Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of Function and Disability in Longitudinal Studies

Over the past 2 decades, there has been considerable progress in the assessment of function and disability in older persons. Tests of physical performance are now routinely included in longitudinal studies to measure functional limitations, which are considered the building blocks of functioning. In addition, new strategies have been developed to assess the presence and onset of disability and to expand the scope of disability assessments beyond traditional indicators of difficulty and dependence. Contemporary measurement technologies, such as item response theory and computer adaptive testing, show great promise in the assessment of functional status and disability, but prospective studies are needed to demonstrate their true value, particularly to identify the circumstances in which their use will improve the assessment of functional outcomes in older persons. Another high priority for future research is to validate and further refine strategies to more completely and accurately ascertain the occurrence of disability in older persons.
A Multimedia over IP Integrated System for Military Communications

Abstract : The leading role of a common IP-based infrastructure, able to sustain the increasing communications and information superiority, requires the use of a flexible and dynamically-matching communications architecture, especially when the new concepts of Network Enabled Capabilities and Network Centric Warfare are taken in consideration. Modern technologies make it possible to enhance the Network role, as an integrator of platforms and systems. With the NEC approach much attention is however paid to maintain the assets of the already existing legacy systems. It has to be stressed how communications requirements raise dramatically now, either in quantity either in quality, in order to effectively improve sensor capabilities, decision tools, weapons lethality and information warfare. This new approach is therefore essential to grant superior decision making, power projection and protection.
A GMM Approach to Singing Language Identification

Automatic language identification for singing is a topic that has not received much attention for the past years. Possible application scenarios include searching for musical pieces in a certain language, improvement of similarity search algorithms for music, and improvement of regional music classification and genre classification. It could also serve to mitigate the “glass ceiling” effect. Most existing approaches employ PPRLM (Parallel Phone Recognition followed by Language Modelling) processing. Recent publications show that GMM-based (Gaussian Mixture Models) approaches are now able to produce results comparable to PPRLM systems when using certain audio features. Their advantages lie in their simplicity of implementation and the reduced training data requirements. This was only tested on speech data so far. In this paper, we therefore try out such a GMM-based approach for singing language identification. We test our system on speech data and a-capella singing. We use MFCC (Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients), TRAP (Termporal Pattern), and SDC (Shifted Delta Cepstrum) features. The results are comparable to the state of the art for singing language identification, but the approach is a lot simpler to implement as no phoneme-wise annotations are required. We obtain results of 75% accuracy for speech data and 67.5% accuracy for a-capella data. To our knowledge, neither the GMM-based approach nor this feature combination have been used for the purpose of singing language identification before.
Leukocytoclastic Vasculitis, Erythema Nodosum and Large Cervical Lymphadenopathy Associated with Bartonella Henselae Infection in an Adolescent

Typical Cat Scratch Disease (CSD) usually presents with isolated mild lymphadenopathy. An atypical case of this disease is reported with large cervical lymphadenopathy associated with recurrent leukocytoclastic vasculitis and erythema nodosum. This unusual presentation of cat scratch disease sug gests that systemic manifestations of this infection can occur in immunocompetent individuals and that long antibiotic treatment for protacted large cervical lymphadenopathy may be needed.
Expression of E‐cadherin in human mast cell line HMC‐1

E‐cadherin is one of the cell adhesion molecules normally expressed on epithelial cells. We previously reported that murine bone marrow‐derived mast cells express E‐cadherin that could be involved in homophilic binding with epithelial cell E‐cadherin. In the present study we examined whether E‐cadherin is also expressed in human mast cell HMC‐1. Gene expression of E‐cadherin and β‐catenin was observed in HMC‐1 by reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR), while N‐cadherin expression was undetectable. cDNA sequencing of HMC‐1 E‐cadherin revealed no deletions or mutations. E‐cadherin expression in HMC‐1 was confirmed by immunoblotting as well as by flow cytometric analyses. In the presence of E‐cadherin blocking antibody or a synthetic E‐cadherin decapeptide with HAV sequence in culture medium, adhesion of HMC‐1 cells to the A431 epithelial cell monolayer was slightly but significantly suppressed. In contrast, N‐ or P‐cadherin decapeptides did not suppress the binding. These results indicated that human mast cell HMC‐1 expresses E‐cadherin, and is possibly involved in cellular interactions with epithelial cells, while other functions still remain to be elucidated.
ULINK: A Semantics-Driven Approach to Understanding Ungrammatical Input

