Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Small Molecule β2 Integrin Agonist Improves Chronic Kidney Allograft Survival by Reducing Leukocyte Recruitment and Accompanying Vasculopathy

Kidney allograft rejection is associated with infiltration of inflammatory CD11b+ leukocytes. A CD11b agonist leukadherin-1 (LA1) increases leukocyte adhesion, preventing their transmigration and tissue recruitment in vivo. Here, we test the extent to which LA1-mediated activation of CD11b/CD18 enhances kidney allograft survival in a mouse model of fully MHC-mismatched orthotopic kidney transplantation, where C57BL/6J (H-2b) recipients received kidney allografts from Balb/c mice (H-2d). Isograft control recipients received a kidney from a littermate. Control isograft and allograft recipients were treated daily with cyclosporine (CsA) for 2 weeks, while the test group received CsA therapy and daily LA1 injections during week 1 and alternate days during weeks 2–8. LA1 treatment reduced interstitial leukocyte infiltration in the allograft, reduced neointimal hyperplasia and glomerular damage, and prolonged graft survival from 48.5% (CsA only) to 100% (CsA and LA1) on day 60. Serum creatinine levels showed significantly improved kidney function in LA1-treated mice compared to CsA-treated allograft controls [0.52 ± 0.18 mg/dL vs 0.24 ± 0.07 mg/dL (n = 5), respectively]. Furthermore, combination therapy reduced macrophage infiltration and increased the frequency of FoxP3 + Tregs in the allograft. These findings indicate a crucial role for CD11b/CD18 in the control of leukocyte migration to the transplanted kidney and identify integrin agonist LA1 as a novel potential therapeutic agent for kidney transplantation.
Dopamine activates Nrf2‐regulated neuroprotective pathways in astrocytes and meningeal cells

The transcription factor Nrf2 controls inducible expression of multiple antioxidant/detoxification genes. We previously found that Nrf2‐/‐ mice have increased sensitivity to in vivo mitochondrial stress and ischemia. Although Nrf2 regulated these forms of neuronal toxicity, it was unclear which injury‐triggered signal(s) led to Nrf2 activation in vivo. In this study, we use primary cultures to test the hypothesis that excessive dopamine release can act as an endogenous Nrf2‐inducing signal. We cultured two cell types that show increased Nrf2 activity during ischemia in vivo, astrocytes and meningeal cells. Cultures were infected with an adenovirus reporter of Nrf2 transcriptional activity. Dopamine‐induced Nrf2 activity in both cell types by generating oxidative stressors, H2O2 and dopamine‐quinones. Nrf2 activation in meningeal cells was significantly higher than astrocytes. The effect of dopamine was blocked by antioxidants, and by over‐expression of either dominant‐negative Nrf2 or Keap1. Nrf2 induction was specific to oxidative stress caused by catecholaminergic neurotransmitters as epinephrine also induced Nrf2, but the monoamine serotonin had no significant effect. These in vitro results suggest Nrf2 activity in astrocytes and meningeal cells link the neurotoxic actions of dopamine to neuroprotective pathways that may potentially modulate ischemic injury and neurodegeneration.
ORIGINALNI NAUČNI RAD SECONDARY COMPLICATIONS AND ASSOCIATED INJURIES IN TRAUMATIC AND NONTRAUMATIC SPINAL CORD INJURY PATIENTS

SECONDARY COMPLICATIONS AND ASSOCIATED INJURIES IN TRAUMATIC AND NONTRAUMATIC SPINAL CORD INJURY PATIENTS Milicevic Sasa1, Bukumiric Zoran2, Karadzov Nikolic Aleksandra3, Sekulic Aleksandra1, Stevanovic Srbislav1, Jankovic Slobodan4 1Clinic for Rehabilitation “Dr M. Zotović”, Sokobanjska 13, Belgrade 2Medical Faculty in Pristina, Institute of Medical Statistics and Informatics, Kosovska Mitrovica 3Institut of Reumatology, Resavska 69, Belgrade 4Medical Faculty in Kragujevac, Institute of Pharmacology, Kragujevac
Intramedullary Nailing of Femoral Shaft Fractures in Adolescents

Summary: Twenty-two femoral shaft fractures in 20 patients aged 10-14 years with open physes treated with closed reamed intramedullary nailing were studied retrospectively. Follow-up averaged 26.7 months in 18 of 20 patients. Eleven additional patients with 11 femoral shaft fractures treated with casting and traction were included for comparison of hospitalization time, cost, and time to mobilization. All of the fractures treated with an intramedullary nail healed without malunion or leg length inequality, and there was no evidence of growth plate arrest. The patients treated with an intramedullary nail had statistically significant shorter hospitalizations and shorter times to mobilization, and treatment had an estimated cost of less than half of traction treatment. Results of this study suggest that closed intramedullary nailing of femur fractures in adolescents is an effective treatment option.
Gear Fault Diagnosis Based on Recurrence Network

