Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Extractable Insulin Content of Pancreas from Fetuses and Infants of Diabetic and Control Mothers

The acid ethanol extractable insulin content of pancreases from thirty-seven infants and three early fetuses of diabetic and control mothers has been measured and their islet cell histology was studied. In general there was good agreement between these two parameters. Pancreatic insulin could be detected in one of two twelve-week old fetuses examined and in the pancreas of a fourteen-week old fetus of a diabetic mother. The remaining thirty-seven pancreases were obtained from fetuses of gestational age twenty weeks to term, nine of whom were offspring of diabetic mothers. The latter contained more insulin than the corresponding control group. The possible mechanisms are discussed; the hyperglycemic hypothesis is favored.
Dietary species richness as a measure of food biodiversity and nutritional quality of diets

Significance Current research linking biodiversity and human diets has used metrics without justification from a nutritional point of view. Diet species richness, or a count of the number of different species consumed per day, assesses both nutritional adequacy and food biodiversity of diets for women and children in rural areas. The positive association of food species richness with dietary quality was observed in both the wet and the dry season. Food biodiversity contributes to diet quality in vulnerable populations in areas with high biodiversity. Reporting the number of species consumed during dietary assessment provides a unique opportunity to cut across two critical dimensions of sustainable development—human and environmental health—and complements existing indicators for healthy and sustainable diets. Biodiversity is key for human and environmental health. Available dietary and ecological indicators are not designed to assess the intricate relationship between food biodiversity and diet quality. We applied biodiversity indicators to dietary intake data from and assessed associations with diet quality of women and young children. Data from 24-hour diet recalls (55% in the wet season) of n = 6,226 participants (34% women) in rural areas from seven low- and middle-income countries were analyzed. Mean adequacies of vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, calcium, iron, and zinc and diet diversity score (DDS) were used to assess diet quality. Associations of biodiversity indicators with nutrient adequacy were quantified using multilevel models, receiver operating characteristic curves, and test sensitivity and specificity. A total of 234 different species were consumed, of which <30% were consumed in more than one country. Nine species were consumed in all countries and provided, on average, 61% of total energy intake and a significant contribution of micronutrients in the wet season. Compared with Simpson’s index of diversity and functional diversity, species richness (SR) showed stronger associations and better diagnostic properties with micronutrient adequacy. For every additional species consumed, dietary nutrient adequacy increased by 0.03 (P < 0.001). Diets with higher nutrient adequacy were mostly obtained when both SR and DDS were maximal. Adding SR to the minimum cutoff for minimum diet diversity improved the ability to detect diets with higher micronutrient adequacy in women but not in children. Dietary SR is recommended as the most appropriate measure of food biodiversity in diets.
The Online C-Test: Evaluating a discipline-specific academic literacy competency assessment tool

This paper examines the use of an experimental online post-entry language assessment (PELA) tool during the first year of an undergraduate Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) course provided by an Australian university. The research was conducted in response to English language teaching staff, subject lecturers, and the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) expressing concern that students were engaging with the ICT course without appropriate English language proficiency. The response to these concerns was for the authors to implement an assessment of English language competency to establish the extent of the concerns, and to provide recommendations as how these issues could be addressed. Three forms of testing were employed, a reading/summarising exercise, a listening test, and the online discipline-specific literacy assessment tool. More specifically, this paper details the design and evaluation of the latter online assessment tool utilising the ‘C-Test’ procedure. The outcomes of this research were twofold. First, it identified that as many as 39% of students were likely operating with a lower level of linguistic proficiency than was considered appropriate for successful engagement with the course, which then allowed the authors to provide a list of recommendations to help alleviate this issue. Second, while extensive research suggests the C-Test is a reliable tool to gauge linguistic competency, our research found only a weak correlation between students’ C-Test results and their results on a concurrent reading/writing (summarising) test. This result points to a need for more rigorous research into the concurrent validity of the C-Test and the way that it is implemented online as a measure of discipline-specific linguistic competency.
Cognitive enhancement exciting discovery using trans-lingual neuro-stimulation

The primary subject matter of this case concerns a new approach to neurorehabilitation using trans-lingual neuro-stimulation (TLNS) Technology. Secondary issues examined include the recovery and enhancement of cognitive functioning in a subject with chronic stroke. The case has a difficulty level of four, appropriate for senior level courses who have already covered the topics of neurorehabilitation and neuroplasticity. The case is designed to be taught in one class hour and is expected to require zero hours of outside preparation by students, aside from foundational knowledge of neurorehabilitation techniques and neuroplasticity mechanisms.
Steerable texture synthesis for vector field visualization