This paper describes UUNK, a program designed to understand ungrammatical input. While most previous work in the field has relied on syntactic techniques or sublanguage analysis to parse grammatical errors, UUNK uses a semantics-driven algorithm to process such input. The paper gives a brief overview of LINK, the unification-based system upon which ULINK is built; special attention is given to those aspects of LINK which allow ULINK to use semantics to process ill-formed input. The details of ULINK's algorithm are then discussed by considering two examples. The paper concludes with a discussion of related research and problems which remain to be solved.
Synthesis of mumps v irus nucleocapsid protein in yeast Pichia pastoris

The expression of mumps virus nucleocapsid protein in yeast Pichia pastoris was investigated. Viral nucleocapsid proteins usually elicit a strong long-term humoral immune response in patients and experimental animals. Therefore, the detection of antibodies specific to mumps virus nucleoprotein can play an important role in immunoassays for mumps diagnosis. For producing a high-level of recombinant mumps virus nucleoprotein the expression system of yeast P. pastoris was employed. The recombinant nucleocapsid protein was purified by cesium chloride ultracentrifugation of yeast lysates. Electron microscopy of the purified recombinant nucleocapsid protein revealed a herring-bone structure similar to the one discovered in mammalian cells infected with mumps virus. The yield of purified nucleocapsid-like particles from P. pastoris constituted 2.1 mg per 1 g of wet biomass and was considerably higher in comparison to the other expression systems. # 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Rigorous numerics for ODEs using Chebyshev series and domain decomposition

In this paper we present a rigorous numerical method for validating analytic solutions of nonlinear ODEs by using Chebyshev-series and domain decomposition. The idea is to define a Newton-like operator, whose fixed points correspond to solutions of the ODE, on the space of geometrically decaying Chebyshev coefficients, and to use the so-called radii-polynomial approach to prove that the operator has an isolated fixed point in a small neighborhood of a numerical approximation. The novelty of the proposed method is the use of Chebyshev series in combination with domain decomposition. In particular, a heuristic procedure based on the theory of Chebyshev approximations for analytic functions is presented to construct efficient grids for validating solutions of boundary value problems. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by validating long periodic and connecting orbits in the Lorenz system for which validation without domain decomposition is not feasible.
RelB Modulation of IκBα Stability as a Mechanism of Transcription Suppression of Interleukin-1α (IL-1α), IL-1β, and Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha in Fibroblasts

ABSTRACT Members of the NF-κB/RelB family of transcription factors play important roles in the regulation of inflammatory and immune responses. RelB, a member of this family, has been characterized as a transcription activator and is involved in the constitutive NF-κB activity in lymphoid tissues. However, in a previous study we observed an overexpression of chemokines in RelB-deficient fibroblasts. Here we show that RelB is an important transcription suppressor in fibroblasts which limits the expression of proinflammatory mediators and may exert its function by modulating the stability of IκBα protein. Fibroblasts from relb −/− mice overexpress interleukin-1α (IL-1α), IL-1β, and tumor necrosis factor alpha in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation. These cells have an augmented and prolonged LPS-inducible IKK activity and an accelerated degradation which results in a diminished level of IκBα protein, despite an upregulated IκBα mRNA expression. Consequently, NF-κB activity was augmented and postinduction repression of NF-κB activity was impaired in these cells. The increased κB-binding activity and cytokine overexpression was suppressed by introducing RelB cDNA or a dominant negative IκBα into relb −/−fibroblasts. Our findings suggest a novel transcription suppression function of RelB in fibroblasts.
Delirium in advanced disease

