental approaches are required. Since 1988, researchers have used the IL-3 dependent Ba/F3 transformation assay to validate the oncogenic potential of mutations to drive factor-independent growth. Here we report a previously unrecognized phenomenon whereby Ba/F3 cells, engineered to express weakly transforming mutations, present with additional acquired mutations in the expressed transgene following factor withdrawal. Using four mutations with known transformative capacity in three cytokine receptors (CSF2RB, CSF3R and IL7R), we demonstrate that the mutated receptors are highly susceptible to acquiring additional mutations. These acquired mutations of unknown functional significance are selected by factor withdrawal but appear to exist prior to the removal of growth factor. This anomaly has the potential to confound efforts to both validate and characterize oncogenic mutations in leukemia, particularly when it is not standard practice to sequence validate cDNAs from transformed Ba/F3 lines. We present specific recommendations to detect and mitigate this phenomenon in future research using Ba/F3 transformation assays, along with methods to make the Ba/F3 assay more quantitative.
Salvia fruticosa Modulates mRNA Expressions and Activity Levels of Xenobiotic Metabolizing CYP1A2, CYP2E1, NQO1, GPx, and GST Enzymes in Human Colorectal Adenocarcinoma HT-29 Cells

ABSTRACT Natural products have gained considerable interests because of their use in some industrial areas including nutrition, cosmetic, pharmacy, and medicine. Salvia fruticosa M. (Lamiaceae) is known for its antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antiproliferative activities. Phase I xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes, CYP1A2 and CYP2E1, produce reactive metabolites which are eliminated by the action of phase II enzymes, NQO1, GPx, and glutathione S-transferases (GSTs). In this study, in vitro modulatory effects of S. fruticosa and its major phenolic compound rosmarinic acid (RA) on CYP1A2, CYP2E1, NQO1, GPx, and GSTm1 mRNA expressions and enzyme activities of GPx and GSTs were investigated in HT-29 cells. An mRNA expression analysis revealed that CYP1A2 and CYP2E1 levels were decreased while those of NQO1, GPx, and GSTm1 increased after S. fruticosa and RA treatments. In parallel to gene expressions, enzyme activities of GPx and GSTs by S. fruticosa increased 1.68- and 1.48-fold, respectively. Moreover, RA increased GPx and GSTs activities 1.67- and 1.94-fold, respectively. The results of this preliminary study show that metabolism of xenobiotics may be altered due to changes in the expression and activity of the investigated enzymes by S. fruticosa.
Wavelet analysis of pulse oximeter waveform permits identification of unwell children

Background: Children who are unwell often display signs of circulatory compromise. It has been observed that pronounced changes occur in the appearance of the photoplethysmogram (pulse oximeter tracing) in these children. The aim of the study was to discover if wavelet transforms can identify more subtle changes in the photoplethysmogram of children who are unwell. Methods: Photoplethysmograms were obtained from children attending a paediatric accident and emergency department with clinical features suggestive of significant bacterial illness or circulatory compromise. Photoplethysmograms were also obtained from a control group of well children. Wavelet transforms were applied to the traces in an attempt to separate the two groups. Results: 20 traces were obtained from unwell children and 12 from controls. Analysis of the entropy of the wavelet transform of the photoplethysmogram allows the differentiation of unwell children from controls (p = 0.00002). Conclusions: Wavelet transform of the photoplethysmogram offers the possibility of a rapid non-invasive method of screening children for significant illness.
Rasch analysis of the Iowa Level of Assistance Scale in patients with total hip and knee arthroplasty

