Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification and Characterization of Glucoresponsive Neurons in the Enteric Nervous System

We tested the hypothesis that a subset of enteric neurons is glucoresponsive and expresses ATP-sensitive K+(KATP) channels. The immunoreactivities of the inwardly rectifying K+ channel 6.2 (Kir6.2) and the sulfonylurea receptor (SUR), now renamed SUR1, subunits of pancreatic β-cell KATP channels, were detected on cholinergic neurons in the guinea pig ileum, many of which were identified as sensory by their costorage of substance P and/or calbindin. Glucoresponsive neurons were distinguished in the myenteric plexus because of the hyperpolarization and decrease in membrane input resistance that were observed in response to removal of extracellular glucose. The effects of no-glucose were reversed on the reintroduction of glucose or by the KATP channel inhibitor tolbutamide. No reversal of the hyperpolarization was observed whend- mannoheptulose, a hexokinase inhibitor, was present on the reintroduction of glucose. Application of the KATPchannel opener diazoxide or the ob gene product leptin mimicked the effect of glucose removal in a reversible manner; moreover, hyperpolarizations evoked by either agent were inhibited by tolbutamide. Glucoresponsive neurons displayed leptin receptor immunoreactivity, which was widespread in both enteric plexuses. Superfusion of diazoxide inhibited fast synaptic activity in myenteric neurons, via activation of presynaptic KATP channels. Diazoxide also produced a decrease in colonic motility. These experiments demonstrate for the first time the presence of glucoresponsive neurons in the gut. We propose that the glucose-induced excitation of these neurons be mediated by inhibition of KATP channels. The results support the idea that enteric KATP channels play a role in glucose-evoked reflexes.
Ablation of atrial fibrillation in valvular heart surgery: are results determined by underlying valve disease?

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY Although, in recent years, atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation has become an effective concomitant procedure in cardiac surgery, it is unclear whether the outcome of the procedure is determined by the underlying valve disease. METHODS Between 2003 and 2005, 191 patients (100 females, 91 males; mean age 70+/-8.7 years) underwent concomitant left atrial (LA) ablation. Among these patients, those with permanent AF (pAF) and mitral (MVD; n = 64), aortic (AVD; n = 37), and combined valve disease (CVD; n = 23) were prospectively studied after three, six and 12 months, and annually thereafter. The predictive values of preoperative variables for postoperative AF were examined. RESULTS AVD patients were older than MVD patients (74 +/-7.8 versus 66+/-8.6 years; p <0.001), and presented smaller atria (48+/- 5.7 versus 53+/-8.0 mm; p <0.05), but CVD patients were similar to MVD patients in terms of these parameters (age 70+/-9.3 years, LA diameter 54+/-9.6 mm). Ablation caused no injury or death in any of the patients. Within 30 days after surgery, three (4.7%), three (8.1%) and two (8.7%) of the MVD, AVD and CVD patients, respectively, had died (6.4% overall mortality). The sinus rhythm (SR) conversion rate was 76.8, 63.3 and 58.8% (p = NS) after a mean follow up (FU) of 10+/-4.0, 9+/-4.2 and 10+/-3.9 months (p = NS) in the MVD, AVD and CVD groups, respectively. FU was 97% complete. During FU, four (6.6%), two (5.9%) and four (19.0%) MVD, AVD and CVD patients died, respectively. Univariate analysis demonstrated a shorter AF duration (42+/-49.0 versus 85+/-67.2 months; p <0.05) and smaller LA diameter (50+/-8.1 versus 55+/-9.2 mm; p <0.05) in patients with SR versus non-SR. Multivariate analysis revealed AF duration (Odds ratio (OR) 1.01, 95% CI 1.00-1.02, p <0.05) and LA diameter (OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.01-1.15, p <0.05) as independent predictors of SR conversion. Overall, 86% of patients with two or less years' duration of pAF were in SR at FU. CONCLUSION AF duration and LA diameter, but not the type of valve disease, predict SR conversion after concomitant ablation of pAF in valvular heart surgery.
Muscle Activity Adaptations to Spinal Tissue Creep in the Presence of Muscle Fatigue