Delirium in advanced disease, while common, is often not recognised or poorly treated. The aim of management of delirium is to assess and treat reversible causes in combination with environmental, psychological and pharmacological intervention to control symptoms. Delirium presents significant distress and impedes communication between patients and their families at the end of life. A structured approach to recognise, assess and manage delirium is essential for all clinicians caring for patients with terminal illness.
A Proposed Biomechanical Scale for the Diagnosis of Corneal Ectatic Disorders

all available imaging data (inferior peripheral corneal thinning, corneal protrusion above the point of maximal thinning, against-the-rule irregular astigmatism) with the history of the patient (6). In our validation studies (1-3), KMI presented excellent diagnostic capacity in keratoconus (97.7%, sensitivity 91.18%, specificity 94.34%) and significant (but lower, as expected) discriminant capability both in sKC (94%, sensitivity 85.7%, specificity 87.7%) and PMD (94.8%, sensitivity 85.71%, specificity 90.1%) that allowed us to develop a diagnostic scale based on this index (Fig. 1). According to our scale, KMI values above 0.72 are most likely to be associated with nonectatic corneas. On the other hand, KMI values between 0.72 and 0.51 are highly suspicious for ectasia (either sKC or PMD when topography is suspicious for PMD). All KMI values below 0.51 are most likely to be associated with ectasia. Moreover, the KMI classification of KC (direct associations with the Amsler-Krumeich criteria) is also present in our diagnostic scale; however, minor modifications are likely to be encountered as the different keratoconus groups become constantly populated with more participants. Therefore, KMI values around 0.41 are associated with keratoconus stage 1 and KMI values around –0.62 are associated with advanced keratoconus (stage 4). Nevertheless, the potential clinical significance of our scale is primarily on the difficult suspect corneas and not for the clinical staging of the definite ectatic ones. We are confident that our proposed diagnostic scale will assist corneal specialists both in clinical and research settings. Moreover, upon publication we expect its validity to be verified by other corneal and keratoconus centers and have its cutoff points fine-tuned. Possibly KMI will be identified as an independent risk index both for congenital and iatrogenic ectasia and the diagnostic significance of our biomechanical scale will be independently confirmed.
Compact macro-modeling for on-chip RF passive components

For efficient full-chip circuit simulation and device performance optimization in RF system-on-a-chip (SoC) design, we propose a novel methodology to generate a compact macro-model for on-chip passive components, considering parasitics. Our approach is based on the recently proposed vector potential equivalent circuit (VPEC) model for the passive sparsification of the inductance matrix, a hierarchical s-domain circuit reduction to generate a reduced driving-point impedance function, and Brune's one-port network synthesis to realize the impedance function by a low-order RLCM ladder circuit as the compact macro-model. We improved the VPEC model generation via a window-based extraction and achieve extraction speedup by 100 times. We also propose an efficient scaling scheme during hierarchical model reduction to improve numerical stability of the reduction process. Several industry examples are presented, including transmission lines and spiral inductors. The synthesized lower-order macro-model is accurate up to 10 GHz with 1000 times simulation speedup.
Decoding GnRH neurohormone pulse frequency by convergent signalling modules

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) mediates control of reproduction. It is secreted in pulses and acts via intracellular effectors to activate gonadotrophin secretion and gene expression. Sub-maximal GnRH pulse frequency can elicit maximal responses, yielding bell-shaped frequency–response curves characteristic of genuine frequency decoders. GnRH frequency decoding is therapeutically important (pulsatile GnRH can drive ovulation in assisted reproduction whereas sustained activation can treat breast and prostate cancers), but the mechanisms are unknown. Here, we consider the possibility that it is due to convergence of distinct pulsatile signals at the transcriptome. We develop a model that mirrors wet-laboratory data for activation and nuclear translocation of GnRH effectors (extracellular signal regulated kinase and nuclear factors of activated T-cells) and incorporates transcription. The model predicts genuine frequency decoding when two transcription factors (TFs) converge at a cooperative gate, and shows how optimal pulse frequency could reflect TF activation kinetics and affinities. Importantly, this behaviour is revealed as an emergent feature of the network, rather than an intrinsic feature of a given protein or pathway, and since such network topology is extremely common, may well be widespread in biological systems.
Evidence for an active T‐state pig kidney fructose 1,6‐bisphosphatase: Interface residue Lys‐42 is important for allosteric inhibition and AMP cooperativity