The aim of this study was to carry out a psychometric analysis, using both Classical Test Theory and Rasch analysis (RA) methods, of the Iowa Level of Assistance Scale (ILAS) administered in patients with recent total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty, to examine its metric properties and provide insights for a refined version. A total of 203 patients who had undergone THA or total knee arthroplasty were assessed using the ILAS for assistance needed during functional activities (ILAS-funct) and need for assistive devices (ILAS-dev) before discharge from the orthopedic ward. The responses were psychometrically analyzed using the Classical Test Theory and RA. Cronbach’s &agr; was adequate only for group comparisons (ILAS-funct, 0.82; ILAS-dev, 0.79). The two domains (ILAS-funct and ILAS-dev) showed a good correlation. According to RA rating scale diagnostics, ILAS-funct showed two disordered response category thresholds: of the seven different response levels of ‘assistance’, only five were appreciably discernible. All five ILAS-funct items fitted the model and did not show either local dependence or differential item functioning across age groups or sex. ILAS-dev presented two unused response categories, which precluded Rasch calibration and subsequent analyses. ILAS-funct showed sound psychometric properties, but the rating system of ILAS-funct could be simplified, at least collapsing the response categories 5 (failed) and 6 (not tested). In ILAS-dev, the presence of unused response categories calls for a reconsideration of its scaling options and methods.
SH‐7, a new synthesized shikonin derivative, exerting its potent antitumor activities as a topoisomerase inhibitor

1‐(1,4‐dihydro‐5,8‐dihydroxy‐1,4‐dioxonaphthalen‐2‐yl)‐4‐methylpent‐3‐enylfuran‐2‐caroxylate (SH‐7), a new naphthoquinone compound, derived from shikonin, exhibited obvious inhibitory actions on topoisomerase II (Topo II) and topoisomerase I (Topo I), which were stronger than its mother compound shikonin. Notably, the SH‐7's inhibitory potency on Topo II was much stronger than that on Topo I. In addition, SH‐7 significantly stabilized Topo II‐DNA cleavable complex and elevated the expression of phosphorylated‐H2AX. The in vitro cell‐based investigation demonstrated that SH‐7 displayed wide cytotoxicity in diversified cancer cell lines with the mean IC50 value of 7.75 μM. One important finding is SH‐7 displayed significant cytotoxicity in the 3 MDR cell lines, with an average IC50 value nearly equivalent to that of the corresponding parental cell lines. The average resistance factor (RF) of SH‐7 was 1.74, which was much lower than those of reference drugs VP‐16 (RF 145.92), ADR (RF 105.97) and VCR (RF 197.39). Further studies illustrated that SH‐7 had the marked apoptosis‐inducing function on leukemia HL‐60 cells, which was validated to be of mitochondria‐dependence. The in vivo experiments showed that SH‐7 had inhibitory effects on S‐180 sarcoma implanted to mice, SMMC‐7721, BEL‐7402 human hepatocellular carcinoma and PC‐3 human prostate cancer implanted to nude mice. Taken together, these results suggest that SH‐7 induces DSBs as a Topo II inhibitor, which was crucial to activate the apoptotic process, and subsequently accounts for its both in vitro and in vivo antitumor activities. The well‐defined Topo II inhibitory activity, antitumor effects particularly with its obvious anti‐MDR action, better solubility and less toxicity make SH‐7 as a potential antitumor drug candidate for further research and development. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Novel Canceller Diplexer for Future Mobile Handsets

When designing the front end of a two way single antenna communication system, the separation of the transmit power from the receiver components is of utmost importance. Without such separation many problems are encountered, for example the transmit signal causing feedback into the system or the transmit power saturating the receiver components possibly to the point of destroying them. High power into a sensitive low noise amplifier can be disastrous. The task is made all the more difficult when the communication system is full duplex. Generally filters are used to separate the transmit signal from the receiver port. However in small communication devices such as mobile handsets, where size is important, ceramic filters are very bulky and take up unwanted space. With the increasing consumer demand for smaller, neater, compact mobile phones the inclusion of a ceramic filter is undesirable to the designers especially the product designers of the façade. This paper looks at an alternative design for the diplexer which uses some of the inherent characteristics of a patch antenna, with transmission line cancellers, further increasing the isolation.