Aim The aim of this study was to identify adaptations in muscle activity distribution to spinal tissue creep in presence of muscle fatigue. Methods Twenty-three healthy participants performed a fatigue task before and after 30 minutes of passive spinal tissue deformation in flexion. Right and left erector spinae activity was recorded using large-arrays surface electromyography (EMG). To characterize muscle activity distribution, dispersion was used. During the fatigue task, EMG amplitude root mean square (RMS), median frequency and dispersion in x- and y-axis were compared before and after spinal creep. Results Important fatigue-related changes in EMG median frequency were observed during muscle fatigue. Median frequency values showed a significant main creep effect, with lower median frequency values on the left side under the creep condition (p≤0.0001). A significant main creep effect on RMS values was also observed as RMS values were higher after creep deformation on the right side (p = 0.014); a similar tendency, although not significant, was observed on the left side (p = 0.06). A significant creep effects for x-axis dispersion values was observed, with higher dispersion values following the deformation protocol on the left side (p≤0.001). Regarding y-axis dispersion values, a significant creep x fatigue interaction effect was observed on the left side (p = 0.016); a similar tendency, although not significant, was observed on the right side (p = 0.08). Conclusion Combined muscle fatigue and creep deformation of spinal tissues led to changes in muscle activity amplitude, frequency domain and distribution.
[Evaluation of health care].

The module content includes: alternative methods of clinical evaluation, such as observational and experimental designs, as well as systematic reviews of clinical evidence and meta-analysis; the measurement and valuation of health outcome; introduction to welfare economics; alternative approaches to questions of social choice; different methods of economic evaluation, such as cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis;, appropriate decision rules in economic evaluation; discounting health benefits; and the role of decision analytic modelling in the evaluation of health care technologies.
Uric acid association with pulsatile and steady components of central and peripheral blood pressures

Objective: Whether the cardiovascular risk attributed to elevated uric acid levels may be explained by changes in central and peripheral pulsatile and/or steady blood pressure (BP) components remains controversial. Methods: In a cross-sectional analysis of normotensive and untreated hypertensive participants of the CARTaGENE populational cohort, we examined the relationship between uric acid, and both pulsatile and steady components of peripheral and central BP, using sex-stratified linear regressions. Results: Of the 20 004 participants, 10 161 individuals without antihypertensive or uric acid-lowering drugs had valid pulse wave analysis and serum uric acid levels. In multivariate analysis, pulsatile components of BP were not associated with uric acid levels, whereas steady components [mean BP (MBP), peripheral and central DBP] were all associated with higher levels of uric acid levels in women and men (all P < 0.001). Furthermore, there was a gradual increase of central SBP (cSBP), DBP and MBP from the lowest to the highest quintiles of uric acid levels but not for MBP-adjusted cSBP. Peripheral and cSBP, which are aggregate measures of pulsatile and steady BP, were also associated with uric acid levels in women (&bgr; = 0.063 and 0.072, respectively, both P < 0.001) and men (&bgr; = 0.043 and 0.051, both P ⩽ 0.003). After further adjustments for MBP to account for the concomitant increase in steady component of BP, SBPs were no longer associated with uric acid levels. Conclusion: Serum uric acid levels appear to be associated with both central and peripheral steady but not pulsatile BP, regardless of sex.
Convergent evolution toward an improved growth rate and a reduced resistance range in Prochlorococcus strains resistant to phage