In this work, a novel approach to scientific visualization and steerable texture synthesis is presented. Vector field visualization and synthesis techniques for controlled, field-driven texture generation are proposed, discussed, and extended to allow more control and degrees of freedom in the image creation. Concepts from perception and cognition, as well as statistical theory for standard texture synthesis, were investigated and used to motivate and improve the proposed techniques. The approach results to be general, flexible, and open to further extensions and integrations. Vector fields can be visualized in a straightforward manner by setting the color of output pixels on the base of computed similarity functions. The proposed method is texture-based and it locally adapts and transforms a chosen basic pattern of an anisotropic texture to represent the features and the variation of the field. In general, it allows any procedural or manual way to define a mapping from vector space to example image space, offering arbitrary degrees of freedom in representing the appearance of the resulting field. The approach to visualization of vectorial data sets can be interpreted as an hybrid algorithm, which combines features of direct intuitive visualization, such as simplicity, intuitivity, generality, together with features from dense visualization techniques, such as powerful information encoding, locality of calculation, accuracy. The variety of tasks and the different level of expertise and experience of users motivate and strongly require such versatility. The steerable generation of non-homogeneous textures offers several degrees of freedom in the synthesis process, allowing a variety of effects for appealing output images. Textural elements used as primitive provide for this task a numerous set of visual dimensions for arbitrary variation. In general, the proposed techniques bring together concepts from human vision and perception, statistics and texture synthesis, and visualization, in an interesting interdisciplinary research that promises encouraging results for several fields of applications.
Depositional Environment of Mio-Pliocene Siwalik Sedimentary Strata from the Darjeeling Himalayan Foothills, India: A Palynological Approach

A rich and diverse palynoassemblage recovered from the Churanthi River section (26°53' 59.3" N, 88°34' 17.2" E), Darjeeling foothills Eastern Himalaya, has yielded 87 species assigned to 69 genera. The palynoassemblage is rich in angiosperm taxa (45.63%) followed by gymnosperms (0.45%), pteridophytes (18.49%) and fungal remains (23.88%). Based on their nearest living relatives, a wet evergreen to semi-evergreen forest under a humid tropical to sub-tropical environment during the Mio-Pliocene age has been suggested. A lot of angiosperms such as Palaeosantalaceaepites, Araliaceoipollenites, Malvacearampollis, Zonocostites, Neocouperipollis, Dicolpopollis, Palmidites, Palmaepollenites, isolated salt glands of mangrove plant leaves (Heliospermopsis) and Mediaverrunites type of fungal spores, along with ichnofossils like Planolites, Palaeophycus, Skolithos, Rosselia, Ophiomorpha and Teichichnus associated with rippled mudstone-siltstone suggest an environment strongly influenced by brackish water. Primary sedimentary structures in the associated strata indicate strong wave agitation common in shallow marine setting. Some high elevation components (5.14%) such as Alnipollenites, cf. Corylus (Betulaceae), Juglanspollenites, Engelhardtioipollenites (Juglandaceae), Quercoides, Cupuliferoidaepollenites, Lithocarpus, Castanopsis (Fagaceae), Abietineaepollenites (Pinaceae) represent hinterland vegetation possibly transported to the prograding deltaic coastline by the rivers. Reworked palynotaxa (Striatopodocarpites sp., Striatites sp., Faunipollenites sp., Circumstriatites sp., Crescentipollenites sp., Cuneatisporites sp., Parasaccites sp., Scheuringipollenites sp., Rhizomaspora sp., Marsupipollenites sp., Lophotriletes sp.) of Permian age have also been recorded in the palynoassemblage (11.55%) indicating the abundance of Permian Gondwana strata in the source area.
Analysis of heparin, alpha-dystroglycan and sulfatide binding to the G domain of the laminin alpha1 chain by site-directed mutagenesis.

The 395-residue proteolytic fragment E3, which comprises the two most C-terminal LG modules of the mouse laminin alpha1 chain, was previously shown to contain major binding sites for heparin, alpha-dystroglycan and sulfatides. The same fragment (alpha1LG4-5) and its individual alpha1LG4 and alpha1LG5 modules have now been obtained by recombinant production in mammalian cells. These fragments were apparently folded into a native form, as shown by circular dichroism, electron microscopy and immunological assays. Fragment alpha1LG4-5 bound about five- to tenfold better to heparin, alpha-dystroglycan and sulfatides than E3. These binding activities could be exclusively localized to the alpha1LG4 module. Side-chain modifications and proteolysis demonstrated that Lys and Arg residues in the C-terminal region of alpha1LG4 are essential for heparin binding. This was confirmed by 14 single to triple point mutations, which identified three non-contiguous basic regions (positions 2766-2770, 2791-2793, 2819-2820) as contributing to both heparin and sulfatide binding. Two of these regions were also recognized by monoclonal antibodies which have previously been shown to inhibit heparin binding. The same three regions and a few additional basic residues also make major contributions to the binding of the cellular receptor alpha-dystroglycan, indicating a larger binding epitope. The data are also consistent with previous findings that heparin competes for alpha-dystroglycan binding.
Effective Feedback to Improve Primary Care Prescribing Safety (EFIPPS) a pragmatic three-arm cluster randomised trial: designing the intervention (ClinicalTrials.gov registration NCT01602705)