Gear is one of the most important components in rotary machine systems. The vibration signals generated from gearbox show strong nonlinearity or chaotic behavior. To identify the complex nonlinear behavior of gear faults, recurrence network is introduced to extract features of gear vibration under different conditions. Quantitative characteristics (such as mean degree centrality, global clustering coefficient, or assortativity of the recurrence network) related to the dynamical complexity of a time series are chosen to help classify the different faults. Experimental study on four different gear conditions has proved that the recurrence network provides a good alternative approach to characterize gear fault.
Determinants of Market Share of For-Profit Hospitals: An Empirical Examination

This study estimates the effects of a prospective payment system on the growth of for-profit hospitals. The empirical results show that the proportion of patient care paid for by Medicare managed care has a positive, statistically significant relationship with the market share of for-profit hospitals. Medicare managed care reimburses health care providers prospectively, and a larger portion of prospective reimbursements is received by for-profit hospitals, whose market share consequently increases. In addition, the proportion of patients with Medi-Cal and third party managed care has a positive, statistically significant relationship with the market share of for-profit hospitals.
CombiTool - A New Computer Program for Analyzing Combination Experiments with Biologically Active Agents

CombiTool is a new computer program for the analysis of combination effects of biologically active agents. It performs model calculations and an analysis of experimental combination effects for two or three agents according to both the Bliss independence and the Loewe additivity criteria. Zero interaction response surfaces are calculated from single-agent dose-response relations and compared to experimental combination data. The calculation of response surfaces for Loewe additivity is based on a new approach which combines the implicit definition equation in terms of doses alone with single-agent dose-response relations. The simultaneous analysis of experimental data according to both Loewe additivity and Bliss independence within one program can hopefully contribute to a better understanding of the meaning and limits of the two criteria. CombiTool has a built-in graphics facility which allows the direct visualization of the response surfaces or the corresponding contour plots and the experimental data.
SIMPLIFIED 2-state Detectors for SOQPSK-TG and SOQPSK-MIL

We study simple trellis-based detectors for SOQPSK that have a minimal level of complexity. In particular, we show that the state complexity can be cut in half relative to previous approaches—from 4 states down to 2—with asymptotically optimum performance. We give two possible means of achieving this: the pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) technique and the pulse truncation (PT) technique; both of these techniques make use of recent advances in SOQPSK technology based on a continuous phase modulation (CPM) interpretation of SOQPSK. The proposed simplifications are significant since trellisbased SOQPSK detectors are 1–2 dB superior to widely-deployed symbol-by-symbol detectors. These performance gains come at the expense of complexity, and the proposed 2-state detectors minimize this expense. Thus, these simple detection schemes are applicable in settings where high-performance and low complexity are needed to meet restrictions on power consumption and cost. Introduction Shaped-offset QPSK is a type of continuous phase modulation (CPM) [1] which is highly bandwidth efficient. While CPMs have a number of advantages, one advantage in particular is responsible for its widespread deployment: it has a constant signal envelope. This makes it compatible with nonlinear power amplifiers, which are highly efficient in converting limited (i.e. battery) power into radiated power. This in turn allows for a smaller physical size and lower cost for the transmitter. To date, SOQPSK has been incorporated into military and aeronautical telemetry standards, although wider use is merited since it is applicable in any setting where bandwidth-efficient constant-envelope modulations are needed. In addition to its name, SOQPSK shares a number of similarities with conventional offset QPSK (OQPSK). These similarities are exploited at the receiver, where OQPSK-type detectors are the most commonly deployed means of detecting SOQPSK. The advantage of the OQPSK interpretation of SOQPSK is its simplicity. Thus, the low-cost advantage of SOQPSK can be shared by the transmitter and the receiver. However, the disadvantage of OQPSK-type detectors is that they are suboptimal by 1–2 dB,
Generation and analysis of large synthetic social contact networks

We describe “first principles” based methods for developing synthetic urban and national scale social contact networks. Unlike simple random graph techniques, these methods use real world data sources and combine them with behavioral and social theories to synthesize networks. We develop a synthetic population for the United States modeling every individual in the population including household structure, demographics and a 24-hour activity sequence. The process involves collecting and manipulating public and proprietary data sets integrated into a common architecture for data exchange and then using these data sets to generate new relations. A social contact network is derived from the synthetic population based on physical co-location of interacting persons. We use graph measures to compare and contrast the structural characteristics of the social networks that span different urban regions. We then simulate diffusion processes on these networks and analyze similarities and differences in the structure of the networks.
Nucleotide sequence analysis of the Pseudomonas putida PpG7 salicylate hydroxylase gene (nahG) and its 3'-flanking region.