Significance High abundances of the important primary producing cyanobacterium, Prochlorococcus, and its parasitic phages, inhabit vast expanses of the world’s oceans. Their coexistence is facilitated by genetic diversity that has led to an assortment of Prochlorococcus subpopulations with differences in susceptibility and resistance to co-occurring phages. Here, we investigated the fate of recently emerging phage-resistant Prochlorococcus strains. We found that genetic diversification increases, as these strains evolve toward an improved growth rate and reduced resistance range, leading to phenotypes intermediary between the original susceptible and initial resistant strains. These findings suggest a continual increase in the combinatorial interactions between Prochlorococcus and its phages and that the oceans are populated with rapidly growing Prochlorococcus cells with varying degrees of phage resistance. Prochlorococcus is an abundant marine cyanobacterium that grows rapidly in the environment and contributes significantly to global primary production. This cyanobacterium coexists with many cyanophages in the oceans, likely aided by resistance to numerous co-occurring phages. Spontaneous resistance occurs frequently in Prochlorococcus and is often accompanied by a pleiotropic fitness cost manifested as either a reduced growth rate or enhanced infection by other phages. Here, we assessed the fate of a number of phage-resistant Prochlorococcus strains, focusing on those with a high fitness cost. We found that phage-resistant strains continued evolving toward an improved growth rate and a narrower resistance range, resulting in lineages with phenotypes intermediate between those of ancestral susceptible wild-type and initial resistant substrains. Changes in growth rate and resistance range often occurred in independent events, leading to a decoupling of the selection pressures acting on these phenotypes. These changes were largely the result of additional, compensatory mutations in noncore genes located in genomic islands, although genetic reversions were also observed. Additionally, a mutator strain was identified. The similarity of the evolutionary pathway followed by multiple independent resistant cultures and clones suggests they undergo a predictable evolutionary pathway. This process serves to increase both genetic diversity and infection permutations in Prochlorococcus populations, further augmenting the complexity of the interaction network between Prochlorococcus and its phages in nature. Last, our findings provide an explanation for the apparent paradox of a multitude of resistant Prochlorococcus cells in nature that are growing close to their maximal intrinsic growth rates.
Psychological Distress and Breast Self-Examination Frequency in Women at Increased Risk for Hereditary or Familial Breast Cancer

Background: The Magnetic Resonance Imaging Screening study evaluates the efficacy and psychological impact of a surveillance program for women at increased risk for hereditary or familial breast cancer in the Netherlands. Surveillance consists of biannual physical examination, annual mammography, annual MRI and monthly breast self-examination (BSE). Objective: To examine the association between psychological distress and reported BSE frequency. Methods: Two months prior to surveillance demographics, BSE frequency, general distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the somatic scale of the Symptom Checklist-90) and breast cancer-specific distress (Impact of Event Scale) were assessed in 316 women (mean age 40.5 years, range 21–63 years). Results: The majority (57%) reported performing monthly BSE. Ten percent reported never performing BSE, 20% less frequently than once a month and 13% at least once a week. Women below the age of 40 who examined their breasts more frequently than recommended (i.e. at least once a week) were shown to be significantly more distressed than the other women in the sample (p = 0.03). These women represented 15% of all the women below the age of 40 years in our study sample. Conclusion: Higher breast cancer-specific distress scores were observed among younger women who examined their breasts at least once a week. It is important for physicians to be aware of this hypervigilant behaviour, especially since it is correlated with breast cancer-specific distress.
Contradiction Resolution of Competitive and Input Neurons to Improve Prediction and Visualization Performance

In this paper, we propose a new type of informationtheoretic method to resolve the contradiction observed in competitive and input neurons. For competitive neurons, contradiction between self-evaluation (individuality) and outer-evaluation (collectivity) exists, which is reduced to realize the self-organizing maps. For input neurons, there exists contradiction between the use of many and few input neurons. We try to realize a situation where as many input neurons as possible are used, and at the same time, another where only a few input neurons are used. This contradictory situation can be resolved by viewing input neurons on different levels, namely, the individual and average level. We applied contradiction resolution to two data sets, namely, the Japanese short term economy survey (Tankan) and Dollar-Yen exchange rates. In both data sets, we succeeded in improving the prediction performance. Many input neurons were used on average, but a few input neurons were only taken for each input pattern. In addition, connection weights were condensed into a small number of distinct groups for better prediction and interpretation performance.
Health IT and Ambulatory Care Quality

