Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accuracy of Echocardiography to Estimate Pulmonary Artery Pressures With Exercise: A Simultaneous Invasive–Noninvasive Comparison

Background— Exercise echocardiography is often applied as a noninvasive strategy to screen for abnormal pulmonary hemodynamic response, but it is technically challenging, and limited data exist regarding its accuracy to estimate pulmonary arterial pressure during exercise. Methods and Results— Among 65 patients with exertional intolerance undergoing upright invasive exercise testing, tricuspid regurgitation (TR) Doppler estimates and invasive measurement of pulmonary arterial pressure at rest and peak exercise were simultaneously obtained. TR Doppler envelopes were assessed for quality. Correlation, Bland–Altman, and receiver-operating characteristic curve analyses were performed to evaluate agreement and diagnostic accuracy. Mean age was 62±13 years, and 31% were male. High-quality (grade A) TR Doppler was present in 68% at rest and 34% at peak exercise. For grade A TR signals, echocardiographic measures of systolic pulmonary arterial pressure correlated reasonably well with invasive measurement at rest (r=0.72, P<0.001; bias, −2.9±8.0 mm Hg) and peak exercise (r=0.75, P<0.001; bias, −1.9±15.6 mm Hg). Lower quality TR signals (grade B and C) correlated poorly with invasive measurements overall. In patients with grade A TR signals, mean pulmonary arterial pressure-to-workload ratio at a threshold of 1.4 mm Hg/10 W was able to identify abnormal pulmonary hemodynamic response during exercise (>3.0 mm Hg/L per minute increase), with 91% sensitivity and 82% specificity (area under the curve, 0.90; 95% confidence interval, 0.77–1.0; P=0.001). Conclusions— Agreement between echocardiographic and invasive measures of pulmonary pressures during upright exercise is good among the subset of patients with high-quality TR Doppler signal. While the limits of agreement are broad, our results suggest that in those patients, sensitivity is adequate to screen for abnormal pulmonary hemodynamic response during exercise.
Effects of troglitazone on substrate storage and utilization in insulin-resistant rats.

Elevated serum and tissue lipid stores are associated with skeletal muscle insulin resistance and diminished glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, the hallmarks of type 2 diabetes. We studied the effects of 6-wk treatment with the insulin sensitizer troglitazone on substrate storage and utilization in lean control and Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats. Troglitazone prevented development of diabetes and lowered serum triglycerides (TG) in ZDF rats. Soleus muscle glycogen and TG content were elevated twofold in untreated ZDF rats, and both were normalized by troglitazone to lean control levels ( P < 0.05). Troglitazone also normalized insulin-stimulated glucose uptake as well as basal and insulin-stimulated glycogen synthesis, implying increased skeletal muscle glycogen turnover. The proportion of active pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) in soleus muscle was reduced in ZDF relative to lean control rat muscle (16 ± 2 vs. 21 ± 2%) but was restored by troglitazone treatment (30 ± 3%). Increased PDH activation was associated with a 70% increase in glucose oxidation. Muscle lipoprotein lipase activity was decreased by 35% in ZDF compared with lean control rats and was increased twofold by troglitazone. Palmitate oxidation and incorporation into TG were higher in ZDF relative to lean control rats but were unaffected by troglitazone treatment. Troglitazone decreased the incorporation of glucose into the acyl group of TG by 60% in ZDF rats. In summary, ZDF rats demonstrate increased skeletal muscle glycogen and TG stores, both of which were reduced by troglitazone treatment. Troglitazone appears to increase both glycogen and TG turnover in skeletal muscle. Normalization of PDH activity and decreased glucose incorporation into acyl TG may underlie the improvements in intracellular substrate utilization and energy stores, which lead to decreased serum TG and glucose.
The Role of Additive Neurogenesis and Synaptic Plasticity in a Hippocampal Memory Model with Grid-Cell Like Input