Background: High-risk prescribing in primary care is common and causes considerable harm. Feedback interventions have small/moderate effects on clinical practice, but few trials explicitly compare different forms of feedback. There is growing recognition that intervention development should be theory-informed, and that comprehensive reporting of intervention design is required by potential users of trial findings. The paper describes intervention development for the Effective Feedback to Improve Primary Care Prescribing Safety (EFIPPS) study, a pragmatic three-arm cluster randomised trial in 262 Scottish general practices. Methods: The NHS chose to implement a feedback intervention to utilise a new resource, new Prescribing Information System (newPIS). The development phase required selection of high-risk prescribing outcome measures and design of intervention components: (1) educational material (the usual care comparison), (2) feedback of practice rates of high-risk prescribing received by both intervention arms and (3) a theory-informed behaviour change component to be received by one intervention arm. Outcome measures, educational material and feedback design, were developed with a National Health Service Advisory Group. The behaviour change component was informed by the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Health Action Process Approach. A focus group elicitation study and an email Delphi study with general practitioners (GPs) identified key attitudes and barriers of responding to the prescribing feedback. Behaviour change techniques were mapped to the psychological constructs, and the content was informed by the results of the elicitation and Delphi study. Results: Six high-risk prescribing measures were selected in a consensus process based on importance and feasibility. Educational material and feedback design were based on current NHS Scotland practice and Advisory Group recommendations. The behaviour change component was resource constrained in development, mirroring what is feasible in an NHS context. Four behaviour change interventions were developed and embedded in five quarterly rounds of feedback targeting attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and action planning (2×). Conclusions: The paper describes a process which is feasible to use in the resource-constrained environment of NHS-led intervention development and documents the intervention to make its design and implementation explicit to potential users of the trial findings. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01602705
Fragment‐HMM: A new approach to protein structure prediction

We designed a simple position‐specific hidden Markov model to predict protein structure. Our new framework naturally repeats itself to converge to a final target, conglomerating fragment assembly, clustering, target selection, refinement, and consensus, all in one process. Our initial implementation of this theory converges to within 6 Å of the native structures for 100% of decoys on all six standard benchmark proteins used in ROSETTA (discussed by Simons and colleagues in a recent paper), which achieved only 14%–94% for the same data. The qualities of the best decoys and the final decoys our theory converges to are also notably better.
Gro2mat: A package to efficiently read gromacs output in MATLAB

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are a state‐of‐the‐art computational method used to investigate molecular interactions at atomic scale. Interaction processes out of experimental reach can be monitored using MD software, such as Gromacs. Here, we present the gro2mat package that allows fast and easy access to Gromacs output files from Matlab. Gro2mat enables direct parsing of the most common Gromacs output formats including the binary xtc‐format. No openly available Matlab parser currently exists for this format. The xtc reader is orders of magnitudes faster than other available pdb/ascii workarounds. Gro2mat is especially useful for scientists with an interest in quick prototyping of new mathematical and statistical approaches for Gromacs trajectory analyses. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A dosimetric system for quantitative cell irradiation experiments with laser-accelerated protons

An integrated dosimetry and cell irradiation system (IDOCIS) with laser-accelerated proton beams was developed, characterized, calibrated and successfully used for systematic in vitro experiments. Due to the broad exponentially shaped energy spectrum, the low-energy range of the protons (<20 MeV) and the high pulse dose, the absolute dosimetry for this beam quality is challenging. Therefore, a dedicated Faraday cup is used as an energy and dose rate independent absolute dosimeter that has been calibrated consistently with three independent methods. A transmission ionization chamber providing online relative dose information is cross-calibrated against the Faraday cup. Providing both online and absolute dose information, the IDOCIS allows for quantitative dosimetric and radiobiological studies at current low-energy laser-accelerated proton beams. Finally, first dosimetric characterizations of a laser-accelerated proton beam with the IDOCIS are presented.
Absence of adipocyte fatty acid binding protein prevents the development of accelerated atherosclerosis in hypercholesterolemic mice