US government investments in health information technology (IT) reflect the significant promise of digitization for improving quality and efficiency in health care. Previous studies of the impact of health IT have focused on the hospital setting, despite the fact that most care is delivered in ambulatory settings. This paper addresses the research omission by studying the effects of healthcare IT on ambulatory care, which we measure using the rate of hospital admissions for conditions identified as sensitive to ambulatory care quality in data drawn from Medicare and the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. Results from difference-in-differences models that control for location and time fixed effects, as well as observable factors related to healthcare quality and population demographics, indicate that increased ambulatory IT adoption lowers local area ambulatory care sensitive (ACS) hospitalizations, suggesting quality improvements. The magnitudes imply that a 45% increase in ambulatory IT adoption in a county (the average increase over our sample period 2003-2012) lowers the ACS admission rate in that county by about 1.6%.
Hydrodynamics Simulation on Axisymmetric Bodies Emerging from an Infinite Moving Plane

A computation program has been developed for calculating the time-dependent velocity potential and added mass on the wetted surface of axisymmetric bodies emerging from an infinite, moving plane at an arbitrary angle of attack, using Hess-Smith method. To obtain time-varying solutions for hydrodynamics forces and moments on the prescribed body, the Kelvin-Kirchhoff equations of motion have been extended from the classic expression to equations including the effects of time-dependent terms. Numerical values evaluated from an emerging sphere are given and compared with those of literature, validating accuracy of the program and the modified equations.
PERCEIVED STRESS SCALE

The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is the most widely used psychological instrument for measuring the perception of stress. It is a measure of the degree to which situations in one’s life are appraised as stressful. Items were designed to tap how unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded respondents find their lives. The scale also includes a number of direct queries about current levels of experienced stress. The PSS was designed for use in community samples with at least a junior high school education. The items are easy to understand, and the response alternatives are simple to grasp. Moreover, the questions are of a general nature and hence are relatively free of content specific to any subpopulation group. The questions in the PSS ask about feelings and thoughts during the last month. In each case, respondents are asked how often they felt a certain way.
Image Normalization Robust using Histogram Equalization and Logarithm Transform Frequency DCT Coefficients for Illumination in Facial Images

: A new approach used for image normalization illumination under varying lighting conditions is presented. The discrete cosine transform (DCT) method is applied on the images captured under varying lighting conditions. Illumination variation is one of intractable crucial problems in face recognition and many lighting normalization approaches have been proposed in the past decades. Most of the illumination corresponds to low frequency region. Face recognition algorithms have to deal variations as well as various facial features of a human face dealing with variations between gallery and probe images. In this paper, we propose a scaling of low frequency DCT coefficients is utilized for normalization method, which performs adaptive preprocessing for each testing image according to its lighting attribute. A proper way of scaling low frequency DCT coefficients is utilized by illumination normalization. The images captured under varying illumination have low contrast. For contrast stretching the adaptive histogram equalization is applied on face images. The comparative results are provided to evaluate the imaging hardware, the face and eye detection algorithms, and the face recognition algorithms and systems, with respect to various factors, including illumination, eyeglasses, time lapse, and so on. To analyze our illumination normalization method, we have used Yale Face Database. The results show better appearance of images and have been discussed with other approaches.
Integrated Metagenomic and Physiochemical Analyses to Evaluate the Potential Role of Microbes in the Sand Filter of a Drinking Water Treatment System

While sand filters are widely used to treat drinking water, the role of sand filter associated microorganisms in water purification has not been extensively studied. In the current investigation, we integrated molecular (based on metagenomic) and physicochemical analyses to elucidate microbial community composition and function in a common sand filter used to treat groundwater for potable consumption. The results revealed that the biofilm developed rapidly within 2 days (reaching ∼1011 prokaryotes per gram) in the sand filter along with abiotic and biotic particulates accumulated in the interstitial spaces. Bacteria (up to 90%) dominated the biofilm microbial community, with Alphaproteobacteria being the most common class. Thaumarchaeota was the sole phylum of Archaea, which might be involved in ammonia oxidation. Function annotation of metagenomic datasets revealed a number of aromatic degradation pathway genes, such as aromatic oxygenase and dehydrogenase genes, in the biofilm, suggesting a significant role for microbes in the breakdown of aromatic compounds in groundwater. Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification pathways were confirmed as the primary routes of nitrogen removal. Dissolved heavy metals in groundwater, e.g. Mn2+ and As3+, might be biologically oxidized to insoluble or easily adsorbed compounds and deposited in the sand filter. Our study demonstrated that the role of the microbial community in the sand filter treatment system are critical to effective water purification in drinking water.
Crowdsensing with Social Network-Aided Collaborative Trust Scores