During the R &RR; T transition in the tetrameric pig kidney fructose‐1,6‐bisphosphatase (Fru‐1,6‐P2ase, EC 3.1.3.11) a major change in the quaternary structure of the enzyme occurs that is induced by the binding of the allosteric inhibitor AMP (Ke HM, Liang JY, Zhang Y, Lipscomb WN, 1991, Biochemistry 30:4412–4420). The change in quaternary structure involving the rotation of the upper dimer by 17° relative to the lower dimer is coupled to a series of structural changes on the secondary and tertiary levels. The structural data indicate that Lys‐42 is involved in a complex set of intersubunit interactions across the dimer‐dimer interface with residues of the 190′s loop, a loop located at the pivot of the allosteric rotation. In order to test the function of Lys‐42, we have replaced it with alanine using site‐specific mutagenesis. The kcat and Km values for Lys‐42 &RR; Ala Fru‐1,6‐P2ase were 11 s−1 and 3.3 μM, respectively, resulting in a mutant enzyme that was slightly less efficient catalytically than the normal pig kidney enzyme. Although the Lys‐42 &RR; Ala Fru‐1,6‐P2ase was similar kinetically in terms of Km and kcat the response to inhibition by AMP was significantly different than that of the normal pig kidney enzyme. Not only was AMP inhibition no longer cooperative, but also it occurred in two stages, corresponding to high‐ and low‐affinity binding sites. Saturation of the high‐affinity sites only reduced the activity by 30%, compared to 100% for the wild‐type enzyme. In order to determine in what structural state the enzyme was after saturation of the high‐affinity sites, the Lys‐42 &RR; Ala enzyme was crystallized in the presence of Mn2+, fructose‐6‐phosphate (Fru‐6‐P), and 100 μM AMP and the data collected to 2.3 Å resolution. The X‐ray structure showed the T state with AMP binding with full occupancy to the four regulatory sites and the inhibitor Fru‐6‐P bound at the active sites. The results reported here suggest that, in the normal pig kidney enzyme, the interactions between Lys‐42 and residues of the 190′s loop, are important for propagation of AMP cooperativity to the adjacent subunit across the dimer‐dimer interface as opposed to the monomer‐monomer interface, and suggest that AMP cooperativity is necessary for full allosteric inhibition by AMP.
Management of streptococcal pneumoniae-induced hemolytic uremic syndrome: a case report

Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) secondary to Streptococcus pneumoniae infections (pHUS) has been well reported in the literature and accounts for roughly 5% of all the cases of HUS. However, this condition is likely under-diagnosed and the incidence is believed to be increasing. Given this increase in incidence of pHUS, it is important to have an understanding of the optimal means to manage the disease. We report a case of a 2-year-old male with pneumonia, acute kidney injury (AKI), microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (MAHA), and thrombocytopenia, diagnosed with pHUS and successfully treated with antibiotics, washed red blood cell (RBC) transfusions, plasma exchange (PE) with 5% albumin replacement, steroids, and hemodialysis. The response seen in our patient adds to the current literature and further supports the use of PE with albumin in patients with pHUS.
The separability theory of hyperbolic tangent kernels and support vector machines for pattern classification

A new theory is developed for the feature spaces of hyperbolic tangent used as an activation kernel for non-linear support vector machines. The theory developed herein is based on the distinct features of hyperbolic geometry, which leads to an interesting geometrical interpretation of the higher-dimensional feature spaces of neural networks using hyperbolic tangent as the activation function. The new theory is used to explain the separability of hyperbolic tangent kernels where we show that the separability is possible only for a certain class of hyperbolic kernels. Simulation results are given supporting the separability theory.
Electromyostimulation and Plyometric Training Effects on Jumping and Sprint Time