Recently, we presented a study of adult neurogenesis in a simplified hippocampal memory model. The network was required to encode and decode memory patterns despite changing input statistics. We showed that additive neurogenesis was a more effective adaptation strategy compared to neuronal turnover and conventional synaptic plasticity as it allowed the network to respond to changes in the input statistics while preserving representations of earlier environments. Here we extend our model to include realistic, spatially driven input firing patterns in the form of grid cells in the entorhinal cortex. We compare network performance across a sequence of spatial environments using three distinct adaptation strategies: conventional synaptic plasticity, where the network is of fixed size but the connectivity is plastic; neuronal turnover, where the network is of fixed size but units in the network may die and be replaced; and additive neurogenesis, where the network starts out with fewer initial units but grows over time. We confirm that additive neurogenesis is a superior adaptation strategy when using realistic, spatially structured input patterns. We then show that a more biologically plausible neurogenesis rule that incorporates cell death and enhanced plasticity of new granule cells has an overall performance significantly better than any one of the three individual strategies operating alone. This adaptation rule can be tailored to maximise performance of the network when operating as either a short- or long-term memory store. We also examine the time course of adult neurogenesis over the lifetime of an animal raised under different hypothetical rearing conditions. These growth profiles have several distinct features that form a theoretical prediction that could be tested experimentally. Finally, we show that place cells can emerge and refine in a realistic manner in our model as a direct result of the sparsification performed by the dentate gyrus layer.
The North Pacific Oscillation–West Pacific Teleconnection Pattern: Mature-Phase Structure and Winter Impacts

Abstract The North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) in sea level pressure and its upper-air geopotential height signature, the west Pacific (WP) teleconnection pattern, constitute a prominent mode of winter midlatitude variability, the NPO/WP. Its mature-phase expression is identified from principal component analysis of monthly sea level pressure variability as the second leading mode just behind the Pacific–North American variability pattern. NPO/WP variability, primarily on subseasonal time scales, is characterized by a large-scale meridional dipole in SLP and geopotential height over the Pacific and is linked to meridional movements of the Asian–Pacific jet and Pacific storm track modulation. The hemispheric height anomalies at upper levels resemble the climatological stationary wave pattern attributed to transient eddy forcing. The NPO/WP divergent circulation is thermal wind restoring, pointing to independent forcing of jet fluctuations. Intercomparison of sea level pressure, geopotential height, and zonal.
The ImageJ ecosystem: An open platform for biomedical image analysis

Technology in microscopy advances rapidly, enabling increasingly affordable, faster, and more precise quantitative biomedical imaging, which necessitates correspondingly more‐advanced image processing and analysis techniques. A wide range of software is available—from commercial to academic, special‐purpose to Swiss army knife, small to large—but a key characteristic of software that is suitable for scientific inquiry is its accessibility. Open‐source software is ideal for scientific endeavors because it can be freely inspected, modified, and redistributed; in particular, the open‐software platform ImageJ has had a huge impact on the life sciences, and continues to do so. From its inception, ImageJ has grown significantly due largely to being freely available and its vibrant and helpful user community. Scientists as diverse as interested hobbyists, technical assistants, students, scientific staff, and advanced biology researchers use ImageJ on a daily basis, and exchange knowledge via its dedicated mailing list. Uses of ImageJ range from data visualization and teaching to advanced image processing and statistical analysis. The software's extensibility continues to attract biologists at all career stages as well as computer scientists who wish to effectively implement specific image‐processing algorithms. In this review, we use the ImageJ project as a case study of how open‐source software fosters its suites of software tools, making multitudes of image‐analysis technology easily accessible to the scientific community. We specifically explore what makes ImageJ so popular, how it impacts the life sciences, how it inspires other projects, and how it is self‐influenced by coevolving projects within the ImageJ ecosystem. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 82: 518–529, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Transfer Learning With Neural Networks for Bearing Fault Diagnosis in Changing Working Conditions