Crowdsensing has appeared as a viable solution for data gathering in many applications with the advent of three emerging paradigms, namely Internet of Things, cloud computing, and mobile social networks. Built-in sensors in mobile devices can leverage the performance of the IoT applications in terms of energy and communication overhead savings by sending their data to the cloud servers. When crowdsensing is used for critical applications such as disaster/crisis management and/or public safety in the context of a smart city, trustworthiness of the collected data occurs as a crucial concern. In this paper, we propose using social network theory to evaluate trustworthiness of crowdsensed data, as well as the mobile devices that provide sensing services. To this end, we combine centralized reputation- based evaluation with collaborative reputation values based on votes and vote capacities. We model each participant as a node in a social network where nodes are inter-connected through their interaction values. Interaction stands for being assigned common sensing tasks. We evaluate the performance of our proposal through simulations, and show that use of social network theory-based crowdsensing with combined reputation formulation significantly improves the utility of the crowdsensing platform while dramatically reducing the manipulation probability of malicious nodes.
The application of C4.5 algorithm based on SMOTE in financial distress prediction model

Datasets used in financial distress forecast are unbalanced. The traditional method gets lower predict accuracy especially in small samples of unbalanced datasets. The datasets are balanced with SMOTE method and then classified with the classical decision tree algorithm C4.5. The results show that the prediction model based on C4.5 algorithm gets the better performance.
Lightglove: wrist-worn virtual typing and pointing

We present the "Lightglove", a watch-size wireless virtual typing device worn underneath the wrist(s), with light beams sensing fingertips and motion sensors tracking hand movement. A miniature keyboard image is superimposed over the user's application on the host system display, and active keys corresponding to each finger are highlighted and pan around the key-map as the hand moves. Typing and pointing actions are similar to those with conventional keyboard and mouse, as though a physical device were underneath the hand. When the cursor moves out of the keyboard display area the Lightglove acts as a pointer (mouse). Applications include computer/PDA input, gaming control, TV remote control, and musical applications.
In Situ Photodegradation of Incorporated Polyanion Does Not Alter Prion Infectivity

Single-stranded polyanions ≥40 bases in length facilitate the formation of hamster scrapie prions in vitro, and polyanions co-localize with PrPSc aggregates in vivo [1], [2]. To test the hypothesis that intact polyanionic molecules might serve as a structural backbone essential for maintaining the infectious conformation(s) of PrPSc, we produced synthetic prions using a photocleavable, 100-base oligonucleotide (PC-oligo). In serial Protein Misfolding Cyclic Amplification (sPMCA) reactions using purified PrPC substrate, PC-oligo was incorporated into physical complexes with PrPSc molecules that were resistant to benzonase digestion. Exposure of these nuclease-resistant prion complexes to long wave ultraviolet light (315 nm) induced degradation of PC-oligo into 5 base fragments. Light-induced photolysis of incorporated PC-oligo did not alter the infectivity of in vitro-generated prions, as determined by bioassay in hamsters and brain homogenate sPMCA assays. Neuropathological analysis also revealed no significant differences in the neurotropism of prions containing intact versus degraded PC-oligo. These results show that polyanions >5 bases in length are not required for maintaining the infectious properties of in vitro-generated scrapie prions, and indicate that such properties are maintained either by short polyanion remnants, other co-purified cofactors, or by PrPSc molecules alone.