Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New tomographic imaging strategies for GPR surveys

Tomographic methods nowadays represent an assessed means to process GPR data, as they allow to obtain images that are more reliable and readable than those achieved using standard GPR data processing tools. However, tomographic approaches are based on a suitable modeling of the electromagnetic scattering phenomenon, which is required to cast the underlying inverse problem. In particular, the non-linearity of the inverse problem entails that solution methods are extremely sensitive to modeling errors and, even worse, are prone to the occurrence of false solutions, that is, estimates of the unknown function that match the data but are different from the ground truth. As such, most of the effective applications of tomographic GPR are so far concerned with linearized inversion approaches, which are based on simple models and are indeed free from false solutions. However, they can only provide information on the location of buried targets and not on their electromagnetic features. In this paper, we present a new tomographic approach that, being based on a “scenario specific” linearized model arising from a suitable preprocessing of the measured data, allows to both achieve information on the electromagnetic features and avoid occurrence of false solutions. The method is presented and numerically assessed for the case of cross-borehole GPR surveys.
Sports Participation in Selected Children With Brachial Plexus Birth Palsy

Background Despite the growth in youth sports in the United States, there is little information regarding sports participation in children with impairments, and specifically those with brachial plexus birth palsy (BPBP). The purpose of this investigation was to characterize the degree of sports participation, level of perceived diminished participation, and risk of sports-related injury in children with BPBP. Methods Eighty-five children with BPBP between 6 and 18 years of age were queried about their participation in athletics. Information regarding sports played, duration of activity, level of participation, and injuries sustained was obtained and compared with published age-matched normative pediatric data. In addition, measurements of upper limb function and patient/parent-derived functional outcomes assessments were obtained using the modified Mallet classification, the Toronto Test Score, the Hospital for Sick Children Active Movement Scale, and the Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument. Results Similar to the published normative pediatric data, 75 (88%) of BPBP children played sports, with 61 (72%) involved in individual and 54 (63%) in team sports. The children participated in a broad variety of sports, including those requiring upper extremity dexterity such as baseball, basketball, swimming, and gymnastics. Although most participated at a local/recreational level, some children did compete at the professional/national level. Types of sports injuries were also similar to published pediatric norms, with bruises and sprains being most common. Although the study cohort had lower Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument functional scores than the general population, these scores did not statistically differ between those children who played sports and those who did not. Conclusions Despite differences in upper extremity and overall functional scores, children with BPBP safely participate in a broad variety of sports, at levels similar to published pediatric norms. Level of Evidence Level 2—prognostic.
Adherence to Self-Care Behaviours and Knowledge on Treatment amongHeart Failure Patients in Ethiopia: The Case of a Tertiary TeachingHospital

Aim: Non adherence to self-care behaviour is common in patients with heart failure leading to reduced quality of life, increased morbidity, mortality and health care costs. We assessed adherence to self-care behaviours and knowledge among adult patients with heart failure on active follow up. Method and results: Hospital based cross-sectional study was employed and patient reported adherence to self-care behaviours and knowledge on heart failure was assessed among 328 adult heart failure patients. The mean (± standard deviation (SD)) age was 52 (± 17) years; 55.5% were men. Among 26 self-care behaviours studied, four of the top eight most frequently performed were related to taking prescribed medications, and the seven least frequently performed ones were concerned with symptom monitoring or management. Adherence to individual self-care behaviours ranged from 9.7% to 99.7% however, cumulative good adherence was low at 62.7%, and only 17.4% of patients reported good adherence with all 26 self-care recommendations, indicating high rates of selective adherence. The mean (± SD) total knowledge score was 7.38 ± 2.2 out of a maximum score of 14. Multivariate analysis showed that age, co-morbidity, NYHA functional class and heart failure knowledge score were independent predictors of poor adherence to self-care behaviours (P<0.01). Conclusion: Overall adherence to heart failure self-care behaviours is low and selective. Majority of patients had a sever knowledge deficit related to heart failure and self-care behaviours. Age, co-morbidity, NYHA class and heart failure knowledge score were independent predictors for poor over all adherences.
N-Nmoc-l-Glutamate, a New Caged Glutamate with High Chemical Stability and Low Pre-photolysis Activity*