Traditional machine learning algorithms have made great achievements in data-driven fault diagnosis. However, they assume that all the data must be in the same working condition and have the same distribution and feature space. They are not applicable for real-world working conditions, which often change with time, so the data are hard to obtain. In order to utilize data in different working conditions to improve the performance, this paper presents a transfer learning approach for fault diagnosis with neural networks. First, it learns characteristics from massive source data and adjusts the parameters of neural networks accordingly. Second, the structure of neural networks alters for the change of data distribution. In the same time, some parameters are transferred from source task to target task. Finally, the new model is trained by a small amount of target data in another working condition. The Case Western Reserve University bearing data set is used to validate the performance of the proposed transfer learning approach. Experimental results show that the proposed transfer learning approach can improve the classification accuracy and reduce the training time comparing with the conventional neural network method when there are only a small amount of target data.
Decoding finger flexion using amplitude modulation from band-specific ECoG

EEG-BCIs have been well studied in the past decades and implemented into several famous applications, like P300 speller and wheelchair controller. However, these interfaces are indirect due to low spatial resolution of EEG. Recently, direct ECoG-BCIs attract intensive attention because ECoG provides a higher spatial resolution and signal quality. This makes possible localization of the source of neural signals with respect to certain brain functions. In this article, we present a realization of ECoG-BCIs for finger flexion prediction provided by BCI competition IV. Methods for finger flexion prediction including feature extraction and selection are provided in this article. Results show that the predicted finger movement is highly correlated with the true movement when we use band-specific amplitude modulation.
Receptor Density Is Key to the Alpha2/Beta Interferon Differential Activities

ABSTRACT Multiple type I interferons (IFN-α/β) elicit Jak/Stat activation, rapid gene induction, and pleiotropic effects, such as differentiation, antiviral protection, and blocks in proliferation, which are dependent on the IFN subtype and the cellular context. To date, ligand- and receptor-specific molecular determinants underlying IFN-α/β differential activities or potencies have been well characterized. To analyze cellular determinants that impact subtype-specific potency, human fibrosarcoma U5A-derived clones, exhibiting a gradient of IFN sensitivity by virtue of increasing receptor levels, were monitored for Jak/Stat signaling, gene induction, cell cycle lengthening, and apoptosis. In cells with scarce receptors, IFN-β was more potent than IFN-α2 in antiproliferative activity, while the two subtypes were equipotent in all other readouts. Conversely, in cells with abundant receptors, IFN-α2 matched or even surpassed IFN-β in all readouts tested. Our results suggest that the differential activities of the IFN subtypes are dictated not only by the intrinsic ligand/receptor binding kinetics but also by the density of cell surface receptor components.
Improved humanoid vocalization acquisition from a human tutor

This paper describes an approach which allow a humanoid robot to automatically acquire vocalization capability by learning from a human tutor. The proposed algorithm can, at the same time, synthesize speech utterances from unrestricted text and generate facial movements of the humanoid head synchronized with the generated speech. The algorithm uses fuzzy articulatory rules, derived from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to allow simpler adaptation to different languages, and genetic optimization of the membership degrees. Experimental results show a good subjective acceptance of the acquired vocalization in terms of quality, naturalness and synchronization. Although the algorithm has been implemented on a virtual talking face, it could eventually be used also in mechanical vocalization systems.
Combined molecular dynamics and continuum solvent approaches (MM-PBSA/GBSA) to predict noscapinoid binding to γ-tubulin dimer

γ-tubulin plays crucial role in the nucleation and organization of microtubules during cell division. Recent studies have also indicated its role in the regulation of microtubule dynamics at the plus end of the microtubules. Moreover, γ-tubulin has been found to be over-expressed in many cancer types, such as carcinomas of the breast and glioblastoma multiforme. These studies have led to immense interest in the identification of chemical leads that might interact with γ-tubulin and disrupt its function in order to explore γ-tubulin as potential chemotherapeutic target. Recently a colchicine-interacting cavity was identified at the interface of γ-tubulin dimer that might also interact with other similar compounds. In the same direction we theoretically investigated binding of a class of compounds, noscapinoids (noscapine and its derivatives) at the interface of the γ-tubulin dimer. Molecular interaction of noscapine and two of its derivatives, amino-noscapine and bromo-noscapine, was investigated by molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation and binding free energy calculation. All noscapinoids displayed stable interaction throughout simulation of 25 ns. The predictive binding free energy (ΔGbind) indicates that noscapinoids bind strongly with the γ-tubulin dimer. However, bromo-noscapine showed the best binding affinity (ΔGbind = –37.6 kcal/mol) followed by noscapine (ΔGbind = –29.85 kcal/mol) and amino-noscapine (ΔGbind = –23.99 kcal/mol) using the MM-PBSA method. Similarly using the MM-GBSA method, bromo-noscapine showed highest binding affinity (ΔGbind = –43.64 kcal/mol) followed by amino-noscapine (ΔGbind = –37.56 kcal/mol) and noscapine (ΔGbind = –34.57 kcal/mol). The results thus generate compelling evidence that these noscapinoids may hold great potential for preclinical and clinical evaluation.
Creation and measurement of nanodots with combined dynamic mode 'dip-pen' nanolithography based on atomic force microscope