Lipid deposition in arterial walls due to elevated levels of plasma cholesterol is central to the development of atherosclerosis and involves the uptake of oxidized low‐density lipoprotein (oxLDL) by macrophages. Fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) belong to a family of low molecular weight cytoplasmic proteins that are involved with intracellular transport and metabolism of fatty acids, and adipocyte FABP (aP2) has recently been shown to be expressed in macrophages. Here, we investigate the role of aP2 in the development of atherosclerosis in mice. We show that atherosclerotic lesions from hypercholesterolemic, apolipoprotein E deficient (ApoE−/−) mice (but not arterial walls from normal mice) contain high levels of aP2 mRNA. We also identified aP2 in inflammatory cells that localized in these lesions, as confirmed by its presence in isolated mouse and human macrophages, and demonstrated that aP2 is induced by oxLDL. To determine the importance of aP2 in atherosclerosis, we generated mice lacking both ApoE and aP2 (ApoE−/−aP2−/−). In comparison with ApoE−/− mice, ApoE−/−aP2−/− mice developed trivial lesions that were markedly smaller, less complex, and less macrophage‐rich even though the ApoE−/−aP2−/− mice remained hypercholesterolemic. Absence of aP2 did not prevent lesion formation and macrophage accumulation in transplant‐associated arteriosclerosis that does not depend on elevated levels of cholesterol. These results indicate a critical role for aP2 in the development of hypercholesterolemia‐induced atherosclerosis.
Polarization-sensitive interference spectrum of long-period fiber grating pair separated by erbium-doped fiber

The authors investigate the polarization dependency of the transmission spectrum of cascaded long-period fiber gratings between which an erbium-doped fiber (EDF) is inserted. Due to the birefringence of the EDF, the device has a much greater spectral polarization dependency than the normal cascaded long-period fiber gratings have. The authors use this polarization dependency to modulate the transmission spectrum of the proposed device. This modulation capability suggests that this device based on cascaded long-period fiber grating is a promising one for use as a simple interleaved signal-gating apparatus in wavelength-division-multiplexed optical communication systems.
Analysis and Synthesis of the Bidirectional Antagonistic Variable Stiffness Mechanism

Variable stiffness actuation promises many benefits regarding mechanism robustness, energy efficiency, and dynamic performance. Here, we analyze the bidirectional antagonistic variable stiffness (BAVS) joint. A comprehensive overview of several aspects is given with a focus on the stiffness and torque characteristics of the joint. First, the functionality and properties of the abstract joint model are considered. Then, implementation details influencing the stiffness properties are discussed based on cam disc variable stiffness mechanisms. In general, an analytic approach is chosen to enable a generalization of the results. Experiments conducted on a BAVS joint of the variable stiffness actuated robot DLR Hand Arm System verify the theoretical findings.
Asymmetrical Polymer Vesicles for Drug delivery and Other Applications

Scientists have been attracted by polymersomes as versatile drug delivery systems since the last two decades. Polymersomes have the potential to be versatile drug delivery systems because of their tunable membrane formulations, stabilities in vivo, various physicochemical properties, controlled release mechanisms, targeting abilities, and capacities to encapsulate a wide range of drugs and other molecules. Asymmetrical polymersomes are nano- to micro-sized polymeric capsules with asymmetrical membranes, which means, they have different outer and inner coronas so that they can exhibit better endocytosis rate and endosomal escape ability than other polymeric systems with symmetrical membranes. Hence, asymmetrical polymersomes are highly promising as self-assembled nano-delivery systems in the future for in vivo therapeutics delivery and diagnostic imaging applications. In this review, we prepared a summary about recent research progresses of asymmetrical polymersomes in the following aspects: synthesis, preparation, applications in drug delivery and others.
I2Apriori: An improved apriori algorithm based on infrequent count

In this paper, the proposed method reduces CPU computation time by reducing transaction scan. The Concept infrequent count is based on minimum threshold support and 2-way searching to reduce execution time during scanning of transaction is introduced in proposed method. There exist several data mining algorithms for finding association rules but one of the candidate generation algorithms named Apriori algorithm is considered for the proposed work.
OFDM Receiver for Fast Time-Varying Channels Using Block-Sparse Bayesian Learning

We propose an iterative algorithm for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) receivers operating over fast time-varying channels. The design relies on the assumptions that the channel response can be characterized by a few nonnegligible separable multipath components and that the temporal variation of each component gain can be well characterized with a basis expansion model (BEM) using a small number of terms. As a result, the channel estimation problem is posed as that of estimating a vector of complex coefficients that exhibits a block-sparse structure, which we solve with tools from block-sparse Bayesian learning (BSBL). Using variational Bayesian inference, we embed the channel estimator in a receiver structure that performs iterative channel and noise precision estimation, intercarrier interference (ICI) cancelation, detection, and decoding. Simulation results illustrate the superior performance of the proposed receiver over state-of-the-art receivers.