Gene nahG of naphthalene/salicylate catabolic plasmid NAH7 encodes a protein of molecular weight 45,000, salicylate hydroxylase. This enzyme catalyzes the formation of catechol from salicylate, a key intermediate in naphthalene catabolism. DNA sequence analysis of the 3.1-kilobase HindIII fragment containing the nahG locus reveals an open reading frame (ORF) of 1305 base pairs that corresponds to a protein of 434 amino acid residues. The predicted amino acid sequence of salicylate hydroxylase is in agreement with the molecular weight, NH2-terminal amino acid sequence, and total amino acid composition of the purified salicylate hydroxylase [You, I. -S. , Murray, R. I. , Jollie, D. , & Gunsalus, I. C. (1990) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 169, 1049-1054]. The amino acid sequence between positions 8 and 37 of salicylate hydroxylase shows homology with known ADP binding sites of other FAD-containing oxidoreductases, thus confirming its biochemical function. The sequence of the Pseudomonas putida salicylate hydroxylase was compared with those of other similar flavoproteins. A small DNA segment (831 base pairs) disrupts the continuity of the known gene order nahG and nahH, the latter encoding catechol 2,3-dioxygenase. The complete nucleotide sequence of the intergenic region spanning genes nahG and nahH has been determined and its biological role proposed.
Dense depth maps-based human pose tracking and recognition in dynamic scenes using ridge data

This paper addresses the problem of automatic detection, tracking and recognition of three-dimensional human poses from monocular depth video sequences for machine vision applications. In this paper, we present a real-time tracking system for body parts pose recognition utilizing ridge data of depth maps. At first, the depth maps are processed to extract features by considering ridge data surrounded by binary edges silhouettes acting as skeleton shape of human body. Then, the pose estimation is applied to initialize each body parts having joint points information using predefined pose. For body part tracking, all features (i.e., ridge data or depth values) are extracted according to a continuously updated torso-center, head and body part joint points. This help to provide the estimation of 3D body joint angles using the forward kinematic analysis. Our experimental results believe that the proposed method is reliable and efficient for tracking and recognizing the exact skeleton for even dynamic scenes and complex human pose.
Hierarchical Phrase-Based Translation System

We present an open source translation system that provides a clean-room implementation of the hierarchical phrase-based statistical translation model introduced in (Chiang, 2005) and refined in (Chiang, 2007). To our knowledge this is the first freely available hierarchical phrase-based translation system which implements cube pruning. We introduce extensions to (Chiang, 2007) to take advantage of multiple source languages.
Image Processing Algorithms and Measures for the Analysis of Biomedical Imaging Systems Applications

The medical profession has changed dramatically in the past decade due to the advances in engineering innovations. Traditionally, medical doctors relied solely on their training and experience for diagnosis and interpretation of medical conditions captured through a variety of imaging techniques. Typically, these images are produced from CAT scan machines, MRI, or X-rays. Today, computer aided techniques are designed to enhance the visual quality of biomedical images to better help humans discriminate regions of interest, such as the presence of cancer. Since these enhanced images are intended to assist the medical professional in making a diagnosis or to track the progress of a treatment, it is important that abnormalities presented in the images are actual objects and not artifacts resulting from the enhancement process that could lead to an inaccurate diagnosis. Too much information presented can be distracting for the viewer and too little information presented could be disastrous for the patient, should a life-threatening abnormality be missed or filtered out. Therefore, the dilemma lies in answering the question: “What is the best image to use? ” The answer has always been subjective due to the perspective of the human observer and what constitutes the desired target object to be detected. For instance, some doctors looking at a scan may be interested in masses; another doctor may want to focus on calcifications or, even perhaps, the blood vessels. In this special issue, articles are presented that address this question for several different biomedical image processing applications. Several novel quantifiable evaluation methods that can rank the quality of a processed image in accordance with human visual perception are introduced. These metrics are rigorously compared to evaluations obtained from human evaluators using the “Mean Opinion Score” (MOS), along with other standard benchmarking techniques. The innovative approaches presented in this issue are sure to lead the biomedical image processing field beyond one of an “assistive technology” to one that creates a reliable, accurate autonomous technology for use in distance and robot vision applications. Achieving these goals will forge new groundbreaking paths that will reach into and serve remote populations of the world.
Turbo packet combining techniques for multi-relay-assisted systems over multi-antenna broadband channels

This paper focuses on turbo packet combining techniques for multi-relay-assisted systems operating over multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) broadband channel. Two packet combining techniques are studied, signal-level packet combining and soft information-based combining. In this paper, a comparative study, in term of implementation cost and performance evaluation, is presented. Using complexity analysis and throughput simulations, we demonstrate that the choice of the best combining technique depends on the system configuration.
The benefits of computational modelling for the study of developmental disorders: extending the Triesch et al. model to ADHD.