We report the synthesis, the physicochemical characterization, and biological evaluation of a new caged glutamate,N-(o-nitromandelyl)oxycarbonyl-l-glutamic acid (Nmoc-Glu), that liberates free glutamate on photolysis. The low affinity of certain glutamate receptors and their rapid entry into desensitization have effectively prevented the creation of an ideal caged glutamate. In the absence of an ideal compound, Nmoc-Glu was designed to resist spontaneous hydrolysis while maintaining reasonable photorelease yield and kinetics. Chemical and physiological analyses reveal that Nmoc-Glu, indeed, has exceptionally low residual activity and high chemical stability. The quantum yield of Nmoc-Glu is 0.11. Photolytic uncaging and release of free glutamate occur in two steps, consisting of an initial light-induced cleavage that proceeds on the sub-millisecond time scale, and a subsequent light-independent, pH-dependent decarboxylation step that proceeds on the millisecond time scale. The low residual activity and high chemical stability of Nmoc-Glu are important advantages in applications where pre-photolysis Glu receptor activation and desensitization must be minimized.
Corn silk extract improves benign prostatic hyperplasia in experimental rat model

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES This study was conducted to investigate the effect of a corn silk extract on improving benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). MATERIALS/METHODS The experimental animals, 6-week-old male Wistar rats, were divided into sham-operated control (Sham) and experimental groups. The experimental group, which underwent orchiectomy and received subcutaneous injection of 10 mg/kg of testosterone propionate to induce BPH, was divided into a Testo Only group that received only testosterone, a Testo+Fina group that received testosterone and 5 mg/kg finasteride, a Testo+CSE10 group that received testosterone and 10 mg/kg of corn silk extract, and a Testo+CSE100 group that received testosterone and 100 mg/kg of corn silk extract. Prostate weight and concentrations of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), 5α-reductase 2 (5α-R2), and prostate specific antigen (PSA) in serum or prostate tissue were determined. The mRNA expressions of 5α-R2 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in prostate tissue were also measured. RESULTS Compared to the Sham group, prostate weight was significantly higher in the Testo Only group and decreased significantly in the Testo+Fina, Testo+CSE10, and Testo+CSE100 groups (P < 0.05), results that were consistent with those for serum DHT concentrations. The concentrations of 5α-R2 in serum and prostate as well as the mRNA expression of 5α-R2 in prostate were significantly lower in the Testo+Fina, Testo+CSE10, and Testo+CSE100 groups than that in the Testo Only group (P < 0.05). Similarly, the concentrations of PSA in serum and prostate were significantly lower in the Testo+Fina, Testo+CSE10, and Testo+CSE100 groups (P < 0.05) than in the Testo Only group. The mRNA expression of PCNA in prostate dose-independently decreased in the Testo+CSE-treated groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS BPH was induced through injection of testosterone, and corn silk extract treatment improved BPH symptoms by inhibiting the mRNA expression of 5α-R2 and decreasing the amount of 5α-R2, DHT, and PSA in serum and prostate tissue.
Microblog Sentiment Classification via Recurrent Random Walk Network Learning

Microblog Sentiment Classiﬁcation (MSC) is a challenging task in microblog mining, arising in many applications such as stock price prediction and crisis management. Currently, most of the existing approaches learn the user sentiment model from their posted tweets in microblogs, which suffer from the insufﬁciency of discriminative tweet representation. In this paper, we consider the problem of microblog sentiment classiﬁcation from the viewpoint of heterogeneous MSC network embedding. We propose a novel recurrent random walk network learning framework for the problem by exploiting both users’ posted tweets and their social relations in microblogs. We then introduce the deep recurrent neural networks with random-walk layer for heterogeneous MSC network embedding, which can be trained end-to-end from the scratch. We employ the back-propagation method for training the proposed recurrent random walk network model. The extensive experiments on the large-scale public datasets from Twitter show that our method achieves better performance than other state-of-the-art solutions to the problem.
Processing of Three-Dimensional Models for the Crystal Laser Engraving