This study compared the effects of four-week training periods of electromyostimulation (EMS), plyometric training (P), or combined EMS and P training of the knee extensor muscles on 20 m sprint time (ST), jumping ability (Squat jump [SJ] and Countermovement jump [CMJ]), maximal isometric strength (MVC), and muscle cross-sectional area (CSA). Forty subjects were randomly assigned to one of the four treatment groups: electromyostimulation (EG), plyometric (PG), combined EMG, and P (EPG), that took place 4 times per week, and a control group (CG). Subjects were tested before and after the training program, as well as once more after 2 wk of detraining. A significant improvement (p < 0.05) in ST was observed after training (2.4 %) in EG while a significant slowing (p < 0.05) was observed (- 2.3 %) in EPG. Significant increases in EPG (p < 0.05) were observed in SJ (7.5 %) and CMJ (7.3 %) after training, while no significant changes in both jumps were observed after training and detraining for EG. A significant increase (p < 0.05) in MVC was observed after training (9.1 %) and after detraining (8.1 %) in EG. A significant increase (p < 0.05) in MVC was observed after training (16.3 %) in EPG. A significant increase (p < 0.01) in CSA was observed after training in EG (9.0 %) and in EPG (7.1 %). EMS combined with plyometric training increased the jumping height and sprint run in physically active men. In addition, EMS alone or EMS combined with plyometric training leads to increase maximal strength and to some hypertrophy of trained muscles. However, EMS training alone did not result in any improvement in jumping explosive strength development or even interfered in sprint run.
Design of optimal membership functions for fuzzy gain-scheduled control

The design of optimal membership functions for model-based fuzzy gain-scheduled control is addressed. The antecedent membership functions in the controller are computed such that the closed-loop behavior complies with the specifications over the entire operating range. It is shown that better performance is obtained than with the standard Parallel Distributed Control (PDC) approach, which is based on using the model membership functions in the controller. A real-world application example of aircraft gain-scheduled control is presented.
Effect of Low-Fat and/or Low-Energy Diets on Anthropometric Measures in Participants of the Women’s Diet Study

Objective: To compare the effects of low-fat, low-energy and combination low-fat/low-energy intervention on changes in six anthropometric measures in Caucasian and African-American free-living women. Methods: The effects of dietary counseling strategies for fat and/or energy reduction were examined on anthropometric measures in 86 pre-menopausal women, average BMI of 28 kg/m2, who participated in a 12-week intervention trial called the Women’s Diet Study. The dietary goals were 15% of energy from fat and/or 25% reduction in energy intake, relative to reported baseline intake, using a 2 × 2 factorial design. Analysis of covariance models were constructed to evaluate changes in anthropometric measures over the 12 weeks of study. Results: The biggest difference by race was in women who were relatively heavier at baseline, in which case African-American women lost significantly less weight but decreased their waist:hip ratio to a significantly greater extent than Caucasian women. With regard to the effects of diet arm, weight loss varied depending on baseline weight, and in women with higher baseline weights, the combination low-fat/low-energy diet resulted in the most weight loss (6.7 kg, p < 0.05). Decreases in the other anthropometric measures at week 12 were more uniform across diet arms and did not depend on baseline values. After controlling for previous weight history and race, the decreases in BMI, percent body fat and waist circumference after 12 weeks were statistically equivalent with the low-fat, low-energy or combination low-fat/low-energy diets. The relatively greater decreases in percent body fat and waist circumference with the combination diet versus the low-fat or low-energy diets were not statistically significant. Conclusion: The low-fat, low-energy and combination diets all resulted in similar and statistically significant decreases in BMI, percent body fat and waist circumference over 12 weeks of intervention. The extent of weight loss, however, varied depending on baseline weight, and the combination diet was the only intervention to result in significant weight loss for women who were heavier at baseline. This indicates that, although there may be an advantage for reducing dietary fat in initially heavier women, any of these counseling strategies could be effective for improving anthropometric predictors of health risks associated with overweight status. This is useful since flexibility in dietary choices may facilitate adherence to dietary counseling in some individuals.