Dip-pen nanolithography (DPN), based on atomic force microscope (AFM) system, is an effective method for nanoscale science and engineering and the potential applications of DPN feature in the fields of nanomechanics, nanomaterials, nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine and combined dynamic mode DPN, rather than the often used contact mode DPN or the tapping mode DPN, becomes an important tool for the creation of nanodots with the direct writing method of depositing the ink onto the hard silicon surface at the predetermined position with a very high resolution, which is presented in the corresponding experiments. For a better nanolithography quality of the nanodot, the nanolithography process, under the optimised process parameters, is accomplished once without the intermediate scan imaging process as much as possible. In addition, the size of the nanodots subsequently decreases with the increase of the number of the nanodots in the case of the AFM tip dipping in ink once. Consequently, for the creation of a nanodot within the controllable mass, the measurement scheme about the deposition mass of ink, theoretically analysed and experimentally achieved in the aspect of quantification, is also proposed in this Letter.
Modelling Architectural Design Rules in UML

Current techniques for modelling software architecture do not support the modelling of architectural design rules, which are recognized as important design artefacts by current research in software architecture. This is a problem in the context of Model-Driven Development in which it is assumed that major design artecacts are represented as formal or semi-formal models. This paper addresses this problem by proposing how architectural design rules could be expressed in UML in a meta-model for the system model.
Matching properties of MOS transistors

The matching properties of the threshold voltage, substrate factor, and current factor of MOS transistors have been analyzed and measured. Improvements to the existing theory are given, as well as extensions for long-distance matching and rotation of devices. Matching parameters of several processes are compared. The matching results have been verified by measurements and calculations on several basic circuits. >
Longitudinal Changes in Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness Evaluated Using Avanti Rtvue-XR Optical Coherence Tomography after 23G Vitrectomy for Epiretinal Membrane in Patients with Open-Angle Glaucoma

Objectives The aim of this study is to evaluate longitudinal RNFL thickness changes in patients with open-angle glaucoma (OAG) who underwent pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with epiretinal membrane (ERM) and ILM removal using OCT RTVue XR 100 Avanti. Methods Retrospective analysis of OCT scans of 40 patients who underwent PPV or combined phacovitrectomy with ILM peeling for the idiopathic ERM has been carried out. The patients were divided into two groups for the study: patients with the ERM and OAG and those with ERM without glaucoma. A trend analysis of the RNFL thickness changes in 1 month and 3, 6, and 12 months was created. Results At 1 month after surgery, the RNFL thickness increased significantly in the temporalis quadrant from 89.9 μm to 105.7 μm in patients with OAG. Comparison between group with OAG and group without glaucoma showed that the RNFLT in the temporalis quadrant decreased significantly 6 months after the surgery. Conclusion Postoperative changes in RNFL thickness appeared to be transient, and there was temporal retardation of the retinal nerve fibers without affecting visual acuity in both groups.
Devnagari document segmentation using histogram approach

Document segmentation is one of the critical phases in machine recognition of any language. Correct segmentation of individual symbols decides the accuracy of character recognition technique. It is used to decompose image of a sequence of characters into sub images of individual symbols by segmenting lines and words. Devnagari is the most popular script in India. It is used for writing Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit and Nepali languages. Moreover, Hindi is the third most popular language in the world. Devnagari documents consist of vowels, consonants and various modifiers. Hence proper segmentation of Devnagari word is challenging. A simple histogram based approach to segment Devnagari documents is proposed in this paper. Various challenges in segmentation of Devnagari script are also discussed.
Intrinsic defect in B-lymphoblastoid cell lines from patients with X-linked lymphoproliferative disease type 1. I. Cell surface phenotype and functional studies.