With the development of crystal laser engraving technology and the improvement of the appreciation level of art works, the new customized 3D (three-dimensional) art expression of laser crystal engraving has received more and more attention. In this paper, we propose some 3D model processing methods for the crystal laser engraving. Firstly, to get densely vertices for laser engraving, we subdivide the mesh based on modified Butterfly subdivision method. Secondly, in order to keep distance of vertices not less than safety distance of laser engraving, we put forward a simplification algorithm suitable for laser engraving models, collapse edges which do not conform to the safe distance limit of the vertex. Finally, to show the rich details of the model by point cloud density, we propose the filtering algorithm of point cloud model based on multi-level error diffusion. Experiments show the proposed algorithms have higher practicability.
Transmembrane domain of influenza virus neuraminidase, a type II protein, possesses an apical sorting signal in polarized MDCK cells

The influenza virus neuraminidase (NA), a type II transmembrane protein, is directly transported to the apical plasma membrane in polarized MDCK cells. By using deletion mutants and chimeric constructs of influenza virus NA with the human transferrin receptor, a type II basolateral transmembrane protein, we investigated the location of the apical sorting signal of influenza virus NA. When these mutant and chimeric proteins were expressed in stably transfected polarized MDCK cells, the transmembrane domain of NA, and not the cytoplasmic tail, provided a determinant for apical targeting in polarized MDCK cells and this transmembrane signal was sufficient for sorting and transport of the ectodomain of a reporter protein (transferrin receptor) directly to the apical plasma membrane of polarized MDCK cells. In addition, by using differential detergent extraction, we demonstrated that influenza virus NA and the chimeras which were transported to the apical plasma membrane also became insoluble in Triton X-100 but soluble in octylglucoside after extraction from MDCK cells during exocytic transport. These data indicate that the transmembrane domain of NA provides the determinant(s) both for apical transport and for association with Triton X-100-insoluble lipids.
The healthy workplace project: Reduced viral exposure in an office setting

ABSTRACT Viral illnesses such as gastroenteritis and the common cold create a substantial burden in the workplace due to reduced productivity, increased absenteeism, and increased health care costs. Behaviors in the workplace contribute to the spread of human viruses via direct contact between hands, contaminated surfaces, and the mouth, eyes, and/or nose. This study assessed whether implementation of the Healthy Workplace Project (HWP) (providing hand sanitizers, disinfecting wipes, facial tissues, and use instructions) would reduce viral loads in an office setting of approximately 80 employees after seeding fomites and the hands of volunteer participants with an MS-2 phage tracer. The HWP significantly reduced viable phage detected on participants’ hands, communal fomites, and personal fomites (p ≤ .010) in office environments and presents a cost-effective method for reducing the health and economic burden associated with viral illnesses in the workplace.
Growth and cell division during nitrogen starvation of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

During nitrogen starvation, cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae increased threefold in number, and little ribonucleic acid (RNA) and protein were accumulated. Both RNA and protein were extensivley degraded during starvation, suggesting that intracellular macromolecules could supply most of the growth requirements. The types and proportions of stable RNA synthesized during nitrogen deprivation were characteristic of exponentially growing cells; however, the complement of proteins synthesized was different. We conclude that, once events in the deoxyribonucleic acid division cycle are initiated, cells can complete division with little dependence on continued net cell growth.
Effects of strength training on muscle strength, cross-sectional area, maximal electromyographic activity, and serum hormones in premenopausal women with fibromyalgia.