In this commentary, we focus on two aspects of the target article. The first is the decision to separate the gaze following model into two trainable components, a ‘When’ component to determine when to shift gaze and a ‘Where’ component to determine where gaze should be shifted to. The second is the lesson that the authors draw regarding multiple causality in developmental disorders, that is, from the finding that very different computational causes can lead to similar deficits in the emergence of gaze following. In that context, we assess a version of the gaze following model given Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Persuasion detection in conversation

Abstract : In this thesis, we present a system for annotating persuasion in conversation based on a social-psychological model. We augmented the social model developed by James Cialdini with some of our own categories for annotators to label. The conversations consisted of 37 hostage negotiation transcripts from private and public sources, with all personal information removed from the private source transcripts. We evaluated the level of agreement between annotators using Cohen's Kappa measurement. Our initial results showed only fair to moderate agreement, with an average kappa score around 0.41 for transcripts of significant length (over 200 utterances). Based on these results, annotators revised the annotation model and eliminated some categories of persuasion while adding "other" as a catchall for any persuasive utterance not covered by Cialdini. The revised model showed a significant increase in agreement with an average kappa score of 0.78 for transcripts of significant length (over 200 utterances). Based on this revised model, annotators adjudicated a final persuasion corpus for the 37 transcripts that will be used in future works on persuasion detection.
A Gradient Learning Optimization for Dynamic Power Management

Dynamic power management (DPM) is a power dissipation reduction technology aimed to adapting the power and performance of a system to its workload. In this paper, we propose a gradient learning optimization method for the DPM problem. Our method does not depend on accurate model parameters and is only based on a single sample path of system. Thus, there is no any transition probability to be calculated. Moreover, the new method only need less storage for the performance optimization. Simulation results demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method.
Effects of Strength Training Associated With Whole-Body Vibration Training on Running Economy and Vertical Stiffness

Abstract Roschel, H, Barroso, R, Tricoli, V, Batista, MAB, Acquesta, FM, Serrão, JC, and Ugrinowitsch, C. Effects of strength training associated with whole-body vibration training on running economy and vertical stiffness. J Strength Cond Res 29(8): 2215–2220, 2015—Running economy (RE) is defined as the energy cost to maintain a submaximal running velocity and seems to be affected by individual's neuromuscular characteristics, such as stiffness level. Both resistance training (RT) and whole-body vibration training added to RT (WBV + RT) have been shown to influence those characteristics. Thus, it is conceivable that RT and WBV + RT could also affect RE. The objective of this study was to investigate if a 6-week training period of RT and WBV + RT influences RE and vertical stiffness (VS). Fifteen recreational runners were divided into RT or WBV + RT groups. Running economy, VS, and lower-limb maximum dynamic strength (1 repetition maximum [1RM] half-squat) were assessed before and after the 6-week training period. There was a main time effect for 1RM, but no other statistically significant difference was observed. Neither conventional RT nor RT performed on a WBV platform improved VS and RE in recreational long distance runners. It is possible that movement velocity was rather low, and utilization of stretch-shortening cycle might have been compromised, impairing any expected improvement in RE.
Fingerprinting Lexical Contexts over the Web

In this paper a novel technique for identifying lexical contexts in web resources is presented. The basic idea is to consider web site anchortexts as lexicalized descriptions of an individual ontology organized in the form of a graph of concept words. In the search for peculiar semantic patterns, the concept of web minutia (transposed from the forensic domain) is introduced. The proposed technique consists in searching for web minutiae in the analyzed web sites by means of a golden ontology. Web minutiae act as fingerprints for context-specific web resources; in this sense they are a powerful computational tool to identify and categorize the Web. The WordNet database has been used as golden ontology for our experiments on English web documents. WordNet allows for indexing and retrieving word senses and inter- word taxonomical relations like hyponymy and hypernymy. It has proven to be an efficient mediator between web ontologies and context-dependent taxonomies. Our experiments have been carried out on a preliminary data set of several tens of thousand links taken by web sites of thirteen UK universities. Preliminary results seem to confirm the ability of web minutiae to identify lexical contexts across the Web.
Effect of daylight projection of film loops on learning badminton.

Abstract This study was made to ascertain the value of the new loop film projection equipment as a supplemental aid in teaching sports skills. Sixty male college undergraduate students were taught badminton in classes that met three times per week for 10 weeks. Two of the four classes had their instruction supplemented by viewing homemade loop films of the seven basic badminton strokes and loops showing singles and doubles play. The loops were placed in and projected by the new equipment produced by the Technicolor Corporation. The class members were required to view the films on two separate occasions during each class meeting of the 2nd through the 5th weeks. During the 7th and 8th weeks, the viewing was required of only those students who displayed a pronounced skill deficiency. Otherwise viewing was voluntary. Playing ability was determined by administering a battery of three separate skill tests during the 1st, 6th, and 10th weeks of the term. The midterm testing revealed that the experimental group .