BACKGROUND Mutations in SH2D1A/DSHP/SAP gene are responsible for the onset of X-linked lymphoproliferative disease type 1 (XLP1) that have increased risk for B-cell lymphoma development. In XLP1 patients SAP deficient NK, NKT and CD8(+) cytotoxic T cells are inefficient in eliminating EBV-infected proliferating B cells that may partially contribute to the lymphoma development. However, little is known about impairment of B cell characteristics in XLP1. AIM To analyze the cell surface phenotype and functional characteristics of EBV-transformed B-lymphoblastoid cell lines from XLP1 patients (XLP B-LCLs) in comparison with conventional B-lymphoblastoid cell lines (B-LCLs). METHODS Studies were performed on SAP-negative B-LCLs T5-1, 6.16, RPMI 1788; SAP-positive B-LCL MP-1 and XLP B-LCLs IARC 739, XLP-D, XLP-8005. Cell surface immunophenotyping was performed using flow cytometry analysis. The level of apoptotic cells (Annexin V-binding), cell viability (MTT assay), and cell proliferation (trypan blue exclusion test) were evaluated in response to ligation of CD40, CD95, CD150 and IgM cell surface receptors. RESULTS A cell surface phenotype and functional features that distinguish XLP B-LCLs from conventional B-LCLs were revealed. XLP B-LCLs showed the upregulated level of CD20, CD38 and CD86 cell surface expression and downregulation of CD40, CD80 and CD150 expression. The major functional differences of XLP B-LCLs from conventional B-LCLs concern the modulation of CD95 apoptosis via CD40 and CD150 receptors and unresponsiveness to proliferative signals triggered by CD40 or colligation of BCR with CD150. CONCLUSION The data suggest that the B-LCL from XLP1 patients have an intrinsic defect that affects cell activation, apoptosis, and proliferation.
Statistical Entropy of Nonextremal Four-Dimensional Black Holes and U-Duality.

We identify the states in string theory which are responsible for the entropy of near-extremal rotating four-dimensional black holes in {ital N}=8 supergravity. For black holes far from extremality (with no rotation), the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy is exactly matched by a mysterious duality invariant extension of the formulas derived for near-extremal black holes states. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society. }
FimX, a Multidomain Protein Connecting EnvironmentalSignals to Twitching Motility in Pseudomonasaeruginosa

ABSTRACT Twitching motility is a form of surface translocation mediated by the extension, tethering, and retraction of type IV pili. Three independent Tn5-B21 mutations of Pseudomonas aeruginosa with reduced twitching motility were identified in a new locus which encodes a predicted protein of unknown function annotated PA4959 in the P. aeruginosa genome sequence. Complementation of these mutants with the wild-type PA4959 gene, which we designated fimX, restored normal twitching motility. fimX mutants were found to express normal levels of pilin and remained sensitive to pilus-specific bacteriophages, but they exhibited very low levels of surface pili, suggesting that normal pilus function was impaired. The fimX gene product has a molecular weight of 76,000 and contains four predicted domains that are commonly found in signal transduction proteins: a putative response regulator (CheY-like) domain, a PAS-PAC domain (commonly involved in environmental sensing), and DUF1 (or GGDEF) and DUF2 (or EAL) domains, which are thought to be involved in cyclic di-GMP metabolism. Red fluorescent protein fusion experiments showed that FimX is located at one pole of the cell via sequences adjacent to its CheY-like domain. Twitching motility in fimX mutants was found to respond relatively normally to a range of environmental factors but could not be stimulated by tryptone and mucin. These data suggest that fimX is involved in the regulation of twitching motility in response to environmental cues.