OBJECTIVE To examine the effects of strength training on basal concentrations and acute responses of serum hormones, and their possible interrelationships with training induced muscle hypertrophy and strength gains of the knee extensor muscles in women with fibromyalgia (FM) and healthy controls. METHODS Twenty-one premenopausal women with FM were randomized to 21 week strength training (FMT; n = 11) or control (FMC; n = 10) groups. Twelve premenopausal sedentary healthy women served as controls (HC). Surface electromyographic (EMG) activity, maximal unilateral isometric force of the right knee extensors, and muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) of the quadriceps femoris throughout the lengths of 3/12 to 12/15 of the femur (Lf) were measured. Serum concentrations of total and free testosterone and growth hormone (GH) were analyzed at rest and in pre- and post-exercise conditions, while levels of insulin-like growth factor and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate were measured at rest only. RESULTS Mean (SD) maximal force increased by 18% (10%) (p < 0.001) in the FMT group, and by 22% (12%) (p < 0.001) in the HC, while in the FMC it remained unchanged. Maximum integrated EMG of the agonists (VL + VM/2) increased in HC by 22% (p < 0.05) and in the FMT by 19% (p < 0.05). Significant increases in the CSA of the QF were observed at 5 to 12/15 Lf in FMT (p < 0.05-0.01) and at 3 to 12/15 Lf in HC (p < 0.05-0.001), while in FMC the CSA remained unchanged. No training induced changes occurred in the basal concentrations of serum hormones examined. A significant acute increase took place in the mean concentration of GH at pre-training in HC (p < 0.01) and in the FMT (p < 0.05), while at post-training the elevations after the loading (p < 0.001 and 0.05) remained elevated up to 15 min (p < 0.05) in HC and up to 30 min (p < 0.01) post-loading in the FMT. CONCLUSION Both the magnitude and time course of adaptations of the neuromuscular system to resistance training in women with FM were completely comparable to those taking place in healthy women. Basal levels of the anabolic hormones seem to be similar in women with FM compared to age matched healthy women. Observations recorded during the acute loading conditions might be considered an indication of the training induced adaptation of the endocrine system, showing that the acute GH response may become systematic after strength training in both women with FM and controls.
Bayesian Compressed Vector Autoregressions

Macroeconomists are increasingly working with large Vector Autoregressions (VARs) where the number of parameters vastly exceeds the number of observations. Existing approaches either involve prior shrinkage or the use of factor methods. In this paper, we develop an alternative based on ideas from the compressed regression literature. It involves randomly compressing the explanatory variables prior to analysis. A huge dimensional problem is thus turned into a much smaller, more computationally tractable one. Bayesian model averaging can be done over various compressions, attaching greater weight to compressions which forecast well. In a macroeconomic application involving up to 129 variables, we find compressed VAR methods to forecast better than either factor methods or large VAR methods involving prior shrinkage.
Une nouvelle approche pour la recherche d'images par le contenu

Resume. On utilise l’analyse factorielle des correspondances (AFC) pour la recherche d’images par le contenu en s’inspirant directement de son utilisation en analyse des donnees textuelles (ADT). L’AFC permet ici de reduire les dimensions du probleme et de selectionner des indicateurs pertinents pour la recherche par le contenu. En ADT, l’AFC est appliquee a un tableau de contingence croisant mots et documents. La premiere etape consiste donc a definir des « mots visuels » dans les images (analogue des mots dans les textes). Ces mots sont construits a partir des descripteurs locaux (SIFT) des images. La methode a ete testee sur la base Caltech4 (Sivic et al., 2005) sur laquelle elle fournit de meilleurs resultats (qualite des resultats de recherche et temps d’execution) que des methodes plus classiques comme TF*IDF/Rocchio (Rocchio, 1971) ou pLSA (Hofmann, 1999a, 1999b). Enfin, pour passer a l'echelle et ameliorer la qualite de recherche, nous proposons un nouveau prototype de recherche qui utilise des fichiers inverses bases sur la qualite de representation des images sur les axes apres avoir fait une AFC. Chaque fichier inverse est associe a une partie d'un axe (positive ou negative) et contient des images ayant une bonne qualite de representation sur cet axe. Les tests realises montrent que ce nouveau prototype reduit le temps de recherche sans perte de qualite de resultat et dans certains cas, ameliore le taux de precision par rapport a la methode exhaustive.
Tannin and tannate from the quebracho tree: an eco-friendly alternative for controlling marine biofouling

Abstract Current antifouling coatings are based on toxic compounds that can be harmful to the natural environment. A promising alternative to these compounds is the use of natural products that are non-toxic, but have antifouling properties. Tannins are natural, water-soluble, complex polyphenolic substances, which precipitate proteins and have anticorrosive and antimicrobial properties. In this study, the effect of quebracho tannin as a probable antifouling pigment in both laboratory and field trials is evaluated. As tannins have high solubility in aqueous media and consequently would leach rapidly, they were precipitated as aluminium tannate, which has an adequate solubility for use as a component in marine paints. In vitro exposure of Balanus amphitrite and Polydora ligni larvae to low concentrations of both quebracho tannin and saturated aluminium tannate solutions produced complete appendage immobilisation. In 28-d field trials of test gels, a significant decrease in micro- and macrofouling density and diversity in relation to the control gel was detected (p < 0.05). This study suggests that natural tannins could be employed as bioactive pigment for new antifouling technologies.
The Significance of Elevated Brain Natriuretic Peptide Levels in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

We investigated the clinical significance of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), a cardiac hormone, in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Subjects were 38 patients with stable COPD, of whom 20 had cor pulmonale (CP), and 22 were healthy individuals. Plasma BNP levels were measured and pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) was estimated by echocardiography. Arterial blood gas analysis, forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) were also recorded. BNP levels of patients with COPD were higher than those of controls (48.2 ± 37.5 and 9.3 ± 3.0 pg/ml). Patients with CP had a higher mean BNP level with respect to those without CP (73.9 ± 35.8 and 21.0 ± 10.2 pg/ml, respectively). BNP levels correlated with PAP (r = 0.68), partial arterial oxygen pressure (r = −0.70), FEV1 (r = −0.65) and FVC (r = −0.52). We have concluded that BNP determination has a role in the diagnosis of CP in patients with COPD.
Society for American Archaeology

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Rigorous losses evaluation in the numerical analysis of SIW structures

This paper presents a study of the effect of losses in slotted substrate-integrated-waveguides by means of a rigorous numerical approach consisting in a mode matching coupled with a method of moments. Losses can be due to the conducting plates shielding the structure and to dielectrics inside the waveguide (both in the substrate and in dielectric posts). The first effect is modeled through an effective impedance condition on each plate, while the second is described by complex-valued permittivities.
Absence of COSMC gene mutations in breast and
 colorectal carcinomas

Cancer patients have serum antibodies that are reactive to their cancer cells, but not to normal cells. However, the nature of these cancer-specific epitopes is largely unknown. Many cancerspecific proteins resulting from somatic mutation reside in the intracellular space and cannot be accessible to antibodies. There are a few cancer-specific antigens on the cancer cell surface created by somatic mutations that could be potential targets for cancer immunotherapy (1). Tn antigen (also known as GalNAca1-Ser/ Thr) is a precursor of longer O-glycans such as core 1 (2). For the maturation of Tn antigen to core 1, C1b3Gal-T activity is required. Core 1b3Gal-T-specific molecular chaperone (COSMC; also known as C1GALT1C1) is a molecular chaperone that is required for C1b3Gal-T activity (3). Without COSMC, the C1b3Gal-T is targeted to the proteosome and degraded (3). The Tn antigen is overexpressed in many cancers, including colorectal and breast cancers (4, 5). Recent studies revealed that cancer-specific mutations in the COSMC gene remove C1b3Gal-T activity, disrupt O-glycan core 1 synthesis, lead to Tn antigen overexpression, and create a cancerspecific epitope on the cell surface (2, 3, 6). Somatic mutations of the COSMC gene have been found in both mouse (Ag104A fibrosarcoma and Neuro2A neuroblastoma) and human (Jurkat Tcell leukemia and LSC colorectal cancer) cancer cell lines (2, 3, 6). The COSMC mutations consisted of insertion of a T nucleotide (LSC), deletion of a T nucleotide (Jurkat), deletion of 78 nucleotides (Ag104A) and non-sense substitution of a nucleotide (Neuro2A). These mutations would result in premature stops of amino acid synthesis or deletion of a large portion of the